Chapter Eighteen:

Her skin was still a peculiar shade of grey, her eyes sunken with dark circles around them and when she spoke she could barely bring her voice above a whisper, but when Brennan saw Booth walk into the room holding Christine, the sparkle that had been missing from her eyes earlier magically returned. The baby seemed to realize that Mom needed her to take it easy and was content to lay against her chest holding Monkey while Brennan spoke to her in hushed tones.

Booth couldn't quite make out the words but he smiled watching Christine giggle in response to whatever Brennan was saying.

The door creaked open and Booth walked over to invite Max and Cam to come in.

Max knelt down to kiss Brennan on the forehead, "Hey baby. I'm so glad you're back."

"Me too, Dad. Booth says you were helpful with Christine. Thank you."

"No need to think me for that. I'm Grandpa, it's what I do."

He squeezed her hand before stepping back to allow Cam and Brennan a chance to speak. Walking back to where Booth stood he whispered, 'She looks exhausted.'"

"Yeah. I'm telling you Max, once I know she's going to be okay, I'm going after these bastards."

"I wouldn't expect anything less, Seeley."

Cam joined them after spending several minutes speaking to Brennan, the baby in her arms. "They're both sound asleep. Do you want me to take her home?"

"Yeah, that'd probably be a good idea. You're pretty tired too Max, you should go with them."

Max nodded, "You call if you need anything."

"I will."

As they left, Booth walked over and adjusted the covers, wrapping them tightly around Brennan. Reassuring himself that she was comfortable, he fell into a chair, sleep taking him as soon as he shut his eyes.

"Booth?" Brennan's voice was thick with sleep as she tried to raise her head to look at him.

"I'm right here," he scouted his chair closer to her bed and took her hand.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"A few hours. But that's okay, the doctor said that you needed to rest. It'll give the drugs a chance to get out of your system."

"Christine went home with Cam?"

"Well, Cam and Michelle went to our house to keep her. Max is staying there too, but he's pretty worn out so they're going to help him with the baby."

"I don't feel very well, Booth." Her voice was weak and she was struggling to keep her eyes open as she spoke.

He brushed the hair off of her forehead and laid his head against hers, "I know you don't. Just rest, okay?" Booth spoke in hushed tones, trying to sooth her with his voice.

"Is your mom staying at the house too?"

It had been a long day. Brennan was still groggy and disoriented but Booth hadn't realized that she didn't understand what had happened. He adjusted himself in his chair and stroked the side of her hand with his thumb before he spoke.

"Mom went back to The Facility."

Brennan's eyes shot open wide and she lifted herself onto one elbow, turning towards him. "No, no, but you just found her. Why did she go back? She shouldn't have left."

"They wouldn't bring you back until they got her. They took you to blackmail her into returning."

Brennan collapsed back against the bed, as if all the energy that she still had in her had been zapped from her body. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, don't be sorry. None of this is your fault." He reached over to wipe the tears off of her face.

"I insisted that you talk to her. You didn't want to."

"I'm glad that I did. I'm glad that I got to know her, even if it didn't last. Okay? I'm glad."

Brennan had her eyes closed again, and her grip on Booth's hand was so tight that her knuckles were turning white. He whispered soothing words into her ear until she began to relax. "Tell me what you're thinking. Are you remembering?"

"It was quite unusual there, Booth. The walls were very white. So much so that it hurt my eyes to look at them. The floors were made of stone. The tiles were cold against my feet. They took my shoes away from me and made me walk barefoot. Where are my shoes? My rings?" Brennan looked down at her hands and felt bile rising in her throat. Material objects of course could be replaced, but the rings she wore were different than most possessions. Her mother's hand me down ring that her father had given her once he had reappeared in his life and the ring that had once belonged to Booth's grandmother; these were objects that could not be replaced.

"I don't know." Booth knew she was upset. "It doesn't matter Bones."

"But it does matter. Those rings carry quite a large amount of significance to me."

"Okay, but we'll worry about that later. Right now I'm worried about you." The feel of her hand in? his was cold and sweaty all at the same time. He kissed her lips, which had a peculiar shade of grayish blue to them, and encouraged her to continue talking about The Facility.

"They were all very nice to me Booth. Some of the ladies there, they gave me a machine and let me pump breast milk so that the baby could still nurse once I returned. I hadn't even thought of that."

Booth grimaced. He had. It had been quite a task to get Christine to take the first bottle of formula after they had run out of stored breast milk. He had almost thought she would go hungry until she realized that she had no other choice.

"It was such a sterile place. It smelled of formaldehyde and bleach; and reminded me quite a bit of the lab. The smells were almost too strong. And the rooms were all the same. They let me wander around quite a bit. They didn't try to keep me in one place. I felt like a zombie. I knew that they were drugging me, but I wasn't sure how."

"Do you remember how they took you from the airport?"

"No. Not at all. I remember leaving you to go to the restroom. And then I was on a plane again. There was a man sitting beside me, dressed in a grey suit. He didn't speak. I kept trying to speak but I couldn't. My tongue felt thick, and as if it were three sizes larger than normal. I would think of words that I wanted to say but I couldn't figure out how to make my mouth let me say them. I've never felt that way before."

"They found a lot of different drugs in your system. The combination did a number on you."

She nodded, remembering what the physician had told them earlier. "Has the doctor said anything else concerning my renal function?"

"They're going to recheck it in the morning. I guess we won't really know anything until then. Are you in pain at all?"

"Not really pain, no. I just feel sick at my stomach and I'm so tired. I can't explain it; it's like I've stayed up for a week without sleep."

"We'll figure all this out Bones. But not tonight, you need to rest."

He watched as a look of concern crossed her features. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"You're, you're not going to go anywhere, are you?"

"I'm not going anywhere. I promise," he reassured her.

"I'm sorry about your mom," Brennan said as tears threatened to fall once again. She had enjoyed having Hester around too. And that she was gone now crushed her heart.

"You think she's safe there?"

"I think it's her home. Do you wish she were still here?"

"There's nothing I would change about this Bones. Nothing. My home is right here with you. Go to sleep."

"You're not going anywhere are you?" She asked again, in her drug altered state.

He held her hand tighter, "No, if I have my way I'll never let go of you again."

For tonight he was content to sit and watch her sleep but tomorrow would be different. Starting tomorrow he intended to resume his investigation into The Facility. And someone was going to pay for what had happened to his wife.