REVELATIONS

Chapter 9

Before leaving the hospital, Sweets had pulled Max Keenan to the side. Since Max had worked at the Jeffersonian for awhile he knew Sweets.

"Mr. Keenan, would it be possible for you to meet me some place where we could talk? If you want we could meet, either in my office, at the diner or wherever you feel comfortable."

"I can come to your office. Can you tell me what this is about?" Max asked.

"It's about Dr. Brennan. She has given me permission to talk to you about her childhood. Last weekend Dr. Brennan, Dr. Saroyan, Booth and I all went to spend the weekend at Dr. Hodgins home. While we were there last Saturday night Dr. Brennan and I had a talk and she has asked for my help. In order to help her I need to know some of the facts about her childhood. I know some of it but I need more information. I am sure that you know that when dealing with Dr. Brennan I have to be very accurate or she will look for any weak links. In some ways she has started to think like Booth which makes it harder to deal with her."

Max just smiled at him. "I know exactly what you mean. I'll call you to see when I can come over." They both joined the others as they crowded into the elevator.

Booth's Apartment: Saturday 6 P.M.

Booth didn't stop anyplace to get food as he had traveled home. He was too exhausted, both mentally and physically. He took care of three things before going to bed; hot shower, beer with leftover pizza and notifying Cullen. By the time he was through giving Cullen all of the information he currently had and finishing off the beer he was practically falling asleep with his face in the pizza. After his head finally hit the plate with the pizza in it he got up and turned everything off and fell into bed.

For the first 7 hours sleep he slept a deep, dreamless sleep. By the 8th hour his eyes under his eyelids started moving back and forth. His lungs started breathing more rapidly and his heart started to beat faster. He began to dream the same dream he had dreamed on Friday night except one more thing was added.

His dream took him through alleyway after alleyway and between tall buildings. As he ran through the forest of tall buildings he could hear Brennan calling for him. He ran and ran but he couldn't find her. Her screams became louder and louder. All at once his breathing slowed down. In his dream he had come to the end of the concrete forest and before him a prairie stretched out for miles.

In the distance he could see someone standing. He knew, with complete certainty that Brennan was there by this person. He started running as her screams became more distinct as he approached the figure standing in the middle of the prairie. Standing over Brennan was Ortiz. His penis was out of his pants and erect. He looked down at Brennan and saw all of the blood coming out from between her legs. On the ground he saw a tiny baby, lifeless and drained of all color. He looked up at Ortiz and could see that he had blood all over the front of his pants and his penis. Ortiz looked at him and started laughing.

With a jerk Booth sat up straight in his bed. He fell back on the bed crying. "Damn you Ortiz, you killed our baby, you killed our baby." Booth said over and over again as he beat his fist into the pillow. After 15 minutes of doing this Booth once again fell asleep and started the dream again. After waking up for the third time from the nightmare he swung his legs over the side of the bed. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep anymore without dreaming the nightmare. He was soaked in sweat so he decided to take a shower and go and check on Brennan.

It was Sunday so he dressed to go to church and give thanks for Brennan's and Angela's safe return. By 2 in the afternoon he was walking into the hospital. He stopped at the receptionist on the first floor and asked about Brennan's room number. There seemed to be a problem in locating her because the receptionist had to call up to ICU. "Dr. Brennan has been moved from the ICU. She is now in room 415." The receptionist told him when she got off of the phone. He remembered that Angela was in 412 so he knew exactly where she was.

Booth entered 415 quietly in case Brennan was sleeping. When he stood next to her bed he could see that she was awake and appeared to be crying. "Bones."

The swelling of her eyes had gone down a little to the point that you could at least tell whether her eyes were open or not. Brennan reached up and wiped the tears from her face carefully. Through teeth that were wired shut she said "Booth?"

Her question scared him. "Can you see me Bones?" He made sure that he didn't touch her. He knew how many women were after they had been raped.

"Yes, although you're kind of fuzzy around the edges. My doctor said that should clear up in a day or two." She was quiet for awhile then she looked up at him.

"Are you angry with me?"

"Why would I be angry with you?"

"Because, I didn't tell you where I was going Friday night. I knew you would tell me I couldn't go because of it being in Little Salvador."

"We'll talk about that later when you are feeling better. Right now I want you to think about nothing other than getting better."

Booth was leaning against the hospital bed now. His hand was on the bed close to hers. To his surprise she reached for it.

"Booth, I know that they must have told you that I was pregnant and that I lost the baby." He could see her lower lip and chin were starting to quiver and the tears sprang forth as though a faucet had just been turned on. Booth didn't hesitate to take her into his arms since she had made the initial contact. They both let the tears break the boundaries that there stoic natures had set.

"It wasn't your fault Bones, it wasn't your fault. The beating you were taking caused the miscarriage. When we found you, you had a lot of blood pooling around you and on the floor. You're okay though; all of your baby making parts are still in tack."

Brennan continued to cry while Booth held her. Unconsciously he had started to rock her back and forth while rubbing her back with his right hand. "You don't have to worry about Ortiz any more Bones. He'll be put away for a long time now. He made a big mistake kidnapping you and Angela because you both work for the FBI."

"But we only work for the FBI because the Jeffersonian has a contract with them." Brennan said as she wiped away the steady flow of tears.

Booth pushed her back a little so he could look at her. "That doesn't make any difference, we still think of you as one of us. The district attorney will go hard on him and the rest of his gang that was involved. The Judge will make sure that they get the maximum sentence for what they did. It sends a message to all gang members that you don't mess with the FBI by going after its people. Even the local police department will lean on them more heavily. In a way were like the old time Mafia. Do you know what their most important rule was?"

Brennan just shook her head while wiping her tears away with the back of her hand.

"You don't mess with our families." When he said that Brennan gave him a smile as best she could.

Booth had been beaten before so he knew how much it hurt her to give him even a little smile. He grabbed more Kleenex from the box on the bed table and gently wiped her eyes. He gave her more Kleenex so she could blow her nose.

He laid her back down on the bed. She was starting to fall asleep again. As Booth pulled his hand away from hers she opened her eyes again. "Don't leave me please. I always feel so much safer when you're with me."

"I'll stay until they push me out of the door." Booth said as he pulled a chair closer to the bed so he could sit down while still holding her hand. He could feel her holding on tight as though he was a life line. When he felt her hand relaxing its hold on his he put his head on the edge of the bed and fell asleep also.

While Brennan and Booth were sleeping Hodgins had come to visit with his wife. When he arrived he passed by Brennan's room and looked in. He saw Booth holding onto Dr. Brennan while she cried. He quickly backed out of the room and went to Angela's room. She was sleeping so he just pulled a chair over to the bed where he could hold her hand while she slept.

Hodgins had called Angela's father yesterday to let him know what had happened. Hodgins didn't want to admit it but he found the guy to be very scary. Since he wore sun glasses all of the time Hodgins could never tell what he was thinking. Every time that he saw her father it made him think of the guard in "Cool Hand Luke" with Paul Newman. The guy's sun glasses were like mirrors. Hodgins gave an involuntary shudder just thinking about it. He hoped that her father had come already.

Since Angela was still sleeping he leaned against the bed and fell asleep also. Even though he had gotten a full 8 hours of sleep he was still tired since he had been awake for the previous 48 hours while they looked for the women.

Angela started dreaming about being raped. While she was tied they forced her to watch as Ortiz beat Brennan. When he started hitting her in the stomach and she heard Brennan call out that he was killing her baby she woke up screaming and calling out Brennan's name. She felt someone's hands on her and she started fighting to make them let go of her.

Jack got up when he heard Angela scream. A nurse came running into her room also and helped Hodgins to hold her down. She still had needles in her arm and her thrashing about could tear them out or cause them to break inside her arm. They could hear her screaming all the way down to the Nurses station so another nurse came in with a tranquilizer. It wasn't needed though because as Angela started to realize where she was and that Jack was by her side she reached for him and started crying.

Angela's scream had awakened both Brennan and Booth. "That sounded like Angela." Brennan said.

"It was her room is close by." Booth said. He didn't want to leave her side to investigate what was wrong.

"Go see if she's alright." Brennan said. Booth hesitated for a moment then went to Angela's room.

He found Hodgins and a nurse restraining Angela. It was apparent that she had just awakened from a nightmare and didn't know where she was. After seeing that she was doing okay he went back to Brennan.

He got back just in time to see Brennan attempting to get out of the bed. "Where do you think you're going missy?"

"I have to go to the bathroom." Booth looked around the bed and found a urine bag hanging from the rail.

"You don't need to get up they have a catheter in you." Booth pushed her back down and covered her up again.

Her only reply was "Oh."

A few minutes of awkward silence passed before she spoke again. "Is Angela okay?"

"Yes, she must have had a nightmare because when I got there Hodgins and a nurse were holding her down. As soon as she realized where she was, I guess, she stopped fighting them."

"It's all my fault that she was raped also. I am always so confident in being able to protect myself. If I wasn't so full of pride in my own abilities I never would have gone to the book store without telling you. Now I've lost our baby and I've gotten Angela raped also." The tears started to fall again. She had been crying so much that she had a headache.

Booth decided to tell her about something in his own past that he hoped would help her feel better.

"Bones, when I went on my first mission to kill someone I was like you. I had won several ribbons for my abilities as a sniper while I was in training and after. I was so full of pride in my own abilities that I didn't see the point in endangering someone else's life and I talked him into staying behind. Your partner, who is the spotter, is not only there to help you with calculating the distance of the target or the wind speed or anything else that influences hitting the target but they are also there to watch your back. Just like you and I watch each other's back when one of us is concentrating on something. My pride almost cost me my life and I could have failed in completing the mission. When I was about to pull the trigger someone snuck up behind me and put a bullet into my back. The bullet just missed my heart. Even though I had been hit I was still able to pull the trigger and hit my target. After putting another bullet in me he left me for dead and I presume he left to report that he had killed the sniper. I was still conscious though and was just barely able to make it to the pickup point. While I lay in the hospital for two weeks I blamed myself for almost failing in completing the mission because of my own pride. I never forgot that lesson Bones and I don't think that you will either. You're an intelligent woman and you know what you did wrong so we won't say anything more about it."

Sweets had been standing in the doorway and had heard everything. He backed out of the room when he heard Booth end his story and tell Brennan that they wouldn't discuss whose fault it was anymore. He stood closer to the entrance and knocked on the door. "Dr. Brennan it's Dr. Sweets, can I come in?"

Booth turned around and saw Sweets. "Come in Sweets."

"How are you doing Dr. Brennan?"

"I've been better."

In the next minute a nurse and orderly came in with a cart full of medical supplies and towels. Booth and Sweets backed away from the bed so they could go to the side of the bed.

"How are you feeling this morning Dr. Brennan?" Brennan saw the nurse's nametag on her blouse but she still couldn't see it well enough to read it.

"I'm sore all over. Can you take this catheter out? It's very uncomfortable."

"Yes we can do that. I am going to change your bandage also. But first I want to ask you if you would like for Francis to give you a sponge bath or would you like to try and get up so you can take a shower?"

"I would like to take a shower."

"Okay then would you gentlemen please step out for awhile while we take care of Dr. Brennan? As soon as she's back in the bed either Francis or I will come and get you."

Both Sweets and Booth stepped out at the Nurses request.

"Have you had lunch yet?" Booth asked Sweets.

"No, do you want to go to the cafeteria?"

"Yes, let's go to the cafeteria here and bring back something to eat. I want to pick up something for Bones to eat also." Booth asked someone at the Nurses station for directions to the cafeteria and they left.

After they came back with their food they sat in the waiting room and waited for someone to let them know they were done with Brennan. Within 10 minutes the orderly, Francis, came out and told them they could go into Dr. Brennan's room. She was looking much better now and her hair was up in a pony tail.

"I smell food. Did you bring me anything?" In response to Brennan's question Booth pulled over the table and laid out the contents of the two bags he was carrying along with two cups of coffee. Sweets took one of the chairs on the opposite side of the bed and took out his food and started to eat.

"I brought you a garden burger and fries along with two pudding cups and coffee." Booth said as he pulled out a large cheese burger and fries. He sat down on the side of the bed carefully and started on his own food.

Sweets was silent throughout their lunch. He just watched and observed Dr. Brennan. He was happy to see that she was allowing Booth to be near her and to touch her. Rape victims rarely wanted any man to touch them or even be near them.

Towards the end of the meal Hodgins came over to see Dr. Brennan. "Hello everyone, Dr. Brennan, how are you doing?"

"I'm feeling a lot better today. How is Angela?"

"She's doing a lot better also. She would like to see you. Is it okay if I bring her over here?"

"Yes, please bring her over."

Hodgins left and came back a few minutes later pushing Angela in a wheel chair. As soon as they saw each other they started crying. Angela got up from the wheel chair and hugged Brennan.

Sweets got up and signaled for Booth and Hodgins to follow him. He stopped and turned to them when they arrived at the waiting room.

"You both understand that it is going to take them both a long time to get over this." Both Booth and Hodgins nodded.

"The more they can be with each other the better it will be for them. They'll turn to each other and help each other get through this horrible ordeal that they shared. They really shouldn't be left alone for too long for at least the first week." Sweets said as they all sat down.

"I have an idea as to how we can do this without looking to obvious. I've wanted to have some work done on the estate for a long time, the bedrooms especially. As a surprise to Angela I've been talking to an architect about updating the master suite. Ever since Angela and I have been sleeping together we've been keeping the help awake." Hodgins face turned a bright red when he saw Booth and Sweets smiling.

"It's not what you think either. When my great great grandfather had the house built he didn't have a lot of money since he was just starting to build his wealth. To make a long story short, each generation has added on to the house but no one ever updated the interior of the house. I've been planning for a long time to do that and I think that this will be the perfect opportunity. I'll ask Dr. Brennan if we can stay with her because the servants are going to stay in the cottages that we have in the back by the pool. That will give them time to be together and it will give them something to keep their minds busy with until they come back to work. What do you think?"

"That sounds good Hodgins. Of course you both know that you'll be in dry dock for awhile. Don't push them about having sex. Let them make the initial move. You're both lucky that they reached out for you. Usually rape victims can't stand to have a man even touch them at first." Sweets told the two men.

"Yeah, we get a short psychology course during training at Quantico. Although I put my hand close to Bones' hand I didn't touch her. I let her make the first move and was surprised when she reached for my hand."

"That's good. I am going to set up appointments for Dr. Brennan and Angela with a specialist in treating rape victims. Dr. Brennan may give me an argument on it but I'll make it mandatory if she wants to go out into the field with you again Booth. Am I correct that Angela goes home tomorrow Dr. Hodgins?"

"Yes, they wanted to keep her one more night."

"Okay then, I'll call you to give you the time, and date of Angela's first appointment. I think I'll go now and give you time alone with them." Dr. Sweets turned and went back to the elevators so the two men could talk about what they were going to do.

TBC….