Author's Note: I didn't feel like this was fully fleshed out enough for it to be anything but a legit outtake, or deleted scene, but I liked the idea. So, here it is!

Setting: During and after the S4 finale.

Momentary
Lasting but a moment; very brief; fleeting: a momentary glimpse.

When he woke up, bright lights were shining in his eyes. He was aware that he was speaking, but everything was hazy and he couldn't tell what he was saying. The last thing he remembered was discovering he was going to have a child with his gorgeous wife. The lights weren't harsh in that room, and he wasn't alone, but in this room the lights were blinding and nobody was with him.

Then, he saw her face. She was talking to him, too, but he couldn't focus on her words. He couldn't place what was different, but she didn't look quite the same.

Glimpses of what he thought were his last few days flashed in his head. Waking up next to her, the ups and downs of the murder investigation, their playful banter, everything. But the way she was looking at him just didn't add up.

"It felt so real," he heard himself repeating. Finally fully conscious, he looked at her and asked, "Who are you?"

Her response told him that brief life that lasted but a moment wasn't his life at all. But it still felt painfully real.

He doesn't remember what he said to make her laugh. When he saw her lips part in a smile, his mind was transported elsewhere. The grin she giving him reminded him of another time… of a whole other life. It brought him back to their bedroom when she joined him early that morning.

Images of her face hovering over his with that smile filled his mind. His senses were consumed with the memory of the feeling of her body on his, of the words that fell from her lips before they met his own. He could almost smell her all over again. His body tingled where she had placed her hands.

It felt so real when he first woke up, and it doesn't feel any less real as he sits across from her at the diner.

He vaguely hears her chatter as they drive in his SUV. The Sequoia is nothing like their sleek sports car, but their conversation is. She's saying something about making a dynamic and effective team, but he hears her saying how interesting of a couple they are.

She continues talking, saying things about how they are successful not only for their own personal strengths, but because of how great of a team they have backing them up. Booth hears her talk about how much their employees love them and are sacrificing for them.

They're having two completely separate conversations, and one is real, but he can't quite distinguish which.

The next time he feels as if he is reliving his coma dream is when she finds him waiting for her in his office. He's sitting in a chair, but before he knows it, he has no clue why he was there. He doesn't notice her walking to her desk and opening her laptop. Instead, he watches her ghost saunter over to him with a hint of a grin.

He imagines himself looking up at her with a lopsided smile of his own before opening his arms for her. His chest, lap, and neck suddenly feel hot, as if there is another person sitting on him. The feeling of her arms wrapped around his neck and her forehead resting on his is so strong, he actually stands up.

He left the office without answering Brennan's concerned questions. He couldn't bear to hear the next words from his trance and not have them be true when he "woke up" again.

Everything he was experiencing were fleeting glimpses of the life they lived in his dream, and every time he couldn't help but long for them to return.