Brennan struggled hard against her bonds. "Let me go, you rat bastard!" she yelled, desperately trying to wriggle free of the restraints. She aimed a kick at her kidnapper and struck true. He yelped in pain before whacking her with a gun and spitting, "Shut it bitch!"

Her head slammed into the wall and a trickle of blood began to flow down her hair before she slipped into unconsciousness.

"What do you mean, Bones is missing? She was at the lab like an hour ago," Booth barked into the phone.

"Yeah, she was still here when you left in a huff. She said she was going to interview some guy, Jamieson I think it was.. She said something about that if you weren't willing to help her, she'd do it alone," Angela replied, eyes darting frantically as Hodgins and Zack searched through Brennan's notes on the case, looking for any clue to her whereabouts.

"Roger Jamieson," Booth sighed, panic beginning to build. "He's a nutcase. She shouldn't have went on her own. I shouldn't have left her. I'll be there in ten."

Angela hung up on the dead line, more fearful for her friend's life than ever.

She was obviously not in the waking world, Brennan concluded. But neither was this a dream. Her dreams went in any direction they wanted to, this was more like… actual events where she could be a spectator of sorts. Before she could ponder it any further, her surroundings whirled and changed.

She was in her office, in her lab. There was crutches lying across her computer chair and there she was, slouched on her couch, dozing. Brennan approached herself. She gently reached out and touched the sleeping face. Nothing happened. Just a spectator then, Brennan decided.

Booth appeared in her doorway and smiled as he took in the scene. He quietly padded across the room and sat down on the floor, near her face. Brennan moved to behind the couch, so she could watch the scene unfold comfortably.

Booth gave a gentle grin at his sleeping partner before brushing an errant lock of hair from her face. Dream Bones groaned slightly and began to stir. Brennan watched as Booth whispered into her ear, "Come on Bones, wake up."

Dream Bones' eyes fluttered open and looked at the face of her partner. "What a sight to wake up to," she moaned, stretching her arms before reclining back onto the soft cushions of the sofa.

Booth gave a great peal of laughter and gazed tenderly across at her. "Thanks Bones, but say what you really think."

Dream Bones looked chagrined before simply saying, "I didn't say it was a bad thing to wake up to."

Booth merely smiled and said, "You alright Bones? How's the leg?"

"Broken. I'm fine Booth, just catching up on a little sleep," Dream Bones replied. "Why? Did you think something was wrong?"

"No, I just came by to check on you and to apologise."

"Apologise for what?"

"For leaving you to be attacked by that loony. If I hadn't been so stubborn and agreed to go with you to double check the guy's alibi, then nothing would have happened to you…"

"Don't be daft Booth. It wasn't your fault. Things happened the way they did because that's just how it works. I certainly don't blame you for it, though I do blame you for acting like a child because I didn't agree with you," she teased gently.

"What?" he roared playfully back, trying to hide his relief at her obvious forgiveness. "I did not act like a child!"

And the scenery swirled again.

She was in her apartment, trying to sort something and failing miserably. She lost her temper and smashed a CD. She slid down to the floor as silent tears made their way down her face.

A quiet knock came from her front door. "Bones," he quietly called, obviously seeking entrance. She made no move to open the door, but it made no difference. Something slid between the door and frame and began to swizzle, successfully making the door click open.

Booth entered and surveyed the room, quickly spotting her in the corner. "Bones," he said, coming to her side. "Danny said you wanted to see me, refused to work with him until you spoke with me first."

Brennan's anger flared. "That's right Booth. You assigned me a new partner from the FBI Booth? Why? You didn't even ask me first."

"Because, you kept finding every possible excuse to avoid working with me, so I thought you might be more at ease with someone new. What's the problem now?" Booth asked, his hurt at being shoved away obvious in his expression.

"You never even asked me did I want to work with someone new. No, you just went right ahead and did it! God, did it never occur to you that I didn't want to work with anyone but you?"

"No it didn't actually. You've been holed up in that lab for ages now, barely even speaking to me. What was I supposed to think? I'm not Mystic Meg you know!"

"Look Booth, things have been really difficult at the lab at the moment. Zack's gone and we need a replacement for him, when all we want is for him to come home. Angela and Hodgins have their own problems at the moment. I need to try and do the stuff Zack did and I really didn't want our friendship to be different amidst everything else that's happening right now. Everything is changing. I just wanted our friendship to remain the same."

"So why didn't you just say this? God Temperance, I thought you didn't want to be partners anymore. I thought we were friends but then you stopped talking to me…"

"I'm sorry. Talking isn't my strong point. But Booth, you being the one who's good with people I thought you would have known…"

"Known what?"

"That every other agent they sent to me never came back to the lab after the case was finished. You were the only one who stayed and … tried with me. My people skills are lacking and I'm difficult, I do know all this. But when you sent that other guy today, I thought I had ruined everything. I thought that maybe we didn't mean anything to each other."

"You certainly are one strange woman. Bones, I don't think anything you do could stop me caring about you now. Maybe at the beginning but not now…"

"We're just too strong for that," she smiled. Then she frowned, obviously uncomfortable. "I uh.. Care about you too."

"You don't have to say if you don't mean it Bones. I do but it's not necessary."

"I do mean it. Remember, I'm not the best with words and being open with feelings."

Booth smiled and opened his arms. "I think this calls for a hug between two people who care about each other."

She stepped into them and said against his chest, "Can you get yourself reassigned to me? Because people who care shouldn't be without each other."

Now she was in a place she'd never seen before. It was a meadow of some sort and Booth was leading her somewhere. "Come on Bones, the skeleton is around here somewhere!"

"Right," she said, looking around at the field. It was beautiful, blooming with summer flowers. Her foot slipped and she gave a short gasp of surprise. She fell down a muddy embankment and landed on her back with a thud.

"Bones!" Where did you go?" Booth yelled, searching for her.

"Down here!" she called, "Watch out for the ed…ge." Her advice was short lived as Booth had spotted Bones and ran over, not noticing the edge of the embankment was a little unsteady.

He rolled down and landed on top of Brennan, their faces very close, their lips almost touching. Brennan gave an annoyed groan because not only was Booth heavy and injuring her already sore back, she didn't like where her thoughts had immediately went.

"Jesus Booth," she said, shutting her eyes tight, so as to avoid temptation.

"What about Jesus?" Booth asked, eyes searching her face, realising their current position.

"Jesus says, "Get off Bones before you permanently damage her back.""

Booth snickered, "You just called yourself Bones."

"Just get off Booth, please?" she said, putting a hand on his chest. Booth began to push himself up on his palms and gently moved all his weight back onto his now crouching legs.

"Want a hand up?" he asked, extending his palm to her. She securely grabbed his hand and he shuffled forward a bit, so as to get a more firm grip on her. He gave a gentle tug and the upper half of her body whizzed toward him. The sheer strength of Booth was more than Bones had anticipated and barely avoided bashing noses with him.

Instead, their lips lightly brushed together. There seemed to be a crack of electricity run between the two of them as the pair leaned more heavily into the kiss. The kisses were feather-light at first, but soon intensified with the passion.

A voice brought Brennan out of her trance as she watched herself and Booth kissing. It sounded suspiciously like her mother as it whispered in her, "This is your future, if you are willing to fight for it."

And suddenly Brennan was back in the present, once again tied up and bleeding, but with a newly restored hope. She sprang from her seat and tackled her kidnapper to the floor. Her wrists were bound, but her feet were still free as she scuffled with him. He got the upper hand and pressed her into the floor, breathing heavily and grinning.

Brennan brought her knee up, causing him to roll off her with a thump She managed to manoeuvre him onto his stomach before looping the rope that held her wrists together across his thought as she sat on his back, her hands on either side of his head. All she had to do was wait for Booth.

Booth and Angela, along with the FBI moved towards the supposed location of Jamieson and Bones. They snuck in, guns raised , expecting an all out war and found Brennan holding a rope across the assailant's throat.

As soon as Brennan saw Booth, she took the rope away from his windpipe and rolled away from him. The FBI swarmed around him as Booth rushed to her side. "Bones, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm alright. My head's cut at the back though."

Booth felt the back of her head and found her hair was matted with blood, the red substance clinging to his hands. "We need an ambulance now!" he called to Angela, flapping his arms in urgency.

"Booth," Brennan said, grabbing his arms and making him face her. "Everything's going to be ok. We're going to be ok."

She gave him a reassuring smile as she slipped away into unconsciousness, hoping to discover more of her fate along the way.