A/N: Well I'm back after like a two-month silence. I am so so SO sorry about this. I was going through some MAJOR writer's block for this story. I mean, I know what was supposed to happen but the words just wouldn't come. So I stopped until I felt like it was time for me to start writing it once more. Since it's been a while since this story was updated, I'll give you a brief summary of what's happened in the past chapter.
Temperance and Booth are having marital problems. Booth suffers from mild depression due to a mistake he has made a few months earlier, which was gambling and losing ten thousand dollars in total. We also found out that he borrowed the money from his father to prevent Temperance finding out about it.
Riley is sick and seems to have caught a disease called Febril which has been plaguing the city for last couple of weeks. It's a fight practically every day to figure out who will be staying with her but as she gets sicker and sicker, the parents just seem to be growing closer. Booth has even told his wife he loved her after a couple of months of argument and cold shoulders.
Brief summary over. Now on with the story!
"I hate having to wake her up when she's sick like that." Booth whispered as he sat his daughter up in her bed. "She so desperately need the sleep."
Temperance watched as her husband picked up Riley's practically lifeless body into his arms. But as lifeless as that body was supposed to be, the child was still pretty heavy and Booth grunted lightly.
"Then again, has she ever been this sick?" Temperance asked, sarcastically, as they stepped out of the bedroom and into the hallway.
Booth sighed.
"You know what I mean, Bones. Stop twisting my words around."
Temperance rolled her eyes.
The couple marched down the stairs and stopped at the front door. Booth set his daughter on the last step and motionned to his wife to hold her in a sitting position. Booth grabbed Riley's snowsuit and boots and began to dress her up.
"Do you think it matters if she's in her PJs?" Temperance asked as she watched Booth struggle with the snowsuit.
"I don't think so. I mean, she's too sick to get dressed so why not just keep her in something she's comfortable."
"I guess."
A few minutes passed.
"Come on, Booth. We're going to be late." Temperance said, breaking the silence.
"Her appointment isn't until eleven. We still have an hour."
Temperance nodded.
"Sorry."
Booth quickly glanced up at his wife to see that she really was sorry. He gave her a half-hearted smile and finished putting on his daughter's boots.
"There. Done." He said, proudly, as he stood up.
The doctor's office was quiet this time and less kids populated the waiting room as Temperance and Booth stepped in the room and sat down, Riley snuggled up against her father. Two women were seated across from them, one with her young baby in her arms and the other one intently watching her sick son playing with Lego blocks.
Booth leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. The past few days had been very tiring. Entire nights were spent awake in fear of having Riley die on them over the night. Booth hadn't gone to work at all that, too tired to think and to concentrate. Another person had died over the weekend of this mysterious Febril and Booth simply couldn't stop thinking about it.
He was about to drift off to sleep when an elbow hit his side. He opened his eyes to find Temperance looking at him expectantly.
"It's our turn." She simply told him as she got up.
Booth nodded, wiped the sleep from his eyes before getting up.
"There's nothing much I can do." The pediatrician told the couple as she read the temperature on the thermometer. "Riley has all the signs of Febril. If she does in fact have contracted it, then there's nothing we can do but wait."
"Wait for what? Death?"
The question had slipped from Booth's mouth before he was able to stop it. He was losing his cool and was breaking at least five rules he had made up in therapy. But at the moment, he couldn't care less. His daughter was sick and the only person capable of helping her was telling them there was nothing to do. It just didn't make sense.
"What can you tell us about Febril, Dr. Blooms?"
"The illness originates from Southwestern Africa even though it has pretty stretched to all corners of the continent today. We presume it was brought over here by travellers. Unfortunately, the northamerican population's immune system isn't equipped to fight this strange disease. The victim suffers from extreme fevers, which can lead to death. Several cases have been reported both in Canada and here in the US, though it seems most centered here in Washington. We've had at least fifty cases reported just this past week when the warning was issued."
"But I don't get how our immune system cannot battle this disease. It's only a fever." Booth replied.
"The american immune system is alienated to the bacteria causing this fever. It's not the actually fever that our system can't beat, it's the bacteria."
"I see."
"Unfortunately, we still haven't found a cure here yet. The only thing we can do is prescribe flu medicine and hope the fever will die down. It hasn't happened yet but we're very optomistic."
"Nobody has survived this Febril, right?" Temperance asked, her voice shaking slightly.
The doctor shook her head.
"Unfortunately, no."
Temperance nodded and glanced over at her husband. But Booth wasn't looking at her. His eyes were set on his daughter, sleeping on the examination table.
The tires screeched as Booth came to a stop in front of their house. He turned to his wife.
"Get her to bed. There's something I have to do."
His tone was serious, his jaw was clenched and his eyes sent flames. Temperance immediately got worried. She knew that look and she knew what it meant. She had seen it too many times not to recognize it.
"What are you planning on doing?" She asked him, suspiciously.
Booth looked back at the road but didn't answer. Temperance sighed and rolled her eyes. Seconds later, she was getting out of the SUV and opening the back door. Booth listened as Temperance took their daughter out of the car seat and shut the door. He watched her walk up slowly to the front door, careful not to slip on the ice, Riley obviously too heavy for her. Booth felt guilty. He should have at least gotten out of the car to help her. But one thought about his daughter made the rage inside of him return. There was something he needed to do and he couldn't waste any time. Casting one last glance at his beautiful wife, he sped away from their home.
Greta looked down at her paper. This was the fourth time she had seen this form and she was getting tired of signing it. Febril had victimized five of the school's students and staff and, as a secretary, she was the one who needed to sign these forms. Why she had to sign them, she had no clue. Her boss told her it was because they couldn't take the chance of getting sued by the parents if something were to happen to their children. She guessed she could understand that part. But why she had to sign them was beyond her.
A shadow was casted onto the paper and the middle-aged woman looked up. She found a tall, brown-haired man staring down at her. He looked angry and she had a vague feeling she knew why.
"Can I help you, Sir?" She asked, trying to sound calm as her heart raced inside her chest.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, you can. I'd like you to call my daughter's teacher into your office."
"Why might that be?"
"Your school gave my daughter Febril and I want to talk to her teacher."
"Name?" Greta asked, picking up a form and a pen.
"Riley Brennan-Booth."
The secretary nodded before jotting down the name on the form. She turned the paper towards Booth.
"I'll ask you to sign this form, please." She told him.
Booth eyed her suspiciously.
"School policy, Sir."
"For wanting to see my daughter's teacher?"
"No. For avoiding court times and expensive lawyers in a couple of weeks."
Booth glanced down at the paper. He read it quickly before snapping back to the secretary.
"You really think I'm going to sign this?"
"You'll have to if you want to see the teacher."
Booth sighed loudly before grabbing the pen Greta was holding out to him. Scribbling his name at the bottom of the paper, he then handed back to the pen.
"So can I see her now?"
"Name of the teacher?"
Booth sighed again. He couldn't remember.
"I don't know. All I know is that she teaches the special ed class. Ms Elcott or something."
Greta's eyes widened.
"You mean Ms Elwood?"
"Yes. That's the one."
Greta glanced nervously around the room.
"Ms Elwood has been gone for the past four days. It seems that she too has caught Febril and it seems to be spreading quicker for her than for the others."
"WHAT?"
"I'm sorry, Mister...?"
"Booth."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Booth but you won't be able to see her."
Booth slammed his hands down on the desk and looked around. He began pacing, feeling the anger boil inside of him and all the worry he has been feeling for the past week surfacing once more.
His daughter's teacher was sick, Riley was sick and he had no clue how the both of them had caught the disease. They hadn't gone to Africa and didn't know anybody who had. They barely ever left the house anymore. How was it possible that Riley had caught such a thing?
He stopped pacing and turned to the secretary.
"How did they catch the disease?"
"A new student arrived in the class a few weeks ago and seemed to have brought the illness with him. The boy himself isn't doing too well at the moment. He's been in intensive care since Saturday and the doctors say he only has a couple of days to live. He's apparently pale as a ghost and can't even breathe on his own. His eyes keep closing every three seconds, he doesn't talk, doesn't eat. He just lays there, too weak to do anything."
Booth immediately felt his heart go out to the little boy in the hospital but a bigger part of him worried even more. Would Riley's condition deteriorate to this level?
The secretary seemed to read his thoughts.
"Maybe it won't happen to your little girl."
Booth nodded, not really believing her.
"I'm really sorry, Mr. Booth."
"Yeah. Thanks." Booth replied before turning around.
He was stepping outside the office when the secretary called him back. He stuck his head through the door.
"I must warn you. Febril spreads really quickly. It is possible you have already caught it and don't know it yet. It would be a good thing, if you have other children, that you take them out of the house for the time being. You wouldn't want your other children to catch it as well."
Booth nodded, a weird feeling spreading in his stomach.
He walked in the house to find it more than quiet. He took off his boots and coat and hung it in the closet. He quietly made his way to the living room, hoping to find his wife there.
Temperance was sitting on the couch, lost in a book and didn't even hear him walk into the living room.
"I went to Riley's school."
His voice was different which is what brought Temperance out of her little world.
"What?"
"I went to Riley's school. I wanted to talk to her teacher to find out where Rye had caught this Febril disease. But the teacher wasn't there. The secretary told me that Ms. Elwood is sick with, get this, Febril. Apparently a new boy in the class brought it with him."
Temperance's eyes widened in surprise.
"No! You're kidding, right?"
"I've never been this serious in my entire life. But, Temperance, that's not the worst part she told me. She also said that Febril spreads quickly and that it is possible that we have already caught it and we don't know it yet. She said that it would be a good idea to send our other children away until Riley is doing better."
"But who will take Lukas?"
"I can ask my parents."
"Okay. Sure, you do that."
Booth was about to walk away when Temperance stopped him. He turned around and looked at her. Her eyes were filled with tears and two of them had even escaped and were now trailing down her face. Booth swallowed. He hated seeing her cry.
"I'm scared." Was all she managed to say.
Booth gathered her in his arms in an instant. He softly rubbed her back as he tried to think of words of comfort. But he soon realized that there wasn't anything he could say. He was just as scared as her.
He kissed the top of her head. One contact with her brought back all the feelings he felt towards her. Soon enough, his lips were trailing down her face, making their way slowly to her mouth.
Their lips were finally reunited after spending so much time apart. The kiss immediately grew intense and Temperance moaned in his mouth as his tongue brushed against hers. She felt her knees give under her and was thankful of Booth's arms holding her firmly against him.
Minutes later, they were falling on the soft mattress of their bed, Booth towering over his wife. Their eyes met and spoke volumes about they felt at this exact moment.
"I missed you." Booth said as he dropped his lips to her neck.
Temperance could do nothing more than pull him closer to her.
Hopefully this has made up for the two-month silence.
