It looks like the weird issue with my last two chapters not showing up has been worked out, thankfully! Thank you so much for all of the reviews for those two chapters. It means so much. Someone guessed it correctly – we are closing in on the end – but there are a few more chapters ahead. I've loved writing this and I'm so thankful for the readers who've enjoyed reading it. – Mac

Chapter 35

Brennan opened her eyes slowly, the bright light feeling blinding at first. When she finally got her bearings, she realized she was in a hospital room. And Angela seemed to be keeping a bedside vigil. When Angela noticed Brennan's movement, she exhaled deeply and smiled.

"You're awake!" she said, rushing to pull Brennan into a warm, careful hug.

"I am," Brennan said, wondering how long she'd been unconscious.

"How do you feel?" She could see the concern in Angela's eyes as she sat back down in her chair.

"I feel okay. My head is throbbing. I'm hoping that goes away soon. Have I… have I been out long?"

"There was some swelling, so… they had to relieve the pressure. They had to put you in a medically induced coma for twenty-four hours and then began to bring you out of it."

Brennan's stomach coiled, remembering the last time she was placed under for swelling – and why. Due to her recent trip through the past, that was all too fresh. She took a deep breath and fixed her gaze on Angela. A reminder that she was safe and this was different. Vastly different.

"Booth's been going out of his mind."

"Is he okay? He said his arm hurt."

She nodded. "He fractured his wrist and cracked two ribs."

Brennan winced, knowing that it was likely the way the explosion forced her against him, that pressure… the thrust of her body was likely the reason he had broken bones. "He must be in a lot of pain."

"He does seem to be in pain," Angela said. "But if you ask him about it, he will bite your head off. Well, maybe not your head. But for the rest of us – we've taken 'how are you feeling?' off the list of things we can ask him."

Brennan furrowed her brow in confusion. "Why? Is he in too much pain to answer? I don't understand."

"Because the moment the doctor uttered the word 'coma', his face lost all of its color. He's been beating himself up a lot over the whole thing."

"It wasn't his fault," Brennan said. She didn't have the energy to sit up. She barely had the energy to keep this conversation going. She wanted to go to sleep, honestly. "He saved my life."

Angela nodded. "And we've said that. Bren… I think it's more to do with why you were there at all. Alone. Why you're on this case without him. Why your partnership is over."

"But we talked about all of that. We've cleared the air. We're okay." At least, they would be. She remembered every moment of their conversation on that mat. Friendship. They'd focus on their friendship. They were going to be okay.

It had been an unspoken promise before the world exploded around them. Before he grabbed her, caught her and broke his bones to pull her to safety with him.

"Right," Angela said, nodding. "Right. It's just… you're not okay. At least you weren't. You were really hurt. And the doctor was concerned. So… no matter what you two talked about, he's been bowled over with anger, guilt, and fear. For you. And he does play a role in why you were in that situation to begin with, Bren."

"Come on, Ange. I ended the partnership. Not him. He would've kept—"

"No," she said, so firmly that Brennan closed her mouth and looked at her friend. "I love Booth. And I've been the number one person telling him to let it go because it just doesn't matter if he left anymore. Because he came back. He came back… and then he showed up in that warehouse and was willing to die to protect you. I'm grateful to him. Believe me. But this isn't an opinion up for debate, Bren. These are facts. You were there because of a series of events that led you there and one of the inciting moments was him leaving in so many ways. If he'd still been your partner, you'd have been safe. And we all know it. Especially him."

Brennan closed her eyes, feeling like that was all a bit too unfair to Booth. Though she understood the logic in the statements.

"No one is mad at Booth," Angela said, more gently, rubbing her hand up and down Brennan's arm. "Don't worry about him."

"Has he been discharged?" she asked. "Is he home now?"

"He was discharged, yes. But he hasn't left the hospital. He's been here. Sitting in this chair, hogging you. Just like… just like…" she trailed off as an unspoken just like old times hung in the air. "Well anyway, they made him leave twenty minutes ago to have an x-ray done on his hand again."

Brennan nodded, something warm stirring inside at the idea that Booth had been here, keeping watch. After everything they'd been through. He'd left her. Then she'd left him. And somehow, when all was said and done, they'd found their way right back to where they needed to be. Together. Side by side.

B*B*B*B*B*B*B*B*B*B*B*

Booth breathed out, slowly and deeply, while the nurse practitioner moved his wrist into various positions for an x-ray. He had already done this, but something was wrong. They'd clearly missed something in his x-ray when he'd first arrived at the hospital because even after they'd set his arm, he just knew something was not right. He knew Bones would've seen it. If she'd been able to view the x-ray herself. Whatever was wrong, he knew she would've found it. Bones. His heart felt like it was racing, his breathing labored, ever since the doctor had come out to the waiting room that night.

When they'd stepped out of the cellutube into the care of the responders at the scene, he knew something was broken in his arm. But he hadn't said it out loud. He'd surveyed the damage all around them and looked worriedly at his partner. Former partner. Whatever. She was practically carried to the stretcher and he had run over to keep close to her, and make sure she was okay. He needed her to know that he was still right there. That everything was okay. Except… he saw a look on the paramedic's face, shared with the other EMT.

"What is wrong?"

"Sir, we just need room. You can meet us at the hospital. There's a second ambulance. We just need –"

"I'm not leaving her. Tell me what is going on."

"We don't know yet. But she clearly hit her head very hard. When we arrive at the hospital, she will need an MRI, a scan, ultrasounds – the full work up. We need to rule out swelling, internal bleeding – but she definitely at the moment has a severe concussion. That much we know."

Booth breathed long and deep, closing his eyes. That conversation in the back of an ambulance had put some fear into him, but he knew she was strong. And… they'd had an entire conversation in the dark, in that tube. Concussions were dangerous, but she was being cared for. She'd be fine. But when he'd looked at her for reassurance, her eyes had closed and she looked pale. Really pale. He knew why they looked so scared. Internal bleeding was a not just an item on their checklist. It was a definite possibility.

That ride to the hospital felt like it took forever, though it was just ten minutes. When they'd arrived, she was wheeled away quickly, and a separate group of doctors took him to an examination room for x-rays to assess his damage as well. After two hours, his arm had been set. They'd found two cracked ribs and a broken bone in his arm. He was bandaged and ready for discharge, but he couldn't leave. He went into the waiting area and saw an emotional Angela sitting with Hodgins, Cam and Sweets. They all ran over and hugged him tightly and he held onto these people. The family he'd nearly lost. Because he hadn't just left Bones. He'd left them too. But in their eyes, he could see that right now, none of it mattered.

When the doctor came out, he opened with the good news. No internal bleeding. Thank God. But then, he explained that the trauma to her head was severe. That there was a lot of swelling on the brain and they were forced to place her into a coma.

That word had felt like being shot all over again. For a moment, he forgot how to breathe and when he finally found a seat to collapse into, his friends surrounded him while he spiraled.

Agent Blake had walked into the waiting room for an update and Booth stood up, wanting to throw this man through the wall. But with his broken arm, that wasn't really a possibility. Plus… it wouldn't change a damn thing. And he knew where the blame for this really lay. And it wasn't with Agent Blake. This was on him. This was all so very much on him.

His firm stance on moving on when he didn't get his way. He'd put his head in his hands and closed his eyes.

How fast he'd moved with Hannah when he knew from the moment he met her… deep down he knew… she could never be what he'd needed her to be.

The way he'd just put all of his energy into her, leaving everyone else behind. Leaving Bones….

Bones crying, admitting her feelings. Her eyes. He'd… he'd stopped noticing her gorgeous eyes and somehow in his mind's eye he could finally see the hurt and sadness in there that night. And he'd sent her home. Alone. She was breaking right in front of him. And he had sent her home alone. And then laughed about it, in a way, with Hannah.

He sighed. She was the best thing that had ever come into his life. And she had to be okay. She had to. Because they were going to start with friendship. And she had said she loved him. And he'd told her that he loved her. God, he'd never stopped loving her for a moment. He'd just acted like he had…

He'd apologized. He'd shown up. And now… they had a chance to rebuild everything that had broken. He could rebuild her trust in him. And if their friendship could be saved, then… he would do anything required to restore it.

So he sat beside her for the past day, full of worry, telling himself that she was only in a coma to heal. It did little to help his breathing, though. His mind was at war with itself. Remembering their conversation on the mat, the forgiveness and friendship – and all of the light cast on their darkest days, so they could move on – warred with things he'd done to her and things he'd learned about her, making him feel worse about some of the things that had gone down between them this year.

That night – when he'd wanted her to gamble on them, he'd grabbed her and forced her to kiss him. There was no romance in that kiss. It was desperate and it was about what he wanted. He knew she wasn't there yet and he grabbed her and crossed that line without her permission. She'd pulled back and despite her trust in him as a person, he could now see something in that memory he'd never considered before. She looked angry as she said "no", she'd even pushed him physically away with her hands. He knew she didn't feel unsafe with him, view him as a threat, but…

But a few days ago, she'd told him, brokenly, about parts of her life he'd never known. And even if he had known, he still shouldn't have… he just…

It shouldn't have been like that.

She'd already been forced. Forced into a lake and held down, nearly drowned. Forced against her will later that night. His mind couldn't go down this road. He hadn't really let it go here, because her experiences felt like they were breaking him in half. So he hadn't gone there yet. He'd just been there for her. Done what he could to protect her. He understood what happened to her and his anger over it was real, but…

Now he his mind seemed to want to process what she'd shared with him. Someone had taken away her voice. Had taken control of her body. And had forced what he wanted on her. Her first time was robbed from her by an evil, sad excuse of a man. She had not had a say in that night and all that had been ripped from her. She'd said no and she was forced.

He knew that last year, that night… it wasn't anything like this. He knew that. But he still felt something sinking inside as his own selfishness rose up on him out of the dark corners of his mind. He had said what he wanted and she was protesting when he pulled her to him and made him kiss her. It had not been welcome and he'd done it anyway. She'd had to pull back and push him physically to stop it and her "no" had seemed to carry a weight in it that maybe now he understood. Because while she knew she was safe with him, there was a chance that an old feeling of panic had swelled in her that day anyway. Just a simple alarm at being forced to do something she didn't want to do.

And he hated himself for that.

Friendship. That was the focus. But… since he knew she still loved him, a flicker of hope lit up inside. And he promised himself. He'd never do that again. Not ever. From now on, she'd take the lead. And he'd be there, by her side. Any way that she'd have him. If he was ever lucky enough to kiss her again – and right now it really was just not the focus, but still – it would never be like that again. He would not grab her just because he wanted it. She'd be safe and protected in love that would be there whenever she was ready. And if she only wanted friendship, his love would not waver at all.

"It's your wrist," the doctor explained, showing him his x-rays. "We have your arm set, but we hadn't corrected this small fracture in your wrist. It's so small, we missed it the first time around. I apologize for that."

Booth nodded, as the doctor went through next steps with him. His phone buzzed and he looked down. It was a text from Rob.

Hi Booth… is there any update? Is she awake?

He'd remembered, after Bones had been a few hours into the medically-induced coma, that her friends in Camden knew she was standing on a bomb and then had no word, so he had texted Rob an update. Because… he'd given Booth a lifeline to Bones when he didn't have that. He'd let him know that she was okay when he knew Booth was worried. He'd sure as hell do the same in return.

What he hadn't expected was the string of messages back and forth about Bones. Rob was easy to talk to. And… he cared about her. And about them. Amy had had the baby, but Rob wouldn't give him the details because he knew Bones would want to hear it all from them when she woke up. He had such faith in everything working out. But Booth could also detect his nervousness.

These friends may have not known her for long. But they clearly already loved her.

She's stable, but still under. At least I think so. I'm dealing with my arm right now.

Did they do that other x-ray? Was there another break?

Yes. They need to do a quick procedure and then reset it. How's the baby? Is Amy feeling better?

They're both great. And Keeley is going to come stay with Amy for a few days while I'm gone.

Booth laughed, despite the situation.

Because you're coming here?

Because I'm coming there.

B*B*B*B*B*B*B*B*B*B*B*B

Brennan was looked at by three different doctors. They'd asked her a multitude of questions and assessed her pain levels. While her head was still throbbing, it felt manageable. Now, she just wanted to go home. But her concussion still made that a bit of a hairy situation and due to her just coming out of her coma, they wanted to keep her at least one more night.

Finally, the doctors left and Angela came back in, looking as annoyed as she felt.

"What happened with the case? Did Sam get enough evidence to figure out the murderer?"

"Yes," Angela said. "He's been working around the clock with the evidence. Cam has all the interns on it to keep this moving. But they figured out that it was actually that woman, Stephanie. Sam said he owes you an apology for that – though I think there are bigger things he could be apologizing for. It's been hard to check in with him with Booth around. I think he wants to kill him. Like, seriously."

Brennan sighed. "He was apologizing about Stephanie because I told him not to go on a date with her and I believe that he did anyway. I think she was the reason I went there, and that he was late. I think it was her plan and he must've figured that out."

"She's in custody now. Sam is wrapping up the paperwork. And I think it's safe to say that this will be your last case working with him. Hacker was not pleased about any of this at all."

"I can see that. It could've been worse and Hacker probably was not comfortable with the reality of what he could be facing, if things had gone differently."

"Probably."

"He wasn't a bad agent, Ange. Just… different from what we 're used to. What I'm used to. But… different isn't a bad thing."

Angela thought about this. "Are you going to work with another agent again? Or… would you want to work with Booth again?"

Brennan sighed. "Booth and I have a lot to sort through. But right now, I want to keep the partnership paused. I'm worried that—"

She trailed off, feeling suddenly emotional. The last few times she'd seen Booth, it had all felt so familiar and safe again. And she desperately wanted to grab onto the security blanket of their old relationship. But… they'd agreed to move forward. Falling into the old wouldn't help them do that.

"Worried that what?" Angela grabbed her hand in hers, and looked at Brennan with trust and love. She could tell her anything.

"I've never just been Booth's friend. We were partners first. Just partners. But very quickly, we became friends. We cared about each other. I don't know exactly when that shifted into being best friends or feelings of love. For him. For me. I don't know. For us, it all happened at the same time. I feel like the partnership was our whole foundation. I mean… when it disappeared, we both sort of lost ourselves."

"And found yourselves."

Brennan nodded. "We've never just been friends. Our friendship was built on our shared experiences as partners."

Angela nodded, understanding dawning. "You don't know if you two could be friends if you don't have murder and suspects and drives to crime scenes and… all of that former glue that once held you together before you created something that was strong on its own?"

"I think that I'd like to see if we can have a friendship without a partnership. We never have before. And—"

"You don't know."

Brennan sighed and closed her eyes. "When we first became partners, our personalities clashed. He used to say that I wasn't good with people. I was blunt and maybe off-putting. And I loved science and bones more than things that someone like Booth was into."

"And what is someone like Booth into?"

"Being a dad. Watching sports. Playing hockey. And solving crimes."

Angela nodded. "You're testing this. And you're worried it will fail."

"I don't like that word. Testing. Because Booth means more to me than some little experiment."

"Sweetie, I know he does."

"I just have a hard time believing that if you take away the partnership, we'd have anything to hold onto."

"Well.. it's not a good enough reason for partnering up with agents that might get you killed. But… I get it."

"You do?" Brennan let out a huge breath and touched her hand gently to her throbbing head.

"Yeah. I do. And for what it's worth? I think there's a lot more holding you together than murder."

Brennan smiled at that softly just as the door opened and Booth himself walked in. He looked at Angela and then, in surprise, his gaze skittered over to her. Their eyes met and she could see the surprise in his. And then, he took a step closer and relief seemed to course through his entire body.

"Bones."