Chapter 9: The Next Phase

Booth was sitting on Brennan's couch in her office, playing with the Nintendo DS that Parker left in the car yesterday when he was visiting. While the video game was addicting, he was planning on taking the game console back to his son after he and Bones went to his first radiation treatment today. He was sent into Bones' office after she told him to get off the platform because he was driving her crazy with his boredom.

Four weeks ago, he went through his sixth and last chemotherapy treatment and right now, he was feeling pretty good. If this week were like the last five months, he would be puking his guts out and feeling like a piece of shit right about now, so he figured any state he was in where the world wasn't spinning mercilessly was okay with him. And while he was anxious about the radiation treatment he was about to undergo, he knew that it couldn't be any worse than what he just went through.

According to Dr. Liao, the team of doctors that were assigned to his case decided that it would be good for him to go through a six-week course of radiation, which would take 15-20 minutes everyday. They were going to irradiate the area where they found the lymph node with the micro-metastasis, which in his case would be his right cervical lymph node, or in his terms, the right side of his neck. Bones told him that the lasers, which Parker thought were pretty cool, were going to damage the DNA of the cells that still remained around the area of his removed lymph nodes, just in case any cancer cells remained. All Booth really remembered was that this type of therapy was really corrosive to the skin in the area so he had to be diligent about applying aloe vera lotion four times a day to minimize the irritation.

She also insisted that she go with him to the therapy. They scheduled it at 12:30 pm everyday so that it fell within her lunch break since Dr. Liao said it would be best it Booth had someone to drive him to and from treatment just in case he had a bad reaction. And even though Booth insisted that he could take a cab, he was happy and relieved when she firmly shot down that idea and told him in no uncertain terms that she would drive him to his treatments.

The arrangement worked for him too because that meant he could spend the morning at the lab and consult on any open cases that the Jeffersonian was working on. He missed his work so badly and just because he was on medical leave didn't mean that Bones' skills were not still in high demand. While she had refused to take a new partner while he was out of commission, several FBI Agents from the homicide division took over Booth's caseload and did most of the legwork on their own, only coming to Bones for her squinty conclusions. Booth personally loved the arrangement because he didn't trust anyone else to watch her back out there like he could. He was itching to get back, even if it only meant consulting, because it would mean some of the normalcy in his life was coming back. Even though he still had a long way to go before he would be fit enough to pass an FBI physical for a field agent, the fact that he wasn't going to be burdened with being as sick as a dog every three weeks anymore was a huge relief.

"Booth, that insistent video game noise is still distracting me," Bones said as she stomped into his office, obviously a little grumpy this morning. He turned the game off out of respect for her work and where he was, but it didn't help his boredom.

"I'm sorry, Bones, but I am sooo bored," he said with a whine he learned from his son. Unfortunately, Bones was not in the mood today.

"Booth if you are going to act like a child, maybe I should have dropped you off at Parker's school this morning with all of the other children instead of bringing you here today. But I have work to do so you either need to find a quiet activity to do or go up to the lounge to play the game," she told him, not looking away from her computer screen. Booth couldn't help but smile at her tone though, which made her even angrier. "Booth…" she said in warning.

"Sorry, Bones, but you sounded exactly like my third grade teacher for a minute there," he said as he got up and walked over to her desk, spinning her in her chair so that she faced him. He leaned down; bracing his hands on the arm rests on either side of her body and kissed the pout off her lips. When she put one hand on her chest, right over his heart as she leaned up to respond to the kiss, he knew that she was not really mad at him.

"Come on, Bones," he said as he broke the kiss and went to grab her winter coat from the coat rack by her office door. "Let me make it up to you with lunch before we have to go to radiation."

"All right," she said, quickly closing her laptop before letting him help her put her trench coat on.

Normally, they would have walked to the diner, but the combination of the chilly October weather and the fact they had somewhere to be afterward, they got in Brennan's hybrid SUV and made there way to their lunch. As they walked into the diner, the warmth of the heater warmed them after the blast of cold air chilled them when they got out of the car.

Booth took off his beanie, already sweating with the rapid increase in temperature as they took their customary seats in the diner. And even though he never considered himself a vain person, he always braced himself for the stares when he took off his headwear in public. Because while it was not uncommon for men to have shaved heads, his thinned out eyebrows and eyelashes combined with the fact the he had absolutely no facial hair, including stubble, and not a hair on his head, told people that there was more to his condition than just being razor-happy. He also hated that despite the fact that he had been very diligent about using his alcohol-free mouthwash four times a day and brushing his teeth often; the chemotherapy caused some stains on his teeth that Dr. Liao assured him would go away after a couple of weeks. It still sucked though.

But when his thoughts were starting to get him down, he always had Bones to rely on and cheer him up again. After his fifth treatment, she had started taking care of herself better as well, starting her karate classes again and even going to a three-day conference put on by the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. It thrilled him that she was able to put herself first for once and it showed in her behavior, making their time together so much more pleasurable, in more ways than one.

Their meals came even without them ordering, their regular waitress Sandy knowing exactly what they wanted; a Cobb salad without the bacon and with a raspberry vignette for Brennan and a cheeseburger for Booth with his fries put on a plate between them, saving Brennan the trouble of reaching across the table to steal them from his plate.

"So what are you working on right now, Bones?" he asked as they started their meal.

Brennan looked at him, questioning why he was curious in her work. Normally, whenever she talked about her museum work, his eyes got droopy and glazed over. "Why?" she asked, being her normal blunt self.

He shrugged while playing with his burger, not making eye contact with her. "Just good to think about something else, that's all," he told her.

Deciding to do as he wished right now, she began talking about her current work, but put it in the back of her mind to ask him about it later. "Well, currently I am focusing my efforts on some skeletons that were discovered in Lexington when they broke ground on a new housing segment. We are trying to ascertain if they were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. It is quite exciting actually, because…"

Booth started to tune out of what she was saying but not to the tone of her voice, which was filled with excitement. He loved hearing her speak about something that she is really passionate about, even if he didn't understand half the things she was saying.

Lunch was finished in short order and before they knew it, they were in the waiting room of the radiation treatment center, which was in the basement of the outpatient pavilion near George Washington Hospital. It was in the basement so that all of the radiation was in an area that could be kept away from the other patients.

Booth went into the dressing room and took his shirt and his beanie off, putting on one of the hospital robes that was in the room, just like the nurses instructed him upon his arrival. He was just happy he was able to keep his pants on. They had lockers available for him to put his personal belongings in along with the keys on a wristband. They also provided him with a hospital identification bracelet that could be reused for all the times he came for his treatment. After changing, he went and joined Bones in the waiting room, where she was sitting quietly and reading one of her anthropology journals. But when he sat down in the chair next to her, she reached out and grasped his hand, linking her fingers with his, without even looking up from his reading. The gesture meant everything to Booth. He reached over with his other hand and put it on her cheek, turning her head to face him, and planted a soft kiss on her lips.

"What was that for?" she asked as they broke the kiss, surprised at his sudden gesture.

"For being you, Bones. Nothing more."

"Well, that is easy," she said, making him laugh.

"Mr. Booth," the nurse called out to him from behind the door of the treatment room. She gave his hand one last squeeze before he got up and went through the door to the treatment.

Brennan went back to reading her journal, knowing that the treatment would only take about twenty minutes. As she sat there, she saw another couple walk into the room, noting that they were a little bit older than she and Booth, but by the rings on their left ring fingers, she new that this couple was married. The woman looked like Booth did, with no hair and more gaunt features and they even had matching outfits in the hospital robes. When the woman's name was called, Brennan went back to her journal, trying to not let her natural anthropological curiosity to be mistaken for being nosy.

"Who are you waiting for?" the man asked. Since there was no one else in the waiting room, Brennan used her excellent deductive reasoning abilities to ascertain that the man was talking to her.

"Oh, my partner. He is here for radiation therapy," she replied, knowing that the term applied to both her and Booth's working relationship and their intimate one as well.

"Yeah, my wife is here for that, too. Breast cancer," he clarified.

"Brain cancer," she told the man, not knowing why she was confiding in this stranger. Perhaps knowing that they were both in a similar situation, or 'in the same boat' as Booth would say, made her feel comfortable around here.

"The diagnosis was a punch in the gut, for both of us. And then with all the chemo, definitely brought a change to our family life. But I'll do anything to help her out and make her feel comfortable and let her focus solely on getting better," he said and even Brennan could see the love for his wife in his eyes.

"How do you do that?" she asked him, her anthropology journal now laying forgotten in her lap, never bypassing the opportunity to do some research.

The man sighed, pausing for a moment before telling her. "I know what she worries about the most is that our two daughters will forget her if the worst were to happen. And I know she doesn't want their last memories of her to be of her as a sick patient. So I set up opportunities for them to do some fun things together as mother and daughters that will let them form some more memoires not associated with cancer," he said, smiling. "Never before in my life had I made an appointment for manicures and pedicures and now the salon knows me by my voice over the phone."

Brennan smiled at his confession, thinking that Booth must feel the same way about Parker. He had been unable to go to most of his All-Star games this last summer and when he was there, he didn't have the energy to do the roughhousing she had observed between the two before Booth's diagnosis. "Thank you for your honesty and I hope your wife feels better," she told the man as she got up and exited the waiting room, telling the receptionist on the way out to tell Booth to meet her out front.

Once she found she got cell reception again, she scrolled down her contacts until she found the name she was looking for. The person receiving the call picked up after two rings.

"Rebecca? Hi, it's Temperance. I need a favor."

Brennan was again sitting happily with her anthropology journal but this time, it was in Booth's apartment, where she was currently encased by his comfy couch and had her feet up on the coffee table in front of her. This is not normally how she would spend a Saturday afternoon, but after a busy week that included Booth's first radiation treatments, she was ready to relax during the time she had to herself, knowing it was going to be ending soon. Her family would be coming home soon.

About six hours ago, she had sent the Booth boys off to a ropes course and hiking adventure in Rock Creek Park. She had managed to convince Rebecca to switch weekends so that Parker could stay with them and have this fun father-son bonding experience. After consulting with Booth's doctors, she knew that he would have the energy required to do this with his son.

Suddenly, the door flew open and a pair of feet came running towards her.

"Bones, that was so awesome!" Parker exclaimed as he jumped up on the couch right next to her. "Me and Dad went on this rope ladder up to the top to the wall and went across a wire at the top! Then they had walls to climb up and over and when we were hiking, Dad took me to the top of the rock so we could look over the whole park! It was so awesome," he reiterated at the end of his story.

"Parks, why don't you get washed up for dinner?" Booth told him as he came in the room with a box of pizza in his hands.

"I was just telling Bones how much fun we had today, huh, Dad?" his son asked him, not moving from place on the couch.

Booth went over and ruffled his son's blonde curls after putting the pizza box down on the coffee table with the paper plates and napkins that he had picked up in the kitchen. "We sure did, bub. Now go wash up so we can eat!"

That was all the motivation the boy needed as he bounced off the couch and ran into the bathroom. Booth took the now vacant place on the couch, sinking into the cushions. She turned toward him, tucking one of her legs underneath her body and putting one of her hands on his forearm.

"How was it today?" she asked, knowing Parker had a good time but worried about Booth's silence.

His smile told her she had no reason to worry.

"Bones, it was amazing. I am beyond exhausted right now but it felt like old times between us, you know? We were able to go out and play again for the first time in what seems like years. The last thing I want is for him to see me as a sick old man. I feel like I am finally turning the corner to being normal again and being able to do those kind of things with Parker is further proof of that."

At that moment, Parker bounced back in the room again and the Booth boys participated in another one of their normal activities: seeing who could stuff the most pizza in their mouth at one time. Brennan personally liked their afternoon activities better.

And after watching a movie about a war in space, Booth tucked Parker into bed, finally worn out. Brennan was in the kitchen loading the dishwasher when she felt a pair of arms circle her waist from behind and a kiss placed on the back of her neck. She straightened up and turned around in his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down to meet her for a kiss.

"I'll never forget what you did for me and my son today, Bones. Ever," he said when they broke the kiss, his dark brown eyes gazing into her sky blue ones.

"Just planning something fun for my boys," she replied, loving the way his eyes lit up at her statement.

With that, she took him back to their bedroom and let him show her how appreciative he was through his actions.