(The Lance to the Heart)

seeleybooths made a request for a fanfic. I hope this is what you wanted.

I don't own Bones.

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It had been a bad week and maybe not to put too fine a point on it, it had been awful summer.

After he had been attacked in his own home, after a stay in the hospital, Booth was locked up in prison and Brennan knew that his life would be in danger while he was there. As the weeks wore on and Booth had become bruised and battered, she realized that it was just a matter of time before someone killed him and that was unthinkable. Desperate to get him out of there, she'd done the only thing she could do. She'd blackmailed Federal Prosecutor Kevin Brady much to the attorney's shock and ultimately his terror.

Out of prison, Booth had been furious that she'd shown their hand. By getting him out through blackmail, she'd let the people involved in the conspiracy know that they had Wesley Foster's files and that meant they needed to push and push hard to find out who was in charge of the conspiracy before they found a way to stop them.

Things had got worse before it got better. Lance Sweets was murdered and died before Booth and Brennan's eyes. They had both been devastated by the loss of their friend, but they'd continued their investigation and in the end Dr. Glenn Durant had been arrested for numerous crimes including murder and treason.

After it was all over, after Sweets ashes had been scattered to the winds in an emotional farewell, Brennan had had time to think about everything that happened in the last few months and realized that she had come very close to losing Booth three times in a very short stretch of time.

The first time, she had been able to save his life by being at their house and she had been able to call an ambulance to take him to a hospital after he'd been shot. The second time, Booth was badly beaten and Brennan knew that it was only a matter of time before someone killed him, so she had used bribery to get him out of prison. The third time, Lance Sweets went to Sanderson Chemicals to serve a warrant instead of Booth, it was related to an experimental drug used to kill Howard Cooper and he had been murdered.

Afterward, when she'd had a chance to think about what they'd all gone through, Brennan realized that the only reason why Booth wasn't dead instead of Sweets was because Sweets had insisted on serving the warrant. It was possible that Booth might have survived the attack, but the assailant had been armed and dangerous, so it was possible that Booth being in a weakened condition would have been vulnerable. Sweets had died and her husband had not. Fate had played an ugly hand.

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The night of Sweets farewell, Brennan had held her husband close. She lay next to him and kept her arms around him. Her thoughts dark and foreboding, she had dreaded the thought of letting him leave her for even a short period of time. She knew she had to get her emotions under control and decided that she would give them free reign for one night and then she would put away those intense feelings and accept that Booth and she had to live their lives as normally as possible. The past was the past and they couldn't live there.

During the night, if Booth moved she moved with him. Even in her sleep, she touched him and held his arm or his hand. That night she needed to feel him, she needed assurances that he was really there in their bed, alive and well. When morning came, Brennan woke to find herself sprawled partially on top of Booth. He was awake and moving his fingers through her hair.

"So you're awake."

She knew he had massive bruises on his chest and sides and yet he held her without complaint. "I'm sorry, Booth. Let me move just a little." Brennan moved so that she no longer pressed against his bruises and yet she still was close enough to feel him against her body. "How are you feeling?"

Shifting on the bed, Booth moved his arm around her so that his wife could lay her head on his shoulder while he held his arm around her. "I'm fine."

The room was quiet except for the sound of the air conditioner running. As they lay in bed, comfortable in each other's company, both thought about a life without each other and they both knew that was unbearable.

"Booth, stay home today." Brennan wanted one more day to enjoy his company without outside agencies interfering with their lives. "I'll stay home too . . . I can call Max and ask him to keep Christine for one more day."

He heard the sorrow in her voice and he knew that he needed to give her what she wanted. "Sure . . . Bones, I . . . "

"Booth." Clinging fiercely to him, Brennan felt tears move down her cheeks. "Just lay here and let me hold you, Booth. I need to hold you . . . I need to feel you."

His own emotions high, Booth nodded his head and pulled her closer against his body, uncaring that his bruises were causing him pain. "I can do that Bones . . . you know when I was in prison, the only thing that kept me going was knowing that you and Christine and Parker were waiting for me and I had to come back. I had to come back to you. I promised you that I'd never leave you and I meant it. I knew I had to keep that promise."

Brennan's voice raw with emotion, she swallowed and tried to answer him. "I . . . I was afraid you . . . you wouldn't be able to keep that promise. I was afraid Booth . . . I couldn't bear the thought of never seeing you again."

Her tears splashing onto his bare shoulder, Booth cleared his throat and tried to assure her. "But I'm here now. I'm not going anywhere, Bones. I still expect to get those thirty or forty years. I want every one of them with you. I love you."

Tearfully, Brennan closed her eyes and relaxed in his embrace. "And I plan to make sure that happens, Booth. I will try to make that happen because I love you too."

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Let me know what you think of my story. Thank you.