A/N: I always feel so bad when I haven't updated in a few days. Hope everyone is still enjoying the story. I really don't know how many more chapters there are going to be, I am letting the story control me rather than the other way around. Please let me know if everyone is in character, its what I was most worried about with this chapter. Also I know close to nothing about Psychology or PTSD so I apologize for any mistakes on that front. And thanks for reading!

Booth woke up covered in sweat and breathing heavily. He frequently had nightmares about Brennan, but they had always been separate from the nightmares about Edwards, Teddy, Parker and Jared. This was the first time she had been included in a nightmare that had stemmed from Afghanistan. Booth groaned and flopped back down onto his bed. He looked at the clock; it read 4:27am. He was having fewer nightmares but they were becoming more intense.

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Brennan woke to the sound of knocking on her door. She turned towards her nightstand and saw that it was 5:30. Knowing it could only be one person, she quickly got out of bed and raced towards the door. Neither of them said anything as she let him in.

"Sorry I came over so early." Booth said lamely after he had been standing in her living room for a few silent minutes.

"It's okay, I don't mind." Booth gave her a look.

"I am being sincere Booth. I don't mind if you come over at normally not socially acceptable times. I…you have always been there when I needed you in the past. I want to be here for you now. It's what part…friends do for each other." Booth pulled her into strong hug which she gladly reciprocated.

"You've probably been hearing this a lot since you got back, but you really have grown a lot Bones." Brennan blushed slightly. "I've always known that you would have my back, but this is the first time you've told me."

"You've helped me evolve Booth. I now understand the importance of telling people the significance that they hold in your life."

"Is that why you went around hugging everyone at the lab and saying thank you a couple weeks ago?" Booth asked with an amused smile on his face. Brennan turned pink.

"How did you hear about that?" She asked.

"Cam asked me if something had happened, Hodgins was almost as surprised as when you told him you loved him." Booth chuckled at Brennan's expression.

"He told you about that?"

"Ya. He was trying to offer me some 'overly solicitous advice'." He smiled at her.

"Now that we have confirmed that I have people I hold in high significance in my life, are you going to tell me why you came over at 5:30 in the morning?" Booth's smiled faded. He moved towards her couch and plopped himself down before he responded.

"I had another nightmare."

"You said you've been having them since before you came back." Brennan noted as she came to sit down next to him.

"I have…but I don't know, they are becoming more intense and I can't make them go away." He sighed. Brennan didn't know what to say, she still had the occasional nightmare and didn't know how to get rid of them.

"Is it always the same thing? That young soldier dying?" She asked.

"It was always Edwards turning into Teddy, then turning into Parker….and now into Jared too. And I keep reliving this...memory from when I was little."

"You mean about your father?" Booth nodded.

"It's just one in particular: I was…I thought my dad had passed out, so I was helping my mom, cleaning her up and stuff and then I went into my room, Jared and I shared a room. And Jared was sitting in the corner holding onto his face. I hadn't protected him that night and he had gotten hit. It was the first time."

"And you still feel guilty about it." It was not a question but a statement. Booth was quiet.

"He looked so sad Bones. He was four, he didn't understand. I had always made sure that he never saw my dad hit my mom or me, so it was a shock to him. I failed him that night."

"Booth that was over thirty years ago. I am sure that Jared doesn't have any ill feelings towards you about that."

"He doesn't. But when I met up with him a couple weeks back, you know that day I had the urge to go to the pool hall but ended up in your office, I looked at him and he said he recognized the look I was giving him from that night. He's been added to my nightmares since then." Booth sighed deeply. Brennan watched him.

"Booth, I appreciate you coming to me for help and telling me these things. I know you are just as stubborn as I am about opening up about the past. But I really think that you should talk to Sweets, he may have an idea as to how to stop the nightmares." She said cautiously.

"You want me to go to the baby duck?" Booth asked skeptically. "Since when have you believe that a psychologist could be useful?"

"Booth, I may have grown, evolved, whichever word you choose to use but I know that I am not qualified to help you."

"I disagree." Brennan gave him a sad smiled.

"I want you to get better. I don't want you to have nightmares anymore. But you admitted that you don't know how to get rid of them and I don't have any ideas as how to make them go away either. Sweets on the other hand is a trained Psychologist." Booth had to bite back a smile at the disdain in Brennan's voice, obviously she still disliked psychology. "Although I think that psychology is largely ineffective and completely subjective, it has been useful on a few occasions." She held his gaze.

"Alright Bones, I'll go see Sweets later." He gave her a small smile.

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Sweets was overly excited; Booth had called him earlier and asked to set up an appointment for today. He had never thought the day would come when Booth would willingly set up an appoint with him. He had a couple times asked for help with Parker, but never for himself. Which to Sweets clearly indicated how much more importance Booth put on Parker's life than his own.

Booth walked through the door and sat down on the couch without any form of greeting. He really did not want to do this, but his ever logical part…Bones had a point. Neither of them were as equipped to help him as Sweets was.

"Hello Agent Booth."

"Sweets cut the Agent stuff okay." Sweets nodded.

"I'm surprised you decided to come see me, willing." Sweets confessed. Booth snorted.

"I'm surprised you having been harassing me, trying to get me to talk about what happened in Afghanistan since I got back." He retorted. Sweets turned pink.

"Well I learned my lesson from the last time. You really don't respond well to poking and prodding." Booth snorted again.

"Does anyone actually respond well to that?" Booth asked. Before Sweets could defend himself and his chosen profession, Booth shook his head and launched right into his problem.

"I've been having nightmares."

"About Afghanistan."

"I only lost one solider over there Sweets and he was even younger than you. And I just keep seeing his eyes. And then he turns into Teddy who turns into Parker and then Jared when he was four."

"And it's always the same dream?"

"Ya, but last night Bones was there too. Jared didn't turn into Bones or anything like that. That dream is only for people with brown eyes. But Bones…I've had nightmares about Bones before."

"More often than you'd like to admit." Sweets comment. He was quickly silenced by the look Booth gave him.

"The nightmares about Bones are nothing new. I've been having nightmares about her for years. And the nightmares about Jared I've had for years too."

"You often have nightmares about your childhood?" Sweets inquired with intense interest. Booth became defense as he always did when his childhood was brought up.

"That's none of your business Sweets. I'm talking about this poor kid who died in Afghanistan when he shouldn't have."

"Was it your fault?"

"He said it wasn't."

"The solider? He told you that in your dream?"

"No, right before he died he told me that I wasn't my fault." "Sarge, It's not your fault."

"Clearly you are harboring some guilt over his death; otherwise you wouldn't be having nightmares about him."

"I don't want an analysis of my nightmares Sweets, just tell me how to make them stop!"

"How are things going? I know you had a new case a few weeks ago."

"That case was a piece of cake, what does that have to do with anything?" Booth was getting very annoyed now.

"You're annoyed."

"You're being annoying. Listen Sweets, just tell me how to get rid of the nightmares so that I can get a decent night's sleep." He said aggressively. Sweets sighed.

"What I would suggest to any patient who I believed was suffering from PTSD would be therapy."

"Ya, not interested in therapy Sweets and I don't have PTSD. I am fine."

"Apart from the nightmares." Booth clenched his jaw. Sweets leaned forward in his chair.

"Booth, I am a trained psychologist. From what I can see, you have mild PTSD from being in Afghanistan. But you also have a lot of unresolved issues about your childhood and your father that are manifesting themselves as nightmares. Not to mention that fact that you are in love with Dr. Brennan and the relationship has not progressed the way you want it to."

"I'm pretty sure I told you not to mention my old man again." Booth said, his voice was low but dangerous. Sweets tried to look confident.

"Your issues about your father are clearly affecting you negatively. I don't think that you have truly gotten over the abuse you suffered in childhood." Booth was silent, but the expression on his face spoke loud and clear; Sweets had crossed a line. Sweets could feel the negative emotions that were radiating off of Booth; he knew that they were towards his father but that Booth was clearly going to project them towards him. Without saying anything, Booth got up and left the office, slamming the door so hard on his way out that Sweets jumped.

Sweets sighed. Booth undoubtedly had issues that he had been burying for years about his childhood and his father. His latest tour in Afghanistan had clearly unearthed some of those issues and had melded with the guilt he clearly felt over the death of the young soldier.

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"I'm concerned about Agent Booth." Sweets said as he approached Brennan who was sitting at her desk. Brennan looked up at him.

"I think his PTSD is worse than we all thought it was."

"What evidence do you have of that?" Brennan asked.

"He came to see me today -"

"Yes I know that, I convinced him to talk to you because psychology is your area of expertise and I was unsure of how to help him." Sweets shifted a little uncomfortably, Brennan sounded annoyed.

"Well I think coming to see me was the right thing to do. He needs help."

"Your evidence Dr. Sweets." Brennan demanded. Sweets nodded his head before speaking again.

"The nightmares he's been having. They aren't just from Afghanistan. They're from his childhood as well. He said he's been having nightmares about one time when Jared was abused by their father." Brennan lowered her head.

"Yes I know, he told me about his nightmares. But the nightmares about Jared and his childhood have occurred throughout his life."

"But they have been compounded by his experience in Afghanistan. Booth is someone who prides himself on being the protector. He has the psyche of a true warrior. He has spent his entire life being the protector. His nightmares are replaying the times in which he was unable to protect people that he cared about." Sweets paused for a moment, "he has nightmares about you too." Brennan's head snapped up.

"He didn't tell me that. He told me about the other nightmares, why wouldn't he tell me that I was in his nightmares?"

"Did something happen between the two of you?" Sweets asked instead of answering her question.

"What do you mean?" Brennan asked trying to buy herself some time.

"Well, if something significant happened between you two, I would say that he didn't tell you because of what happened; he wouldn't want you to feel guilty about his having nightmares about you." Sweets' tone clearly indicated what he thought had happened. Brennan lowered her head again.

"Our relationship is fine Sweets." She said, even to her it didn't sound fully convincing.

"He is going to need a lot of help." Sweets said instead of pursuing his curiosity about what had transpired between his favorite former patients. He had already pushed Booth over the edge today, he wasn't going to do push Brennan too.

"Is there something specific I can do to help him?"