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Chapter Twelve

"Chris!" Booth yelled, running out of the room. He ran smack into Hodgins who was carrying Chris.

"What happened?" he said frantically taking her out of Hodgins arms.

"Nothing. She's fine." Hodgins replied quickly. "A surgeon was coming down the hall and she freaked out."

"Okay baby, it's okay." He said to Chris, who was sobbing in his arms. He looked at Hodgins and Zach, both of whom looked terrified.

"Ssssh." He said, entering the room. "She doesn't like hospitals, it's a long story." He walked over to the chair in the corner and sat down, rocking her slowly.

"It's okay." He soothed. "It will be okay.

'I'll make it okay.' He thought to himself. He flicked a glance at Brennan who was half out of the hospital bed as if she was going to leap into action. 'I'll make you both okay.'

"Sssh." He said, pressing a kiss on the top of Chris's head.

"Daddy?" Chris said, sitting up.

"What baby?" he replied, his voice shaking as he looked at her red, tearstained face.

"Are the…bad guys….going to come….get you again?" she asked, every other word punctuated by a sob.

"No sweetheart." He said, pulling her close. "Why do you think that?"

"Cuz." She sniffled. "I was playing with Dr. Zach and Dr. Jack and a man with a mask came and that's what happened when the bad guys shot you."

'Chris, I promise the bad guys aren't coming, okay?" he said fervently, thinking back to when that happened. He knew he would never let that happen again.

"Is everything alright in here?" a nurse said, coming in the room.

"Yes we are fine." He replied. "She just got scared."

"Okay." The nurse replied. She turned to Brennan. "Here are your discharge papers, Ms. Brennan."

"Thank you." She said distractedly, not even bothering to correct the nurse on her name. She was too busy watching Booth rock Chris back and forth. She could see Booth was upset; he was trembling from head to toe. And the look in his eyes, at first she didn't recognize it but then she realized what it was. He looked frightened. She had never seen him look that frightened before.

Several minutes passed without anyone saying a word.

"She's asleep." Booth said quietly. He saw the questioning looks on everyone's faces.

"About thirteen months ago, I was on a case. We were getting closer to the suspect, David Keel. Finally we caught up to him but it turned out that an FBI agent turned dirty and ratted us out. We walked into a trap. I was shot twice in the chest and once in the arm." He said.

"Chris had a nanny at the time, Susan, who had found out what happened when the FBI contacted her. She couldn't get a hold of Rebecca so she went to the hospital with Chris. Apparently they arrived just in time to see me being wheeled into an elevator on my way to surgery. I was unconscious and there was blood everywhere. Chris had nightmares for weeks. She's better now, but hospitals still freak her out."

"So why did you bring her?" she asked softly.

"I had to make sure you were okay." He replied. "Today was her first day of daycare but the teacher said she began crying as soon as I left this morning. They couldn't calm her down so they called me." He sighed. "I am going to have to find some one to watch her tomorrow until we get this daycare thing figured out. So are you ready to get out of here?"

"What?" she said, flustered. "Umm, yeah. How did I get here? I mean I'm going to need a ride back to the lab."

"I will give you a ride." He said, standing up slowly, trying not to jostle Chris.

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He drove along the streets of DC, glancing at both his sleeping daughter and his sleeping partner. As soon as they had got into the car, they had both fallen asleep. He headed in the direction of her apartment. There was not way he was taking her back to the Jeffersonian now.

He thought about everything that had happened. First finding out that she was having panic attacks and not telling anyone about it. He had been angry with her when the doctor spoke. Angry that she kept it hidden. She always had to do things herself; she would never accept anyone's help.

And then hearing about the rape. Oh god, the rape. His fingers gripped the steering wheel as he tried to push the image out of his mind. The perpetrator was dead. 'It's a good thing he is.' He thought to himself. 'I would have put a hole in his fucking head.' But they never caught him, only finding him dead three months later.

It must have been agony for her. Knowing that the man who raped and beat her was still out there. She had to suffer through that alone.

'I wasn't there.' He thought. 'I wasn't there to protect her.' He would've caught the bastard, he would've saved her, protected her. A wave of guilt washed over him.

He pulled up to her apartment building and stopped the car. He looked over at the two of them. The two loves of his life. 'All I want to do is protect them.' He thought.

'Why can't I just protect them?'