A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. I've been kind of angry at the show. (Don't shoot me) Expect for three or four episodes, I really don't like this season at all. XD. Ever since Zack left, I've kind of been bummed and I think the show as gotten really silly. I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just saying it's not as good as past seasons*Sigh* But on a positive note the last two episode were SOOOO good. Awww poor Sweets. Loved the title of his book. Those two episodes got me back into the swing of things. =). Yeah!

:Don't own Bones or any of Jodi Picoult's quotes, including the first paragraph of this chapter.

Chapter 4

--

Let me tell you what you feel like when you know you are ready to die. You sleep a lot, and when you wake up the very first thought in your head is that you wish you could go back to bed. You go entire days without eating, because food is a commodity that keeps you here. You read the same page a hundred times. You rewind your life like a videocassette and see the things that make you weep, things that make you pause, but nothing that makes you want to play it forward. You forget to comb your hair, to shower, to dress. And then one day, when you make the decision that you have enough energy left in you to do this one, last, monumental thing, there comes a peace. Suddenly you are counting moments as you haven't for months. Suddenly you have a secret that makes you smile, that makes people say you look wonderful, although you feel like a shell-brittle and capable of cracking into a thousand pieces

And I wonder now if this is what Danni had felt like.

----

It is the things you cannot see coming that are strong enough to kill you. Brennan had been in a hospital many times before and had seen kids of all ages cooped up in one of those small rooms, but for some reason Kate looked smaller than the rest. Her face was ghost white and for one startling moment, Brennan had a horrible imagine of a child corpse that just might as well been Kate flashing through her mind. Shuddering slightly, she bit her lip and forced herself to sit down as gently as she could.

"What are you doing here?" The voice was as light as a feather, and Brennan had to strain her neck to hear.

"I should be asking you the same question."

Despite, the situation, Kate laughed. "I think we both know why I'm here." At that Brennan frowned, but Kate ignored it. "So how'd you get in?"

"I told your doctor that you're my niece."

"I read your books," Kate told her, changing the subject. "I like them, Aunt Brennan."

At that, Brennan smiled. "Thank you."

A smile lit her face as she silently looked around the room. "It's not so bad," Kate concluded.

Brennan frowned, wondering how a child could find something positive in a situation like this. "But it is," Brennan stated, trying to imagine what Kate would look like with the hair she had lost from chemo treatment. "That's why you lied."

Kate narrowed her eyes. "You don't –"

"I think I do understand," Brennan interjected. The girl licked her lips which were caked with blood. Another reason to look away. Another reason that reminded her of her past, but Brennan forced herself to withstand the child's pricing gaze. "People don't understand me… us."

It took a moment, but Kate eventually came to understand what she was talking about. "You were in the system." It wasn't a question or a statement, just a fact; just the truth.

Brennan nodded in the slightest bit. "I understand how it is. To not be wanted. To not be understood."

Kate was watching her intently with a suspicion she didn't know a child could possess. And as if she could read her mind, Kate questioned, "Why are you really here?"

Brennan eyed Kate in the hospital bed, the tubes and machines that were feeding out of her, keeping her alive. All of this was just a glimpse of her past. A past she had wanted to forget, but now that she was reliving it, she found that she couldn't turn away. Not this time. She didn't think it was best to tell Kate the whole story, so instead she shorten it down to a few words which held the truth and most importantly, her past. "I'm here," Brennan began, her eyes never faltering, "because, maybe, this is my second chance."

----

She doesn't tell me anything more and I don't ask because I know she understands.

I smile at her and she gives a ghosted one back.

For the first time I feel like I belong.

Maybe, Danni was right. Maybe, everything does happen for a reason.

----

"Kate!" an adorable four-year-old ran into the room and launched herself into Kate's arms.

Brennan looked at the child's angel hair and wondered if this was the same color of Kate's hair before she lost it to chemo treatment. It was uncanny how much they resembled each other. Through their chestnut freckles, to their warm smile, and to even the very shape of their faces. There wasn't a doubt in Brennan's mind that they were sisters, the only difference was the color of their beautiful eyes. Kate's an entrancing green, the other, an alluring blue. They complemented each other in every way Russ and she had not.

"This is Abby," Kate introduced. "Abby, this is Dr. Brennan."

Abby smiled, and Brennan had to look away, for the child's crystal blue eyes were drilling holes into her soul. "Hi," came her soft voice and Brennan nodded at the young child.

"Why, hello, sister."

Brennan turned toward the sinister voice and frowned. It was the same blond, rich woman she had interviewed earlier that day, and Brennan couldn't help but glare. Kate had been admitted into the hospital three hours ago, so what took this woman so long to get here?

"Mrs. Stone," she said, not even bothering to cover up her unwelcoming tone.

The woman placed both hands on her hips, pressed her crimson lips in a fine line, and eyed Brennan with disgust. "Dr. Marrow told me my sister was already here." She paused to smirk. "I wasn't even aware I had a sister."

Before Brennan could defend herself, Kate jumped to her rescue. "I asked her to stay with me."

Brennan stood to leave and waved to the two children on the bed. "I should get going."

The only thing remotely close to a goodbye was Abby saying, "When can Kate come home?"

Brennan was nearly out the door when she heard Mrs. Stone's cruel reply. "I don't know, Abby. I don't think insurance is going to cover this one."

----

By the time Brennan returned to her apartment it was nearly ten o'clock and before she even had the chance to open the door, she knew someone was there. Immediately, she went into 'defense' mood and she slowly pushed open her door, ready for a fight. The lights were on, her balcony door was open, and the apartment smelt of Chinese food. This could only mean one thing. Booth was here. Sighing heavily, she followed the delicious aroma out onto her balcony and she couldn't help but smile at the sight of him.

"What are you doing here?"

"You're late."

"I was working."

"You're lying."

She frowned, hating the fact that he knew her so well. "So?"

"How's Kate?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she told him stubbornly, but when he raised an eyebrow, she finally gave in. "She's fine."

"I wouldn't say leukemia is 'fine'."

"That's what I told her."

Booth chuckled and gestured towards the food lying on the table. "Help yourself."

She did and he smirked as she dug into the food. They were plunged into a comfortable silence. Booth liked this about them; how they could sit, saying nothing, and yet saying everything. They could pour their hearts out in everlasting peace through simple movements, thoughts. They didn't need words to articulate themselves. After all, they completed each other. Booth knew this, and he was just waiting around for her to realize this to.

It was then that a tail of light caught his eye and a smile lit his face. "Look," he shouted, pointing to the sky. "A shooting star." Something flashed across her eyes, a mix between awe and hatred.

"My friend use to tell me that every time you saw one it was a soul going to heaven," she told him sadly, like she was talking about a friend's funeral rather than a happy memory from the past. Her voice - it was so lifeless, full of pain and he wanted nothing more than to kiss her problems away.

"I like that," he told her.

"But then I found out that shooting stars are not stars at all. They're just rocks that enter the atmosphere and catch fire under friction."

"What's the fun in that?" He questioned. She shrugged and slowly, he leaned over to whisper in her ear, lingering a little longer than necessary, "But you can still wish on it. Can't you? What's stopping you?"

"Why? What you're wishing on is only a trail of debris," she told him bluntly.

He smirked at her logic, but quickly shook his head, dismissing her answer. "Don't think about it like that. Think about them as…angels – granting a wish to someone who cares."

"I don't –"

He interrupted her, "Just forget about all that science jumbo. If you could have one wish – hypothetically –what would you wish for?"

"Hypothetically, I don't believe in wishes."

He glared at her, and in a more intense tone, he repeated the question, "If you could have one wish, what would you wish for?" He watched as she stared up into the starry night sky. For a moment he thought that she was ignoring him, but to his shock she actually answered his question.

"Something I can't have," she whispered, losing herself in a thousand thoughts, not one of which Booth could guess. He stared at her for a moment, trying to figure out what she had meant by it. By the sound of her voice he assumed that whatever it was, it was something that meant a lot to her. "But it doesn't matter," she added, recovering quickly from whatever it was she had been thinking about. "Wishes don't come true."

"Sure they do, but only if your wish is reasonable. You can't go wishing someone back from the dead… it's not possible," he told her so softly, she had to lean closer to hear him. "And when you make a wish it doesn't mean that it'll happen in the near future. It could happen within years. You just have to be patient."

"And why is that?"

"Because some wishes are harder to fulfill than others and they want it to be just perfect."

Her eyes grew cross, trying to understand his absurd opinion about stars. "And what do they – the people who grant them – get out of it?"

"A smile. A full-hearted smile."

"It seems like a lot for just a smile," she pointed out stubbornly.

He nodded, grinning softly at her. "You'd be surprised. A person would do a lot to make someone they love smile."

Despite herself, she smiled at him and he didn't hesitate to return that simple gesture.

--

--

Present Day

As it turned out, hell wasn't watching the people you love get hurt; it was coming in during the second act, when it was already too late to stop it from happening. Booth studied his partner who was sitting across from him. She was still holding that damn gun, and it took all of his strength to not rip it out of her hands. She hadn't said anything in the past couple of minutes and she was scarring him at her unresponsive form. It was then that he realized silence did have a sound.

"Bones…"

She huffed, wildly flinging the gun around. "Stop, Booth! Just stop!" she shouted at him. "I'm not leaving. I can't let her die!"

"And what do you think is going to happen if she stays here?" he snapped at her, and he was more than surprised to hear the sob that shook her entire body. Immediately, he wanted to take back everything he said. He hadn't meant to make her cry. He hadn't meant to hurt her. "Bones," he whispered as he reached out to touch her hand and for a brief moment she let him.

"Mrs. Stone won't pay the money and neither will insurance…" she admitted.

"Bones, you..."

"I have the money," she snapped. "I have the money and Mrs. Stone won't take it. She's letting Kate die."

Booth frowned. One of the police men outside had mentioned this and they had also mentioned why they wouldn't take it. Maybe they had misunderstood. "Did you tell them? I'm sure they'll understand…"

At that, she sharply pulled away from his touch and quickly replaced the gun against her head. "If they understood then neither of us would be here right now."

Sighing, he glanced at Kate. "Dr. Marrow said she'll die with or without the surgery, Bones."

Brennan didn't deny it.

Yes. That part about the stars was from my other story, "A Shooting Star" which I probably will just leave at a oneshot btw. Don't hate me for it, I just don't have any idea on how to write it without it sounding stupid. Someone else can continue that story if they want. I really don't care.

Now as for this story, Please tell me what you thought.