AN: As promised, here's the next part. The last part is still with my wonderful beta, so it may be a few days or a week before I post it. Speaking of my beta, she deserves credit for clearing up of one of those "I think I've communicated clearly, but I'm really not" kind of paragraphs with this. Enjoy.
"Who are you?" he asked.
A stab of pain ripped her heart apart. He had promised he would never betray her.
Five minutes ago she'd been impatiently waiting for him to wake up, hoping that he would still be willing to consider having a child with her, that maybe somehow he could ease the loneliness she felt. Now he didn't know who she was.
He was the one who knew who she was when she wasn't even sure herself, like when she'd found out her first name was Joy. Now their roles were reversed. Actually this was worse, because now they were much closer. It was too difficult and painful to even contemplate.
Her coping mechanism kicked in. Instantly she was the reserved and compartmentalized forensic anthropologist that most people saw, impassive mask firmly in place. "I'll go get your doctor."
She walked toward the door.
"Wait!" he called. "I just need to know. Are you Bones or Bren?"
Bren? What was he talking about? There was no way he could know about her story, was there? "I'm Bones to you. How do you know about Bren?"
She listened as he recounted his dream. It matched the story she'd been writing.
"I wrote that story while I was waiting for you to wake up. When I read it all the way through before I deleted it, I must have read it out loud."
"You deleted it?"
Embarrassed, she shrugged. "It wasn't a story I intended to share with anyone."
A few moments passed in silence. He was confused about who she was. The relief was incredible. A few days in his normal life and he'd be fine.
"I should really let your doctor know you woke up."
Her story had become his dream. And he seemed upset that she'd deleted it. Why?
She approached the nurses' station. "Agent Booth is wake."
"Excellent news. I'm sure the doctor will be by shortly and he'll probably want to do some tests."
She nodded her thanks and returned to Booth's room, her mind spinning. What did he make of her story? Reality could never live up to fiction.