Eternal love has been earned by my five reviewers ^_^ And the 27 odd emails I received for story alert, author alert, favourite story, favourite author :D But only a few reviews D: out of god knows how many people that faved D: please review and you get a shoutout ^_^ Like these lovely people: DerrBear, celtic-deramscape-94, frankiemakie, tansypool, Alice Haru, Oakland-dreamer and Lisbon94 ^_^ Enjoy this next chapter.

The hospital was boring – the walls were white, the room she was in was white, her standard issue hospital gown was white and the only thing that wasn't white in the entire room was a table. The table was cream. Brennan shivered and hugged herself, warming her arms slowly. Booth was waiting outside, and she was scared, scared because she couldn't remember anything. Her arm was stinging where they'd taken her blood for testing, and she'd declined an SAE kit – knowing that they'd find something confusing and possibly disastrous for Booth's career, and life as a free man. So now here she was, trembling and nervous in an empty room at the hospital. Her hands were shaking as she laid them flat on her knees and she made no move to try to control it. A door opened on the other side of the white room, a welcome flash of yellow light, and a young nurse walked in, her brown hair tightly twisted in a knot behind her head.

'Miss Brennan?' It was a change to be called miss for once, but she swallowed her retort and nodded. 'There was rohypnol in your system.' She bit down her cry and looked up at the nurse, focussing on the name badge.

'R-really?'

'I'm afraid so, if you'd let us do a full SAE kit…'

'N-no… You wouldn't be able to tell anyway.'

'And how do you know that?'

'Because I had sex before this… so you won't be able to tell, and I don't want one done.' She stammered, forcing the truth out.

'Fair enough.' The young nurse looked puzzled, but handed Brennan some clothes Booth had brought form her apartment. 'Keep your wound clean okay? And look after yourself.'

'O-okay.' She nodded and the nurse left; Brennan watched her go and her head slowly sunk to her hands as she began to feel tears welling up in her eyes. There was a gentle knock on the other door, and she raised her head slightly towards the sound.

'Bones?' It was Booth and she sighed quietly.

'You can come in.' She told him, struggling to pull a soft cotton tee over her head with her injured arm. He sidled inside and walked up to her, resting his hand on her arm.

'How're you feeling?' he was gentle, tender and caring, another thing that moved her to tears.

'How would you be?' She asked him, anger flaring suddenly and irrationally. 'Booth… I'm sorry...' She told him, the anger dissipating within seconds.

'No… Bones, I'm sorry. I know why you ran out on me on Friday, and I'm sorry I wasn't more careful with you.' He looked down at his hands, an embarrassed flush creeping up his neck.

'I didn't mean to run out on you… I just panicked I guess…'

'You? Panicked? Two words I thought I'd never hear in the same sentence from you.'

'Well I did okay… I was scared you'd get me pregnant. I'm sorry, if I'd stayed and let my rational brain kick in this wouldn't have happened and you wouldn't be here.'

'Bones, it was my fault. And I don't regret this – you think I'd let you do this by yourself?' He told her firmly. 'Friday was a mistake – a stupid mistake… I should never have taken you to dinner or made you stay at mine. I know one thing led to another, and that you're just as much to blame as I am but the weight of the blame is my fault and I'm sorry. Forgive me?'

'Of course I forgive you… but I need your help to find out what happened to me, I can't do it by myself.'

'I'll help you, it's the least I can do.' She looked at him, seeing him so humble and squashed scared her more than losing an entire day did. He was such a strong person, so fiery and a fighter – and seeing him so cowed and apologetic was nearly terrifying.

'Thank you.'

oOo

Booth was in the car, driving as usual, and trying to think about what had happened on Friday night. It was his fault, wholly his fault because he had been the one that wasn't using protection. Why did he let his feeling for her spill over in a most unattractive manner – a one-night stand? Seriously? Oh classy. He cursed himself silently and looked over at her, eyes closed against the world in the passenger seat. She was in pain, he could see that, and she was pressing herself against the window as though she was trying to avoid him. He sighed softly and reverted his attention to the road, trying, and failing, not to look at her. Her head was back against the headrest; her dark hair tangled and knotted, her normally pale skin nearly paper-white with fatigue. There were dark rings beneath her eyes, coloured purple like dark bruises that were horrible blemishes on her usually flawless skin. He softly stroked the back of her hand with his thumb and sighed softly, wanting to enfold her in his arms.

'Booth?'

'Mmm?'

'Where are we going?'

'I was going to ask you the same question.'

'The lab?'

'What would that solve? No – we're going to the bar you went to last night to see if it triggers anything in your lost day.'

'We are?'

'Yeah… do you not want to?'

'Can we go back to my apartment first? I think I need some other clothes if we're going to find the bar and see if I can remember anything.'

'I'm sorry… I just grabbed something from your room…'

'No, it's okay – I just don't feel comfortable in something this revealing right now… I'm sorry.'

'No, I wasn't thinking when I picked this up. It's my fault.'

'Booth… please stop being so humble. It's scaring me.'

'Me apologising is scary?'

'No, you're usually so strong… seeing you so humble like this is scary for me – I'm not used to you being like this.'

'But I'm sorry!'

'Don't be! You love me, I know! You cheated on your girlfriend for me! But I don't want you to think it's your fault because I'm as much to blame as you are. I pushed you away and this happened. It's not all your fault okay?' She peered at him beseechingly and placed her hand on the sleeve of his denim jacket.

'No… but… it's no use arguing with you.' The remark about his girlfriend stung, but he was determined not to show it despite being angry with her for being so cool towards him after all the compassion he'd shown her. 'Anyway, back to yours right?'

oOo

Booth strained through his brain for the memory that had been laced with drink, and tried to remember everything from Friday night and possibly Saturday morning.

He was elated, he'd managed to convince her to have dinner with him, she'd taken some persuading but it would be worth it. His girlfriend was becoming too clingy and possessive, he was thinking about leaving her sometime soon. Dinner with Brennan seemed to be the best way to see how she was feeling about him after his confession. She was right – he was the gambler and she was the scientist, but they say opposites attract right? So he hoped that she'd be coming round to his way of thinking – so she couldn't change, but what was to say he wanted her to? He loved her just the way she was, there was no need for her to change – but he doubted she'd notice or care if he told her. He'd agonised over a restaurant for ages, before settling on Jasmine Spice, an Indian restaurant that sold cheap alcohol and, surprisingly, decent food. The meal was uninteresting, they talked about everything but what he wanted to talk about, their relationship was complicated and he wanted to address the conflicts of interests they were having.

'I need to… go…' She told him forlornly, sounding as though she wanted to stay for longer; and maybe that was what persuaded him to gather up all his courage and talk to her.

'Share a taxi?' or something along those lines anyway. Maybe it was her rational mind being clouded by alcohol, or maybe she was jut tired, but she said yes and they flagged one down after paying the bill. She seemed confused when it stopped by his place, but he'd blurted out something about coffee and she, maybe out of sympathy for him, she'd agreed. Once inside his apartment, he'd brought up the subject they'd avoided all night.

'Bones… about our relationship…'

'Our personal or professional?'

'Personal, but I guess our professional is affected by this.'

'What do you want to talk about?'

'Bones, I told you how I feel about you, how do you feel about me?'

'I don't know, I don't think I'm coherent enough to care to be honest.'

'Fair enough.'

And then it was later, and she was running from his placed, hair dishevelled and her jacket clutched tightly around her. Damn it! It was his fault! Again, he'd made the mistake that had pushed her away. But it wasn't really his fault was it? He realised why she'd ran out, and he felt bad about it. Really bad. He'd ejaculated p that meant she could be pregnant, which was bad for her and bad for him if it transpired she did become pregnant, and then told someone whose it was. Sometimes, he thought life would be easier if they had never been paired up – but then his life would lack… something. He never handled alcohol well, and this was proving to be such a time where he wished he wasn't such a lightweight. He was worried about her, no way he wouldn't be, but he also knew she could take care of herself. He burrowed under his duvet, shaking off the shivers of foreboding, and forced himself to sleep.

'Booth?' Brennan's voice cut through his recollection like a hot knife through butter.

'Yeah?'

'Why do you care?'

'Why are we having this conversation?'

'Because if we didn't, we'd be drifting into fast lane traffic…'

'Oh, I see your point. I can because… I like you more than I should and it hurts that you don't like me back because this isn't just like a crush in high school, it's a proper relationship and working with you is nearly killing me.'

'Oh.'

'Is that all you can say?'

'Well what do you want me to say! Sorry I ran out on you, it was a mistake and I love you? Because I won't say Booth! You know me better than that.' She was crying again, tears spilling down over her cheeks and dripping down onto her hands.

'Bones… I'm sorry, I just wasn't thinking.'

'That seems to be a running theme for today!' She rested her head in her hands and tried to block out what he was saying, wished there was some way for her to make it better between them. Booth shook her arm again, rougher this time.

'Bones, talk to me.'

'What do you want me to say to you?' She sounded defeated and tired, her voice cracking with the strain of trying to keep on top of everything.

'I don't know Bones, just…'

'Just…?'

'I don't know.' The conversation evaporated, leaving both of them feeling unsatisfied and confused as to what was going to happen next. It was a relief when they pulled up outside her apartment building.

oOo

'You ready yet?' Booth asked her, drumming his fingers uncertainly on the kitchen counter.

'Sort of…'

'What do you mean, "sort of"? You either are or you aren't.'

'Then I'm not, could you help me?'

'Sure.' He slipped into her room and saw her, hair tousled and her shirt held in one hand.

'I can't get this on… my arm…' She told him pathetically, annoyed at herself for being so pathetic about a little pain across the top of her arm. The bandage was getting loose and Booth placed a hand on it.

'I gotta redo this first, okay?' She nodded, and let him unwind the soft white bandage that was loose and slowly falling down. He drew in a breath at the sight, but, tactfully, stayed silent and tightened the bandage. 'Too tight?'

'N-no… thank you.'

TBC – Reviews are always appreciated :D