George Washington Hospital was abuzz of activity. They had isolated the top floor for the 3 Booths; secret service agents were everywhere. There were reports of an attempt on the President's life in the media, but in truth, the President was in his situation room where they had finished the mop-up of the conspirators. This time, they weren't going to go to a Supermax. They were going to Gitmo, and he would find out everything about the case. But for the time being. The President wanted his little hero, the hero who had broken the case wide open, to get the best medical treatment and ensure that no lone wolf would go after her. The inept Agent Brown had missed every major artery but damaged her skeletal system but hadn't caused the death. Christine was riddled with bullets, but the best-aimed shot had hit a medal of St Benedict, which was around the neck of Christine. Her father had given her these devotional medals years before. This large silver and Brass medal had been a gift. Her father had said St. Benedict, being the father of Western thought, was a great mystic and spiritual man who fought against the devil in whatever form it presented itself. Her father had hoped that Christine would keep her faith as she grew older and fight against the demons that lie below the surface of everyday life. Today, St. Benedict had saved Christine's life because the only shot that would have killed her deflected off the metal and embedded itself in some less critical muscle. Although the bleeding was extensive, Christine had not died.

Agent Gwen Booth was in the room beside her. Her shoulder was damaged; The blood loss was terrible. But she was able to stand up, and presently she sat beside Christine; the doctors had tried to get her to go back to her own room. What she would only say repeatedly "It's my sister here. She needs me." In turn, the doctors would say, "well, you need to rest also."

"Not until Christine is in the clear. Then I can worry about myself."

The doctors would try and say," but your daughters need their mom. Your husband requires you!

And then she turned to the doctor. "Do you know what she did? She acted like a human shield so they wouldn't get to her brother and me; She didn't have body armour; She didn't have a gun. But she faced them down ...then she turned back to Christine; she was whispering, "I doubted you, Parker had faith in you. Your mother had faith in you. I doubt it. I'm so sorry."

The doctor told her that she had to go back to her room for her medications. So, she limped her way back to her room, in a sense defeated.

Hank was in shock. He was also in a room, but he was shellshocked. Hank didn't defend his sister -his sister had once again defended him. His ashen face showed the disconnect he felt from the reality around himself that was troubling to all. He sat in his room and stared at his hands.

Temperance Brennan was outside of the rooms consulting with the doctors to review their work, looking at X-rays, and telling them the best means and procedures for fixing bone. She was on her feet for the first 12 hours straight. Angela came in behind her, pulled her into a big hug, and presented some food. Brennan said, "I don't have time to eat." Angela said, "you need to eat, but I'm not Christine and will not make you. But I think there's a little boy who really needs you now. Temperance looked at her said, "I don't know what to say to him. I'm scared for him. This type of event caused me to hide from the world. He's blaming himself; He didn't defend his sister, but He didn't do anything wrong. But by omission, he might have been responsible for her death. He's blaming himself, tearing himself up. But I don't know what to say." Temperance began to weep, " I almost lost my family again."

Angela hugged her and then said, "now, you didn't lose your family, but you did gain a Booth." Temperance looked at her quizzically. "What do you mean? I gained Booth? My husband is dead. He died defending his family. I can't get him back." Angela let off an old sarcastic laugh, "Oh yes, you did. The Christine of old would not have negotiated. The new Christine seeing that she had no tools, decided to talk the other one down and to allow herself to become a shield to defend her sister-in-law. As we both know, who didn't really like her, treated her poorly and defended her little brother. That is Booth, not Jared; you remember to get Jared to act. You had to shame him. Christine jumped into action when she figured out what was going on. Christine will have bullets marks and scarring. But she will be much better after this. She has matured; finally, she's ready to take her place in your family," then Angie tapped her on the shoulder again. "you know, working with Christine is like a combo deal. She's got the smarts that you have. But she's got the clear sight that Booth had. Did you hear what she did?"

" No, I didn't hear," that a small voice of Temperance that Angie hadn't heard so many years. "Well, She got the material from Hannah. Christine started working on it. She figured that she didn't have the know-how. So enlisted me. She took care of the body, and she realized the connection. Then She got you involved. And then she brought all the material and walked into the CIA looking for Danny Beck. Do you know who else would do that? "

"Christine did that?

" that is a combo because you would do it, but you wouldn't know how to get it done right. Booth would have a contact, but he wouldn't walk in the front door. There's a combo; she sat down with the CIA brass, explained everything going on in less than 10 minutes and got the President on the line when she came back here; she did so because they told her to. Your daughter was trying to find evidence of who tortured Hannah Burley. That's why she was so intent on the body. That's why she didn't hear all the commotion. But also, that's why she stood up because she had a reason, she had a purpose. She wasn't doing it for some silly paper, and she told them that she promised they would never hurt her family again. I've been around you and Booth for years, now that sounds like him. That's right out of his lexicon."

Temperance let out a deep breath and said, "I am happy that she's alive. That she did well. That she is no longer the lost sheep. But I worry for Hank. Hank needs friends. Angela. He has no friends. He's a lot like me. He has no one like you in his life." Angela patted him on the shoulder, and Angela said, "Hank needs to be pushed out of his comfort zone. And Christine is pushing him. I know it must be lonely at home Temperance, without Hank there, but Christine is doing good work on him. she got him eating, got him leaving the lab on time." Temperance muttered, " I don't know what to do now."

"Well, you're the mother. And I think for now you're going to have to be Mum. You've got two injured children. None of them for any devious reason. Christine is going to need a lot of care. And Hank is going to need his sister and his mother. So why don't you get them to move back home?" Brennan mumbled to herself. "Christine wouldn't want that. I don't think so."

"Brennan, if you open that door, I think she would come right back. It'll be for a while. So do your smart economic thing. Get her stuff taken out of her house. Put it all into storage or brought to your place? Sublet it; you'll be surprised how long she'll stay. She's not the same girl that stormed off to college many years ago. She's matured; she knows the value of family."

Parker came around the corner, sat down beside Temperance gave her a big hug. Although he customarily referred to her as mum whenever Parker was under actual stress. He referred to the first name he had heard as a small boy - Bones. Parker crying into her shoulder. "I'm filled in on what Christine did for my wife and my family. I just spoke with my wife. She is so, so angry with herself. She said that she never gave Christine a real chance. But when she saw her use herself as a shield... She's so sorry."

Parker shook himself out of his own sorrowing and said, "Mom, Concretely, what can I do? Do you want me to talk with Hank? Is there any value in talking to Hank? I have friends who are specialists in these types of things in trauma. They can help."

Temperance looked over at Parker and said, stroking his knee, "whatever you think is right, do it. As for me, I am lost. I don't know what to do for my own son. I am looking for a path towards Christine. And as per your darling wife. I'm scared of entering her room. I don't know."

Parker embraced her one more time said, "it's not your fault."

"If I didn't pick a fight with the FBI and if I accepted the bad situation of your father. Maybe this wouldn't have happened."

At this point, Parker stood up angry. This type of anger was sporadic with him; he had learned how to stay calm with his psychological formation. But now, there was fury. "Is that what you think? You think? It would have been alright to let the case just die; Dad was slaughtered before his family, and we just moved on. Somehow, this would all have turned outright. My father died because he defended his family. My sister was turned to a pin cushion because she defended her family; the least we can do is honour that and defend ours. So, if you're not going to at least fight back, at least have some honour! Go in there and talk to your children. They need it. You can't isolate yourself with this medical babble; You're not helping. Have you seen Christine? Have you seen my wife? Have you talked to Hank? " Temperance nodded her head and said, " no."

"So, get yourself up and Move it, no more time for a pity party, Chop, Chop." The move it sounded like Booth, Chop, Chop! It was a Booth thing when he was angry or slightly disappointed but needed to move the other one to their proper position. Temperance got up a little bit weak in the knees. Parker steadied her walking towards the row of well-appointed hospital suites. He asked, " Who do you go to first?"

" Let's go to your wife first."

She came in. But over the last few hours, Temperance had aged visibly. Her hair was more streaked, her eyes more strained, her parlour was paler. She grabbed the hand of her daughter-in-law and said, "you did well today." The tears filled the eyes of the young agent, "I messed up. I judged Christine wrongly; She is honourable; she saved my life. She saved Hank. And at the moment that I thought that she was losing her mind. I perceived what she had sensed that the sniper had needed a few more minutes. So, she egged on the agent so that the agent wouldn't just shoot her and kill us. She dialogued so that the sniper had enough time; when Brown perceived that she had been played, that's when the agent emptied her clip-on Christine, but it was too late for Brown. She was dead. Do you think that Christine will ever forgive me for my rudeness?" Temperance now patting her on the hands.

"She considers you as a sister and since you allowed her to enter into the girls' lives over the last weeks. I don't think there'll be any bad feelings. She's Booth's daughter. She won't blame anyone for anything. She'll be happy to know that the bad guys were gone. Then the tears flowed between the two women, and Gwen drifted off to sleep. Temperance stood up, using Parker as a stabilizer; she spoke, "let's go to Hank." They opened the door. The room was dark. Hank is holding his knees close to his chest on top of the bed, shivering. Parker quickly perceived that Hank had become a little boy; Hank was in shock. Hank was deep in grief. Temperance sat down on the bed this time. With her back to Hank. Hank was mumbling to himself, "Hey, yeah, mom."

" Have you gone to see Christine yet?"

" No."

" Why?"

" Because it's all my fault."

" Who told you it was your fault?"

" If I was paying attention, I would have been the one to defend her."

" Is that what Christine thinks?"

" I don't know. I haven't spoken to her."

" I can guarantee you Christine doesn't see it that way."

Then he looked at Parker, "you should be killing me, please just beat me! I didn't defend your wife either."

Parker turned to him and said, " I looked at the surveillance tapes. Hank, there's only one criminal in this story. The criminal is the one who shot my wife. The criminal is the one who shot Christine. The victims. There are plenty; There was the team doing security at the lab. There is the victim, who is my wife. There is a victim named Christine, and a victim is sitting in front of me. There was nothing you could have done, Hank; you were in the wrong position. You were taken off guard, and most likely, if you had gotten involved, you would have gotten yourself killed because Christine actually had the situation underhand. Although her idea of underhand is a little bit different than anyone else. Do you know what saved Christine's life?" Parker continued; Hank was crying. "No, no, I don't know."

"It was her existential crisis that your father's and mine's death; she regained faith, not just faith in God, but faith in her family. Do you remember the metal that Dad bought for Christine? When Bones and Dad went to Italy on vacation?" Hank said, "yeah, it was a metal of St. Benedict. Christine used to leave it on her bedpost to ward off evil spirits."

"Christine was wearing it, and the bullet that would have killed her ricocheted off it and embedded itself in some less important muscle, which could be excised and repaired. Faith saved her. Now Hank, What's going to save you? It is faith also."

Hank stopped and looked up. "Faith? I'm a loser. I didn't defend my sister. I did nothing."

Do you believe in forgiveness?" Parker retorted.

" I'm unforgivable; I was a coward,"

Parker continued again. "If I were to believe that which I don't. Are you willing to accept forgiveness? Are you too proud?"

Hank has been through his catechism classes; to further his education in the Catholic faith. And he knew that this was the big stumbling block for most humans. Were they willing to accept forgiveness? Or are they too proud? Hank countered the argument by saying, "Are you sure anyone is willing to forgive me, Parker? I'm sure God will forgive me, But no one else will. Christine won't. Christine will keep it over my head until the end of my life. Your wife won't; she won't even let me enter your house again. She'll think I'm a danger."

Parker then retorted again. "Do you have any proof, or is this basic conjecture? If it's conjecture, you're defaming people. You're slandering people; you need to do the legwork. You need to wash your face. Get out of this bed and come with us. Hank turned to go with the same attitude as one going to jail. "I'm getting what I deserve."

" No," Parker retorted. "We're going to go to Christine's room. You're not the only one who has a guilt problem. And we're going to resolve it right now."

" Who else would have guilt?"

At that point, Temperance finally let herself weep said, "Hank, you're not the only one who's suffering here. I blame myself too. I blame myself for everything." Hank turned, "but why? You didn't do anything wrong. You didn't hold the gun. You didn't do...?" And he stopped. Parker smiled, said, "You two are too much alike, now; let's get ourselves up and Move ourselves over to Christine's room. because I think Christine will give us a different view on this problem completely."

Parker comes into Christine's medical suite. The secret service Agent at the door nods at them, opens the door, and then closes it, but before that, he brings in a couple of chairs for the family members to sit down, but as they enter, they see Gwen already sitting beside Christine's head. Gwen looks up at the three and says, "will you ever forgive me for what I've done to Christine?" Parker's voice now cracks, " I think we as a family need to embrace forgiveness. Hank thinks you hate him and will never forgive him for not saving you all on the platform. Mom thinks you're going to hate her because if she had just turned over and allowed everything to continue. They wouldn't have done any of this." Gwen Booth stood up slowly and embraced Hank, "Don't you ever think that! She defended you as well as me? There was nothing you could have done. You don't have the training. You're not insane like she is. by the way, You are always welcome in my home."

Temperance began, " I'm sorry..." Gwen pushed towards a strong embrace with Bones. And then Parker turns towards Temperance. It was a three-way hug. A lot of whispering of accepting and offering forgiveness. And Christine from her bed thoroughly medicated, opened an eye and said, "who died?" the three of them looked back at Christine.

"Christine, can you hear us?"

"Yeah, I hear a lot of people crying. I hear people blaming themselves. And I'm wondering if I miss something."

Parker laughed and said, "if anyone was wondering, Booth has entered the room." Temperance quickly took her spot at the head of the bed and started to rattle off questions about her feelings, pain levels, and everything else. Under a slur which the medication had produced, she said, " it's only a scratch, not so bad. I'll be home in a few days. No problems." Temperance then said to her, "Christine, I was thinking, and I'm not going to take no as an answer. So, consider it a command."

" Mom, it's not time to give commands right now. We're not in class. There's a giggle that broke out behind them. And she said, "Christine, you're moving back home with me. You and Hank are going to both be there. I'll be able to get nursing help and get you both back into shape. Also, I'm not taking the loneliness very well. I need you around. Does that make sense?"

Christine giggled, "What's going to happen with the apartment? Going to be a big loss of money."

"Christine, as we speak, I've already ordered moving people to come in to box up your material. And when you're well enough, we'll be able to select what you need at home, and the other items go into a secure storage area. Once that is done, I will sublet the unit, and there will be no loss. Christine was giggling, saying, "you know... you gave me that apartment on my 21st birthday. So... but it's yours anyway. Do with it as you wish, but I'm sorry, guys, I got you into so much trouble." And they looked at her with a sort of wonderment, "oh, I should have done something different. I knew they would target me, so I should have gone somewhere else, you know, go out of town. They would have just gotten me; that way, I wouldn't have sucked my sister-in-law in a mess, and they wouldn't have hurt you. You have little two little girls. They need a mother. They can't be orphaned." And then she looked at her sister-in-law, and said, "Will you forgive me?"

Parker being the only one who wasn't crying at this moment, said Christine, "I think the story needs to be corrected. The hit squad was looking for my wife. Not you; Not at this point, at least. My wife was pleasantly having a cup of coffee in the park area outside of the Jeffersonian. She ran away and ran towards the lab for a place of protection. And she got shot as she entered the lab. So, there's no reason to believe that you brought her pain."

"What if I didn't dig around Dad's death." Parker rolled his eyes, "well, that point of guilt has already been covered by your mother. Christine, you don't need to carry the world on your shoulders. We are here. You're like your dad; You're not Jared. Take that out of your mind." in her semi-drugged addled consciousness, She mumbled, "the last thing in the world that I want to be is Jared; I've ever wanted to be like my parents. They're heroes. I'm not. I'm such a coward." And she began to cry, and She fell back asleep. Her other family members wept and Embraced each other and began to accept the beauty of forgiveness.