Chapter 26

Tuesday

8:36 AM

Brennan felt something weighing her down. She was about to panic, realizing that she was immobile. The last time she had woken up that way, she had been dangling from her wrists in a basement. But this was different. This time, she wasn't afraid. She wasn't in pain. She was comfortable and warm and she felt safe. Brennan opened her eyes slowly and found herself looking directly into Booth's closed eyes. Their noses were as close as possible without touching. She knew she should move. She should put more space between them, but she didn't. Instead, she watched him. She listened to his soft breathing. She watched the rise and fall of his chest. She wished she could reach out and touch him, but his arm was draped over her body protectively and she couldn't easily move. Not to mention that her wrist had started to ache and moving it would only make the pain worse. Sighing in contentment, Brennan closed her eyes and allowed herself to get lost in the moment. She could very easily get used to waking up with him.

After a few minutes, Brennan knew she was going to have to move as her ribs started to throb. She tried to shift, but the bed was small and she was running the risk of falling off. That definitely wouldn't help the pain. She looked at Booth, not wanting to wake him, but she had to move. She started by using her hips to roll her so she could lean on her side. Her body cried out in protest. She sometimes forgot just how injured she really was. She sighed and closed her eyes one more time. She wanted one more minute of feeling what it was like to be wrapped in his arms. She wanted one more minute of feeling like his.

"Booth," Brennan whispered.

He didn't move. From the many stake-outs they had been on, she knew he was a sound sleeper. It took a lot to wake up Seeley Booth. Using her shoulder, Brennan attempted to push against him, but she had little strength. She was barely able to bump him, but the body contact did electrify her. She started to focus on every inch of her that was connected to him. Their knees were touching, his arm was around her waist, her right foot rested on his left. At each point of contact she felt little jolts of electricity flowing through her. She closed her eyes and couldn't help but let out a little moan.

"Bones?" She opened her eyes and saw him staring straight at her. "Are you in pain?" He immediately began to back away from her, afraid that he was causing her pain. She missed his contact.

"No. I…I'm fine."

He settled back down. They weren't as close as before, but with the confines of the bed, they were still very close.

"How'd you sleep?" He asked.

"Perfectly."

He reached up and pushed a strand of hair away from her face. It should have been awkward. Waking up wrapped in his arms should have been awkward, but it was anything but. They were both so completely comfortable that it felt like they had been waking up next to each other forever. There were no awkward silences. There was no awkward scrambling or excuses.

"Good," he said.

As he spoke, his warm breath tickled her face. The longing to touch him became even greater. She went to reach out to touch him when the pain shot through her arm. Her eyes immediately squeezed shut.

"You are in pain." He went to move again.

"Please…stay," she said barely above a whisper.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said, kissing her forehead. "I just can't stand to see you in pain."

She nodded and he slid slowly off the bed. He stood up, stretching out his arms and back. He watched her reposition herself to the middle of the bed. Her eyes stayed close and her teeth were clenched together as she tried to fight through the pain. He didn't say anything as she tried to move into a more comfortable position. Instead, he just watched her, wishing there was something he could do. After a few moments, she finally stopped moving. Her eyes stayed closed for several minutes longer. Finally, she opened them and looked at him. He was standing right next to her bed as he had promised.

"Thank you," she said.

"For what?"

"For not leaving me."

"I'll never leave you."

"You didn't have to stay with me last night."

"Yes I did. Because I know you'd do the same thing for me."

She smiled, knowing that she would. She might not have been bold enough to climb into bed with him, but she would have stayed.

"You stayed the night before, too, didn't you?"

"How did you?"

"I saw the blanket and pillow before."

"I've taught you too well."

"You're going to throw out your back if you sleep on that chair."

"Don't worry about my back."

"Why? You're worried about me."

Booth put his hand on her arm.

"That's different."

"Why is it different?"

"Because of what you've…been through." He paused, carefully considering his next question. He wasn't sure if he was ready to hear about everything that happened, but he needed her to know that regardless of what he was ready for, if she was ready to talk about it, he would be there. "Do you want to talk about it? Your nightmare?"

"It wasn't a nightmare," she insisted.

That was not the reaction he was expecting. "Bones, you were mumbling in your sleep. You were trembling. You were terrified. If that's not the definition of a nightmare, I don't know what is."

"I was not terrified. And the definition of a nightmare is a dream that can cause a strong, negative response from the sleeper. It often has physical causes like fever or discomfort, but some argue that it can have psychological causes such as stress and anxiety, although I don't see any proof considering psychology can't be tested or..."

"Listen to what you're saying. Everything you just said describes what you had. You were afraid, Bones. And it's nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone has nightmares and considering what you've been through…"

"I am not ashamed. Rationally speaking, nightmares can't hurt you so there's nothing to be scared of. Everyone knows that."

"Just because they can't hurt you, doesn't mean that they're not scary, Bones. Maybe you should…talk to someone."

"I'm talking to you right now."

"That's not what I meant. Maybe…maybe you should talk to Sweets."

"Why would I talk to Sweets?"

"About what happened, Bones."

"I don't need to talk to Sweets about what happened. Between talking to you and my memories, which are becoming clearer...I know what happened to me. I don't need to talk about it."

"It's not about figuring out what happened to you, Bones. It's about figuring out how to deal with it."

"I'm dealing with it just fine."

"Is that why you had a nightmare/?"

"It was not a nightmare!" She shouted.

"Why are you being defensive?"

"Because you're attacking me!"

"I am not attacking you," Booth stated. "I'm just trying to help you."

"Well, you're not helping!"

"I'm not helping? I haven't left your side, Bones! A minute ago you were thanking me for being here!"
"Well, obviously I was mistaken!"

"So, what? You want me to go?"

"Yes!"

"Fine!"

Booth stormed out of the room. If there was a door he could slam, he would have slammed it. He got halfway down the hallway and stopped in his tracks.

Brennan watched him go. As soon as he was gone, she felt the emptiness in the room. She hadn't meant what she said. She didn't really want him to go. She was just afraid. She took a deep breath, wondering what she had done. She had pushed away the one person she needed more than anybody else.

"Booth," she said pleadingly.

She knew he couldn't hear her. She wished she could get out of the bed. She wished she could follow him and tell him that she made a mistake. Normally in their partnership when they got in an argument, she would storm off to the lab and he would go to his office and just a few short hours later they would meet for lunch or dinner and everything would be fine. She didn't have that opportunity. They wouldn't be able to go to the diner to resolve everything. She felt the tears welling in her eyes. She blinked them away, but they were only replaced by more tears. Finally, she just let them fall.

In the hallway, Booth leaned against the wall. He couldn't understand what had happened. Just the night before, after waking up from her nightmare, she had talked to him about what had happened. And before that, she had asked him to tell her what happened. He couldn't understand why suddenly she was pushing him away, refusing to talk about her experience.

It wasn't shocking to him that they had a fight. They often fought about the most unimportant things, but it was how the fight ended that shocked him. She had asked him to leave. She didn't want him anymore. Maybe Angela was wrong. Maybe she didn't have the feelings for him that he had for her. Booth looked down the hall towards her room. He knew she wouldn't come walking out after him. That would be impossible. He wondered if he should go back in. He told her he would never leave her, but he had walked out.

"Mr. Booth?" Booth looked the other way down the hall and saw the nurse who had been flirting with him while taking Brennan's blood walking towards him. "You're the FBI guy, right?"

"Yeah."

Booth looked back towards Brennan's room. "That woman in there…she's not your girlfriend is she?"

"What?" He was barely listening to what she was saying. He was still trying to decide if he was going to go back to Brennan's room.

"The patient…the one you've been visiting. She's not your girlfriend, is she? Because if she's not, I get out at five tonight and I'd really love to…"

"I'm sorry," Booth said, making up his mind. "I have to go." He started to head back down the hall.

"But…she's not your girlfriend right?"

"Not yet," he replied.

He walked down to Brennan's room. He knew there were two very real possibilities of what could happen when he walked in that room. Either they would sit in silence for a little while until they forgot about what happened or she would yell at him and throw him out again. Either way, going back in was definitely worth the risk.

As he made his way into the room, he heard her crying. He rushed to her bedside. He could see the tears on her face.

"What? What is it? Are you in pain? Should I get Dr. London?"

She looked at him with a shocked expression.

"You came back," she said. Her tears began to slow.

"Of course I came back. Are you ok?"

"I…I'm fine."

"Then why are you crying?"

"Because I…" She couldn't admit to him what was really making her cry. She was afraid to admit it even to herself. "I'm sorry for yelling."

"It's ok, Bones. It's what we do. We bicker. We argue. But we always come back together. We're the center of the circle, Bones. Remember? We always come back together."

Booth took a tissue and dabbed Brennan's cheeks, wiping the tears away.

"You can't keep doing this."

"Doing what?"

"Being here all the time. I appreciate it, Booth, I do. You don't know how much it means to me, but you have to go home."

"Are you kicking me out again?"

"No. But you need to go home, Booth. You can't spend another night here. It's not good for your back."

"You need to stop worrying about my back. Besides, if I stay here with you," he said, pointing to the bed. "It's not bad for my back."

He was flirting with her. It wasn't the first time he had flirt with her and it wouldn't be the last, but it was the first time he had done it so openly.

"Booth, this is bed isn't big enough for both of us to be comfortable," she said rationally. Sometimes he hated how rational she was. "You need to go home. Get some real sleep. Eat a real meal besides hospital food. Spend time with Parker. Go back to work."

"Those things can wait," Booth said.

"No. They can't."

"Bones, I really don't want to have another argument."

"Then don't argue with me. You said we were the core of the circle, Booth. You said we held everyone together. You need to hold things together in my absence."

"I don't know if I can hold things together without you."

"Yes, you can. I need you to, Booth. I need to know that everything's being taken care of while I'm here. You don't have to be here every minute. I'm going to be ok."

He nodded. "I know." He took a deep breath. He didn't want to leave her, but he knew she was right. "Fine, I'll go, but I'll be back."

"I know you will."

Booth bent over and kissed her forehead, making sure he hit his spot.

"Goodbye, Bones."

"Goodbye, Booth."

He kissed her forehead one last time before walking out the door.

Author's Note: I couldn't resist a little argument between our favorite couple. I hope you liked it!