A/N I do not own Bones. Surprise, surprise.
I enabled anonymous reviews. I appreciate all the reviews and positive criticism. I figured I'd make one more chapter after this, to take us through the diner scene. But no worries, I have an idea for another mini story revolving around Wanna Be in the Weeds. Watch for that.
He jolted awake as they lowered him from the ambulance. They moved quickly. But not too quickly, he wasn't actually a critical patient. He was swiftly rolled into the doors of the ambulance bay while Brennan followed closely behind. He grunted again when they mistakenly brushed his burned leg while transferring him to a gurney. Brennan frowned at the paramedics and they looked down in embarrassment.
The hospital smelled strongly of antiseptic. The smell washed over him as he rode through the halls, leaving him dizzy and with the beginnings of a small headache forming behind his left eye. They brought him to a room with a long row of white beds against a wall. Equipment surrounded each standard, hospital issue bed. Pale green curtains separated each patient, offering only a mere hint of privacy.
He was asked all sorts of questions about past injuries, namely the ones he had sustained from Brennan's-Exploding-Refrigerator last year. Brennan became the self-appointed authority on such matters and often cut in to explain his injuries in a more detailed and complex manner (usually incorporating the use of many big words). He gave them a detailed medical history while the pretty nurses bustled about, inserting his IV and making sure he was comfortable. A doctor performed a routine exam, poking and prodding. Does that hurt? What about this? And here? The questions continued but finally the reunited partners were left alone. He took the opportunity to remind Brennan how much he hated hospitals.
"They're too clean, Bones. It isn't natural."
Brennan told him he was being irrational. He was surprised, however, when she asked if he wanted pudding. Booth, of course, agreed and she asked a passing orderly to bring two cups of vanilla and an extra chocolate. She helped him open the container, though she suspected he could do it just fine himself. It was reminiscent of their last hospital visits, she thought, as she brought the chocolaty spoon to her mouth.
They waited, he and Brennan, while they treated his leg for second degree burns and he was sent for a chest CT. Brennan told him about her father, how Max had helped her search for him and how she and her team of Squints had deduced that he was being held in Gallagher's airplane hangar. Brennan did not tell him how she had punched Veleska Miller. She pressed him about what had happened in the time that he was missing. He told her about how 'Ice-Pick' had gotten the drop on him (the first time in ten years!), took his gun, and limped away. He told her how Gallagher and Lightner had found him; all trussed up like a thanksgiving turkey. Brennan knew not to push him, however, when Booth glossed over his time spent with the two criminals. She had a pretty good understanding of what had happened without him telling her. Angela called while a surgical intern was stitching Booth's abdomen to inform Brennan that Lightner's surgery had been successful and he would make an almost complete recovery. This was good news; he could now be held accountable for the kidnapping and assault of a police office (among other charges). In all the distractions, Brennan had almost forgotten about the screwdriver that had (most unfortunately) found its way into Lightner's chest. Assuring Angela for the third time that Booth was fine, she promised to have Booth visit the lab late the next morning.
And so it was, roughly three and a half hours later, that Booth left the hospital on crutches, a hefty dose of subscribed pain medication rattling in his right pocket. He received many fervent warnings from his doctor and three nurses (who smiled at him sweetly) to "stay off his damn leg" as Brennan filled out his discharge papers. Still in his ruined dress shirt and trousers, bloody and battered looking, heady with vicodine, and with two fractured ribs, Booth and Brennan slowly made their way into the hospital parking lot to find the fast Italian car that Angela and Hodgins had dropped off.
By the way, the chapter titles are lyrics from the song The Quest by Bryn Christopher. I was listening to my iPod the other night and just thought the lyrics fit. It's an awesome song. Check it out.
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