Reviews welcome... encouraged... begged for. ;) Have a Hoppy Easter.
Her sleep was dreamless for a change. There was no darkness, no voices. There were no long hallways or cold floors, no screaming or gunshots. It was quiet and painless, and peaceful as she floated in her mind. Though perhaps the dream she was having was the dream of a dreamless sleep, and she stayed there until she realized that she didn't remember falling asleep, and she didn't remember where she was when it happened, and suddenly it wasn't painless as her head throbbed in her ears in time with her heartbeat, and her heartbeat was sharp and invading, almost like a constant beeping sound. So it wasn't peaceful after all, this dream, and she wasn't floating because her arm wouldn't move, and she felt weighed down, heavy, tired. She was pulled forward and back by the sound of her heartbeat and her throbbing headache, and her muscles pulling her down. She still couldn't remember where she was, or why she was there.
Her consciousness tugged at her, but her eyelids felt far too heavy to open. She took a deep breath through her nose, scrunching it at the smell of linens and antiseptic. Hospital? She sucked in a deep breath through her mouth and opened her eyes wide in shock. How did she get into a hospital? Why was she in a hospital? She tried to sit up, but her right arm was restrained to the bed by a Velcro strap. Her other arm was tethered to an IV with fluids, and the sound of her heartbeat was coming from the monitor behind her, though now it was considerably faster.
Antonia reached for the Velcro strap, her eyes falling on the crumpled form of a man sleeping extremely uncomfortably on a chair across the room, his head tucked into his shoulder, his right leg flopped unceremoniously over the side of the chair. She glared at the form, her fingers tucking beneath the Velcro as she watched his face with curiosity, knowing full well that he was the reason for the predicament she was in. She very slowly started to peel the Velcro from her wrist, watching through narrowed eyes. He remained sleeping until the last half inch of Velcro, when his right eye snapped open and focused on her eyes.
"Caught you." Booth said, watching as a lazy smile rose onto his daughter's face.
"This is not fair." She said, pulling the rest of the Velcro from her wrist, she tried to throw it at him, but it fluttered to the ground on the side of her bed.
Booth laughed as he yawned, pulling his leg down onto the floor, he stretched as he stood up. "You're a flight risk." He said, standing up to walk to her bedside, she tried to lower the rail on the side of the bed. "Where are you going?" He whispered, watching as she struggled with it, he walked over and lowered it for her as she pulled her legs over the side, sitting up to face him. "You need to sleep more."
"I am not a flight risk." She pouted. Her eyes flicked to the window of the hospital room, catching the reds and purples of the sunrise. "What happened?" She whispered, lifting her hand to her pounding head, she felt a bandage across her forehead.
"Hey, hey." He said, pulling her hand down, he fixed the bandage gently, and looked into her eyes. "You took a header into a gurney in the ambulance." He said, resting his forehead on hers, he looked her right in the eye as she rested her arms on his shoulders. "Four stitches into that hard head of yours, you're lucky it wasn't worse."
"I'm fine." She mumbled, a grumpy look on her face.
"Right, Bones… sure." He said with a wink, and his daughter's eyes smiled at him, before she wrapped her arms around him, and rested her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her securely and held her against him.
"How did you know?" She whispered.
"We were already behind the ambulance." He said softly. "I wasn't going to let you come to the hospital with Aiden alone, so I had Ace bring me here, and he brought the suspects in and brought Parker home." He said softly as he gently rocked her. "I knew you weren't doing well." He said softly.
She buried her face in his chest and grumbled a little, she could still smell the smoky smell from the cabin on him, and it was making her feel a little dizzy. "I love you, Daddy." She whispered.
"I love you, baby." He whispered, holding her against him.
He gently rocked her in his arms for a while, holding her close with gentle kisses in her hair, until she mumbled something into his chest. "What was that?" he asked.
"Is Aiden okay?" She whispered.
"He's okay." Booth replied. "You saved his life, kiddo." He whispered. She pushed herself farther into his chest, and he realized that she was trembling. "Hey." He whispered. "What's all this about?" He whispered, feeling her gentle sobs into his shirt. "Shh…" He rubbed her back gently, continuing to rock her. "You're both okay now, it's okay."
She sniffled and pulled away from him slightly, looking up at him with red rimmed eyes and tears streaming down her cheeks. "He told me not to go." She said softly, watching her father's solemn expression as he listened to her. "He said not to go, and I didn't listen."
"It's okay." He said, kissing her forehead, he watched the guilt as it filtered through her eyes. "You're both alright, and you even solved the case." He said, pushing a strand of hair from her eyes. "I'd say it was a pretty successful outing. You couldn't have predicted the tree falling, and you had your emergency supplies with you, you were well prepared."
"I should have listened." She sniffed, resting her head on his shoulder, he kissed her head and rocked her a little longer. "Daddy?" She whispered.
"Yeah, baby?"
"How did you know that… I mean, when did you…" she sighed, closing her eyes. "I think that I like Aiden, and I don't know what to do." She whispered to her eyelids, opening her eyes to find her father looking into her eyes, an expression of love within them.
"You can start by not being so stubborn." He said, giving her a hopeful glance, that made her smile.
"Yeah, that's not going to happen." She shook her head, rubbing her eye with her hand.
"I didn't think so." He said, winking at her. "Here…" He said, taking a step back, he patted the pillow with his hand. "Lay down."
"Daddy." She said, letting out a whine that sent his eyes rolling.
"What did I just say about your stubbornness?"
She sighed and pushed herself back, pulling her legs onto the bed, she lay back on the pillow as Booth carefully covered her with her blanket. He pulled the chair near her bed closer, and she rolled onto her side to look at his face. He very gently touched her cheek and watched her eyes sleepily watch him. "You believe in magic, don't you?" He whispered, watching her eyes sparkle for a moment before she closed her eyes.
"I shall live forever and ever and ever. I shall find out thousands and thousands of things. I shall find out about people and creatures and everything that grows, and I shall never stop making magic." She whispered, opening her eyes to her father's gentle smile. She could see from the look in his eyes that he recognized the quote from her favorite book.
"I am sure there is magic in everything, only we have not sense enough to get hold of it, and make it do things for us." He quoted back, watching as a brilliant smile lit her face.
"You remember." She laughed.
"I've read that book to you seven million times, Antonia. Of course I remember." He watched her eyes dance, though her eyelids were getting heavy. "Baby, falling for someone isn't something you plan for. You can't put it on your to-do list, or your calendar. You're not going to know where it comes from, and sometimes it sneaks up on you when you least expect it." He said gently.
"You mean like in the kitchen on Christmas morning, when your family has abandoned you because your sister is in the hospital?" She asked with a laugh that sounded just like her mother's.
Booth laughed. "He really should have known better." He sighed as he watched Antonia's expression become a little more serious, a tear escaping her eye. "I look at it this way. If he treats you well, and if you enjoy spending time with him, Toni. If you trust him, and you treat one another with mutual respect, then it's worth a try."
"He gives me butterflies in my stomach." She said sleepily, watching as Booth shook his head and chuckled.
"Isn't this something you should be telling your mother?" He asked, suddenly feeling a little bashful at the conversation.
"No, Daddy." She said, reaching out for his hand, she squeezed it tightly, she then pressed her hand against his chest. "You're the heart person." She said.
He took her hand in his, lifting it to his lips he kissed it gently and placed it on the bed, still holding it. "That's where you've got it wrong, baby. Your mama's heart is full of more strength, and more love, than either of us will ever know." He whispered.
"And that's magic." She said, closing her eyes, she let out a yawn.
"That's magic." He whispered. "Get some rest, baby girl. Your mama will be here in the morning."