"What happened to your neck?" Sweets asked Brennan when she appeared in the doorway with a neck brace.
"I slept at an odd angle and my neck stiffened. Booth called the doctor and he said that I should wear a neck brace for a couple of days." Brennan said.
The next thing Sweets spotted was the baby carrier. "It appears we have a guest."
"I've spent the morning shopping with Izzie. To see if I can bond wither better. I was going to give her to Booth or an hour but he's out on an arrest."
"No problem. Do you want to sit down?"
"Yeah, I'll set her down next to me." Brennan sat down and put the carrier next to her. Izzie was fast asleep clutching onto a stuffed bunny.
"How has the bonding been working out?" Sweets asked when he sat in his shrink chair.
"She's been rather sensible. She's not very boisterous."
"Sounds like a nice change from Katy's rough and tumble."
"She's confidant more than rough and tumble," Brennan paused for a moment. "The, er… I think I'm ready to explain the end of the nightmare I was telling you."
"Are you sure because if you feel uncomfortable talking about it, I'm not going to push you."
"I think that if I tell someone then I'll stop having the nightmare."
"OK. In your own time."
"Right, so I got to the part with the man with the blood on his face. I look over his shoulder and I see a pool of blood and the blood leads to a woman with her stomach has been cut open."
"Was that it?"
"No. I pushed past the man and ran to the woman. It wasn't just any woman. It was myself."
"And the baby was?"
"The crying baby was my own and it had been ripped out of me."
"And this is the same dream you've had since you returned from the hospital?"
"Yes. What do you think it means?"
"Maybe it came from a fear of what Riley would've done to you and Izzie while you were being held hostage."
There was a brief silence that was disrupted by a whimpering coming from Izzie.
"She's hungry." Brennan said rummaging in the bag looking for the milk bottle. She unclipped Izzie from the carrier and held her like she would while feeding her. Izzie latched onto the teat and suckled greedily. "She doesn't just have Booth's appearance, she has his appetite as well."
"She's grown a little since she was born." Izzie was just over 4 pounds when she was delivered at 32 weeks in gestation. Her lungs hadn't quite developed so she was incubated for the first couple of weeks of her life. Brennan sat in a wheel chair next to her daughter everyday while in hospital and 4 weeks later both mother and baby were well enough to go home.
"She's now 5 pounds 1 ounce. There are some benefits to having her father's appetite." Izzie stopped suckling and Brennan pulled out a small towel and placed it over her shoulder and Brennan burped her.
"You're good with her." Sweets said as Brennan placed the baby back in to the carrier.
"I've had practice." Brennan said smiling.
"Can I ask you where you slept last night?"
"The couch why?"
"The stiff neck. How long have you slept on the couch?"
"Since I returned from hospital."
"Why have you not slept in your bed?"
"I feel safer."
"Why?"
"It's more enclosed than the bed."
"Booth stays with you?"
"Yeah."
"How would you react if Booth didn't stay with you?"
"Like he didn't love me."
"You would feel abandoned?"
"Yeah."
"Does this relate to when your parents left you when you were 15?"
"A little. I felt as though my parents didn't love me when they left."
"That's natural. to assume that. Do you have a fear of people leaving you?"
"I don't think so."
"I think differently. Your parents left you when you needed them at a time when you were forming adult relationships so when they left your faith in relationships was shattered. Your faith in love was shattered when your foster families abused and neglected you. Your confidence in love was only regained when you fell in love with Booth and he gave you his heart. He has proven that he loves you. He loves you to the point where he would die for you."
"I know he would. Booth has done that on many occasions."
"You may be experiencing abandonment issues. You're scared that if someone leaves you, it means they don't love you."
"I wish my mother was still here. I feel like I need to talk to her about stuff. And I've felt it for years but it grew when I was pregnant. I wanted to know if I was doing stuff right, how she felt. I was happy but I felt unsure about a lot of stuff."
"Pregnancy is difficult. You've been through trauma in both pregnancies. Your first pregnancy, you were pushed down some stairs. The last pregnancy you had, you were held at gun point by a madman and then kidnapped by a deranged ex-boyfriend."
"I wouldn't count him as an ex-boyfriend."
"Why?"
"Can I explain it next time because our hour is up?"
"Sure."
"Sweets there is a Christmas party at the Jeffersonian tonight. Are you coming?"
"I don't know maybe."
"Sweets you need to be with people. Especially this year." Daisy had died earlier that year and the approaching holiday had been having a bad effect on him as he felt rather lonely.
"I'm fine Dr Brennan."
"If you are sure." Brennan stood up and picked up the baby carrier and the bag.
"Dr Brennan, could you try and sleep in your own bed? For your neck's sake"
"I might do but I wouldn't count on it anytime soon." Brennan smiled and walked out if the door. Sweets sat there and looked out the window where there was a picture of Daisy. He got up and picked up the picture and thought about things. A lot of things.