Author's Note: Next chapter. This will be the final part of the Assurances storyline and the next chapters will go back to being standalone snippets...at least for now...

I do not own Bones or any of its characters.

Thank you to everyone who is reading/following/reviewing this. It is always appreciated.

Lives in the now: Thank you. I do think that is a central theme within the B&B relationship (if not all of the major relationships on Bones) that for as different as they are, they learn so much from each other. I hope you will enjoy how I finish this off.

Peanutmeg: Thank you for the review. Ever since I heard that bit on the The Prince in the Plastic episode, I wondered if Brennan's words will come back to haunt her. And given how protective Booth is in this season, I figured that there would be a lot to test that side of him as well. Thus, it was fun to play with both in this fic. I hope you enjoy the update.

Rex01: Yes, I understand. Stay tuned and you'll get your answer in this chapter. :)

D: I agree. I believe that Sweets was onto something when he said that they complement each other and it's always fun to show why this is...

Charlotte Thornton: Again agreed. I do think that their partnership is so much more than just professional or even romantic. As to how Sweets is, read on. :)

1917farmgirl: Again, thank you for the very lovely review. I am glad that you've enjoyed my body of work on this site and a little impressed that you were able to plow through it so fast since there is quite a lot there. ;) And I understand how you feel about the relative lack of Sweets-centric fic. When I first joined this site a couple years ago, there was only about 100 or so fics centered on him. Now there are twice as many, so it is improving, but you are right in saying that there is still a long way to go. Myself, I see Sweets as such a complex character, I find that I don't run out of ideas for him...even when I invite others to send ideas that they would like to see my way. :) So anyway, I don't see myself stopping anytime soon with the Sweets fic, so I hope you enjoy this and more of my work in the future as well.

CauseAScene: Thank you. I agree that I also love it when Sweets has a chance to show his strength and thus enjoyed constructing this storyline. I think that he has a lot of fortitude inside him that is sometimes overlooked, even by those close to him...As for the banter, it was a combination of paying tribute to an episode I enjoyed from season five (The Gamer in the Grease) and yes, a nod toward JFD's real life projects. :) I love to throw little references like that into my work...This is going to be the final part, so I hope that you will enjoy it. And I hope to see more of you fic soon too. :D

Assurances—Part 3

As Sweets opened his eyes, he found himself wishing that he could stay awake for a little longer this time.

Currently, he was lying in bed in the guestroom of Booth's and Brennan's new home. He had just spent over a week at the hospital recovering from being shot. Fortunately, the bullet had gone clean through him and hadn't hit anything vital, but the trauma and resulting blood loss had been severe. It had taken a whole day for him to wake up after surgeons had repaired the damage and another day yet before he could stay awake for more than a couple of minutes.

Sweets blinked a few times and gingerly turned onto his side toward the window next to his bed. The sun shone through the curtains, warming his face. He looked over at the giant teddy bear that was sitting on the edge of his bed, a present Daisy had brought him when she stopped by to visit that morning, and he started to think about how when he had first woken up, the first thing he had seen was her face staring down at him.

It had taken Angela several hours, but eventually she had been able to get a hold of the intern. Daisy had been doing research at a facility out of town and had turned off her cell phone at one point so that she could concentrate. By the time she had turned it back on, Sweets had already been taken out of surgery and into his own room. After that, she had stayed with him for most of the time he was in the hospital.

The psychologist yawned and fell back onto his back, his hand carefully running along his side. He had appreciated her company while he was at the hospital, but had wished that he could have done more than sleepily converse with her for a few minutes at a time most days. By the time the doctors gave the ok for him to leave, Sweets was more than ready to go. He had originally hoped to spend his recovery at his own apartment with Daisy looking after him, but due to her spending night and day with him while he was at the hospital, she was hopelessly behind in her grad work. Fortunately, Booth had not forgotten his promises and offered to let the therapist stay with him and Brennan for a week or two while he got his strength back.

The first day he had arrived at their place, Sweets hadn't been able to take it in much since he was ready for a nap after the small amount of activity involved with transferring him from the hospital to this guest room. Over the last couple of days though, he had had a chance to see more of the place and was impressed with the way that it had turned out.

'Booth was right. He and Wendell put a lot of work into this,' he mused. 'It barely looks like those pictures Booth showed me of when he first bought it anymore.'

Sweets groaned and curled his hands up in an effort to stop himself from giving in to the urge to scratch at his stitches. Ever since he had woken up, he had been relieved that mild painkillers had been sufficient to keep his discomfort down to a tolerable level, but that didn't stop the pain from flaring up once in a while, and this was one of those times. He tried to reach over to the nightstand beside his bed for some water and his pills but found that they had been placed out of reach. Gasping he laid back down and tried to meditate to get his mind off the pain.

The problem with that though was the fact that whenever he let his mind wander on its own, he kept going back to the moment he was shot.

Sweets stared at the ceiling, his eyes blinking hard. From the car, he had seen the second bank robber sneak out of the side of the building and he had gotten out of the car to warn Booth about him. But then to his horror, Sweets saw the main raise his gun to aim at the agent, whose attention had been diverted by a woman who had run out of the building.

In that moment, he couldn't think, he could only move. He ran, faster than what he thought possible, toward Booth. He had wanted to just push him out of the way, but somewhere on an instinctive level, he knew that he only had time to nudge the agent out of the way before the other man fired. Thus, it did and yet it didn't surprise him a couple of seconds later when he felt white hot agony rip into his side, forcing him to fall to the ground.

The next couple of moments continued to haunt Sweets in his nightmares. He could feel his blood draining away from his body. He could see the fear in Booth's eyes and it had mirrored the fear he had felt in his soul. Even though he didn't regret what he had done to keep Booth safe, he was scared that he would die then and there and the idea of it had been more than just disconcerting to him.

Sweets swallowed hard and wished that he had a glass of water. He had spent most of his life doing what he could to avoid dwelling on the possibility of his own death. He had had to deal with his own mortality since he was a small child. As he had grown older, the depth of this subject had grown for him and it had subsequently become more and more difficult for him to contemplate it for any extended length of time.

Waking up in the hospital and seeing the light and Daisy's face had prompted him to burst into tears. Daisy had immediately kissed him, but then started calling for a nurse to give him something for the pain in the very next breath. Sweets was so relieved to see her, he didn't have the heart to tell her that his sobs had nothing to do with the physical agony he had felt in that moment.

The psychologist looked over at the small metal bell sitting nearby and sighed. Brennan had given it to him in case of some emergency or in case he needed something and was too weak to get it on his own. He hated feeling so helpless and having to have someone wait on him and thus was loathe to ring that bell. Instead he kept running his fingers along his bed sheets, trying to let the tactile sensation distract him from both his thirst and the ache he felt in his heart.

Booth walked down the hallway toward the guest room. He had been in the hospital's chapel when Brennan came to tell him that the doctors had informed her that Sweets would be fine and had been immensely grateful that his prayers had been heard. Upon seeing how weak Sweets was when he woke up, he had decided to put off any sort of serious discussion with him over what happened until a later point. As the therapist recovered, Booth had found more and more excuses to put off said discussion, especially when he observed how somber Sweets had become as he recovered.

The agent stepped quietly into the guest room and found Sweets lying on this bed with his eyes closed. He thought about turning around and leaving so as to not disturb him, but then he noticed a tear trailing down the psychologist's cheek. As much as he knew that he was going to be uncomfortable with this, he dared to keep walking toward the bed.

"Hey Sweets," he nearly whispered. "Are you ok? Do you need anything?" The psychologist's eyes flew open and he immediately swiped at his face.

"Thirsty," he croaked. He tried to prop himself up again, but Booth pushed him to lie back down once he saw how the psychologist trembled from the effort. He then grabbed some additional pillows from the closet and carefully helped Sweets to sit up and then lie against them into a more upright position. He then poured Sweets a large glass of water and handed it to him.

"Sweets, if you were feeling that weak, you should have had Bones or I come in here to stay with you," he said. "We gave you that bell in case you needed us." The therapist shook his head.

"I didn't want to bother you guys," he said. Booth pulled a chair over to sit beside the bed.

"If we had been worried about things like that, we wouldn't have had you come here in the first place," he said. "Don't worry about it, all right?"

"Ok," Sweets nodded, looking at the window again. Booth thought about leaving him to rest for a while, but something nagged at him. Something he was certain that Sweets needed to listen to.

"Sweets, I…I want to thank you," Booth said. "You saved me from getting shot and I am grateful for that. I know that we will need to talk more about your role in the field, but I don't want you to forget my gratitude to you for having my back." Sweets swiveled his head at the agent, a smile on his face.

"Thanks Booth," he mumbled. "But I…." The psychologist looked away. "But it wasn't like I was a hero or anything. While it was happening, I was just…just um…."

"Scared that you were going to die?" Booth asked quietly. Sweets nodded. "That's to be expected Sweets. To be honest, I'd wonder if you needed some shrinking yourself if you didn't feel that way. There's no room in the Bureau or on my team for people who live as if they have nothing to lose."

Sweets nodded again, and Booth watched him in silence for a moment. He knew that there was a lot more that could be said, and he suspected that Sweets felt the same way. Somehow though, it just didn't feel like the time for such concerns.

Instead, Booth placed his hand on Sweets' arm and squeezed.

"Bones was wondering what you were wanting for dinner tonight," he said. "We figured that it was time for our guest to put in a request of his own." Sweets laughed a little and looked back at him.

"I love Chinese," he said. Booth grinned and shook his head.

"Yeah, I told Bones that you'd say that and she didn't believe me," he said. "So thanks for helping me win that bet."

"Glad I could help," Sweets smirked. "So I guess this means that I get to pick out a movie to watch tonight?"

"Oh all right," Booth said, rolling his eyes. "But it better not be some cornball, unnecessary remake of some classic sci-fi film."

"I'll try to be more creative than that," Sweets chuckled, closing his eyes again.

"Hey, it's ok," Booth assured him. "We can watch whatever you want later. Bones and I…we're just glad that you're here and that you're ok."

Sweets smiled and Booth was about to say more until he realized that the psychologist had already fallen back asleep.