Author's Note: I know I promised this a while back, and I'm sorry it took a little longer than planned. Real life got in the way more than I'd anticipated, but everything is pretty much caught up now. So, with that said, I should have another update up before week's end. Thanks for reading, please live a review!


The room fell silent as Angela and Hodgins exchanged a look. "Look, guys, I'm sorry. I'll just-"

"Angela, Hodgins..." Brennan shifted in the bed, her eyes focusing on her friends. For a moment she smiled, greeting them, before turning to look at Booth. "Sorry, you were saying something?"

Angela shifted the box she held in her hands before sending Booth a look of apology. "You two are in the middle of something." She said, edging forward to place the box on the table by the foot of the bed. "My friend Cassie opened up her new bakery, and we were lucky enough to get some goods. I'll just leave them here for you to try, and we can come back tomorrow."

Brennan glanced between Booth and Angela before shifting her position. "Ange, wait..."

So she stood, frozen, not knowing what she should do. Brennan was her friend, clueless as she was, but she and Booth had grown close as well. The look on his face alone told her what she wanted to know. She looked to Hodgins for help.

"Angie's right. She's actually got an exhibit to be at tomorrow early, so..." Hodgins pointed toward the door.

They left, and Brennan stared at the door with a frown crossing her face. "That was odd."

Booth shrugged. "I'm sure everything's fine. Should we try some of those cookies?" He said, making a move for the box.

"Booth." Brennan replied, putting her hand over his. The single movement caused every one of his to go stagnant. "What were you going to say?"

His mouth hung open, the words escaping him once again. A slow breath in, then another one out. It would be so simple. Say the truth, hope things went back to normal, but Booth knew it would never be the easy. He laid his hand over hers on the mattress and gave it a squeeze. "I...I don't really remember. What I was going to say, I mean."

Brennan frowned, her blue eyes clearly conveying the confusion she felt. "We were in the middle of a conversation before Angela and Hodgins came, how could you possibly forget what you were planning to tell me?"

Booth laughed it off, pretending for just a minute what he was doing wasn't wrong. He wasn't lying, really. The actual words weren't planned, so he really wasn't sure what he planned to say. He just couldn't stand the whole 'evading the truth' thing, not lying but not being honest at the same time. "Yeah, well...can you blame me? Ange brought food." Booth replied before he stood.

"You're leaving?" Brennan asked. The surprise in her voice was clear despite her effort to disguise such a thing. "I suppose you should be heading home."

Booth lingered at her side, fighting the urge to simply take her in his arms. It was becoming harder and harder to pretend like he didn't care as much as he did, like he didn't love her. "Yeah." He smiled. "I'll stop by tomorrow, okay? That's if we don't catch a break in the case."

Brennan nodded in reply, unsure of what she was supposed to say. "I suppose I'll look forward to your visit then."

He hesitated for just a second before leaning down and pressing a kiss softly against her cheek. Friends, right? At least it could be considered that way. Pulling back, he shoved a hand in his pocket. "G'night, Bones." He said before stopping at the box and taking out a few for himself. He turned back around to face her and shrugged. "Gotta have somethin' sweet."

Brennan laughed before offering a shrug. She wished it didn't have to feel so awkward. "Good night, Booth. Good luck with the case."

Booth waved again before leaving the room.

For the longest time, she focused on the door, staring at the spot where Booth had just been standing. He'd been ready to say something, hadn't he? While the words weren't clear, Brennan was pretty sure whatever it was had been important. Yet another thing to thank for the whole not remembering thing, she supposed. Everything was just out of reach, close enough she knew they were there, but too far away to actually touch. Something had to happen, and soon, because Brennan could already feel herself growing desperate. Sweets came to mind, and the possibilities he had to offer, but it was too late to call him.

Brennan opted for watching a little television instead. She'd already scanned through the majority of the forensic journal Angela had brought, so there wasn't much left as means to occupy her mind until sleep dawned on her. There were a couple infomercials, a news program, several cartoons, but nothing that held her interest. She fell asleep after catching the tail end of a movie. She didn't catch the name, but the scene caught her eye. People, guns, blood...not the documentary she'd been hoping for. A man, frozen in the middle, stunned by a single shot. Her eyes struggled to stay open, because now things were getting interesting, but instead she fell into a deep but unrestful sleep.

There was music playing, music she was familiar with. Angela, Hodgins, Cam, Zack...she spotted Sweets smiling and clapping appreciatively. Then, as if a switch had been flipped, her attention focused solely on him. Booth.

Something was happening, he was...standing? And running. There was a sound, a very loud and recognizeable sound. The microphone fell from her hand, making a screeching sound as it hit the floor.

Blood...there was so much blood. Her hand clenched his gun, her finger pulling the trigger without a second thought. There was still too much blood, more than had to be safe. It seeped through her fingers, like life seemed to seep away from his eyes.

No. No, this wasn't happening. There was no way this could truly be happening, that Booth could be dying. "Come on, Booth!" Hot tears streamed down her cheeks and clouded her vision. "Come on!"

No...no, his eyes were shutting. He was trying, fighting, but he was losing. It wasn't long before she felt hands pulling at her to move her from his side. She stared down at her hands, covered with blood. His blood. She watched as paramedics loaded him onto a stretcher before pulling out of Angela's grasp. "Please...I'm his partner. I have...I need to go with you."

She stared at his face, growing paler by the second, and felt a fear stronger than any she'd ever felt rise from within. His eyes were closed, and she found herself hoping against everything she knew about his condition that he'd make it through.


The colors on her canvas were finally blending together, finally making sense on the same page. The pencil tracing she'd covered it with were almost all painted over now, and she worked to blend a few of the lines together, making a tree in the painting she was creating look real. Somewhere, a phone rang, but it barely registered over the music playing in her studio. If it was anything important, she figured Hodgins would take the call.

There. The tree looked perfect, its leaves blowing in the breeze. It wasn't the focal point of the entire painting, but every detail counted.

A hand on her shoulder caused Angela to jump. "What the hell?"

Hodgins held the phone to his chest, signaling for her to turn the music down. "I would've knocked, but I figured you couldn't hear me anyway."

Angela nodded as she clicked the pause button on the stereo remote. She wiped her hands on her jeans before standing. A look at the clock told her that while it wasn't 'late' per se, it was definitely past the normal time to be calling someone. "Who is it?"

"Doctor B. She sounds pretty upset, but she just asked to speak to you." Hodgins replied as he held the phone out before quietly leaving the room to give Angela privacy.

She thought of the scene she and Hodgins interrupted just hours before, and thought of just exactly why Brennan would be so upset about. "Bren, what's wrong?" Angela asked as she sat back down on her stool to listen. "Whoa, hold...hold on. Okay..." She guessed she should have felt more relieved to find her friend wasn't upset about what she originally thought, but still found herself worried. "He probably just left it in the truck, or-I know, I-" Angela paused as Brennan poured out more details and more frustration. "Listen, I'm gonna try to get in touch and see what happens. No, sweetie, it doesn't matter that visiting hours are over. Because...look, just try and calm down. I'll get there soon."

A few minutes later, Angela came bounding down the stairs with her bag thrown over her shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Hodgins asked, rising up from his position at the kitchen table.

Angela grabbed her coat from the back of one of the chairs and slipped it on. "Booth's. He's not answering his phone, not even when Bren tried."

"Doesn't make sense." Hodgins replied, setting down his glass. "I should go with you."

Angela shook her head. "No, I won't be gone long, just enough to see if he's there. Brennan-" She turned to face him, unsure of how much she should reveal. Or could reveal, because all she knew at the moment was what she'd been able to decipher from Brennan's frantic phone call. "Something's happened. She remembered something, but it's...it's bad." She sighed before leaning forward to kiss him. "I'll call if there's any news."


He was an idiot. A complete and utter idiot. At least that's what he thought of himself. He had it, what he wanted, staring him in the face every day. Smiling, talking, laughing. But there was that something, that one thing missing, that he still coudn't shake.

Booth tried shaking the thoughts from his head as he loaded another clip. He raised his gun, aiming at the target again.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. The accident shouldn't have happened in the first place, but it had and they were both trying. Brennan was getting better by the day and would be released within a matter of days. The idea made him feel more thrilled than he'd felt in a while, yet it scared him at the same time.

He fired off another round before he heard someone calling behind him. Pulling off his headphones, Booth turned to see a very frustrated Hodgins behind him. "What are you-"

"Do you not have your phone, man? Angie and I have been trying to reach you." Hodgins cried. "It's Doctor B, she-"

"What happened?" He asked, cursing himself for keeping his phone on silent. He'd left it that way during his hospital visit with Brennan and had forgotten to return it to normal.

Hodgins walked closer, a sigh escaping his lips as he shrugged. "I don't know. Angie's headed over there now, but she wanted to keep trying to find you. From what she said, she remembered something else, but it wasn't entirely a happy kind of thing."

Booth let out a growl of frustration before turning his back to Hodgins. He started pacing the room, wanting more space than was actually there. "It wasn't supposed to be like this." He mumbled.

Rocking back on his heel, Hodgins offered a shrug. "So...you wanna tell me what you're doing here?" He asked. While he wasn't good at the whole "touchy-feely" thing, it was obvious that Booth was in need of something. He watched as Booth started collecting his things before turning to face him again.

"I don't know. How'd you know to look here?" Booth asked in return.

"Because of all your years working with our team. Ange had already run by your place, you weren't at the diner or any place else. So," Hodgins shrugged again, already knowing what the agent would think if he told him what led him to look out at the range. "I just started thinking of other places. For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure she wants to see you."

Booth tossed his jacket over shoulder before nodding in his direction. He fished his keys from his pocket as they moved to the door. "Yeah?" He said. "Then let's go."