Title: Multiples in the Family

Author: SplishySplash, Ihave207Bones

Rating: T

Spoilers: Up to Pain in the Heart

Pairing: B/B

Summary: A case brings Booth and Brennan to Utah where they come into contact with the concept of polygamy and a murder.

Chapter 8: Songs in a Waiting Room

She slept fitfully as in the hard upright chair in between two beds in the small hospital room. The last few adrenaline filled hours had left the woman emotionally weak, exhausted and out of control as she was rushed in the back of the ambulance with her partner, who had started seizing again. The paramedic injected him with a drug before placing the mask on his face and forcing oxygen into his lungs, speeding towards the hospital.

With the blood rushing through her ears, the siren blaring as they sped through the evening traffic and the paramedics shouting instructions, she watched in horror and couldn't help the tears escaping from her eyes. Her eyes closed as her thoughts ran to the man in the ambulance behind her, was he in as bad as shape as her partner? What had caused both of them to react like this?

A sharp shake brought her from her thoughts as the paramedic brought her from her thoughts and he pointed out the window as the hospital came into view, he brushed passed her almost rudely and the ambulance came to a stop. The doors opened and the gurney was pulled out and towards the door before Brennan could get out.

She trotted next to him as his eyes opened weakly for the first time since he laid down on the bed in the hotel room. "Booth." She shouted above the noise, trying to focus his attention on her and gained nothing from him. The bed stopped moving right outside the trauma bay doors where the nurse pushed her away. "Booth!"

"I'm sorry ma'am, but family only." He said gruffly, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She stumbled back as if he burned her before she spoke up. "I am his family." She said, brushing past him through the swinging doors after her family with the nurse in tow. Again her hand found its way into his as they stopped moving long enough to move Booth from the gurney to the table. "Booth." Her voice dropped into a whisper.

He couldn't speak, the tube that was in his throat wouldn't allow for it, but he gave her hand a weak squeeze that was barely recognized before she was ushered out of the room. "Ma'am we need you to wait outside so we can treat him properly." Said the doctor and the same nurse lead her out of the room.

Her cell phone rang from her pocket and it went unanswered as a clipboard was thrusted at her for information on her partner inside the fluorescent pale waiting room when another nurse ran over to her. "You came in with Lance Sweets?" He asked breathlessly and she nodded warily. "We need to get a hold of someone in his family we have to take him into surgery." Brennan gasped and the clipboard fell to the floor, her hand covering her mouth and the overwhelming panic started to set in. "Ma'am?"

She took a deep calming breath and it came out in a rasp. "He doesn't have anybody." She said. "I'm all he has."

One of the doctors that were working on Booth rushed out. "Are you Seeley Booth's wife?" She asked breathlessly. To save argument she nodded. "We need to get him in to surgery."

The room began to spin, her knees gave way and she fell into the chair behind her. "What is wrong with them?" She asked with a cry.

"They both have ethanol glycol poisoning, probably from ingesting anti-freeze mixed into something." Said the doctor looking grim, placing a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder. "We need permission to treat both men with an intense therapy of an anticonvulsive medications and sodium bicarbonate to treat the acidosis and a dose of Fomepizole which is. . ."

The headache she was feeling was quickly escalading to a migraine. "Do whatever it takes." She said with a wave, her hand covered her eyes that she knew were red from crying.

"I must warn you that it is a very costly procedure. . ." The doctor said, "But the success rate is very high."

"I said just do it." Brennan snapped, glaring at the doctor who turned on her heels and ran back through the swinging doors quickly followed by the nurse. Her cell phone rang loudly from her pocket and again she ignored it, each note of the jingle made her head pulse and she turned it off, not bothering to check who was calling.

It was an elderly nurse that tapped her on her shoulder some time later that brought her out of her adrenaline induced stupor baring Tylenol and a bottle of water that made her realize that she was alone in the waiting room. "You look like you could use these." She said in a grandmotherly voice.

Brennan accepted the gifts gratefully. "Thank you." She said with her voice raspy from crying. The woman turned on her heels and walked back to her desk, continuing to type on her computer with The Beatles softly coming from the speakers mixing with the health video on the TV screen that seemed infinitely on repeat.

And any time you feel the pain, hey Jude refrain, don't carry the world upon your shoulders. For well you know it's a fool who plays it cool, by making his world a little colder.

She closed her eyes, eager for the medication to do its job but it didn't keep as a rush of bile swept through her as she booked it to the restroom and emptied the contents of her stomach. When it finally stopped she sat with her back against the door with a steady stream of tears and heaving breaths. She opened her eyes and dragged herself to her feet to look in the mirror. A watery laugh escaped from her lips because she looked like a mess, all makeup long washed away from the tears and replaced with red blotchy spots on her skin. Taking a deep breath, she washed her face with cold water to force herself to be strong for her friends.

A knock on the door brought her out of her revere and caused her to jump. She opened the door and the elderly nurse and doctor stood on the other side. "Are you alright?" Asked the doctor with a worried look on her face, last thing she needed was another poisoning case in the wee hours of the morning.

"I'm fine." Brennan answered, shutting the door behind her and the doctor look skeptical. "I just took Tylenol on an empty stomach."

The doctor's eyebrow rose. "I would like to check you for ethanol glycol poisoning too." She said firmly, Brennan opened her mouth to argue. "Just as a safety precaution."

"I'm fine." She reiterated just as firmly, folding her arms. "I haven't eaten anything since this morning. . ."

The doctor didn't believe it. "Be that as it may, you might not feel fine later. You came in with two people who are suffering from the same thing you might've ingested it to without noticing." She resigned and nodded without another word, the doctor did bring up a valid point as she followed her back to a room full of people, beds and curtains and motioned for her to sit on an empty bed. "I'm going to take some blood." The needle went in easily into her arm and she didn't feel anything. The doctor placed the gauze pad on the entry point roughly causing Brennan to flinch at the bruise that was forming. "This won't take long."

Left alone she glanced around the room, a woman who was just as exhausted as she was sat with a child in her arms who was asleep. A man cried out in pain as another doctor set his arm with a loud crack, causing her eyes to close as the familiar sound reverberated through the room. A nurse led a very skinny woman who was doubled over in pain onto the bed next to her, her male companion held her hand tightly as she vomited on the floor.

The man started panicking and Brennan rolled her eyes, jumping off the bed she wandered down the hallway, looking for any word on Booth and Sweets. She didn't make it far when she was called something that caught her off guard. "Ms. Booth?"

She turned on her heels, slightly startled. "Yes?" She said and didn't bother correct her. The woman looked at her expectantly and crossed her arms. "I'm sorry, but. . ."

The doctor's smile softened. "I would prefer if you would lay down just as a precaution, but I can see that it's not going to happen." She said softly as Brennan opened her mouth to protest. "Your husband and friend are stable and moved to the ICU, will you promise to take it easy until you're blood test comes back, if I take you to go see them?"

Brennan nodded and followed the doctor to an elevator, which led down a maze of hallways to the last room on the right that roomed the men. The door swung open and she took a deep breath, preparing herself for the worst.

The room was small and even smaller with two beds, her breath hitched as she noticed the numerous wires and tubes that came out of their comatose bodies. The rhythmic beeping from their heart monitors where the only sound that filled the room as she took quiet steps into the room. "Lance responded very well to the therapy." The doctor said as Brennan walked farther into the room and took her partners hand in hers.

"What about him?" She asked, brushing the hair off his forehead.

The doctor sighed and folded her arms, leaning against the door. "He crashed and was quickly defibrillated." A small sob escaped Brennan's lips. "But he's been an excellent fighter and is right on course for recovery. They should wake up in the next day or so and we can make a full assessment on them both." Brennan stood quietly and was visibly shaken by how pale and weak he looked in the bed when a hand came onto her arm. "They are going to be okay."

She didn't know what to believe as the doctor left with instructions to rest and let her know she was feeling sick. The exhaustion took over as she set Booth's hand next to his side and fell unceremoniously into the plastic recliner chair before falling asleep.

It felt like moments after she had fallen asleep that another hand came to her shoulder causing her to jump as her usual keen sense of hearing didn't hear the door open. "Doctor Brennan." The voice belonging to the hand said in a whisper. It took a moment for her eyes to focus to realize that it was her boss standing in front of her.

"Cam?" She said, disoriented as she pushed herself into a sitting position. "What time is it?"

A tired smile came to her face as she dropped her bag on the floor. "It's just after three mountain standard time." She said simply as her eyes wandered to the men laying still on their respective beds. "How are they doing?"

Brennan sighed and got to her feet, wandered back to her partner's side. "They were poisoned. . ." She started, but dam broke and a sob escaped her lips. "This shouldn't have happened. . ."The pathologist quickly gathered her into her arms both had a steady stream of tears rolling down their faces. "I know it's not logical to take the blame . . ."

"There is no way that you could've known that this was going to happen." Cam said, holding her tightly as she sobbed into her shoulder. "It's a miracle that you haven't been affected by it."

The anthropologist froze, she had been so wrapped up in the wellbeing of her friends health that she didn't stop to figure out the logic behind the situation. What had Sweets and Booth ingested that she didn't? They ate breakfast in the hotel, drove to Juniper Creek and on the way home Booth had started to get sick.

The lemonade had to have antifreeze in it.

Both men had the same reaction to drinking it.

Brennan stiffened as she pushed back from Cam, surprising the pathologist. "I need to go talk to someone." Brennan said quickly, turning around to look at her partner and walking to his side. She pressed her lips tenderly to his forehead and smoothed back his hair. "I'm going to fix this." She whispered to him before grabbing her shoes and brushing passed her boss.

"Doctor Brennan it's late, maybe you should get some more sleep." Cam suggested following her from the door and she slid her feet into the flip flops.

"I'm fine. I'll be back." She said disappearing down the hall in a run.

Cam turned around taking the vacated seat between both men and pulled out a magazine, knowing the next few hours were going to be long. There was a knock on the door and a doctor stepped inside looking confused. "Are you here to check these two? " Cam asked awkwardly.

The doctor stepped into the room. "I'm looking for Mrs. Booth, her test results are back." The doctor said.

"Mrs. Booth?" She asked with a raised brow, looking toward Booth. "Oh. She had to step out for a bit." The doctor rolled her eyes and exited the room as a smile came to Cam's face. "She has some explaining to do when she comes back, doesn't she Seeley?" The familiar 'don't call me Seeley' was absent and Cam returned her attention to the magazine.

*~*

She raised her hand to knock on the door as the taxi drove away and waited for the heavy padded footsteps from the other side to open it. The woman who she met the day before opened the door, tying her pink robe around her tightly with her hair askew. "Can I help you?" She sneered.

"I'm sorry to wake you, but I'm looking for Bill." Brennan said, looking at her watch that read just after four, Nikki looked annoyed. "It's an emergency."

She nodded after a moment and motioned for her to come inside. "Hang on, I'll go get him." Brennan took a seat on the couch as the sliding glass door opened and shut and opened again when Bill entered the room.

"Doctor Brennan?" He said taking a seat on the couch across from her with a look of worry on his face wearing track pants and a grey top. "Is everything okay?"

She took a deep breath to get her emotions under control. "I need to go back to Juniper Creek." She said firmly, the dark circles under her eyes added to the intimidation.

Bill didn't ask any questions and got to his feet. "Let me go change and we'll leave."