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Disclaimer: Bones belongs to Fox.


Brennan and Parker fell asleep on the bed and Booth had eventually fallen asleep on the chair. Booth woke up and looked at his watch to see the time. It was seven pm and Rebecca would be there soon to pick up Parker. Regretting having to wake up his son, Booth rose from the chair and walked over to the bed.

"Parks, wake up. Your mom's gonna be here soon to pick you up." Parker opened weary eyes and stirred on the bed to get up, waking Brennan in the process. "Hey, Bones. Rebecca's picking up Parker. I'll only be a few minutes. Will you be okay?" Brennan nodded at his words.

"See you next weekend, daddy." Parker hugged his dad goodbye before leaving with his mother.

"Bones!?" Booth panicked when he entered the room and Brennan wasn't on the bed.

"What?" Brennan answered as she slowly exited the bathroom in the room.

"You can't be up from bed." He helped her lie down on the bed.

"The bathroom's right there." She pointed. "I had to go."

"Okay, I get that. But ask for help to get up from the bed." Brennan shot him a glare. "Just pretend to not be yourself for a sec and ask for help." He said with a smile in an effort to ease the mood.

"I'm fine; you should have gone home with Parker. You have him very little as it is."

"It's not my weekend with him, but Rebecca allowed me to have him for a few hours so that he could visit you." Booths charm smile eased her worry that he had missed time with his son to watch her.

"So, have you guys solved the case?" She asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Yes, although we would have done it faster if you would have been at the lab."

"Why? Was it because I wasn't there to help?" Brennan teased.

"And because we split our time so that you were never alone." They shared another smile.

"Tell me about it."

"Well, you know the bone, squint, and cop stuff pointed to the husband of the victim." Brennan couldn't suppress the grin off her face at his extensive explanation. "He found his best friend and wife in the middle of a kiss. They didn't hear him approaching because they were too busy ripping each other's clothes off. The excess of lust and passion was evident. On the thigh of the unfaithful wife rested the hand of a fake friend. The husband was the witness and the judge and with gun in hand decided not to forgive." Brennan listened attentively. "One plus one equals three." Brennan's brow furrowed and before she could contradict him, Booth added. "If two don't get alone anymore, there will always be a third to satisfy." Booth silently thought how closely related the case had been to what happened with Vanessa and her crazy 'go and shoot' Brennan thing.

"Interesting math." Brennan commented.

------

Two weeks later Brennan was released from the hospital and enjoyed being alive. She returned to work a few days after that and everyone was happy to have her back.

Brennan had been able to compartmentalize her feelings from the day of the shooting. That was until she walked up the steps of the forensic platform and stood on the spot she had fallen when she had been shot. She stood frozen and it was obvious to the others what she was reliving in her mind. Angela placed a hand on her shoulder, "It's okay if you need a moment, sweetie."

"I'm fine." Brennan lied as she tried to erase the thoughts that replayed through her mind.

It was late in the afternoon when Booth entered Brennan's office to find her sitting on her couch. "Hey, you okay? I heard you had a bit of a hard time when you were on the platform." He sat next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder for comfort.

Brennan turned to look at him and spoke. "You feel like you're going to die as your life flashes before your eyes and the cold makes its way up your legs. You feel that everything's ending as the curious approach and you're lying on the floor. And you ask yourself, 'Why like this?' Just when happiness was returning to your balcony and his name was cooking at a slow fire in your heart." Brennan paused. She knew it was irrational, but that's how it felt. "There's a new sunrise that you haven't seen and you're not ready to go without saying goodbye to love." Brennan placed a hand on his cheek.
"As you feel your life ending, your biggest dreams surround you in silence to cry; orphans that will also die. There will be a stone with your two dates inscribed and it will have flowers twice a year." Brennan took in a deep breath and Booth was stunned. Was this her way of saying she wanted them together? "Somehow you feel like it's not supposed to be your time yet, but you know that it's too late for regrets."


I tried to keep Brennan in character; I hope I didn't fail in the last part of this chapter. Please review and let me know what you think.