Disclaimer: I don't own Bones, etc. though I wish I could give them ideas...

A/N: I thought Cam's response to Booth would be in this section, but the muse decided to give Booth an earlier epiphany than I had originally planned. Next chapter probably up tomorrow.


Chapter 3

As Cam waited in the elevator on her way to Booth's office, she let her mind wander over the various scenarios that might have prompted Booth's early morning phone call. Considering the time of the call, he had probably had a dream. Considering the veiled panic she thought she had heard in his voice, and knowing his history, she surmised the dream had something to do with Dr. Brennan. Maybe it involved Booth and Brennan in a "non-partners" situation? The pathologist sincerely hoped so—maybe now they could all get to the bottom of the awkwardness that had been apparent between most of the members of her team since they had all returned from different parts of the world.

Her musings were interrupted by the "ping" of the elevator as it reached the desired floor. She strode purposefully out into the corridor and made her way to Booth's office. As she arrived in the doorway, Cam immediately noticed that Booth seemed to be staring at a bare spot on his office wall, not acknowledging her presence until she cleared her throat and said, "Hey, Booth."

Years of training kept Booth from leaping out of his seat, but he admitted to himself that Cam had managed to startle him. "Hey, Cam. You came. Thanks. Have a seat?" he asked, then added, "And could you close the door?" He tried to keep his nervousness from showing in his face, but he knew that was mostly a lost cause with Cam.

Cam smiled, but only a little since she knew her friend was unhappy. "You don't need to act any particular way in front of me, big guy. Just be honest, like you usually are, and I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this." Cam noticed that Booth visually slumped a bit more in his chair, and his face took on an expression of sadness mixed with confusion and something else she couldn't identify.

"What did you tell everyone when you left the lab at 10:30 AM?" he asked, still trying to be as nonchalant and calm as possible.

Cam really grinned this time. "What makes you think I needed an excuse? I am the boss, after all." But seeing Booth's expression, she knew this was not the time for jokes. "I told them I was meeting Felicia for coffee—which I did, at around 10. Then I came here."

Cam could see the relief in Booth's eyes that she had went to an effort to conceal their meeting from the squint squad. "I'm sorry I asked you to do that, Cam, but those squints are really good at figuring out things they aren't supposed to know—especially Angela," Booth said. "And if Angela knows, then B-, er, everyone else knows 5 seconds later."

Cam relaxed as much as she could in her uncomfortable FBI-issue chair, but she wasn't about to wait for Booth to bring up the subject which had prompted this meeting. She did need to get back to the lab before anyone got too suspicious. She got right to the point.

"All right, Seeley," she said, letting him know she was serious by using his given name, "what's going on."

Booth cringed at her use of that name. "Argh," he said. "That's what she said that interrupted my dream," he blurted out, waiting for Cam to pounce on his statement. When she merely sat quietly, her hands folded in her lap, clearly waiting for him to continue, he allowed himself to relax a little bit. He knew he had done the right thing in asking for her help.

"As I just said, I had a dream last night. As you've probably guessed, the dream left me…" his voice trailed off as he searched for the right word to describe his jumbled feelings. "It left me feeling unsettled." He glanced at Cam, and as she merely nodded encouragingly, he continued.

"The dream was about me and Bones. And it was probably the best dream I ever remember having." There, he had said it out loud to someone else.

Cam was surprised he would admit that much, that he liked the dream. But she tried to keep her tone neutral. "I guessed it was about you two, when you asked to meet me, and especially since I wasn't supposed to let anyone know we were meeting," Cam said sympathetically.

Booth sighed, then started to give her a summary of the dream. "Bones and I were sitting on my couch, together, and, well…" He stopped talking again, part of him wishing he hadn't dreamt this at all, and part of him wishing it hadn't been a dream but had been real.

Cam knew this was going to be difficult for Booth, but she felt she needed to push him to verbalize what had happened. "Booth, just spit it out. You know how much I care about you—I'm not going to judge you, nor am I going to tell anyone what you tell me in confidence. Tell me everything, then we can figure out where to go from there." Cam let a little of her exasperation show in her voice, to hopefully spur Booth into moving forward with his story.

"O.K., Cam, you're right. It's just hard—I wish I didn't have these thoughts… But wishing them away hasn't helped so far…" Now Booth seemed to almost be talking to himself. Then Cam saw him apparently rally his thoughts, and he told the rest of the story:

"Bones and I were married, sitting together on my couch, my arms around her and her pregnant stomach." Cam's eyes grew wide as his mention of the word "pregnant," but she kept silent to let him finish.

"We were both feeling so happy, so content… Then Parker came running in, talking about video games. Anyway, he asked if he was supposed to call Bones "Mom" after the baby came. So Bones told him he didn't have to, he could just call her "Bones" like he already did. As I mentioned earlier, Bones and I were married…" Booth's attention momentarily wandered back to the spot on the wall he'd been staring at earlier, and Cam knew he was thinking about the possibilities of that situation.

"And then," Booth said, wrenching himself back to reality, the emotion clearly thick in his voice, "Parker asked if he could call Bones "Mom." And she said that would be fine, if he wanted to. She was so great about it!" Booth seemed torn between despair and joy as he recalled the events for Cam. "And he said he was going to start calling her "Mom" right away, and then he did, almost casually, after Bones had invited him to come watch a movie with us. Park was so happy, he was looking at us like we were his parents, like he knew how much he mattered to us."

Booth seemed almost exhausted after this emotional outburst. Cam could see, for the first time since he had been back from Afghanistan, how conflicted he must be inside. She had had a vague idea of what she needed to say before she had even come over to his office, but now she knew where she wanted to direct their conversation.

Since Booth hadn't started talking again, Cam gently prodded, "And how did the dream end? I'm betting there's still something else you need to tell me."

Booth looked up at the ceiling, calling on divine guidance. "After Parker left to get his DVD, I closed my eyes, and then I heard a voice calling, 'Seeley.' I thought, 'that isn't Bones, she knows I don't really like that name.' Then the voice became more clear, waking me up. It was, of course, Hannah. And apparently, I had said the word "Mom" loud enough that Hannah had heard." Booth shook his head, wishing the waking up had been the dream.

"So of course she wanted to know why I was saying "Mom" in a dream. So of course I lied to her, I lied to my girlfriend," Booth said with some anger, clearly directed at himself, "and told her that I was with Parker, then I was Parker's age and with my mom…" Booth snorted. "And she believed me. She didn't push, she just said something about missing our parents and that I could tell her if I wanted to." He finally stood up, the feeling of anger at himself outgrowing the other emotions as he began to pace.

"She's such a great person! Why am I having a dream about me and Bones being married—I should be dreaming about Hannah! And why…" He stopped again, and the expression on his face told Cam he was horrified by his next thought.

"Why what, Booth. You need to let yourself be honest—otherwise I can't help you move past this," Cam said as gently as if she were talking to a child.

"Why did the dream feel so, so right, so real, so perfect? I was upset with Hannah for waking me up, I was upset with her for not being Bones!" Booth sighed again, realizing that he felt a tiny bit better after finally being honest with himself and admitting his true feelings about the dream.

"I guess I'm not as over Bones as I thought," he said, sitting back down and cradling his head in his hands.