Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews! Always great to get feedback. I'm 99 sure that there will only be one more chapter after this one, just to kind of wrap things up. I get kind of annoyed by the nice neat endings...but they are tempting to write, aren't they:-) Hope everyone has a good time with this one. Not proofread...I'm still sticking with my whole lazy "art in its raw form" thing. Enjoy that :-)

Booth and the squints slept in the hospital waiting room that night. At 5:30 the next morning, Hodgins woke up, peeled himself carefully away from Angela, who was still sleeping, and took the elevator downstairs to buy coffee. He came back carrying the tray of four cups, one decaf for Angela, and as he sat them down on the small table that held out of date magazines that appeared to have never been opened, Booth woke up.

"Hey, man," Hodgins said, keeping his weary voice low so he wouldn't wake the others.

"Has the doctor been back?" Booth asked, keeping his voice low as well, sounding dazed from sleep.

Hodgins shook his head and held a cup out for Booth. He accepted it gratefully. The two men shared a quiet look.

"I'm sure if…if something had happened…someone would have told us," Hodgins said.

Booth nodded. "Yeah. Yeah. No news is good news."

"Right. Absolutely."

The two men nodded decisively, drinking from their cups, and then sat in silence a moment more.

"Plus," Hodgins continued, "she's a fighter. I mean, something as simple as this wouldn't bring her down."

"Yeah. Sure. I mean, it's just a few drugs, right? Some chemicals. Bones can beat that."

"Totally. I mean, if she can beat being buried alive…this is nothing."

Booth nodded in agreement. "Right. I mean, Bones, she's…she's tough."

"The toughest."

"And she's good in a crisis. She can hold herself together, she thinks. She doesn't freeze up."

"Not at all. I mean, she performed surgery on me while dealing with the fact that we both thought that we were going to…and, I mean, that was nothing for her. She never hesitated."

"Yeah. Bones can handle this."

"Yeah."

They both took long drags from their cups, taking a moment of silence to survey their still sleeping companions.

"Hey, Booth?"

"Hm?"

"What really happened yesterday?"

Booth glanced at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…shit…" Hodgins rubbed his forehead. "We got here, and you were, like, shell shocked, or something. And you were…still are…covered in blood, and you mentioned there being blood everywhere when you got there? And Dr. Brennan shooting at you?" He shook his head. "What the hell happened?"

Booth sighed, sagging back into the chair that was increasingly causing an ache in his lower back. "I don't know, Hodgins."

Hodgins just looked at him, waiting. After a moment, Booth shook his head and continued. "I got there, and I saw her car, and I knew…you know how you just know? So I went in, and Ophelia…Bones was holding a gun, and there was just blood. And Bones, she…she was gone. I mean, I don't think she knew who I was. I mean, I had kicked the door open, run in holding a gun, shouting…and she just looked up at me, like she was surprised I was there, like I had just wandered in, and nothing was going on." He shook his head again. "And then, I started trying to talk to her, and she just started screaming, telling me to stay away…and then she shot at me. I don't know why, but…" Booth sighed heavily.

"Wait…how did all of that happen? You said she was unconscious when they brought her in."

Booth nodded. "I, uh…I had to get the gun away from her. I ended up…knocking her out."

"You knocked her out?"

Booth nodded.

Hodgins gave a small smile, trying to lighten the moment. "You better hope she doesn't remember anything, because when she wakes up, she'll kick your ass."

Booth had to chuckle in response.

"Was she really that out of it? She was honestly trying to kill you…so much so that you had to knock her unconscious?"

"Well…not exactly…"

Hodgins gave him a confused look, and Booth checked to make sure the other two squints were still sleeping. "She, uh…it wasn't me that she was trying to kill."

"But…who else was there?"

Booth sighed. "She, uh…she…she was trying to kill…herself."

Hodgins froze. "What?"

"She was so out of it on whatever she had been given…I don't know what Ophelia did to her. But she…" Booth shrugged, not wanting to finish the sentence.

Hodgins slumped back.

"But I'm sure…I mean, once they got her here…she wouldn't still want to…you know…"

"Right," Hodgins replied. "She's…she's a fighter. Once she got here…she wouldn't give up."

Booth nodded. "Yeah. Bones would never give up."

Zach and Angela began to wake up, and Hodgins and Booth stopped talking, both silently agreeing not to talk about it anymore. When the last two squints were awake, Hodgins presented them with their coffee, checking three times to make sure that Angela had decaf.

About thirty minutes later, a female doctor approached the four.

"Agent Booth?"

Booth stood quickly. "Yes?"

"I'm Dr. Kerny, I'm looking after your…" she checked her chart, "…wife, for Dr. Bines." She looked at the notes again. "I assume," she said, looking at the squints, "that you are her brothers and sister?" The squints nodded.

"How is she?" Hodgins asked.

"She made it through the night," Dr. Kerny replied.

Booth sagged back into the plastic chair, no longer caring that his back felt broken, thinking that those six words were the most beautiful he had ever heard, rivaling "it's a boy!" in terms of their impact on his life at that moment.

"So…she's going to be okay?" Angela asked, her voice cracking.

Dr. Kerny gave a small smile. "Last night was crucial. Since she made it through, her chances for survival are far greater. In situations of drug overdose, the more distance you can get from the event, the better. The bulk of the chemicals should have been either removed or processed through her system at this point."

"So…what does that mean? What happens now?" Booth asked.

"She's still in very serious condition. She hasn't regained consciousness yet."

"I thought she was conscious in the ambulance?" Booth asked, his head beginning to spin.

Dr. Kerny cleared her throat. "Shortly after arriving, she once again became unconscious. Luckily, by that time we were preparing to pump her stomach. We sent for toxicology reports, and when we have the results we will share them with you, but it seems likely that at least one of the drugs she was given was a sedative. A pretty powerful sedative, maybe Thorazine or Butisol."

"So…she's unconscious?"

Dr. Kerny nodded. "Now, it's a matter of when she'll wake up."

"But not a matter of 'if'?" Booth felt his throat constrict, even as he spoke.

Dr. Kerny gave him a small, sympathetic smile. "You can see her, if you want. We do ask that you don't all go at once. Two at a time."

Booth felt his body go slack in the chair. "Thank you, doctor," Angela said quietly, and with that, Dr. Kerny walked away.

The next three days were a blur. Booth and the squints took turns staying at the hospital, always making sure that someone was there. Temperance remained in ICU, unconscious, but with vitals that were showing signs of improvement. Angela drew a picture of a large and elaborate bouquet of wild flowers, as the hospital wouldn't allow real flowers in the ICU. The hospital staff came to recognize them, and it reached the point that they weren't even asked who they were going to see or their relationship to the patient when they went in. Though they never mentioned it to one another, all four members of Temperance's "family" secretly hated the first moment after walking into her room, that moment when it was again confirmed that Temperance was unconscious, unmoving, and far to pale, blending into the sterile white sheets that were carefully placed on top of her and the white gauze bandages that had been taped over her cuts. Zach, who for the first time in his life was wishing he were somewhat less intelligent, cringed when he realized, upon walking into her room one afternoon, that he could still see the imprint of his finger where he had touched the end of her bed six hours before. She hadn't even moved enough to move the indentation away.

At three am, going into day four, Zach was sitting in a chair in Temperance's room, sleeping, his head resting on his arms, which were curled on the bed near Temperance's side. Though this technically wasn't allowed by hospital standards, the staff took pity on the four who so diligently stayed beside Dr. Temperance Brennan, and Zach's presence was more or less overlooked.

Zach felt himself begin to wake up as a noticed an odd sensation in his head, like someone was tousling his hair, but much more slowly. He sat up slowly, his eyes heavy with sleep, and felt cold fingers trail down from the top of his head and over his cheek before landing on the bed. Zach looked up at Temperance's face and saw her eyes slightly open, looking back at him.

"Dr. Brennan?" he asked, thinking that he must not really be awake.

"Hey, Zach," she answered. Her voice was hoarse and raspy, low and hard to hear, but it was still her voice.

"You're…you're awake."

Her eyes looked sunken, rimmed red, and her lips were chapped. Somehow, until now, Zach hadn't noticed how dry her skin was.

Zach sat up quickly, fully awake now. "I…I have to go get a nurse…I need to find someone who…"

Temperance smiled at him slightly. "Okay," she rasped out. She closed her eyes again, and Zach rushed from the room to find someone to help him.

After find a nurse, Zach ran outside, calling Hodgins, Angela, and Booth on his cell phone. Booth arrived first, bursting through the hospital doors as though he hadn't even slowed down when he approached them. Hodgins and Angela weren't far behind, and the four ran back up to ICU, practically begging the nurse to let them back in, swearing they would be silent. The nurse, an older woman who had seen far too much death in her career, relented and allowed them in. They gathered around Temperance's bed, all silent, staring at her as if any moment she would jump up and start dancing.

Booth wrapped his hand around her cold fingers, kneeling down beside the bed. He kissed back of her hand and rubbed it, trying to make it warm, as he stared at her face. They saw her eyelids flutter, and open about four seconds later.

"Bones?"

Temperance looked at Booth. "Hey." She looked at the other three faces around her bed. "Hey, everyone."

And just like that, Temperance's husband, brother, other brother, and adopted sister found they couldn't stop smiling.

After waking up, Temperance's vital signs showed spiked improvement. She was moved to a regular room as soon as possible, partially because she was doing better, and partially because the ICU nurses were tired of Booth and squints spending every waking moment in her room.

The toxicology reports for the most recent victim in the Ophelia Stone case were returned the same day Temperance's lab results came in. The man whose head had been cut off and left in Temperance's apartment after being killed due to poisoning was found to have traces of Buprenex, a drug for the relief of pain, Etrafon and Triavil, both antidepressants, Clozaril, Loxapine, and Lithium, all antipsychotics, and Zyprexa, another antipsychotic which of particular interest due to the fact that it was past its expiration date by four years. Temperance's toxicology showed Butisol, a barbiturate which was used as a sedative, Anafranil, an antidepressant and antiobsessional drug, Clozaril, Risperdal, and Lithium, all antipsychotics, and Zyprexa, which, just as was the case in the toxicology of the murder victim who it was later found was named Paul Kindle, was four years past expiration. A team was sent to search Ophelia's home. All the drugs from both toxicology reports were found, including the out of date Zyprexa, and all the prescriptions had been issued to Ophelia Stone.

The case against Ophelia Stone was closed quickly, the forensic links in the case being sufficient. All possible charges against Temperance Brennan were dropped as it was determined through her toxicology and Booth's reports that she acted in self defense. Booth never told police that she shot at him, or that she attempted suicide.

Two days after being moved to a regular room, Temperance's strength was improving greatly, although she found that she still tired easily. Once again, Booth and the squints seemed to come and go in shifts, though now it was done with happiness and relief.

One night, while Booth was sitting with Temperance in her room, a pensive look came over her face.

"Booth?" she said, her voice sounding more normal than it had in ICU.

"Yeah, Bones?"

"What happened? I mean…what actually happened?" Temperance had heard the reports. She had heard her toxicology, she had been told that Ophelia Stone was dead, convicted of the crimes. And, unsurprisingly, considering the massive dose of drugs she had been given, she found that she couldn't remember anything after leaving Booth's house after he asked her to stay the night.

Booth cleared his throat. "Zach figured out what the notes meant. Then, the squints put it all together, and…"

"I know all that," Temperance said. "I mean, what happened? What happened in Ophelia's house?"

Booth sat for a moment, thinking about his answer. "I got to Ophelia's and broke in. You were there, and I could tell that you had been drugged." He glanced up at her to gauge her reaction thus far.

Her lips twitched in a sad smile. "I killed her. Didn't I?"

Booth sat frozen for a moment, looking at her face. He saw the conflict etched there. Even though she knew Ophelia was a murderer. Even though Ophelia had tried to kill her. Booth quickly weighed the options of telling her the truth against not telling her. He knew if he didn't tell her, she would probably find out, anyway. She was going to read the reports as soon as she got out.

"No," he said. He knew it was a lie, and one she would catch him in, but somehow he couldn't bear telling her the truth. He wanted to protect her, even if only for while she was still in the hospital. "You were unconscious when I got there. And…I fought with her, and killed her."

Temperance nodded, and Booth could see the slight relief on her face when he said she hadn't killed anyone.

"How did the police know to come?"

"I dailed 911 on my cell phone when I got there. They just traced the call after that."

"Lucky that worked," Temperance commented.

"Yeah. We were pretty lucky all the way around, I'd say."

"Yeah," Temperance agreed.

They sat in silence for a few moments. Then, Bones glanced back up at his face and gave him a sad smile.

"It's funny," she said.

"What is?"

She shrugged. "Just that you said you were the one who fought with Ophelia and killed her…but you don't have any cuts or bruises." She looked down at the bruises on her own arms, now only slight and faded. "You don't have wounds like someone was trying to fight you off, or defend themselves."

Booth's chest constricted, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to give up the lie. "Like I said, I guess I was just lucky."

She nodded slowly and smiled. "Yeah. I guess so." He gave her a smile. "Hey, Booth?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you." And for that second, they let mutual understanding pass in silence. They both knew the truth, even though they would never bring it up again.

"Ya know, Bones," Booth said, relaxing in the chair a bit, a smile coming over his face, "when you get out of here, I think you should take some time off."

Temperance smiled. "I think so, too."

"Where are you going to go?"

Temperance shrugged. "Maybe Florida? Go to the beach?"

Booth smiled and laced his fingers behind his head, glancing out at the now dark sky that had been cold grey that afternoon, looking more like winter everyday. "That sounds great."

"You like the beach?"

"Of course, Bones, who doesn't love the beach?"

"Good," she said.

Booth didn't catch what she said at first, but when his brain realized that 'good' hadn't been the answer he had been expecting, he gave her a questioning look.

She smiled. "Maybe you should take some time off, too."

A slow smile came across his face. "Yeah, maybe. That sounds good."

She turned to look at him, a careful smile on her face. "Where do you think you'll go?"

He smiled more broadly. "I've been thinking I'd love to head to some Florida beaches."

"What a coincidence," she said.

A quick moment of awkwardness crept past them, through the room. Each quickly questioned what had just happened. What about all the awkwardness before? Was this okay? Was the other just humoring them to keep them from feeling bad?

And then, glancing at each other, the awkwardness made it out the door, leaving them strangely content.

"I think I'll work on my book," Temperance said, leaning back and closing her eyes. "Suddenly I feel like I really want to write."

Booth smiled, closing his own eyes as well. "I think that sounds like a great idea."

And with that, Temperance Brennan smiled slightly and fell into sleep, where she dreamed about warm beaches and fields of cool grass and hand draw flowers that Angela had made. And when she awoke the next morning, with Booth snoring in the chair beside her, she felt more rested than she had in months.

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