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Chapter 4:
Temperance Brennan was sitting on one of the cheap plastic chairs, her head still buried in her hands, a shadow of her usual, confident self. That's how Angela found her.
She hurried over to her and gently touched her shoulder. "Sweetie?"
Brennan slowly lifted her head and met Angela's worried gaze. Angela's eyes widened a bit. Brennan's face was drowned in tears and splotchy, her clothes dirty, her eyes red from crying and the usual fire in them had simmered down to an emptiness that shook Angela even more than her body language. She looked hopeless and grieving.
Now Angela knew how the sentence Brennan had not finished in their earlier conversation would have ended: "it's bad, Ange... I don't know if he..." - "Is going to make it..."
'Damn, damn, damn' Angela thought.
"Bren... hey... what happened, Sweetie?" She murmured, reaching forward to touch her best friends hand. It felt cold and clammy.
"Oh, Angela." Brennan finally croaked out and buried her head in her best friends shoulder.
"Sh, sh, Bren... I am here... " Angela tried to comfort her, still not knowing what had happened.
After a minute or two, Brennan found the strength to collect herself a bit. She forced herself to sit straight up, wiped her face with a handkerchief Angela had shoved in her hand and steadied her breathing.
Her voice was still thick with tears when she started to report what had happened. She told her everything, not even leaving out the kiss or her reaction to it or what Booth had said to her. She simply had not enough strength to sort her thoughts enough. And after all, she was her best friend, beside the man who could be dying right now. She needed someone to confide in and poured her heart out to Angela, who had placed an arm around her shoulders.
Tears welled in Angela's eyes too, but she knew she had to be strong for Brennan now. She had never seen her best friend so fragile, so desperate and she knew she now had to support her. 'Distract her from the pain and point out the good things!' She thought.
"Oh, Sweetie. So you finally found out you two are in love, hmmm?" She asked.
"It was just a kiss, Angela... How can you conclude we are in love out of a single kiss?" Brennan asked incredulously.
"Brennan... It's not just the kiss. It's sad, but people kiss all the time without being in love...You want to know how I know that you two love each other? It's the fact that you waited so long BEFORE you kissed. It's him freaking out when you were buried by the Gravedigger. It's Booth rushing out of the hospital to save you from Kenton. It's you getting over your issues with your dad to save Booth. It's you being the only person he confides in and you telling him things even I do not know... It's you sitting here like that, that tells me you two love each other, Sweetie." Angela softly explained.
Brennan briefly closed her eyes. "But how can somebody possibly know..."
"Bren" Angela interrupted her. "Don't analyse. Don't listen to what your brain tells you, listen to what your heart is telling you!"
"My hear can't tell me anything, Ange... it's just beating." Brennan stated the obvious.
"And will it still be beating without him,... if he would die today?" Angela whispered.
"Of course...It... Oh..." Brennan's hand suddenly moved to her chest. Listening to Angela's explanation and thinking about it had momentarily distracted her from the fear Booth could be dying. The fear rushed back into her and it felt as if her chest tightened, as if her heart was brutally squeezed by an invisible hand.
Her gaze snapped to Angela. The impression in Brennan's eyes was utter surprise, but also recognition.
She had cried, she had been desperate and hopeless but her brain had told her it was the grieve any woman would feel for a friend who was on the verge of death.
The sudden pain that went through her now and left her bare and weak told her otherwise.
"Now you know." Angela whispered. She knew she had not exactly given her comfort, revealing her true feelings to her. But she also knew, that if Brennan lost Booth today, without knowing she had loved him, she would never be able to recognise love again. You just had to feel it, to know what it was like.
"Oh, Booth..." Brennan whispered and she blinked. A single tear found it's way down her cheek, the first tear she shed for Booth, knowing he was the man she loved. She traced it's way down her cheek with her index finger, wondering how she could have been so oblivious to her true feelings.
"I... I can't lose him." Brennan stated after some moments they had spent in silence.
Angela nodded. "I know. Just make sure to tell him."
"But what... what if... he is in surgery now, what..." Brennan stammered, squeezing Angela's hand hard.
"You have to think positive. I know usually you don't do that, but do it for him!" Angela gave her an encouraging look and Brennan nodded. "I do, Ange, okay... I can do that. I... I even prayed for him."
Angela's eyes widened in surprise. "You PRAYED? Well, that certainly must have been a big surprise in heaven. Now, tell me... how could God refuse to obey you, since you never bothered him with anything before?"
"I still don't believe in it, Angela." Brennan objected weakly.
"Does it matter? You believe in Booth and Booth believes in God. You prayed for him, when he was not able to do it himself. It means something, Sweetie! Now come on, I am sure there is a waiting room we can go to. We'll have a coffee and think as positive as possible, okay?" Angela said, giving her another encouraging look.
Brennan nodded half-heartedly and led her best friend towards the waiting room upstairs.
Three hours, dozens of coffee cups and a sudden crying fit later, Brennan and Angela were still sitting in the waiting room, Brennan's head resting against Angela's shoulder, when the door opened and Dr. Reeves and another doctor appeared in the doorway.
Brennan jumped to her feet. "How is he?" She choked out, clutching her best friends hand tightly.
Angela too had risen and stood close beside her friend, ready to deal with any reaction.
Dr. Reeves nodded at Brennan and looked at his colleague. "This is Dr. Chen. He is one of the best thorax surgeons in the world. He is going to explain how the surgery proceeded."
"Hello Miss Brennan, Miss?"
"Montenegro" Angela quickly said, noticing that Brennan had not said a thing about her being a doctor as she usually would.
"The surgery was complicated, but we managed to save Mr. Booth's life. He is still in critical condition, but I am optimistic. He is a healthy young man and should be able to recover."
"Oh, thank you... thank you...God." Brennan muttered, she looked at Angela and after a split-second they were in each other's arms, crying again, but this time shedding tears of relief.
Dr. Chen smiled at them and continued. "We had to remove the spleen, as Dr. Reeves already suspected. The piece of wood also grazed the liver, but we were able to fix that. Other than that, no inner organs were hit, but he had already lost a great amount of blood, which we had to remove to make sure there are no other injuries. He also has two cracked ribs, and a badly bruised back... We were wondering how he cracked his ribs..."
Brennan freed herself from Angela's embrace and thought about it for a moment. Then her eyes widened and a bit embarrassed she said: "That must have been me."
When she saw the look the doctors exchanged she quickly added. "He held me during the explosion. He turned so that the took the force of landing on the street with his body, hence the bruised back. I literally slammed into him, so that must have caused the cracked ribs. I assume ... " She quickly resumed the scenario in her head "Rib number 5 and 6 on the left side?"
The doctors nodded in astonishment. She shrugged and said. "Yes. My shoulder." Still the two doctors looked at her somehow suspiciously. She gave them a wry smile. "I am a forensic anthropologist."
"Oh." They both nodded, but Dr. Reeves looked thoughtful and shortly afterwards asked. "But... when he was lying on his back, how did the wood pierce him?"
Brennan sighed. "He turned around, shielded me with his body as soon as we had hit the pavement." She shook her head and a weak smile appeared on her face. "Overprotective alpha-male." The words she normally used as a kind of an accusation came out with a loving undertone.
"Well, Miss Brennan, it so seems you were very lucky that you remained unhurt." Dr. Reeves said.
"No. That was not luck... it was Booth." She smiled and turned towards Dr. Chen. "When can I see him?"
"He has been brought to a room at the ICU. He should wake up in... about an hour or two... You can wait there if you want, but only one person."
Brennan looked at Angela. Angela quickly hugged her and said. "Go."
Brennan nodded and said. "Thank you, Angela. For being here and ... for helping me to understand..."
"It's okay, Sweetie, that's what friends are for... Hurry, go and get to your knight in shining armour."
Brennan was already following Dr. Chen outside, when she suddenly whirled around again. "I have to call..."
"Cullen." Angela finished and nodded. "I'll do that."
Brennan nodded, but stopped again. "Rebecca because of Parker... his parents."
"Cullen, Rebecca, parents... got it... I'll take care of it, Sweetie, JUST LEAVE, for God's sake!" Angela told her and Brennan mouthed a 'thank you' before hurrying after the doctors towards the ICU.
Now, what do you think??? I've been a nice girl and did not kill Booth (how could I????).
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