Booth looked around the room as if Alisen would suddenly pop out of nowhere. After a few seconds of awkward moments and some unusually nervous conversations, Seely checked on the thermostat. He unfolded a blanket which laid at the foot of her bed, laid it gently atop the sheet which covered her and pulled it up to her chest.

"It's cold in here. You'd better keep warm," he smiled a crooked smiled.

"Thanks. Why aren't you at work?" Her eyes followed him around the room.

"Had a couple of entitled days off." Booth picked up a glass of orange juice from her food tray. "Here, drink slowly." Temperance obediently sipped through the straw.

"Thank you, I can see the father in you. You do this when your son's not feeling well?"

He shrugged. "I suppose."

"I'm not a child, Booth. I'll be fine." Temperance assured him.

"Wasn't sure of that when you were brought in. You lost a lot of blood. You were lifeless. Thought you weren't going to make it." Booth frowned, pulled up a chair, leaned back and rubbed his neck as if to rid the pain due to tension.

"Am I such a pain in the neck?"

He shook his head. "I was worried about you. I-I thought...you can't imagine what went through my mind. I held on to you until paramedics came...uh, they pried me away from you."

Flashback

We're losing her!" Booth heard a paramedic yelled out as he hung onto what seemed like her lifeless body. The FBI special agent screamed out. "Noooooooooo!" An arm comforted him. "Sir? We'll have to move quickly. She's barely breathing and she's lost a lot of blood."

Seely watched as Temperance was carried onto the gurney and heard the sound of the siren as it blasted loudly away.

End of flashback

"I can still hear the siren." He stared at her as if in a dazed as he relived the bloody scenario.

Temperance crinkled her forehead. "I remember he had a gun pointed at you. I don't remember anything else, except waking up here."

"No memory of anything in between?"

"Nothing." She remembered though, everything that had happened around her. Angela, Zack and Booth were at her bedside. She heard bits and pieces of conversations among the three of them. But, most of all she remembered him. The sadness and sound of his voice as he spoke to her as she laid in a state of unawareness.

"Temperance Brennan." Seely whispered her name softly. She waited, but he said nothing more.

"What?" Seely? What?" She grew impatient. Temp had so wanted to have heard those words she'd waited for, those words she'd longed to hear.

"I know I would have missed you so bad, if something happened to you, if you had...things just happen and it takes control over you and you just don't know what to do."

"Booth."

"Wait, just let me talk. Whether you like it or not, you'll have to listen. You can't walk away, being that you're laid up in bed, which is to my advantage. I've tried so many times and you never seem to want to listen to what I have to say. So, let me talk, okay? While I have the courage to do so."

The part of her mind that threatened to argue with him was powerless. She knew his love for her was so strong that she could not have ignored it. This was something new between them. There was a sense of perfect understanding even though this was in so many ways new between them.

Booth cursed loud enough for Bones to have heard him. He would have wanted that bubbly nurse, Alisen to have walked in instead of that forensic anthropologist/professor and ex-lover of hers, Dr. Michael Stires.

"What are you doing here?" Temp asked as flashbacks of the court scene entered her mind, a reminder of her cold demeanor which had been ripped apart.

Dr. Stires hugged her as Booth sat back, his eyes showed signs of rage and jealousy.

"I was here for a seminar and planned to head back home when I bumped into Goodman. Heard you took a bullet for this guy." He pointed to Booth, but, not once had he acknowledged him.

"Hello, to you too, jackass." Booth cursed him silently. What bothered and hurt him was that Temperance seemed to not at all minded his visit.

"Hey, do you mind if we could have a little privacy? I'm sure you're done thanking her for saving your life."

Seely stood up and waited for Temperance to have said something, anything, but she kept silent.

"That's very decent of you, Booth." Stires called out as the angry FBI agent walked away, but stopped and lashed out.

"Yeah! Once in awhile I'm a very decent guy!"

Booth pushed the elevator button repeatedly as if the doors would had opened on command. He was oblivious to the fact that he had bumped into Angela as he entered the elevator.

"Whoa, sweetheart! What's the rush? Something happened?" Angela grabbed him by the arm, but he jerked back.

"Yeah! Michael Stires is what happened!" He yelled as he held the elevator door open.

"He's here? Whatever for?" Her eyes widened.

"How the hell should I know? Probably here to rekindle their relationship!" Booth released his hand and the door closed as Angela's mouth hung wide opened unable to have had the last say.

Seely sat in his SUV. He felt like his heart had exploded out of his chest. He started the engine, reversed out of the stall, changed his gear into drive and screeched out of the hospital parking lot.

TBC - Chapter 7