March 2012
Booth made all of his follow up calls before heading back to her room. He and Rebecca discussed how and when to tell Parker. It was getting late in the day, and they didn't want him to have trouble sleeping, so it was decided that Rebecca would sit him down the next morning and explain what happened to Temperance. He had seen the news reports of the tragedy in the market, so they wouldn't hide the fact that she was a victim. But the only thing he would be told was that she had injured both of her legs, and it would be a few months before she was up and walking again.
Rebecca would tell him that her surgery was scheduled for Monday, and hopefully she would be well enough for him to visit on Tuesday or Wednesday. She would also tell him that he will be a big help to her over the next few months while she recovered. Booth and Rebecca knew that Parker would respond well to the idea of helping his Bones through her convalescence.
He also called Hacker to tell him that he needed to take time off for at least the next few weeks. Hacker said that he knew Booth had sick days and vacation days rolled over from previous years. "Andrew, if I exhaust all of them, I hope you will approve an unpaid family leave for me. Temperance will be needing a lot of care. There may be weeks when I can work part time, and other weeks when she will need me full time."
Andrew agreed that they would work out whatever was necessary. "You're a valuable employee here Booth. And Temperance is a valuable asset for the bureau. We'll get through this, and you just let me know what you need."
That was the other purpose for the call. "Can you send an agent down to my office to retrieve a couple of things for me? I need my laptop - it should be sitting on the desk, and the carrying case is leaning against the side of the desk. And I'll need the charger for it, plus my phone charger. They should both be right on the desk."
Hacker assured him that he would send someone to take care of it. "I'll instruct them to call you when they get to the hospital so you can go down to the lobby and meet him or her. Something else - do you need some clean clothes brought there? I know you well enough to know you don't want to leave her side just yet."
Booth was touched by the gesture. "Thanks for the offer, but I know that her best friend will be chomping at the bit to see her tomorrow. So I might sneak home for a shower and a change of clothes while she's here. But I really appreciate the offer Andrew."
He was anxious to get back to the room, and immediately felt a sense of calm just seeing her. He sat down on the chair next to the bed and took her hand. He began talking softly to her again. After a few minutes, a wave of grief came over him. "Bones. There was a baby. We did it. But it just couldn't survive the accident. If only there had been something I could do to save him or her. I know this baby will always be our little angel looking over us. And we'll try again. But we'll always have our little angel baby."
He started to sob into her hand. After a few minutes, he dried his tears and thought about how he was going to tell her when she woke up. Maybe getting the tears out now would help him to console her at that moment. But who was he fooling? She was the strong one. She would probably be consoling him. She just needed to wake up so they could grieve together.
An hour later, he went down to the lobby to meet the agent bringing his laptop bag. Before going back up, he stopped at the reception desk and asked if it would be okay for one person to come to the hospital on Sunday for a visit. The receptionist said that one visitor would not be a problem, but asked him not to have a group of friends and relatives come. She said the hospital hoped that things would start getting back to normal on Monday and more visitors could then be accommodated.
Before going back to her room, he stepped into the waiting room on her floor and made a quick call to Angela. She was relieved that she would be able to see Temperance the next day, and was happy to keep her company so Booth could run home.
When he walked into her room, he went right to her and placed a soft kiss on her lips. "I'm back baby. Angela's going to come and see you tomorrow. It will be nice for you to have her visit with you for a little while. I got my laptop, and I'm going to sit over here for a little bit to find out more about what happened today."
There was a large, comfortable, vinyl chair in the corner of the room. He grabbed the tray table meant to go over the hospital bed, and rolled it over to the chair, lowering the top so it was the perfect height to work on his laptop while sitting in the chair. He plugged in the chargers for both his phone and the laptop, and signed into the FBI access portal.
He hadn't had the ability to watch any newscasts that afternoon, so he was relieved to see that the FBI had a lot of non-public information about the assailant. He was a 50 year old male from rural Ohio. He had been on the FBI's radar for several years because of threats he often made on Facebook and in letters to the editor for national newspapers. He was a conspiracy theorist and had a deep hatred for government, but he had never taken any actions that would allow them to arrest him. He left a manifesto saying that he was going to attack the market that day because he thought there would be a lot of government employees and their families there. He wanted them to suffer as much as possible.
Booth had dealt with a lot of horrible people in his career in the FBI, but never someone who tried to kill scores of innocent people for no reason. And this one was personal to him. He looked up from the laptop at his still unconscious love, and felt ill.
He closed the laptop and walked back over to sit in the chair at the bed, taking her hand and kissing it. "I don't know why he did this to you and all those other poor people Bones. But at least he can't ever hurt anyone again."
He had been sitting with her for about an hour, when the nurse came in to check on her. She asked him if he was planning to stay the night, and when he said he was, she showed him how to turn the chair over in the corner into a bed. She opened up the closet and took out a sheet, a pillow, and a blanket and set them on the chair.
"I'm going to drag it over right next to the bed, if that's okay." She told him that was not a problem. Then she showed him how to lower the hospital bed so it was the same height as his bed, and how to lower the safety rail on that side so he could reach over to touch her. She admonished him. "Now, make sure before you pull your bed away from her in the morning, to put the rail back up. We need to keep her safe."
Even though it was hours before his normal bedtime, Booth realized that the events of the day had caught up to him, and he was suddenly exhausted. He set up his bed, dimmed the lights, and crawled under the blanket. He reached across, set his hand over the top of hers, and was asleep in minutes.
Although he needed sleep badly, it was far from restful. He woke up just about every hour, checked to make sure the machines showed normal vitals, caressed her hand, and then tried to get back to sleep. His shoulder was giving him a lot of trouble, and after a few hours he rang for the nurse and asked if he could have something for the pain. She brought him some medication, and also got out a second pillow to wedge under his shoulder. That brought him instant relief, and that, plus the meds, finally helped him sleep much more soundly.
Booth woke up before the sun was up and leaned over to check on her before sitting up. She looked fine, and the monitors were showing all of her vitals in normal range. As he sat up, he could tell that the shoulder was slightly better, but his back was in rough shape. The converted bed was just too hard and made for an uncomfortable night.
He pulled up the side rail of Bones' bed and raised the back of the chair up to the seated position. After moving it back to the corner, he sat down in it and closed his eyes. He found sitting in it, rather than lying on it, was much more comfortable. Within minutes, he was sound asleep again.
A little while later, a nurse came in to check on her and he woke up and stretched. She smiled over at him. "I see you've turned it back into a chair. Did you sleep well on it when you had it folded out?" He yawned and made a face. "It was pretty horrible. Like sleeping on a slab. I'm hoping to stay here the next few nights through her surgery tomorrow. Is there a chance someone could find me something with a mattress?"
She told him that they could probably find an accommodation for him. She finished checking her patient and then asked if there was anything he needed.
"I just realized that I'm famished. With everything that happened yesterday, I never ate anything after the breakfast we had at home. Is the cafeteria downstairs open yet?" She checked her watch and told him it would be opening in 10 minutes. "Great. I'm going to head down there." He looked over at Bones lying peacefully in the bed. "Her best friend is coming this afternoon to spend a little time with her. While she's here, I'm going to run home and get changed."
The nurse patted him on the shoulder as she headed to the door. "Go down and have a big breakfast. We'll take care of her while you're gone. The phlebotomist will be in soon for her morning blood draw."
Booth returned to the room with a full stomach. He had been so hungry that the hospital cafeteria food tasted like fine dining. During his breakfast, he had called Angela and they set up the time for her to come to the hospital. Re-entering the room, he pulled the smaller chair back to her bedside and felt a calmness come over his body as he took her hand.
He spent the next 30 minutes talking softly to her. Telling her about Angela's upcoming visit, her planned surgery the next morning, how he was going to be with her every step of the way in her recovery, and telling her over and over how much he loved her.
While he was sitting there, Dr Saban, the doctor who had been treating her the previous day, walked in doing his morning rounds. He checked her chart, her pulse, listened to her heart, and checked all of the beeping monitors. He moved the blanket from her legs and examined them, putting his fingers on different areas of both legs to make sure he felt a strong pulse. Finally, he pulled her gown to the side and examined the incision on her abdomen.
As he re-covered her legs, he turned to Booth. "Everything looks good. I'm very pleased with her progress. They've scheduled her into the first slot tomorrow. I believe she's on the schedule for 6AM. The orthopedic specialist should be stopping by later this morning to discuss the surgery with you. If everything goes well tomorrow, we're going to start reducing the sedation a few hours after she's back in the room."
Booth nodded, shook the doctor's hand, and thanked him for everything. After the doctor left the room, he turned back to the bed and felt joy bubbling up inside. He was going to get her back. They would actually be able to talk to each other.
Just before noon, Dr Banks, the orthopedic specialist, came in to check on his patient. After checking to make sure that both legs were secure in the brace and the air cast, he sat down with Booth to discuss the surgery.
"The broken ankle should be a very simple procedure. We will cut a small opening on the outside of the ankle, and install one or two plates, and as many screws as necessary to stabilize her ankle. This hardware will be permanent, but once it heals she won't even remember that it's in there. I don't see it causing her any problems in the future - it's a very common injury and repair."
He looked back over at his patient as she peacefully slept. "The tendon is a much bigger issue. We won't know until we get in how badly it was torn. It could be torn in the middle, torn away from the tibia, or torn away from the patella. If we can make a strong repair, that's what we will do. But sometimes the condition of the tendon doesn't give us a good anchor to make a repair that will take the stress from an active lifestyle. In that case, we will insert a replacement tendon. There are two types - a cadaver tendon and a mesh tendon. If we decide that we need to go that route, I'll make the decision based on what's best for her recovery."
Booth was listening quietly and nodding. "Would any of those options cause her problems in the future? She mostly works in her lab, but she also works with me in the field and occasionally we need to chase or subdue a suspect. And she is very active in general. She enjoys running as her primary exercise."
Dr Banks nodded. "I don't see any reason why she shouldn't have a full recovery. Of course, I could get in and find much more damage. But my experience tells me that it's probably just that one tendon. Now, her recovery will take a long time, and it's complicated by the fact that both legs will be undergoing surgery. Rehab for the leg with the tendon injury could take a full year."
Booth gulped, and the doctor patted his hand. "I'll be able to tell you more tomorrow after the surgery. Once Temperance is awake and lucid, I'll come and talk to you together and lay out what you can expect in the recovery. I'll be stopping in every morning while she's still here, and I'll pencil in that consultation for Tuesday. If she's not ready on Tuesday, we can push it back to Wednesday."
He asked Booth how his shoulder was doing and gave it a quick exam, telling him it seemed to be doing well. Booth told him that the pillow under the shoulder while sleeping made all the difference, and the doc agreed.
When Angela arrived in the afternoon, he was sitting in the corner working on his laptop. She went right to the bed, took Brennan's hand in hers, and her eyes began to water. Booth walked up behind her and put his arm over her shoulders. She turned and gave him a tight hug. "Oh Booth. I can't believe this has happened to her."
He had to make a valiant effort to keep from falling apart himself. "I know Angela. When I saw the car hit her, I was afraid I'd lost her. I'm just so grateful she survived. It's going to be a long recovery, but I really think she will come out of it just as strong as ever. You know her. She will 'will' herself to get there."
Angela pulled back and nodded, using her sleeve to dry her tears. She sat down on the chair next to the bed and took Brennan's hand again. Booth put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm gonna go and get that shower." Angela looked up at him and scrunched her nose. Booth laughed. "Yeah, yeah. I don't smell THAT bad."
Angela laughed. "Well, you look pretty rumpled. That's not a look I'm used to seeing on you." He looked down at the clothes he had been wearing for over 24 hours, and then back up at her "You know. That's the first time I've laughed since we got here. Thanks Angela." He walked over to the bed and leaned down to kiss Brennan on the forehead. "I won't be gone long baby. Just a shower and a change of clothes. Angela will be with you until I get back. I love you."
As he turned, he patted Angela on the shoulder. "Just talk to her like you were having lunch together. The doctors and nurses said there's a chance she can make out voices she knows, and possibly understand what you're saying. I won't be gone long."
As he walked into the house, he felt a pang looking around the home they both loved so much. When they left the house, just over 24 hours ago, they had every expectation of walking back in just a few hours later. He briefly thought about a couple of the purchases they had made at the market, but, just like her phone, they were probably gone forever. As he climbed the stairs to their bedroom, he wondered how long it would be before she would be able to negotiate a staircase. He quickly pushed that to the back of his mind and headed to the bedroom.
A couple hours later, he arrived back in her room carrying a small duffel bag with a few changes of clothes. He set it down by the door and walked right to the bed, taking her hand and kissing her softly on the lips. "Hi baby. I'm back. Did you enjoy having Angela here?"
Angela got up from the chair and stretched. "Thank you for letting me get some time with her. We had a nice chat." Booth chuckled and gave her a hug. "In a few days, you'll be able to have a nice long, real chat. I'm sure by then, she'll be tired of seeing my face all day long."
Before she left, Booth told her that he was going to call about getting a replacement phone for Brennan and asked if Angela could pick it up at the store and bring it the next time she was there. They decided that they would plan to have her come back on Tuesday, and hopefully Brennan would be awake and lucid by then.
After Angela left, he went over and grabbed the duffel bag sitting by the door. He brought it to her bedside, sat down on the chair, and unzipped a side pouch on the bag. When he was getting ready to leave the house to return to the hospital, he started to look around to find something that he could take to her to remind her of home. When he spotted Jasper, the little metal pig, he knew it was perfect. He settled him on the nightstand and told her she would see him when she woke up the next day.
That evening, a maintenance worker rolled in a cot with a nice thick mattress. Booth thanked him profusely, and when he was ready to sleep, he moved it right beside her bed. He settled onto the bed, reached over to cradle her hand in his, and fell asleep quickly.