Chapter II

July: Croup

"Zack, you have to run the test on the skull again…these results cannot be correct. Look at the indentation on the forehead."

July had been an aweful month. Dead corpses had been raining down from everywhere, as if they were reproducing. Temperance and her team were hardly keeping up with the work. Especially identifying seemed to be impossible these days. She sighed and stared at the clock. She had eight corpses left, eight! Poor Angela, she was trying so hard, but some skulls were completely wrecked. Temperance was just about to give up as a familiar voice called her name.

"Hi Bones, time to get busy. We've got a new case!"

Normally she would not have hesitated at all, but under these circumstances? The last thing she could use was another skeleton, another dead person who had to be identified. Booth just looked at her and smiled. "What?" He asked irritatedly as she did not responded as usual.

"You look tired." He came closer and put his left hand onto her forehead. She did not back off, just shut her eyes and relaxed. Her head was aching. Temperance and Booth did not know that Angela was watching them. She simpered faintly and turned her concentration back to the monitor.

"We've got so many skeletons here, Booth. You'll have to wait if this case isn't labeled "high priority", or something like it."

"I just want you to take a look at it. That's all."

"Okay," she said hesitantly, "but I have to be back at 5."

Two weeks ago Temperence had decided that it was time to hire a nanny. Corazón-Lucía Vasquéz watched William Mondays and Tuesdays, from 08.00 am till 05.00 pm but Temperance had insisted on spending time with the baby while having her break. It confused her a little bit that leaving William "alone" made her feel so uneasy. Temperance tried to trust the nanny, she was actually pretty nice and good with him, but the thought about leaving him with another, unknown woman was freaking her out, although she did not want to admit it.

Temperance leaned against the door of Booth's car and stared outside while her partner was informing her about the new case. She found it hard to concentrate on his voice, maybe because a weird, unknown feeling had taken possession of her attention and would not leave her alone. In fact, it was getting worse. Temperance checked her cell phone – no calls yet. Was that a good or a bad sign?

"What do you think?"

"Uh, what?" She straightened herself and groaned. "Booth, I'm… sorry. I wasn't paying attention. The last weeks have been exhausting and with William having a nanny now… it's odd." She admitted and openend the copy of the case file which was lying ontop of her lap. She hopped he would not pick up on her last comment.

"Hearing something like that from you is odd… Bones, you sound so incredibly…" he paused and smiled, "… human."

She shot a dark glance at Booth and was just about to answer brusquely when her cell phone rang. It was Corazón.

"Brennan…Corazón, qué? Qué pasó? No puedo entenderte. Por favor, déjalo ya…sí…sí. Cómo está William? Vuelvo enseguida."

She hung up. "Booth, take me back immediatley," her voice was shaky, "William is in the hospital."

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Temperance sat right next to the baby cot and watched William, who was sleeping peacefully. He had taken her pinky and still had not let go, as if he was afraid that she would be leaving him. His breathing was still heavy and somewhat throaty. He had still been coughing and crying vehemently when Temperance had arrived. He had not let anyone else but her quieting him which had not been really helping him to breath normally again. The doctors even had had to put him on artificial respiration for some time.

They had informed her that William probably had suffered from an abnormal violently croup attack, a respiratory disease which afflicted especially infants and young children. Such respiratory symptoms were caused by inflammation of the larynx. Narrowing of the airway was the typical result.

"Croup is not uncommon," the friendly pediatrician said with a weak smile, "but the treatment is easy, normally."

"Normally?" Temperance's eyes widened. She took Booth's hand who was standing right behind her, stroking her neck with the other hand.

"This attack was extremely violent. This could have been because of his rising panic. William probably hadn't been in a hospital before. He got scared and that aggravated the symptoms. He wasn't breathing properly. However, if he gets another attack, the thing that can help him is actually pretty easy. One of the simplest ways to treat or help with croup is to inhale cool mist. Especially at night. If he suffers from an attack at night, take him outside. Let him inhale the cool, misty air. If it doesn't seem to help, try steam from running, hot bath water and show him that everything is okay and that he doesn't need to panic."

Temperance just nodded and turned her attention back to William, who just woke up whining loudly. The three-month-old boy squinted and reached out for her, his chubby arms spread apart and still fussing.

"Go ahead, take him," the doctor said, "let me get the discharge papers. You can take him home now. He should be fine."

As soon as she welcomed William in her arms, the baby put his bald head down onto her shoulder and cooed happily. His left hand clung to the V-collar of her shirt. Temperance did not care that other people were able to watch her now. She was too relieved to hide behind her usual anthropologist-wall, she kissed and stroke his head. She did not know what she would have done if… if something worse had happened.

Booth offered himself to carry William to the car but Temperance declined his offer thankfully. She wanted to be near him right now, she wanted to feel his warm body on her skin. She needed to know by herself that he was okay and she realized that she was not able to live without him anymore. Rising a healthy baby seemed to be hard and stressful but the croup attack definitively openend her eyes. It was not a burden, it was chance. It was Temperance opportunity to have a family of her own, even if the core family only consisted of William and her – and Booth.