Chapter Seven

Even though Booth was practically on his knees begging her to stay, she decided it would be better for her to go home to her own bed. She told him he looked tired and that he needed some solid sleep, but what she didn't admit to him was that she was a little nervous about sleeping with him with his son in the next room, and his grandfather in the other.

As she prepared to leave, she said goodnight to Booth's Grandfather, and he pulled her into another huge hug.

"It was very nice to meet you." She kissed him gently on the cheek, startling herself as to how she was so comfortable with this man already.

"We'll see you soon Temperance. Drive carefully, and call when you get home." The older man helped her with her coat, and Booth walked her out to her car.

"Well, I see the famous Booth magic has snared another victim. I think he's pretty smitten with you Bones." Seeley opened her car door, but before she got in, he caught her with a slow, passionate kiss.

"I think it's more than mutual. Your Grandfather is a wonderful human being. You're lucky to have had him watching out for you and Jared." The mention of his brother's name brought an anguished look to his face, and drew more attention to the black under his eyes. She was concerned. He didn't look well. She ran her fingers from the bruise on his cheek to his lips, and he caught her hand and kissed her fingers.

"Sleep well tonight Seeley. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Definitely Temperance."

She got into the car and shut the door. She glanced at him before she started the car; he was looking over his shoulder at something, she followed his gaze, but didn't see anything. He turned back to her and pressed his fingers against the window. She smiled, and started her car moving. In her rear-view mirror, she saw him looking over his shoulder again, by the time she had reached the corner; he was walking back towards the building.

It turned out; Temperance did not see Booth the next day, or the next. She was incredibly busy with the case that she and Perotta were trying to solve. So far they had narrowed the identity of the murderer down to about 20 suspects, and it was taking all their time travelling around doing interviews. She was exhausted. She had spoken to Booth on the phone that morning, and he said he was also very busy, trying to arrange plans for Jared's funeral. Complicating the matters was Booth's father. He seemed to think that Jared should be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, while Booth tried to convince him that a man who had killed himself while driving drunk, was not considered a national hero. It had not yet come to blows, but Booth was not optimistic. Brennan could hear the tension in Booth's voice. It was not good for him. She wondered what she could do to help.

She was sitting on the couch in her office late in the afternoon thinking about a solution to that particular problem, when she was startled by a set of fingers running along the nape of her neck. She jumped up and turned around, only to face Booth who was laughing at her reaction.

"Booth! It's not nice to sneak up on people like that! I could have seriously hurt you, you know." Her voiced seemed mad, but her eyes betrayed her. They matched the humour in his.

He walked around the couch, and looking back at the door to her office, and the windows, he determined no one was nearby, and risked a quick kiss.

"I missed you." He took her hand and sat down on the couch, forcing her to follow.

She looked at him carefully; analyzing his face in the matter she analyzed anything, thoroughly. He seemed even paler than the last time she had seen him, and the dark circles under his eyes had not eased. Though it had only been a few days, she swore he had lost weight. He sighed, and leaned his head back on the couch. She put her hand on his knee, and he put his hand on top of hers.

"How are you doing?" Her voice was filled with genuine concern.

"Well, plans are finalized. The funeral will be this Friday, only four more days before I put my baby brother in the ground. I can't believe he's gone Bones. He's the one who's supposed to help me deal with my dad, and he left me all alone. I'm fixing things for him again." His eyes were closed.

"You are not alone. You have your Grandfather, and Parker, and everyone at the Jeffersonian. We all love you, and you have me." She squeezed his knee. He smiled, but kept his eyes closed.

That's how Sweets found them when he knocked on her door and crossed the threshold with a file in his hands. "Oh, hey Booth, hey Dr. Brennan. I have that profile you asked me to put together. Whoa Booth, you don't look very good."

"I'm fine Sweets. I'm just a little preoccupied right now." Booth sat up a little bit on the couch, trying to make himself appear more alert. He waved his hand in front of his face as though he was trying to shoo something away. Both Brennan and Sweets caught the gesture and they looked at each other but didn't say anything.

"Well, you've been through a very traumatic experience recently and sometimes your body shuts itself down to help your brain deal with the underlying reason for the anxiety."

"I don't have anxiety, or whatever you said there, I have a dead brother, and a father who blames me. What I have is a head ache, and your psycho babble is not going to help it." With that, Booth stood up, and stormed out of Brennan's office. On his way out the door, he turned back to Sweets, and said,

"Stay out of it Sweets, this is a grown-up problem. Something you know nothing about!"

His outburst surprised Brennan, and without looking at Sweets, she chased after him, catching up to him just about at the platform where the autopsies were performed on the remains that needed to be identified. There was no one there now; most of the staff had gone for lunch. Booth heard Brennan's footsteps catching up to him, and he stopped to wait for her. She had hold of his arm before he knew it and made him look at her.

"Sweets didn't mean anything by what he said, you know. He is just concerned for your well being. So am I." She had that look in her eyes that melted him. It was a look that she did not use very often, and he felt warm knowing it was for him.

"I know Bones, I'm sorry. I just have this stupid head ache that won't go away and it's making me short tempered." He wanted to touch her, but he couldn't risk it. There were still a few witnesses around.

"Maybe you should go see a doctor?"

"I plan on seeing my favourite doctor tonight; she'll take care of me." He raised one eyebrow, hoping she got his hint. She did. She leaned close to him and whispered,

"I'll see you later."

He looked around, and seeing no one paying any attention to them, he winked, and turned around to leave. Her eyes followed him until he had exited the lab. She walked back to her office, where Sweets was still standing, looking slightly shocked.

"Is he okay?"

"No, but he will be," she changed the subject as fast as she could, "You said you had that profile for Agent Perotta and I?" He looked at her for a second, and then opened the file he was holding, and sat down on the chair by her desk.

The rest of the afternoon was occupied by paperwork. She was exhausted further by a visit from Angela, who still refused to believe there was nothing going on between her and Booth. She was close to telling Angela the truth, but she didn't want to betray Booth until they both agreed that their relationship was able to handle the scrutiny that it would be under when the world knew what had finally happened. Angela finally left, exasperated that her friend was still in denial that she was madly in love with the tall, good looking FBI agent. Some day...

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The evening passed slowly once she was home. Booth hadn't told her what time he would be coming over, so she laid on her couch with a book to relax before he arrived. Without realizing it, she drifted off to sleep and was awoken some time later by soft lips on hers. She opened her eyes and was looking directly into brown eyes that were soft, and warm and loving. She smiled.

"Hello sleeping beauty." He sat beside where she was laying on the couch, and ran his fingers through her hair.

"How did you get in here?" Her eyes were still sleepy and he leaned down and kissed them both in turn. He pointed to his chest and grinned.

"Did you forget that I'm a Special Agent?"

"No, but I've also seen you pick locks before. Remind me to get you a key cut, so you don't get arrested when one of my neighbours sees you doing that."

"Deal."

Further conversation was cut off by the fact that their lips were otherwise engaged. He picked her up off the couch and carried her to the bedroom, where they made the sweetest love that they had yet. The physical effort drained them both and they had fallen asleep, arms around each other. She awoke in the middle of the night, and crawled out of bed to use the bathroom. When she returned she noticed that Booth was awake, but he was holding his head in his hands. She knelt over him and brushed her fingers over his. He lowered his hands and smiled at her. She crawled under the covers beside him, and he wrapped his arms around her.

They lay in silence for quite a while, when they both broke it at the same time.

"Temperance, I have to be..."

"Seeley... have you ever..."

They looked at each other and laughed.

"You go first." She conceded to him.

He kissed her on the mouth before he began,

"I was just wondering if your neighbour always played his music so loud in the middle of the night. It's pounding in my head."

"Seeley, there's no music. I don't know what you are hearing." She looked at him, but couldn't make out a facial expression in the dark. She couldn't tell if he was joking.

"Oh." That was strange. "What were you going to ask me?

"I just wanted to know if you ever considered having any more children." She blurted it out before she lost her nerve.

He was silent for a while, and she wondered if he was ever going to respond.

"That's coming out of left field there a little bit, Bones? What makes you wonder that right now?"

She waited a minute before responding. "Why would it be coming from left field, what does that mean?"

He kissed her temple and laughed to himself. "Seriously, what makes you wonder that?"

"It's just that, when we were taking care of Andy, I started to wonder about having children. Or at least a child anyway. I think it would be nice to have a legacy so that you are not forgotten when you die. I think I have a lot of pleasing attributes, especially my intelligence, which would ensure a future with scholars and academics. I mean, I look at you with Parker and I see so much of you in him, genetically speaking, and I know that he brings you so much joy. I just wonder what it would be like." She was tracing figure eights on his chest while she was talking.

"Are you asking me if I want to have a child with you?" His voice held no trace of laughter. He leaned up on one elbow to look at her.

"I don't know, I just wondered."

"We can talk about it later Bones, never say never. We have lots of time to wonder about that." He leaned down and kissed her. His kisses went from her mouth to her neck and down her chest, when suddenly he moaned and pulled back.

He swung out of bed, still moaning. She reached for the light beside the bed, and when it came on she saw him. He had fallen to his knees, his head in his hands. His moans became cries, and she rushed over to him, trying to pry his hands off of his face.

"BOOTH! C'mon...what's wrong?" She finally got his hands away from his face, only to see his eyes roll into the back of his head, and he started to seize. She backed up a bit, and controlled his fall the rest of the way to the floor. The seizure had not stopped, she dove for the phone that was beside the bed and called 911. She gave the operator a quick summary of what was going on, all the while Booth continued to shake. His whole body was writhing. The operator informed her that help was on the way, and to stay on the line. She set the phone on the floor and held his head in her lap. She realized then that they were both naked, and she quickly threw some clothes on, the first ones she could see, and covered him with a sheet.

She went back to him, he didn't seem to be quaking so hard now, but he was still unconscious. She held him in her arms and waited for help to arrive.

"C'mon Booth, stay with me now. You can do this, Stay with me...