Disclaimer: Bones ain't mine. I sure wish it was though.

Thanks Melissa for your quick work beta-ing my chapters. To all who's waited with bated breath to find out if Booth made it, here's your answer.

Booth

I open my eyes. I can't see anything but blackness. Am I dead? My eyes take a moment to focus. Are those stars? I try taking in a breath and am hit by a sharp pain in my chest. Pain. There can't be pain if I'm dead, can there? I try to wiggle my toes. They work. I try my hands. Another sharp pain shoots up my left wrist and arm. I can only conclude that I survived the crash. I mouth a silent prayer of thanks. I know I'm not out of the woods yet, I'm in enemy territory. What about the others on the chopper?

"Greg?" My voice is hoarse. There's no reply.

I have to find the others, if they survived. How long have I been out? It's night and it's cold. I begin to shiver. Every breath I take is like inhaling broken glass, but I've been through worse. I just want to get home. I'm sure they'll let me go home after this.

Time to try and get out of here; time to see if my body still works. I try to get up but am met with a wave of nausea and giddiness that forces me back down. I take quick painful breaths. I move my good hand, my right one, to my head. I feel a slick wetness between my fingertips. I must be bleeding from some where on my head.

The first pale, pink tendrils of sunlight are creeping along the horizon, chasing away the velvety blackness of the night sky. By the dim light I see that I had been thrown some distance from where we crashed. I take a deep breath then push myself up on my hands, ignoring the searing pain from my left side. The nausea hits again and I taste bile in my mouth.

I'm still breathless from my effort to sit up. I lift up my left hand. It's swollen and bruised. Great! In addition to broken ribs my hand's probably broken as well. I feel blood drip down the side of my face. No wonder my head's throbbing. I'm feeling faint. Maybe too much blood loss. I remember something Bones said, dizziness being a sign of lack of blood, oxygen or something. I look at my legs. I groan as I see a bit of white bone sticking out just below my left knee.

No matter I'll drag myself out of here if it means I can get home to Bones.

I'm still out of breath and I'm beginning to see stars. I'm not bleeding from any obvious wound on the outside, so even worse I must be bleeding from the inside. No! I didn't survive the crash to die in the dessert!

I hear the hum of rotating helicopter blades in the distance. Friend or foe? I don't have time to find out. The world starts to spin around me. I try to keep awake, but my eyelids grow heavy. They close with the image of Bones smiling at me, the image I burned into my mind on our wedding night. Then the darkness welcomes me again. I don't even feel myself hitting the ground again.

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Brennan

"They found him." Jared's voice sounds strangely emotionless over the phone. I would have thought he would be happy they found his brother.

"He's ok." I state.

"No, not really." Jared pauses and I take in a breath preparing myself for what he has to say. "His condition is still unstable. They were a little sketchy on the details. Something about broken bones, internal bleeding, head trauma."

"Where's he?" I mouth the word "Booth" to Angela who's just walked into my office. She holds a hand to her mouth.

"He's in a makeshift military hospital in Iraq. Don't worry, it's run by us."

"I want to go to him."

"Tempe. They don't allow civilians there."

"He's my husband Jared. I have to go to him."

"Temperance they're not going to make any exceptions." I hear Jared sigh. "I'm going there to Iraq. I'll go make sure he's ok, gets all the care he needs. Once they think he's fit to fly home we will come home."

"I – "

"Once he's able, I'll get him to call you."

"I really really want to go to him."

"I know. I promise I'll bring him back to you. It might take some time, but I'll bring him back."

"Jared – "

"Once I get there, once I know anything, I'll call you."

"Ok." I hate conceding defeat. I really want to go to Booth. This is one of those times when I have to accept that I'm not going to get my way.

"If they need any decision to be made- "

"I promised I'll call you. I gotta, go Tempe. My plane leaves in an hour."

I hang up. My hand moves to clutch Booth's ring. He's alive! I knew he would be. Patience Bones. Everything happens eventually. I can hear Booth's voice in my head.

"Bren?"

"He's alive." Angela lets out a sound that sounds half like a laugh and half like a cry. She moves towards me and we hug. I smile, realizing that he kept his promise to me after all.

Keep those reviews coming. They make me wanna keep writing. And for those who reviewed my chapters thanks for all your kind words. More to come.