Authors Note: Thank you all for your reviews. I really appreciate them!

ReadingRed, LiTTleMiSSmOOny, Alphie13: Thank you again for guessing what's wrong with her, it shows me if my leads are clear enough: You'll find the answer(s) in this chapter. I hope you're not disappointed after reading.

Everybody: Enjoy!

---Chapter Four: Unexpected Diagnosis---

Tuesday morning came really early when the nurse checked her vitals. Being left alone again, Brennan drifted off to another hour or two of sleep, before the beam of sunlight in her room woke her again.

Still half asleep she started to stretch, but her right hand was heavy and the movement hurt. Brennan's eyes shot open. Blinking she cleared her eyes and with the white walls her memory came back. It hadn't been a bad dream, it had been reality. All of it? Her skin remembered his touch and his warmth.

Brennan carefully lifted her left hand, rubbed her face and wished for some water. Was she allowed to stand up?

Before she could test it, a nurse opened the door. The woman was young, blond curly hair cut short and a smile glistering with braces. "Good morning Dr. Brennan. Have you slept well?" She clearly was not so bossy as the other nurse the night before, but Brennan couldn't say if this was due to the time of the day or to the different experience and age.

As she faltered to answer immediately, the nurse spoke again. "I will bring you some breakfast in a minute, just let me check you before."

"May I use the bathroom?" Brennan interfered with her talk.

"Sure, I'll get you a sling for your hand and you have to take the roller with the IV with you. Just ring if you need some help." But before she acted like she had said, the blond girl fussed with taking her vitals. Then she stepped out of the room only to be back a moment later with a dark blue sling. Busily she put it around Temperance's neck and helped her to place the injured hand inside. "It's the door over there. I'll be back with breakfast in 10 minutes, okay?"

Free to leave her bed, even if it was only to refresh herself, Brennan felt better. She was missing her usual toiletries and didn't even have a toothbrush with her, but there should be some pads in her purse. Hopefully Booth had taken it in the office last evening and it was here somewhere. A bit shaky on her legs and aware that the hospital gown did not conceal much, she looked around the room and in the closet. Finally it lay in the slider under the little table next to her bed.

The trip to the bathroom was an adventure. Normally a right handed person, she could do absolutely nothing with her right hand and little with her left. The IV line attached to it should not get wet, so she could wash her face only with the tips of her fingers. Brushing her teeth was off due to lack of equipment, but she could rinse her mouth. When Brennan finally checked her panties, she feared that the pad from yesterday had long given up. But apparently the cramps had been worse than the bleeding, so she could just change.

A few minutes later she was back in bed, relieved to lay down again. Breakfast arrived and with it a pile of papers. The nurse told her: "Sorry, but apparently you haven't been in a condition to fill these in. And the person who brought you in wasn't allowed to. So please complete the forms, someone from the registration bureau will come and get them later."

Brennan took the papers. It hadn't occurred to her that there may be some bureaucratic problems, but now it was clear. She just hoped that Booth had been able to find her insurance card, but a look through the room confirmed this. Without insurance she wouldn't stay in a single room and be allowed to sleep in...

"Sure, I'll do it. Do you have a pen for me?"

"Yes, Dr. Brennan. Dr. Fredericks will be with you later." She handed a cheap ballpoint to Brennan and was ready to leave the room again.

Drinking some of the fruit tea provided with the breakfast was okay left-handed, but she failed with spreading butter on the bread. Thankfully there were also some cereals she could manage to eat.

It was quite around her, only some technical background sound and what drifted in from the corridors. Really, it was too quite. At home she would not have time for a lengthy morning meal, some coffee-to-go, perhaps a bowl of cereals or an apple. And then off to the Jeffersonian or wherever Booth needed her for that day.

Having finished the cereals, she took the papers and began the task at hand: Filling out forms. She managed her name, but then gave up. Writing with the wrong hand was difficult and her mood not exactly patient. Perhaps she could just tick off the multiple choice questions and leave the rest until someone could help her?

Date of Birth? Place of birth? Social security number? Du you have this disease? Or that? Or this one perhaps? Ever been here? Or there? Ever done this? Or that? Allergic to this? Or that? Anything else?

Three pages later - and a lot more annoyed - she thought about the meaning and absurdity of this questionnaire. Perhaps it was just to keep patients occupied while waiting? She specially liked the 'just for women' section. Really, how many men would even try to answer one of these questions? And why were there no questions just for males? Brennan drew in a deep breath and flexed her hand. The IV didn't bother her as much as she might have thought, but her fingers got stiff from the unusual exercise.

Rescue came, but not inform of a knight in shining FBI-issued body armor - like Angela liked to name Booth - but in the form of a doctor. The woman entering the room was perhaps five feet seven tall and not much older than Brennan herself. As she greeted her, her voice was deep and full of feeling. Her skin was the color of rich chocolate, her eyes a corresponding brown and her hair black and tamed into braids.

"Dr. Brennan, it's good to see you awake. How are you today?"

Brennan looked at her. Obviously she was a doctor, wearing a white lab coat with name stitched on it, just like Brennan wore her blue one at work.

"Fine, Doctor Franklin. If you could tell me what has happened to my hand?" She had waited long enough, distracted by the papers.

"Sure, just a minute. Have you finished the questionnaire?" She gestured to the sheets of paper on Brennan's table.

"Most of it." Yeah, well, all I could do without getting cramps in my hand, she thought irritably.

"May I?" But she didn't wait for Brennan's response before snatching the papers and quickly scanning it. Her eyebrow twitched once, twice and then wandered up. "Are you sure that you wouldn't want to fill some questions with words?"

Brennan's eyes narrowed. "If you get me a computer, I will." She lifted her injured hand just a tiny bit. "Or someone else could write it down."

The brown eyes scanned her face. "Okay, fill me in verbally." She flipped the papers to look at the first question Brennan had marked 'yes'.

Ten minutes later they were finished, the eyebrow nearly back at her starting level. "Dr. Brennan, you're aware that you hurt your palm yesterday?"

"Yes, what has happened to the bone? It is a piece of evidence in an ongoing investigation."

"Agent..." Dr. Franklin looked in the file she had with her. "Agent Booth reported as much. What he didn't know was why you hurt yourself."

"I was clumsy." Brennan confessed. "I showed the fracture to Booth and then accidentally closed my hand around it." No need to tell about the cramps. It was awkward enough without admitting that she'd forgotten to take care of her body.

The eyebrow was back at an all time high. "Did this happen before?"

"Never." Brennan's left hand started twitching with impatience. "Like I said, I was inept. Did I hurt any bone?"

"You missed all the bones in your metacarpus. But the muscles in your hand for spreading your fingers are torn. The sinew in you palm were nicked, the palmar aponeurosis penetrated. And both vein and artery were injured, too."

Brennan glanced at her bandaged hand. It sounded as painful as it was and she started to get thankful for the painkillers.

"Because the tissue was torn, not cut, we had to start stitching at the inside, slowly working our way out."

Brennan shuddered. "How many stitches?"

"25 over all, 19 with all natural, self-absorbent thread, the other 6 are on the outside. You realize that you're lucky?" Brown eyes rested on Brennan's face.

"'Luck' is a concept..."

"You ARE lucky. The rib bone put pressure on the artery, not allowing the blood to spread out. But alone in the lab, without help..." She led her voice trail of and waited a moment. "If Agent Booth hadn't been there, you would be in a lot more trouble this morning. Now all you need is rest."

"What kind of medication am I given?" Holding her left hand up she pointed at the IV.

"Antibiotics and paracetamol against the pain. You got a fresh tetanus shot, too."

The door opened and girl nurse entered the room, a sheet of paper in her hand. "Sorry to interrupt, Dr. Franklin, but I got the lab results a minute ago."

She handed the paper to the doctor and left again. The colored woman glanced down, quickly scanning the columns of results. Again her eyebrow started to rise. She checked the lab results again, this time searching the questionnaire for comparison.

Brennan watched her, getting more anxious by the second. "What have you found?"

Brown eyes meet blue ones. "Dr. Brennan, do you take any fertility-related drugs? Oral contraceptives, the Pill, Clomiphene, Gonadotropins, Bromocriptine?"

Hadn't she checked the question: 'Do you use contraceptives?' with yes? With Sully now gone she didn't need it any more, but it helped to regulate her cycles. "Yes, I'm taking the Pill long-cycle."

Dr. Franklin nodded. "Have you forgot some pills? Or been sick? Perhaps taken antibiotics?"

"Not before yesterday." Perhaps she should mention the cramping and her period starting early now. Or was it gone? Brennan tried to detect any discomfort or pain below the layer of nothingness the painkiller caused. It was still there, perhaps not as heavy as the day before, but there.

"Long-cycle as in 12 weeks taking, then a one week break?" The brow wanted to clarify.

"Yes, exactly. Only this time I started bleeding early."

Both brows met on the forehead. "You started early? When?" She scribbled notes into her file.

"Yesterday." Before Franklin could open her mouth and ask how early this was, Brennan volunteered. "About two weeks early."

"Does this happen sometimes to you?"

"No really. But my cycle has always been messy, sometimes with really heavy bleeding and other times I nearly missed that I had a period. Not regular, too."

Some more notes. "Your last bleeding was about 10 weeks ago?" Brennan nodded. That was the calculation she'd done from her trays of tablets. She wasn't able to remember the exact date as it hadn't interfered with her work or life. "Sure you didn't miss any pills?"

"Yes, I am certain." Fact. She had taken it every evening, just before going to bed. Last night she had missed it. Had there been other nights? Brennan thought hard, but nothing would pop up in her brain.

"Dr. Brennan, it is hospital policy to test the blood of every female patient for pregnancy. Yours came up positive. I will have a new blood sample examined again to rule any..."

The doctor may have spoken more, but it was lost to Brennan. Pregnancy. Positive. Couldn't be. Not her. It was not possible. Her thoughts heard those words again and again. Pregnancy. Positive. NO!

Now is the right time to hit the review-button and tell me what you think about the diagnosis!