The Marriage

By Meekerprincess9778

Author's Note: This is a sad chapter….get tissues then read…

Ch35

Two months had gone by. Tempe had gotten bigger. She was going into the high school at certain hours and helping the principal with the maternity wing. She was pointing out that a lot of what they were teaching was being taught at the advanced middle school levels. Some weren't even advanced. They were taking for granted that every girl who got pregnant had to be of lower level learning. They went through the roster of girls and their grades before pregnancy. A good percentage of them had good grades in mainstream or higher learning classes. Then they get pregnant and have to be taught things they all ready know. It didn't seem right to her. The principal never realized how high the percentage was of girls that had the proper education that still got pregnant. He had assumed it was all from low educational background girls.

She came home and put her feet up on the couch. Sometimes she didn't know how much talking was going to get through the principal's head about things. All of a sudden, the phone rings. She gets up to get it. She was the only one home.

"Bones? Baby is that you?"

"Booth! I can't believe I am hearing your voice. Are you okay? Is everything okay?"She was nervous.

"Yes and no. I am in a military hospital. I am ok… I just have a little bullet graze."

"A little bullet graze, you think that that is ok? Booth? Are they letting you come home?"She was downright frantic.

"Calm down, baby, I am fine. They patched me up. I am just fine. Claire. You need to call Claire. Teddy's gone. Teddy didn't get down. He was shot. I… I carried him all the way back…. It was too late. That's how I got the graze in my arm. They are sending me back. I have to get a new spotter. I wanted to call you before you got the initial report. Tell me something good. Tell me about the baby."He had tears in his eyes.

"The baby is growing and is strong. No matter what I wear you can tell that I am pregnant. I sent you letters and pictures. They are probably being rerouted to you, though. Everyone is good here. Pops and Gretchen are getting along fine. Katie and Jared are doing more than holding hands. I miss you so much. I love you."She didn't know what to say. Her world revolved around waiting for him to come home.

"I love you and miss you so much. All I do is talk about you and the baby. I was driving Teddy pretty crazy with all the baby talk. Bones, you have to tell Claire that Teddy loved her. He never told her that. He was waiting until he got home. Promise me."

"I will, Booth. I can't believe they are sending you back so quickly."

"Bones, I look really good compared to some of these guys. There's barely a scratch on me." He had tears going down his cheeks just from hearing her voice. He just wished he could be home with her. Someone in the back had called time on him. "Bones, baby, I have to go. Take care of Claire. I love you."

"I love you, too."She said back. She was crying like a baby. Her phone call was over. She was on the kitchen floor just bawling away. Pops and Gretchen came in with some stuff from the bakery.

"Tempe, sweetie, what happened?"Gretchen asked.

"Booth called. Teddy's gone. He got shot. Booth carried him…..all the way back to base," she said in between sobs. "He got grazed by a bullet when he carried him, but he's fine. They are sending him back."She was just crying uncontrollably. "I have to call Claire. Teddy and Booth need me to call Claire."

"Calm down, just a bit. Then you can call this Claire." Gretchen said. Pops was putting on some water for some decaf tea for her. She had some tea and she had calmed down. Pops and Gretchen had taken turns holding her. She picked up the phone.

"Claire, this is Bren."

"Hi, Bren, how are you? Have you heard anything from Booth yet?"

"Yes, I have. Booth called me. He said that….that Teddy is gone, Claire. He didn't get down far enough. Booth, he carried him all the way back to base. He got grazed with a bullet. I am so sorry. Booth wanted you to know that Teddy told him that he loved you. He didn't want to say it until he came back."Brennan and Claire were crying uncontrollably again.

"Bren, honey, there is someone at the door. They are probably here to tell me. I will call you back soon. Thank you."She hung up the phone.

Jared, Katie, Angela, and Hodgins came through the door. Brennan was still a mess.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?" Angela said first.

"He's okay, right? Seeley's okay?"came from Jared. Hodgins and Katie just stayed frozen waiting for someone to speak.

"Booth only got grazed. He's fine. They are sending him back. Teddy is gone. He was shot. Booth had to carry him back to base. I just called Claire. Pops, this is one of those times that Booth would want a candle lit in the church. Maybe could you and Gretchen do that for him?" Brennan said.

Pops couldn't believe her sometimes. He knew that she didn't believe, but she would do things because she knew that he believed. "Of course, Tempe. Maybe we will pick up a pizza or two on the way back for you guys."

"That'd be great, Pops." Jared said, by this time he was hugging his sister in law.

Brennan couldn't help but put herself in Claire's shoes. She didn't know what she would do if the situation were reversed. She couldn't imagine the pain that Claire must be feeling. Not to mention, Teddy was waiting to tell Claire that he loved her. She found that it was little things in which she was so grateful that she had Booth.

She had also wondered about how Booth was feeling not only physically, but emotionally. She knew he really had liked Teddy. That Teddy was almost all he talked about when he spoke of basic training. She knew that Teddy liked to tease and harass Booth. It was all in good fun. Teddy had made her feel better at her own wedding. She would always be grateful to him for that. She found herself going to her wedding album. She found the picture of Teddy and her dancing. She had cried a little more.

Booth was lying on a gurney in the middle of the desert. The graze to his arm had stung, but nothing like his heart was feeling. He wished he could have talked to his Bones longer. Everybody needed their turn. All of his friends in the unit were equally sad about Teddy. He was well liked. Everybody could count on him for a good laugh. That was why he was so popular. It was so hard to laugh here. Collins got shot in the leg. Everybody else was fine. Collins would be fine. Collins was in the next bed over. He was teasing him saying since he got to go home early, he would find Booth's wife and try to take her away. Yeah, like that's funny or something. He would try to remember her voice and get some sleep.