Brennan had fallen asleep again shortly after they got home, managing to get changed and brush her teeth first. Booth worked on his computer for an hour or two, leaving the lamp in the bedroom on for her so she wouldn't be in the dark. When he decided to go to sleep, he stood and watched her for a minute in the doorway, before flicking off the lamp and climbing into bed.

.

Booth woke up at six the next morning. He sat up and looked over to the bed to see Brennan still fast asleep. He hadn't woken up during the night, so he didn't think she's had a nightmare—he was quite a light sleeper and would almost certainly have heard. I have to take her to that appointment today, he reminded himself. Booth made his bed and went out to make some breakfast.

Usually Booth would have gone for a run in the morning, but he wasn't going to leave Brennan unguarded. Broadsky had made the choice to return her to him, for some reason, so in a sense it was unlikely that he would take her again. But there was no way Booth was prepared to take that risk. He would either be with her at all times, or if he was doing something dangerous, she would be taken somewhere safe like the Hoover or the lab. Until Broadsky was put away.

He put on some music- he chose an old Beach Boys cd, the volume low enough not to wake Bones up but he thought it set a relaxing atmosphere. He grabbed a bottle of pancake mix and started pouring them into a hot frying pan.

Twenty minutes later he had a steaming pile of pancakes, some cut up banana and maple syrup. There was no sign of Bones emerging from the bedroom so Booth took in the two plates. She was unlikely to drop the plate if she was sitting in bed.

She was just barely awake. She blinked sleepily when he came in and sat down next to her. 'Hey Bones, how did you sleep?'

Brennan pushed herself on her elbows into sitting cross-legged with the sheet still wrapped around her. Booth carefully settled one plate on her lap.

'I cut yours up,' he said. Brennan blinked again and rubbed her eyes, then picked up her fork and speared some pancake.

She seemed to be better co-ordinated today, and managed to get most of it in her mouth with no help from Booth. He was concerned about the shaking and wanted to ask about it at her appointment today but for now he was focusing on just getting her to feel happy and safe.

After eating about half of it she put the fork down and started fiddling with her hair. Booth took that to mean she'd had enough. 'You want anything else, Bones?' She looked at him but didn't reply, so he took the plates back out to the kitchen, then came back in to see about getting dressed.

'So what do you want to wear today?' he asked her, putting her duffel bag next to her on the bed. Brennan glanced tenuously up at him, then at the bag. She didn't open it so after a few moments Booth sat down next to her and unzipped it. 'Here you go. Pick out some clothes you want to wear.'

Brennan sat there for a moment, then opened her mouth as if she was about to say something but couldn't get it out. She looked at the bag and then looked at Booth, so kindly sitting there trying to help her, but she just couldn't… she turned away, her eyes starting to burn. She couldn't do this. Why was he so nice?

Booth watched her struggle, going to reach for the bag a few times then changing her mind and pulling her arm back. She stared down at the bag looking upset. Booth didn't know what was upsetting her. All she had to do was pick. Why couldn't she do this?

He helped further by pulling out a few clothes for her to see, but she just stared at them blankly. She was looking overwhelmed, so rather than letting her get more distressed Booth just picked out a top and some jeans for her, putting the rest away. On second thoughts he pulled out a bra too. It looked as if he'd have to think of everything.

'You're okay, Bones. Go put those on,' he told her quietly, not knowing what to make of this. Still sniffing and biting her lip, she went into the bathroom and shut the door.

Booth was trying to work out patterns in how she was acting. She remembered how to do things, but she found decision making stressful. She was highly intelligent, but she didn't seem able to concentrate.

Booth quickly changed into jeans and a t-shirt, sure he'd be finished well before she came out. After a few minutes the door opened and Brennan came out and put her pyjamas on the bed. She'd neatly folded them.

She turned to Booth, looking unsure and apologetic. He quickly walked over and slid an arm around her waist, guiding her out to the living room. She obviously felt confused and discouraged about freezing up, and she didn't know why it had happened.

The Beach Boys album was still playing softly and it seemed to have a soothing effect on her. 'You've got an appointment at the hospital in a while,' Booth said as he wandered to the bench grabbing his keys, wallet and phone to put in his pocket.

'You wanna go get a coffee? We might go decaf,' he asked her. Bones didn't reply but just came over to him and took hold of his arm. She didn't seem to want to talk today.

He sensed she needed a hug for reassurance so pulled her close for a minute. 'You ready to go?' he asked. She nodded into his chest so he headed out to the street with her.

Brennan had two appointments, one a physical checkup with a GP and the other seeing Collings at the psych ward. Booth really didn't like that place.

He found a park at the medical centre and took Bones in to get a blood test done and the more significant wounds re-dressed. Everything looked fine so they headed across to the hospital.

Booth remembered the way to the psych ward. Brennan was just relieved to not have to find her own way there, her head was beginning to ache for some reason, it felt like it was building up pressure. She touched her hand to her temple but it did nothing to relieve the pressure.

Booth guided her into the waiting room, she seemed to be getting dizzy and having trouble seeing where she was going. He found her a seat and let reception know they were here.

'You okay, Bones?' he asked, sitting down next to her. She nodded without thinking, as she clearly wasn't. Booth got up and grabbed her a water from a dispenser. A few minutes later Collings called them in.

'Booth, Ms Brennan, good to see you.' Brennan didn't respond, still clutching her head. They went into his office and took a seat. 'How are your symptoms going so far?'

Bones wasn't up for talking so Booth filled Collings in. 'I don't know what's going on, she has muscle tremors, she hardly speaks…' Booth was just frustrated today. He was in over his head. 'Am I even doing the right thing?' he deadpanned.

Brennan moved a little with another tremor. Or it could have been a flinch. It was hard to tell.

'Cognitive difficulties like problems with speech, concentration, daily tasks, decision making, memory loss, even the headache you can see she has are all within normal symptoms for someone in Ms Brennan's situation,' Collings said.

'Can't you, I don't know, give her something to fix it? I mean Bones, she's… she's a genius IQ. She shouldn't ever have trouble thinking, it's just not her.'

'Well the FBI report you sent me says she was likely in contact with a Mr Yoseph Kraus and a Dr Victor McCullough, in addition to Broadsky,' Collings said, indicating his computer. 'Men who are both strongly linked to illegal human experimentation and torture.'

Now Booth was the one to flinch. 'And that's why I'm working to bring them in.'

'The cognitive problems she's experiencing aren't anything to do with her intelligence, they're symptoms of being under duress. Blood flow to the brain, muscles and digestive system are often altered under stress, and it's very likely they will improve. As for what is best for her right now, I wouldn't like to see her staying here. We can treat her as an outpatient for PTSD but in terms of her day-to-day, I can see she's responding far better to you than she has to any hospital staff.'

'Well she knows me.'

'Which is an important difference. Look, the likely scenario we're presented with is she's undergone torture by at least one sociopath trained in psychological warfare, so there are going to be problems.'

'Well, yeah.'

'When she's ready to talk about what happened, psychotherapy can help to untangle the knots. But what's ultimately more impactful right now is going to be her day-to-day life, the 167 hours in the week, not the one hour in someone's office. Both are important, a combination of the two will be the best thing for her.'

Booth released a long breath, trying to release some of the tension. 'Yeah. That sounds good.' It was at least good to know he was headed in the right direction. It occurred to him just how difficult it was going to be to both hunt Broadsky and his associates, and take care of Bones as well. Both tasks, if he were to do them well, demanded his full attention. Broadsky needed to be taken down, and Booth was the best one to do it. But he couldn't stand the thought of leaving Bones alone in a hospital or being babysat by someone else. She was staying with him.

Broadsky didn't kill her, Booth realised, because if she was gone Booth would expend all his energy on revenge. But by returning her to him broken, he would expend all his energy on taking care of her.

Collings seemed to read his thoughts. 'Broadsky couldn't have come up with a better way to put you off his trail if he tried,' he said.