March 2012
Brennan was taken down to the surgical floor very early Monday morning for her 6:00 AM surgery. Booth accompanied the porter down to the second floor and then took a seat in the waiting room he had come to know well from his time there on Saturday. He had been told to expect a 3-4 hour surgery, so he brought his laptop with him to help pass the time. Poring over the massive amounts of evidence collected from the home of the perpetrator helped him pass the time. It also gave him a window into the thinking of the man who was responsible for Bones currently lying on the surgical table.
When the surgery was completed, Dr Banks told him that he was confident that she would regain full function in her leg. "When I got in, I discovered that the tendon was completely shredded, and there was no way to save it. So I installed a mesh tendon in its place. The tissue will grow onto the mesh, and she will actually have a stronger tendon than if we had attempted a repair."
After being released from the recovery room, she was brought back to her room upstairs. Dr Saban walked in shortly after she arrived back. "I'm going to reduce her level of sedation, and she should begin waking up over the next few hours. She came out of surgery with a nerve block, so that should hold off the pain for the next 24 hours. At that point, we will put her on intravenous opioids and she will sleep quite a lot. But this way we can have her lucid long enough for you to explain to her what happened, and set the expectations for her recovery. This surgery is very painful for the first couple of days. But we'll keep her as comfortable as possible with the combination of the nerve block and the opioids."
Booth asked him if she would wake up suddenly and be alert, but he was told that it would happen slowly over a few hours. "She will be in and out of consciousness for a bit. She'll feel very sleepy, so just talk to her, assure her that everything is fine, and let her sleep. Wait until you can see that she is fully alert before diving into the reason she's here."
Booth nodded in understanding. As the doctor left the room, he returned to the chair at her bedside and took her hand again. He started talking softly to her. "Hey Bones. You had your surgery, and everything is repaired. The doctor is confident that you will be good as new once we get through the rehab. I will be right beside you through everything. I've got you baby."
He picked up her hand and kissed it. For the next 20 minutes, he softly rubbed her arm and smoothed her hair back from her face. He was trying to gently bring her back with his touch. All of a sudden he heard a slight moan coming from her lips. "Bones? I'm here. Right here."
He continued the gentle touching for about 10 minutes when he finally heard the first word from her mouth. "Booth?" It was just a whisper, but he was overjoyed. "I'm here baby. You're good." He felt her squeeze his hand slightly. He leaned over the bed and gently kissed her lips, and a lightning bolt went through his body when her lips moved softly under his. He pulled back from the kiss and his hand cradled the side of her face. "Hey Bones. Are you in any pain?"
Just then, her eyes opened and he got his first glimpse of those beautiful blue eyes he loved so much. "Hi sweetheart." Her eyes closed again and she mumbled. "Sleepy." He leaned down and gave her another gentle kiss. "You go ahead and sleep. I'll be right here." He felt her squeeze his hand again, ever so slightly.
She slept peacefully for another 30 minutes, and then he saw her eyelids start twitching. "Booth?" He squeezed her hand. "I'm right here baby." Her brow wrinkled and she spoke sleepily. "Don't call me baby." He couldn't hold back a laugh. He brushed her hair back from her face and leaned his cheek against hers. This brought his mouth right next to her ear, so he spoke softly. "How about 'honey'? Can I call you honey?"
He waited a few beats, and then she slurred out, "That would be acceptable." That made him laugh again, and he turned his head and kissed her cheek. As he pulled back to sit on the edge of the bed, he took her hand again and chuckled. "You almost sound like you're drunk Bones." She opened her eyes halfway and mumbled. "I'm sleepy Booth. I feel like I can't keep my eyes open."
He leaned down and kissed her closed eyelid. "It's okay honey. Just sleep as much as you want. I'm not going anywhere."
Another hour went by with her going in and out of consciousness. Each time she woke, she seemed to grow a little more aware of her surroundings. She finally was able to keep her eyes open, and she looked around. "Why are we in a hospital Booth?"
He got up from the chair and perched on the side of the bed, still holding her hand. The other hand went to her face, smoothed her hair back, and then cradled the side of her face. "You were in an accident baby. I mean honey." She gave him a slight smile and then looked puzzled. "What kind of accident? We were shopping at the market and I don't remember anything else."
He told her that a car had driven through the market. That she couldn't get out of the way and was hit. He made sure not to let on how scared he was, and how violent the crash was on her body. He didn't tell her how many people were killed and injured - there would be time for that later. He explained that she had suffered a concussion and internal bleeding. And that she had undergone surgery that morning on both legs. He quickly assured her that the surgeon expected a full recovery, but that it would be a long process.
She seemed to understand everything he had told her, but he could see that she was sleepy again. For the next few hours, she would wake and sleep, and she was slightly more lucid each time she woke. As the time went on, he filled in more and more of the details, including the specific injuries that she had suffered.
She was finally starting to ask questions. "Do you have my x-rays so I can see the damage to my legs?" He shook his head. "No I don't Bones. But the surgeon will be coming in to see us tomorrow to discuss your recovery. I told him that you would want to see all that, so he said he would bring you copies of everything."
She nodded thoughtfully and then looked at him. "You weren't injured at all Booth? You were far enough away from the car?" He told her about trying to grab the car door handle and dislocating his shoulder, but assured her that it was fine. She moved the blanket from over her legs and examined the brace on the right leg and the cast on the left.
She was now wide awake and they began talking about the immediate future. "I can't put weight on either leg?" He shook his head sadly. "Not for a couple of months. But we'll get through this. I'm going to take a leave from work to help you through." He brought his hand up to cradle the side of her face. "I was thinking about it this morning while you were in surgery. This is just another blip for us. It's nothing compared to the time we were apart. We'll get through this together and then we can get back to our life."
She smiled at him. "I love you Booth." He leaned down to kiss her, and just before their lips met, he whispered. "I love you more."
That evening, after she had her first meal since waking up, he decided that he had to tell her about the miscarriage. He knew that her dad, Angela, and possibly Parker, were planning to visit the next day and that he shouldn't wait until morning.
He got up and sat on the side of the bed, taking her hand. "Sweetheart. There's something else I need to tell you." She stared at him worriedly and grasped his hand tightly. "During the first surgery, they discovered that you had suffered a miscarriage." She had a confused look on her face. "A mis… What? I wasn't pregnant." He sadly nodded his head. "Yes, you were about 4 weeks along. The doctors said it was so early that you probably didn't even realize it was happening. They said that it would have been nearly impossible for such an early pregnancy to survive the trauma that your body was put through."
He saw her eyes begin to water. "A baby? We had a baby?" He nodded and carefully moved to wrap his arms around her. When their bodies came together, the tears overtook them both and they clung to each other.
After a few minutes, he pulled back and reached behind him for a tissue from the nightstand. He dried the tears from her face and searched for words to help comfort her. "It just wasn't meant to be right now Bones. We need to spend the months ahead getting you healed and back on your feet. Maybe then we'll talk about trying again?" She gave him a slight smile and slowly nodded her head. "Yes. I really want to have a child with you Booth. It will just take a little longer than we'd hoped."
They both leaned in for a long, soulful kiss. Booth told her about how the doctor described the embryo as the size of a poppy seed. Brennan nodded. "That's true." She put her hand on her abdomen and looked down at it. She looked back up at him. "But it was still our baby. Well, not a 'baby'. Not even a fetus. An embryo. But it was ours. It had yours and my DNA Booth. We created it together."
The look of sadness on her face made Booth want to do anything he could to take away her pain. "We'll always remember our angel baby Bones. During your surgery, I was thinking about the fact that we have no way of knowing if it was a boy or a girl. Maybe we could call it our 'peanut'."
She smiled at the thought. "I like that. 'Our little peanut.' It makes more sense than calling it a poppy seed." Their eyes met and they both giggled. Booth pulled her in for a tight hug and her hands ran up and down his back. "I love you Booth."
When they pulled apart, she told him that she was starting to feel pain in her leg. He showed her the button that the nurse had set up for her to administer opioids into her IV whenever she needed them. After pressing the button once, she rested her head back on the pillow.
Booth leaned down and kissed several places on her face. Her eyes were closed, but feeling his lips on her face made her smile. And that made him smile. He told himself that any time he could get a smile from her during this ordeal would be a personal win for him. And he vowed to do whatever it took to bring out those smiles as often as possible.
He could tell she had fallen asleep quickly, so he lowered the head of the bed and moved over to his chair in the corner, pulling out his laptop to keep himself busy until she woke from her nap.
She slept for two hours this time and he was glad to see that she was pain free when she awoke. His rollaway bed was folded up over in the corner, and she was surprised when he rolled it over next to her bed. "Where did that come from Booth?" He explained that it had been tucked back in the corner behind her bed. It folded in half, upright, to take up little space. He unhooked it and pulled both ends down to make it flat. He then brought down the side rail on her bed and pushed his bed right up against hers.
As he climbed into his bed, he told her about his first night on the hard surface of the chair, and how her nurse took pity on him and got this bed for him. He lay on his side, taking her hand in both of his, and kissing it. It wasn't ideal, since she could only lie on her back, but she turned her face to him and they enjoyed the closeness that the setup provided.
All of a sudden, he remembered the little gift he had brought. "When I went home, I wanted to bring something for you to have here in the hospital. A little bit of home. He sat up, reached behind him, and grabbed the little metal pig. Her eyes sparkled when she saw what was in his hand. "Jasper!"
She took it from him and ran her index finger over his back. "You know how special this is to me Booth. You gave it to me one night when I was at a low point." He leaned down and kissed her. "I remember. I thought you would like to have it here with you." She smiled at him. "How do you do that? You always anticipate my needs." He bent down and gave her an even longer kiss. "It's because I love you."
They settled down together and he held her hand. They chatted off and on, and after awhile she saw that he was sleeping. Her pain had started to creep back, so she pressed the button for the pain relief, and it wasn't long before she was drowsy and eventually joined him in sleep.
It didn't turn out to be a very restful night, because the nerve block was beginning to lose its effectiveness. Every few hours she would wake in quite a bit of pain and would need to push the button for relief. In the middle of the night, the nurse came in and had a conversation with her about the pain. The nurse said that the first 24-36 hours were the worst, but it would get better soon. She took her off the push button, and injected a stronger, longer lasting medication into her IV.
Every time she had awakened, Booth did too. He could feel her restlessness and tried to comfort her until the meds took effect. This time, the nurse stayed for a few minutes rubbing her right arm, while Booth rubbed her left arm, trying to calm the pain until she thankfully fell into a deep sleep.
In the early morning hours before dawn, Booth woke up when a nurse walked in. She walked to the other side of the bed and injected the next dose of painkillers into Brennan's IV. Booth was glad to see that she was still sleeping, so he relaxed and quickly fell back asleep.
A few hours later they were both awake and Booth had stored his bed back in the corner of the room. Brennan was feeling drowsy from the medication, but it was keeping her pain at a tolerable level. She had just finished a light breakfast when Dr Banks came into the room. This was her first time meeting him, and he saw that she was slightly unfocused from the pain medication.
"I was going to sit down with you both this morning to talk about your recovery timetable, but I'm going to put that off until tomorrow. The first 36 hours are tough - especially when the nerve block wears off. So I'm going to instruct the nursing staff to inject the opioids every four hours today. This will help you to sleep through the worst of the pain. Starting this evening, I'll have them switch you to pill form. Going forward, we'll stay on a consistent dosing schedule, and after a week or so you will want to start stretching out the time between doses until you can stop them completely."
He patted her shoulder. "Everything looks good. When I see you tomorrow morning, I'll remove the bandage and you can see all the beautiful staples. And then the three of us can sit down and talk about your recovery. I think maybe we'll see about getting you into a wheelchair for an hour or so. Does that sound good to you?"
Brennan opened her eyes wide. "I can get out of bed? That would be wonderful." The doctor sat down on the edge of the bed. "Well, we will figure out the best way to get you into the chair. I'm thinking maybe Seeley could help by lifting you. But he has to be careful about that bad shoulder. We'll work it out in the morning. Now you, young lady. Don't fight the meds we're giving you. They will make you sleepy. So just close your eyes and let them work their magic. It will be much better to sleep through the day today, and you should be feeling much better tomorrow."
Not long after the doctor left, Brennan had fallen asleep again. Booth decided to slip down to the cafeteria and have breakfast - and while there to make a couple of calls. Max and Russ were already at the airport for their flight to DC. Booth explained that Temperance would be sleeping most of the day and suggested they wait until Wednesday to visit her. Max was having none of that. He needed to see his baby girl, whether she was sleeping or not. So Booth told them to get a cab from the airport, but make a stop at the Jeffersonian to pick up the house keys from Angela. When they got to the house, they could take their pick of guest rooms and then drive Temperance's car to the hospital.
He then called Angela to let her know they would be stopping by for the keys, and that she might want to wait until Wednesday to visit. He also called Rebecca to put off Parker's visit until Wednesday.
It turned out to be a long day. Brennan slept a good part of the day, and a couple of times was in severe pain upon waking. In each case, it was just as the four hours was ending, and a new dose brought in for her. Receiving it through the IV meant it was fast acting, and he was grateful for that, because it numbed the pain fairly quickly and soon had her asleep.
When Max and Russ arrived, she was sleeping. Booth talked to them about her prognosis and decided to stretch his legs and walk down to the family lounge at the end of the hall while they sat with her. As he sat on the sofa, he gazed out the window at the view of some of the iconic Washington monuments. The next thing he knew, Russ was shaking his shoulder. "Hey sleeping beauty. YOUR sleeping beauty is awake and was wondering where you were."
Booth hadn't realized he was so tired, but then remembered the fitful sleep he had the night before. When they entered the room, Max was sitting on the bedside chair, holding Temperance's hand and talking to her. When she heard the door open, she looked up, saw Booth, and her eyes lit up.
The four of them had a nice, but short visit. It was getting close to the time for her next injection, and Booth could see on her face that the pain was coming back. When the nurse came in and gave her the injection, Max decided that they would go back to the house, since she needed to sleep. He kissed her and told her he would be back the next day.
One new thing that happening that day was Brennan's introduction to bed pans. Since she had her first meal the evening before, her catheter had been removed early on Tuesday. She told Booth that she didn't want him in the room when she was using the bed pan. He tried to tell her that he wanted to help, but she insisted that it wasn't something she wanted to share with him.
After one of the visits by the nurse, with Booth vanquished to the hall, she explained it to him. "I just defecated Booth. I had a nurse standing behind me wiping and cleaning my ass. I love you, but I really don't want to share that particular experience with you." He tried but failed to hold back a chuckle. "I understand Bones. Even though I've memorized every square inch of your body, we need to keep the magic. The mystery." He leaned down and kissed her.
As he began to pull back, she brought both hands up and cradled his face, bringing him back down for a longer, more sensuous kiss. As their lips parted, her tongue withdrew from a brief tango with his. She looked deep into the depths of his velvety brown eyes and whispered. "Exactly."