Here's the next chapter – which doesn't end of a cliff hanger, by the way – hope you like it.

Enjoy!

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The waiting was really getting on his nerves. She had only been gone for about an hour, but God, it had felt like a lifetime. The hospital was getting to him also, and he so wished he could just run outside for some fresh air or go down to the cafeteria just to get away from the atmosphere of the emergency room. But he couldn't. She was in here. She was lying on a bed somewhere in this building, with doctors and nurses rushing around her. At the same time, he was sitting on a hard, plastic chair, feeling guilty. She was alone in a strange place and that was his fault. He'd taken her to the lake and taught her how to row. And now she lay unconscious and frozen in a room of strangers working about her body. He blamed himself.

It was really late by now, though how late, Booth was unsure. It had long since become dark, but he didn't care that his Pops would probably be freaking out at home and that Max would probably hunt him down for keeping his little girl out late.

By the time a nurse came out and asked for the family and friends of Temperance Brennan, his legs were shaking so badly, he struggled to stand when he was told he could go in and see her. He discarded the polar fleece blanket he'd been presented with in the waiting room in order ro warm up, and followed the nurse through the double doors he'd been contemplating running through for the past hour. He didn't dare look into any of the rooms they passed, in fear that his body would give in to the churning in his gut and throw up. As quiet as it was, it was surprising how many people were bustling around; he even got bumped a couple of times on the short walk.

Room 417.

That's where the nurse stopped and slowly opened the large white door. He was scared to turn and look. He was scared to see how much damage he had caused her. But no matter how scared he was for himself, his worry for her overpowered it by a million. The moment his eyes reached her, he was a goner; his fear gone. He moved silently to the seat in the corner of the plain room and dragged it to her bedside before sitting down. Here body covered in layers of sheets and blankets, some colour was beginning to return to her face.

Though sluggish, he was awake. Her beautiful eyes met with his and she smiled at him weakly.

"Hey," Booth whispered, his eyes now full of unfallen tears.

Her hand moved shakily to his and she entwined his fingers with hers. "Hey," she replied croakily.

She dozed in and out of sleep for the next few hours, and it was well past midnight the next time they spoke.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered, his voice coated with guilt. "You could've died. And I hate myself for wha-"

"Shh," Tempe interrupted. "You cannot hate yourself. I'll tell you why, because I don't think, that two people can view one person with such opposite opinions, unless you have 'Dissociate Identity Disorder', which you do not."

"I don't know what that means," he muttered, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"I don't believe that one person can be hated whilst he is also loved. It just doesn't match up," she explained, Booth glad to hear her back to her normal self.

"And who is it that loves me? Pops?" Booth asked, intrigued in hearing her answer.

"Yes. Your Pops, and Jared," she agreed with him, then added, "and me."

If he'd been eating, Booth surely would have chocked. "You?"

"Yes. Me."

"Really?" he asked, wanting complete confirmation before he jumped out of his seat in joy.

Smiling, and reaching her hand up to his face, Tempe did just that. "Really."

Before she'd even finished saying the word, Booth was out of his chair and pressing kisses to her hair and forehead and cheeks, before finally meeting her lips. "I love you, too. So much. And I am still so very sorry. I promise you I will do whatever it takes to make it up to you. I'll go and get hypothermia myself."

"No, that would just be idiotic. But I do agree, you owe me."

Laughing, Booth thought hard, and then suggested, "would a date suffice? A proper date, with dinner and flowers?"

"I might need to think about it," she said jokingly, then noticing his shocked and hurt expression, added quickly with a kiss to his lips, "I'm joking, I'm joking. I would love to go on a date with you."

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She was required to stay in the hospital for one more night, of which Booth would stay by her side.

It wasn't until he woke up on the first morning, he back aching from sleeping in a chair, that giving Max a call crossed his mind.

Dialling her home number, Max answered quickly, "Tempe?"

"No, it's Seeley Booth. I'm with Tempe," he said.

"Where the hell is my daughter?" Max yelled loudly, causing Booth to move the phone away from his ear slightly.

Booth told the story, "so, she is in the hospital now, but she is fine. She's only being kept here for observation."

"Okay, thanks for calling," he said, sounding relieved for a moment before changing his tone, "but if this happens again, which it will not, you call me the instant it happens, not a second after."

"Yes, Max, I-I mean, Sir."

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See, no cliff hanger. I've got a few things up my sleeve for the next few chapters, so stay tuned. Please review and let me know what you thought.

Em xXxXxxx