The Lives We Take For Granted
Chapter Five
By Mistreated and Forgotten
Summary: Booth is undercover on a very dangerous assignment and Brennan is worried. But Booth's safety isn't the only thing that she's worrying about. BxB, AxH
A/N: Thank you everyone for all the good luck wishes for my exams. Enjoy :)
Over the last three weeks Brennan's nightmares had continued on a regular basis. The only time Brennan did not have any nightmares, had been the night she spent with Angela.
Brennan had asked Angela to go with her to her appointment with the gynaecologist. The pair were sitting in the waiting room, Angela was flipping through one of the pregnancy magazines and Brennan was trying to compartmentalise the fact that it should be Booth at her side, though she was grateful that Angela had agreed to come with her so she would not be alone.
There were other women, at varying stages in their pregnancy, and their partners sitting in the waiting room. The room was fairly quiet aside from the few murmured conversations and the sounds of the receptionist typing away at the computer.
"Doctor Brennan," called the nurse from the doorway that led back to the exam rooms.
Brennan stood up, Angela put the magazine she was reading back on the table and stood up. The two women then followed the nurse back to one of the exam rooms.
"Doctor Hayden will be with you shortly," the nurse left the small room and shut the door behind her.
Doctor Hayden walked in to the small exam room and sat down, Angela and Brennan were already seated next to each other.
Doctor Hayden looked at Angela, "Hi, I'm Doctor Hayden."
"I'm Bren's friend, Angela Montenegro, nice to meet you."
"Likewise Miss Montenegro."
"Please call me Angela."
"Okay, Doctor Brennan, how have you been feeling since our first appointment?"
"Aside from the morning sickness I've been fine."
"Any stress?"
"Yes I have been a bit stressed with my work and dealing with my partner being away."
"Okay, remember you need to keep your stress levels low during pregnancy, its not good for the baby," Brennan nodded. "I'm going to check your blood pressure now."
Doctor Hayden placed the cuff around Brennan's arm and checked her blood pressure. "Your blood pressure is high Doctor Brennan."
"How high is it?"
"High enough for me to be concerned."
"Oh."
"I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to be as stress free as possible. If your blood pressure doesn't come down by our next appointment, I'm going to have to put you on bed rest."
"I'll do my best to eliminate as much of my stress as possible."
"Hop up on the exam table and we'll see how the little one is doing."
Brennan rose from her chair and climbed up onto the table. Angela repositioned her chair so she was sitting next to her friend.
"Could you please lift up your top and unbutton your jeans slightly."
Brennan pulled up her shirt and unbuttoned and lowered the zipper halfway down on her jeans. Doctor Hayden placed her hands on Brennan's abdomen and felt around.
"You said during our last appointment that this isn't your first pregnancy, correct?"
"Yes that is correct," answered Brennan. Angela gave her friend a confused look.
"Everything feels good. I'll just go get the ultrasound machine and we can take a look."
Doctor Hayden left the room leaving the two friends behind.
"This isn't your first pregnancy?" asked Angela in a hurt tone.
"It was well before we met. Can we talk about this later?"
"Yes Sweetie but you have to promise me you will."
"I promise."
The pair was quiet until Doctor Hayden walked back in wheeling the ultrasound machine and stopped at the foot of the exam table. She pulled over a stool and sat down then turned on the machine.
"This may be a bit cold," Doctor Hayden squeezed the gel onto Brennan's abdomen, she flinched slightly. The doctor then placed the wand on top of the gel and hit a few buttons on the computer. The ultrasound image appeared on the screen. Doctor Hayden took some measurements of the foetus.
"Judging by the size of the foetus, you are approximately nine weeks along and if you look here you can see your little one," Doctor Hayden pointed to the screen.
Brennan's eyes misted with tears when her eyes fell on her and Booth's progeny. Angela squeezed her friend's hand which she was holding in silent support.
"Can we hear the heartbeat yet?" asked Angela, excitement filled her voice.
"Not this far into the pregnancy Angela, maybe at the next appointment."
"Awww Bren we might get to hear your baby next time."
"Yeah Ange," Brennan was fighting to hold back the tears and it was evident in her voice.
Brennan and Angela left the doctors surgery and walked over to Brennan's car. The pair climbed in and Brennan started the car then pulled out of the parking spot.
As Brennan drove back to the Hodgins' mansion the two friends talked about work and their plans for the rest of the weekend. Brennan was grateful that Angela wasn't bugging her for information.
"Bren, I thought we were going to the Founding Fathers for lunch, why are you driving towards my place?"
"I thought you wanted to talk."
"I do Sweetie," Angela paused for a moment, "You don't want to talk about your previous pregnancy in public do you?"
"It's not something I want anybody to overhear."
Angela and Brennan were sitting on the couch in the living room at the Hodgins' Mansion.
"Sweetie can we talk now?"
Brennan was silent for several moments as she tried to collect her thoughts and work out how she was going to tell her friend. "I found I was pregnant after my relationship with Michael ended."
"Did you ever tell him?"
"I never got the chance too. I found out that I was pregnant the week before he had left for a dig in Egypt. I was going to tell him when he got back but I did not because four months after I found out, I would have been almost six months along, there were complications with the pregnancy and..." Brennan's eyes filled with tears, "...and I lost the baby. It was a boy, I was going to name him Josh."
"I'm so sorry Bren."
"I'm so worried Ange, I don't know how well I could cope if I lost this baby too," as single solitary tear fell from Brennan's eye. She didn't wipe it away, she just let it fall.
Angela pulled Brennan into her arms, "Sweetie nothing is going to happen to this baby, Booth is going to come home and the two of you are going to have a wonderful family with this little one and Parker."
Brennan pulled away, "You can't know that Ange."
A/N: So that's Chapter Five, it's a bit shorter than the other four though. Reviews would be a nice end of exams present :)