Everything seemed foggy, the walls of the room she was lying in, her thoughts, even the sounds around her seemed to blend and waver. Temperance felt light, lighter than she had in a long time, almost floating, her eyes opening to little slits as she breathed deeply the air around her. She recognized the antiseptic smell, a taste like a mix of cotton and dust in her mouth, the quiet of the room, yet the noise that surrounded her, everything blending together. She moved her head to the side, her eyes rolling slowly in her head to the side, catching a glimpse of sunlight through the curtain, she furrowed her brow. The last she remembered, it was night time. Slowly, she breathed in again, her chest lighter, her body seeming to be disconnected from the rest of her for a moment as her mind tried to wrap itself around what was going on, where she was, and what she last remembered.
Her head turned, finding the chair beside her bed was close, but occupied by no one. There was a bag across the room on the small bench in the room, and a dark pink cup sitting on the sink in the room. Temperance smacked her lips; the dryness in her throat was getting to her as she attempted to move her legs, feeling a sharp pain in her abdomen, her legs tingling at the moment, and the pain in her back. All of this brought her eyes to her abdomen, and immense panic began to take over.
She began to breathe deep, panicking breaths, her eyes now darting through the room as she tried to sit up, feeling only pain as she let out a pain filled exclamation. The door opened and a nurse rushed to her side, touching her shoulder as Temperance grabbed her for support. "Careful there, Mommy… its okay…" The nurse soothed.
"My baby? Where is she?" Temperance rasped through dry lips, for a moment forgetting what had happened, only knowing that her child was no longer inside of her. She was alone, and her child was gone. "Help." She said, groaning in pain as she fell back onto the pillow hard, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Your little girl is just fine, Temperance. She's just fine, your husband is with her right now, and he will be right back."
"My husband?" She asked, confused as to what this woman was referring to. She was confused, and so scared, and just felt the need to cry. She could feel her heart beating wildly in her chest, her eyes flashing to the nurse. "Angela, where's… she's my birthing coach."
"Sweetie, there was nobody here but that overprotective man of yours. He's been with you every moment since you went in for the procedure. I had to practically remove him from your side with a crowbar to get him to take a break."
"Procedure?" Temperance whispered, taking a sip from the water that the nurse offered her. "I… Angela… she…"
The door opened, and Temperance's eyes flashed to the man walking into the room, one hand holding a small vase of flowers, the other holding a small pink stuffed animal of some sort, and several balloons. "And it looks like he's returned." The nurse said as she took the cup from Temperance. "It also looks like he's bought out the gift store." She smiled.
Booth was surprised by the look of shock on Temperance's face when he stepped in the room, and her eyes were changing color like a kaleidoscope as a fountain of emotions ran through her weakened body. "Bones?" He whispered his eyes light and full of life as he stepped quickly toward the bed, setting his handful of items on the small bench as the nurse excused herself quietly and he walked to her bed, his hand instantly moving to her forehead as he moved her hair from her face, pressing his forehead to hers. "Hey, baby… what's wrong?" He whispered, knowing that she was confused.
"What…? I…don't…"
"It's okay, baby…"
"I am so confused." She whimpered, her eyes meeting his as his hand settled on her cheek, his thumb slowly caressing her temple as she gripped his arm with her hand. Their eyes met, and she could feel the warmth of his hand as he gave her the most beautiful smile, his eyes sparkling back at hers as he watched her mouth open slightly, as realization washed over her. "Where is the baby?"
"She's doing alright… she's in NICU, Bones… are you okay?"
"No." She whispered, tears coming to her eyes as she closed them tightly, and lifted her arm up to move around his neck, he embraced her very carefully as she cried into his shoulder.
"She'll be okay… she'll be okay, baby…shh…" He whispered, holding her tightly, he could feel her tears in his shoulder. "It's okay, baby… its okay, Bones…"
"I don't remember." She whispered suddenly, pulling from his hug. "I don't remember any of it… what kind of mother doesn't remember giving birth?" She whispered. "Were you there? Did she cry? How much does she weigh? Is she on a ventilator? Is she okay? She's…"
"She's perfect, Bones." Booth whispered. "All three pounds of her… all fourteen inches of her… she's perfect."
"She must have health issues, Booth… her lungs… her tiny little... bradycardia? Anemia?"
"I have absolutely no idea what you're saying, Bones… the baby doctors have her right now, and she is in very, very good hands. I assure you."
"You've seen her?" Temperance whimpered, her eyes staring into his intensely.
"I've seen her…listened to her tiny cry…watched her move… counted her ten tiny, perfect toes… her ten tiny, perfect fingers..." He whispered. "She's hooked up to a lot of stuff... stuff I don't really understand, or just… don't have the stomach for, you're going to have to tell me about all of this medical stuff… because she's going to be here for a bit.
"I…" She whimpered as Booth moved carefully to sit on the bed, he kept his forehead against hers as he smoothed her hair back with his fingers.
"You did great, Bones..." He whispered. "I am so proud of you."
He felt her sigh slightly as she cuddled into him; the pain from surgery was still evident on her face, movements and slight whimper. "Are you okay, Bones?" He whispered. "Do you want me to let you have some time to…"
"No." She interrupted, her hand clamping down on his as she pulled herself into him harder, despite the pain. "Don't leave me." She whispered, falling silent for a few moments, he held her tenderly and kissed her head. "I… didn't know where I was when I woke up." her voice tiny and scared.
"That's understandable." He whispered. "You went through a lot."
"I… forgot… I mean, I didn't forget… but I… wasn't sure what was going on. Lying here alone, all I could think of was when I was in the hospital for Antonia." She whispered. Her admission was done slowly and she wasn't sure if she had overstepped a boundary, forgetting for a moment that between she and Booth, there lay no boundaries.
"You forgot that I was here." He replied, feeling her head nod against him, he kissed her forehead. "I was here."
"I know."
"Do you want me to tell you what happened?" He asked, feeling her head nod against him again, he rubbed his hand along her arm, feeling her cool skin beneath his warm touch. "Would that make you feel better?"
"Yes."
"Okay…" He said, kissing her head. "Well, I got the call last night… right after dinner at the diner with the kids."
"Oh… Ant and Parker." She said, looking into his eyes.
"They're fine… let me tell the story…" He widened his eyes at her. She could see that he was absolutely exhausted, but also that he wanted to keep her company. He smiled and she smiled back as she cuddled back into him. "Okay… so I brought the kids with me to the hospital, because I didn't have anywhere else to bring them. I called Hodgins on the way, and told him to meet me at the hospital."
"So they're with Hodgins?"
"Yeah… no… no, they're with your father."
"My father? You just said you called Hodgins…"
"Are you telling the story, or am I telling the story?" He asked, giving her a playful raise of the eyebrow.
"Sorry." She whispered, smiling slyly back at him as she cuddled sleepily into his arms again.
"Okay, so I got to the hospital just as Max arrived… and I shuttled them off with Max, telling him that you were in labor…"
"Why was my dad here?"
"Probably to see you… remember the thing with the naughty Bones leaving the house, getting shipped off to the hospital in an ambulance? I had called and left a message for him earlier." Booth sighed. "So then…I ran as quickly as I could to the Maternity ward and demanded to see you."
"Of course you did." She mumbled sleepily with a slight giggle.
"Hey…"
"Were you brandishing your weapon?"
"Bones, this is a hospital… you should never have firearms so close to oxygen…" He paused. "I flashed my badge." He mumbled.
"Were they impressed?" She asked.
He sighed deeply. "No. Apparently, a Secret Service agent's child being born is not a matter of national security." He shrugged. "However… when I asked nicely, they showed me to your room… you were… upset and breathing funny, and they were talking all of this doctor gibberish, and you have a hand like a vice, let me tell you…" He teased. She said nothing as he continued. "They announced that you were going to need a C-section… and while I get what it is and all, I wasn't sure if they'd allow me in the room when they did it… the doctor escorted me out of the room telling me that your blood pressure was getting dangerously high, and the baby's was dropping. I mean, I didn't know if they were asking for my permission, or letting me know. They prepped you for surgery, and before I knew it, I was in an operating room with you. They had given you some medication, and were still talking nonsense, and then this… blue dinosaur came into the room."
"A blue dinosaur?"
"I was just seeing if you were still listening." He smiled sheepishly, watching the glare that she gave him.
"I think you're suffering from sleep deprivation."
"Suffering? I'm enjoying every minute of it." He said with a grin, satisfied with the smooth roll of her eyes as she tried to hide her smile. "So they had me in here talking to you, and you were really out of it discussing with me the similarities between unicorns and pixies on an anthropological level… it was all very interesting."
"I did not!" She said with a giggle that was laced with a bit of a wince from the pain in her abdomen and spine. "Booth, stop making me laugh, it hurts…" She whimpered, hearing his mumbled apology in her hair.
"They had asked me before the surgery how I felt about blood, and I can honestly say that I prefer looking at the insides of dead people…"
"Booth!" She whispered her exclamation as he held her close to his heart.
"No, I'm serious… knowing that you were alive, and this blood was yours… that the little person they were holding was part of you, part of me… seeing her moving for the first time, hearing her cry… hoping that they put all of your lady parts back the way they were supposed to be."
"Booth!" She whined, another sting of pain turning it to a whisper.
"Sorry…" He said again. "She is so beautiful, Bones. We make beautiful babies."
"The nurse called you my husband." She whispered. "That confused me too."
"I may have…" he rolled his eyes up for a moment, and then looked directly to her. "I may have taken a few liberties with the term." He said, watching her eyebrow lift slowly, she moved slightly and winced.
"Is it that painful to be called such a thing?" He asked, his voice soft and not mocking. "It was just easier than saying boyfriend, or… baby daddy…" He shrugged.
"I understand." She nodded, sighing lightly as she watched him become slightly thoughtful. "Booth?"
"Hm…"
"You never told me what happened with Hodgins…"
"Oh." He nodded. "He was in the waiting room after you came out of surgery. I was in recovery with you for a good number of hours, but the nurses all but kicked me out. I went down to the waiting room to get a little rest and he was the first person that I talked to. We talked for a while… he called Angela and told her the news. It was almost dawn by then, so we had a cup of coffee and waited until the gift shop opened and went a little crazy on the gifts." He cringed. "The hospital let us see her in NICU before Hodgins left for home… and then I came back here."
"Did you tell them her name?" She whispered.
"I did… and they let me write it on a little piece of tape and put it on her tiny bed." He whispered.
"You went with the one we agreed on, right?"
"Elmo?" Booth asked, watching Temperance's eyes widen, he smiled. "Oh right, that was Antonia's suggestion." He watched her scowl at him, and couldn't help but let out a light chuckle. "Grace."
"Grace Keenan Booth." Temperance whispered.
"Grace Keenan 'Little Bones' Booth." Booth corrected, as he kissed her forehead tenderly, and held her in his arms, as she closed her eyes against him and relaxed into his embrace.
