Title: Breath

Author: Doc

Disclaimer: Not mine, but I think I could manage if they were.

Rating: T

Summary: A crime against Booth and Brennan forces them to face themselves.

Author's Note: Wow. The reviews for the last chapter were quite the firestorm. I'm glad that this story has intrigued people. I'd also like to say a special thank you to those who let me know they supported this story and supported me – you know who you are.

"Cam, there's one more thing," Brennan spoke quietly, and Booth could hear a hesitation in her voice.

"Yes, Dr. Brennan?"

Bones took a deep breath and continued with conviction.

"I want you to do a rape kit on me."

"I'm sorry? A rape kit?" Cam used every ounce of her professionalism to keep her tone and her expression neutral.

Booth was not quite as successful. "What? Bones are you serious?" He turned on his heel, walking two steps then turning back around.

She looked between them, recognizing immediately the difficulty Cam was having schooling her features and taking in Booth's patented defensive stance – hands firmly planted on hips, legs wide as if bracing for a fight.

"Booth, I'm not saying I think you assaulted me. In fact, it's highly unlikely that a man of your age would have been able to sexually assault someone, given the alcohol you ingested and the addition of GHB."

"What? What does that mean, a 'man of my age'?" Booth had the odd sensation of being comforted and insulted at the same time.

"I mean," she began slowly, in the patronizing tone she adopted when explaining things she thought the other person should know, "that it is extremely improbable that you would have been able to achieve and maintain an erection after the alcohol and the GHB depressed your central nervous system to the extent it was obviously depressed."

"Jesus, Bones, did you really just say that?" He scrubbed his hands over his face as though wiping the thought from his mind.

"Booth it's nothing to be ashamed of, it happens to all men at some point. Alcohol and drugs exacerbate the issue."

"Bones…"

"Dr. Brennan, I want to be clear – you want me to do a rape exam?" Cam interrupted, silencing Booth with a raised hand.

"No, not an exam, exactly. I can… gather the evidence. I need you to run the forensics on it, because that is not my area of expertise and it is yours. Plus I'll need you to give me detailed instructions on what you need for your analysis."

"Bones, wouldn't it be better, for gathering the evidence if you went to an emergency room or your own personal doctor?" Booth couldn't believe they were actually having this conversation. It was as if he had stepped into an alternate universe and couldn't escape.

"No, Booth …"

"He's right," Cam interrupted, "wouldn't it be better to go to someone else?"

"I said no," she emphasized again. "We can do a better forensic analysis here, if that's even necessary. I'm almost positive there will be no forensic evidence to examine, but we have to rule that out. Here, at the Jeffersonian."

Cam did not like the responsibility for this falling on her shoulders. She felt as though lives and partnerships and friendships were trying desperately to fall apart and she was the unfortunate glue trying to hold things together.

Focusing on Booth, she asked, "Booth?"

Holding his hands up, he took a step back and said what she expected him to say.

"Not my call, Cam. This is Bones' decision and I support that."

"Fine then. Dr. Brennan, let's go to the autopsy suite. I keep kits there. Booth, wait on us in my office."

The sound of the door clicking shut snapped Booth from his reverie.

He sat up quickly then stood but Cam waved him down in the chair. "Where's Bones?"

"I sent her to the locker room to shower and change."

"Cam…"

"Seeley. We need to talk." She rounded in front of him and leaned back into her desk. He started to speak and she silenced him with a raised hand. "No, let me. The kit was negative. The vaginal swabs I examined were all negative for seminal fluid, spermicide, or condom lubricant. There were also no hair samples to examine, plus the obvious fact that she had no bruising to suggest an assault. In my professional opinion, I think we have ruled out any sexual contact."

The relief on Booth's face tugged at her heart, and she wanted to hug him. He was such a good person, and she knew the last half hour had been torture for him, but she was determined to have this conversation. He needed to get his head on straight or the world as they all knew it was about to change forever.

"Cam, I really need to talk to her. Can't this conversation wait?"

"No Booth, it can't wait. You need advice whether you know it or not. I know that you try to convince yourself sometimes that Dr. Brennan isn't … what did you call it… a 'girl' like me. But you're wrong. And you need to come to terms with that fact and with what happened, or didn't happen, between you two before you storm out of here and drag her along to your crime scene. Booth, there's a reason she didn't want to go somewhere for a true rape exam and rape kit."

"I don't understand what you're saying." He frowned at her slightly.

"She was protecting you, Seeley. If you had had a sexual encounter with her while she was under the influence of a date-rape drug, then by law the sex was non-consensual. Obviously, you would never have been charged, given the fact you were also drugged and could not have been considered a consenting party either. But there would have been an official investigation into the sexual 'encounter' and your career would have been in jeopardy, not to mention your partnership with her would have been terminated in all likelihood. She planned to destroy the evidence if it came back positive and your DNA matched, she told me so herself."

"Fuck…" he breathed out, dropping his head into his hands. "Cam, I really need to talk to her."

"No, you need to get yourself together so you can catch whoever did this, and let her come to terms with this on her own."

"She'll shut down on me, Cam; it's the way she deals with things. We've worked really hard to get our partnership and friendship where it is today. I need to make her talk about this."

"Listen to yourself. 'Make her talk about this'. If you think you're going to 'make' Temperance Brennan do anything, then maybe those drugs haven't worn off after all. She needs time, Booth. Back off, give her some space, and then regroup and catch your bad guys. Don't press this. Think about this for a moment: You've been sexually active for what, nearly twenty years?"

"Why does that matter?"

"Nearly twenty years, right Booth?"

"Yeah, sure, close to twenty."

"And in that twenty years, how many times did you wake up in the bed with someone and have absolutely no recollection of what happened?"

Booth pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes as he thought.

"Like, maybe two, three times tops. Why is this important Cam? If you're trying to make me feel like and old-ass man-whore it's too late."

"Just hear me out. Now, let's say that Dr. Brennan has been sexually active for fifteen years, give or take. Sound fair?"

"I really don't want to think about this right now, Cam." At her look, he conceded, "Yeah, yeah, sounds fair."

"Knowing her as well as you do, how many times do you think she has woken up in bed with someone with no recollection of what happened?"

Booth sat there for a moment, and Cam watched the understanding of her point dawn on him. She saw him cringe almost imperceptibly, and then tighten his jaw, before finally meeting her eyes.

"Exactly Booth," her voice was soft and kind. "Once. I'd bet my medical license on it happening only once. This morning, at your house, in your bed, was the first time she realized that she wasn't always in total control. She's shaken by it, and she needs time."

He let out a long, haggard breath, and let his head drop back over the back of the chair. Speaking to the ceiling, in a voice so quiet she almost didn't hear, "It wasn't supposed to be like this."

She didn't answer, just smiled a slight, bittersweet smile and reached down and patted his knee. "C'mon. Let's go see what Hodgins has found for us."

A/N: To those of you that have hung in with me so far, I really hope this chapter made up for the cliffhanger of the last one. Just a quick plug for the song I pilfered for the title – something about it just screamed Booth to me, as he waited for Cam to return with the results.