This began as something entirely different, but it turned into this. I guess that's just where the muse took me. I'd love to know your thoughts, reviews are like aloe vera and given that I have a badly sunburnt neck I could do with as much aloe as humanly possible.

Bones is unfortunately not mine, I just have a brain that likes to write about them.

The Love in the Idea

She stood still outside the busy hospital entrance, watching carefully as people hurried inside. Men and women raced past her, some holding flowers, others holding huge teddy bears with messages such as 'It's a boy,' 'It's a girl,' or 'Congratulations.' Temperance Brennan was carrying neither flowers nor stuffed animals, for she hadn't come to the hospital to welcome a new life. She'd come to see someone who'd almost lost his life.

She hadn't been in Washington for three months; in the middle of the night she'd packed her bags, she'd lasted two weeks after that fateful rainy evening, an evening where things had changed. Again. She'd gone away to concentrate on her book, or that was what she had told some of her friends. She'd really gone away because she could no longer deal with the budding relationship between Hannah and her former partner. She could no longer deal with the idea of Booth loving someone else, she couldn't watch it blossom in front of her any longer, so she'd run. She couldn't deal with the fact that Booth had taught her that real love wasn't just an idea, that for some people it was a reality and then he'd seemed to change his mind. She'd run to her older brother first and her sister in law had welcomed her with open arms. She'd stayed with them until she had felt she was overstaying her welcome and last month she'd moved to a hotel just outside a small town. She'd planned to stay there until she had decided what to do next, that was until she received a phone call.

Brennan sighed as she typed another sentence, she'd written this one scene between Kathy and Andy seven times. But she couldn't get it right; each time she'd find a word or a phrase that just didn't sit right. There was something that needed to be in this scene but she couldn't work out what she wanted to say. She leant back against the headboard of the bed and closed her eyes, she knew what she wanted to write, she just couldn't work out how to write it.

A piercing ring interrupted her train of thoughts, her eyes opened as she slowly realised that it was the hotel phone ringing. No one had called her in the entire time she had been here, no one knew her number, she hadn't told anyone where she was. Carefully she picked up the phone, "Hello,"

"Sweetie," the voice said questioningly, "Is that you?"

Brennan recognised the voice instantly, it was higher pitched that normal, but she knew it was Angela. "Yes Ange, it's me,"

"I'm so glad that you answered,"

"How did you find me?" Brennan questioned as she closed her laptop screen and placed it next to her on the bed.

"Hodgins is rich sweetie, he has his ways,"

Brennan sighed, "Why are you calling?" she questioned, "I told you needed time."

"You need to know something Brennan, something's happened here,"

"Are you and the baby okay?" Brennan questioned, worried about her metaphoric sister and niece or nephew.

"It isn't us," Angela explained, "We are both fine, other than the fact that I am the size of a small house."

Brennan smiled; she could hear the frustration in Angela's voice.

"Sweetie it's Booth."

Brennan felt her heart begin to pound, she'd tried desperately not to think of that name since she'd left Washington, she'd tried desperately to not think of the man to whom that name belonged. She took a deep breath and tried to find her voice, it came out small and shallow, "I told you I needed time away from him Angela." Brennan didn't want to know that he and Hannah were going from strength to strength, she didn't want to hear that.

"Sweetie, he's been shot."

It was then that Brennan felt her heart stop, of course it started beating again, but for a moment her heart had been still in her chest.

She'd struggled through the rest of her conversation with Angela, Angela patiently explaining that Booth had been shot in the shoulder whilst in pursuit of a suspect. Angela had wanted to tell Brennan more but Brennan didn't want to hear. She'd thanked Angela for calling, but had ignored the artist's pleas for Brennan to return home. Eventually Angela had stopped pleading and had simply told Brennan that she'd wanted her to know about Booth, then she'd hung up.

Brennan had lasted alone in her hotel room for four hours, before she'd once more packed up all of her things and booked a flight back to Washington. She'd been travelling for five hours and as soon as she arrived at the airport she'd come straight to where she stood now. She took a large strong deep breath, before she placed one trembling foot in front of the other and made her way into the hospital lobby. This was madness, it was Booth she had come to see, one of the closest friends she had ever had, but it was that she didn't know what to expect that made her feet tremble beneath her.

Camille Saroyan sat in the waiting room of the George Washington Hospital; she had tucked her feet up underneath herself and had been waiting patiently. She didn't exactly know what she was waiting for; all that she knew was that she was waiting. Cam had received a telephone call, late last night. She'd been asleep at her computer, there were autopsy reports that weren't making sense and she'd been trying desperately to understand what the body on her slab was telling her. She'd awoken to the phone beside her ringing, it had been the hospital. Booth had been shot, he'd gone after a suspect alone. Cam had sighed, since Brennan's unexpected departure from all of their lives, Booth had gone back to his non-partnered days. He'd taken more risks, he'd been irritable and since the departure of his girlfriend Hannah one month ago, most conversations Cam had entered into with Booth were answered with grunts instead of words.

Cam had bailed him up in his office three days earlier, she'd told him that she was his oldest friend and she wanted to know what was going on with him. He'd ignored her, he'd tried to move out of the office past her, but she'd stood in front of him and hadn't moved. Eventually Cam had managed to get actual words from Booth.

"You were right Cam," Booth said quietly as he stepped back around her and went to sit behind his desk.

"What was I right about?" Cam asked, as she turned back and sat opposite him.

"You told me if I cracked her shell and then I wasn't sure she'd die of loneliness before she trusted anyone again." Booth explained with a sigh.

"Brennan?" Cam questioned, already knowing the answer.

Booth nodded, "I really loved her," he said with a whisper.

"What about Hannah?" Cam questioned again, Booth had told Cam often that he loved Hannah, that he was happy with her, that he had no lingering feelings for their shared friend, clearly that had been a lie.

"I was in love with the idea of Hannah," Booth said softly.

"For once in your life you wanted the simple life?" Cam asked and Booth nodded.

"Hannah was easy to be with, she was so different, she was fun." Booth explained, before he continued, "Being with her wasn't complicated, I didn't have to think. I didn't want to think."

"Because you would have thought of Doctor Brennan?"

Booth nodded, "I loved the idea of Hannah, but I loved the reality of Bones and now they are both gone."

Cam sighed, "What happened with Hannah?"

"She asked me too many times what was wrong," Booth, explained with a sigh, "Eventually I told her the truth, she didn't like what she heard."

"She left you?"

"No, I told her I'd made a mistake, I said I had regrets," Booth said with a mirthless laugh. "I told her we weren't going to work."

Booth had made Cam his in case of emergency person and that was why she had been called. She'd raced to the hospital almost twenty-four hours ago. She had only seen Booth for a few hours; he'd been in and out of surgery since he had been admitted, they'd been able to remove the bullet from his shoulder but there had been substantial bleeding, there was also scar tissue around the new wound, scar tissue from a wound that Booth had received in front of Cam.

Cam sighed and stared out into the corridor, it was then that she caught sight of a woman she'd hoped would come, but Cam hadn't been sure that she would.

Brennan stepped out of the elevator and headed down the corridor towards where the nurse had explained Booth would be. At first the nurse didn't wish to tell Brennan where Booth was, it wasn't until Brennan had smiled sweetly and the nurse had realised who she was, that she had relented and told her Booth's room number. She stopped suddenly as she caught sight of him, her feet refused to move. He was pale and he was connected to at least four machines, she could hear the rhythmic beeps coming from the heart monitor and she didn't know if that soothed her or made her more anxious that it might cease it's incessant beeping. There was no-one else in the room with Booth and Brennan wasn't expecting that, she'd been expecting Hannah in the room, clasping Booth's hand and wiping away her perfect tears. But she wasn't there. Booth was alone.

Suddenly her feet began to move once more and she entered the room, she stood beside the bed and stared.

"What did you get yourself into?" Brennan questioned quietly, as her hand involuntarily moved towards his. "I'm sorry I didn't stay," she added, "I just couldn't watch you with someone else." Her fingers slid over the hospital bedding and eventually they reached his, without thinking her fingers curled up and underneath his, clasping for his hand. Booth made no realisation that she had hold of his hand, so she squeezed it tightly, feeling an odd sense of calm wash over her.

Cam watched from the window as Brennan reached for Booth's hand, she watched as Booth made no response. She watched as Brennan's shoulders dropped at the realisation that Booth wasn't going to wake up instantly. Cam took a deep breath, cleared her throat and entered the room.

Brennan heard someone clear his or her throat behind her, immediately she dropped Booth's hand and turned around ready to apologise to Hannah for intruding.

"Doctor Saroyan?" Brennan questioned, "You're not who I was expecting."

"Doctor Brennan," Cam said calmly as she moved towards the woman she had missed desperately in the last three months.

"You're not Hannah," Brennan replied, "Is she not here at the moment?"

"Hannah's gone." Cam said simply, she wasn't going to mince words, she had had enough of the whole relationship mess that one of her oldest friends and one of her newest friends had found themselves in.

"Gone?" Brennan questioned, not really believing what Cam was telling her. She had expected Hannah right by Booth's side, just like the dutiful girlfriend, just like the girlfriend that Brennan had never been.

"Booth and Hannah broke up," Cam explained, "A month ago."

"A month," Brennan repeated slowly.

"I thought Angela would have told you," Cam said, as she watched Brennan slide into the chair next to the bed.

"I think she tried," Brennan began, "But I didn't want to listen."

"You came back anyway?"

Brennan nodded, "It's Booth," she whispered, from her hotel room Brennan had contemplated staying put, staying miles away from a situation that she didn't feel she needed to re-enter into. But when instead of writing Kathy and Andy in her manuscript, she'd written Brennan and Booth, she'd decided that she had to go back to Washington, no matter the situation between Hannah and Booth, she had to see him.

"He's going to be okay," Cam explained simply, "There were some complications earlier on but at the moment he's stable. He's been awake off and on for the last few hours. He did speak before, but I couldn't make out what he was saying."

Brennan nodded as she processed the information that Cam was telling her.

"Now that you are here," Cam began, "I need to go home and check on Michelle."

"You're going to leave?" Brennan questioned, she'd just arrived and now Cam was going to leave her alone with Booth. They hadn't been alone since their conversation in Booth's SUV. She hadn't even said good-bye to him when she left, at least not in person; she'd left him a note.

Her heart was racing as she dropped the sealed envelope on his desk, she'd called ahead and Charlie had told her that Booth was in a meeting with Hacker and Cullen and that he wouldn't be free for at least a few hours yet. The note she had left wasn't long, it was four sentences, and she'd left it short purposely. Any longer and she would've said something that she shouldn't, so all she'd written was:

Booth, I am going away for a while. Please don't try to contact me. I need to go away so that I can believe that all the things you taught me weren't just ideas, that they could actually be real. Take care Booth.

True to what she had asked, as far as Brennan knew Booth hadn't tried to contact her. Neither Russ nor Amy had mentioned that she had missed any calls and until yesterday she hadn't heard from Angela either. It seemed however that Brennan had missed a few things in her time away.

"I won't be long," Cam began, interrupting Brennan's thoughts. "It is just that Michelle and her boyfriend have been having issues and I want to make sure she's okay." Cam explained quickly, lying through her teeth. She did want to go home and check on Michelle, but there had been no issues between her and her boyfriend. She just felt as if she had to make up something serious so that Brennan would stop looking at her with her sad doe eyes. It worked and Brennan looked at Cam with a regard of concern for another human, the sadness in her eyes moved slightly. "I'll be back later," Cam told Brennan, "And I know Angela was planning to visit again today. She has another appointment with her OB-GYN who is a resident here."

Brennan nodded, "Okay," she said quietly.

Cam smiled and began to leave the room, before she turned back, "You aren't going to sprint for the hills as soon as I am out of sight are you?" she questioned.

"I don't know what you mean," Brennan replied as she stared back towards Cam.

"You are going to be here when I get back?" Cam explained and questioned at the same time.

Brennan nodded, she'd be here, she watched then as Cam left the room and once again she and Booth were alone.

His shoulder hurt, he couldn't move. He lifted the hand that wasn't connected to where his shoulder hurt and rubbed at his face, his eyes struggled to open, but slowly someone's face came into focus.

Forty-five long minutes after Cam left, Brennan watched as Booth began to move. She couldn't help but lean over his face and watch as he struggled to open his eyes.

He must have been dreaming again, because the face that came into focus was Bones. It was her concerned features staring back at him, her eyes glassy and worried.

"Booth," Brennan said quietly, placing one hand on his non-damaged shoulder.

"I must be dreaming," he managed to say, "You aren't really here, you left, three months ago."

Brennan smiled, a small smile that slightly turned the corners of her lips upright, she couldn't help smiling at him, it was involuntary, it was a reflex to his voice. Her body reacted to Booth in ways that her brain couldn't control, in ways that her rationality couldn't drown out, "You aren't dreaming," she told him quietly.

Booth reached for one of Brennan's hands and squeezed it tightly, "You're really here?" he questioned, still not believing that he wasn't experiencing another coma alternative life.

"You were shot Booth. Angela called me. I came back."

Booth blinked as he focused his attention on the woman he had missed, "Would you have ever come back if I wasn't shot?"

Brennan shrugged, "I don't know Booth, perhaps one day."

"In that case I am glad I was shot." Booth said with a smile.

Brennan pouted, "Booth," she began, "Do not joke about being shot, you being injured is not a joking matter. It isn't acceptable. I told you to take care."

"You left me a note," Booth said slowly, "You didn't even say good bye, you didn't tell me why you were leaving."

Brennan scoffed as she pulled her hand from his, "You know why I left Booth."

"I made a mistake," Booth said quietly.

"Yes, I know, I made a mistake Booth, I was too late," Brennan began as she formulated a plan to escape from the room, it had been a mistake coming back here, she should have stayed away, nothing had really changed.

"No Bones," Booth began as he watched Brennan begin to take flight, "I made the mistake, me."

Brennan stopped moving and turned back to look at him, she didn't say anything and he continued.

"I made a mistake with Hannah," he said quietly, "I had the wrong idea,"

"The wrong idea?" Brennan repeated and then questioned.

Booth took a deep breath, it was now or never to tell Bones what he had been thinking since she had left him that four sentence long note. "I was in love with an idea," Booth explained.

"An idea," Brennan repeated as she sat back down next to the bed.

"The idea of sharing my life with someone," Booth continued to explain, "I didn't realise that I was doing that already."

"You were?" Brennan questioned.

Booth nodded, "With you."

"But," Brennan began, before she was cut off.

"I was in love with the idea of Hannah Bones, but she was just an idea. I love the reality of you. I don't care that you think you can't change and that you think I need protecting from you. I'm strong, I can withstand being shot at and have been shot more than once and survived."

Brennan sat silently, this was not what she had expected to return home to, she'd expected Hannah, she'd even considered that Booth may have even proposed to Hannah and that she would have been interrupting wedding plans. She hadn't expected this, she hadn't prepared for any of this.

"I was the one who made the mistake Bones," Booth told her continuing, "I should never have said anything outside the Hoover that night. I knew you weren't ready, I should've just waited."

Brennan sighed, "You aren't entirely to blame Booth," she replied quietly, turning her face to stare towards him.

"I should've known you can't be pushed into anything, you have to make up your own mind."

Brennan smiled involuntarily once more, "I did make up my own mind, eventually."

Booth smiled back, "I love you Bones," he said quietly, reaching for her hand, she didn't move away, she didn't struggle against him, so he took her fingers inside his. "I don't just love the idea of you and me, I love the reality. I know I hurt you, I know you'll need time, but please just don't run, come home, come back to Washington. We need you, we all need you. I need you. Please let me prove to you that what I taught you wasn't just ideas, that it could be real."

Brennan felt a lone tear escape the corner of her eye, he'd repeated what she had written to him, all those many months ago. "You did hurt me Booth, you crushed my heart, I won't pretend that you didn't hurt me and I still haven't forgiven you, but it seems I need you too. When Angela called and told me you were injured I felt my heart stop, obviously it started again or otherwise I wouldn't be here, but it stopped. I felt sick on my whole journey here, I only felt better once I'd seen you, once I'd held your hand."

"I'm sorry." Booth replied, it was the only thing he could say.

"I know," Brennan answered, those two words feeling like déjà vu as they passed her lips. "I'm not going to run Booth," she added calmly. "I'm going to come home for good," she whispered as she stood to sit on the bed beside him. "I'm not in love with the idea of you either Booth, I just love you too. I ran away to try and stop, but I failed. It's one of the first things I've ever failed at in my life," she said with a small laugh as her watery blue eyes met his equally watery brown ones.

"Bones," Booth whispered quietly, "I'm glad you failed."

Brennan smiled before she whispered back, "So am I."

It was then in this moment that there were no longer any words to say, as the two of them moved closer to one another, Brennan leaning down and Booth moving upwards as much as he was able, their lips met in a tender kiss, one that began to warm both of their equally crushed hearts, a kiss that proved to each of them that the love that Seeley Booth and Temperance Brennan shared was not an idea, it was real. It wouldn't be easy for the two of them, there was still much that needed to be said and mended, but this was the start, the start of something real, the start of something that would last forever, because that is what real love does.