Hi everyone! I'm so sorry it's taken me a bit longer than normal to get this chapter out to you. Thanks to everyone that read and reviewed the last chapter, it really means a lot. I hope I solved some of the questions that were raised in this chapter! Hope you like this next bit :)

Booth and Angela both swung around at the bang at the door. Angela gasped, not sure what to do with herself, while Booth stood instantly, his mind already worrying. Brennan stood before them, as pale as a ghost, looking on the verge of tears as she wrung her hands in front of her.

"Sweetie!" Angela exclaimed, rushing to her side as Brennan kept her away, giving her an apologetic smile.

"Booth, can I have a moment of your time?" she asked seeing him nod and start forwards, winking at Angela at the same time.

"I'll catch you later, Bren, OK?" Angela told her, giving her arm a reassuring squeeze as she left them both to it.

As soon as the door closed, Brennan seemed to waver, Booth only just making it across the room in time to catch her, his arms strong and supportive.

"Hey, Bones, it's OK," he murmured, half leading, half carrying her over to his couch.

Once he was sure that Bones was going to be OK, Booth stood and wandered over to the windows, closing all the blinds and locking his door to give her some privacy. He smiled at her, hoping whatever had happened wasn't as bad as he was thinking it was going to be.

He had hardly sat down when Brennan rolled up her sleeve, showing him an ugly, deep gash running almost the length of her forearm.

"God, Bones! This is bad, I think we're gonna have to go the hospital this time," he told her, holding her arm in his and desperately trying to stop the bleeding with the towel she had on her arm.

"Just, stop the bleeding, Booth. I'll be OK."

He was uneasy, but knew that he couldn't push her away right now when she needed him the most. Fetching the first aid box, he grabbed a sterile gauze, holding it tightly onto her arm as he searched her grey looking face for any signs that she was worse than she was telling him.

"What happened?" he asked gently, seeing her start and look up at him from her reverie.

"It doesn't matter, Booth. It's nothing that won't heal."

"That's not the point, Bones, and you know it! God I swear if I ever found out who did this I'm going to kill them," he muttered through clenched teeth, looking up to see Brennan looking at him curiously. She wiped the look, reminding herself that she should have known he'd kill for her, when he seemed more than happy to die for her.

"I think it's stopped," she replied, and Booth realised that he had indeed managed to stop the majority of the bleeding. Grabbing a new gauze, he taped it securely onto her arm, wrapping a bandage over the top for good measure.

"I'm not good at this sort of thing," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck while she laughed affectionately.

He watched as she seemed to waver again in front of him, his arm instantly going around her side to support her. She blinked furiously, trying to clear her vision.

"Bones, what's going on?" he asked, fear evident in his tone.

Sighing, she pulled up her top, showing him a not quite so deep cut along her side from hip to rib. Grimacing, he grabbed the first aid kit again.

"Why didn't you say anything?" he asked, watching her evenly as she avoided his gaze. "This could have been really bad if you hadn't told me, Bones, you've lost a lot of blood."

"I know," she replied, looking upset again. Booth sighed, gently turning her face to his.

"Is that what you're trying to tell me? That you don't want to live anymore? Because I can't go on without you, Bones, it just wouldn't be life if you weren't here."

A few tears escaped her tight control as she smiled at him, her hand reaching out to rub his cheek gently. He leaned into her touch, enjoying the feeling that he so rarely had a chance to enjoy.

"No, I'm not suicidal. Just...at the end of my rope, I guess."

"Well now you can add my rope to the length, keep you going a bit longer," he murmured, looking down to finish taping a bandage over her side as a blush crept up the back of his neck, surprising Brennan.

Wandering around his office, Booth collected some pain killers and a sugary drink, handing them to Brennan to take. Taking off his suit jacket, he rolled it up, laying it on the arm of the sofa behind her.

"Here, lay down," he told her, a sleepy Brennan only too happy to comply.

She watched him in surprise as he fetched his coat, covering her with it and checking everything to make sure she was comfortable and that there wasn't anything else he could be doing. Grinning, she caught his hand in hers, just about stifling a yawn.

"I'm fine, Booth, you don't need to worry," she told him, seeing him smile back and calm down slightly.

"You're not fine, Bones, but you will be. I promise," he told her, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "Sleep for the rest of the day in here, I'll make sure no-one disturbs you. And tonight you can come home with me," he told her, wandering off as he thought she had already dropped off to sleep.

"Booth," she shouted as he reached the door. "Thank you."

Nodding, Booth stood and watched her finally give in to sleep, the most peaceful expression on her face that he had seen in a long time. Pleased that he was at least having some effect, he scribbled a note and stuck it to his door, closing it softly behind him.

As he walked away, he thought sadly to himself. His first suspect was Steve, but Bones had been living with him for almost a year and she'd never had any problems before. Rubbing his face, he wondered if he just wanted it to be Steve because he was with Bones, in exactly the place that he wanted to be. Brennan had told him time and again that he was a lovely guy and that he'd never find anything to make him think otherwise. Then again, she'd been oddly quiet about talking about him recently. He sighed, pushing the thought to the back of his mind for now, as he decided to focus on what he could actually do for Brennan right then.

His first mission was down to the lab, where he was not surprised when the whole team bombarded him the moment he appeared, Angela having already told them what she saw. He held up his hands to calm them, Angela looking especially worried.

"Bones isn't doing so great, she's in pretty bad shape," he admitted, rubbing his neck. "She's going to be alright though; she's sleeping in my office now so you're going to have to work without her today."

"Let's take her to the hospital," Angela started, before Booth stopped her.

"She doesn't want to go, and I don't want to push her in case she stops feeling comfortable telling me things. She is definitely not in any danger right now, so we're just going to have to take that for the moment."

Cam nodded, stepping forwards. "Take care of her, Seeley. She's important to us."

He nodded. "I will. She'll be at my apartment tonight if any of you want to get in touch with her."

They all nodded, heading back to their work uneasily. As Booth watched from the door, he wondered if Brennan would realise how much she meant to people, because if not he wished she could have seen the scene that he had just witnessed. Maybe then she would believe in herself a bit more.

Shaking the thoughts from his head, Booth wandered off to finish his paperwork, not wanting his boss to go storming into his office looking for him and disturbing Brennan.

Booth smiled as he walked into his office, seeing that Brennan had just woken up, sat sleepily on his couch. He made his way straight over to her, giving her a hug and kissing her head affectionately, enjoying seeing her smile at the attention.

"Hey, sleepy head! How did you sleep?" he asked, wandering to his desk to collect his things.

"Well, thanks. I feel much better."

"You don't look much better," he observed, seeing her give him a knowing smile. She couldn't hide anything from him.

"I need to go," she told him, knowing that he wasn't going to like this part of the conversation.

"What do you mean 'go'? You're coming back with me tonight."

"I can't Booth. I'm really sorry, you don't know how much I want to..." she started, cut off when Booth came and sat next to her on the couch.

"You really don't have a choice, Bones, I'm not letting you leave. I can't stand by and watch you keep getting hurt anymore, so you're staying with me until I'm sure that you're going to be safe. I don't care what you say, my mind is made up."

She opened her mouth to argue, before changing her mind and closing it again. "Are you sure you don't mind?"

Booth looked at her in shock. "Bones, I would far rather have you around at the best of times, let alone when it means I don't have to sit up at night worrying about what's happening to you."

Brennan hesitated. "What about if it meant you could get seriously hurt in the process?"

He looked surprised. She hadn't been this open with him about what had happened before. "Well, that's a risk I'm willing to take. We work well together, I'm sure we can get over that one."

Brennan nodded, standing and grabbing her stuff. Booth collected the rest of his things, pausing at the door before heading out into the public eye.

"You need to relax, and have time to heal properly. And somewhere where you'll be safe and not harmed anymore. I can give you that, so let me."

She smiled, taking his hand in her free one. "I don't know how I'm going to get out of it, Booth, but this is the first time I've had hope for a long time."

He grinned. "That's me, the hope giver," he joked, opening the door and letting her go through first, secretly glad when she reached for his hand again. "I'll help you, Bones, if you'll let me. With anything. We'll get through it together, that's what friends and partners do."

"I know," she replied, smiling at him and giving his hand an affectionate squeeze as they set off towards Booth's home, neither of them feeling this happy in a long time.

Booth grinned at Bones, who was relaxing on his couch with a glass of wine. He hadn't seen her looking this healthy and happy in a while. Looking across, she smiled back, giving him a quizzical look as he sat down opposite her.

"What?"

"Nothing, you just look happy," he told her, seeing her look away slightly embarrassed.

"Well, that's largely down to you," she replied, looking up at him beneath her eyelashes.

"Oh, well, what can I say," he joked, taken aback when she suddenly scuttled up the couch, laying her head on his shoulder and wrapping her arms around his waist. "What's that for?"

She smiled, feeling his arms fall naturally to her shoulders, stroking the soft skin there that her pyjamas didn't cover gently.

"Nothing, I just wanted to be close to you," she replied, looking up to find him looking at her oddly, a quizzical look on his face.

Turning her attention back to the TV, she missed the adoring look that Booth gave her before he shook it off, trying to concentrate on the show but struggling with the woman of his dreams in his arms.

So that's the next bit! More drama in the next chapter, but I thought we deserved a bit of light fluff in this one! :) Please let me know what you think, and thanks so much for reading!