AN: This one is a bit short but I find it kind of fit with the mood of the episode. I would like to post a disclaimer for this chapter -I have no medical knowledge whatsoever. What little medical information is in this chapter was gleaned from Google and used loosely. Hope y'all enjoy! I am doing my best to update once a month, at the least, but I cannot make many promises when I have other stories, jobs, and responsibilities to maintain. Love all the wonderful reviews! Can't wait to read some more!
TURNED UPSIDE DOWN
BONES
Two Months Later
Season 6, Episode 11: The Bullet in the Brain
Fiddling with her coffee cup, she swallowed with a bit of difficulty, clearing her throat in an attempt to rid herself of the tight knot there.
"I'm sorry, Booth."
"Bones –"
She held up her hand to stop him, "No, Booth, let me speak."
Letting out a sigh when he closed his mouth and took a sip of his coffee, she continued, "I was wrong to take out my anger with you by revealing secrets you trusted me with. It's not my place to tell Hannah things about you when you haven't told her yourself. Especially when done out of anger."
He stared at her as she blinked back tears, his knuckles white as he held tight to the ceramic cup between his hands, "You're angry with me because I told Hannah."
She nodded, glad he wasn't pretending not to know what their conversation was about, "Yes. I understand you're a couple, and you felt…obligated to tell her about that night, but I don't understand why. I'm not a threat to your relationship –you made that very clear…and I hope you know I would never do anything to cause trouble between you two…"
He reached out to cover her hand with his, giving it a gentle squeeze, "I know that, Bones."
She stared at the dark surface of her coffee, her hand relaxed under the warm weight of his, "Why would you tell her, Booth? Why didn't you warn me first? I felt like an idiot when Angela explained to me why Hannah kept canceling our plans…and it definitely didn't get better when I confronted her about it."
Closing his fingers around her small hand, he rubbed his thumb over her knuckles, his eyes staring into hers as he gathered his thoughts, finally telling her three simple words that covered so many complicated feelings, "I felt guilty."
"Why," she stared at him, unable to understand what he could possibly be feeling guilty about, "I'm the one who confessed…I don't understand why you would feel guilty about keeping my confession a secret from Hannah."
He couldn't share what Sweets had said, couldn't tell her there may be some truth to it, "I don't know, Bones. I'm…I'm having a hard time figuring out how to…deal with all of this."
Dropping her eyes to their joined hands, she swallowed back the urge to cry, her voice low and soft as she looked up at him, "Hannah said…she said she didn't want to mess up my friendship with you…is that possible?"
"No, Bones," taking her hand in both of his, he brought it up to press a kiss against her knuckles, "Nothing…nothing, and no one, can ever mess up what you and I have. I'll never let that happen. We've gone through too much, have been there for each other every time we needed to…we're the center. Right? That doesn't change no matter who or what comes into our lives."
"Right," giving him a small smile, she placed her free hand over his, "We're the center."
"Always."
Brennan jerked at the sound of her name, turning towards the open door of her office as Cam leaned in, "Yes, Dr. Saroyan?"
"There was a shooting outside the courthouse," Cam watched the emotions flit across the anthropologist's face as she continued, "Heather Taffet's dead. I need you there. Tell the FBI forensics team they can have the body –we'll take the skull fragments."
Standing up, she tried to get her heart to calm down without much success, "Booth? Is he alright?"
"Hacker didn't say."
She followed the line of sight he pointed out, blue eyes quickly assessing the far away buildings, her heart giving a hard thump as she looked over to where Taffet's body laid under a white sheet, the FBI forensics team carefully and efficiently collecting the skull fragments and brain matter splattered across the concrete.
Booth let out a low whistle, "Not anyone can pull off a shot from that distance."
She tried to swallow past the lump in her throat with some difficulty, voice hoarse when Booth looked over at her with a questioning look, "You were too close, Booth."
"Hey," reaching out to gently grasp her shoulders, he gave her tilted smile, "I'm okay."
"It could have –"
"No," Booth reached up, somewhat surprised at the tear he brushed off her soft cheek, "That bullet was meant for one person –Heather Taffet. Whoever did this…knew what they were doing."
"And now you have to find him."
"Hey," he tilted her chin up to look into her blue eyes, able to see a trace of fear in them, "With you by my side, there's no doubt in my mind I'll catch whoever it is and live to tell about it. Hell, you got me off a ship seconds before it blew sky high."
"You have too much faith in me."
"And you don't have enough…but that's okay, 'cause I've got it covered. And then some."
Two Days Later
Looking away from her computer at the sound of her cell phone's ring, she swiped to accept the call, "Brennan."
"Hello, this is Sandy Rosette from DC Memorial. I'm calling regarding Agent Booth."
Sitting up straight, she tried to keep her hands from shaking at the rush of fear washing over her, "Is he alright?"
"He came in about half an hour ago. He gave your name as his emergency contact."
"Yes," grabbing her jacket and messenger bag as she got out of her seat, she walked out of her office with quick strides, repeating her initial question, "Is he alright?"
"He has a minor concussion due to the explosion, as well as a large contusion on his right shoulder and a sprained ankle. Dr. Haskin is not comfortable releasing him on his own recognizance, due to the concussion, and requested you be called."
"I'll be there in fifteen minutes."
The drive to DC Memorial was a blur to Brennan, her heart finally settling to a regular rhythm once she set her eyes on a surly looking Booth.
She quickly assessed his injuries, grimacing at the scrapes on his handsome face, the sling his right arm was in and the crutch currently leaning against the bed.
"Bones," letting out a sigh of exhaustion, he pushed the call button to the nurse's station, "Maybe now they'll let me go."
Setting the duffel bag of emergency clothes he kept in the back of her car, she picked up his medical chart, flipping through the paperwork as the nurse walked in, "I'd like to see his X-rays."
Grimacing at the sharp pain on his right shoulder, he gave the nurse a long suffering look as she started to deny her request, "You might as well let her see them. She won't leave it alone unless you do."
"I'll have Dr. Haskin come in to explain everything to you," the small brunette nurse offered, letting out a soft huff when Brennan responded, "I don't need Dr. Haskin to explain anything to me. I'll conclude my own findings once I see his X-rays."
Wrinkling her nose, she turned to leave the room, returning a couple minutes later with the X-rays and discharge papers, "Dr. Haskin's has discharged Mr. Booth. I just have some paperwork for him to sign."
Taking the paperwork from the nurse, Brennan set them on the side table before pulling out the X-rays from the brown sleeve they were in, holding them up to the bright light of the room. Scanning the X-ray of his skull, she was satisfied to see there was no damage. Setting it aside, she studied the one of his ankle, deducing he had indeed sprained it.
Lifting the X-ray of his right shoulder, she quickly saw what had happened to his shoulder, "Booth, does your shoulder still pain you?"
"Yeah," Booth grimaced as he shifted to stand up, the sharp shooting pain moving across his back and up his neck.
"You'll experience soreness for several days," the nurse explained, watching wide-eyed as Brennan guided Booth to sit sideways on the armless chair, "Dr. Haskin's decided to immobilize his shoulder to minimize the pain of the contusion."
"It's not a contusion," Brennan told her in that no-nonsense tone of hers as she removed his sling, "There's a partial misalignment to the acromioclavicular and glenohumeral joints."
The nurse watched in shock as Brennan moved Booth's arm up, then out in a smooth and precise motion, Booth letting out a sigh of relief as the sharp pain dissipated to a dull throbbing.
A long hour later, Booth was strapped into the Prius' passenger seat, his crutch laid out on the back seat along with his duffel bag stuffed with his ruined Armani suit. Brennan maneuvered them out of the parking lot and into the flow of traffic with ease
"Want me to take you home?" She looked over at Booth, able to see the discomfort he was feeling as he shifted in his seat, "I'm sure Hannah's worried about you."
"Hannah's out of town," Booth tugged on the strap to the sling so it would stop rubbing against his neck, "I'm actually kind of hungry. How about we go to the diner and get something to eat?"
"Booth," Brennan tapped her thumbs against the steering wheel, slowing down smoothly as the traffic light turned red, "You can't be by yourself tonight. You have a concussion –"
"Mild."
"It doesn't matter. You need to have someone keep an eye on you throughout the night."
He turned his head to look at her, "You can stay –we can watch movies all night. How about it?"
Shaking her head, she pulled into a parking spot within walking distance of the diner, "I'm not sure Hannah would appreciate finding me at your apartment when she gets back."
"Hannah's not coming home until next week."
"What? You got blown up and she's still staying out of town?"
Booth shifted in his seat, pushing his door open and stepping out, balancing on his good foot as she came around the car to take out his crutch from the backseat, "I didn't tell her I got blown up."
"Why didn't you?"
"I didn't want to worry her," he took the crutch from her, moving towards the sidewalk just as his phone vibrated in his pocket, "She's working on some story regarding Congress or Senate and she doesn't need the distraction."
"Getting blown up is not a distraction," Brennan moved around him to open the diner's door for him, "What happened out there? Did you find Broadsky?"
Giving her a lopsided smile as he moved towards their table, he pulled out the chair next to the window and against the wall, "Let me get something to eat first, then I'll tell you everything, okay?"
He felt his phone vibrate again. Leaning back, he slipped the thing out of his pocket, looking across the table at Bones, "It's Caroline. Probably wants the details too."
"Then have her join us."
Extending the invitation to Caroline, he set his phone on the table as the waitress came up to their table. Once their orders were taken, he turned to look at Bones, giving her his patented Booth-y smile, "So are you staying with me? We can continue our X-Files marathon –it's been…what? A year since we last saw an episode?"
She stared at him, wondering what it was about his boyishly charming smile that always had her giving in, "Alright. I'll stay with you tonight…but only because you need someone to look out for you."
"Something only you can do."
It was three in the morning and his eyes were gritty with exhaustion. He shifted as little as possible so he wouldn't disturb Bones, who had fallen asleep against his left shoulder halfway through the fifth episode. Lowering the volume, he let himself relax into the corner of his brown leather couch, hooking his left foot on the leg of his coffee table to drag it closer and set his right leg over it, feeling relief at the elevation of his bandaged ankle.
Shifting again, he was able to move his left arm behind Bones to stretch over the back of the couch, her head sliding down to his chest. Gently brushing back her hair with his fingers, he studied her sleeping face, able to see the crescent shaped shadows her long lashes cast despite the dim lighting provided by the flickering screen of his television. Her lips were slightly opened, her breathing deep and even, hands under her cheek, legs curled to her side, socked feet tucked in between the couch cushions.
He flashed back to earlier that evening. He had watched her outside the diner as she stood by the curb with Max, that conch shell up to her ear. The look of childlike wonder on her beautiful face had his heart swelling uncomfortably with emotions he'd sworn not too long ago were no longer there. He hadn't been able to take his eyes off her and had failed miserably at distancing himself once she'd returned to their table. Without realizing it, he'd reached out to her the way he'd done before –teasing words, light touches, and those deep silent conversations they used to have by simply staring into each other's eyes.
He slowly ran his fingers through her silky hair, his heart beating slow and heavy, keeping time with her breathing.
I told you –that was all in the past. Okay? Whatever I felt, I don't feel it anymore…except for you.
Perhaps this is difficult because you still have feelings for Dr. Brennan.
Letting out a sigh, he let his head fall back, wondering what kind of penance he would have to pay for lying.
Not only to Hannah and Bones, but to himself as well.
