Here is the next chapter. Hope you like it. Thanks a lot for your reviews. I love that you enjoy it.
Chapter #17: The best remedy for depression…
Booth slept the remainder of the night due to the anesthesia still in his system. Brennan only slept in two hour intervals because of the nurses coming into the room to check on him. His fever was still rising. Parker on the other had had been sound asleep. Both of them were still tired from the early trip. Brennan had slept for almost an hour when she heard a soft moan coming from Booth.
"Hmmm…" he complained as he tried unsuccessfully to move into a more comfortable position.
"Hey, good-morning." Brennan said.
"Hi." Booth replied with a half smile on his lips.
"How are you feeling?" Brennan asked.
"Like hell! My back hurts, my legs are aching, and I've started have spasms in my back and legs." Booth said sadly.
Brennan couldn't hide the sadness in her eyes when she looked at Booth. She leaned in and gave him a soft kiss on the forehead.
"I'll call the nurse, okay? Maybe she can give you something for the pain." Brennan told him.
"I don't want to be sleepy all day. I'd like to try and stand instead of just laying here." Booth said.
"First, let's see what the doctor says. If he says you can do that, I will help you. Okay?" Brennan said.
"Sure…." Booth replied.
A few minutes later, the nurse entered the room with Booth's pain medication, but he refused to take it.
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The doctor allowed Booth to stand and told him he could try and walk if he felt like it. Booth figured the doctor was trying to make him feel better after the problem he had trying to eat breakfast that morning. Booth had tried to eat his breakfast, but had ended up vomiting everything back up. After that he had decided he really didn't want to try and eat anything else.
Booth felt better as he tried to stand and walk, but his happiness was short lived. Two orderlies were helping him to his feet, one on each side. When the orderlies let go of his arms to allow him to try and stand on his own, Booth's legs wouldn't support all his weight and he began to tremble. The orderlies grabbed him by the arms to keep him from falling. He tried to move his legs to walk, but again his legs just didn't obey. Booth was completely frustrated as he asked them to help him get back into bed.
Booth's lungs were weak, and he barely escaped getting a case of hospital pneumonia. He was sleeping one afternoon when she heard his breathing become more labored than it had been. His fever was still high, and this was puzzling since the secondary effects of the anesthesia should have worn off. Brennan was becoming more concerned about Booth's symptoms, and called for the nurse. After running several tests, they discovered that Booth was beginning to develop pneumonia. They were able to treat the problem, but Booth was still having to take additional medications because of the weakened state of his lungs, but at least his fever was beginning to go down.
Brennan had been following all of the issues that they were facing with Booth's health, and although she knew medically what was going on she couldn't think of anything to say to him to make him feel better. She could only be there when he needed here. They both knew that Booth would probably have some setbacks in his recovery. It seemed to Booth that he would take one small step forward and two large steps back.
Booth was becoming more and more depressed with each passing day. He tried not to show it to Parker or Brennan, but she knew. His sad smile, his irritability after trying to do something that he couldn't do, all of this was swiftly breaking Booth's faith little by little.
Booth's pity party came to a grinding halt three days after his surgery. Booth looked up to see his son standing in the chair next to his bed looking down at him. He could see that Parker was mad just by the look on his face, but he smiled at the sight of his son looking down on him for a change.
"Hey Bub." Booth said.
"What happened to you? Don't you like me and Bones being here?" Parker asked with his hands on his hips.
"Having you guys here is the best…" Booth said, but Parker cut him off before he could go on.
"So, why are you always sad? Bones is sad. I saw her when you were sleeping." Parker said.
"It hurts and I'm tired." Booth told him.
"Daddy, you always tell me that we have to keep trying. I'm here to help. Please, let me help you Daddy?!" Parker begged.
Booth looked into his son's eyes and saw his determination and smiled.
"Let's call the nurse. Okay?" Booth said.
It took Booth two more days before he was able to stand alone at his bedside. By now he was so frustrated that he cursed himself every time he couldn't do something. He knew that this surgery had been more invasive than the first, but he really beginning to wish that it was only a medical expression.
Brennan helped him walk slowly down the corridor each morning and evening with help from Parker. Parker would push his IV stand, and Brennan would hold onto him as hard as she could without hurting him. It took almost a full hour to make a full circle around the hospital floor due to the frequent stops along the way for Booth to rest. He could feel his legs getting stronger, but his back was still in constant spasms of pain. These two things had him in a constant state of emotional flux, and this drained his energy quickly.
After 6 days in the hospital, Booth was released. Brennan rented an apartment near the hospital and they stayed there. Booth still couldn't stand or walk alone, but he could help move himself from place to place, with the help of the wheelchair that he had to use.
During the week and a half the Booth was out of the hospital his emotions continued to become more unstable. He just wanted to stay in bed, and only got up when either Parker or Brennan pushed him to do so. The appointments with the doctors went fine, but they still wouldn't allow him to go back to DC. He had tried numerous times, but the respond was always the same. NO!!
Brennan was sitting in the dining room alone. It was 6 in the morning and she couldn't sleep. During the last day, Booth had remained in bed all afternoon and refused to take his medications for the third day in a row. She knew what was happening to him, and she understood it. He simply wanted to go home. He kept telling her that he felt like a stranger here. She knew he needed peace for his long recovery process, and it was obvious that he wasn't getting the peace he needed here. So, she was going to do the only thing she knew she could to make him feel better…she was taking him home. She waited until 8am to call his doctor.
"Temperance. Is Booth okay?" The doctor asked.
"Sort of…" Brennan said.
"What happened?" The doctor asked.
"Nothing to worry about, he is resting. It's just that I want to know if I can take him back to DC?" Brennan said.
"I don't think that would be a good idea right now. His lungs are still weak, and his back is still showing signs of pain and spasms. He can't handle a car trip in that condition." The doctor said.
"What about a plane?" Brennan asked.
"He might, but I won't authorize it. He can't be seated for long periods of time, and in his situation it would be a step back in his recuperation." The doctor told her.
"As I told you before, if I found a private plane, would you allow it?" Brennan said.
"I'm still not sure this is a good idea." The doctor said.
"He stopped taking all his medications three days ago. He, also, isn't eating like he should, and his depression is getting worse." Brennan told him.
"I see. I had suspected that about the depression since our last meeting, but I was unaware of the situation with his medications. Can you bring him to my office today?" The doctor replied.
"Is that a yes?" Brennan pushed.
"Temperance, you can start searching for a private plane, I will authorize the travel." The doctor said.
After scheduling an appointment for Booth for later that afternoon Brennan decided to try and get a little sleep. She laid in her bed looking at the ceiling. She just couldn't sleep. She decided to see if her boys needed anything; so, she walked down to Booth's room. She opened the door slowly and looked inside. Booth was laying on his right side, to release the pressure on his back, but when she got nearer to him he opened his eyes.
"I thought you were sleeping." She said.
"No, my back is hurting and I can't sleep." He said.
"Me too." Brennan replied.
"Hey, did you want to sleep here?" Booth said.
Brennan smiled at the proposition.
"I could hurt you and besides…" Brennan said, but Booth cut her off.
"I've already told you, you can never hurt me…so please, get in here." Booth said.
Booth moved over a little to make space for her, and used his hand to guide her. After she got into bed, she gave him a sweet kiss on the lips and hugged him. In less than two minutes both of them found the sleep they needed looking into each other's eyes.