So here we are back in the hospital once more, we have left the dream world for now. The first part is just to remind you of where we left off in the *real* world.

Thanks once again to the reviewers and to my special twitter friends, you know who you are, you entertain me greatly.

As always nothing is mine, enjoy.

The Anthropologist in the Dream

Chapter Ten: That Simple

"Where am I?" Brennan asked once more, nothing made sense to her, everything was a muddle, her head hurt.

"George Washington hospital." Booth managed to reply, his eyes staring into hers, Bones' pupils were dilated and she looked scared and Bones wasn't often scared, this made him terrified.

"Hospital," Brennan repeated, nothing made sense, "I don't understand, it felt so real, it has to have been real," she said as her eyes fluttered closed, she was so confused.

Booth watched as Bones' eyes closed once more, he slumped back into the chair, his hand shaking in hers, this all felt like a terrible sense of déjà vu, that the two of them had been here before, but that he had been the one in the bed, confused and unable to process what had been happening to him.

"It has to have been real." Brennan whispered as she slipped back into an uneasy sleep, "It just has to have been.

[-]

His hand held the cell phone tightly, he'd promised he would call Angela as soon as Bones woke up and technically she had woken up. But she was so confused and she seemed scared, she'd been awake for moments before she had fallen asleep once more. He went to dial the number but stopped, he didn't want Angela here at this precise moment, he knew Angela and he knew that she would immediately jump to conclusions about the whole 'My Seeley,' dilemma and Booth didn't need Angela's conclusions crowding his own head, he already had enough of his own. It wasn't the calling him Seeley that was troubling him but the 'my,' that one preposition troubled him. He set the cell phone back down on the table, he took her hand and stared at Bones intently, wishing her to wake up once more and talk to him like the woman he knew.

[-]

Her head hurt, she felt groggy, her leg ached and everything smelt wrong. She couldn't smell the smells of Maluku, the smell of the sea, of plants of animals and of sweat. This smelt of saline and of antibacterial spray. Her eyes began to open and a room she had never been in greeted her, her eyes took in her surroundings, there was an army rucksack sitting in the corner. She wasn't with an extended family celebrating Christmas and she wasn't in Maluku, it all seemed so confusing. She went to move her hand and found that it was being held onto.

[-]

An hour had past, he had fallen back into a listless sleep, his eyes opening at each and every sound. It wasn't until he felt movement against his hand that he realised she was awake once more.

She moved her head slowly, to look to where her hand was being held.

"Bones, you're awake?" he questioned, taking in her facial expressions carefully, looking for answers.

"Booth, is that you?" she asked, her eyelids flickering taking in everything around her, "Where am I? What are you doing here?"

Booth smiled, a half smile, she didn't remember waking up before, "Yes, it's me," he answered, helping her as she tried to sit up, "You are in hospital,"

She rubbed at her face, as he helped her to sit, pulling the pillows around to make her comfortable, "Hospital?" she repeated.

"George Washington," Booth answered, "You are home,"

"What happened?" she questioned, she was confused, she couldn't remember anything familiar, only vague thoughts, Daisy talking, Daisy being with her, children smiling, two little boys hugging her tightly and her hands cutting apples diligently.

"You got injured," Booth answered her quietly, "Do you remember falling?"

"I don't know Booth," Brennan replied, her eyes seeking out the comfort of his, something familiar, something that she knew, something she could cling onto and make everything else fall into place, "This all seems so strange,"

"Bones," he said gently, pressing his hand over hers, "What is the last thing you remember?"

She closed her eyes, "I remember talking to Miss Wick, but I don't know where, I don't know what about. My head, it's dark, dark until just now," she replied, omitting the alternative life she had dreamed of, lying to Booth for one of the first times. She had no idea what had been happening inside her head, she needed to process it all first before she could even begin to explain it to him, if she was ever to explain it to him.

"You were stung by something," Booth explained as Bones opened her eyes once more, "Angela told me what it was when she came to meet me, but I can't remember exactly what she said,"

"Angela was here? Is she back too?"

Booth nodded as he continued, "You were okay at first, just a swollen leg, but then you fell unconscious and you were transferred home for specialist medical treatment,"

Brennan nodded, she remembered nothing of the things Booth was telling her, all she could see when she closed her eyes was the blue eyes of their shared granddaughter. She shook her head, it was time for her to think like herself, "Booth what day is it today?"

"Thursday Bones, very early Thursday morning,"

"Thursday," she repeated, she rubbed at her eyes as she tried to think through the muddle that was her brain, her flight home had been booked for a Wednesday and suddenly things started to make sense. "How long have you been here for?" she asked, taking in his appearance, he was still fully clothed in his army fatigues just as he had been when they had separated, all those many months ago.

"I came home yesterday like I told you I would," Booth answered, "You did get my letter?"

Brennan nodded, she remembered that at least, she remembered deciding to stay the week longer in Maluku. "We were supposed to meet by the coffee cart," she said quietly.

"Yes," Booth replied a sense of excitement in his voice, she was remembering, other than her confusion earlier on she seemed like the Bones he knew.

"I wasn't there,"

"Stating the obvious there Bones," he replied with a laugh, he watched as her nose wrinkled, "It's okay Angela was,"

"So that was yesterday?"

"Yes Bones," Booth answered, giving her hand another squeeze, trying to reassure her and him at the same time.

"So how long have I been here?"

"Since Monday afternoon I believe, but you'd have to ask Cam and Angela to be certain. Angela might have told me but I could have forgotten in the rush to get here," Booth explained as he watched Bones' eyes grow wide, he felt her hand tense beneath his, "Bones are you alright? Do you need the doctor?"

Brennan was confused, but she could see that she was worrying him, so she managed to answer him, "No Booth, it's alright, I'm okay. I'm just a little confused."

Booth nodded, "That's understandable. You've been sedated, I know what that's like, you'll feel better soon." He said reassuringly, as he watched her try and hide her confusion from him.

Brennan smiled a lopsided smile, she wasn't sure if she was smiling for him, to show that she believed him or that she was smiling to convince herself that everything was okay.

Booth returned her smile, before asking her, "Angela wanted to know as soon as you were awake, will you be okay if I just go out into the corridor to call her?"

Brennan nodded, "I'll be fine Booth. Are you sure you should be calling this early in the morning?"

Booth laughed, "Angela made me promise as soon as you were awake I had to call," he told her as he released her hand and stood from beside the bed, he had already broken that promise technically, but as Bones didn't seem to remember the first wake up it seemed logical that he wouldn't have to tell Angela either. He smiled down towards her and kissed her on the forehead.

[-]

She smiled at him as he headed for the door, her left hand brushing against her forehead where his lips had gently pressed only seconds before. That small gesture made her feel as if this was perhaps the dream and what she had experienced for the past days were the life she was living. She shook her head and watched as he left the room, his cell phone held tightly in his hands. She sighed as she pulled herself upright, her leg pinching against the cotton restraints which had held her still. From the angle at which her leg had been wrapped she could tell that she had been injured just above the talus bone. She turned her head to the side and she could see a familiar bag lying on the table next to her, she reached for it carefully. As soon as she managed to get it onto her lap she began to rummage through the contents before she found what she was looking for, her diary. Carefully she balanced it on her lap and shifted through the pages, until she found the pages she wanted to see. Whilst in Maluku she had taken to folding down the pages of each day to mark the number she had spent there and the number she had left. She had also formed the habit of noting pertinent information down at the end of each day. Booth had told her that today was Thursday, the day after the two of them were supposed to meet, nothing had been written since the previous Saturday night, she closed her eyes and tried to remember Sunday.

[-]

Brennan sat there for a few moments and nothing of Sunday appeared, all she could see when she closed her eyes were the smiling faces of her extended family gathering around her in the kitchen, discussing pie, apple pie nonetheless. She shook her head violently; her diary in front of her proved that that life had all been just a dream. A simple way of her brain taking her somewhere comforting when she was injured, somewhere where she could gather strength to help her recover. Only three members of that extended family existed, Parker, herself and the man she could see through the window. Parker was still a child, she still in her thirties and as she stared intently to where Booth was talking animatedly into his cell, she could see that he had all of his hair, he had had no knee reconstruction that she knew of and he certainly wasn't hers.

Abruptly she felt wistful, like this thought wasn't a new one that it was a thought she had had before. It was then that a piece of Sunday appeared, Daisy chattering away, blabbering on about going home, confused about her relationship with Sweets. Daisy asking Brennan for advice, Daisy asking if Brennan was excited to go home, excited to see Booth once more. It was at the mention of his name that Brennan had lost her concentration, her hiking shoes had lost their grip on the jagged rocks below her and she had slipped. There had been pain above her talus and near the anterior talo fibular ligament and it had hurt, it had been a searing pain, it had felt as if she was on fire. She could now remember Daisy helping her back to her tent, Daisy laying her down on her camp bed before her screeching voice called for one of the Australian anthropologists who they had come to know quite well. She could remember people milling around her and then she'd felt cold and then warm and then cold again and then everything had gone blank.

It was blank until she woke up in an alternative life, one where she was older than the age her mother ever reached, one where there were children and grandchildren. Then as fast as it had been made a dream in her head the entire thing disappeared and she had woken up here, feeling like she was back in the past. Irrationally she did something that she had seen Booth do in the days that he had thought she was his wife and they owned a nightclub, she pinched herself. She flinched immediately, it hurt. What was it that Booth said that proved? That if it hurt, you were awake? That had hurt, Temperance Brennan was awake, her dream life was just her unconscious brain processing the myriad of drugs that she could feel she had been pumped with. She sighed as she put her diary away, she was simply back home, her year in Maluku was over, and she was back in Washington as was he, it was that simple.

But as we all know, nothing with Booth and Brennan is ever that simple! Next time Angela is back again and there is a surprise hospital visitor!