Family Visit

Booth was asleep when the squints arrived. None of them had seen him after his rescue, but were aware of his injuries. Nonetheless, they were taken aback by his weakened appearance. Angela grabbed Jack's hand in a vain attempt to restrain herself from crying. In silence, they exited the room and sat in the small waiting room that was located in front of Booth's room.

"How is he?" Cam asked breaking the silence between the friends.

"Physically he is improving slowly, but he's getting better. The injuries are serious, but he is responding well to the treatment. He's had some infections and he still has an infection in his kidneys, but the doctors think that he will be okay in a few months. They were very clear that it would take a few months for him to be 100% back to normal, the way Booth used to be. They couldn't be sure if there was going to be any long damage from the drugs they gave him and from the brain injury, but for now he is okay." The group could sense the apprehension behind her words. They knew she was still worried about him.

"That's good," Jack said smiling slightly.

"How's the case?" Bones asked bluntly. She wouldn't be calm until the people responsible for hurting Booth were caught.

"We are stuck. I finally was able to ID the venom that they used. It was mistletoe. In Booth's case they gave him enough to make him sick."

"That would explain why they took him while he was sick, he was very vulnerable. That would allow them to take him without a big fight from him," Cam said as a way to corroborate what Jack had said.

"Bren, is he having nightmares? I mean after all he's been through?" Angela asked in concern.

"Sort of." Bones wasn't sure she wanted to give them all the information regarding his nightmares. She looked up and saw their friend looking puzzled at her. She was about to tell them something when one of the agents called her to the room.

"He's awake," The agent said and they began to walk into the room.

Booth had his eyes closed when she entered the room. He didn't open them until she was standing by his side.

"The guys are here. Do you want to see them?" She asked in a low voice and he gave her one smile. She turned and saw their friends standing near the door, waiting for some sort of approval to enter completely into the room. She stepped aside, and let Booth see their friends in front of him. He gave them a smile and that was what it took for them to enter and come close to Booth.

Angela and Cam walked directly toward him and kissed him on the forehead. Angela wanted to hug him, but she knew better and held herself back. His constant facial expression told her that he was healing, but he was still in a lot of pain.

"Hey guys. Thanks for finding me," Booth said and the squints looked on apologetically.

"We should've been able to do it more quickly," Jack said and Booth could tell that they were feeling guilty. They could've saved him from a lot of pain and his current condition.

"We should've processed the evidence more efficiently. We should've been able to compare the cases more quickly," Cam said continuing Jack's line of talk.

Booth looked at Angela and she looked sad. He moved his hand over hers and gave her a weak squeeze.

"Guys, none of you did this to me. I'm glad that you found me in time. I'm alive, thanks to you, so I don't want to hear that either of you are guilty because of this. You are my friends, my family. Thanks for everything you did in my absence," Booth said in a low voice that Bones could sense the pain in it. But she knew that their team needed to hear this from him.

After listening to Booth's words, the three squints smiled widely and sat around him. Booth asked questions about the case, and with sadness they confessed that the case was stuck, since there was no more evidence to process.

"Guys, can I ask you a favor?" Booth asked in a low voice.

"Whatever you want big guy," Cam said.

"This will have to be between us, okay?" Booth asked and watched as the squints agreed.

"A new conspiracy theory, just what I need," Jack said trying to lighten the mood and succeeded, as he made Booth snort and laugh, even when he grimaced in pain.

"It's about the case. When Cullen interviewed me about what I remember, I told him almost everything. He asked if I remembered any of the names or any characteristics about the men that took me. I didn't see their faces. They always had masks or sunglasses on. But as the day passed, I began to remember a voice. I knew one of the voices from somewhere, but I can't remember the face," Booth said and waited a few seconds to let the squints comprehend the information.

"I think it's someone in the Bureau, but I'm not sure. I still can't put a face to the voice," Booth said and looked toward them.

"Do you want us to start an investigation?" Cam asked, half amused by the request.

"I'm not quite sure what I want right now, but I think that you guys need to know. I can't do anything from here, and it's going to take me a long time to get back on my feet," Booth looked sadly at both of his feet, knowing the long and painful process that he was going to endure over the next few months.

Jack had an idea what he could do with the information Booth gave him. It was clear that he wouldn't be able to record each voice of the personnel of the bureau to let Booth ID the voice source, but at least he could do a complete search on the personnel. He at least owed that to Booth.

They were in a comfortable banter when Booth smiled sleepily to the person standing at the door. Parker didn't need encouragement to run onto his father's bed. He gave him a quick hug and a kiss to Bones who were sitting at his dad's side, and easily jumped into the bed with him. With care, he gave his father a kiss and a hug and nestled himself at his father's side. The squints smiled as they saw the smile on Parker's face when he waved to them his little head resting on his father chest.

"Hi!" Parker said happily to the squints.

"Hey Park, I didn't know you were visiting your dad today," Jack said smiling to the little boy.

"I ran from mom, she will be mad at me when she finds me, but I just couldn't wait to see daddy." As Parker finished Booth looked to the door and found Rebecca, her face flushed.

"Parker, don't ever do that to me again." It was clear that she was running behind his son.

"We had to take the stairs because the elevators were stuck, and he just ran. I tried to catch up with him, but I couldn't." She saw the faces of the visitors in the room were trying to restrain themselves from laughing, and she began to laugh.

Booth was happy. He had never enjoyed a stay in the hospital like today. His morning had been dull and he almost slept through it all, but since the arrival of the squints, the afternoon was really great. And finishing their visit, Rebecca brought Parker to see him again, and stayed with them for long time. They all left around eight that night and Bones was glad they did. Booth was tired and she knew it, but she didn't have the heart to ask his visitors to leave.

She sat by his side and waited for him to fall asleep. He knew she wouldn't move until he was asleep, so he complied with her. After giving her a kiss on her forehead, he closed his eyes for the night.