7
Chapter 3
Booth just barely made it up the stairs. His apartment building didn't have an elevator and they had no choice but to take them slowly. By the time he got to his front door he was out of breath and Brennan had to open the door. Instead of going right to bed Booth insisted on sitting down at the couch for awhile. "Let me rest for awhile okay? Then I promise that I'll go in and take a shower and go right to bed after I change the sheets."
"I'll take care of the sheets; you just go and take a shower when you think you're ready, okay?" Brennan said as she looked at him straight in the eyes.
"Is that going to be the Bones look when you're serious and won't take any mischief from me?" Booth asked as he gave her a big smile. He couldn't help himself as he looked into her eyes. He grabbed her and pulled her into his arms and gave her a kiss that was long and passionate. She responded by putting her arms around his neck. As they pulled apart he continued to look at her. He ran his fingers down the side of her face and then lightly ran a finger over her lips.
"I wish I could do more Bones but I am too tired for any activities." Booth said as he kissed her lips ever so lightly again. "I wish I had told you that I loved you a long time ago. I've wasted so much time." He pulled her into his arms again and just held her.
"It's partly my fault also Booth. I could have told you that I loved you a long time ago. My head was so tied up with all of my book learning about the chemical makeup of what we call love. I had to know you for these past 4 years so that you could teach me about where our feelings really come from. I've come to realize that there must be love first before the chemical flow starts. Now I can admit to the origination of those feelings."
As they pulled apart he gazed into her bluish gray eyes again and she could feel his muscles tighten under his shirt. "What's the matter?"
"I saw that familiar glint in your eyes." He pushed her off of his lap. "You always have a playful glint in your eyes whenever you're going to do or say something playful."
Brennan turned beet red and looked down at the couch as she ran her hand over it repeatedly. "I was just thinking that I could go with you into the Sperm Bank and help you place your deposit." Brennan said with a smile. Her eyes were literally sparkling now.
"It will be my pleasure, and I do mean 'my' pleasure, to have you accompany me." Booth said with a sparkle in his own eye.
"I want you to go and take a shower now and I'll change the sheets then I'll make something light for us to eat." Brennan said as she got up and pulled him up and followed him into his bedroom.
While Booth went into the bathroom to take a shower Brennan pulled the sheets off of the bed and pulled clean sheets out of the linen closet and proceeded to make the bed. Before putting the cover sheet on she went to the linen closet again and looked for a beach towel. Knowing Booth as she did all she had to do was look for something outlandishly colorful. She found it on the bottom shelf and pulled it out and looked at it. A picture of Superman was printed on the front. She smiled and said "Of course, what else would he have." When she heard the shower turn off she quickly placed the towel on one side of the bed and finished making the bed then went into the kitchen to make a couple of sandwiches.
When she came back in the room she found Booth sitting up in bed and watching the late night news. He was leaning his head against the headboard and was half asleep already. "Wake up Booth." She said softly as she sat the tray over his lap. Booth sat up straight and grabbed the glass of iced tea she had made for him. "Here is two Tylenol for your fever. You don't feel too hot so these should take care of it for the next few hours." Brennan said as she sat on the other side of the bed and pulled over her own sandwich. They ate their sandwiches in silence for awhile. Neither one of them had eaten anything since the morning so they were both hungry. When Booth saw that they were both done he picked up the tray and put it on the floor.
Brennan started to get up when Booth said "Leave it, I know that you must be just as tired as I am. Why don't you go take a shower and come and get in bed with me."
"Booth, I don't have anything here." Brennan said as she started to get up.
"In the dresser on the bottom drawer you'll find some pajamas. I never use the tops so there are plenty of tops to choose from or you can use one of my t-shirts. Tomorrow before we go to the sperm bank we can go to your apartment and you can pick up some things and change into some clean clothes." Booth said as he looked at her with a glint of mischief in his own eyes.
Brennan thought about it for a minute. She leaned against the bathroom door and tapped her lips with her finger as she pondered what to do. She was tired, she thought, and she was going to be staying with him for the next 6 to 9 months. She made her decision and just smiled at him and opened the bottom drawer of his dresser and pulled out a pajama top and went into the bathroom.
Booth watched her go into the bathroom and close the door. "Man oh man! Why do I have to be sick now? But then if I wasn't sick we probably wouldn't have told each other how we felt. Lord, is this a joke or something?" He just gave a heavy sigh and scooted down the bed so that he could lie down. Within minutes he was asleep.
Brennan came out of the bathroom wearing his pajama top and a towel around her head. She went into the living room and picked up her purse and grabbed her brush then went back into the bedroom. The television was still on so she sat on the end of the bed and turned it to the late night news. She brushed her hair until it was dry then hung the towel up again and turned the television off and crawled into bed beside Booth. She felt his chest and he felt cool to the touch and dry so she turned the light off on the night stand and cuddled up to him while putting her head on his chest and her arm around him. She went to sleep then, but not before she felt him put his arm around her and pull her closer to him.
At 3 in the morning Brennan woke up when she felt the heat radiating from Booth's body. She turned the light on and looked at him. He was literally dripping sweat onto the towel she had put on top of the bottom sheet. She got up and went to the bathroom to get some more Tylenol for him. There was still some tea left in his glass from supper so she grabbed it and shook his shoulder. "Wake up Booth your temperature is up again." He woke up and sat up. He took the two Tylenol from her without question, swallowed them, and washed them down with the tea.
"Thanks." He lay back down again and was asleep within seconds again. Brennan went to the bathroom and soaked a wash cloth with cold water and wiped his face and chest of all of the sweat. She didn't go back to bed until she felt his body start to cool down again.
The next morning they had an 8 o'clock appointment at the sperm bank. Booth wanted to take care of his deposit while he was still feeling good from his previous night's sleep. Brennan was surprised when he got into the passenger side of the SUV and gave her the keys. It was Tuesday and they were hitting the morning traffic while heading out to the bank so it took them 45 minutes.
Brennan could tell that Booth wasn't looking forward to this. Even though she was going to be helping him make his deposit she could still see that he was nervous. She took his hand and she felt him immediately relax.
It took 30 minutes for Booth to fill out the papers and pay for the storage of his sperm. When the nurse called him to come to the back he took Brennan's hand in his and pulled her with him.
"Hi, I'm Mrs. Chapel and I'll be taking care of you for now. Since you have your girl friend with you would you like to have a room with a bed?" Booth turned red. He turned to Brennan than for the answer to the nurse's question.
"Chairs will be fine." Brennan said. The nurse took them down a hallway to the 5th door and walked in. When Brennan and Booth walked in she gave them instructions as to what they had available in the room.
"As you can see we have a TV and DVDs for you to watch if you need any help. The men are usually very nervous and need some encouragement to get things going. Here is the jar that you are to put the specimen in. When you're done put it here in this small door and turn the shelf around. A bell will ring on the outside and I'll pick it up right away to test it and start the procedure to put it in storage. You can leave then anytime you're ready." Brennan said thank you and the nurse left.
Booth just looked at Brennan and said "Please Bones, no clinical analogy of my situation."
Brennan smiled and pushed Booth down in the chair. "Just sit there and I'll take care of everything Special Agent Seeley Booth." She said it in such a sexy seductive way that he couldn't help it when his heart started pounding in his chest. He watched her as she selected one of the porno flicks and slipped it into the DVD player and turned on the TV. As the woman in the movie started to undress he watched Brennan do the same thing. When the woman kissed the man Brennan kissed Booth. Booth could already feel the needed erection. He was responding to the movie and Brennan's duplicate acting so well that they were done in just 20 minutes. After Booth filled the jar Brennan put it into the little door and turned it around as instructed.
When she turned back to Booth he was bending over and trying to get his breathing under control again. By the time Brennan was through dressing again and washing up he was able to put everything back in its place and stood up. He wrapped his arms around her and said "I can see that you're going to be just as good a sex partner as you are a work partner."
"That's only a small sample of what I can do Special Agent Seeley Booth." He gave her a kiss and then they walked out and back to the SUV.
Booth was still feeling okay so they went to the diner for brunch. As they sat there eating Hodgins and Angela came in. Angela spotted Booth and Brennan right away.
"Hi Sweetie, how are you two doing?" Angela asked as she gave Brennan a hug when she stood up to greet her friend. She took the empty seat next to Booth while Hodgins sat next to Brennan.
"This morning we went to the sperm bank so Booth could make a deposit. Dr. Trent advised him that some of the chemotherapy drugs can cause infertility but they were going to try to avoid them since they now have a lot of new drugs that they can use." Brennan said with her usual straight face. This, to her, was all clinical and had no thought at all as to whether this was personnel to Booth or not.
Booth looked disgustedly at Brennan. "Do you have to tell everyone what is happening to me?"
"Booth, you shouldn't be ashamed of what you did. You just performed a biological function to assure the continuation of your family line and it's nothing to be embarrassed about. Besides, it was fun." Brennan said with a wicked grin as she looked at Angela over the top of her coffee cup. Booth just ran his hand over his face.
Hodgins was having a good laugh at Booths expense. He stopped laughing though when he saw the look on Angela's face. Now it was Booths turn to laugh.
"Have you thought of doing the same thing Jack? You know with you being the last in your family line you should try to make sure that there will be another Hodgins." Angela told him.
"Yeah Hodgins, you don't want to put the Cantilever group into a downward spiral do you? What if something should happen to you and you get killed or your boys stop producing their little soldiers. That would be the end of the Hodgins line." Booth said teasingly. Payback is hell as the saying goes.
"Shut up Booth." Hodgins told him as he turned three shades of red and put his head down. When he looked up again he looked straight at Angela. "I talked to Trevor, the family lawyer, about it sometime after my parents died. He advised against it. He said that if anyone got their hands on it they could use it and then sue me for support and lay claim to the family fortune. So Ms. Montenegro it's up to us to make sure that my family line continues by producing a son or sons the old tried and true method."
"Hey! You know what Sweetie we could track our period and see when we are ovulating at the same time then we could be pregnant together and our kids could grow up together. All we need to do is make sure that Hodgins and Booth do their part at the same time. After all it only takes them a few minutes or so." Angela told Brennan.
At the same time Booth and Hodgins said "Oh my God, stop that."
Brennan and Angela cracked up. "I don't understand why men get embarrassed when women start talking about procreation. It's a simple biological function that must be performed to ensure the continuation of our species and two intelligent women such as Angela and I can control when we conceive." Brennan said. When she looked at Booth she noticed that he was starting to perspire even though it was cool in the Diner. She reached into her purse and pulled out a small bottle of Tylenol and gave him two.
"Thanks, I am starting to feel hot." Booth quickly drank it down. He got the waitresses attention and asked for another large glass of ice tea.
"How have things been going otherwise Booth?" Hodgins asked after Booth had taken the pills.
"Not too bad although I am starting to get apprehensive about Friday. Bones put a beach towel over the bottom sheet on my bed so that I wouldn't get it all wet from sweating last night. She woke me up when I started feeling hot again and gave me some more pills so I slept better last night than I have in over a week." Booth reached over the table for Brennan's hand and kissed it. "I thank God that He sent her to me." Brennan smiled back at him.
"Just as we do when we are working on a case Booth, we'll get through this together." The waitress brought Booths large ice tea. He took a long drink then ran the glass over his forehead. After a moment Brennan started to get her purse and said "I think it's time for us to go back to your apartment so you can rest. By the way I think that it would be best if we moved your things to my apartment on Thursday. It has an elevator and from what Diane told me you'll be too weak to be walking up those flights of stairs leading to your apartment."
"Let me give you some advice that my father gave me Booth. Just say 'Yes dear' and things will be a lot easier on you." Hodgins told Booth as they all got up so both Booth and Brennan could leave.
"That's good advice." He turned to Brennan and said "Yes dear". Brennan swatted his behind as he walked in front of her to pay the bill at the cash register.
When they got into the SUV Booth said "If I am going to be at your apartment I will need a TV. I'll need one in the bedroom and one in the living room; a DVD player for movies also."
Brennan looked at him and said "Yes dear."
"That's a good girl." Booth said as he raised his hand up to protect his head in case she hit him. She started to raise her hand to hit him but just laughed at him instead.
"When I go to the dietician tomorrow I'll stop and order them for delivery on Thursday."
When they arrived at his apartment Booth was ready for a nap. He went directly to his bedroom and took off his shoes, suit and shirt and lay down after going to the bathroom. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Brennan came in to check on him after awhile. She closed the drapes and pulled the blanket over his arm. She checked his temperature by putting her hand over his forehead. It was warmer than it should be but not hot.
The next day, since Brennan was going to be taking care of Booth, she went to the dietician by herself. She told him that it wasn't necessary for him to go and he was to just rest. Fortunately he just said the prescribed words "Yes dear".
Brennan went to the local Circuit City and purchased the biggest flat screen they had for the living room and a smaller one for the bedroom. She paid an extra delivery fee for them to deliver and set them up by Thursday. She also called up the local Cable Company and told them she wanted the service to be started on Thursday also. Her apartment was already wired for Cable, she just didn't use it.
When Brennan came back she checked on Booth. She found him standing outside on her balcony and watching the city that he helped to protect.
He wasn't wearing a jacket so Brennan grabbed it from the hall closet and went outside. She handed him the jacket and helped him put it on. "What are you doing out here anyway?"
"I was just watching the traffic and thinking that I won't have to deal with it for the next several months or so. By the way, Dr. Clark asked us to come to his office at 6 this evening. He said he has more information on the type of Cancer I have and he wants to ask me something about my treatment."
"It looks like I came back just in time then. We better go back in now. You're starting to perspire again. I think we have enough time for you to take some more Tylenol and get some rest before we have to leave." Booth just looked at her with a smile.
"Yes Dear." Booth followed her in and removed his jacket while Brennan got a couple of Tylenol and a glass of water for him. Brennan noticed how it was taking him longer to do anything. She knew that it was because of the Cancer that he always seemed to be tired.
"Take these and then lay down while I put some music on. If you fall asleep I'll wake you up in time to get ready to go."
Once again Booth did exactly as she told him then said "Yes Dear."
At 5 PM Brennan woke Booth up. "Booth get up, we have to get ready to go see Dr. Clark."
Booth sat up and rubbed his eyes. "I am sleeping so much I think that one of these days I am going to open my eyes and find myself with a long white beard and grass and weeds growing all over me with a sign next to me that says 'Rip Van Winkle, do not disturb'."
"Don't worry Booth I'll wake you up." Brennan smiled at him and pulled him up from the couch.
By 5:50 they were at Dr. Clark's office. There wasn't anyone else in the office and most of the office staff had left for the night. It was plain to see that they were going to be the last patients to see him.
They didn't have long to wait and they were surprised when Dr. Clark came out to get them. "Mr. Booth and Dr. Brennan come back to my office so we can talk." They both got up and followed him to his office. When they entered and sat down Dr. Clark took his seat at his desk and opened what appeared to be Booth's medical records.
"Well Mr. Booth I have the results of some more tests that we took on Monday along with the results of the biopsies. The rest of the tests have enabled us to further peg down exactly what kind of Hodgkin's Lymphoma you have. You have what's called Adult Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Stage 1B. The biopsies showed that the cancer is localized in the lymph nodes in your neck and at the base of your throat." Dr. Clark leaned forward a little. "We didn't find it anywhere else. As you know we took a biopsy of the lymph node that was a little swollen under your arm and it was free of the cancer cells. Now I've been talking to Dr. Trent and I suggested a different option for your treatment that will be faster than what it usually takes for you to go through the chemotherapy for this type of cancer. Since he knows you better than I do he has advised me to offer it to you. The normal length of time for the chemo treatment can be as long as 6 to 8 months. That is if we give you the time to rest and give your body time to build itself back up again. As we've told you your white blood cells are destroyed along with the cancer. The rest period will allow your system to rebuild its supply of white blood cells and we have a better chance of controlling your anemia. What I am proposing to you though is that we give you the treatment every Friday. Since you have Dr. Brennan here taking care of you and Dr. Saroyan to assist her, if she needs help, she can keep a close eye on you to make sure that it doesn't get life threatening for you. Since, I am sure, they have all the needed machines to do the work she can also take blood tests every few days and do a full blood count on you. As usual the nurse administering your chemo will take a blood sample from you so we can monitor the cancer.
I want you to understand Mr. Booth that this is going to be very hard on you and you will want to just crawl into a hole and die. If you agree to this we'll get you through this in as short a time as possible. I am only offering this because you are in excellent physical shape and thanks to Dr. Brennan and Dr. Saroyan we've caught this at almost the very beginning."
Dr. Clark leaned back in his chair and gave Booth time to think about it.
"I've never been one to put off unpleasant things Dr. Clark and I do want to get back to work as soon as possible. I also don't want to go without seeing my son for so long. I think that I can take it and I want to get this over with as fast as possible."
"What about you Dr. Brennan, do you have any misgivings about this?" Dr. Clark asked.
"If that's what Booth wants than I have no problem with it." Brennan answered as she looked into Booth's eyes.
"Dr. Trent was pretty sure that you would go for it so I've set you up for a small procedure that has to be done at the hospital because it will be done under anesthesia. I want a catheter to be placed in a vein in your chest. We'll use this catheter to give you the chemotherapy and if Dr. Brennan or Dr. Saroyan needs to give you anything fast the catheter will already be in there. Plus they'll put another catheter in your arm in case they have to feed you intravenously. I suggest that you also get him a hospital bed to use while he is going through this. It will be a lot easier on you when you have to take care of him."
Dr. Clark checked his notebook then copied some information down on a piece of paper and handed it to Booth. "This is the time of your appointment for tomorrow morning and the location. It shouldn't take you more than an hour to recover from the anesthesia. The nurse will show you, Dr. Brennan, how to take care of the catheters." Dr. Clark stood up than. Booth and Bones stood up also. They shook hands and Dr. Clark said "Good Luck".
Booth was quiet the rest of the way home. When they arrived at his apartment he went right to bed. Brennan was tired also so she took a shower and got into bed with Booth. She thought he was asleep but when she got into bed he turned to her, put his arms around her and started to cry. Brennan couldn't do anything but hold him. She just let him cry and ran her hand through his hair and said "We'll get through this together Booth. I'll be with you all the way." She continued to run her hand through his hair until he finally went to sleep.
On Thursday morning they went to the hospital. As Dr. Clark had said it was just a short procedure and most of the time was taken up in waiting for Booth to recover from the light anesthesia.
By 12 noon they were back in his apartment. Booth packed up his clothes which included all of his pajamas and bathrobe. He knew that he would probably be going thru a lot of them. He packed up everything else he thought he would need in a suitcase and pulled them into the living room. Brennan had packed up all of the food from the refrigerator to take over to her place and taken it downstairs already. She came back to get her purse and help Booth with his things.
"You sure you have everything that you might need?" Brennan asked as she took the handle of one of his suitcases. She looked closely at him for any signs of perspiration or fever. His skin looked a little pale but that was the only difference that she could see. She saw him gazing at his apartment as they went to the door. "Don't worry Booth, you'll see it again." He smiled at her for reading him so easily then they walked out of the door and went down to his vehicle.
Thirty minutes later they were in Brennan's apartment building. Booth loaded all of his stuff in the elevator along with the box of food from his apartment. He pushed the button for her third floor apartment. He was feeling a little tired and was glad that her building had an elevator. Brennan had made some room for his things in one of her dressers the day before so he could put his things in her bedroom. She sat on the bed and helped him pull things out from the suitcase. She pulled out his collection of sox and started laughing.
He saw her looking at his crazy sox and laughing. He sat on the bed beside her. "Hey! Don't laugh at my choice in sox. Gordon Gordon says that they're my way of dealing with things. He said there a kind of rebellion against society or something like that." He put his arm around her and pulled her down with him so they could both lie back on the bed. They just laid there for awhile, neither one talking.
"I have somewhere to go this evening Bones and it's something that I have to do alone." Booth said as he held her in his arms and she had her arm wrapped around him also.
"Booth, you know that you shouldn't drive. You can get tired all of a sudden or your fever could go up. Just tell me where you want to go and I'll drive you there."
"While you were downstairs loading up things I made a call to my parish priest and made an appointment to meet him at 6 o'clock this evening. I want to go to confession before I start the chemotherapy tomorrow and I don't know how long I'll be in there talking to him. You may have to wait as long as two hours." She started to say something but he put his finger against her lips to stop any protestations against an imagined super being that she may voice. "These are my beliefs Bones and I want you to respect them. Please."
Brennan looked at him. She could tell that he had lost some weight and his skin wasn't as healthy looking as it usually was. She knew enough about chemotherapy that he would get worse before he got better. She didn't understand his need to confess what he considered his sins but she was willing to do anything to make him happy and if confessing his sins would put his mind at ease then so be it.
"I'll take you Booth and while I'm waiting for you maybe a miracle will occur and your God will send someone that will make me believe in His existence." Brennan said as she kissed him and laid her head on his chest.
"You never know Bones, you never know." Booth said as he closed his eyes and tried not to think of tomorrow.
The doorbell rang 20 minutes later. Booth was still sound asleep so Brennan carefully pulled away from him and got up to answer the door and carefully closed the bedroom door behind her. She went into the living room and looked thru the peep hole in the door. It was the delivery man from Circuit City with the entertainment equipment she had ordered.
Brennan opened the door. "Dr. Temperance Brennan?" "Yes." "Hi I'm from Circuit City with your televisions and DVD player." "Yes, bring them in." The Circuit City man and his helper brought in one large box and one box that was half the size of the other and two smaller boxes. Brennan told them to place the 50 inch television on the wall in the corner next to the fireplace. Below it she had shelves where the DVD player could be placed. It was 3:30 by the time they were done with the living room and they were ready to set up the one in the bedroom.
"Dr. Brennan, if you'll show us the bedroom we'll set up the other television and DVD in there." The one with the name tag of Conrad on his shirt said as they put all of the packing pieces back into the boxes. They gave her all of the booklets that held the information on the TV and DVD player.
"Wait here; I have someone in the bedroom sleeping. I'll be right back." Brennan went into her bedroom and woke Booth up. "Booth, I need you to get up so the Circuit City men can install the new TV and DVD player in here."
"Okay, tell them to come in." Booth said as he sat up and went into the bathroom.
Brennan showed the two men where to place the equipment. In a few minutes Booth came out and watched them. He was feeling good after his nap and was smiling all of the time they were setting up the TV. It was Booths habit to size up any man that came near him. It was both a result of his FBI training and just a personal custom as a man. The leader of the team had the name of Conrad embroidered on his shirt. His helper had the name of Tom embroidered on his. Booth estimated Conrad to be about 6'2" or 6'3", broad shoulders and a small waist. He could see that Conrad worked out with weights on a regular basis. His assistant Tom was only about 5'6" and much smaller. Tom looked like his world consisted of electronics and games.
Conrad took a double take at Booth when he saw the gun hooked up to his belt. "Are you a Cop or something?" Conrad asked as his assistant started to take the flat screen TV out of the box.
"FBI. I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth." Booth and Conrad shook hands. The other man stood up and shook Booth's offered hand. "Tom." The other man said.
"You'll have to forgive my partner he's a man of few words." Conrad said as they started to hook up everything. "I'm going to college myself. I'm in my Junior year right now and majoring in law enforcement. This job pays for my tuition. My parents help me out by letting me live in their basement where I can have some privacy. My Dad and I made it into an apartment." Conrad said as he finished the job and hooked it up to the cable.
"Are you going into local law enforcement or are you setting your sights on something bigger?" Booth asked as he sat on the end of the bed.
"I haven't made up my mind yet. Do you have any suggestions?"
"Go into local law enforcement first but put in your application for the FBI at the same time. A lot of people apply but few are chosen. That way you can still have a job until you are accepted." Booth pulled out one of his FBI ID cards and gave it to Conrad. "Show this when you apply and I'll help you out as much as I can. By the way this is my partner Dr. Temperance Brennan of the Jeffersonian Institute. She's a Forensic Anthropologist and together we solve crimes where we having nothing but the decomposed body or bones of a victim."
"Thanks I really appreciate this. We have to go now we have two other places to set up entertainment units at." The two men grabbed the boxes and their equipment and went to the door. Conrad turned and once again said thank you then left.
"That was nice of you to do." Booth didn't hear her though. He was standing in front of the large flat screen TV on the wall and smiling like a kid at Christmas. As Brennan joined him he turned to her and gave her a big hug and kiss.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you. As soon as I'm better I am going to show you how appreciative I am for all that you have and will do for me." He gave her a long kiss then.
Brennan pushed him away after a minute and said "We need to go if you're going to make your 6 o'clock appointment at the church. How are you feeling?"
"Not too bad. Let me get my jacket and we can leave." Booth said as he grabbed his jacket that Brennan had put on the back of a chair.
At 5:45 they arrived at the rectory where the Priests lived. Booth knocked on the door. A minute later they heard someone walking to the door. An elderly woman, with gray hair that she had pulled to the back of her head and fashioned into a tight little bun, opened the door. "May I help you?"
"Yes, I am Seeley Booth and I have an appointment with Father Daniel."
"Please come in and have a seat over here. I'll go and get Father Daniel." The woman pointed them to some chairs that were by the front door then she left.
Two minutes later a man that appeared to be in his 60s came in to the waiting room. "Hi, I am Fr. Daniel and your Seeley Booth right?"
Booth stood up and shook the priests offered hand. "Yes, I'm Seeley Booth and this is my partner Dr. Temperance Brennan."
"Partner? As in……?" Fr. Daniel asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"I'm sorry Father; I am so used to introducing her like that. I work for the FBI and Dr. Brennan works for the Jeffersonian Institute as a Forensic Anthropologist we work together on solving crimes, today though she is here as just a very close friend."
Fr. Daniel shook Brennan's hand and asked "Are you a Catholic also?" Booth held his breath, knowing what was coming next.
"Oh no I am just here for Booth. I don't believe in God." Brennan said with a smile.
"Well you can either sit out here or go out into our garden if you want. Fr. Brisbane, an associate of mine, takes great pride in his rose garden. He's been over to the Jeffersonians historic rose garden many times. Don't tell him I told you but I've actually seen him drooling over some of the roses. He's always hoping that he'll find a seed pod that he can pick but either other people get to them first or the gardener keeps them well trimmed." Fr. Daniel turned to Booth then and asked "Would you like to go into my office or would you prefer the church."
"Is there any place we can sit down in the garden?" Booth asked.
"Yes, there is." Fr. Daniel led Booth and Brennan outside into the garden.
Fr. Daniel and Booth went to sit on a stone bench that was in a corner of the garden and in front of a statue of the Sacred Heart while Brennan walked around the garden for awhile. It was still light out so she could still see everything okay. The garden was large and she figured that it covered at least an acre. Since it was fall there were very few flowers in bloom but she found that many of the rose bushes were forming new buds and some had already burst into bloom. She rarely took the time to go into the rose garden at the Jeffersonian but once in awhile her and Angela would take their lunch outside and sit in the open air of the garden during the summer.
As Brennan walked around the garden she saw an elderly gentleman, dressed in jeans and a light jacket, that looked to be in his early seventies come outside pulling a small trash can on wheels. He stopped and checked each rose bush for dying or broken branches. Sometimes he would take out his small shears and clip a long stemmed rose off and immediately put it in a container. The container was cleverly attached to the trash can and she could tell it was filled with water. As he worked his way up the rows of roses he inevitably came up to where Brennan was standing.
"Hello, are you admiring God's beautiful creations?" The little man asked.
"Yes, but I think they must be your beautiful creations." Brennan said as she walked over to stand by him.
"I tend to His garden and I perform maintenance but these are His creations. I could never create something this beautiful because only the hand of God could create such perfection. A rose is very much like we humans. Only God could possibly create something that works as perfectly as the human body, don't you agree?" The little man was working on the roses all the time he was speaking to Dr. Brennan.
"I'm sorry but I don't believe in God. I believe that humans and roses are the creation of evolution and not of some imagined super being in the sky." Brennan said with a smile. In her mind this was an elderly gentleman that had very little education and believed whatever he was told.
"Oh my, you poor thing. You must be very lonely with no one to talk to or to tell your problems too."
"I have my friends and I don't need an imaginary friend to talk to or tell my troubles to. I gave up my Teddy Bear a long time ago." Brennan laughed.
"May I ask what kind of work you do?" The little man led her over to a stone bench and sat down with great care. She looked at his hands and could see how swollen his joints were with Rheumatoid Arthritis. She couldn't understand how he was able to handle the shears that he used to trim the rose bushes.
"My name is Dr. Temperance Brennan, I am a Forensic Anthropologist and I work at the Jeffersonian Institute. I solve crimes with my partner Special Agent Seeley Booth of the FBI. He is over there talking to Fr. Daniel." Brennan said with definite pride in the way she said it. She offered her hand to the little man.
He took her hand and shook it. "I am Father Brisbane, retired. I help out here in performing the Mass every Sunday." Brennan was surprised.
"Did you by any chance work at the Jeffersonian some years ago?"
"Yes I did, in my younger years though. I was known as Dr. Richard Brisbane before I quit and entered the seminary." Fr. Brisbane answered. He didn't say it with pride as Dr. Brennan had done.
"Dr. Brisbane it is an honor to meet you. Many of your writings on Forensics were required reading in my Forensics classes. Why did you leave to go into the Seminary? You're a brilliant man to be hiding in a place like this and doing such menial tasks." Brennan said as though she was scolding him.
Fr. Daniel came over to Brennan just as she was starting to have interest in the little man that she now knew was the brilliant founder of the Jeffersonians Forensics lab. "Dr. Brennan I think Seeley needs you." Brennan went running over to where Booth was still sitting. With one look at him she knew that his fever had gotten worse. Even though he had taken his jacket off and the air was cool he was sweating heavily. In fact his shirt was soaked with his perspiration.
Booth looked up at Brennan as she approached. "I need some more of that Tylenol. It doesn't seem like much but for some reason it keeps my temperature down." Brennan sat down next to him and pulled out a small bottle that contained some of the Tylenol. She opened it and gave him 2 of the pills then pulled out a small bottle of water for him to drink with the pills.
"Let's go home Booth, so you can rest." Brennan got up and picked up his jacket from the bench.
"No I want to continue with Fr. Daniel. I'll be ready to go soon, okay? Besides it will give the pills time to work." He gave her a smile to show that he was okay. But she could tell he was very tired.
"Okay, but only 30 minutes more." She put his jacket back down on the bench again and went back to Fr. Brisbane.
"Is your partner okay?" Fr. Brisbane asked as Brennan sat down again.
"He's very sick Father. On Monday he was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. He starts chemotherapy tomorrow. I think he wanted to go to what he calls confession before the treatments start. I know he is scared but he won't admit it. The doctors said that Hodgkins Lymphoma has an 80% cure rate with treatment but he seems to be afraid that he will be in that 20 percentile range of those that don't make it. The doctors are confident that he will be cured because they caught it so early." Brennan said with tears threatening to spill over.
Fr. Brisbane put his hand on hers. "You're in love with him aren't you?"
"Yes. We both admitted how much we loved each other after he was given the news about the cancer. I promised him that I would take care of him and I even told my director that I was going to be taking a sabbatical in order to take care of him." Brennan leaned over and was crying. "I am so afraid of losing him now. Logic tells me that his chances are very good for coming out of this cancer free but his fear and mine are pushing all logic out the window." Brennan started to tell the old priest all about her childhood and how she felt abandoned by her family.
Fr. Brisbane saw Booth and Fr. Daniel go into the church where he was sure that he was going to give him Holy Communion since he probably wouldn't be able to receive it again for some time. By the time they came out again and Booth looked over there way Dr. Brennan had regained control of herself again. She looked up when Booth called her.
"I have to go now Fr. Brisbane. May I come out to see you again sometime soon? Our little talk has proven to be very therapeutic." Brennan said as she stood up and wiped her face and blew her nose.
"Any time Dr. Brennan, just call the rectory, I am almost always here. Let me give you this before you go." He pulled out one of his long stemmed roses from the vase and gave it to her. "While you are gone I want you to contemplate this rose. When you are done I hope that you will come to the realization that there is a God and He was here and listening to you when you needed him. Goodbye."
Brennan took the rose from him, thanked him and turned to join Booth again. He held out his arm to her as she approached him. "How did your meeting go?" She asked him as they walked to the SUV with his arm around her shoulder.
"Very good actually, I don't know how to explain it but I'm not as afraid as I was before I talked to Fr. Daniel. I feel more confident that everything will turn out okay." He hugged her closer and gave her a kiss before they parted to get into the SUV.
As Brennan started up the engine and pulled out of the church parking lot she said "I feel a lot better also. I had a long talk with Fr. Brisbane. He's the elderly gentleman that I was talking to. Father Brisbane was the first Forensic Anthropologist that started the Medico-Lab at the Jeffersonian. I read all about him in the Jeffersonian Institutes history. He has a very high IQ."
"Are you surprised that such a man of science believes so much in God that he would devote his life to Him?" Booth looked at Brennan with a smile. He thought to himself 'Maybe this man will be able to prove to her that God does exist.'
"Yes I am puzzled about that but I asked him if I could stop by and see him once in awhile. I really would like to have a conversation with him on the topic. He gave me this rose and asked me to do something odd. He told me to contemplate it and maybe afterward I would believe that there is a God."
Booth didn't say anything more on the subject. He was tired so he closed his eyes and took a nap during the rest of the ride home. He was still asleep when Brennan parked the SUV.
"Booth wake up, were home." Brennan said it softly. He had been dreaming and talking in his sleep. He hadn't said anything that she could understand but because it seemed to be a violent dream she spoke softly so that she could rouse him from his dream state slowly.
After a minute Booth opened his eyes, "We're here already? I was dreaming that I was in Iraq and in a gun battle. I was captured and they were just about to start torturing me when you woke me up."
"Ha! Once again I've saved you." Brennan laughed at him and got out and locked the SUV up.
Booth joined her after locking his side. "What's for Supper, I'm starving?"
"Something light. The dietician said it would be better if you ate something very light the night before you start chemotherapy which means no meat Mr. Booth. I'll whip up something for you that will be very nutritious and have plenty of vitamins." Brennan told her patient then prepared herself for the child like moping.
Booth put his head down and acted like he had seen Parker do when he was trying to get him to try something besides spaghetti. "I don't want anything good for me on my last night before chemo starts. I want a steak and a beer." He looked at Brennan out of the corner of his eyes to see if his whining had, had any effect on her.
A firm no, was his partners only reply. They got in the elevator and Booth stood in the corner with his forehead against the wall and he wouldn't talk to her. When they arrived at her apartment he went into the bedroom and right into the bathroom to take a shower. By the time he came out she had something on the table for them both. As he sat down he saw that it was soup with various vegetables in it and some kind of crackers that looked like they had vegetables mixed in. 'At least she made me iced tea.' He mumbled to himself.
"What was that Booth, I didn't hear you?" Brennan asked as she sat down to her own meal.
"Nothing Bones." He gave her one of his winning smiles. Brennan just smiled back and started in on her supper.
TBC…………..
