(The Lance to the Heart)

Thank you for reviewing my story. I appreciate it.

I don't own Bones, not even a little bit.

Oooooooooooooooooo

She'd shot at the lock to break it open and the bullet had hit the steel door instead, reflected off the hard surface and raced back at her partner. Hit, Booth crumpled to the floor where he lay with his hand pressed against his chest.

Panicked, Brennan raced to his side and screamed his name. "Booth!" His face pale, a pool of blood forming underneath him, Brennan knelt beside him, pulled his phone from his pocket, dialed 911 and told the operator where to find them. Once that was done, she pressed her hands against her partner's chest and cried. "You have to stay, Booth. You have to stay. You can't leave me."

His face pasty, Booth trembled under her touch. "Bones . . . Bo . . ." His eyes closed and he passed from this life to the next.

Horrified, Brennan pulled him into her arms and begged him. "Please . . . no . . . please stay . . . don't leave me." He was dead and she was alone. "BOOTH!"

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

Jerked awake, Booth rolled over and moved towards Brennan. The horrible way she had cried out his name, told him that she was having another nightmare. Gently, he pulled her into his embrace and tried to soothe her. "Bones . . . Bones wake up . . . Bones."

Suddenly awake in her husband's arms, Brennan moved her hands so they were on the sides of his face. Tears streaming down her cheeks, she cried. "I . . . I . . . you left me . . . you . . . you died and . . ."

"Bones, I'm right here." The death of Sweets had been hard on both of them and they had both suffered terrible nightmares for the last few days. Sometimes they dreamt about their young friend's death and sometimes it was the death of their spouse. After each dream, they would wake to find their partner beside them, concerned and lovingly speaking to them.

"I dreamt that you'd died." Brennan's tears slowly faded and then stopped. "It seemed so real."

Aware that nightmares could confuse the dreamer, Booth kissed her. "They always do, but they aren't. I'm fine. It was just a bad dream."

Grateful that Booth was there in the flesh and not taken from her, Brennan attempted to smile. "It would seem that we can't escape from our pasts . . . My dream . . . remember that time when I tried to shoot the lock on the door and the bullet ricocheted and grazed your leg?"

"You mean when you shot me." Booth laughed. He was always reminding her about the time she shot him.

Her hands fell away from his face and she moved to sit up. "I didn't shoot you. That was a ricochet. I can't be held liable for that."

Amused, Booth sat up and leaned against the headboard. "I told you no to shoot the lock, but you wouldn't listen and you did it anyway. The bullet that hit me was from your gun and your finger pressed the trigger, so yeah, you shot me." He knew she was going to protest and that was what he was counting on. If she was busy defending herself then she wasn't upset about Sweets or her dreams.

Outraged that Booth couldn't admit that he was a victim of circumstance, Brennan crossed her arms against her breasts. "I shot the lock not you. You were in the way when the bullet reflected towards you. You can't keep saying that I shot you when I clearly didn't."

Her indignation so cute to him, Booth placed his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to his side. "You can't science you way out of that one, Annie Oakley . . . come on . . . it's late and we need to sleep." He kissed the side of her head. "Do you think you can go back to sleep now or do you want to stay up for a while?"

Her outrage gone, Brennan realized that Booth had been teasing her to cheer her up. Grateful that he was there with her, she smiled. "I think I can sleep now . . . I hope I can."

Somberly, Booth removed his arm from around his wife, slid down the mattress and lay on his back. "We've had a hell of a year . . . it's going to get better Bones . . . it has to."

Brennan moved so that she was lying next to her husband. "That is why our dreams are so active. There has been too many tragedies in the last year . . . what happened to you . . . it's been so hard . . ."

"Hey, it's okay." Booth's searched for her hand and held it in his hand. His thoughts taking a sour turn, he thought about his imprisonment and how it reminded him too much of his time as a prisoner of war in Iraq. He kept trying to put it behind him, but except for his Bones, he found it hard to trust anyone. That not only affected him it affected her as well. His faith in the system had been destroyed and he didn't really have anything else to replace it with. "We're going to get through this . . . we will. It's going to take time." He wished he really believed that, but it was important to make her believe it. "We've been through a lot, but we're still together. We've got each other and no matter how much crap comes our way, we're going to make it."

His hand like a life line, Brennan squeezed it. "Yes, we will." She knew that her husband was struggling and it worried her more than she let on. His nightmares, his short temper, his distrust of everyone made her feel like she was losing a part of him and she was desperate to stop him from disappearing from her completely. She had mentioned to Sweets it was as if Booth had died and Sweets had agreed with her. That thought terrified her more than she liked to admit. She wanted the old Booth back and she feared that would never happen. His faith had been destroyed, he'd almost been killed by people he should have been able to trust. She would help him find his way. She loved him too much to let him slip away from her.

The warmth of her hand in his hand helped him to relax. She has been his anchor for a long time. Their separation after the Gravedigger's trial had been hard on both of them, but it had left him floundering. He had been uncertain about his future and he hadn't known if he would ever work with Brennan again let alone continue their friendship. His anchor had been taken away from him and he'd tried to replace it with Hannah. That disaster proved to him that there was only one person in the world that he could trust and he knew he needed to make sure he never lost her again. "I'm trying Bones . . . Just give me time, okay?"

"I will, Booth." Brennan clutched his hand. "I will give you all the time you need. As long as we are together, we have all the time we need."

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

Let me know what you think of my story. Thank you