"Have you ever thought about what protects our hearts? Just a cage of rib bones and other various parts. So it's fairly simple to cut right through the mess and to stop the muscle that makes us confess. We are so fragile and our cracking bones make noise and we are just breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys…"
Breakable by Ingrid Michaelson
Booth rushed up to the front desk of the ER the receptionist looked tired and ready to go home. It was three in the morning. He didn't care. "How can I help you sir?" asked the tired blonde in her early twenties.
"I need to know where Temperance Brennan is." Booth said in a rush.
Gabby was use to the frantic people looking for loved ones. Her voice was cool, rehearsed. "Are you related?"
"Yes. I'm her brother." Booth said and Gabby could care less if he was or not. He should be Amy's problem right now anyway, she was off the clock. Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she looked her up.
"She is in ICU floor-"
"Thanks." Booth said and ran toward the elevators. He knew the floor well. On his way up he cursed himself. Why did he let her go? Why hadn't he gone after her? Ashley loved her. He loved her, he always had. Pops always told him if you looked for something you would never find it. It was when you weren't looking it would find you. He should never have brought her down to the shore line in the eye of the storm.
He ran up to ICU's front desk and asked where she was. He let them know who he was and was lead to Brennan by a nurse. Soon he walked through the automatic sliding glass doors trying to prepare himself for what he was going to see when he entered her room.
When he saw her lying in bed in-abated, he doubled over as if someone punched him in his gut. The whole right side of her face was covered in bandages. Her hair was matted down with dried blood.
With glossy red eyes he walked slowly over to her bed. Her eyes were closed and more IV's than he could count were hooked up to her fragile body. He slowly sank down to the ground next to her bed resting his head on the side of it. He took her limp hand in his own and cried silent tears. The only sound was the monitor's beeping around her.
Brennan walked along the shore it was peaceful, the waves rolled in calmly as she watched the sunrise.
Brennan's doctor walked in at four thirty. Booth had pulled up a chair in her room to the side of the bed, so as to be able to hold her hand. Brennan's doctor walked in and cleared his throat. Booth's sleepy eyes opened and he somehow managed to stand at four in the morning.
"I'm Dr. Hendrickson."
"Booth." He left out the special agent. He didn't feel to special right about now, just another guy that let her go.
"Mr. Booth, Temperance is stable-"
"Dr. Brennan, she likes to be addressed as Dr. Brennan." Booth said he thought Brennan would appreciate that.
"Excuse me, Dr. Brennan is stable, but she has sustained two broken ribs and a serious concussion. We cannot classify her unconscious state as a coma just yet. If she does not wake up by six am she will be classified as comatosed. I'm sorry."
"So she has a two hour window to wake up until you tell me she has fallen into a coma?"
"Yes, I'm sorry Mr. Booth, but a person who has been unconscious for six hours is considered comatosed. Dr. Brennan was found unconscious at three am."
"What about internal injuries, other than her ribs?"
"She was very lucky and only sustained the broken ribs and concussion. She has had an MRI and it showed a TBI to the cerebral cortex."
"What does that mean?"
Dr. Hendrickson looked somber a moment, "A TBI-"
"I know what a TBI is what is it going to do to that part of her brain?" Booth asked frantic.
"The cerebral cortex controls the grey matter that covers the brain. It controls sensory input, perception of the world around one, and is in charge of all the neurological functions, from simple reflexes to complex thinking." Said Dr. Hendrickson.
"What are the odds she will wake up by six with a TBI to her cerebral cortex?"
"The cerebral cortex is needed to maintain a normal conscious state."
"Not good. Why didn't you just say not good?" asked Booth angry.
"I'm sorry Mr. Booth." Dr. Hendrickson said as he and the nurse who had been checking Bones vitals during his discussion with Dr. Hendrickson left the room.
Booth sat back down in his chair and rested his head next to her limp arm. He looked at the transmitters and wires hooked up to her head monitoring her neurological activity. Then he closed his eyes, "I'm so sorry Bones. I shouldn't have let you go back down to bone storage. I should have brought you home. I care Bones; you know I still care too."
The EKG beeped steadily monitoring her heart rate as the EEG quietly recorded her brain waves. That was what it had always come down to; her heart versus her brain. The logic had won time and time again as she ran away scared of his open heart, but one night she dropped her defenses down to the floor and threw him the key to her heart. One night had changed everything, but had it really?
Brennan stood barefoot on the shore line inching closer to the surf as the waves crashed onto the shore line soaking her feet. Then as quickly as the cold water washed up onto her feet it receded. She watched as the tide pulled everything she knew back out to sea. She looked out onto the horizon, the sun was setting now. Had she really been standing here from sunrise to sunset?
Wow. It had been a long time, but she really wanted to stay. It was so pretty here, besides she hadn't been down to the sea shore in a long time. So, why not? Why shouldn't she stay? Why should she go back? What was there to go back too? She couldn't remember anything signifigant. She inhaled the salty air, closed her eyes, and smiled as the sun sunk into the ocean. She didn't want to open her eyes it was so calm and serene here.
"Bones, you don't have much time. Please Bones, please wake up." Booth begged her as he broke, tears streaming down his face. "I love..." he cried as salty tears streamed down his contorted face and he fumbled for the words. "...I love how you are with Ashley." Though, all Brennan heard was the surf.