Author's note: Can't believe it's Thursday again...Time sure flies.

Big thanks to M, Amasayda, and Addictt for helping me out.


Chapter Ten - Bail Me Out

Saturday June 2nd 2007 -- 03:23 p.m.

"I'll wait here."

Brennan nodded to indicate she had heard him and entered the pharmacy without him. She didn't quite understand why Booth preferred to stay outside, but she was grateful for the opportunity to be alone for a few moments. As much as she adored his company, a bit of "Brennan time" every now and then couldn't hurt. Her attention was drawn to a young woman, who was chatting with the pharmacist. From what the anthropologist could deduct, they were discussing various pregnancy tests. She cocked an eyebrow and went back to studying the supplies stacked on the shelves behind the counter. In the dusk light that fell through the windows, she could distinguish an impressive collection of bottles and boxes in all shapes and sizes. Everything was neatly organized in wooden cabinets like they used to do decades ago. The rather old-fashioned interior of the pharmacy represented the feel of the entire town. It seemed as if time had stopped here. It was fascinating and slightly disconcerting at the same time.

She was still lost as to why she had picked this particular town to spend a couple of days in. It was unfamiliar territory for her. There was no particular reason for her to be attracted to this unimaginative collection of buildings and dusty roads. Maybe that was the exact reason why she had chosen this spot to stop running. There was nothing that tied her to this place---no promises, no memories…absolutely nothing. Here it was just about her, Booth, and healing---exactly as it was when they were tearing along the highway. No thoughtful Angela, no bickering Hodgins and Zach, no remains to examine, no Sully to aggravate her---only she and Booth.

Brennan expected to cringe at thinking about Sully, but all she felt was a dull ache weighing heavy on her heart. What had happened had driven them apart. Immediately straightening up, Brennan mentally corrected herself. The ambush at that dilapidated Victorian house had nothing to do with why she and Sully had distanced themselves from each other. It had been Sully's reaction to all the events that had opened her eyes. Unlike Booth, he hadn't been around to satisfy her every whim. Not that Booth had played her personal servant twenty-four seven, but…Brennan sighed. At least he hadn't deserted her. He had once again proven to be loyal and trustworthy, while Sully had shamed her trust. She could even pinpoint the exact moment when she had felt him pulling away from her.

---°---

Sunday May 6th 2007 -- 10:55 a.m.

"Well, Dr. Brennan, it looks like you've healed up quite well. I'll inform the two gentlemen waiting outside that you can go home." Dr. Peterson took his pen out of his breast pocket to jot down a thing or two in Brennan's file. "I can imagine the joy my staff must be feeling right now," he mumbled.

For the past week Brennan had constantly been harassing the nurses with dozens of questions. The one question that kept coming back was if there wasn't a possibility of an early release. One of the men waiting in the hallway---Dr. Peterson believed it was Agent Booth---had forewarned him. He had explained how his partner usually was buried up to her neck in work and how frustrated she would get by simply laying in bed, doing nothing in particular except for healing from the attack. Peterson tucked his pen away and closed Brennan's file while shaking his head. Brennan may have been not the easiest patient he had ever treated, but it was her determination that had gotten her through the worst. He bid Brennan goodbye before turning and heading for the door.

Booth, a smile hanging on his lips, brushed past the doctor as soon as the latter one exited the room. "What did I hear, Bones? Are you being released?"

A victorious Brennan nodded at him. "He finally cleared me. I thought I was going to be locked up in here forever."

"He had every right to keep you, Bones," Booth quietly told her, while sitting down on the edge of the hospital bed. He grimaced at the sudden pain coursing through his shoulder. Since his usual stubborn self refused to wear his sling any longer than the minimum time his doctor had forced him to, the stings were more vicious than they were supposed to be, resulting in him having to deal with a constant dull ache. He was grateful that he could still move his arm and all five of his fingers of his right hand, but that nagging feeling of sore muscles was driving him up the wall. It sometimes made it impossible for him to stay still. It was as if he was always being pushed forward---like he was forced to keep on moving to forget the pain. He was teetering on the edge of absolute annoyance, mixed with a hint of insanity. He had to do something about his shoulder---not to mention his need to run away from everything---before he was going to make it worse by, for example, smashing a window out of frustration instead of the wall he had punched the day before.

"At least you were allowed to go home. You weren't the one who was stuck here."

Booth unconsciously rubbed the bandage around his hand as he replied, "Well, you got shot. That's why."

"You got shot as well," Brennan pointed out.

"Bones, that's not the same! There's a difference between a bullet in your shoulder and one in your stomach and you know it so stop messing with me." He got up to retrieve her clothes from the small cupboard in the corner. "I suggest you change out of that hospital thing now, unless you want to stay here until the end of your days?"

Brennan mumbled, "I'm the badly hurt one. You should be agreeing with everything I say." With a deep frown decorating her forehead, she continued, "Could you help me put my clothes on? My shoulder aches if I try to lift my arms."

"Uh...I'll let Sully handle that part," he replied, gesturing at the other FBI-agent entering the room. He masked his embarrassment with a subtle cough.

Sully wordlessly helped Brennan change into her regular clothes while Booth left the room, pulling the door closed behind him and going over to the window in the hallway to stare at what was going on outside. It was a rather nice day to be released from hospital. There were a couple of white clouds swimming around in the light-blue sky, there was a soft breeze whispering through the leaves of the skinny trees planted here and there on the side of the parking lot, and most of the people who were walking around in the hospital's park were smiling. Booth let his head rest against the window as he listened to Brennan murmuring something about Sully having two left hands when it came to handling her bra clasp. He vaguely wondered how she could be so indifferent about her stay at the hospital. It was a battle for him to step through the door of her room every day at 4 p.m. sharp. If he could ever put into words how the guilt took him by the throat, or how it made his legs go numb, or how he furiously wished it was him who had been the killer's target, he would sew his mouth shut. He just wasn't the kind of man who easily opened up about what was slowly eating him away.

"Done," he heard Sully mumble through the closed door.

"Great," Booth exclaimed, turning away from the window and pushing the door open again. "Let's go." He practically shoved Brennan into the wheelchair that was waiting for her before he marched away. He paid no attention to the forgotten hospital gown Brennan had worn for the past days laying on the bed. Getting away as far as possible from this place, and if it was possible, never return was Booth's main goal. Sully followed suit carrying the bouquet of white roses he had bought Brennan the day before. He didn't even try to stop Booth from pushing Brennan's wheelchair. Ever since their talk in the cafeteria, Sully had begun distancing himself from the pair. He hadn't stopped dropping by to see Brennan, but he deliberately kept his visits short. So far Brennan hadn't made any remarks about it. He eyed Booth who was repeatedly pushing the button to call the elevator. His impatient behavior made Sully sigh in resignation and brought a smile to Brennan's face. Booth was even more anxious than she was to get away from here. When the elevator finally arrived, they saw that it was completely packed, leaving only enough room for either about four persons or one person and a wheelchair.

Sully briefly closed his eyes, very much aware of the significance of what he was about to do. "Go ahead," he told them.

Brennan weakly protested. "But..."

"Go, Tempe. Booth will take you home."

Brennan hesitantly nodded at Booth, who didn't waste a second arguing with Sully's words. Without hesitation he pushed the wheelchair in the elevator. They saw Sully disappear from view when the doors slid closed. Brennan felt a tug at her heart upon seeing the somewhat lost look on his face as he stared at them---hand in pocket and loosely clutching a dozen roses with the other.

Instead of waiting for the next elevator, Sully retraced his steps to Brennan's room. He placed himself near the window so that he could watch them down below. A couple of minutes later they appeared from under the small shelter hanging above the entrance doors. Brennan had abandoned her wheelchair at the entrance of the hospital. She would've just walked out of her room if standard hospital policy wouldn't have been that all patients had to leave the hospital in a wheelchair. Booth and Brennan crossed the parking lot and headed straight for the SUV standing alone in the utmost corner. Sully put his forearm against the window and let his head rest against it. Concentrating on the view before him, he thoughtlessly tapped the roses against his thigh making a few rose petals fall down. As the petals soundlessly hit the clean hospital floor, he watched Brennan pull the car door open. Booth was with her within seconds when she reached for her side after she had tried getting into the car on her own. One hand steadying her elbow and the other supporting her side, he helped her sit down in the passenger seat. In return Brennan gently smiled at him. It was then and there that Sully realized it. Not taking his eyes off the SUV driving off the parking lot, he gulped away the nausea sickening him. She was no longer with him. He had lost her.

---°---

Saturday June 2nd 2007 -- 03:30 p.m.

The pregnancy test woman bid the pharmacist goodbye and left with a brown paper bag in her hands. Brennan calmly approached the counter.

"How can I help you, Miss?" the elderly pharmacist asked her. She took a moment to study the tufts of gray hair right above his ears and the webs of wrinkles circling his eyes. In a way he reminded her of the local pharmacist of the town she used to live in when she was little. Every time her mother bought a supply of band-aids, he made sure to put in a small treat for her and Russ. He knew how much five-year-old Brennan liked her gumballs.

"I'd like some disinfectant and some bandages, please."

He nodded, turned around, and began searching the shelves for what she had asked for. In the meanwhile Brennan dared to glance over her shoulder. Through the glass pane of the door she could see Booth standing with his back to her. He seemed to be studying something on his right side. She softly sighed. The instant Sully had pulled away, Booth had taken his place. Or had Booth pushed Sully out of the picture? Up till recently she hadn't given the past much thought. At the time of the incident she had been wounded and had been in need of care. It had repulsed her to ask for help, mostly because it had run counter to what she held in high regard---her independence. Now that she was away from everything familiar, she had plenty of time to deal with what had happened. But no matter how much thought she gave the whole Booth versus Sully situation, she could never quite manage to put her finger on what had exactly happened. One stab of a knife and one bullet in her side had torn her relationship with Sully to shreds while it had strengthened her connection with Booth. How exactly to define her new relationship with Booth she didn't know yet. It was one of the questions she hoped to answer before going home.

"Anything else you need, Miss?"

Brennan briefly looked at the pharmacist. "Gauze pads, please. Large ones of five by five, if you have them."

"Of course," he replied, giving her a friendly smile that made the wrinkles around the corners of his mouth stand out.

She went back to gazing at Booth's back. With one eyebrow cocked, she watched how he nervously ran a hand through his hair before hooking his thumbs behind the hem of his pockets. He stared at the tips of his shoes for a moment and then left the porch to stroll around on the street. There he began pacing around like a caged lion. Brennan's face dropped. Whenever he was around her, Booth acted all caring and he pretended there was not a dark cloud in their blue sky. He joked and even flirted a bit with her, just like before the incident. He did everything he could to fulfill his promise of fixing her.

"Should I add some sleeping pills to your order?" Brennan spun around incredulous. The pharmacist gestured at her partner walking up and down the street outside. "Your friend looks like he could use a good night rest."

"No pills," she said, the tone of her voice sharper than was necessary.

The elderly man shrugged. "Can I suggest a trip to the waterfalls then?"

Brennan glared at him to reprimand him for his interference. But when she stared at Booth again, her eyes softened and she bit her bottom lip. Booth was taking care of her. He was fighting against her demons for her, even though he clearly had some issues himself to sort out. Brennan firmly nodded. She had made a decision. As she took out some money to pay for what the pharmacist had gathered in a brown paper bag, she tilted her head and quietly asked, "Where exactly are those waterfalls?"


Next stop...the waterfalls!