Wow... I never got that many reviews on a story... I am so thankful!!!! overwhelmed!
And you see it helped me to write faster ;) I can't believe I intended this story to be a two or three-shot ;) The story just... flows and flows... we'll see where it takes us.
Chapter 5:
When the door to Booth's room was opened, Brennan stepped in. It took her a moment to adjust to the dim light inside and she blinked a bit.
There he was. Pale, still so pale. She took in a deep, shuddering breath and turned around towards Dr. Chen. "Can I just sit here with him? Maybe... just hold his hand and wait?"
"Sure" Dr. Chen answered. "A nurse is going to come in to check every 30 minutes. In case he wakes up, let her know, okay?"
She nodded and felt his gaze still on her as she turned back to face the hospital bed. With a gentle voice Dr. Chen added "He may be disorientated when he wakes up. Just talk to him a bit and make sure he does not try to move or speak."
She nodded, her eyes fixed on her partner's still figure. She knew she would never be able to forget, how he looked in that bed. Although he was a strong, big man with broad shoulders he now looked nearly fragile and lost in the big bed. She swallowed hard. He looked so pale and weak, for all she saw he could have been dead. Only the constant beeping and blinking of the machines near the head-end of his bed proved her eyes wrong.
She heard Dr. Chen leaving the room, quietly closing the door behind him.
Slowly she took a step towards the bed, still taking in all the details. She now noticed, his torso was propped up against a pillow on one side, to keep him from putting pressure on the wound.
She saw the small cut on his pale cheek, where she had caressed his skin only an instant before they had kissed. It seemed so far away now.
Before she knew, what she was doing she was standing beside him, her fingertips softly touching the cut, careful not to make contact with the tube in his mouth. His skin felt cold... so cold.
She softly whispered: "I am here, Booth. I'll always be."
Tears escaped her eyes; red and puffy from crying as they already were, they still managed to produce more tears. She did not care... she did not care that they were streaming down her face and left dark spots on the light blue blanket that covered Booth's body. It was okay, she told herself, perfectly normal to cry... a mix of pain, fear and relief, that he was at least alive...
She'd rather cried now, when he was not able to see it, than later, when he would be awake and she had to try to give him strength and confidence.
"I love you." She whispered, her voice thick with tears. She tasted the new sensation of saying these words aloud on her tongue. Not bad, just...somehow unfamiliar.
She licked her dry lips and continued.
"I have been so stupid. I did not know... how can you not know that you are in love? Angela ... Angela had to help me see it. Everybody tells me I am a genius, but that's just work, science. I only use my brain. I did not listen to my heart... but now... now I do..."
She looked down on the face of men she loved and she felt it again: the tightening feeling in her chest and she closed her eyes.
She thought back to the long hours she had spent with Angela, waiting for the surgery to end...
Had she ever felt like this before? Had she ever felt like losing somebody would crush her, would take away everything she was?
No, she decided, not since her parents had vanished when she had been a teenager.
Not even when she thought her brother could be dead, seeing the pool of blood on the floor in her apartment, not even in that very moment she had felt that desperate.
She loved her brother, but Booth... he was Booth. And he had been there for her, when fear for her brother had gnawed on her. He had held her, had told her not to jump to conclusions, he had made it better. That was, what he always did... he always tried to make her life better, protecting her... her knight in shining armour, as Angela had put it.
'More like dented armour right now' she thought. But nonetheless he was her knight and would always be.
She lowered her head and placed a soft kiss on his forehead, then she let herself sink into the chair beside his bed. She covered his cold hand with her own and wiped away her tears with the other, determined to be strong and watch over the man she loved.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
A noise had woken her, her eyes snapped open, but it took her a moment to identify her surroundings. Hospital, ICU, Booth... She cursed herself for falling asleep.
A nurse was standing at the other side of Booths bed, examining the monitors. When she saw Brennan's head jerk up, she gave her a smile and said: "You only slept a few minutes, dear. He is still not awake."
Brennan nodded, thankful for the information. She had not paid attention to what time it had been when she had been brought to his room. She would never have known how long she had been sleeping, if the nurse had not told her.
"It's okay for you to take a nap too, my dear. But if you don't want to fall asleep again, just talk to him. It won't do him any harm and it keeps you awake. It may even be good for him to hear a familiar voice." The nurse gently suggested.
Brennan nodded. It made sense. "Yes. I'll do that. Thank you!" She said and stretched her sore and stiff limbs a bit. When the nurse left, she rose and went to the sink in a corner of the room. She splashed her face with cool water and quenched her thirst a bit. Then she headed back to the bed, sat down again and started to talk to Booth.
She told him about how she had called Cullen and that his parents and his brother should be on their way. That Rebecca was informed, but that she thought she would not bring Parker to the hospital until Booth was awake and 'presentable'.
When she was done with recent events, she started to tell him about Zach's and Hodings' last crazy experiment, that had got them in trouble with Cam again. When all the news from the lab had been told, she switched to more personal things...she told him about how it had been to visit her father in prison.
"You know, I really enjoyed playing cards with him. It felt weird, doing that in prison, but other than that it was a something personal..." She stopped... she had felt his hand move. She squeezed it gently and there it was again. A flutter... nothing more than the shadow of an actual movement.
But it was something. And this tiny movement caused her to smile, when she continued. "...and it really feels good to be able to go to him. He is not a stranger anymore. He does not feel like real father to me now, either... but... he is ...family...You are too, Booth. Part of my family."
When she spoke his name, she saw his eyelids flutter lightly. Her smile widened. He was finally waking up, slowly, but he was. "Booth" She whispered again and was rewarded with another tiny movement of his eyelids.
"You've slept long enough, Booth." She said, her voice low and gentle.
On the next attempt he managed to open his eyes. He blinked and confusion showed in his brown eyes, his hand jerked in the firm grip of hers.
"Shhh, Booth. It's alright. You are in hospital. Don't move, you have been hurt, but it's going to be alright, okay?" She told him. He still looked confused, he tried to move his lips, but speaking was not an option, since he was intubated.
"No, Booth. You can not talk, and you should not move either. Look at me... It is okay, Booth, but you have to lie still... Trust me, won't you?" Her voice was soothing, her warm hand holding his in firm grip. She saw that he recognised her, saw the change in the expression of his eyes and felt how he immediately relaxed.
"I will tell you what happened, okay? But first, I have to tell the nurse that you are awake... okay? I'll be right back..." She started to move away, but his grip on her hand tightened a bit and she saw a hint of panic in his eyes. She stopped in her movement and gave him an reassuring smile.
"It's okay, Booth... I'll stay. I won't go away... I'll just press the emergency button here and the nurse will come." He relaxed again and she pressed the button, all the time looking into his eyes.
Only a minute later the nurse opened the door and took one look at them. "Finally awake?"
Brennan nodded, smiling at the nurse. "I'll go tell Dr. Chen... He will want to have a look at him. He should be here in a few minutes. Keep him awake if possible."
Brennan nodded again and her gaze returned to Booth's brown eyes. The pupils were slightly more widened than normally, probably due to the medication.
Brennan took in a deep breath and started to report.
"First of all, your parents and your brother and Rebecca are informed. They know you made it out of surgery about two hours ago and I am going to call them soon, to tell them you woke up. I don't know if you remember anything what happened, so I'll just tell you everything that happened and well... okay.
It happened at the Henderson house,
we knocked but nobody answered, so you decided to go in, since the door was not locked. But when we were inside ...you... I don't know how you knew it, but you dragged me out. Just in time. Then the bomb exploded and we were hurled towards the car.
Being you, you turned around and we landed on your back. My shoulder was slammed against you and ..I.. you have two cracked ribs now. Then you shielded me from all the stuff that still was falling down on us...you stupid alpha-male." She added in low murmur and she saw his eyes smile in response. Then his gaze left her eyes and wandered all over her face and upper body.
She gave him a wry smile "I am okay, Booth." His eyes snapped back to hers immediately.
"Well, we... stood up and you asked me if I was hurt, but I was not... You seemed to be unhurt too, I just saw that cut..." She gently traced it with a finger and saw his eyes widen a bit. "... but then we hugged and I found out, that you had... a big splinter of wood in your back."
His sudden movement interrupted her. He squeezed her hand tight and his eyes had narrowed.
She looked at him for a moment, first puzzled, but then suddenly she laughed. "Okay, okay. You remember, don't you?" He squeezed her hand again. "You kissed me." She whispered. His hand relaxed for a moment, but then he tightened his grip again and she saw his eyes narrow even more, his gaze fixed on her.
She knew what he meant. She knew him well enough to tell that he objected to how she had phrased it. And he was right... it had not been him taking the initiative, rushing her into something she had not wanted. It had been both of them – equally.
"Fine... WE kissed. Each other. Satisfied now?" She snapped, but he recognised the warm and teasing undertone. His eyes glistened with humour and she could not help but smile at him.
"You are incredible." She said and sighed, leaning against the hospital bed. "You can't even talk and we argue." Another sigh.
"You made stupid jokes about Dracula – and yes I do understand it now.. And then..." As she continued her voice lost its teasing tone and was grave serious now.
"You... you had internal bleeding. That's why you lost consciousness, just before the paramedics arrived. You did not wake up during the ambulance drive or when they examined you... or so I've been told. I called Cullen ... he sends his greetings, by the way. He took care of securing the evidence and informed you family. And I called Angela... she waited with me... during your surgery."
She looked into his warm brown eyes. It was good to see them again, to find comfort in those familiar depths of his gaze. But it bothered her to see him like that... weakened, not able to talk. He was used to being strong... it had to be sheer torture for him not to be able to respond to her.
As if he knew what she had been thinking he squeezed her hand gently, caressed her palm with his thumb. She smiled at him, blinking away the tears that once again had threatened to fall.
"Dr. Chen should be here soon. He will explain the surgery." She said, her voice hoarse from the tears she was forcing away.
Booth closed his eyes slowly and Brennan protested: "Hey... Open your eyes! The nurse said I had to keep you awake! You can rest later."
He looked at her, his eyes showing both amusement and a deep fatigue.
"I know you're tired, Booth... but hey I've waited hours for you to open your eyes... you can at least try to stay awake a bit longer, hm?" Her words may have sound teasing, but her voice was not.
It was full of emotion... concern and tenderness.
He just looked at her, his brown eyes locking with her blue ones and his strong and confident gaze gave her what she needed right now: the feeling that everything was going to be alright ... somehow.
I thought of ending it here, but I remembered that I promised fluff to some of my readers... and I think real fluff requires a TALKING Booth... so, there will be at least another chapter... ;)
Please let me know what you think, reviews make me very happy and let me write faster (lol am I blackmailing you???)