31Thank you again for the wonderful reviews. I decided to go ahead and post Ch 3 :)
Ch 3
About noon, Booth came striding through the glass doors at the Jeffersonian. He had already been to Brennan's apartment, but not finding her car in the lot, he decided that he should have known she would be at work. Entering her office, he noted she wasn't there. Continuing into Angela's office, into Hodgins', Cam's, and even into limbo, he found no one. Finally, he grabbed his phone from his pocket and hit Speed dial #1.
Feeling the phone vibrate in her pocket, she picked it up and answered, "Brennan's phone".
"Ang…."
"Booth! Oh, my God, where have you been? Do you know she's worked herself crazy!? How could you just disappear like that and not call, nothing….."
"Angela, put Bones on the phone please." He didn't have the patience to be lectured by Brennan's well-meaning best friend.
"I can't."
"Come on, Ang. Let me talk to Bones. Why are you answering her phone in the first place?"
"Booth, we're at the emergency room at George Washington."
"Are you having the baby?"
"No, Booth. It's Brennan; she collapsed this morning and we brought her here ."
"I'm on my way!" and with that he ended the call and ran out of the lab as fast as he could. Using his siren, he sped through city traffic. Throwing it into park, he jumped from his SUV and hustled to the entrance to the ER and found not only Angela, but Hodgins and Cam in the waiting area.
"What happened?"
"She's been working non-stop with these bodies from the mass grave site", Angela began. I have only been working half days for the last week or so and hadn't realized how much time she was really spending at the lab."
Jack interrupted and stated, "Angie, this isn't your fault."
"So, ….."
Jack added, "When we came in this morning, she was already working. We noticed how pale she was and Angie talked her into stopping and we were taking her to eat. She took off her lab coat, turned around, and passed out."
"Jack caught her just before she hit the floor."
"How is she?"
Cam entered the conversation stating, "We haven't heard anything from the doctor yet. We're still waiting."
A few moments later, the doors opened and a female doctor came through and called, "Family of Temperance Brennan."
The foursome stepped up.
"Is there a Seeley Booth here?" the doctor inquired.
"I'm Booth."
"I am Dr. Couch. You are listed as Temperance's medical proxy; is that correct?"
"Yes. Is she okay?"
"Temperance is suffering from exhaustion and she is severely dehydrated, but she will be fine. We are giving her an IV of liquids. With that and some rest, she should feel more herself in a couple of days. We are going to keep her overnight for observation, but she should be able to go home in the morning."
"Can we see her?"
"Of course. They are cleaning her up after the sonogram and will be moving her to room 447 on the fourth floor."
Angela asked, "What was the sonogram for? Did she injure something when she fell?"
The doctor replied, "No. We were just making sure that everything was fine with the baby. You may head up to 447 at any time."
With that, four sets of eyes blinked and stared at the retreating woman.
After she walked back through the set of double doors, they all looked at each other.
"What?", asked Angela.
"Baby?", repeated Jack.
"Did she say what I thought she said?" asked Cam.
The only one that didn't say anything was Booth. He just backed up and sat down on the nearest chair.
"Booth?" said Angela looking at him. "Did you know…?"
Shaking his head, he said, "No."
Looking at the shock on his face, Angie announced quietly, "You're the father… aren't you?"
Clearing his throat and looking at his friends, he shook his head, "Yea."
More shock was now on Cam's face. "Wha….? When?"
"Cam, we didn't tell anyone about our relationship because…."
"But you didn't know about the baby?"
"No."
"Where have you been, man?" asked Jack.
"I can't tell you."
Angela said, "OK. You can pull that 'can't tell FBI stuff' with us, big guy; but you're going to have to do better than that with Bren. You need to tell her whatever you did and why you were gone for so long. She was really worried ya know."
"Yea. I need to go talk to her. Listen. I know you guys brought her here and you're worried about her, too, but would you mind if I went up right now by myself? Can you give us some time?"
"Yes. Come on you two. Let's go. We'll come back later, Seeley", stated Cam.
"But…." countered Angela.
Jack jumped in, "Let's go eat. We'll be back later."
She didn't want to go, but she shook her head, "All right, we'll go. You go make this right."
Booth just shook his head.
"Give her a hug for me, please."
And with that, Booth watched the three of them head toward the exit. Taking a deep breath and rubbing the back of his head, he turned and headed toward the elevator.
A.N. Well, this chapter answered one question. I hope it didn't disappoint.