I don't own Bones.

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Booth was tired. He was tired of waking up every night screaming. He was tired of seeing the look of concern on Brennan's face and the fact that his daughter was starting to show signs of nervousness around him wasn't helping. He knew he must be waking up everyone in the household at night; but, he didn't know how to stop it. He'd offered to sleep in the man cave; but, Brennan had been adamant that he sleep in his own bed. He felt like he was broken and the scotch tape was starting to peel off.

The days weren't so bad. He could pretend everything was normal and that he liked his new job. He worked at his job with as much diligence that he had shown when he had been an agent in the field and Cullen and the Director seemed to be pleased with him. If only he could be pleased with himself. The job wasn't as interesting as field work and he knew that he'd have to find a way to make it interesting. He was sure once he'd been on the job for a while he might be able to look into some cold cases. He liked working on those and he knew he could always get Brennan and Cam to help him if he needed it.

When he went home at night, he helped Christine with her homework and then watched a little TV with her and Brennan. His appetite was off and he found he had to force himself to eat dinner every night. Brennan had noticed it and tried to make sure that some of his favorite things were on the dinner table; but, really nothing tasted good to him. He was losing weight and Brennan was starting to notice. She always noticed if there were any changes in his appearance and he was afraid that he was starting to worry her unnecessarily. He knew he needed to talk to someone; but, he couldn't talk to Sweets and he didn't want to impose on Gordon Wyatt again. He did know that if he didn't get help soon, he was going to collapse from exhaustion.

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Booth had been sitting in his office, when he heard a knock on his doorframe. Looking up, he'd been surprised to see Max standing in the doorway. Smiling, Max walked into the room and asked, "Hey, do you mind if I come in?"

Shaking his head, Booth answered, "Nah, what can I do for you?"

Sitting on the chair across from Booth's desk, Max replied, "Well, I know this is going to be an inconvenience; but, I need to ask a favor of you."

Putting his pen down, Booth straightened up and said, "Shoot."

Rubbing his knees, Max sighed, "Ok, I need a place to stay for about a week. The idiots in the apartment above me had a plumbing problem and the water damaged the ceiling in my bathroom and bedroom. The apartment manager has to bring in some guys to fix the floor above, then my ceiling and then replace my carpet in my bedroom and the tile in my bathroom. It's a big mess and he says I can't stay in my apartment while that's going on. I was wondering if you and Tempe would let me stay with you for a week or so."

Rubbing his ear, Booth quietly replied, "Sure, why not. The more the merrier."

Smiling, Max asked, "Really? I mean thanks. You'll see, you won't hardly notice I'm there."

Shrugging his shoulders, Booth instructed, "Get whatever stuff you need and you can stay in Pops' bedroom. He's staying with Jared right now. Jared said he was tired of me hogging Pops and wanted Pops to stay with him for awhile. Pops isn't coming back home for another month; so, if you have to, you can stay at least that long."

Nodding his head, Max said, "Thanks, Booth. I really appreciate it."

Looking down at his desk, Booth muttered, "Sure, I got work to do."

Puzzled about Booth's dismissal, Max stood up and explained, "I'll go get my stuff and I'll move in this afternoon. I still have that back up key you guys gave me when you went on vacation last year."

Nodding his head, Booth didn't look up.

Worried about Booth's appearance, Max vowed to talk to his daughter about Booth as soon as he could. He was also worried that Booth hadn't given him a hard time. Something was wrong and he was determined to find out what it was.

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Later that afternoon, Max drove over to the Jeffersonian. Walking into the Lab, Max saw his daughter on the platform. Walking over to the bottom of the stairs, Max called up to Brennan, "Hey, Tempe, do you have a few minutes for your old man?"

Looking up, Brennan straightened up, took her latex gloves off and tossed them in the bio-hazard bin. Walking down the stairs, Brennan asked, "Is something wrong?"

Shaking his head, Max assured Brennan, "No not that I know of. I thought I'd come by and let you know that my apartment got some water damage last night and I need a place to stay. I talked to Booth and he said I can move in to Hank's bedroom for a few weeks. I just wanted to give you a heads up."

Nodding her head, Brennan placed her hand on Max's arm and said, "That's fine. Come with me to my office. I need to talk to you before you move in."

Following Brennan, Max started to worry again.

Entering her office, Brennan waited for Max to enter the room and then closed the door. Turning and looking at her father, Brennan rubbed her arms, "Booth is having nightmares every night. He's been having them for about two weeks now. They started after he shot the bank robber that had taken the child hostage during the hold up. I want you to know that so you won't be alarmed if you wake up and hear Booth screaming."

Max, a little shaken, "Screaming? As bad as all that?"

Nodding her head, Brennan replied, "Yes."

Concerned, Max asked, "Has he talked to anyone about the nightmares?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Brennan answered, "He talked to Gordon Wyatt once at Gordon's restaurant and Booth said it helped a little; but, it didn't stop the nightmares. I'm worried that he's not getting enough sleep at night. He's exhausted."

Stepping closer to Brennan, Max placed his hand on Brennan's arm, "Look, Honey. Maybe I can talk to him."

Shaking her head, Brennan asked, "What would you say? You weren't in the Army nor did you serve in law enforcement. You don't really understand what he's going through."

Smiling a little sadly, Max answered, "You'd be surprised about what I have in common with Booth. Let me talk to him. The worse thing that can happen is he'll threaten to shoot me. I can deal with that since he does it all of the time anyways."

Hesitant, Brennan stared at her father and then said, "Alright. If you can find a way to talk to him then I suppose it won't hurt anything. Just be careful. He's not as patient as he normally is."

Laughing, Max observed, "God, Honey, that means he doesn't have any at all. He didn't have a lot to begin with."

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