My head and my heart are colliding chaotic.

Pace of the world I just wish I could stop it.

Try to appear like I've got it together, I'm falling apart.

Save me, somebody take my hand and lead me.

Slow me down, don't let love pass me by just show me how cause I'm ready to fall.

Slow me down; don't let me live a lie.

Before my life flies by, I need you to slow me down.

February turned to March in no time, and before he knew it, it was March 15: judgment day. Brennan had continued to act bipolar towards him over the past few weeks which made Booth severely confused about the extent of his progress. One minute things would be perfect between them and the next she would be biting his head off. It was clear that she was still struggling with all of this, but Booth couldn't figure out why. Either she wanted to be with him or she didn't. The choice should be easy.

"Quick, go clean up the living room while I clean up the kitchen," Brennan said in a rush, as she passed by Booth's bedroom.

"Why? What's going on?" Booth asked, pushing himself off of his bed.

"Mindy Johnson is here!"

"Oh no, anybody but Mindy Johnson!" Booth exclaimed in mock horror.

"You don't remember who she is, do you?" Brennan asked, scooping a stuffed rabbit up from the hallway floor.

"Can't say that I do."

"Katie's case worker."

"With ACS? What the hell is she doing here?"

"Surprise check up. Now help me clean!"

"Bones, if she's already here –"

"Shut up and help!"

Figuring arguing was useless at this point, Booth threw on the closest shirt and headed downstairs. He had just reached the disaster area that had become their living room, when the doorbell rang.

"Bones! She's here!"

He heard a stifled 'shit' in response, followed by her footsteps pounding down the stairs. She handed Katie off to him and proceeded to throw miscellaneous items into the coat closet.

"Okay, I'm going to answer the door now," Booth warned her, pulling on the handle.

The petite redhead smiled back at him, pushing a stray curl behind her ear. "Hello Agent Booth, Katie." She nodded in the child's direction. "May I come in?"

Booth glanced over his shoulder for Brennan. She was oddly absent from his peripheral vision and the living room now appeared to be relatively clean.

"Uh, yes, come on in," Booth told her.

Mindy did and immediately made her way to the couch and took a seat. "Where is Dr. Brennan?" she asked, looking around. "She is still residing here with you, correct?"

"Yeah, yes she is. She was just here a minute ago. Bones? Mindy Johnson is here!"

"Bones?" Mindy inquired, tapping her pen to her chin.

"Ah yeah…she works with bones for a living and I gave her that nickname years ago and it just sort of stuck."

Brennan walked in from the kitchen reminding Booth oddly of a Stepford Wife. Her hair, which had been disheveled mere minutes ago, appeared to be without flaw and she was carrying a pitcher of lemonade. He couldn't help but cock his head at her.

"Ms. Johnson, I wasn't expecting to you see you today," Brennan said, with what Booth knew to be her fake smile.

"That's the fun of surprise visits," Mindy responded. "Is that lemonade?"

Brennan poured them all glasses and then took a seat next to Booth and Katie.

"So," Mindy started, taking a long sip of her sweet drink. "How are things going here?"

Booth and Brennan looked at each other.

"Fine," they said in unison.

"And Katie has taken well to you, I hope?"

"Sure has," Booth answered. "She's even started calling us 'Mom' and 'Dad.'"

"What about the two of you, are you still fighting?"

"No," Brennan said at the same time Booth answered, "It's complicated."

Brennan shot him a look and he shrugged apologetically.

"Interesting," Mindy mumbled, writing something down in her notebook.

"What are you writing?" Brennan asked, trying to take a look.

"Oh just some notes to help me with my final decision."

"Final decision about what?" Booth asked.

"If you two are fit parents for Katie."

"You can't take her away from us, she's ours!" Brennan exclaimed.

"Dr. Brennan, calm down. No one said I was taking her away from you yet."

"Yet?"

Booth put his hand on her back to try and reassure her, but Brennan simply shrugged it off with a huff.

"You….you…" Brennan stammered. "Yes, Booth and I have our issues, our fights, but what couple doesn't? We're working on it; that's the best we can do. But that doesn't stop us from being great parents to Katie. She loves us just as much as we love her and to take her away from us would just be cruel. She's already lost one set of parents, don't make her lose another."

"Dr. Brennan," Mindy started, gently. "I recall you saying that you were once in foster care. What circumstances put you there?"

"That is none of your damn business."

"Were you by any chance taken away from your parents because they were fighting too much, perhaps physically?"

"No," Brennan said flatly. "You're not even close."

"Listen, Ms. Johnson," Booth butted in. "Bones is extremely protective when it comes to family, even though she often doesn't realize she's doing it. Katie here is the only thing she has left of her best friends, and her parents…they were good people. It is none of your business as to how she ended up in foster care; your main concern here is Katie not Dr. Brennan."

"But –," Mindy started.

"I'm not finished," Booth cut her off. "When I first met this woman, she didn't want to be a mother. She didn't want kids. A couple of years ago she finally changed her mind, but she never found the right guy to be the father. And then Angela and Hodgins had Katie. As her godparents, I've watched Brennan care for and nurture this little girl every chance she got. And now…she is a really great mom."

"Thank you," Brennan whispered, stroking Katie's tiny ponytail.

"I'm sorry; I gave off the wrong impression. I have no intention of taking Katie away from you two, nor would I want to. It's my job to make these check up visits and take notes. Sadly, it is very normal for me to remove the child from the home because I usually get handed child abuse cases. You three are doing just fine."

"So we passed?" Booth asked.

"With flying colors. I see nothing wrong with this household. However, you can expect another surprise visit within the next three months. It's mandatory, so don't worry you did nothing wrong," Mindy told them, getting to her feet. "Excellent lemonade by the way."

"Thank you," Brennan answered softly.

Booth placed Katie in her playpen and walked Mindy to the door. Once she was gone, he came to the living room and collapsed back down onto the couch.

"I've always hated social workers," Brennan said through gritted teeth.

"They're just trying to help."

She scoffed. "You haven't dealt with them as much as I have. When I told my social worker that I had been locked in the trunk of a car for two days, she didn't believe me. She just couldn't understand the fact that every family she put me in… At least you had Pops."

"Yeah, I thank God for him every day."

"Booth –"

She was cut off by his ringing cell phone.

"Hold that thought. Agent Booth. He did what? You can't be serious. Yeah, okay, fine. I'll be right there."

"What's wrong?" Brennan asked.

"Tony? Our main suspect? He just strapped a bomb to his chest and walked into his office building. The hostage negotiations unit says he only wants to talk to me. I gotta head down there."

"I'll come with you."

"No, Bones, this is dangerous. Stay here with Katie."

"I'm your partner. I'm coming. We'll get the neighbors to watch Katie."

"And what happens if the bomb goes off, and we both die? She is going to end up in the one place you do not want her going."

"We survive near death situations all of the time."

"We have a kid now, Bones. We have to think about her needs more than we need to consider your need for excitement and adventure."

"So what, I'm not allowed to go into the field anymore?"

"I didn't say that."

"Then I'm coming."

"Bones –"

"We're a team, Booth. That means we have each other's backs. I'm not letting you do this alone. And you know just as well as I do how stubborn I can be."

He groaned, scrubbing a hand over his face. "Fine, but you're staying outside of the building. Take it or leave it."

"I'll go call the neighbors."

The scene was mad chaos when they arrived. The police had barricaded off the building and curious onlookers were crowded around. Booth flashed his badge and made it passed the barricade with Brennan right behind him.

"Special Agent Seeley Booth," he said, extending his hand to the negotiations officer. "And this is my partner, Dr. Temperance Brennan."

"The anthropologist?" the officer asked. "We don't need her here."

"She's just here for more moral support, anyway," Booth said patting her on the back. Brennan groaned. "So what have we got here?"

"Well thankfully, the building only has two floors. We tried to evacuate them, but the suspect is refusing. He says the only person he'll talk to is you."

"So what I am doing here? Calling him or heading in there?"

"He wants you to go in there and talk to him face to face, but we'd prefer it if you'd just call him."

"I'll go in."

"Booth, don't be crazy," Brennan told him. "He wants you in there so he can blow the building up with you in it."

"I know his type, Bones. He's not like that. I'm just going to go in and talk some sense into him, and we'll all come out of this unscathed."

"But –"

"Okay, Bones wait here," he told her.

"Come on, Booth."

"No, we had a deal remember? I told you that you could come if you stayed outside where it's safe."

"No, it's not about that. I don't want you going in there."

"You've just got to trust me on this one. I know what I'm doing."

Brennan sighed reluctantly knowing that he too was stubborn and wouldn't back down easily. "Fine. Just be careful, okay?"

"I always am," he smiled.

She watched his backside as he disappeared into the building. She knew he was right. Now that they had Katie, they couldn't both be risking their lives on a daily basis, but that didn't stop her from missing the thrill of it all. It also didn't stop her from worrying about him. She usually didn't "listen" to her internal organs, but her gut was telling her that him going into that building was a bad idea.

And then it happened. The sound of metal hitting metal as the bomb ripped apart the building from the inside out.

Her breath caught in her throat as she watched the scene in front of her unfold. The building that Booth had just entered mere minutes ago was collapsing in on itself. The explosion had left her ears ringing and she could feel the debris pelting her skin. The blast had thrown her to the ground and she struggled to push herself up with, what was more than likely, her broken left arm.

"This isn't happening," she mumbled to herself. There was no way she could handle losing him too, no matter how pissed she was at it him right now.

"Booth!" her scream ripped from her throat, but was muffled by the scene of chaos that surrounded her. Sirens wailed in the distance and onlookers screamed and ran in panic.

Brennan brought herself to her feet with great effort. She ached all over and no doubt had a cracked rib or two. She stared at the wreckage trying to determine the best way to get into it. There had to be something that she could do. There had to be something she could do to save him unless…no. She scolded herself for even thinking it.

As she began to make her way over to the collapsed building, the paramedics arrived.

"Ma'am!" One of them was addressing her. She ignored him. Her injuries could wait, and she feared that Booth, however, could not.

Brennan realized then, that she hadn't really thought this thing through. Her job in these types of situations was to identify the remains that were brought to her; she had never gone searching through the wreckage herself. And yet that didn't stop her from hurling chunks of drywall out of her way with her good arm.

"Come on, Booth," she whispered. "Where are you?"

The paramedic from earlier approached her. "Ma'am, I need to check you out."

"I'm fine. Bones heal. Massive head trauma, on the other hand, does not," Brennan said flatly, continuing to toss drywall haphazardly around her.

"Ma'am, if you have a loved one who was in the building at the time, search and rescue will –"

"No, no, no, see you don't understand. This man, he's…he's my partner. He was the one to pull me out of the ground after I was buried alive. He was the one to save me when that psychopath was either about to stab me with a knife or sick his dogs on me. He was the one who came rushing all the way to New Orleans when he found out I had been attacked. I owe it him, to be the one who saves him."

Some shuffling in the wreckage caught her eye, and Brennan immediately ran to it and began digging. The paramedic appeared at her side again, but this time he was actually helping her dig instead of pestering her about her injuries. A hand clamped onto her wrist, but her moment of joy deflated when she noticed the wedding ring. It wasn't him.

She allowed the paramedic to finish the digging as she stood up to survey the scene once again. Where the hell was he? She tried to think back to her archeology training. This was sort of like that, wasn't it? But she hadn't been in a situation that required her to think like this in years, not since Maluku. And that's when she saw it, a flash of color. It was a pattern so crazy it could only be one thing: Booth's sock.

Brennan ran towards it, ignoring the jolt of pain that shot through her ankle. Yet another injury she hadn't even noticed. She knelt down next to the color and began to dig frantically with both arms, despite the wave of pain radiating from her left arm. She could feel tears running down her cheeks and she wasn't sure if they were from the pain or because of Booth.

Please be alive, Brennan silently begged as she uncovered his limp body. Sure enough, it was him. The first thing she did, after checking for a pulse, was examine his head for signs of trauma. When all she found were scraps and bruises, she proceeded to gently shake him in an effort to wake up him.

"Come on, Booth, wake up. Please. Do it for me…and Katie. Please Booth, we need you."

She couldn't bear to think about what would happen to Katie if he didn't make it through this; or even worse, what would happen to her.

"Wake up!" she practically screamed in his face. Her hot tears felt like they were burning her face as they ran off of her cheeks and onto his. "Please, Booth. Look I'm sorry, okay? I've been overacting. I…I…I'm in love with you. There, I said it. I love you."

Brennan looked up, frantically searching for the paramedic from earlier. He was gone. The whole scene was still buzzing with panic and chaos. No one seemed to be listening as she called out, "Can we get some help over here?"

She felt torn between needing to stay with him and needing to go find someone to help him. She struggled to stand up again, but apparently running over here on her bad ankle hadn't been the best idea. Brennan immediately fell on top of Booth after trying to put her full weight on it. Her eyes widened, as she was positive she had heard him grunt after she landed on him.

"Booth?" she asked tentatively. "Can you hear me?"

He mumbled something incoherent in response. Brennan closed her eyes as relief washed over her. When she opened her eyes, she began rubbing his cheek with the pad of her thumb as she watched him come to. His eyes slowly began to open and adjust to his surroundings.

"What happened?" he asked, groggily.

"I'm not entirely sure. There was an explosion…"

"Katie?"

"She wasn't with us," Brennan said, shaking her head.

"Why are you on top of me?"

"I fell," Brennan blushed, moving into a seated position by his side.

Booth slowly tried to sit up, groaning as his head throbbed in the process. "I feel like I've been hit by a truck."

"It was a building, actually," she said softly.

He looked over at her. She looked pretty banged up herself. She was cradling her left arm to her chest in a way that made it look like she was hugging herself. Her face was covered in soot, save for the lines on her cheeks that her tears had left behind. Blood trickled down the side of her chin from a cut on her lip. And to top it all off, she still looked positively terrified.

"Bones, you're shaking," he told her, watching her shoulders and hands tremble.

"I…I thought…I thought that you…"

"Hey, shhh I'm okay. You're okay. We're okay," Booth soothed, scooting over to her to wrap her in his arms.

"Booth, you should really be laying down. I don't want you over-exerting yourself. You could have a concussion or –"

"I'll be fine, Bones."

She sighed and allowed her head to fall onto his shoulder.

"The building," Booth started, looking around him. "With our suspect…he set the bomb off after I entered didn't he?"

He felt Brennan nod against his shoulder.

"Huh, guess you were right after all."

"For once, I didn't want to be right."

He placed a soft kiss on the crown of her head.

"So, uh does this near-death experience finally mean I'm fully forgiven and that you're ready to be with me?" Booth asked hopefully.

"No…yes. But only because in those minutes when I thought you were gone…" Brennan trailed off, choking on a small sob. "I can't lose you too, Booth. I can't. Without you I have no one."

"That's not true and you know it."

"Isn't it? Yes, I have Katie, but losing you means I have to raise her alone and I'm starting to realize that I couldn't do that. She needs a father."

"What about your family? And the team?"

"Honestly, I haven't spoken to my family since the holidays. After everything that happened in our past, we're just…not close. And the team? They're friends, some of them just acquaintances. They're not…" she trailed off again looking down at her lap.

"Hey. Look at me," Booth told her.

Brennan lifted her head so she was looking into his eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"You could have died just now –"

"Weren't you just saying like an hour ago that we survive near death experiences all of the time? We're indestructible, baby!"

"Yes, but that was before…"

"Before what?"

"Before I realized just how much I love you."

From the way he was looking at her, Brennan deduced that Booth must have been unconscious when she'd said that earlier. Right now he looked very…

"Hey, you two need to come with me and get checked out!" the medic from earlier yelled, jogging over to them. He instantly recognized Brennan. "Oh good, you found your partner."

"I, uh, yeah," Brennan said, looking back over at him. He was staring at her very oddly. "What?"

"You've never said that to me before and actually sounded like you meant it."

"Well…I meant it."

"Took you long enough," Booth said with a smirk.

Brennan returned his smile. "You should just be glad that I said it at all."

"Trust me, Bones, I'm very glad."

AN: I totally wrote this chapter during Spring Break while I was in Mexico. It is very random. Sorry about that… Also feel like everything here was very rushed…meh. I don't like it...