Chapter Nine: Hanging In There.

Newport Rhode Island

Late May 2011.

Brennan comes around to the sound of her father's gentle voice and the sensation of his fingers caressing her face oh so softly.

''Hunnie . . . Tempe sweetheart can you hear me?''

She opens her eyes and the sight of her father's face, the undisguised panic in his eyes brings memory flooding back for Brennan. Booth . . . something has happened to Booth, something really, really bad. Brennan sits up so suddenly her head almost collides with Max's.

''Booth . . . Dad . . . Booth's been shot . . . he's been shot.''

Black clawing panic threatens to drag her under again; she fights it with every ounce of her willpower, she cannot lose it right now . . . not when Booth needs her. And she suddenly becomes very aware of the fact that right now, Booth does need her, Hannah is no longer there, and someone who loves him needs to be with him right now, needs to be waiting on news of him . . . it's important . . . he shouldn't be alone in this.

The sound of Max's voice steadies her.

''I know sweetheart." He says softly. '' Susan explained what happened when she came outside to find me. I found your phone and I called your friend Angela. He's in surgery hunnie . . . and I'm afraid it's pretty bad . . . they aren't sure they are going to be able to stop the bleeding in his chest cavity, but they are doing everything they can Tempe . . . he has the best cardiac surgeon in D.C working on him. We can't lose hope okay . . . Angie said to tell you that. And she said to hurry back . . . we should get going Tempe . . . the car's outside and Susan is already on her way back to the city. She wanted you to call her if there was anything she can do."

Max helps Brennan up and the anxious way his hand runs down her arm prompts her to reassure him, she might have fainted, but she isn't injured . . . she's fine, her babies . . . Booth's babies are fine . . . her vision blurs with tears, he has to be alright . . . even if he hates her for the way these children came into being, he's still their father, and they need him. She needs him . . . she always has. Brennan hauls in a deep breath, fighting to clear her vision and focus on what needs to happen right now. She has to get back to D.C, and its three hours drive minimum, but she has to get back there, she needs to be with him . . . to ensure he's getting the right care . . . she's his partner . . . his partner . . . and he's everything. She follows Max outside, locks the door to the cottage and makes her way to her running vehicle, getting into the passenger side to let Max drive. She sits slumped against the window, her mind whirling while she passes her hand over her stomach again and again, as much to sooth herself as to somehow convey to her unborn children that she's going to their father; that she's taking them there.

Max drives fast and efficiently, speed limits are ignored in favor of getting back to D.C as quickly as possible, Max figures if they get pulled over, if Temperance explains who she is, any law enforcement professional is going to be aware of what went down today, and none of them are going to get in the way of getting a colleagues pregnant partner back to him. Not when that fallen comrade is fighting for his life and every single moment that passes could be his last one. Max's mouth is set in a firm, grim line, damn it Booth, hang in there, he thinks, don't leave her, not now, not when Tempe's finally ready to be with you, not when she's pregnant and vulnerable and so afraid that what she's done you'll never forgive her for.

Max thinks his daughter is wrong about what Booth's reaction to seeing her pregnant will be. If Max had to put money on it, he'd bet Booth will be instantly jealous that he isn't responsible and then when he finds out he is responsible, he'll be so relieved that her children are also his that he'll want to marry her and forgiving her for using his donation will the last thing on his mind.

But of course he has to be alive to do any of this and Angela wasn't hopeful when he spoke to her earlier. In fact Angela was barely holding it together and Max could hear her husband Jack Hodgins in the background telling his wife over and over again to breathe more deeply and to try and calm down. Angie had been practically hysterical and that's a first Max thinks, because in his experience Ang is one tough cookie. Still, Booth had quietly and apparently quite deliberately placed himself in the snipers line of fire to protect Ang, and seeing her friend knowingly make that sacrifice, for her, seeing him shot down right before her, maybe even killed. . . it was enough to shake anyone – tough cookies included.

As Brennan's car eats up the miles between Newport and D.C Max prays really, really hard, and he's not a particularly religious guy though he certainly has more faith in the idea of someone up there than his daughter. He prays that Booth pulls through this, that the doctors are able to pull off a miracle today, that Booth will defy what fate has handed him and somehow hang in there for Tempe; because Max doesn't want to see the look on her face if he gets her there and it's too late. He steals a glance sideways at his daughter, she's holding herself rigidly still and looking out the window, he can see her reflection in the glass though and his foot presses harder on the accelerator as he spies tears on her pale cheeks.

Please Booth . . . he prays again . . . please don't die.

Sibley Memorial Hospital

Washington, D.C

What's taking so long?' Jack Hodgins asks Dr. Camille Saroyan in a hushed whisper, juggling his sleeping wife in his arms as her dead weight is causing numbness in his fingers. Angela dropped off a half an hour ago finally, exhausted by the strain of the day and for the moment cried out. Jack's arms tighten every few minutes protectively, he came ridiculously close to losing his wife and unborn child today, and if not for the actions of his favorite FBI agent he would now be a widower.

Cam glances down at the sleeping artist in Hodgins' arms, on the one hand so grateful that mother and child are okay and yet on the other so devastated that their safety has come at the expense of another of her best friends.

Everything just happened so suddenly this morning, one minute they are discussing the snipers latest victim on the platform in the lab, the next they all see the red laser-sight dot appear in the dead center of Angela's chest, and in a movement so quick it was almost super-human, suddenly Booth was in front of Angela, and then there was a shot and then Booth was on the floor and she was trying to stop the bleeding while alarms were sounded and chaos reigned.

The look on Booth's face as he struggled to breathe, the way his eyes were seeking Angela, to ensure she was unhurt, the knowledge that he'd very deliberately put himself in the path of the bullet to save her. . . she wanted to rage at him for his stupid bravery, even as she was cowed by it. How the sniper got into the Jeffersonian, let alone with a weapon, has yet to be determined . . . as is how he got out again.

'Taking a long time is a good thing Hodgins.' She whispers back. 'Means they're still working on him and he's still with us.' Cam's voice breaks as she fights back her own tears.

'Do you think he can make it?' Hodgins asks and the pleading look in his vivid blue eyes silently begs both for the truth – the real truth – and some kind of hope . . . no matter how slight. Cam looks from Hodgins over to Sweets and Daisy, apart from the slumbering Angie they are all looking to her for answers.

Cam takes a deep breath. For herself, every moment that they've been kept waiting has given her another tiny glimmer of that hope that Hodgins is now seeking. Those first few minutes, when Booth was bleeding out onto her trembling hands she was convinced the bullet had severed a cardiac artery and that there was nothing that could be done to save him. But he made to the hospital and he made it into theater and since then they've been working on him for several hours, so that has to be a positive sign. The only reason they are still operating is to repair the damage done, which means that it IS repairable – and Booth is strong, with an iron will and in peak physical condition. If anyone can make it through this . . . it'll be him.

'He has a chance Jack . . . a real chance, or we would not still be waiting for news.' She tells him finally.

Hodgins manages a small smile as his arms tighten around Angela again. 'I hope Brennan makes it here soon though, if he knew she was back . . . she just needs to be here.' He finishes.

Cam nods. They were all unprepared for Max Brennan's phone call. Angela had immediately called Brennan's lawyer when the shooting happened, but the damn man was in court and his office would not do anything helpful. Then moments later Angela's phone rings with a withheld number and to everyone's relief it was Max. They know Brennan is on her way back and since Booth has been searching for her for months, if this brings them back together . . . if he can make it . . . maybe they can make it.

The door to the emergency room waiting area swings open suddenly and four pairs of eyes drink in the sight of Brennan as she almost erupts into the room. Her hair is longer than when they last saw her, she's pale and her eyes are red rimmed, she scans their faces then practically runs to Cam.

'Cam . . . how is he?' Brennan falls to her knees beside Cam's chair, her position on the floor makes it look like she's praying for good news.

'Alive.' Cam tells her gently. Reaching out to grasp a cold trembling hand in hers; Brennan is freezing, a sure sign she's in shock. 'He's alive Bren . . . that's all we know. He's in surgery, he's been there four hours already . . . but that's good, it means he's holding on.' Cam squeezes the freezing hand, willing warmth into her friend.

Brennan swallows, her eyes close as she fights to remain calm. The entire journey she kept thinking she was going to get here only to be told clinically that he was gone. To find out he's still living, she knows enough medicine to know this means he has a chance, and a chance is a chance, no matter how slight.

He isn't gone. He hasn't left her. It's all she could have hoped for.

'Come on hunnie . . . the floors cold, get up.' Max lifts her from behind, his hands under her elbows.

He directs her to a seat the other side of Cam from Hodgins and once he makes sure she's steady he goes in search of a blanket. Returning he wraps it around his daughter and tapping Cam on the shoulder he mouths 'I need to talk to you' at her and motions to the corridor outside the waiting room.

Cam nods. Brennan is rocking herself slightly and she motions to Sweets to go and sit with her, distract her for a moment while she and Max talk.

Once in the corridor and outside of earshot Max comes to the point immediately.

'Am I right that she's gone into shock?' He asks.

Cam nods. 'I think so. We just need to keep her warm and keep an eye on her . . . she'll be fine Max.'

'She's pregnant Cam . . . doesn't that complicate things? I tried to keep the car really warm, but she just kept shivering and shivering. She passed out when she got the news and I'm worried about the stress this is having on her and the babies.' He says helplessly.

Cam is momentarily robbed of speech. Brennan is pregnant? When the hell did this happen . . . how the hell did this happen? Finding her voice she goes into doctor mode.

'How pregnant Max and if this is a multiple birth, how many?' She asks him.

'Four months, and she's having twins.' He responds.

Cam blows out a surprised breath. 'We need to get her on a fetal monitor, and check her blood pressure as well as getting her warm, properly warm as soon as we can. We should go back and get her taken up to the maternity ward – she's not going to want to leave here, be prepared for her to fight us on this.'

Max smiles with no humor. 'She'll listen, she wouldn't endanger his children.' He says, and then realizes just what he's revealed.

Cam's eyes widen in shock. 'Booth is the father?'

Max nods grimly. 'Not the old-fashioned way . . . but yeah'

It takes Cam all of a few seconds to grasp the entire sordid truth, and suddenly the reason behind Brennan's secrecy makes sense.. 'Damn. Even so, let's get her taken care of.'

Max follows Cam back into the waiting room thinking that his daughter is going to have his head when she finds out what he's accidentally let slip.