Ok, so this one starts out semi-angsty again (sorry! :P) but it'll get better! Oh and it contains slight references/spoilers for the end of season 4, beginning of season 5.
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Brennan sat in the empty therapy room, waiting while Tara went to pick up another patient before doing her post-therapy massage and returning her to Booth. The large room was a combination of various medical devices and some equipment that Brennan equated to a child's playground. Today had been another miserable session in a week of full of miserable sessions even as her body fought its hardest to improve. She'd been working with the balls, bars and other tools for weeks and seemed to have been advancing just like Dr. Young had been hoping. The newfound feeling in her legs was a good sign; though the pain she felt after the sessions made her very aware how hard she was working. The hope that she had felt had been slowly dissipating throughout the week and by the end of her session today, it had all but disappeared.
She slumped a little further in her wheelchair as she fought the waves of defeat pounding against her. The first tear slipped from under her lashes and she wiped it away impatiently, though stopping the others was harder. She finally gave up her control, dropping her head in her hands and let out every bit of anger and disappointment she felt at her body for betraying her. She cried every tear she hadn't let herself since she'd woken up and every tear she'd wanted to since that first moment of realization. She felt like an utter weakling instead of the strong, vivacious woman she'd always been. Why she couldn't overcome this obstacle was beyond her.
When her sobbing subsided, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Lost in her depression, she hadn't heard the door open or the soft squeak of wheels behind her. Turning her head, she caught sight of a girl, maybe fifteen or sixteen wheeling her own chair from behind Brennan.
"Bad day," the girl stated with a small, knowing smile.
Brennan gave a dry laugh, "More like a bad week. I'm sorry about this." She wiped her eyes quickly. Crying in itself was hard for her, but in front of someone else was unbearable.
"It's fine, I understand. My name is Katie," the girl introduced herself, holding out her hand expectantly.
"It's nice to meet you Katie. Where is Dr. Young?" Brennan replied as she shook hands with the girl after wiping the last of her tears away.
Katie shrugged, waving away any worry with her hand, "She got stopped by another doctor, she'll be back soon." Brennan nodded and they lapsed into a short silence.
"It's okay you know," Katie said suddenly as she rolled herself back and forth in front of Brennan.
"What's okay?" the older woman asked.
"To have a bad day," she clarified, "I have 'em too." She motioned to her blonde head, "Cerebral hemorrhage when I was twelve, Lacrosse stick to the back of the head. They stopped it before I lost complete function, but I still lost movement and coordination in my lower body and part in my left arm."
Brennan was feeling immensely guilty for crying in front of someone who was so much worse off than she was, but this new girl wasn't quite finished yet.
"Look, you can't always have good sessions, and it bites to have made all that progress and then hit a plateau. All you want to do is scream at the unfairness and it's all that you can think about. It's like, no matter how hard you try, you just can't stay strong anymore." Brennan's eyes started to well up again as Katie hit on every feeling she'd been experiencing. Katie continued, "Tara was telling me about you, and you aren't one to give up. But trust me on this, you can cry," she dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "I won't tell," she said, adding a wink to emphasize their new bond.
Brennan gave the girl a small, wavering grin, "You're right Katie, you hit the pin on the head."
Katie's eyebrows knit in confusion, "I think you meant nail, I hit the nail on the head."
"Oh, right," she replied, cheeks coloring slightly, "You sound like Booth when I get something wrong."
"Who's Booth?" Katie asked, curious who this person was that brought a smile to her new friend's face.
"He's my, well, he's my partner," she flushed brighter. The door opened suddenly, revealing their topic of conversation.
"Bones," He exclaimed, smiling brightly as he spotted the woman in front of him.
"Hey Booth," she started, trying to hide her embarrassment as Katie visibly gawked and giggled at the agent.
"Are you and Tara finished up?"
"Everything but the massage, she got caught by another doctor," Bones brought him up to speed.
Booth bent down to her level, his voice like gravel in her ears as he slid his hands down her arms seductively, "How about we leave now and I'll treat you to that massage at home."
"Booth," she tried, her voice sounding less chiding than she had anticipated, "We aren't the only ones here."
"And who's this?" Booth asked, turning to notice their companion in the room, his charm smile in place.
"Katie, uh, Katie Morgan," the young girl said, her own face splitting into a mega-watt grin.
"Well Katie, it's great to meet you!" he said before turning back to Bones, "I'm going to go find Dr. Young to see if you're set to go and then we'll head out. The diner has two pieces of pie for the price of one today." He gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek before leaving as quickly as he had come.
"Yea, that's some partner," Katie dead-paned.
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Once they got back to Brennan's apartment, Booth kept his word about a massage. When she was successfully napping on the couch next to him, he couldn't help but think about everything they'd encountered throughout their partnership. Kidnappings, gun shots, psychopaths, his tumor. They had been able to overcome it all. But this he feared, this would break her. Stroking her hair softly, he continued his thoughts. He hadn't been oblivious to the tear tracks dotting her face at the hospital and the careful control she seemed to practice whenever the topic of her paralysis came up, not that it did very often.
He liked to think that maybe he was helping her, at least a little bit. Since he had finally proven to her that he wasn't going to leave, things seemed to be going better between them personally, though they still had a long way to go. Bones sighed in her sleep and he felt his heart waver happily. He was so addicted to this woman.
Her eyes fluttered and she looked up at him with a sleepy grin. Stretching out, Bones smiled wider as he dropped his head to give her a kiss to which she happily responded. He continued caressing her hair as he dropped a trail of kisses down her neck, stopping at her racing pulse. He was rewarded by a throaty growl and she pulled his lips back to her own.
Booth heard his phone vibrate on the coffee table and they each let out matching groans of displeasure. Grabbing the phone, Booth listened half-heartedly to dispatch while he watched Bones try to regain her breath as well as some semblance of control. He hung up and explained their newest case between kisses he dropped on her collarbone. After a few minutes, they leaned back up and Booth helped Bones into her chair, following her out the door to their crime scene.
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The case had been a bad one, a seventeen year old girl who was found buried in the sand at a playground. Despite the almost round the clock work they had been doing for the past three days, the squints hadn't turned up any significant evidence or leads and everyone was feeling the pressure.
"Come on Bones, do you have anything?" Booth asked as he leaned around her back while she stared at the girl's newly reconstructed skull.
"No Booth, when I get something, you will be the first to know," she replied, trying to reign in her irritation.
He breathed out, releasing his tension and stepped back towards the bar, trying to give her room to work. The platform was quiet as everyone worked on their respective evidence, scanning for even the smallest hint of something they'd missed.
Booth's phone broke the silence and he quickly took note of the information Charlie was giving him.
"Bones, I've got to go, Charlie has a lead for me with the drawing Angela made."
"Do you want me to come with you?" she asked him, her calm eyes magnified behind the frames of her glasses.
"Nah, I've got this one, you keep working on your end," he said before heading out the door.
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"Mr. Nigel-Murray, please hand me those x-rays," Brennan requested a few hours later.
"Little known fact, but in the early 1900's, legislation tried to ban x-rays because they thought scientists would use them to look through people's clothing," he said as he handed her the slides.
"We didn't notice it here," she started, ignoring his ramblings and pointing to the scans, "but there is a very hairline fracture on her left tibia. It crosses at her femoral artery. I don't think it's the cause of death, but certainly a start."
She picked up her cell, pressing her speed dial and frowning when she connected to voicemail. Trying again, she got the same result. She finally set the phone back down and replaced it with the tibia, pushing down the first traces of worry that were creeping in.
"Dr. Brennan, Cullen is on the phone in my office," Cam said from below, her own concern coloring her tone. Bones removed her gloves and wheeled herself into the office. The others abandoned their work and stared at the closed door in facination.
"Angela," Brennan called from the floor once she came out, "I need you to drive me to the hospital."
"Sweetie, what's going on?" Angela asked with worry as she rushed down the ramp.
"There was an accident when Booth was chasing that lead." Her eyes glazed over with panic.
"He's been shot."
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Ok, I'm heading on vacation so there may be one update before Friday, but probably not. I will update as soon as I get back because I know that was a really mean spot to leave you hanging! I promise I'll update asap!
