Hey everyone, sorry for the update delay! My life has been in upheaval the last couple of days. I know this is another short chapter, but I'm double posting again, and another chapter should be on the way shortly! Enjoy!
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Temperance Brennan had always been good at compartmentalizing. She'd learned from a young age to take something and file it away in her mind to examine later. This skill had helped her through every difficult situation she'd encountered, allowing her to look at something rationally. It wasn't until she was in the dark emptiness of her bedroom that she would open up the file she had stored and allow herself to look at the thought and emotions that she had hidden. She'd always been good at compartmentalizing—until now.
Now, all she could do was stare numbly at Dr. Norbury as he explained her condition. She, who normally could section off her thoughts almost immediately, now sat trying to push her fear and panic into its own little box, but she couldn't. Little blips of the solemn doctor's speech broke through her panicked thoughts.
When Booth had raced out to find the doctor after her declaration an hour earlier, he'd come back with an entire troop of doctors, nurses and other medical personnel in tow and she felt her fear start to slowly ebb. The doctor asked her about the lack of feeling ("Logically I know my legs are there, but it's like I can't move them, I can't feel the muscles in them," she explained.), checked her stats and tried a few physical tests, only to bring in her surgeon and a neurologist. They each tried their own versions of the first doctor's procedures before stepping out into the hall to confer.
She stared out the window after them, keeping a tight lid on her emotions. She felt a hand slide back into hers and looked down at the man who was regarding the doctors with the same intensity she was. He turned to look at her, his own fears coloring his eyes. Nodding his head slightly, he squeezed their joint hands and turned back to the window. The doctors filed back in, standing at the end of her bed.
"It may be permanent," Dr. Norbury said soberly
Yes, Temperance Brennan had always been good at compartmentalizing, but this she couldn't handle.
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Seeley Booth had always been a "heart" person. While he was an intelligent person, his heart and emotions were always the driving factors in his decisions. When he was a kid and covering for Jared, it was because he cared and as an adult, he was in constant consult of his emotions. He'd always been a heart person—until now.
Now, as the doctor told them that the dagger had not only caused her extensive internal damaged, but most likely caused her paralysis, he found himself pushing his emotion down for the moment, trying to look at the situation from a logical point of view. While normally he would be at his wit's end with worry, he had watched as Bones shut herself down and knew that for once he had to be the rational one. The fear that ruled him at her announcement roiled under the surface, but for now he had to try to understand what little logic the doctor provided.
"We will take another set of x-rays to look at any specific damage," Dr. Norbury explained, "Our neurologist thinks that it's likely the dagger went in, hitting between the two vertebrae, and nicking the nerves within. We may also perform a lumbar puncture depending on what the x-rays tell us. Once we have more information, we'll know where and how to proceed."
Booth glanced at Bones. Her face still held the wide-eyed, blank look it had for the past five minutes the doctor had been explaining her condition. He wasn't sure if she was even absorbing the information.
"You said that there is a chance it's only temporary, how do we know?" he asked, pushing the glimmer of hope under with his fear.
"There is a chance," the doctor said hesitantly, "but I don't want to get your hopes up. We won't know any specifics until the results of the tests are back, but if there is the chance that her regular feeling and movements could return with extensive physical therapy."
Brennan's blank gaze suddenly focused on the doctor, "I'd like to do the x-rays now please. I want to know my options as soon as possible."
The doctor, while momentarily confused by her stoicism, complied, signaling to some nurses to wheel her out of the room and to radiology. Booth gave her hand one more squeeze for luck before she left and regarded the now empty room with cynicism.
Yes, Seeley Booth had always been a heart person, but this he couldn't handle.
