Booth turned slowly unsure if he had heard the sound of her voice or maybe it was just the echo of the rain as it hissed outside. As he approached her, she moaned softly in pain and her eyes stared at him intently.

"Temp?"

She nodded as he leaned in forward to her, but, suddenly he pulled back.

Temperance does not know when her feelings for him had changed. It frightened her at times. What was it that made her feel the way she did? If only he knew what he's done to her inside. She's kept her feelings bottled up and would had never admitted what she felt for him. She had never told of her love. She pined in thought. Bones has things she can't tell anyone, words she can't say. There were a lot of things no one knew about. They've worked together on several investigations, sometimes well into the night. And one day it happened. She felt warm sensations throughout her body whenever he stood close to her.

Booth thought about it once. He had wanted to show up at her place with just a single rose in hand. But, he had decided against it. It would have seemed like he had wanted to start some sort of romance. And he definitely thought that Temperance Brennan was not the type of person who would have gone for that sort of thing. He stepped back and tucked away those thoughts.

He blinked back his tears and he whispered. "Thought I'd lost my partner-in-crime."

She smiled slightly and shook her head. Booth immediately pressed the nurse's button. He found himself outside of her room as a couple of nurses and a physician examined Bones.

"What happened?" Angela and Zack asked excitedly at precisely the same time as they sneaked up behind him.

"She's up. She called out my name. She's up," he repeated.

It was twenty minutes before the doctor stepped out and spoke to them. Anyone in her condition would not have made it through the night and had been surprised she had come out of it. Angela and Zack walked in and sat at her bedside.

"We've been worried about you. Booth hadn't left your side since you were brought in." Angela smoothed Temp's hair away from her face.

"The rest of the guys sends their love. They'll come by tomorrow. Oh, I need to call them, promised them I'd call if there were any changes in your condition." Zack patted her lightly on her leg. "Angela? I think Booth wants to come in."

She cocked her head to the side. "Uh-huh." She turned back to Temperance. " Well, he'll just have to wait. It's our turn now in here."

"Come on, Angela. I think he really wants to come in. Maybe we should leave."

She let out a loud sigh. "Okay, okay. You need your rest, anyway. We'll see you tomorrow. It looks like Booth wants to stay here tonight, I'm guessing, the way he's glaring at the both of us to leave."

Bones looked at her two friends and tried to make sense to what had just been said. Angela squeezed Booths' arm as they passed him and left the room.

"Booth loves Temperance," Zack told Angela as they walked out of the hospital.

"And Temperance loves Booth. So, what else is new, Zack? It's not like we didn't know."

"But, do they know?" He asked.

Angela shrugged as she jumped into the passenger side of the car.

"Hey." Booth sat on the chair along side of Temperance.

"Hey yourself," was her only answer.

He ran his fingers back and forth on the bed rail, not once had he looked up at her. "Why'd you do it? Stepped in front of me. I should have been the one, not you, to have gotten shot."

She cleared her throat softly and spoke slowly in a whisper. "Because you have a son. He loves you. I didn't want him to be fatherless. You're his family. He needs you. And besides, I haven no family. No one needs me."

Booth looked up and his eyes met up with hers. Their eyes locked and even after several seconds no one glanced away.

TBC - Chapter 4