Chapter Eight

Brennan was trying not to panic. Her brain was trying to be rational, but her heart was in overdrive. She sat on her bedroom floor with her partner in her arms, begging him to wake up. So far, it was to no avail. She had no idea how much time had passed when she heard the commotion at the front door. She ran down the hallway to let the paramedics into her apartment, they followed her to the bedroom and her unconscious other half. They immediately got to work, taking his vitals, inserting an IV, and connecting oxygen to his face. One of the paramedics turned to her and asked,

"What exactly happened here?" They were loading Booth onto a stretcher, his face looked so white. It terrified her.

"He was complaining of a headache, and all of a sudden he collapsed and started having a seizure, he's been unconscious ever since." Brennan felt her voice breaking as they walked him down the hallway toward the front door.

"What was happening immediately prior to his collapse?" The paramedic pressed her for more information.

"We were, uh, being intimate..." Tears were now falling from her eyes.

"That would explain the elevated blood pressure," one paramedic said to the other, "Possibly the Tachycardia too!"

They continued to question her as they went down the stairs to the waiting ambulance. They loaded him quickly into the vehicle and secured him in place. Without asking, she climbed in beside Booth and reached for his hand. She was not relinquishing this grip until they tore his hand from hers. They didn't.

The ambulance pulled away from the building at a slow pace. The ambulance technician who was in the back with Brennan asked her how long had he had these headaches. She told him all about the fight with his father and how he had been knocked out only days earlier. The paramedic leaned toward the front of the ambulance and told his partner to step on it. The sirens came on and Brennan felt the vehicle accelerate considerably, which did nothing to slow her heart down. It was pounding so hard.

"Which hospital are we going to?' Brennan asked.

"Uh... Bethesda is the closest. Is that okay?"

"Yes. They have his file there." The paramedic did a double take,

"Are you the author, Temperance Brennan?" When she nodded, he continued, "My wife loves your books. Is this Andy, the FBI agent who helps your main character solving crimes?"

She looked at him for a second, "Well, he's the man the character is based on, loosely anyway. If you don't mind, could you focus a little more on his physical condition and not so much on me?"

"Yes m'am."

They were at the hospital in less than ten minutes. Two doctors on call had been warned of their arrival and were waiting for the ambulance. One of the doctors was the same one who had treated Booth only days earlier. Brennan struggled to remember his name. It came to her eventually. Doctor Callaway. He recognized her and glanced sharply down at the man on the stretcher.

"What happened here?" Doctor Callaway asked whoever was listening to him. The paramedics saved Brennan the trouble of explaining the story again, and she just walked beside Booth, holding his hand. It felt cold. This was the same hand that had been touching her passionately only hours earlier. The memory warmed her a little, but his cold hand brought her back down again. They pushed the unconscious man to the trauma ward, and the doctors began a thorough examination of him. His heart rate had slowed and his blood pressure had dropped. The doctors worked a little faster. Someone called out,

"Pupils are fixed and dilated!" This scared Brennan. She knew what that meant. It meant that he was not responding to stimuli. Crap.

The medical team stepped away from the patient and had a quick conference on the other side of the room from Brennan. One of the doctors had a clip board in his hand and he was flipping pages, he glanced at Brennan a few times. She wondered what the hell was going on. Why weren't they saying anything?

Doctor Callaway walked over to her and put his hand on Brennan's shoulder. She looked down at it and then back up at him.

"Dr. Brennan, we have to ask your permission, as his next of kin listed, to do something. It's experimental, but it's shown great success in the trials. It appears that Agent Booth has a degree of swelling in his brain, and we have no idea how severe. To buy us some time, we would like to put him in a hypothermic state, and that will enable us to determine the cause of the problem, and hopefully find a solution." He waited patiently for her reply.

"What does that mean exactly?" Her eyes were wide as she digested the initial diagnosis the doctor gave her.

"By putting him in the hypothermic state, it will slow down the fluids travelling through his body, and thusly, practiacally halting the swelling. Temporarily anyway. It will give us more time to diagnose and fix the problem."

"Do it." She had tears in her eyes again. The doctor patted her shoulder.

"We will do everything we can to help your partner. We will make him our top priority." Doctor Callaway turned to one of the nurses and asked her to bring in ice, and a lot of it. "Call CT, we need the scanner five minutes ago."

Temperance stood back and let the Doctors work. It wasn't long before her partners body had been completely packed in ice, and they were preparing him to move upstairs to the scanner. The nurses held her back as she tried to follow, telling her she would have to wait. She rushed past them and stopped by Seeley, her eyes flowing. She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead, and whispered something in his ear. To those standing nearby it sounded like she said 'I've always loved you too'. They wheeled him away, and she was left standing by herself. The tears continued to flow.

She stood there, for who knows how long, staring at the door through which he was taken further away from her. Eventually a nurse came to her and asked if she would like to wait in a private room, until they had a word on his condition. She asked if there was anyone she could call, but Brennan told her she would rather make the calls herself, if she could have access to a phone. She did not have her cell phone or anything with her. Temperance was led into a room, just off the main hallway, and she stared at the phone for a while, getting the nerve to push the buttons.

She called Booth's home number first. It rang for so long she didn't think anyone was going to answer. Finally, as she was about to hang up, a tired voice muttered "Hello?"

Brennan explained to Booth's grandfather the situation, and he told her he was on his way. He just had to call a cab. He told her not to worry, that as long as Seeley's good luck charm, namely her, was there, he would be just fine. She couldn't tell him that she didn't believe in luck. She believed in science. That's what would save him now, if anything could. Her heart was breaking with the fear that Booth would not make it.

She dialled the next number but hung up the phone before it rang. She wasn't sure if calling Angela was the best idea. As much as she loved her best friend, she knew that by asking Angela to come there, she and Booth's relationship would be known. She weighed her options for a few minutes and decided that she didn't care; she would deal with the consequences, whatever they may be. She really needed her friend. She dialled the number again, this time letting it patch through.

The other end of the line was picked up by the artist, who didn't sound as though she had been sleeping, even though it was quite late. Or quite early, it was a fine line.

"Hello?"

"Angela?" Brennan tried to keep her voice steady, but she knew it wavered a little.

"Bren, what's wrong, why are you calling so late?"

"I'm at the Hospital. I came here with Booth... I wonder if you would be able to come over here, I think I really need someone here with me right now." Her voice finally broke; gentle sobs freaked her best friend instantly.

"Oh my god, Sweetie, is everything okay?"

"No...Please come, we're at Bethesda. Please Ange, I can't handle this..."

"I'm on my way. Hold on honey, I'll be there before you know it." Angela knew that Brennan didn't ask for help very often, and something must be wrong. She was confused and a little scared. She looked at the man in the bed, next to her, and considered waking him up, but chose not to. Hodgins would understand.

At the hospital, Temperance paced around the small room, glancing constantly at the door, hoping for someone to walk through, hoping for good news, hoping for any news. Half an hour passed with nothing to be heard but the sound of her shoes scraping against the carpet as she continued to walk around and around. She was really starting to excrete adrenalin. She could not remember ever feeling so anxious. The man she loved and had finally gotten together with could be dying, and she was stuck in a stupid room, without even a window. She wanted to kick something. The door finally opened, its hinges creaking lightly. She spun towards it.

Angela stood in the doorway and scrutinized Brennan from top to bottom. Her eyes grew wide as she noticed something.

"Bren? Isn't that Booth's shirt you're wearing? Isn't it inside out? Her eyes grew wider as she scanned her friend further. "Did you guys ... you know...finally....?"

Temperance looked panicked. Angela suspected she was freaking out because she had slept with Booth and now she had to deal with some emotions that she had a hard time admitting were real, never mind being experienced by her.

"Yes, I mean, we did, but tonight..." Angela cut her off.

"Are telling me that you and Booth had sex, and you put him in the hospital?" She laughed out loud, "Was it his back? Wow, sister, you really must be good in bed!"

"NO! Angela... I mean, yes I am, but that's not what happened. Booth had some kind of seizure and Doctor Callaway says he has swelling in his head, and they froze him, to save his life, and now...I don't know anything more!"

For the second time, Angela scrutinized her friend. She was starting to catch on that Temperance wasn't just panicked about some denied emotions, but there was something serious happening there. She really looked at her friend. Brennan's hair was a mess, but pulled back into a ponytail. She wore no makeup, her nose and eyes were red, like she had seriously been crying. She was pale and looked like she was on the verge of falling over.

Angela went to her and hugged her. Brennan totally collapsed into a sobbing heap, while Angela tried to comfort her. Slowly, the sobbing subsided and Angela was able to get her friend to fill her in on the gist of what had transpired that evening. The two friends sat in chairs and now watched the door together. Hours passed with no word. From the direction of the nurses, Booth's grandfather had found them in the room, and now the three of them sat in anxious discomfort.

Brennan and the old man sat next to each other, his hand gently caressing her back, his other hand in hers. Her head was leaned against his shoulder. Angela sat, slumped in her chair. The three of them jumped inches when the door finally opened, and Doctor Callaway entered the room. He had changed from his white lab coat into scrubs, Brennan being the only one who noticed this. It made her stomach drop when she did. He looked at her for permission to speak freely. She nodded.

"I'm afraid some of the tests we have done have revealed something in Seeley's head. It looks like there was an injury that occurred some time ago, it's a type of whiplash injury, it's very similar to injuries reported by veterans of the Iraq war, it's caused by being in the proximity of an explosive charge blast, and pressure, or a pulse, if you will, travels through the body and causes damage to the cells, especially the cells in the brain. It can cause some bleeding," he paused to see if everyone followed. They were all especially intelligent people, and they all did.

"Well, it seems that in Agent Booth's brain, this bleeding caused clots, that were small enough to be benign at the time, but very recently, one of these clots became dislodged and caused bleeding again."

Brennan gasped and Angela reached for her hand. Senior Booth held onto her tightly. The tightness of his grip revealing his emotional reaction to the information they were being given.

"So, we've determined that this new bleeding, while not excessive, has built up and is what is causing the pressure in his brain."

"What can you do?" Temperance was the only one who could find their voice.

"We're already prepping him for surgery. The top neurosurgeon in the county is based in Boston, and he's on his way here right now in a private jet. He's about an hour away. We've called in a favour, so he will be the one actually doing the surgery. They're going to drill a hole in his head, and insert a shunt to drain the excessive fluid." The Doctor held the door open and gestured for them to follow him into the hallway.

As he led them to the elevators, he explained to them that if they got the pressure under control fast enough, there was a very good chance that brain damage would be minimal. Brennan worried what minimal meant. They approached the elevator and the Doctor stopped them with one hand raised.

"I can take you to see him, but I'm afraid only immediate family members are allowed." He looked at Angela.

The grandfather stepped into the elevator but the two women stayed where they were. The Doctor and the old man looked at Brennan; he reached his hand out to take hers.

"That includes you, Temperance."

In a normal circumstance, she would have been touched by the gesture. Her need to see Booth trumped her rationalization of whether or not she was family. She looked back at Angela, who said,

"Go Sweetie, I'll be right here when you get back. Go tell Booth that we love him." Angela had tears in her eyes.

Brennan hugged her best friend and took the hand of the grandfather; he pulled her into the lift. As the elevator ascended, Doctor Callaway explained that Booth had been put on a respirator, because his breathing had been compromised. This did not sound good to either of the ones who cared for the comatose man.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. They were outside an operating theatre. The windows on the left revealed a person on the table, and a flurry of masked nurses and Doctors rushed around the room, preparing for the arrival of the esteemed Doctor who was in the air right then. Brennan almost cried out when she realized that the person on the table was her Booth.

Doctor Callaway passed each of them a hat, a mask, gloves and a gown. Their gear was donned in moments and they approached the unconscious FBI agent.

Brennan went to his head, and stroked his eyelids gently, lovingly. Most everything else was covered. She could see that he was still packed in ice, and his skin had a bluish tinge to it. She leaned down to his ear and whispered,

"Don't you dare die Booth, I know you can hear me, I love you... so many of us do. Pease don't abandon me. I need you Seeley. I'll pray to your God for you."

She didn't know what she meant by that.

She heard someone call out from the other side of the room;

"Doctor Hughes' plane has just landed...he'll be here in twenty!"