I'm overwhelmed by your quick response and the reviews. Thanks all you guys with the author and story alerts.
To my regular readers, you know who you are, thanks for the warm welcome back. Makes my reduced sleep worth it.
Chicklit, omslagspapper, Tartantrace, horseninja (I'm totally agreeing with you on what you said about this season and Hannah), Tango Mike Charlie, MickeyBogg (yeah I hate to see poor Booth hurt too. But we'll be dealing with the physical and emotional aftermath of his time in Afghanistan in this story), corgimom, xoxokiss210, Ger (so good to "see" you, and you're probably right on why Booth held on while waiting for help to arrive), MMWillow13, mendenbar (so glad to "see" you too. FF net not giving you any trouble I hope. While not entirely right, you're not far off about the direction of the coming chapters, concerning Booth's recovery.)
And now onto the chapter, a longer one this time.
Brennan kept a sleepless vigil by Booth's bedside, constantly monitoring his vital signs from the monitors that beeped around him. In the morning the team of attending doctors showed up for morning rounds. Her long flight back and sleepless night had left her feeling drained but Brennan was determined not to leave Booth's side.
That morning Brennan finally cornered Booth's attending doctor, Dr Casey, pressing him for details on Booth's condition.
"Booth's X-rays of his skull show a hairline fracture, likely resulting in his current concussion. The X-rays of his left leg are consistent with crush injuries, and I can see that there are several implants, some of which would likely have to remain lifelong, to help set the multiple fractures sustained. Is there anything else I should know about?"
The senior attending was taken aback by Brennan's knowledge. "Are you a doctor Miss?"
"I'm not a medical doctor but my training as a forensic anthropologist has given me extensive knowledge of the human skeleton and anatomy. And it's Dr Brennan."
Booth's doctor gave a smile. "I'm Dr Casey as you must surely know by now. You're correct in your assessment of Master Sergeant Booth."
"But there's more."
Dr Casey's face became grim. "Yes. While his medical treatment in Afghanistan wasn't lacking, their facilities are still not as good as ours. That plus the long flight to evacuate him back here. Besides the blood loss from his leg, there was massive internal bleeding. They fixed his leg somewhat over there, and the rest they left to us. He went into hypovolemic shock and his blood pressure dropped dangerously low as a result. Besides operating on his leg again, we had to go in to remove part of his liver in an attempt to stop the bleed, and we had also to remove one of his kidneys."
"Humans can survive on one kidney."
"You are correct. We transfused him after his long surgery. You would have noticed his blood pressure hasn't dropped, his latest CBCs also show that his blood counts are on the rise. This is all good news. He seems to be on the mend."
"But he's still in a critical condition."
"Until his blood counts can return to normal levels, his pneumothorax resolves, and if we can successfully wean him off the ventilator, he would remain critical. Good news is I'm planning on tailing down the sedation, help him slowly regain consciousness."
Brennan nodded, while she didn't manage to see the full report of his surgery, she had expected something like this.
"You think he'll walk again?"
"His right leg is relatively unscathed. I'm not sure how much function his left can regain but with physical therapy… right now our main concern is keeping him stable. When he's better, then we can think about the prognosis on his leg. Bear in mind that in Afghanistan they almost had to amputate to save his life."
"Thank you for your time Dr Casey."
The kindly doctor took a step towards Brennan, placing a comforting hand on her arm. "He is improving, things are looking up."
"Thank you."
Brennan returned to Booth's side, already concerned she had left him for too long. A nurse showed up to check on Booth and clean him up somewhat. The nurse who looked to be in her mid-fifties had a motherly air about her and chatted with Brennan as she checked the drainage from Booth's chest tube.
"I'm Veronica, you must be Temperance. You were listed as Sergeant Booth's emergency contact."
That bit of information took her by surprise. She didn't think that after seven months apart, she would still be.
"Yes, I guess I am."
"Such a waste, all these young people sent off to war."
"Booth felt like it was something he had to do." Brennan replied, remembering his words so many months ago.
"You must be very proud of him."
Again the statement caught her by surprise. She had thought many things of him in the night that had passed but pride hadn't been one of them.
"Yes, I think I am. But mostly, I'm angry." Brennan's candidness with Booth's nurse surprised herself. "He promised me…" she paused to keep herself from getting too emotional. "He promised me he wouldn't be a hero."
"I suppose he didn't have much of a choice."
Brennan wiped at the tears that she didn't realize had fallen.
"Here." Veronica handed Brennan a wet sponge. She then slowly eased off his hospital gown. "Help me clean his arms and legs? And his back." She grunted under the strain of rolling Booth to his side. "He isn't exactly light you know?"
Brennan paused.
"I'm not… I don't think."
"Of course you can Sweetheart. I'm sure you've seen him naked before. And he's heavily sedated so you don't have to worry about hurting him."
"I have seen him naked." Brennan pondered how to explain her complicated relationship to the nurse. "We're not, I'm not his girlfriend."
"Oh I'm sorry. I assumed, just because you stayed the night and you're his emergency contact," Veronica frowned.
Brennan took a step towards Booth, wiping his back gingerly as Veronica held him slightly on his side.
"He's my… he's my best friend." The man I love.
"And you've seen him naked?" Veronica asked, winking.
"I was angry, I barged in on him in the tub." For the first time since she had heard the news, Brennan smiled, thinking of the memory.
"I see." Veronica replied. "I know you think he can't hear of feel you, but I think he can. These little things we do, it'll make him feel better. Once he wakes up we can shave this itchy beard off his face. That is unless that's how he's always looked?"
Brennan smiled some more. "No, he's usually clean shaven."
"His chances are looking good."
"Yes. Dr Casey informed me that he is happy with Booth's progress and is considering weaning him off the propofol by tomorrow."
"Which means he'll be waking up. This is good news."
"Yes, it is."
Brennan helped Veronica put a new hospital gown on Booth and watched as she fed Booth his milk feed through his nasogastric tube.
Afternoon came and Brennan accepted the sandwich Veronica offered. Munching on her lunch, Brennan remembered reading her book to Booth which brought about his coma-dream. She knew for a fact that he could probably hear her, and after washing down her food with a bottle of juice decided to talk to him. She spoke softly to him.
"I don't know if you can hear me but I hope you can. Veronica, the nurse, asked me if I was proud of you. I think now that I am. Whatever happened, whatever you did, I'm sure you tried your best. None of this is your fault. You shouldn't blame yourself."
Brennan paused to take a breath. Her hand of its own accord moved to stroke his cheek.
"I missed you, when I was in Maluku. I thought of you, of us, of what could have been."
She paused again, taking deep breaths to try not to cry. She didn't like all this crying. Booth had almost died, again. He wasn't even out of the woods yet. The pain of almost losing him again felt more pronounced this time. Yet it felt similar to the pain she had felt from their seven months apart. She spoke again.
"I find myself asking the same question, is it worth it? All this pain that I'm feeling. How can I be sure you won't leave me like my parents or Russ did? For once in my life, I have no answers, only more questions. I do know that I missed you. I thought about you all the time, and I find myself regretting more often than not the decision to reject you that night. I wish I had said yes. Yes, I want to give us a chance too. You're my best friend Booth, you taught me how to live, to love. You can't just leave me without teaching me more. I won't let you. There's so much more I want to learn. To learn how to love you and to be loved by you in return. Please be ok Booth, please. Please don't leave me."
"Oh honey, he'll be ok."
Brennan jumped at the hand on her shoulder. It was Veronica.
"I'm sorry." Brennan wiped the tears that had fallen like a flood from her eyes.
"It's ok." Veronica replied. "I see plenty of this, working in the ICU. Don't be sorry."
"You needed to check on him?"
"Yes. That and his brother is outside, asking to see him. You think you're up to it?"
"Yes. I'll wait outside so that Jared can come in."
Jared greeted Brennan with a hug outside Booth's room.
"I told Padme not to come, I wasn't sure if – "
"He's only allowed one visitor at a time anyway."
"You ok?" Jared asked.
Brennan nodded.
"You look like hell."
"I don't know what hell looks like but I would assume you're saying I look bad."
"Yeah I mean, you look tired. You look like you haven't slept in days."
"I haven't since I got back from Maluku."
"Listen, why don't you go home, have a shower, get some rest. I'll stay with Seeley."
"No I want to be here when he wakes up."
"His doctor told me that won't be till tomorrow."
"I don't want him to be alone."
"Tempe. What do you think Seeley's gonna say when he wakes up and sees you looking like this huh? Come on. He's gonna wanna know I did my part to make sure you're ok."
"I am ok."
"Just let me sit with him for a couple of hours, you go home, get some rest. You can be back in time to spend tonight with him ok?"
She sighed. Jared did have a point.
"The doctor said Seeley's doing well. I'm not saying it will but I'll call you if things change, promise."
"Ok. Thank you Jared."
Brennan headed home to her apartment, doing just as Jared had suggested. Catching a short nap and getting showered and changed into clean clothes. On her way back to the hospital Cam called offering to sit with Booth for a couple of hours so that Brennan could rest. Cam was politely turned down. Brennan wanted to be there when Booth woke up. She returned to the hospital hours later. Jared had to go back to his job in New York and Brennan promised to call him with updates on Booth's condition.
Brennan settled into the hard plastic chair ready to spend another night in Booth's room. She studied his charts and monitors, satisfied that he hadn't taken a turn for the worse. Veronica dropped by to inform Brennan that her shift had ended and that she would be back in the morning.
As midnight approached, activity in the ICU quieted down and satisfied they'd be alone, Brennan took Booth's hand again.
"Hey, I'm back. Much as I hate to admit it, the shower and nap Jared suggested felt really good." The logical Brennan screamed that it was illogical to talk to him like he could carry a conversation with her but the Brennan that wanted that chance with him won. And so she continued her one-sided conversation.
"I hope Jared didn't annoy you that much, but I didn't want you to be alone. You know we didn't actually find anything significant in Maluku. Although it did give me a lot of time to think about you, about us. Us sounds nice and frightening at the same time. I'm not sure how that's possible. Maybe you can explain it to me when you wake up."
Brennan sat quietly for a moment, allowing her mind to wonder about them being together like she did sometimes in Maluku. She kept Booth's hand in hers as she laid her head on the bed next to his shoulder and drifted off to sleep.
Brennan was woken by a knock on the door. It was the night nurse. Booth had another visitor. Brennan was greeted in the hallway outside Booth's room by a blonde woman.
"Hi. You must be Temperance. I've heard so much about you. I'm Hannah."
Ok I'll be the first to admit ,evil me, leaving you guys with a cliffhanger. And ok, ok I know a couple of you did warn me in your review about not making this certain H-person show up.
Just remember, I dislike Hannah, and Hannah with Booth as much as everyone of you. So don't be too worried about her appearance.
Next chapter, we find out more about why Hannah has shown up, Booth slowly wakes from his coma and our two favorite Bs get to talk after seven months apart.
I'm not sue when I can post the next chapter and I know you'll all be eagerly waiting, but it will get posted just wait for me. And in the meantime, keep on with the reviews :)