Author's Note: This isn't beta'd so please be kind if you review.
Disclaimer: I don't own "Bones" or "The X-Files.
At the end of a long and trying day Dr. Temperance Brennan lay down to sleep and dreamt.
~ * ~
She is standing on the platform in a hospital gown watching Mulder and Scully pull two operating tables into the center while Sweets stands beside her clad in scrubs. She is confused.
"W-what is going on?" she asks them.
"They're setting the scene, Dr. Brennan," Sweets explains. "You said you wanted the procedure to be done at home."
"Wait! Are you operating on me?"
Sweets gives her a reassuring smile. "Its okay, Dr. Brennan, I've been watching these two for years."
"I don't need any operations or procedures. I'm fine."
"No, you're not," Scully tells her. "I should know; it was my catchphrase."
"And it was annoying," Mulder interjects.
She sighs in frustration and resists the urge to stomp her foot. "Why do I need surgery?"
"To fix your heart, sweetie," Angela says as she walks onto the platform and tapes a red paper heart onto a monitor. "You see, it's got these big old cracks here and a chunk missing right here. We've gotta go in there and patch it up so you can see more clearly."
"What
are you going to use to "patch up" the missing piece of my
heart?"
"Booth, of course!" Hodgins proclaims from his
throne on the catwalk above them. "We're gonna take a piece of
Booth's heart and use it patch up yours."
"Why Booth? Why not my father or Russ?"
"No, they might get up and run away again. Besides, you and Booth are made of the same stuff," Hodgins explains. "He is your perfect match. And, Booth has a pretty big heart so he'll be okay."
"And here he is!" Cam announces as she leads him onto an operating table.
She had expected him to look frightened, like he had right before his own surgery, but he doesn't. He looks ready, as if he's been waiting for a long while.
"Booth, you don't have to do this," she says, rushing to his side.
"Yes I do, Bones."
"It might hurt."
"But it's worth it."
She shakes her head. "Giving a part of yourself to me? You don't have to do that?"
"I already did. This is just a formality."
"You did?"
He nods his head. "Ages ago. Actually, I think it was around the same time you gave me this," he explains, taking a little red piece of paper out of his pocket.
"Is that my missing piece? Where did you find it?"
"At the diner. It was in my pie."
She suddenly feels a weight fall on her and fishes a little piece of red paper out of a pocket she didn't know she had.
"Is this yours?" He nods his head. "How did it get there?"
"I put it there ages ago, Bones. You just never noticed it before."
He takes the heart piece out of her hand and safety pins it to her breast. When the needle pierces her skin she is surprised by how much it doesn't hurt and when his hands fall away she fins that she can suddenly see with clarity. She sees that they are alone; it is just she and him now.
"Do you want it back now?" he asks, holding her no longer missing piece in his hand.
"Do you want to give it back?"
"No."
"Then I don't want it back."
She takes the little piece of red paper and safety pins it in place as he puts his hands on her hips with a grin on his mouth.
"You know you're cute when you're oblivious."
He brushes his lips against hers.
"I'm not oblivious anymore."
"You know, you're even prettier when you act like a know-it-all."
And she smiles into his kiss.
~ * ~
In the morning Dr. Temperance Brennan awoke from her dream in her empty bead and frowned.
