Hey everyone! Thank you for the lovely reviews and alerts last time! I'm sorry I haven't been around lately, but I had a major case of writer's block. Then I was inspired while looking through my list of words. This isn't going to be a fluff fest anymore, fair warning.

This chapter deals with some strong T material, just so ya know!

Also, this chapter ended differently originally, but I saw two fics do similar things so out of respect for those authors I have changed the ending.

Penumbra- A Half-shadow

Brennan lay in bed next to Booth trying not to focus on the intense pain that still lingered in her abdomen. It had started out as a dull ache that morning, and had gradually intensified all day. She took deep breaths to no avail and considered going downstairs to get aspirin, but decided against it. It wasn't that bad, really. She could ride it out. She shifted uncomfortably and grunted involuntarily. The movement made Booth look over just in time to see a tear slide down her cheek. "Hey…" he soothed and reached over to wipe the tear away. "What's wrong?" Brennan's eyes met his and she forced a smile.

"Nothing," she lied. Booth caressed her cheek softly.

"You sure?" he asked tenderly. Brennan nodded and Booth gave her a kiss that was tinged with uncertainty. She flinched as another wave of pain hit and her hand went unconsciously to her abdomen. "Stomach hurt?" Brennan looked up again and gave him a weak smile.

"It's just cramps," she assured him. Booth's eyebrows knit together.

"Cramps? But didn't you just have your… uh… cycle a week ago?" He distinctly remembered being sent out for a very uncomfortable trip to the store last Friday. 'Yes,' thought Brennan. 'That's how this all started.' Brennan just kept staring at him with a myriad of emotions swimming in her eyes. Booth tilted his head and ran his fingers through her hair. "You're sure everything's okay?"

"Yes, Booth. Stop worrying." She leaned in and kissed him soundly. She made it very clear just what it was she wanted to do, even though she knew it was going to be painful. Just as it had been the night before. And the night before that. Booth of course responded enthusiastically to her request and rolled them over so he was positioned above her.

Brennan tried to hide the intense pain their lovemaking was causing her, but she couldn't control the small whimper that escaped. "Bones? Am I hurting you? I'm sorry, Baby." Booth said with concern. Brennan urged him not to stop, but when she cried out in pain a second time he rolled off of her and looked at her with eyes wild with fear and confusion. "Bones? What's going on?" Brennan sighed and took his hand in hers.

"I'm sorry, Booth. I was going to wait to tell you."

"Tell me what?" Booth asked and slid closer to her, wrapping an arm around her waist. Brennan took a deep breath and rested her forehead on Booth's.

"My last menstrual cycle was extremely heavy. Much heavier than I have ever experienced. I have been experiencing abdominal pain and some bleeding the last few days. It is also incredibly painful when we…" Brennan trailed off, suddenly ashamed that she was having trouble being intimate with Booth.

"What… what does that mean?" Booth asked, his heart pounding in his chest. Brennan shook her head.

"I don't know for certain. It could be any number of things. It is likely to be something harmless. I have an appointment with my gynecologist tomorrow." Booth began caressing her hip absently.

"Do you have a worst case scenario or…" Brennan shrugged.

"It could be a lot of things. I could have had an early term miscarriage or it could be… cervical or uterine cancer." Brennan broke eye contact as she spoke the last part and she felt Booth's grip on her tighten.

"So you're telling me," Booth began, trying to wrap his head around the situation, "that you either lost a baby we didn't know about; or you have cancer?"

"No, Booth," Brennan promised. "Those are only two possibilities. You asked for the worst case scenario and I gave it to you." Booth nodded and blinked back the tears forming in his eyes.

"Okay, so we just go in tomorrow and they'll probably tell us that it's nothing, right?" Brennan nodded and brought her hand up to caress the back of Booth's neck lightly.

"Right," she promised.

"So you've known that something was wrong for a week?"

"Yes," she admitted. "This is the earliest my gynecologist could get me an appointment."

"And you didn't tell me?" Brennan winced at the obvious hurt in Booth's voice.

"I didn't want to worry you if it was something harmless." Booth shook his head incredulously. This was typically Brennan and it pissed him off.

"And then what? You just never would have told me that for a week you weren't sure if you had cancer or not? What if it is cancer, Bones? Were you just gonna spring that one on me? 'Let's have lunch at the diner today, by the way I have cancer'?"

"I don't know," Brennan admitted. Her voice broke and she laid her head on Booth's shoulder instinctively. That completely quenched Booth's anger and he pulled her close to his chest. He planted a kiss in her hair and rubbed her back soothingly.

"Shhh, it's gonna be okay. It'll be okay. I'll be right there with you every step of the way, okay? No matter what happens, I'll be right here. You're gonna be fine. I promise, Bones. I promise." Instead of telling him that he could never promise such a thing, Brennan just listened to his pounding heart and allowed herself to believe that everything would really be okay.

-BONES-

Booth's foot tapped nervously as he waited for Brennan to come out of the exam room. He flipped through magazines without really reading anything and looked absently around the waiting room. Mercifully, the door opened and she stepped out. He was on his feet in an instant. "Well?" he asked impatiently. Brennan almost laughed.

"Relax, Booth. They can't tell you what it is immediately following the examination. All I know for sure is that it definitely wasn't a miscarriage." Booth nodded, not entirely sure how he felt about that. "She says that she saw something on my ultrasound and she would like to speak to both of us in her office." Booth took a deep breath. Wanting to talk to both of them didn't seem like a good sign. Booth gripped Brennan's hand tightly as she led him to the office.

They sat in the chairs across from the desk, Brennan's hand still in Booth's death grip. "It's gonna be okay," Booth said, more to himself than Brennan. She squeezed his hand in response. The door opened and Dr. Richards sat at her desk. She gave them both a polite smile.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Richards," she addressed Booth. He nodded slightly in response. He wasn't really in the mood for pleasantries. She opened the file in front of her and began flipping through the pages. "Well, Temperance, I saw some shadows on your ultrasound. Based on that compared with your symptoms I've managed to narrow it down to two possible conditions. More than likely we're dealing with a simple case of fibroids. Those are…"

"I know," Brennan interrupted.

"I don't," Booth replied and looked from Dr. Richards to Brennan and back again. "I don't know what that is." Dr. Richards smiled kindly at him.

"Fibroids are benign growths in the uterus. They're usually removed with a simple outpatient surgery. The other possibility isn't as optimistic, I'm afraid. There's a chance that you have uterine cancer." Booth gripped Brennan's hand tighter. "I'd say there's a 70% chance that it's fibroids. Those are pretty good odds. It's not time to panic yet. I'd like you to come in day after tomorrow for one more test, and we'll know for sure by that afternoon."

-BONES-

"I don't want to go to work tomorrow," Brennan announced as she and Booth settled in for bed that night at her apartment.

"Me neither," he agreed and gave her a kiss.

"I just want to spend the day with you. Let's go for a walk. Or to a movie. I just want to have a normal day." Brennan kissed Booth's chest and smiled to herself. "That sounded ridiculous, didn't it?"

"No," Booth promised. "It sounded like a good day."

"I'd offer sex right now but as it isn't an enjoyable experience for me at the moment…" Booth chuckled and kissed Brennan's head.

"I can go a while without it, Bones," he promised jokingly.

"I just want you to know that we would definitely be having sex right now if it were a remote possibility."

"Good to know, Bones." She looked up at him and the expression on her face snapped Booth's heart in two. He ran his fingers through her hair and took a deep breath. "It's probably that fibroid thing," he pointed out. "And that's just an outpatient surgery, right?"

"Depending on the severity."

"Right, but they're not dangerous."

"Not usually." Booth nodded. He repeated it over and over to himself. 'It's not dangerous, it's not dangerous...'

"I love you so much, Bones. We're gonna get through this." Brennan leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips. She fell asleep in his arms, basking in the comfort of his rhythmic breathing.

She awoke to find that Booth was no longer in bed with her. She frowned and stretched. Just as she was about to call his name, he walked into the room with a tray in his hands and a wide smile plastered on his face. Brennan lifted herself into a sitting position and eyed her boyfriend with bewilderment. "Oh, let me get that," Booth offered and put the tray down on the bed. He propped her pillows up on the headboard and scooted the tray over her lap.

"Booth, you didn't have to do this," she told him even as she began digging into her French toast.

"I know I didn't have to, I wanted to." He walked around the bed and settled next to her. He reached over and stole a piece of fruit from her plate.

"I should call Cam," Brennan realized.

"Taken care of."

"What did you tell her?" Booth heard the anxiety in her voice and saw the concern etched on her face and rushed to reassure her.

"Don't worry, I told her that you were feeling a little under the weather and I was gonna stay home with you today." A long silence passed between them. "So, what do you want to do today?" Booth finally asked. Brennan shrugged.

"Anything," she answered. "Booth?" Booth popped another slice of watermelon in his mouth and gave Brennan his full attention. "It's going to be okay, right?" Booth smiled sadly and kissed Brennan on the forehead.

"Yeah," he promised. "It's going to be okay." She knew it was silly, but just hearing him say the words out loud almost made her believe it.

So there we go! I hope you liked it, and aren't too mad at me. :P Please tell me what you thought! Reviews make me happy on the inside… and on the outside too I guess. :P