Chapter 11: Exercise

As soon as Booth and Sweets were out of sight, Brennan motioned Angela to approach the bed.

"Help me, Angela. Whenever he's gone I get up and move around as much as possible. My ribs are taped, the incision from surgery is bandaged, and everything else is just sore, except my arm, but the cast will protect that."

"Are you sure -" Angela started to say, but Brennan had already pushed herself into a sitting position and was levering her legs down to the ground. "Okay, what do you want me to do?"

"Roll the i.v. stand closer so that I can hold onto it with my good arm. Now come to my other side and steady me by the shoulder." She managed to stand up, though she swayed a bit unsteadily and was breathing heavy. "Good," she huffed. "I'll just stand here a minute until my breathing settles."

"Booth will not be happy with me if he hears about this."

"The doctor said that I could get up when I wanted to, but Booth says that it's too soon every time I mention it. So, I've been doing my own form of exercise whenever he leaves, which really doesn't give me much time. The nurses have been helping. Now you. This will be the longest stretch yet. Let's see if I can make it down the hall and back."

She shuffled forward a few steps with the i.v. stand and stopped. "Are you coming? If you talk to me, it will take my mind off the discomfort. How about if you tell me what you think is going on with Booth. I may not be the most perceptive person in the world but even I can tell that something is wrong. Is it Hannah? Is she really traveling with the President?"

Angela blinked. She was used to Brennan getting right to the point; she just was surprised that Brennan had noticed anything amiss given her own situation.

"Um, no, Hannah is with the President. She is scheduled to return tomorrow. But I will agree that Booth has been acting a bit...different these past few days. I think what happened to you really scared him more than he expected, not to mention the tremendous guilt he's been feeling about not answering the phone when you called."

Brennan looked thoughtful as she continued to shuffle along. She motioned absently at the security guard to indicate that she was just going down the hall. "But I told him I understood about that. He was having sex with Hannah and didn't know what I was calling about. I told him I would probably have done the same thing."

Angela bubbled with laughter. "You didn't! Oh Sweetie, I'm not sure telling Booth that you knew he was with Hannah would have made him feel that much better."

"I don't understand. I've always told him that biological urges are-"

"I know," Angela interrupted, "I know how you feel about all of that. So does Booth. It's just a bit clinical, that's all. And I think it's the fact that he was...indulging in... well a pleasurable pursuit while you were being attacked. I think that causes him a lot of pain."

"Ah, I see." Brennan reached the nurses' station and spent a moment maneuvering the iv stand in a u-turn. Angela stood poised and ready to help but wouldn't make a move unless Brennan asked her to.

"So, what you are saying is that Booth has been staying with me and being so attentive because he feels guilty. I don't believe in guilt, but that does seem like Booth."

Angela stopped walking and put a hand on Brennan's arm to stop her as well. "No Sweetie. That's not what I'm saying. Sure, he has a lot of guilt, no doubt about that, but I don't think that's what's driving him. I think he realized how important you are to him. The fact that he could have lost you made him think about what that would mean. He's staying so close because he needs to reassure himself that he can protect you. It may be a while before he is willing to let you out of his sight for an extended period of time."

"I don't need protecting like that. Anyway, he can't protect me all the time. That doesn't make logical sense, Angela."

Angela shook her head and started walking again so that Brennan couldn't see the smile she was trying hard to suppress. "In this case, I'm not sure logic has anything at all to do with it."