When it looked like they were done, Brennan walked self-consciously into the chapel. Both men were so lost in thought that they didn't notice her until she put her hand of Booth's shoulder. Booth jumped around to see who it was and Zack let out a frightened yelp. "I'm sorry," she said quickly. "Did I startle you?"

"No," grumbled Booth. "Not in the slightest!"

"Sorry," she repeated. "I just wanted to tell you guys…" She trailed off, unsure how to continue. It wasn't bad news, really, or unexpected, but she just didn't know how to tell them.

"What?" Zack demanded, his heart pounding.

"Mr. Thomas died. Went into cardiac arrest twenty minutes ago."

They looked at each other, unsure what to say. The guy was a low-life bastard who had kidnapped Casey, tried to kill them both, and provided the gun that had killed another FBI agent, shot both of them, and Casey. But that just added another in the death toll of that day. That made three now. Three down, two out of danger, one left in the balance.

Zack stood up so suddenly it threw him off balance and Dr. Brennan had to help steady him. "I-I'm going to see Casey." He slowly and painfully hobbled off.

Brennan sat down beside Booth. "How is he doing?" she asked him.

Booth shrugged. "About as well as can be expected. Anything new on Casey?"

She shook her head. "No change."

"He asked me to teach him to pray." The words came out before he realized who he was talking to, and he winced. He didn't want to get into an argument, and even more, he didn't want her to look down on Zack for seeking comfort outside areas she was comfortable with.

She didn't respond with mockery. Instead she simply asked, "Did you?"

Now, why did these scientists want to make it that simple? First Zack, now Bones. "I hope so. It's a little complicated. I told him the best I could though."

She was quiet for a moment, then said "Did it help him? Did it make him feel better?"

Booth thought. Finally, he nodded. "Yeah, I think it did."

"Then I'm glad."

Booth smiled. Brennan smiled back at him. While things may never be the same for all of them, they were in it together.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Hodgins saw Zack hobbling into Casey's room, he quickly vacated his chair and let the younger man sit down. He hovered around for a moment, then pulled the other chairs around, put a pillow in it. "For your leg?" he suggested.

"Yeah," said Zack, allowing his friend to help him prop his leg up in the other chair. "Thanks." He shifted, trying to get comfortable, and cringed as the movement sent a stabbing bolt of pain from his foot halfway up his back. Hodgins winced in sympathy.

"Anything I can do?" he asked the injured young man. "Food, can of pop, pain meds?"

Zack shook his head. "No I'm okay. Well, relatively speaking, anyway." He noticed something sitting on the table. "What's that?"

"iPod and a docking station. Her iPod got lost in the car fire, so I got her a new one. I know how much she loved it. She did have the blue one, right?" Zack nodded, and smiled. "Anyway, Angela got her computer and put her music library on it." He stared at the small musical device to keep Zack from seeing the tears in his eyes. "They say that coma patients can hear and stuff and I thought she would want to have it here. They don't make the model she had anymore, this is the newer one. It's smaller but has more memory." He paused, trying to make his voice stronger so Zack couldn't hear the doubt in it, but he was failing. "It has a lot more memory, so I thought if you don't think she'd mind I'd put her CD collection on the computer and put those songs on here too, I just haven't had time to-"

Zack cut him off. "Hodgins…Jack, thanks. I know she appreciates it. And if she can't…" his voice cracked, so he stopped, swallowed, and finished. "…if she can't then I do."

Hodgins smiled weakly, and put a hand on Zack's uninjured shoulder. "I'll leave you two alone for a while." Then he left the room.

Zack stared at the girl in the bed for a while, taking in the three IV lines, the chest tube, miles of bandages and dozens of bruises that stood out horribly, black and purple against the too-pale skin. Her left ankle was in traction, and he had been horrified when he saw the x-rays of her foot, almost more than the rest. It had been shattered into so many pieces they had to put plates and screws in it to hold it together. She would in all likelihood limp for the rest of her life. If she ever woke up.

What horrified him so much was that she hadn't sustained an injury to her foot while he was there. That meant it had been that bad the whole time, and she had been standing on it. Actually took steps on it. The throbbing in his own leg flared again, and he couldn't imagine the pain it had caused. Somehow that had disturbed him even more than her slicing her wrist to give him time to get away.

He wished Hodgins had left the chair closer to the bed, so he could touch her. Gently lowering his mangled leg to the ground, he struggled to get his crutch under him and stood up. He was somewhat proud of himself for managing this feat, but then he got his crutch caught in the legs of the chair. Unable to regain his equilibrium, he crashed to the floor and tried to muffle a scream as a wave of pain nearly drowned him. Angela came running. "Zack, are you okay?"

Hodgins was right behind her, and he knelt beside him. "What can I do?"

"Nurse," said Zack, trying to draw in a breath around the overwhelming pain. It hurt so badly. "Morphine!"

Angela ran out to find a nurse, and Hodgins was left with Zack on the floor. He put his hands up. "Want help getting up?"

Zack felt silly, but shook his head. "I can't. Wait for the drugs?"

Hodgins nodded, and got the pillow from the chair to place under Zack's head. "What were you trying to do?"

Zack raised his head for the pillow, and relaxed as much as the pain would let him. "I wanted to touch her. I was trying to scoot the chair over, and I just fell."

Angela came rushing in, followed by the nurse carrying a syringe. As she found the IV port in Zack's arm and injected the pain medicine, she frowned. "You are supposed to be in bed!"

Zack groaned with relief as he felt the pain slowly recede. "They said I could get up. That was why the sealed off my IV with that thing and gave me a crutch, so I could go see Casey."

The nurse rolled her eyes. "That thing is called a heparin lock, and as I recall you were threatening to take a hostage if you didn't get to see her for a few minutes. And that was several hours ago."

"You threatened to take a hostage?" Angela asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's not a hostage if they're willing," he said. "She said she would push me down here in the wheelchair and barricade the door."

Hodgins snorted. "Think you can get up now?" He held out both hands and Zack took them. The nurse stood behind him and held his shoulders and Angela supported his damaged leg. Together, they managed to get him into the chair Hodgins had moved to the side of the bed and propped his leg back up. Satisfied that he could reach her hand and touch her face from there, he settled in.

"Thanks," he said to his friends and the less than happy nurse.

"Next time you feel like climbing Everest," she said to his wearily, "Can you at least hit the call bell first?" She left the room.

"Do you need anything, Zack?" Angela asked.

He started to shake his head, then had an idea. "Yeah, why don't you turn the music on?" She smiled and hit the play button on the iPod. Then she carried it over to him and set it on the nightstand.

"There," she said. "Now you can turn it off and on, and skip songs if you want." She brushed Zack's hair out of his eyes. "Just call if you need anything, okay?"

He nodded, and they were alone. His fingertip gently grazed the bruised and swollen skin of her cheek. "Maybe it's a good thing you're not awake right now. You'd be hurting even worse than I am." He leaned in close and kissed her very carefully. "Take your time. Don't wake up until the pain is better. I'll be right here the whole time." He gripped her hand tightly. "I'm not going anywhere."

He turned up the music, and smiled when he heard the song, his favorite playing. "Superman" was such an appropriate song. Even heroes have the right to bleed. And Casey had the right to sleep through the pain. Just as long as she eventually came back to him. For the first time in a week, he felt like it might be okay soon. He sat back in his chair, still holding her hand, and dozed off.

His last thought before he faded into a morphine-induced sleep was that the nurse was going to have a fight on her hands when she tried to make him go to his own room.

A/N: It's been an easy weekend to be a paramedic, so I've gotten quite a bit done on this story. It's probably going to wrap up soon, so thatnks for being along for the ride. Send feedback and let me know if you think I should keep it going, or do a sequal, or just finish it already. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Of course, they aren't mine, except for Casey. Neither is the song, "Superman" by Five For Fighting. It is, however, the song all the people at my ambulance service play when our jobs take the inevitible depressing turn.