Chapter 11

They drove in silence until they reached Booth's building. The air inside the car was so thick that you could cut it by a knife so when Seeley parked his SUV, they both sighed and got out almost immediately. Day was warm and sunny and Bones took a deep breath and looked into the sky and Booth grabbed her suitcase. But Brennan did not protested. Normally she would say that she's capable to take care of it but this time she said nothing, letting him carry it upstairs. She was aware that if she would take such a heavy bag the wounds on her back probably would open and she once again would have to visit the hospital. And she really did not want to do that, so she just followed her friend.

In the flat, tension between them appeared again. They did not know what they should do, what they should say, how they should act... So Bones just took her shoes off and walked into the living room, having no idea what she would be doing. Booth was right beside her and he first decided to break the silence.

"You can sleep in my bedroom, I'll take Parker's." he said. Well, truth be told, bed in his son's room was awfully small and he would be uncomfortable for sure. And he did not care that Tempe was much smaller than he was, nothing could convince him to let her sleep there, because it was definitely not good for her back.

"Booth, I'm a bit smaller than you are, so I can take Parker's bed. I'll be more comfortable." protested Bones, but in reality it did not matter for her.

"No way. I sleep at Parker's. Period." he stated and Brennan only nodded. "Here's your laptop and I'll put your suitcase in the bedroom. Oh, and maybe you're hungry, we can deliver Thai or something." proposed agent, leaving the living room.

"Thanks, but maybe later." answered Temprance, sitting on the couch and she opened her computer.

Seeley decided that he would not be pushing her so he just went and made some sandwiches for himself and sat down on the armchair, took remote and watched a movie. In the same time, Bones looked through her mail and accidentally opened some website and read a few headlines.

'FAMOUS ANTHROPOLOGIST AND BEST SELLING AUTHOR FOUND!!!' and more 'TEMPRANCE BRENNAN BEST SELLING AUTHOR MISSING' , 'IT'S BEEN TWO DAYS SINCE MISSING TEMPRANCE BRENNAN, FBI HAS NO IDEA...' and so on. She immediately closed her laptop, causing Booth to look at her quizzically.

"I'm going to take a bath." she said, and not waiting for an answer, stood up and walked to the bathroom, leaving confused agent in the living room.

When Booth heard closing door and running water, he got up and sat on the couch. He knew that he should not do that but he really wanted to know what pissed her off so much. He opened her computer and quickly went through last websites, reading the same headlines.

'Shit, I should've know that.' he thought and gently closed the laptop, once again sat on the armchair, turning his attention to the movie, but his thoughts still drifted around his friend.

At the other side of the apartment , Bones sat in half-full bathtub, because she could not get her dressing wet, with her knees under her chin. The wounds burned her skin, tears felt down her cheeks. She did not know why she was crying, she just felt empty and tears calmed her down and when she was feeling pain she believed that she was alive, that it was not a dream. She just sat there, looking at the door in front of her, she not even noticed that the water turned cold.

Booth started being afraid of Bones because she had been in the bathroom since forty minutes and it was really quite. He did not hear any sounds so characteristically for someone who were taking a bath. No running water, just nothing. So he knocked at the door terrified.

"Bones, are you in there?" no answer. "Bones?" he asked once again. Still, no reaction. "Bones, is everything's alright? If you don't answer, I'm coming." he said really scared. He waited a few more seconds but he did not get any response. Then he slightly opened the door and his heart stopped. Bones sat in the bathtub with her knees under her chin and hair falling down, covering her face. She did not move. He quick run to her and breathe deeply in relief. He noticed that her back was slightly rising and falling. She felt asleep, in the water, she just were sleeping in cold water. Trying not to look at her naked, pale and bruised body, he took a big, fluffy towel and put it around her, wanting to take her out from already cold water. But when he touched her she shivered and opened her eyes. She was terrified. Booth immediately took his hands away.

"Booth, what're you doing here?" she asked and wrapped a towel tighter around herself.

"Sorry." he said. "I came, wanting to ask you about something, but you didn't answer. Well, I asked you a few times, but you didn't answer, so I get scared and came in. I'm sorry...I...I'll go and deliver some food for us." he said, closing the door behind him. His cheeks burned him.

Inside, Bones came out from the bathtub with a warm towel around her. Goosebumps appeared on her exposed legs and she shivered slightly. She felt that dressing on her back get wet and it needed to be change. She had to ask Booth and it was the last thing she wanted to do…

TBC…