Disclaimer - I don't own Bones :(

Happy late Thanksgiving to all my American readers and happy Friday to everyone else! Thank you to my beta, NerdyGerl, for being so helpful with adding fantastic little bits to this chapter. Also a big thanks to all of my readers and reviewers, I cannot believe how big this story is getting! Happy reading :D


Chapter 29

Knocking lightly on the door marked 119, Brennan quietly peeked her head in, checking to see if Booth had been brought back yet. Finding it devoid of her partner and his bed, she figured that he must still be getting fitted with a cast. She sat in a chair that, if it was present, would be adjacent to the bed. Brennan cradled her head in her hands, trying to fight back the emotions she had been struggling with since she got the initial call. She was alone for the first time since the call, and she found that she could no longer hold back her emotions.

When you're alone, or in the dark of night, or wherever it is that you're most vulnerable, your doubts and deepest fears come to the light of day. They're like little monsters that seem to feed on your emotions and just run with them, clear to the other side of the country if you don't catch them quickly. They run like film strips across your eyelids playing a thousand different scenarios of your worst nightmare and there's nothing you can do to stop the movie. You're too far gone and you can't bring yourself back. The only thing that can is to watch it play out.

This waking nightmare was happening to Brennan now. No longer was she impervious, instead she was strong. Not just anything could break her, but even strong substances have their kryptonite - pour acetone over cyanoacrylate and the link is broken. She'd literally been faced head on with death, more than once, but the feeling was nothing compared to the fear that came with loving Booth.

She thought of what could have happened if the man she loved had not been so fortunate in the crash. Her rationality on temporary leave, she watched this false version of life through palmed eyes on fast forward. It was not a happy story.

Child Protective services took Elsie and Sidney back and they simply disappeared from her life. She delivered and raised her baby alone. She saw a child with Booth's eyes who never understood why she didn't have a daddy. Parker drifted away slowly, bitter and rebellious. She led a sad life, a lonely life. She could see herself growing old all alone, and died all alone.

All of a sudden Brennan gasped, knocking herself out of her mind's had to stop these thoughts. This life that she imagined, it wasn't real. Booth was alive and she had to focus on that fact.

"Damn hormones," she whispered to herself, chuckling just a little through her incessantly overflowing eyes. She was being ridiculous, Booth was fine. 'Just because I haven't seen him with my own eyes, means nothing. In just a few minutes a nurse would roll him through those doors and I'll be done with this nonsense.' Fearful of returning to that depressing place in her mind, head still cradled in her hands, she chanted this mantra to herself until the door opened.

Puffy blue eyes glanced up, meeting immediately with warm though somewhat glazed brown ones. "Bones," was all he said, relief evident in his tone. A bright orange cast encased his left arm all the way to mid humerus and he was wearing a hospital gown.

Brennan remained silent, as the two nurses rolled the bed into place. Before they left, one of them handed her a manila envelope explaining that is contained the requested x-rays and scans. She also mentioned that discharge papers were being drawn up. Brennan thanked her and instantly opened the envelope, holding the scans up to the light, one by one.

"Bones," Booth said again, trying to gain her attention. It worried him that she hadn't spoken to him yet. Was she mad about their fight earlier? He eliminated the idea as soon as it had come to him. Her eyes were red - she'd been crying. "Bones."

Brennan still did not look up.

"Bones please," he said desperately, panic in his voice. He needed to know why had she been crying.

She finished looking at the scans placing them back in the envelope, before facing Booth. "The doctor seems to be correct," she said, her voice sounding deeper than usual like she was struggling to keep it normal. "Herniated disc at the L5 and L6 vertebrae and an open compound fracture to the ulna. According to the x-rays it also seems as if it was set well."

Booth nodded along, the doctor had said as much, and truth be told he had tuned them both out. He always did when it came to medical jargon. He was more worried about his partner. "Com'ere," he said reaching his hand out as best as he could, grunting through the pain it caused.

She walked to him, giving him her hand and returning his squeeze. "Have they given you any pain medication?" she asked, knowing full well that she was avoiding what needed to be said.

"Yeah, 'bout twenty minutes ago - some vicodin." His speech was showing that the drugs were kicking in. "I'm sorry... you know... about earlier." His eyes were glazing by the second. "I shouldn't have pushed the whole Max thing in the first place. I'm really sorry that your dad was an idiot." Earning a quick look from Brennan before she returned to her front, Booth rectified, scrunching his eyes in a confused manner. "I meant to say that I'm sorry you had a tough childhood."

Finally Brennan broke out of her indifferent facade turning to face him intently. "It's not as if your childhood was any better," she told him, once again on the verge of tears, her false composure crumbling to pieces.

The statement sobered him just a little and painfully, Booth scooted over on the bed, pulling Brennan into the empty space. His uninjured arm draped over her shoulders as she gratefully rested her head against his chest, her hand resting atop his beating heart. She concentrated on the thump, thump, thump, she could feel so very softly under her palm, proving that everything was alright.

"Why were you crying?" he asked.

She shook her head against his chest, her hair tickling his neck. "I wasn't," she lied.

Laying a kiss on her hairline, Booth rebutted tenderly. "You don't cry very much, Bones. I know what it looks like when you do... Why were you crying?"

Brennan sniffled before answering. "I was scared. When I got the call saying that you were in the hospital, I was with the kids and I had to be strong for them - I didn't want them to be as frightened as I was. But the overwhelming feeling to just break was still present, only unable to be acted on." She looked up with teary eyes. "Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. Not the emotions, I've always felt those, despite others' notions of me, I do feel things, but I've always held myself together for myself, not for someone else - several someone's in this case." She sniffled. "When the doctor finally came out and said you were fine, I came to your room and for the first time in a long while, I was alone. I didn't need to keep up the front up anymore, I couldn't."

Booth took a moment, letting her words sink in. It was a big step for her, admitting to all of this. "I'm really sorry I worried you," he whispered sincerely.

"There was no way you could have prevented that," she argued without any real conviction.

"If I'd avoided getting into this accident in the first place I woulda'," he told her, vicodin becoming obvious again.

"No," Brennan disagreed. "It is highly unlikely that you could have avoided the accident."

"Is this you trying to tell me that you believe in fate? That no matter what, I would have been in an accident tonight? That it was fated for this to happen?" he teased, partly trying to lighten the mood and partly confused as well. How on earth did she know whether or not he could have avoided the accident?

"Of course not, Booth - you know I don't believe in fate. From a quick assessment of your injuries, I can conclude that you were most likely going through an intersection when a car ran a red light and hit your vehicle. I believe it is commonly referred to as getting 'T-boned'. Though that is only conjecture at this point."

"Whoa," Booth said, completely perplexed and completely under the influence of vicodin by now. "I knew you were good, but that's just... whoa."

"You already said that," she teased him getting up from her place, realizing that there were things to do before her partner was able to leave. Any minute now a nurse would come through those doors telling them it was time to go.

Looking around the room after Brennan was out of his arms, Booth realized something. "Where are the kids anyway?"

"I called my dad," she admitted, bending over and retrieving his clothes from a bag by the nightstand. "He picked them up from the waiting room. He came here as soon as I called." Examining the clothes, she saw that the left arm of his dress shirt was cut open and blood stained, as was his suit jacket. Luckily, he was still wearing his undershirt under the hospital gown. It had survived the accident unlike his other clothing.

Returning to Booth, Brennan pulled the tie at his neck on the back of his gown, removing it from the upper half of his body. It had probably been used to cover his clothing while they set the plaster around his arm.

"What're you doin'?" he asked.

She leaned back, seizing her actions. "You need to get dressed, they're going to discharge you soon." She held up his shoes that had been added to the bag of his possessions. "Here. Let's put these on."

"I wanna wear my socks."

Brennan's hands went to her hips in the classic 'mom' stance. "You are wearing your socks, Booth. Stop acting like a child and let me put your shoes on."

"No." He yawned, rubbing his socked feet together and pulling them away from her hands that only seemed to want to yank at the moment. "My socks are niiiccceeeee."

The anthropologist let out a disbelieving laugh. "You are acting absolutely ridiculous. I understand that drugs affect everyone differently and you are obviously one of the unfortunate few, but this?" She motioned to his wide, mesmerized stare as he looked at her head shaking back and forth. "This is... it's... I... I don't even know."

Entirely unaware of his partner's frustration, Booth laughed. "I... I made you speechless. I made the great Dr. Temperance Brennan speechless!" he pronounced, feeling very proud of himself.

She let him get the jokes out of his system and tried one last time. "Will you PLEASE put you shoes on, Booth?" It was the nicest she could manage at the particular moment.

But once again Booth was uncooperative. "Nope."

Brennan through her hands up - it had been a truly exhausting day and she was becoming more and more fatigued by the moment. All she wanted to do was go home, curl up on the couch with her boyfriend and children and have a relaxing moment. Just one moment.

"I give up! If you want to snag your good socks on the concrete in the parking lot go right ahead!"

A nurse chose that instant to walk in. "Hi," she said, feeling the definite tension in the room. She turned to Brennan, as she was the clear-minded one. "Mr. Booth's discharge papers are all set to be signed, if you're ready to get out of here?"

"We are," the anthropologist answered, directing her harsh tone towards Booth.

"Great," said the nurse. "I'll just get a wheelchair." The nurse exited the room, coming back only seconds later, wheeling the chair.

Everyone was silent as Brennan gingerly helped Booth into the chair. Despite her frustration, she knew it wasn't actually Booth that it should be aimed at, it was merely the situation they'd been thrown into. He tried to shrug her help off, but she was nothing if not persistent and helped anyway. Not that he'd be likely to admit it, but her extra hand had actually been quite useful. 'The next couple of days were going to be hell,' he thought.

As he got wheeled out of his room, Booth thought more about the coming days. He's already almost resigned himself to being smothered by his partner, but other thoughts popped into his head. He hoped his back would be feeling good enough to go to Sully's daughter's birthday party. He'd actually even been looking forward to it. He then realized he hadn't told Brennan about it yet.

"Hey Bones?" he said, trying to look behind him to face her. She appeared at his side.

"Yes, Booth?"

"I forgot to tell you at lunch, we kinda got... you know... sidetracked. Anyway, Sully's throwing a little party for his kid's birthday this Saturday. I told him we'd probably come but I wanted to talk to you first. Though now... I'm not sure if my back will be feeling good 'nuff."

Brennan tilted her head as they stopped at a desk, Saturday was several days away. "There's the possibility that you will not have gained enough mobility by then and be unable to attend, but if you strictly follow the doctor's orders than you should be well enough by Saturday." She paused. "And if you aren't I AM capable of attending alone - it might be fun for the kids."

The nurse handed a clipboard to Booth along with a pen, instructing him to sign. As he did as instructed he said absently, "That's what I was thinking." Finishing he handed everything back to the nurse who handed the clipboard back over the desk. As they continued down the hallway toward the outside doors he said, sounding pensive, "You know I like Sully, Bones. Don't get me wrong, I didn't like the guy one bit when you two dated." He was oblivious to the nurse's snickering as she pushed him. "And for a while after, I thought he was a moron for leaving you, but now? Well I just like him. He's a good guy."

Brennan joined in the laughing as the vicodin was now rendering Booth 'chatty'. She believed that's what Angela would call it. And she had to admit, it was amusing. "Should I be worried about something going on between the two of you, Booth?" she joked. Why not indulge just a little in his drugged state? There was no harm in that. It felt nice to laugh after her crying spell from earlier.

"What?" Booth shouted, louder than he had meant to. Lowering his voice to a conspiring tone he said aghast, "Between me and Sully?" He pointed to her small belly like it was obvious. "I think you know I'm straight, Babe."

Trying to bring an end to this conversation as they were now outside and she needed to pull the car around, Brennan said, "I know that Booth, I was just kidding - it was joke. Now I need to go get the car, so just stay where you're at okay?"

Booth looked surprised at her revelation and grinned. "That's funny, Bones!"

"Mmm'hmm." She looked to the nurse, the question evident in her eyes.

"I'll make sure he doesn't roll away while you pull the car around," the nurse answered.

"Thank you. I'll be right back." Brennan turned and walked, then paused as she hit something on the keys, and looked up to see the quick blink of her father's car lights in the distant parking lot.

As he watched Brennan walk off, Booth thanked his lucky stars that he had her, and though it might sound a little morbid, he didn't want to imagine what his life would be like right now if Vincent hadn't died that night. He hated himself for thinking it, but really, that kid was the catalyst that finally brought them together.

"What was that, Mr. Booth?" the nurse asked all of a sudden, leaning over to look at him.

"Huh?"

"You were mumbling something."

"Whaaa- Oh! I didn't mean to umm... say that out loud." He hadn't realized he'd said anything at all. "I'm just... really glad that I have her." He jotted his head toward Brennan as she brought her father's Corolla up to the curb.

As the nurse started rolling him to the car, she whispered as Brennan got out and opened the passenger side door, "Well I think she's just as glad to have you."


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