Chapter 143

Ryan scanned through the file on his desk that Hannah brought him, and as much as he'd like to do this by himself there was no way he would be able to. And knowing Maranda she'd be giving the case to both him and Alex as some sort of "lesson."

He checked his emails and saw a recent one that Liam sent, opening it his mood falling to even more when he got to the end of the email. He needs to be a representative for the FBI at a week -long function an hour's drive away, and worst of all is that it starts tomorrow so he has to leave tonight after work, and he and Alex isn't in a good place right now and he's not one who likes to leave when things between them are not on good terms. Deciding to inform her about it tonight when he gets home he headed over to Maranda who obviously told him that he and Alex has to work on tis together, knowing it'll be torture for both of them.

Walking downstairs to get her in the office he saw her desk was empty and Shelby informed him that she's in the cafeteria. Alex sat alone at a table scrolling through her social media newsfeed on her phone, only looking up when Ryan sat down opposite her. Ryan sliding the case file across the desk to her, wordlessly she takes it and read through it.

"Okay." Alex nodded sliding it back across the table towards him. "Alex can we at least talk like civilized people about what happened earlier?" Ryan asked but his wife's face was saying something totally different. "Alex I need to leave tonight for about a week as a representative for the FBI at a conference and I don't want to go when we're on this level of you not talking to me." He said and Alex got up from her seat walking out of the cafeteria, Ryan following her closely, grabbing her arm opening the door to an empty interrogation room, closing it behind them. Internally grateful that these rooms are sound proof because things might just get loud.

"Alex your trust issues needs to come to an end right now." Ryan said firmly, Alex looking at him like a rebellious teenager not saying anything. "Why don't you trust me? Alex I don't know what else to do since you're always accusing me of things I've never done. Have you thought about how it's breaking me down sometimes!?"

"Are you done Ryan?" She asked sarcastically, and Ryan felt his insides explode.

Ryan blew out a long steady breath, "Alex are you serious? I'm leaving tonight and you know how I feel about going away when we're on bad terms."

"Can we just finish this case please? I'm more than ready to call an end to this day." She sighed opening the door, looking back over her shoulder to see if he'll follow her. "Alex I'm not done." Ryan raised his voice and she closed the door again turning around to face him.

"Okay Ryan, I'm listening."

"Just leave it I can't talk to you when you're like this." Ryan retorted opening the door and walking out, towards the parking lot waiting for her in the car. Driving in silence they drove towards the location where Hannah said she'll be waiting for them. When he stopped at a red light Alex took the opportunity to break the silence.

"What time are you leaving tonight?" She asked looking over at him but his eyes were fixed on the road in front of him.

"Probably as soon as I get home because I need to check into the hotel by 10PM." He explained and Alex didn't reply to that as they pulled up to the house, Hannah sitting outside in her car when they stopped.

"Alex, so nice seeing you again!" Hannah replied being her over friendly self again even though they saw each other about an hour ago. "I wish I could say the same." Alex mumbled but the look Ryan gave her stop in her tracks.

Ryan gathered the two of them and huddled them into the house so they can find out what's going on. When they entered two parents stood up who sat on the couch, the small house that occupied way too many children compared to the amounts of rooms there were. The mom telling most of the kids to go play outside while the grown- ups are talking. The bigger two greeting the adults in the room politely, helping the four little ones out.

"We're sorry about the state the house is in, we had to take off the day in order to see you." The mother explained. "Sorry I'm Carmen Brown and this is my husband Mike." They shook the hands of the FBI agents as the parents gave their seats to the two of them to sit, while they stood against the wall, with Hannah.

"Miss Wyland is our social worker. My husband and I have to work double shifts to keep the house and we're seldom here for our kids." Carmen started looking at the floor, Mike putting a hand over her shoulder. "What my wife is trying to say is we can't look after our kids. We barely have enough to feed all of them. Jane and Stanley have to look after the little ones they're only thirteen and are kids themselves. Please I know this is a lot to ask but you have to take them away from us." Carmen pleaded looking out the window where they were playing.

"Someone else will be able to look after them much better than what we are capable of. We do not want to abandon them, we'll explain everything but they deserve better than the life we can give them." Mike added and Ryan and Alex nodded. She knew it would have something to do with kids but this wasn't at all what she expected, how is she going to tell a thirteen year old they're being taken away from their family.

"We'll see them tomorrow, if that's fine with you. We can't just do this in one visit there's a lot of paperwork and counselling involved, for both parties." Hannah explained and the parents understood. She left before the Alex and Ryan who stayed for a while longer. "I'm really sorry if this is not the kind of living you're used to, I the movies FBI agents live in mansions." Carmen said looking around her home.

"I have no idea what kind of movies you're watching, but this is real life and trust me it's not a mansion we're living in." Alex said and the older woman smiled, as they made their way to the door to exit, when they heard crying come from outside. Alex walking over to a little girl about five years old who fell down and scraped her knee, crying frantically when she saw the blood. Bending down she looked at the little girl examining her knee. "Hey sweetie it's okay." Alex said sitting down next to her, Carmen trying to tell her daughter it's not that big of a deal and that Alex is in a hurry to get back to work but Alex dismissed that statement.

"You know what, I have magic plasters in my bag that'll make your knee better." Alex said opening her bag retrieving a hello kitty plaster, unwrapping it and positioning it on the open scrape, pressing down on the edges so it will hold. "And a kiss, makes everything better." Alex said kissing her head the little girl hugging her. "What's your name honey?"

"Stacey" the girl replied in a small voice.

"Nice to meet you Stacey. I'm Alex." Alex smiled hugging her tightly kissing her forehead and wiping her cheeks with the pads of her thumbs. "You're gonna be okay." Alex winked and the girl smiled. "Thank you Miss Alex. You're really pretty." She said shyly making Alex smile as she got up from where she sat down attending to Stacey's knee.

"Thank you." Carmen thanked Alex as they watched what she did with their daughter. "And I'm sorry for speaking out of turn but congratulations, you're going to be a great mother." Carmen said seeing the surprise on Alex's face. "I've been through my share of pregnancy, and I can tell you're expecting a little one." Carmen smiled making Alex blush.

Back at home after work Alex went to get Phoebe while Ryan packed his things. Spending as much time with his daughter as he could before it was time for his hour long drive. Not sure what level he and Alex was on but he didn't want to push it. Saying bye to both of them as he got into the car and left, promising he'll let her know when he gets there while she and Phoebe went about their usual bedtime routine, tucking her daughter in next to her, where she'll be spending the rest of the week in bed with her mother until her father returns. Both of them drifting to sleep when Ryan let them know he arrived safely.

Alex woke up in the middle of the night, in excruciating pain as her abdomen started cramping. Sitting up slowly it seemed like the more she moved the more the pain seemed to worsen, biting the inside of her mouth so she won't scream out loud and wake her daughter in the process. Getting up slowly she stood up, but even standing up right seemed like it was one too many for her to handle, and bending over holding a hand across her stomach sitting back down on the edge of the bed. Taking her phone from the nightstand she checked the time, just past midnight, and she dialed the first number that came to mind. Ryan's. If she hasn't been eight weeks pregnant she wouldn't have been worried about it. Breathing heavily and with a shaky hand she dials her husband's number.

"Alex?" Came his reply groggily his voice thick with sleep.

"Ryan, I think I'm..aaauuuugggggghhhhh." She screamed keeping a hand over her mouth to minimize the sound in the still of the night.

"Alex? What's going on?" he asked again panic now evident in his voice.

"I think I'm having a miscarriage." She breathed heavily while tears started falling from her eyes, out of fear and from the pain she's experiencing. "I…I'm scared and I don't know what to do. I just ne….eed so much right now." She sobbed laying down in the fetal position her legs pulled as closely to her chest as she could manage.

"Alright, I'm leaving now. I'll call Caleb and ask him if he'll take you to the ER. I'll meet you guys there." He thought out loud busy getting dressed in some sweats, picking up is keys making his way down in the elevator towards the hotel exit. "Alex, I need you to listen to me. I'm gonna put down the phone and call Caleb, and then I'm going to call you back. Stay on the line until he shows up at the house okay?"

Alex nodded her head, groaning in pain even though he couldn't see it through the phone. "Ryan I…I'm scared." She sobbed her head in the pillow.

"I know you are. I am too sweetheart but you're gonna be okay. You have to be, both of you."

Ryan called Caleb apologizing for bothering him at this hour and explained the situation to him. Not thinking twice Caleb agreed to help his best friend out. Shelby getting dressed and getting CJ, wrapping him up warmly in some blankets, going over to Alex's house with Caleb so Alex wouldn't have to worry about Phoebe.

Driving like a maniac they made their way to Alex's house, not having a key Caleb took the last resort and picked the lock with a hairpin. Shelby rushing for the stairs into Alex's bedroom after she check the nursery for Phoebe who was still sound asleep. She found Alex in the bathroom, her head buried in the toilet bowl. "Hey come on, Caleb will take you to the hospital." Shelby said rubbing a hand up and down her back. "Phoebe." Alex breathed.

"I'm staying here, you don't have to worry about her. We just need to get you checked out." Shelby said handing her some water and a toilet paper. Caleb knocking on the door of the bathroom, "Hey you're ready to go?" he asked and Alex got up, her hand still over her abdomen, Caleb putting one of her arms over her shoulder encouraging her to lean on him, as they made their way downstairs, slowly as the pain seemed to intensify with each step.

Shelby texting Ryan that Caleb and Alex just left and that she's staying over at the house so he won't have to worry about Phoebe, and that he can go straight to the ER, tucking CJ in on the couch and making herself comfortable in front of the TV waiting for some kind of miracle that her friend and the baby will be okay.

After what felt like ages, even though he drove like a maniac Ryan pulled up in front of the ER, parking horribly and making his way through the automatic sliding doors running up to the counter to ask the nurse for his wife's whereabouts. Making his way to the room the nurse just told him he walked past the waiting room catching a glimpse of Caleb sitting in one of the chairs. He made his way over but Caleb showed him to the room, indicating that it's fine Alex needs to see him. He just waited for Ryan to show up so he can go check on the people at home.

Ryan opening the door to the room he saw Alex, curled up on her left side, clutching her abdomen, tears rolling from her eyes while the nurses were writing things on her chart. "Sweetheart what happened?" He asked walking to her bedside. "Is she gonna be okay? Is the baby gonna be okay?" He asked the nurses just as the doctor came into the room with the test results. Sitting down on the chair next to her rubbing his hands up and down her arms, her eyes remains closed as tears escaped through them. "I am ss….oo scared." She whispered and Ryan leaned forward to kiss her forehead not trusting his own voice to say anything because he was just as scared as she was.

"Mrs Booth, I got your test results and it seems like you have appendicitis. Uuhhmm surgery during your first trimester of pregnancy is risky and there is a big risk of you losing the baby." The doctor explained carefully and Alex shook her head. "No, please I don't want to lose my baby. Ryan tell them it's not an option." Alex pleaded and the doctor looked at Ryan who in his turn looked up at the white roof waiting for strength to come from above his emotions being all over the place as his own tears is on the verge of rolling from his eyes.

"Sweetheart. Let's just focus on getting you better. You…you're strong, a..and if our baby is anything like his mother. I'm su..re he'll p…ull through." Ryan sobbed laying his head down on the bed next to her, running a hand through her hair as the medical staff exits and gives them a moment alone. "And I'm scared as hell too, but our baby will be fine. We have to keep the faith."

The doctor and the nurses returned getting her ready for surgery, pushing the bed out towards the hallway Ryan kissing her one last time before they left the room, asking the doctor for a moment alone. "Doc, please do anything you can to save Alex and the baby." Ryan pleaded but the doctor shook his head. "With all due respect Mr. Booth your wife's health is our first priority right now." The doctor answered before he made his way into the theatre.

Hey guys! Someone asked for a miscarriage scene in one of the reviews I'm not sure who exactly it was, here you go. Also I feel we haven't had some drama in a while, and I hope I did some justice here. Anna, said Ryan should leave them alone for some time so Alex can see he is truthful ad that she can trust him. That was the initial idea I had when I wrote this chapter, how it ended up taking a turn I really don't know but this ending was unplanned as I read through it again, but I hope y'all enjoy it either way. Thank you for all the love and support. Keep your thoughts and reviews coming.

Lovies-S