THEY ARE OVER! My exams are over! GOODBYE, I hope never to see you again! Yes, YES, YEEEEESSS!!!

Ehem.

Anyway, here's the chap

.

.

.

.

.

.

CHAPTER 35

Missing Booth was harder than I'd thought. I woke up in an uncomfortable position and the nagging feeling that something was terribly wrong.
And then it all came back. Murders, fear, death, blood, his blood on my shirt, my friend in danger. It felt like a nightmare. Like the days when I thought Booth was deceased and I kept dreaming about blood and pain and waking up soaked in my own tears, only to go to work as always.

I didn't go home to sleep, this time. After everyone had gone, Cam and I still worked. It wasn't until three that she said she was going home to clear her head and shower, and I didn't blame her. She promised to be back by eight, anyway.

I decided to sleep for a few hours in the lab around seven the next morning, something Angela and Booth wouldn't have approved. But neither of them were there to tell me I should rest, take care of myself. And I only slept because there was nothing else to do, so I thought maybe a rested mind would come up with new ideas.

It hadn't.

Cam came back at nine, apologised and got back to work. We called Sweets and he came as well. I let Hodgins have some time alone, because I knew he needed it if he was going to try and wipe that look of horror from his face.

I had one of the interns calling the hospital every ten minutes to check on Booth's progress, but taking control all by myself felt a little like… like it had before, actually. Difficult. Tiring. But worse, because now I knew what it could be like. How constructive it was to also lean on someone else. To let him help you. With Booth, everything had been… better. I couldn't think of a better way to put it.

"Have you seen Dr Hodgins?" I asked one of the best second year interns, Mitchell Smith. His class was cataloguing the anomalies of a body in Limbo and he'd been on his way to analyse a sample.

"I think he's up in the visitor's lounge, Dr Brennan."

I looked up, and saw that Hodgins was leaning on the silver railing with a look so murderous you'd think he was considering jumping off. I hoped not.

"Thank you, Mitchell."

I hurried away, in time to hear him tell Johanna Daniels "She knows my name! This is the best day ever!"

But if only. It was only a few hours long, but so far this day was turning out to be one of my worst.

"Hodgins!" I called as I climbed up the metal stairs.

"Hey Brennan. I'm sorry, do you need me?" He'd been crying, or had an eye infection. Probably the former.
"Yes, I do." I said, hoping to raise him out of his state and help him start working again. "Let's go." I wasn't going to ask him about his feelings, his worry, the choking panic that were plain in his eyes. It was the same look I'd have if Booth were taken. Maybe Hodgins loved Angela too.

With some shock, I realised it was the same look Booth had had when I'd been taken. X equals A and Y equals A…

No, Temperance. Not now. I hid from my own conclusions, because now I had to find Angela. Not think of Booth, who at least would be safe and rested and...

"Dr Brennan!" It was Mitchell again, Johanna trailing after him. "Dr Brennan the hospital called saying Agent Booth evaded the nurses and is coming here!"

"What?"

"Apparently he told them he was fine, got dressed and left!"

"Shit." I said under my breath. "Hodgins go downstairs and tell Cam to help you prepare the evidence found in Bram's house for examination. I want to know where he could go, and I want to know now."

"Thank you, Dr Brennan." Hodgins said, running away.

"Mitchell!" I shouted downstairs.

"Yes?"

"Go and alert security, they are to let Agent Booth enter the building even if he doesn't have his Visitor's Badge."

"Yes, Dr Brennan."

"Johanna! Before you follow Mr Smith as you obviously can't help but doing, please fetch me some gauze, antibiotics, a sterile compress and bandages."

"Right away, Dr Brennan." She blushed very red and avoided young Mitchell's eyes as she left, but I had no time to worry I'd said something wrong again. Booth wasn't here to correct me.

Yet.

He was about to get here, however, probably having reopened his wound, if he drove. Over-protective, careless, selfless dominant alpha-male! And he had the nerve to make me feel so horrible about being irresponsible and not taking care of myself! Why do people tend to give advice they never take themselves?

I stomped down the stairs and went to find Cam, who was better with flesh than I was anyway. But it was too late. I heard the commotion at the front doors and changed course last minute.

"Booth!" I was surprised at myself. The intensity with which the shout ripped out of me felt disproportionate to only having seen him a day ago. Was it a day? Suddenly the urgency to hold him, make sure he was all right, the need to touch him, tell him I loved him again, was unstoppable. I found myself running, desperate to see him again and breathe…

"Booth?"

"Bones!" His voice had a strange, panicked edge to it too.

Where had this feeling come from? Or had it already been there, had I just chosen to ignore it the entire time we'd been apart?

"Bones, where are you?"

"Agent Booth, please sit down. You don't look well…"

"Dude, she's coming this way, just hang on a second…"

"Booth!"

And there he was. Two guards and three grad students surrounded him, but no one had tried to make him stop. I halted a few feet from him, breathless. He looked… better than I'd imagined, actually. There was no blood, and maybe his face was paler than usual, but he looked otherwise healthy. I wouldn't need to dress his wound again.

"Bones?" he said, a questioning grin on his face as he invited me to come to him.

I smiled and didn't hesitate. I walked to him, letting myself choke out a laugh that hid the tears of relief, and embraced him as carefully as I could not to hurt him.

Possibly someone whistled, but that didn't seem likely.

"Are you okay?" I whispered into his ear.

With a shock of surprised, I felt him gently kiss my neck where his face was buried. What did that mean? Was that his answer? I also felt the sharp intake of air as he smelled me.

Oh dear, this was doing bad things to my concentration. The primal, manly way he…

Enough! He was okay, which meant it was time to pay for what he'd done.

I pushed myself away, ready to punish him.

"Booth, what are you doing here?"

The people surrounding us were quick to leave, possibly having recognised my tone.

"I came to help. And to see you."

I ignored the strange cluster of nerves in my stomach (stomach contents are acid and devoid of neuron activity) as he said the last sentence. The fact that he hadn't looked away from my eyes yet was even worse.

"You can't help with this investigation, Booth! You are injured. Get back to the hospital."

I took a step further away, the cool lab air also clearing my thoughts and sharpening the severity of my tongue.

"Bones, I need to help."

"Need? No, you need to get better. You can't help here, Booth."

"Is Angela gone?" He didn't move from his spot, try to come to me. I suppose he sensed (in that annoying perceptive way of his) what would happen if he tried.

"Yes." I said flatly. And with him here, our chances of finding her would not improve unless he was fully functional, which he wasn't. His health was absolutely vital to… me.

"Now go."

I pointed to the door with finality, and hoped he didn't notice how my finger shook slightly with the effort of making him leave seconds after seeing him. I knew it would hurt his feelings, but his feelings weren't rational right now.

"Bones, all I have to do at the hospital is rest. I can rest here while helping."

"What about the morphine drip?"

"I can take the pain, Bones, it's not as severe an injury as it looks."

"Someone shot you!" I practically shouted.

"In the arm. Bullet grazed the muscle, lots of blood and fuss, a week's recovery time." He still hadn't moved an inch. He was trying to convince me the rational way. Not by using his charm-smile, not by pleading, but by constructively presenting his arguments.

"But it's not rational…! It's been a day!"

"I want to find her, Bones." The emotion made his voice shake, like my outstretched arm. "Angela was…"

"Is." I said sharply.

"I need to find her too. I'll help you. This is about all of us."

"You…" I took a deep breath, hoping that oxygen would somehow give me strength. "… you don't belong with us until you are well. Go."

"No, Bones. Just understand that and let's go find our friend."

I looked into his eyes, thinking two things at once: one, never had I been able to discern feelings by simply taking in someone's expression, and two, Booth was the exception to that rule, making it null and void, and not a rule at all.

And I knew he wasn't going back to that hospital.

"Fine. You can stay if you lay down on the couch. No walking, or moving, or… nothing. Understand?"

He grinned.

"Got it. Does this mean I get to watch you from a vantage position the entire time?"

I let out a sort of giggle.

"Funny. Very funny, Booth."

He took a step toward me, so that we were face to face, inches apart.

Suddenly I was aware of the amount of sidelong glances we were subject to. People pretending to do other things while really attempting to surreptitiously watch us. I was aware of many things as he leant down until our noses touched, then our lips, and he kissed me right in front of everyone at the Jeffersonian.

None of them mattered.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

I know it's kind of short, but I've done my best! ;)

Missed your comments during my periods of stress: make it up to me pretty please with a sugary cherry on top?

Love ya!