AN: The idea for this one comes from the promo for next week's season finale. There was the bit at the end when you see the doctor's shocking Booth's heart when it stops during surgery and then you see Brennan looking horrified. So I got the idea: What if Brennan is actually seeing him flat line in front of her? And this is what the Muse came up with.

Warning: Minor Spoilers for the S9 Finale.

"Mrs. Booth, this is Dr. Akers at George Washington University Hospital, I'm calling …"

Oh god, Booth.

She cut the man off, her heart pounding in her chest already. "Wha ... what happened? Is my husband okay?"

"I'm afraid your husband has been shot ..." Dr. Akers' voice faded into the background, as the words echoed in Brennan's head.

Your husband has been shot.

Her grip on the phone tightened as her eyes closed, trying to keep herself together. She couldn't fall apart now. She needed to know if Booth was okay.

"…. he is critically wounded and has lost a lot of blood, it would be a good idea if you could get here as soon as possible …"

Critically wounded …. Lost a lot of blood ….

She could feel herself losing her composure and tried again to get ahold of herself. To think clearly so she could ask the questions she needed answered.

"Is ... is he … how bad?" Her breathing was becoming heavy and erratic, she was losing control.

"I … " the doctor started to say but then seemed to change his mind, his voice soft as he said, "It's bad. You need to get here as soon as you can."

The world tilted and Brennan thought she was going to pass out. Gripping the edge of the counter in front of her tightly, she told the doctor she would be there as soon as possible. Then she hung up and was flying out the door.

Please be okay, Booth. Please. Please.

They'd told her to stay in the waiting area, that they would come find her when they could get him stable. They didn't understand though. She couldn't stay away. She had to see him. Had to be there, she had to. She couldn't leave him alone. She had to be there to make sure he was okay. To make sure he was alive.

Since the frantic moments after the phone call that her husband had been shot, that it was critical, all Brennan had been able to think about was getting to him. Getting to him so she could make sure he was okay. Only he wasn't okay. The blood loss alone had almost taken him from her. And now he was in emergency surgery, while she hoped and wished and pleaded with the universe to please not take Booth away.

Tears chased themselves down her face, her vision blurring as she looked through the round windows set into the doors that led to the surgical suite. Watching as the doctors tried to save Booth's life. Monitors beeped and flashed vital signs. The respirator clicked and whooshed as it helped him breath, pushing precious oxygen into his body.

She stared at his face. Devoid of all color, so unlike its usual state of high color and sparkling smiles and warm, brown eyes; god she just wanted to see his eyes again. See his smile again.

What was she going to do if she had to go on without him? She couldn't go on without him. Her life now was contingent on his, so tangled and woven together that they were as close to being as one as possible. And what would she tell Christine and Parker? How could she tell their little girl and his son that their father was never coming home again?

"Don't you die on me, Booth. Don't you dare. We need you," she whispered fiercely. "You have to be okay."

Lifting her eyes back to the monitors, she watched the numbers change, stay the same for a few minutes and then change again.

Then suddenly a long, loud, wailing beep sounded from the surgical suite and Brennan watched in horror as the jagged line of the heart monitor flatten and straighten. Booth was flat lining. He was dying.

"BOOTH! NO! NO! BOOTH! NO!" Her shouts of course never registered with those within the room as they rushed to stop their patient from dying.

Brennan watched in slow motion as the doctors and nurses rushed to retrieve the crash cart. She watched them put the defibrillators paddles against his chest. A distant call to 'clear' passed through the doors and then the shock was delivered, Booth's body jolting up from the table as it passed through his body, trying to restart his stopped heart.

The continuous wail of the heart monitor continued unabated. Again the defibrillator's paddles were applied to Booth's chest and again a shock was applied. Three more times they did this until finally, the rhythm of Booth's heart was restored. The wailing cries of the heart monitor ceasing.

Brennan felt her knees buckled beneath her in relief as her tears poured down her cheeks. He was alive. They'd brought him back. Silently, Brennan asked the universe to please let Booth be okay, and to please not take him away from her.

Collapsing against the wall near the doors of the surgical suite Temperance Brennan bowed her head and wept, whispering Booth's name over and over under her breath as she cried.

"Booth."

So what do you think? Love it? Hate it? Leave me your thoughts in that lovely box below. After all, reviews feed the muse!