Once Max had relieved Angela from her bedside vigil on Friday morning, Hodgins drove the couple home. Seeing her usually indomitable best friend so injured and abused was inevitably deeply upsetting to Angela. As the urgency of her physical status dissipated, Angela's relief that Brennan would physically recover was clouded by the harsh emotional reality of what had befallen her. Suddenly, she was startled from her anxieties by Hodgins hitting the steering wheel.

'Just. How? I don't get it. I mean, Dr B, I just, it's not fair,' Hodgins ranted.

'I know, babe,' said Angela in perturbed agreement.

Hodgins shook his head angrily.

'She'll be okay, I know she will,' Angela rallied, straightening herself in her seat.

'You can't know that,' said Hodgins with despair.

'Yes, I can. It's Brennan. She's been kidnapped, shot at, blown up, buried alive-' she snuck a sideways glance at her husband who failed to hide his flinch. 'You know, she'll…she'll get through this, she has to,' she rushed.

Hodgins placed a tender hand on his wife's knee.

'She will, she will, we'll make sure she will,' he comforted.

They returned to their independent meditations, neither willing to further voice their anxiety that maybe this time Brennan's extraordinary capacity to weaponize rationalism as a defence couldn't just brush it off.

xxx

The next two days couldn't pass quickly enough for Brennan. As her frustration with being stuck in hospital increased so she became ruder and ruder to the medical staff – she condescendingly demanded she review all her notes and X-rays and queried the necessity of every piece of medical instruction. Booth tuned in to her anxiety and hurried the process up as much as possible. He refrained from telling her about his break-up with Hannah –she didn't need that to weigh on her as well. He assumed that he would stay at her apartment with her. Despite her ability to move painfully around the room – the doctor noted that she demonstrated a speedier-than-normal recovery - she would still need to remain on bed rest and required the assistance of a practical carer; he anticipated her resistance.

'Bones, I know you want to go home. You're going to need help. I'm staying with you. That's final,' he exclaimed firmly. It was non-negotiable. Resentfully, she conceded, accepting his premise. She would need help with cooking and shopping, for example, she agreed rationally. However, she refused to contemplate what physical help she might also need.

Brennan didn't permit further discussion of the assault. She stoically took the morning-after pill and acknowledged without emotion the report that she had not contracted any STDs.

Booth held Angela and her other friends at bay. They had all hoped to visit in person, but Booth correctly read the unspoken signs from Brennan which intimated that she was uncomfortable with visitors other than Booth and her father. Angela wanted desperately to be at her best friend's side so Booth encouraged Brennan to compromise and at least speak to her on the phone. Brennan had acquiesced once Booth had gently explained to her how upset Angela was and that she would, in fact, be making Angela feel better. It was mildly surprising to him how much Bones was tolerating his presence. He wished he knew what was going on in that oversized, brilliant brain of hers.

Privately, Booth divulged his split with Hannah to Cam, who was the epitome of discretion. He refrained from alerting Sweets to this juicy piece of gossip. He didn't want to give Sweets the satisfaction of having been right! The annoying boy had a monopoly on innocent yet smug faces.

xxx

Booth arranged with Angela to call on Sunday morning and went home for a quick shower so Brennan could converse in private. Sombrely, he instructed Angela not to reference the rape. Every time he thought if it, it hit him like he had just ridden a particularly stomach-churning rollercoaster.

'Hi, Sweetie,' asked Angela gently. 'How are you?'

Ignoring the tremble in Angela's voice, Brennan deflected: 'How is the baby doing?' Unsure why she was disappointed – how else would she have expected Brennan to respond? – Angela took the bait.

'Oh, you know, doing somersaults at 3am. Apparently my bladder is a trampoline and this kid is going to be a world-class gymnast.' Brennan chuckled softly. Angela felt tears spring to her eyes. Suddenly, she was grateful to not be in the room with her. After an awkward pause, she recovered herself.

'How is Studly, huh?'

'Who?'

Angela gave her a 'look' down the phone. 'You know who I mean, Bren!'

'Booth is quite well,' she lied.

'Really?' she replied disbelievingly. If Angela was unable to talk about the recent attack – and if she were honest with herself, she wouldn't know where to start - she could at least enquire about the difficult days prior to it. 'Sweetie, we've all been worried about you, Booth especially.'

Brennan's voice hitched in her chest and with determination she said: 'You don't have to; I will heal fine.'

'No. No, I mean before. That case. You weren't acting like yourself, Bren.'

'Oh,' she exclaimed with relief. However, she didn't want to talk about her embarrassing lapse into melodrama either. 'Everything is fine now, Angela. Thank you, though, for caring,' she robotically acknowledged.

Angela sighed. She wasn't getting anywhere. Brennan asked about the case she had been working on and Angela filled her in. The more they spoke about work the more Angela witnessed the return of Clinical Brennan. Over the years, she had observed that Brennan's main coping mechanism with any trauma was to either ignore it or rationalise and emotionally detach from it. They had been friends for some time before she knew the story of her parents' disappearance, and then she had been the only one privy to the knowledge. Angela loyally respected Brennan's deeply held need for privacy. Although people often interpreted Brennan's detached behaviour as cold and unfeeling Angela knew the true depth and sensitivity of her heart.

Thank you so much to those who've reviewed. If anyone else would like to let me know their thoughts, I'd be grateful. It's totally unseemly asking for reviews, but as I haven't written in over a decade, it's really encouraging to read what other people think about the story. Although I have the outline broadly in place and know where it's going and how it's ending - I'm writing at about 10k words ahead of posted chapters - ideas do spring up from people's predictions about what might happen next...