a/n: I'm baaack! This is the sequel to 'Red Shoes' so if you haven't read that yet, I strongly recommend you do otherwise this isn't going to make much sense. Or maybe it will. Who knows.

This takes place at the end of season 3, post 'Wannabe In The Weeds.' Enjoy!

If she sat and looked at her hands long enough, Brennan thought she could still feel his blood pumping through her fingers. Squeezing her eyes shut, the forensic anthropologist tried to block out the lingering smell of antiseptic and the murmurs of Angela and Hodgins seated in the waiting room with her.

Oh God. What if he's dead?

Brennan almost laughed at that. The idea that Booth wouldn't be there beside her, wouldn't be there to smile, laugh, kiss, touch – it was ridiculous.

The paramedic said there was a good chance of survival. The bullet missed his heart and just nicked an artery. She said it would be okay, that the doctor could just sew him back up.

'Tempe?' Tony's voice broke through her self-imposed bubble. Brennan raised her head, noticing that none of the Jeffersonian team were there with her anymore. Vaguely, she thought she remembered Angela telling her something about getting coffee.

'Tony.' Her voice sounded ragged, hoarse. Her friend furrowed his brow, easing down on the chair beside her.

'What happened? I got your message but you were kinda…' Tony trailed off, taking in her red rimmed eyes and tear streaked face.

Brennan was surprised he was able to decipher her voice mail. She had been practically in hysterics when she had called Tony, thoughts scattered and voice rambling and thick with anxiety and something else.

'It's Booth,' she managed to choke out. 'We…we were at the Checkerbox. I told him about Cyndi Lauper and he wanted to hear me. I was singing and he was bouncing and then she shot him Tony. Pam shot him! And he was on the ground, and there was just blood everywhere and I didn't know who to call. I apologize if I interrupted-'

'Hey, hey. Slow down,' Tony murmured, placing his hand between her neck and shoulder. The warmth from his palm soothed her somewhat, have her frayed nerves something to latch onto to.

'Temperance,' Ziva started but fell silent when she saw Brennan. The Israeli, Brennan could tell, hated hospitals just as much as she did. Ziva's discomfort manifested itself very subtly – every once in a while, she would reach for the Star of David pendant hanging around her neck.

'It's Booth,' she heard Tony say. Ziva met his eyes briefly before nodding her head. 'Did you manage to not run over a little old lady when you parked the car?'

Ziva glared at him.

'Have you heard anything?' Ziva asked her, taking the chair on her other side. The Mossad liaison tentatively touched her hand. Brennan squeezed it in response.

'He's been in surgery since we got here. No one's told me anything despite my rather…forceful requests.'

Tony tried to hide the snort that erupted upon hearing her words. Ignoring the dark look Brennan sent his way, the Italian rose to his feet. 'Well, let me flash my badge around and use of the ol' DiNozzo charm,' he said with an exaggerated wink, disappearing down the hallway towards the desk.

'Are you alright, my friend?' Ziva's quiet question wriggled through the gaping cracks in her wall.

Brennan lifted her eyes, finding herself reflected in a pair of dark brown orbs.

'He jumped in front of that bullet to save me Ziva,' Brennan whispered. 'That bullet shouldn't have…I should be the one in there, not Booth.'

'Agent Booth did his job Temperance. You know that as well as I do.' Ziva held up a hand to stop the objection she must have known Brennan was going to voice. 'But most important of all, he did it because he loved you.'

The man I love could be dying because of me.

Before she could stop herself, the memories from the past year assaulted her. Their relationship had remained a secret, the worst well-kept secret in the Bureau and Jeffersonian according to Booth. Angela, of course, had known the instant she had seen Brennan and Booth after that fateful kiss in her office. Her best friend had squelched the urge to confront Brennan until after the case. Hodgins and Cam simply gave them knowing looks, while Zach…

Brennan had noticed a change in her protégé's demeanor since his return from Iraq. The Zach before had been reticent with his emotions, yes. But one could always sense the underlying warmth and innocence emanating from the young doctor. That was gone now, much to Brennan's disappointment. The Zach that had returned from the Middle East was more cold, more clinical and detached. While before Brennan would have championed such a change, now she regarded it with a sense of loss. The hardened man with shadows lurking behind his eyes made Brennan wish she could turn back time.

Booth had listened to her of course. Late at night when it was just the two of them, her head resting on his heart, his fingers tunneling through her hair, he would listen as she spoke of her concern. Booth had simply said war changes people. Not wanting to start a fight, Brennan had simply stopped speaking about it.

But Temperance and Seeley had become something that Brennan never thought she would ever find. The contentment and inner peace that being with Booth brought was new and exciting, feelings which she never thought would ever visit her door. The past year had passed by so quickly that Brennan was shocked to discover herself realizing that their one year anniversary would soon be upon them. Angela had laughed, telling her that that's what being in love was like.

Brennan smiled to herself, summoning up the first official date they had had.

Brennan looked down at the floaty dark blue dress she had on and glanced back at her boyfriend.

'When you told me to dress up, I assumed that we would be going somewhere more…appropriate,' she told him, watching as he punched in the pin to unlock the door to the Planetarium in the Jeffersonian.

'Bones, that dress is totally appropriate for the gourmet cooking I've got hidden in here,' Booth retorted, holding up the picnic basket and shaking it gently.

'I have pins jabbing into my skull Booth.'

'It's Seeley remember? That was one of my rules.'

'You are insufferable.'

'Hey, I got the girl didn't I?' Booth remarked with a cheeky grin, lacing his fingers with hers and pulling her along towards the large control panel that curved along the front of the room.

'How did you manage to secure access to this room after hours?' Brennan enquired.

'Knowing the owner of the Cantilever Group has its perks,' Booth responded, giving her a quick wink before glancing down quizzically at the rows of buttons and switches laid out in front of them. 'Now, Angela said that all I had to do was-'

'Hodgins and Angela?' Brennan couldn't help but raise her voice. 'I thought we decided to keep this on the down near the ground!'

'Bones, I'm trying to concentrate here. Let's tone it down so I can-'

Brennan let out a noise of exasperation. 'If we're following your rules, why are you still referring to me as Bones?' Nudging Booth to the side, Brennan confidently flicked a switch and pressed the red button to its right. Suddenly, the low lights along the aisles dimmed. The screen that filled the room from floor to ceiling became a dark, rich, velvety blue. A giant weeping willow, its leaves illuminated by swatches of moonlight, seemed to hover over them.

'Booth,' Brennan breathed appreciatively, her mind instantly going back to that night outside the Blue Oyster.

'This was the first time we kissed.'

'I though we did that in my office,' Brennan shot back.

'Yeah. But when we kissed that night in the park, it was different you know? There wasn't anyone hacking someone else to bits. We didn't have to pretend that the case was more important. When I saw you under that tree, under that light,' Booth told her, voice low and husky as he stepped close to her till their noses were almost touching. 'That's when I knew that we were going to make it Bones.'

Brennan felt her heart beat faster.

'I think, Seeley, that you should start calling me Temperance.'

Bringing her lips up to his smiling mouth, Brennan wrapped her arms around his neck and remembered why crossing the line was worth it.

'Family for Seeley Booth?'

Bringing her train of though abruptly to a halt, Brennan shot to her feet instantly. The Indian man in front of her stood in his light blue hospital scrubs, surgical mask dangling around his neck. Brennan tried to ignore the blood staining his midsection. Booth's blood.

'It's Special Agent Booth. He works with the FBI,' Brennan told him, refusing to let go of Ziva's hand. Tony still wasn't back. Neither was anyone from the Jeffersonian. Brennan wondered how long it took to get coffee and wondered why the doctor looked so severe and somber.

'I'm Dr Gupta. You're his partner?'

'I'm his girlfriend, Dr Temperance Brennan. I have power of attorney. How is he? Is he alright? When can I see him?'

Why did the doctor sound so kind, so sympathetic?

'I'm sorry Temperance.'

'What?' She sobbed out. 'Why are you apologizing? Booth is fine. He's being difficult, isn't he? He doesn't like hospitals. They make him petulant and he always seems to revert back to childish pouts and the paramedic before said he was going to be fine-'

'He lost a lot of blood Temperance. We tried to repair the tear near his heart but there were complications,' Dr Gupta said cautiously. 'He flat lined on the table and was unresponsive to the defibrillator and electro shock.'

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

'What are you saying?' Brennan wheezed. Ziva stood motionless at her side, quiet. The sound of footsteps speeding up reverberated somewhere in the back of her mind.

'Agent Booth passed away approximately five minutes Temperance. I'm so sorry.'

He was sorry?

'Temperance!' Why was Ziva shouting her name? Was that Tony?

Before the black rushed in all around her, and the faint outline of a weeping willow teased the darkness, Brennan could only remember one thing.

He promised me he wouldn't leave.