Hey! Thanks for all the positive feedback. I'm unsure how much farther I want to go with this one, so please let me know. I don't own Bones, read and review, and I hope you all have a wonderful day!

With a smile like hers and a dimple beneath your chin...Eyelids closed to be soon opened wide…In four months, you'll open your eyes.

"Leave," Hodgins quickly commanded, getting up. Booths earlier reaction had made Hodgins weary of letting him anywhere near his longtime friend. Muscles stiff, fist clenched, Hodgins was determined to put up a fight. Sweets let out a hiss of air at him, but he still didn't back down.

"No," Booth stated, walking inside of the door more and closing it.

"Leave," Hodgins commanded again, advancing on the taller, more muscular male and pushing him away. "Now."

"Why the hell do you want me to leave?" Booth asked angrily, resisting the urge to throw Hodgins to the ground and start using his body as a punching bag. They both had anger issues, but Booth had the training to use it well, and they both knew it.

"You know why," he hissed, blue, cold eyes staring into Booth's hard, brown eyes. The idea of letting Booth get close enough just to crush her again made him want to punch out a wall. The idea of him saying something stupid made him want to yell and scream. Instead, he let his anger come out through his body's stiff posture, through his gritted teeth.

"Honey, stop," Angela commanded, looking between them and knowing that, if anything was bad right now, fighting would be one. Physically, at least.

"Why?" Hodgins asked, turning quickly. "So that he can come in here and wreck some more stuff up? Come on!"

"I'm hurting too!" he growled, the sudden bark of his voice causing all to look at Booth. His voice echoed throughout the house, vibrating against its frame, until it bounced back. "Don't you think it kills me to think about what we could have been? Don't you think it kills me to see you lying there? Huh? Do you think I don't cry myself to sleep every night? Do you think I don't dream about that fight, that I don't dread waking up in the morning?"

He walked over, pushing aside a shocked Hodgins and then kneeling besides where Bones was lying, eyes closed as she tried, in vein, to block out what had just happened. Shaking slightly, she curled more into her friends lap and tried to ignore the aching of her heart, tried to ignore the pain that Booth had just brought into her.

"Temperance," he stated, and Brennan tensed up more, letting out a choked gasp of air, before Booth's body slumped. "Bones. Please. Look at me, baby…"

She opened them slightly and stared at Booth, unsure of what to say. This wasn't common for Brennan, and she didn't like it. She liked being sure of everything.

"Booth?" she cracked out, and he nodded, smiling a little bit. Almost unconsciously, she started to levitate towards Booth until he wrapped his arms around her neck and kissed her head.

"I'm sorry. I was scared," he stated, eyes soft on her as she held back the tears that had been coming for a long time. Sweets motioned for Angela and Hodgins to fallow him and leave the room. While Hodgins stared between them, as if daring Booth to say something stupid, he got up and walked out, closing the door softly.

Booth crawled into bed, ran his fingers through her hair, whispered in her ear.

"Talk to me, Bones…"

Nothing but the silent sobs that racked her body, nothing but the tears that drenched his shirt. These things he was aware of and was comforted by. She was leaning on him, something that hadn't happened in quite some time, and he felt almost ecstatic by it, even with the circumstances.

"I can't help it anymore…" she mumbled. Booth rubbed her back comfortingly, eyes trained on her face.

"Help what, Bones?"

Her body tensed and then relaxed.

"I…I just feel bad all the time, Booth. And all these thoughts…You hate me, don't you?" she mumbled. Booth shook his head.

"Never. I'll never hate you. Never, never, never. I love you, Bones. I understand,"

"Nothing that I'm going through could you possibly understand…" she whispered, and Booth assured himself that this wasn't the logical Temperance Brennan talking, it was the one that he'd seen in the coming weeks. He could hear the anger beneath her tone, and so he tried to put it out.

"Do you remember the scars on our back analogy?" he asked. It had been so long ago, he wondered if she did. After all, he had forgotten, in his own worries, about what Brennan had talked about that night. He wondered if she'd forgotten.

"Yes. I do," she stated, flinching. Booths finger tips absently grazed her head and he closed his eyes.

"You could have told me about that girl, Bones. I would have understood…."

"I tried…Booth…You just weren't listening."

He could make the same argument for himself, but he really hadn't tried to make Brennan understand. He'd simply been moody most of the time. Sighing when he realized his mistake, that things often had to be spelled out socially, he shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Bones…I really am…"

There was total silence.

"Do you remember what I told Sweets that night?"

Brennan nodded. She could remember it fiercely, because it was the first night that she had laid in bed, hoping that Booth was alright for some reason other than crazy murderers.

"I didn't just want to die then…After I got home after Desert Storm, I got depressed. Cam…Cam and Pop's are the only reason I'm still alive," he stated, clicking his tongue. Seeing the tears falling from his own face, she brushed them away and laid her head heavily on his chest.

"I know it's illogical for me to think that I'm stronger then that…It's nothing to do with strength. But I've seen genocides, Booth. I've seen wars. I've seen children killed at their school tables, why…Why is this affecting me more?"

She knew the answers, of course, physically. Rapid changes, both internally and externally. It wasn't just a mental thing anymore.

Booth looked at the ceiling and shook his head.

"I can't sleep, Booth…I can't…"

"Hey, neither can I. I've got. I'll keep you safe. Okay, Bones?"

She nodded, clutching onto him harder, until his breath was almost expelled from his body. He let in little gulps of air, feeling comforted by this sudden rush of affection, and closed his eyes, knowing by her breathing that she was still awake, that she was still fine, that she was still alive.

And he knew her breathing.

"I won't leave you. I promise,"

This seemed to be what she needed to hear.