WHEN FLU BUGS BITE by: Arianna Malone

Disclaimer: I have only borrowed the characters Temperance Brennan and Seeley Booth. I do not own either of them. All I did was ask if the three of us could hang out for a while. I'll see to it that they make it home safely to their real owners – Josephson Entertainment and Far Field Productions in association with Twentieth Century Fox Television.

A/N This story is fluff, nothing but fluff. I am living by my credo "Plot? I don't need no stinkin' plot." If you are hoping for a case story, you have come to the wrong place. If you want realism, well…you'll probably be disappointed as well.

Chapter 3: A Juice in the Hand is Worth Two in the Store

It seemed as though only a few minutes had passed since Temperance had been poked awake by an annoying federal agent. If she remembered properly, she had been a little snarky…not necessarily creative, but she had said something with a great deal of attitude. Thinking back, Brennan could only hope that it had made sense. She was pretty sure that Booth would forgive her. After all, they took verbal shots at each other all the time. Generally, there was nothing to forgive.

"Hey, Brennan," Booth's voice was hesitant, "you still with me?"

She looked up and saw a look of concern on his face. She shook her head to clear away the cobwebs.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry. Let me get my things." Tempe noticed that her voice sounded a bit rusty. She cleared her throat and tried speaking again. "Um, did you get any sleep?"

Booth was already reaching for her bags in the overhead compartment. He stiffened at her question, but answered after a brief moment. "Nah, I wasn't that tired." There was another odd pause and then he carelessly added, "I was thinking about the case."

Somehow he had managed to gather both his bags as well as hers and herd her out of the plane despite her futile attempts at reclaiming her things. When it became clear that he wasn't going to release his hostages, Brennan gave up. She was too tired to fight. In fact, as another round of coughing bubbled up in her throat, she was too preoccupied with staying upright as she coughed. Was dizziness a normal symptom of the flu? It had been so long since she'd been sick, she just couldn't remember.

Wheezing to a stop and leaning against a conveniently placed wall, Tempe took several deep breaths. By the time she wasn't so focused on the pain in her throat and her spinning head, Brennan realized that Booth had stopped moving forward. In fact, he had moved back to where she had stopped, deposited their bags on the floor, and had his hands on her shoulders, keeping her from swaying. He was looking concerned once again.

Brennan found that she was thinking about how sad he always looked when he was worried, like a little boy who was afraid he'd broken something and wouldn't be able to fix it. Once again, she shook her head to clear her mind.

"I'm sorry." She said. She hated being sick. She hated anyone seeing her when she was sick.

"S'okay," Booth told her.

Without commenting about her inability to keep up, he picked up their bags once again and set a slower pace to their gate. Brennan sagged into an open chair, and Booth set the bags down by her feet.

"Can you watch the bags for me?" Seeley asked, sounding as though if she said yes, she'd be doing him a huge favor.

Tempe nodded, and folded her arms over her chest. She was feeling so cold again. She didn't watch as he walked away, but solemnly regarded their luggage. She really wanted to close her eyes, but she'd promised to watch their stuff. With a sigh, she began to rearrange the four bags, making sure that they all touched some part of her legs and feet. If she did close her eyes, hopefully she would feel if the bags were moved.

Temperance didn't close her eyes, although she was pretty well zoned out on the movement of the people around her. Her cough was coming more frequently, but it was better now that she was sitting down. At least, she didn't get so dizzy. She didn't notice how much time had passed since Booth had trotted off to…did she even know where he had been going? The bathroom, probably. Ah well, she couldn't bring herself to worry just yet.

It was only several minutes later when Booth sat down beside her. He had a plastic sack, obviously from one of the little shops on the concourse. She thought about being curious, but couldn't seem to manage it, even as Seeley began to rifle through the bag. He picked out a small bottle that rattled. He opened it, and shook two tablets into his hand.

"Here," he said.

Brennan looked at him without comprehension.

Seeing that she was going to need some help with things, Booth reached out and gently grabbed her right hand. After he turned it palm-side up, he dropped the two pills on to it.

Brennan looked at the pills and then looked at Booth.

"It's aspirin," he said gently. "It'll help bring down your fever." He paused. "It might help with the headache as well."

Tempe nodded. She brought the pills up to her mouth, planning to dry swallow them, when Booth stopped her again.

"Sorry," he said, "I've got some juice for you to wash that down with." He deftly opened the bottle of orange juice that he pulled from the bag and offered it to her.

Brennan took a swallow of the juice, enjoying the cool liquid on her throat. She listened as Booth explained what else he'd picked up for her.

"I thought some cough drops would be helpful. That's a pretty mean bark you've got there. I also grabbed some tissues, even though I don't think you're sniffling all that much. I thought about getting you some tea, but I thought that that might be a bad idea, what with the juice and all. You'd be getting up so often to use the bathroom that you wouldn't be able to rest."

Brennan digested his words, and looked at the bottle of juice in her hand. Suddenly, she was fumbling with the bottle cap, trying close the bottle up so that she could set it on the floor. A tear was already making its way down her cheek, and Temperance felt more threatening. Suddenly, she did have the sniffles, only it wasn't because of the flu bug. She pulled her knees into her chest and buried her face in her knees. She wouldn't sob, she wouldn't, but the tears were coming, and she didn't know how to stop them.

TBC…