Chapter Eleven

Brennan sped most of the way to the hospital. She was still in shock. Her partner was awake, and despite the doctor's warnings that there could be memory loss of varying degrees, he had remembered her and her phone number at least. It was a very good start. She didn't know what to expect. He had sounded normal, if not a little weak and tired. At least as normal as Booth ever sounded. She sped faster.

She ran into the hospital, where she was greeted by smiles from all the nursing staff, which had seen her every day since the day he had been brought there. Every nurse, on her way up to his room, it seemed, knew that Seeley Booth had finally woken up. They all smiled as she rushed past.

She was stopped by one last nurse, as she prepared to open the door to Booth's room. The nurse asked her to wait; the doctor was in with him right now. She saw the frustrated look on the forensic anthropologist's face, and let her know that he seemed to be okay. The look didn't change. It was the longest minute of Temperance's life, or so it seemed. After all this time, he was alert, and just on the other side of this door. She was so close.

It wasn't long before the Doctor came out, he nearly ran into Brennan she was standing so close outside the door. He placed his hand on her shoulder, and smiled at her.

"We have to run some tests, but he is adamantly refusing to cooperate with us until he can see you. If you could just persuade him that we are only trying to help his recovery that would be greatly appreciated."

Doctor Callaway stepped aside, and left nothing between her and the door. Although she had been so impatient just minutes ago, she was now nervous and found she had difficulty with her motor function. Her hands were shaking as she turned the knob. The door opened and she saw him.

He was sitting up, the head of the bed was raised and he was flexing the fingers on both of his hands. He seemed to be concentrating very hard on the task. He looked up and saw her, and he stopped. She could tell his eyes were trying to focus. When they finally did, he had a crooked little smile on his mouth, and his eyes lit up,

"Whoa," was the first thing he said, "Is it really you, or are you another dream?"

She was frozen. All she could do was stare into his eyes. Finally she croaked,

"Of course I'm not a dream, why would you think that?" She had started to creep closer to his bed, unsure of where this conversation was going. She was nervous.

"Bones, I have had some of the craziest visions in the last little while." He sounded like himself, but she waited and worried a little.

"You mean like, spirit quest visions, because Booth, I don't really believe in those, though anthropologically speaking, they do seem to help certain tribes make the transition between adolescence and adulthood," He shook his head, " You had a very serious condition, and you've been in a coma for weeks. There was trauma to your brain. We thought you were going to die." As much as she tried to keep her voice steady, it broke repeatedly, and tears formed in her eyes.

"It's okay Bones, I'm back now, but I have to ask you one thing..." She was close enough to the bed that he reached out his hand to her; she didn't take it right away.

"Did I tell you that I loved you?" His hand was still outstretched, and his eyes met hers and held them.

She rationalized the events of the last month in her head in that moment. She could deny everything, and make him think he had hallucinated all the times they had made love, or all the times they had 'one of those moments', all the times she showed him she cared. He could be convinced that is was all in his head while he was unconscious, and she wouldn't have to risk the fear that he would leave her some day, to come true. It was her greatest fear. Her biggest liability. Her heart gave her brain a solid, thud, and she placed her hand in his.

"Yes. You told me." She inched a little closer.

"Oh thank God! I thought that I was going to have to find a way to tell you now, without you freaking out."

Her hand was now firmly in his, and she just looked at him, realizing how much she had missed his voice, his smile, his touch.

"Bones," he smiled at her, "I'm still a little weak here, if you want to kiss me, you're going to have to help me out..." His words were cut off by her mouth, firmly attached to his. They stayed that way for some time, interrupted finally by the Doctor, who cleared his throat loudly. Neither of them had even noticed him come back into the room.

Doctor Callaway explained to both of them the tests he wanted to run. They had to be done soon, to make sure that Booth was going be with them, in the land of the conscious, for good. Brennan finally started removing her fingers from his, and kissed him on the lips, quickly, as she prepared to leave, so the Doctor and nurses could do their job. He held her hand for just a moment longer, and asked her to do him a favour.

"Can you track down Doctor Wyatt? Do you remember him? I really need to talk to someone about some of the hallucinations I had. I just don't understand some of them." He smiled at her; the smile was in his eyes too.

"What about Sweets?"

"No... Definitely not Sweets. Some of these hallucinations were absolutely 'R' rated. I need to know..."

She smiled back at him with a droll look.

"Seeley, they weren't all hallucinations." He met her eyes again, and they sparkled.

"I'm kind of glad to hear that because that was some of my best work..."

Temperance and Seeley grinned at each other, and Doctor Callaway smiled to himself. It had all worked out.

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She spent that first night with him, curled up beside him on the small hospital bed. The nurses worked around her, when they had to; they were happy to see her so happy. There had too many tears shed in the last little while. She woke before the man in the bed beside her, and just watched his rhythmic breathing, until he woke himself. Their eyes met.

"Dream or real?" He asked her.

"Real." She replied and was rewarded with a long, slow kiss from her partner. It was so good to see him awake again.

She told him that she had to go to work, she had appointments that morning, his miraculous awakening did not cancel the rest of her life, but she could be back this afternoon. He laughed at that. He asked her again about Doctor Wyatt, and she promised him that she would track him down, if it would help ease his mind. He told her it would. Greatly.

At the Jeffersonian, everyone instantly noticed that there was lightness in her step, and it wasn't long before Angela found her in her office, as she was looking for Doctor Wyatt's phone number.

"What's up? Is it Booth?" The artist noticed the smile on her friends face before she said anything.

"Yes, He woke up last night." The smile on her face could have melted icebergs. "He seems fine, though he's still a little tired and weak. That's to be expected, but I'm sure his strength will return quickly now."

Angela went to her and hugged her.

"Sweetie, I'm so happy for you. How are you feeling?" She scanned her friend's face for any sign that she was going to panic, and backtrack to before she had admitted her true feelings for the man. There was none.

"I'm relieved, of course." Brennan wondered what her friend could mean.

"Good."

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It took her most of the morning to establish the where-abouts of the esteemed Doctor Wyatt. It turned out he was no longer practicing psychology, but he would be willing to meet with Agent Booth as soon as he could. He asked about him, and Brennan filled him in on most of the events over the last two years, especially the events of the last months. He agreed to meet the next day, at the hospital, and he asked that Brennan be there also. She was intrigued.

He found them together the next day in the hospital; they were sitting on the chairs in Booth's room, holding hands, looking at each other with loving eyes. He smiled immediately. He had foreseen this.

"Gordon, Gordon, It's good to see you!" Booth tried to stand up to shake his hand, but found that his legs were still quite weak. He smiled apologetically, but the tall man gestured for him to stay seated.

"It's good to see you looking well Agent Booth," His accent flowed off his tongue, "Doctor Brennan, thank you for being here."

He took the third chair in the room, and they began the first of many sessions that would carry them through the next weeks.

Booth had been terrified that his hallucinations were a sign that he was losing his mind. He told them about every one of them, from the elephant walking down the street, to the cartoon characters flitting around his head. He had been scared that his admittance of his true feelings for Temperance was all in his head. She confirmed that they were not, and the feelings were more than reciprocated.

Doctor Wyatt watched their interaction, and was pleased by the progress. They had admitted their darkest secrets to each other in front of him, and were willing to continue to meet with him. He was happy to do it. This couple had him fascinated. They should not function well together, but they did. He wanted to watch their further progress as he suspected there was something that Doctor Brennan was not telling Agent Booth. He would like to see how it played out.

After one particularly heated session, he left them to make up on their own, and as he left the room, he caught out of the corner of his eye that they were already in each other's arms. He smiled. He met Doctor Callaway in the hallway, who informed him that they were ready to discharge Agent Booth this afternoon. Doctor Wyatt winked at his medical counterpart and said;

"I would give them a minute."

Booth was thrilled by the news that he could go home. He had hoped for days, but the Doctor wanted to observe him for a little while longer. He seemed to be recovering nicely, and they were all optimistic that he would suffer from no long term consequences of his injury. Brennan waited in hall while he got dressed. His movements were still a little sluggish, but with the physiotherapy he had promised to attend, he was sure that the disability would better itself in time. He could think of some wonderful physiotherapy that involved two people. He smiled to himself as he tied his shoes.

They spent that entire night reacquainting themselves with other physically at her apartment. Brennan let him take the reigns, not literally, and guide their love making to where he was able to handle it. He still had some weaknesses, but they didn't prove to get in the way too much. It lasted all night, and through the morning. By noon they lay in each other's arms, her head on his chest, his fingers playing with her hair. Eventually she looked up at him, wondering what he was thinking. He just smiled warmly at her and said what was becoming a common turn of phrase for him,

"Dream or real? She smiled back at him and said,

"Dreamy, but very, very, real." They kissed again.

"What do you want to do today Booth?" She had a funny look in her eye as she asked, but he was not taking the bait,

"Nice try Bones, but there is something I would like to do today? Will you come with me?"

"Of course." She was curious.

An hour later they stood by Jared's grave. They had their arms around each other's waist, and just stared at the headstone. Eventually, she thought she sensed that he wanted to be alone, but as she tried to leave him, he only held her tighter. They stood in silence a while longer before she asked,

"What are you thinking about?" She kissed his chin and rested her head on his shoulder. He sighed and then continued,

"I was just thinking about my brother, and how he was never married. He had no kids. He had no legacy. In fifty years there will be no one who even remembered that he existed. Just this piece of stone with his name on it. I was just thinking about what you said that night, about how it would be nice to have a child, a piece of you left on this earth when you depart, and well, I have Parker, but you don't have anyone. It might be nice to have a baby with you Bones, a piece of both of us to carry on, you know." He was looking in her eyes now; he thought he saw something flick across her emotions.

"I'm really glad to hear you say that Seeley." She stepped back from him and smiled.

"Why?"

She didn't answer with words; she just took his hand and placed in on her abdomen. It took less than a minute for realization to dawn on him. He smiled.

The end (?)