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"Go with her," Andrew said, "I'll park the car."
When Cam entered the emergency room, Brennan was screaming at the receptionist. All eyes in the waiting room turned to the hysterical pregnant woman.
"Seeley Booth. The FBI agent. He was just brought in. I need to see him!"
"Are you family, ma'am?" she asked.
"Yes, I'm his partner," Brennan stated and placed both hands on her abdomen, "and this is his daughter."
The receptionist scrambled from her seat and promptly got a nurse.
A short haired, middle aged nurse emerged to address Brennan.
"Are you Mr. Booth's family?" she asked.
"Yes," Brennan said, giving no further explanation.
"He's in surgery. It will likely take a few hours. We don't know the extent of his injuries yet."
"No, no, I need to see him," Brennan cried.
The nurse placed her hand on Brennan's shoulder, "I'm sorry, dear. You can't. There's a family waiting room on the surgical floor. You can wait there, and the doctor will tell you when Mr. Booth is out of surgery."
Brennan stood still as a statue.
"Can I, um, call someone for you?" the nurse asked.
Cam stepped forward then and awkwardly put her arm around Brennan.
"Where is the waiting room?" she asked.
The nurse kindly pointed them in the correct direction. Cam glanced over at Brennan as they waited for the elevator. Seven months pregnant, Brennan was nearly unrecognizable – emotionally – as the woman she'd met five years ago. While Brennan was still managing to hold it together, she was quite clearly distraught. If there relationship were different, Cam might have enveloped her in a hug.
Instead, just before the elevator door opened, Cam squeezed Brennan's hand and said, "Booth will pull through. He has a lot to live for."
Brennan smiled, nodded, and stepped into the elevator.
They arrived on the third floor and found the aforementioned waiting room. It was a small, square room that was clearly meant to be cheerful with floral print couches and yellow walls.
"I am going to call Angela," Cam informed Brennan.
Brennan nodded, "I – I guess I should call Rebecca."
Cam was about to offer to do so for Brennan, but Brennan had already pulled out her phone and begun dialing.
Brennan had an uncomfortable conversation with her boyfriend's ex, while Cam relayed the news to Angela.
As they wrapped up each of their conversations, Cam spotted a figured approaching and quickly ended her conversation. Not quickly enough, however. Brennan spotted the same person's approach, dropped her phone and rushed towards him.
"What are you doing here?" she yelled, "You have no right to be here! Why did you send him in alone?"
Hacker wasn't sure which question to answer first.
"Temperance, no one was supposed to be there -."
"Don't. Call. Me. Temperance!" Bones snarled before emitting an "oh".
Both Hacker and Cam looked at her with alarm as she brought her hands to her swollen belly.
"Is everything okay?" Hacker asked timidly, terrified that he may have sent a father-to-be to his death and caused that same man's girlfriend to enter premature labor within the span of an hour.
"Yes, the baby is typically more active when my heart rate increases," Brennan said calmly.
"Any leads on who…did this?" Cam chimed in.
Andrew shook his head, "No, but Agent Booth did get off a shot before taking the second bullet. The suspect is definitely injured; a trail of blood was found at the house. We are hoping he'll turn up at a local hospital or clinic."
Cam nodded.
Brennan's eyes filled with anger and fear as she uttered, "If my daughter grows up not knowing who her father is, I will hold you personally responsible."
Hacker looked as he was about to cry, when Brennan, who'd forgotten that she'd needed to use the bathroom before, hurried off to the bathroom.
Before leaving, she said evenly to Andrew, "I would prefer if you weren't here when I return."
Andrew looked at Cam, who merely shrugged and cocked her head to the side. Andrew gave Cam his card and requested that she called to update her on Booth's status.
When Brennan returned from the bathroom, she and Cam they sat in uncomfortable silence. The scenario was eerily familiar. Only three and a half years ago, everyone at lab, plus Sweets, had waited anxiously for news of the cause of Booth's hallucinations. Of course, then, Brennan had been by his side through the entire process and kept vigil at his bedside until he awoke. Then, after being reassured that Booth would make a full recovery, Brennan had quickly left for a dig.
Cam glanced sideways at Brennan. Three and a half years had certainly brought a lot of change to their rag tag group. During Booth's brain surgery, it had been clear to everyone – except Booth and Brennan – that there was far more than friendship between the partners. Now, there was a manifestation of their love for one another visible to the entire world.
"Do you, um, want something to drink? I think I saw a vending machine," Cam asked, breaking the silence.
Before Brennan could answer, Angela came bursting into the waiting room.
"Oh, sweetie. How are you doing? Have you heard anything?" Angela said, immediately taking the seat beside her best friend.
"He's in surgery. We won't know anything until he is out of surgery."
Angela nodded sympathetically, "We'll all be here waiting with you, sweetie."
Angela put her arm around Brennan, and to Angela's pleasant surprise, Brennan rested her head on Angela's shoulder.
The moment was fleeting, however, and soon, Brennan was asking if Hodgins was home with Michael. Angela answered in the affirmative, adding that once their babysitter arrived, he would be joining their vigil. In the mean time, Angela tried to fill the silence with lighthearted topics. She shared with Cam and Brennan the rumor that Sweets and Agent Shaw were dating. This spurred a twenty minute conversation about the young psychologist's love life. By the time the conversation wrapped up, Hodgins arrived, his hands full of a stack of photos of Michael. For once, everyone was grateful for his incessant sharing of photographs documenting how Michael spent his days.
"Look! Here, he is sitting up for the first time," Hodgins said, pointing to a photo of a chubby infant surrounded by decorative pillows.
After the fifth such picture, Angela turned to her best friend, "Sweetie, you should probably have something to eat. Didn't your OB recommend eating six small meals a day because of the diabetes?"
Brennan sighed and nodded.
"We can go down to the cafeteria. Get a change of scenery."
Bones shook her head vehemently, "No, I need to be here if they have an update on Booth."
"Right, well let me get you something," Angela insisted.
"Okay. Some tea and a snack would be fine," Brennan replied.
Hodgins volunteered to stay with Brennan while Angela and Cam went to retrieve Brennan's snack and tea and coffee for everyone else.
When Angela and Cam had left, Hodgins turned to face his boss.
"Dr. B., remember when we were trapped in that car?" he asked.
"Yes, of course. I have spent a significant amount of time trying to forget that day."
"Yeah," Hodgins said with a laugh, "me too, Dr. B."
"Anyway, we had no real hope of being rescued, but you still had faith in Booth."
"Faith is irrational," Brennan replied.
Hodgins laughed, "Yeah, you told me that that day too."
"I know you have a lot of faith in Booth. He's come through worse. Just have faith, baby. Sorry, the baby thing -."
"Is a reflex," Brennan said with a smile.
"Yeah," Hodgins replied, and hesitantly took her hand.
Brennan looked down at his hand wrapped around hers; there had been an unspoken intimacy between them her and Hodgins since they'd narrowly avoided death together. Brennan's mind momentarily flashed to the Dulles airport two years ago. As if testing the feel of the words on her lips, she'd told her best friend's husband that she loved him.
Brennan curled her fingers around Hodgins' hand and said, "I do."