Thanks for all your wonderful reviews! In answer to your requests, here's the next Brennan installment. Gaah, this fic has gone by so fast...not that it's finished, but still. How about a sequel, Her? :P

Brennan

I can't breathe. It's like someone punched me in the stomach. Temporarily, I feel like I'm going to faint again, but then he places his hand on mine and I can breathe normally. Somewhat. His hand feels warm against my cold skin.

"Nothing's wrong, per se." The Doctor says. This doesn't feel very comforting and my body stiffens. I think Booth notices it.

"What do you mean?" He says and actually manages to conjure the words that are stuck in my throat.

"Dr. Brennan." He's talking to me now, completely ignoring Booth. I don't like this. "Your blood pressure is slightly high. It's called hyper…"

"Hypertension, I know." I say, and I know exactly where this is going.

"Right, well, yours appear to be a pregnancy induced hypertension and I would recommend that you go on partial bed rest." My heart sinks to my stomach. I can't do bed rest. I wasn't designed to be put in a bed for hours in a row while doing nothing. It's not me.

"That's good news." Booth says and exhales. And it is. For him. And the baby. The people who doesn't have to endure it to the same extent that I do.

The Doctor leaves and I look at Booth. He must realize how painful this will be for me.

"Booth, I don't know if I can do this" I say and I realize that my nails are digging in to the back of his hand. He doesn't seem to care.

"You can do it." He says and kisses my head. "I believe in you."

"Booth, you don't understand. This is painful for me. I can't be restrained to a bed. Not get to do anything. I will go insane."

"I think you're over reacting." He says and half-laughs.

"I am not!" I half-scream "I-n-s-a-n-e." Do I really have to spell it out for him?

"There will be plenty of things to do." He tries to encourage me, but I don't see why this is so hard to understand. "You can read, and watch TV, and listen to music, and all that sort of things."

Boy, he really doesn't get it. Being confined to bed is not great. It might be nice for an afternoon, but not several hours each day for weeks. Great.

I don't say anything but sigh. There is no use trying to convince someone who already believes he knows what it's like.

He kisses my head again and the Doctor enters again with instructions. I am allowed to work for a few hours four days a week and then I have to be in bed the rest of the time, more or less. I am allowed to take showers, for which I'm thankful, but not standing on my feet for longer than that.

As we drive home the next day, we do not speak to one another. It is our most quiet moment yet, and the longest. I am confined to my thoughts at the moment and the car comes to a halt outside my house.

I exit the car to start my "new" lifestyle and a single thought runs through my head: sometimes, I wish I wasn't a woman.

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