I don't own Bones, I know I have 206 in my body, but the Bones from Fox isn't mine.

Heartache

Today was the day they found out about the baby's sex. They both agreed that it would be better to know, so they could be better prepared. In addition, Angela wanted to paint the baby's room and they needed to complete the ensemble.

There had been many ultrasounds over the past few months, but they were looking forward to today's the most. As they went into the office waiting for the doctor, they spoke of the Science Fair. They were proud of Parker, and she saw great potential in him.

The nurse walked in and began the ultrasound. They were surprised by how much the baby had changed in the past two weeks.

"Your baby is now almost 14 inches long, weighs just over a pound and a half, and that's probably why you can feel him moving." She looked at Booth. "Would you like me to tell you the sex now? I know you said next time, but I wanted to make sure you didn't change your mind."

"Yes." They responded.

"It is a girl." Bones looked at Booth's face as the nurse told them the sex. She could see his dimples as a smile slowly spread over his face. He looked at her, "A girl. Can we now pick a name?" Bones began to laugh.

As they were talking, the nurse continued the ultrasound. When they turned back to the screen, they noticed that she was taking an unusually long time looking at the baby's heart. She had enlarged the picture to show the heart more clearly, and was changing the coloration on the screen.

Temperance felt a shiver run down her spine. Booth took her hand, as the nurse excused herself and went to find the doctor.

"Booth, something's wrong. I just know it." He drew her closer to him.

They looked at the still picture on the screen, trying to decipher what the nurse had seen. Neither one of them could see anything unusual.

"Bones, what's wrong?"

"I don't know."

"Well you're the genius, why don't you know?"

"Booth I've told you before I am an anthropologist not an ultrasound technologist. Why do you always ask me?"

"Because you always know everything."

"Well this time, I know as much as you, but I think she may be worried about the baby's heart."

"How do you know that?"

"Look at the picture; she has enlarged the baby's heart, and enhanced it with color. I don't like to extrapolate without all the information, but I think the color shows the movement of blood through the circulatory system. It is possible that the blue color shows the movement of non-oxygenated blood and the red shows oxygenated blood."

Just as she finished talking, the nurse and the doctor came back into the room. The doctor sat next to the bed and began the ultrasound. Within moments, another doctor entered the room. Booth's blood ran cold; even he knew that extra doctors meant problems. He held Temperance tight.

Temperance was finally able to find her voice. "Doctor, what's wrong?"

"Don't worry; we just need to check something."

"Is something wrong with the baby's heart?"

"Just give me a few minutes." He continued to watch the baby's heart. The other doctor took the transducer probe from Dr. Hinckley's hand.

"Enhance the color."

The screen lit up again with red and blue coloration. "Can you turn up the sound?"

As Dr. Hinckley turned on the sound, they heard the whooshing sound that they had become to know as their baby's heartbeat. The doctors continued to talk in low tones. Neither Bones nor Booth could hear what they were saying over the heartbeat.

Temperance began to cry. Booth pulled her closer into his arms, while tears started to form in his eyes too. The doctor's finally noticed their distress.

"Mr. and Mrs. Booth, we are slightly concerned with the formation on the baby's heart. It appears that the baby's tricuspid valve isn't formed correctly at this point, and since the heart is the first organ to develop in a fetus, it should be completely formed at this point in the pregnancy."

Booth started at the doctors in confusion, while Temperance began to cry harder.

"Bones, what does this mean?"

"The baby's heart is missing the lower right portion." She said between sobs.

Now that the doctors told her what to look for she could see the deficit clearly. She was correct in her assumption of the coloration on the ultrasound. Upon watching the blood flow, she could see that there were only three chambers in their baby's heart instead of four.

"Bones help me to understand. I don't know what's happening."

As she was beginning to speak, another doctor entered the room. The nurse left because the room was becoming crowded. Dr. Hinckley began to speak.

"Mr. and Mrs. Booth, this is Doctor Mellow, he indicated the doctor who just walked through the door, and he is a pediatric cardiac surgeon that happened to be in the building. We called him in to speak to you, and this is my colleague, Doctor Phitz, he is a perinatologist, specializing in high-risk pregnancies."

Doctor Phitz began to address them, "Hello, I know this seems very confusing to you at the moment, but we wanted to be sure what was happening before we addressed the situation. It appears that your baby's heart hasn't fully developed, in that; the tricuspid valve appears very small or almost nonexistent. Now this is not a major problem while the baby is still in the womb, because your body, Mrs. Booth, takes care of the baby's needs."

"Now let us get you off this table and we will address this issue in my office, with Doctor Mellow. Then we will be able to show you in more detail what the next few months will entail." He finished the ultrasound, printed many pictures of the heart, and left the room. They were speechless as the nurse walked back into the room.

"I'm sorry, although Dr. Phitz and Dr. Mellow are the best in their field; Dr. Phitz's bedside manner is a little cold. Can I help you with anything?"

"What happened?" Booth was still trying to understand what had happened during the past twenty minutes. He realized that their world had completely changed in twenty minutes time, and he was devastated. He thought that Bones understood more than he did, because of her knowledge of the human body, but he could see that she was truly shaken.

While the nurse was talking, Bones started to get dressed. "First of all, I noticed that the baby's heart didn't look right on the ultrasound, but I wasn't sure, so I went out to get Dr. Hinckley. When I told him about my questions with the baby's heart, he decided to call his friend Dr. Mellow, who he knew was in the building, talking to another couple. Dr. Phitz is automatically included on all consults."

"I can't understand all the complications with the heart, but I know the doctor will explain that to you when you meet with him. If you are ready I will walk you down to his office."

They nodded to the nurse, and followed her out of the room, feeling lost and confused.