A/N: Drama, drama, drama...

Things were blurry, kind of like when you stare at your hand from too close. All she could see was white. She blinked a few times and, almost by magic, things came into focus.

The blur of white became a wall and what she had thought had been simply a green spot in the middle of the white blur actually belonged to a nice plant standing on an end table. She saw chairs and a TV hung at the ceiling in front of her.

She turned her head to the side and saw another bed. She was confused.

She tried stretching and found that her legs hurt. She tried moving her arm but soon noticed that her right arm was being held captive by weird plastic tubes and scotch tape. The sight of them frightened and she whimpered.

She felt tired, she felt weak and she was terrified. She was in a place she had never seen before, laying in a foreign bed, with something sticking out of her arm.

A sound on her right startled her. Her head snapped in its direction.

"Riley!" Temperance cried as she stared into her daughter's now opened eyes.

She made a bee line for her daughter's bed, ignoring her husband's comment that they should call a nurse or Riley's doctor.

"Mommy?"

Her voice was weak. She wanted to cry out her mommy's name but that faint sound was all that had been able to come out. She looked at her, feeling distressed. Something was wrong with her. What was she doing in this place? What was this place? Why was her mother currently crying? Where was her dad? Where was Lukas? And Parker?

"It's okay, baby." Temperance whispered as she ran her fingers through her daughter's hair. "Mommy's right here."

"What is this place?" Riley asked as her eyes fell on her father stepping inside the room.

A feeling of security immediately washed through her. Her father was there. Nothing bad would happen to her while her daddy was in the room. Not even the tubes under her nose and the ones in her arms could hurt her.

"It's called a hospital, sweetie." Temperance replied. "You were in the coma for twenty-four hours."

"What's a coma?" Riley immediately asked, frowning.

Her voice was hoarse and she felt tired. Her entire body ached and she couldn't understand why. Most of all, she couldn't remember how she had arrived there. Was this coma the reason?

Temperance looked up at her husband for help.

"A coma is when a person falls into a very, very deep sleep." Booth replied, knowing that Temperance wouldn't be able to explain to a five-year-old the meaning of a coma. "They sleep for hours and sometimes for days before they can wake up."

Riley frowned. She didn't understand but it didn't matter at the moment. She sighed and closed your eyes. Temperance let out a yelp of fear. Booth glared at her.

"Don't worry, Mommy." Riley said, softly. "I won't go in a coma."

Seconds later, Riley's breathing steadied.

She was getting herself something to eat. She was hungry and Booth didn't seem to be in a hurry of leaving the hospital. They had been ordered to go home again since Riley apparently needed rest. She felt outraged at being forced to obey but her husband's reassurance that they'd be back in a couple of hours calmed her. After all, Riley did need the rest.

She was stepping out of the cafeteria when a cry stopped her. She swirled around to see Booth's sister, Sea, zooming towards her.

"Sea." Temperance replied, trying to sound cheerful.

"Tempe. I am so so sorry I haven't come sooner. I was out of town when Mom called me and told me about Riley. Poor baby. How is she doing?"

"She's awake since this morning." Temperance replied as the two women began walking towards the elevator.

Temperance pressed the up bottom.

"The doctors say that she still needs a lot of rest and that it's not because she's awake that things will only get better from now on. There's still a big possibility that things could go downhill for her. After all, nobody yet has survived the illness."

The elevators chimed open and Sea and Temperance stepped in. A silence fell between them. Temperance examined the confined area while Sea seemed to have a new found admiration for her hands.

She couldn't understand why they were so uncomfortable around one another. Temperance had always liked Booth's sister and actually got along better with Sea than Renée. She turned and looked at the younger woman. What had happened to them? There was something between them that was now different. She frowned.

Temperance immediately looked away the second Sea looked up. The red number showed they had reached the third floor. Only three more floors to go.

"They moved her." Temperance felt the need to explain. "This morning. The doctors said she didn't need to be in intensive care anymore."

"Well that's good." Sea replied.

Temperance nodded.

Fourth floor.

"You know, it's unfortunate that something like that should happen at a time like this."

"What do you mean?" Temperance asked, confused.

Sea glanced briefly at her sister-in-law.

"Well, you know... with your financial trouble and all. Riley's illness could have came at a better time."

"What financial trouble?"

What was Sea talking about? She was having financial problems? Since when? And how had Sea heard about all of that?

She frowned and her eyes narrowed. Sea shifted under her gaze.

Fifth floor.

"You probably didn't want people to know but when Seeley started borrowing money from Dad, things kinda went public."

"Booth borrowed money from your dad?"

"Yeah. They had a fight over it too. Seeley and Dad haven't been speaking since then."

Sixth floor. The doors opened. The two women stepped out of the shaft.

"Seel borrowed over ten thousand dollars from Dad. When Dad asked him why he needed the money, Seel said that it was because you two were having money problems. This was over two months ago, maybe more. Anyway. One day, Dad asked my brother when he was going to pay him. Well, something happened. I'm not sure what since Dad won't talk about it and now the two of them don't talk."

She turned to Temperance.

"You didn't know?"

Temperance's eyes fell on her husband. She shook her head.

"No."

She faked a smile as they came to a stop in front of him. Booth kissed and hugged his sister.

"Sea, I'm so glad you came. Riley's sleeping. Nobody's aloud inside. Not even us."

He paused, glancing briefly at his wife.

"We were actually on our way home. We'll just go rest for a few hours and come back later this afternoon, maybe with Lukas. Feel free to join us if you'd like."

"Nah..." Sea replied. "You two go home and rest."

Booth nodded.

The couple walked to the elevator in silence. Booth sensed that something was up with his wife but he blamed it on the fact that she was tired and probably still stressed about Riley's condition. So he let it go. She'd talk to him when she was ready.

The doors opened and they stepped inside the shaft. The doors closed on them and the silence grew heavier.

They had reached the third floor when Temperance finally decided she had waited long enough.

"We have financial problems?" She asked, looking at her husband questioningly.

Booth gulped.

"Temperance, will you just listen to me?" Booth asked as he stepped inside the house.

"No, Booth. I won't listen!" Temperance replied, turning to face him, her face red in anger. "I cannot believe you kept this from me! Did you think you would be able to get away with it?"

"I'm sorry, Bones. I don't know what came over me. I was doing so well but then... we got into a fight, I went over to my brother's place, he had buddies over, we played a couple of games of poker and I lost money."

"But how on Earth could you lose ten thousand dollars in one night?"

Her eyes narrowed.

"You played more than once." She said, accusingly. "You lied to me. You said you had only played once."

"I did." Booth replied, defending himself.

"No you didn't! NOBODY loses ten thousand dollars in one night against his brother's friends. It's impossible, Booth. Who... who did you play with other than them?"

Booth looked down, unable to meet his wife's gaze. He'd have to tell her. He'd have to admit to her that he had lied to her. Not only tonight, but for the last couple of months. He just couldn't believe he had let things go this far. How could one innocent game of poker night turn his entire life upside down? He felt his heart racing through his chest and noticed that his hands were shaking slightly. He cursed his wife for having such an effect on him.

"When..." He began.

He stopped and cleared his throat. Things were beginning to become fuzzy. He looked up to find Temperance glaring at him. Her eyes seemed to shoot flames. He knew she was angry at him. She had every reason to be.

"When I went to Vegas, it... it wasn't..."

Temperance felt the anger rising even more inside of her and she felt as though she was going to explode. She knew the end of his sentence before he even said it. He had told her he was leaving for a conference in Vegas. Obviously, he had had other plans.

She shook her head.

"I don't believe it." She said.

"I'm sorry, Bones. You have to understand."

"Understand what, Booth? That you lied to me? That you lost a big part of our savings? That you borrowed the money from your dad so I wouldn't notice the big gap in our finances?"

"I did it for you. I didn't want you to be mad at me. I love you, Temperance."

Temperance snorted.

"Very touching, Booth, but it won't work. You borrowed the money from your dad to prevent me from learning about your gambling. You knew that I'd be mad at you but you didn't want that. You were being selfish, Booth. Selfish. It wasn't love that made you do it. It was selfishness."

"Bones..."

Temperance held up her hand to stop him.

"I don't want to hear one word about this anymore. I don't have the energy to deal with this right now. The only thing I can do and want to do is focus on my daughter. You're off the hook for today, Booth, but don't you dare think for one second that I have forgiven you. Am I clear?"

Booth glared at her before stomping off up the stairs. Seconds later, a frustrated cry reached her ears.

The cushion under her face was moist from all the crying she had done. As new tears spilled from her eyes, she cursed herself for being so weak. Booth had played their money and had lied to her. She still couldn't believe it. She felt betrayed and hurt and cheated. She felt as though her heart had been ripped out of her chest and stomped on.

Why had he done that? What had pushed him over the edge? He had been doing so good and she had been proud of him. She had put her entire faith in him. She had loved him with all of her heart and he had gone and betrayed her. He had let her down.

She hugged her pillow tighter. Things had been so nice for the last couple of days. She had felt as though she had gotten her husband back. But now that had also been taken away from her. Her daughter was in the hospital, her son was sleeping at his grandparents' house and she was pissed at her husband. Worst of all, she had to sleep on the couch because Booth had had the bad idea of falling asleep in their bed.

She turned onto her back and tried to fall asleep. But she knew the sleep wouldn't come.

Footsteps in the stairs reached her ears and she immediately knew that it was Booth coming down. She turned to face the back of the couch. She didn't want to see him.

The steps cracked under his feet. He held tightly on to the railing. His legs were shaking and he felt like they were about to give out from under him. He had woken up minutes earlier sweaty and shaky. The whole room had spun when he had stood up and now, as he tried desperately to reach the kitchen, he felt a buzzing in his ears similar to the sound of bees. He felt cold and weak.

He slowly made his way down the corridor. He glanced briefly at his wife as he passed by the living room. She had her back to him. He sighed.

The kitchen light was bright when he flicked the switch on. He covered his eyes with his hand. His head was feeling heavier and heavier. He could hear his heart beating in his ears like a drum. He tried to swallow but found that his throat had closed up. His entire body began to shake. He reached out for the counter as the whole room turned black.

"Temperance." He whispered before falling to the ground with a thunk.

Meanwhile, in the living room, Temperance was jumping off the couch and running to the kitchen.

Gasps Nooooooo!