In my heart's sequestered chambers lie truths stripped of poets' gloss
"You haven't by any chance talked to Kelly lately, have you?" Cam approached Brennan while she was studying a set of remains while in Limbo.
"No," Brennan looked up. "I've tried calling her cell phone for the past two days and she hasn't answered."
"Her boss and I were having lunch today and he asked about her." Cam slid her hands into her pocket and looked at the remains. "He said she's taken a week of vacation."
"Where would she go?" Brennan picked up the femur and studied it.
"I don't know, I was hoping you would. Brady isn't very happy about his favorite lawyer taking a week off when she has cases hanging in the balance."
"That's not like Kelly."
"No, it's not." Cam agreed. "Has Booth said anything?"
"I don't think he's talked to her either." Brennan shrugged noncommittally. "Or at least he hasn't said anything."
"If you hear anything, let me know." Cam nodded and started to leave.
"I'll be done in a little while. When I am, I'll call Booth." She offered bluntly
"No need, I'm here." Booth walked through the doors. "What's the story?"
"We're wondering why Kelly took a week of vacation." Brennan stated as she straightened up over the table and placed her hands on her hip.
"She did what?" Booth looked as surprised as both Cam and Brennan had been, if not more.
"Took a week of vacation." Brennan repeated.
"I think he heard you." Cam smiled. "So you didn't know either?"
"No, I haven't talked to her since I went over for dinner a few days ago." He shrugged. "Do you know Jeremy wants to ask Parker to be his best man?"
"That is so sweet!" Cam gushed. "Parker will be very excited."
"A big man job for the little man." Booth clapped his hands together and grinned.
"There you two are." Angela walked into Limbo. "I have that reconstruction you wanted on my computer."
"Thank you, Angela." Brennan nodded and stepped away from the bones on the table. "I'll have an intern put these away then I'll follow."
"Great. To the Art Cave!" Booth trailed Cam and Angela out of Limbo.
As they were passing through the lab, Cam saw Kelly passing through the hallway, holding tightly onto Jeremy's hand.
"If it isn't the ghost of lawyers past." She pointed through the doors.
"Kelly!" Booth shouted and waved slightly as she turned and saw him standing there. She motioned to Jeremy and they entered the lab. "Where the hell have you been?"
"We've um," Kelly looked nervously at Jeremy. "We've had a lot of stuff to do."
"Kelly," Jeremy started, but Kelly steamrolled over him.
"I just wanted to stop by my office and pick up some case files so I could work from home for the week."
"Why?" Booth asked, quickly looking between Jeremy and Kelly. Both looked extremely tired and tense.
"I'm taking some time off." She explained.
"Why?" He repeated.
"Can we not talk about it right here?" She shifted uncomfortably, still clinging on to Jeremy's hand.
"What are you hiding?" Booth demanded. He noticed Cam and Angela had drifted into Angela's office.
"Let's not do this here, Kelly." Jeremy whispered. "Please."
"What's going on." The veins in Booth's neck started to pulsate.
"Are you really busy?" Kelly ignored Jeremy's pleas. "Like are you about to run out into the field? Because if you are, we can wait until you have some time."
"There you are!" Brennan walked out of the hallway leading to Limbo. "What's wrong?" She stopped when she saw Booth staring open-mouthed at Kelly.
"We're not in any rush." Booth said slowly then turned to Brennan. "Are we?"
"Not that I'm aware of." Brennan shook her head, completely lost.
"If you're going to do it, I think it's best we tell Cam and Angela as well." Jeremy looked at Kelly, deferring to her. "They're your family too."
"Yours too." Kelly reminded squeezing his hand. "Is Hodgins here?"
"No, he is presenting at American University today." Brennan shook her head.
"Then let's do this now." Kelly said definitively as she led the procession back to Angela's office.
Angela and Cam were bent over her computer and looked up in surprise as four people stormed into the office.
"They have something to tell us." Booth explained as Kelly sat herself and Jeremy down on the couch. "You're not pregnant, are you?" He eyed her suspiciously and she flinched with his words.
"No." She said softly.
"Maybe everyone should just find a seat, get comfortable." Jeremy suggested. Angela and Cam obliged, but Booth continued pacing while Brennan remained a pillar by the doorway.
"If you're not pregnant, what's going on?" Angela looked at Kelly and Jeremy.
"We all already know you're getting married." Cam interjected.
"You've moved in together, you have a dog, what else is there?" Booth crossed his arms.
"Can everyone just stop." Kelly held up her hands and swallowed deeply. "Please. Just for two seconds."
"I'm sick." Jeremy said after a deep breath and he grasped for Kelly's hand again.
"How sick?" Brennan asked from her post by the doorway.
"Sick." He nodded. "I have liver cancer."
The silence that overtook the room was painful for Kelly. Angela gasped an "Oh, Sweetie" as Cam sat next to her with her hand over her mouth. Booth stopped pacing and turned to the couple. For what seemed like minutes, no one spoke.
"How long?" Brennan, who still hadn't moved, looked at the couple with concern.
"Four to six months." Jeremy nodded. "We're still adjusting to what that means."
"It means you're going to die." Kelly whispered softly beside him. Jeremy wrapped his arms around her as tears threatened to spill.
"Who is your doctor." Cam stood up. "I know an oncologist who is the best in the world."
"Dr. Rodino, but I'd appreciate all the help I can get." Jeremy nodded his thanks as Cam left the room, promising to return with his number and an appointment.
"Jeremy," Angela crossed the office and sat on the other side of Kelly. "My blood type is O Negative. I'm a universal donor. If you need part of my liver-"
"Thank you, Angela." Jeremy smiled sadly. "They think it's too late for that. They don't know how far it has spread yet."
"He's going in for more tests tomorrow." Kelly wiped tears away from her eyes, unable to hold herself together anymore. She hadn't cried at all since she had heard from the doctors that Jeremy was dying, but sitting here in the room with her family, it seemed real. And her brother was still standing in the corner and hadn't said anything. She looked up at him expectantly. "Seeley?"
"We aren't going to let you die, Jeremy." He said brusquely and then started out of the office.
He hadn't taken two steps out of the office when Brennan turned and followed him out.
He stopped around the corner then paced back a few steps so that he was looking back into the office.
"You do know the odds for liver cancer, correct?" Brennan shifted her weight uncomfortably. She followed Booth's gaze through the glass to where Jeremy and Kelly sitting on the couch with Angela wrapping her arms around a tearful Kelly.
"I don't know if I want to." He said softly but then looked at her as if he was waiting for her to tell him.
"It's something like 10-20%. And that's only for a prognosis longer than 6 months." She said flatly.
"How do you know that." He looked back at the scene in the office.
"One of my foster mothers when I was in the system…" She sighed, fondly recalling Rosemary. "Her father developed liver cancer and I had to leave her house."
"I'm sorry." Booth could tell by the way Brennan spoke the words "foster mother" that the woman was special. He felt inclined to ask, but knew that now was not the time.
"He is indeed dying." Brennan said sadly as she looked at Jeremy who was looking at Kelly with more care and concern than she had ever seen a human being give to another. He was dying, yet he was still worried about Kelly.
"Yeah." It was all Booth could say.