Chapter 1

The Reality in the Dream

OR

Oops... I Did It Again

A/N: I've just been informed by two kind readers that I posted the chapter twice. Oops I did it again, indeed. I apologise. Enjoy!

There was a dull pounding, a persistent beeping, a slight whir and buzzing noise… hospital sounds. Booth had been here too many times not to know by now. And he'd been having the most perfect dream, and it seemed so real and… Oh God, not again…

'Booth?'

But now he had to open his eyes, if only to see her. He didn't care if he was still in a dream. He had to wake up to her.

Bones was leaning over him, looking more beautiful than his imagination had a right to conjure up, and she was leaning… closer… to kiss him?

'Bones, I'm not in heaven, am I?'

Temperance felt like she could breathe again, a fear she wouldn't have allowed suddenly leaving her. Bones. Bones. He'd called her Bones. Not 'who are you?' Bones.

Lips pressed against his and Booth knew he wasn't dreaming- he instinctively knew nothing had ever felt that perfect. Or that real. Only Bones. Oh, god. In this reality, Bones kissed him. And how. He responded helplessly, passionately, his fingers threading through her hair, pressing her closer, unthinkingly, feelingly. He didn't know how to not kiss her, it was programmed into his mechanism- she kissed him, he'd kiss her back. He didn't know how to do anything else, and if she'd ever tried it at any point in time, he'd still have done it, no question. When they finally couldn't breathe any longer and she pulled away, his eyes remained closed a moment.

'Oh God. Wow.' He opened his eyes, but she was still there. Thank God. He couldn't remember ever being this happy. He was just so happy. She made him so happy. 'We're actually married this time, aren't we?'

She nodded, a wide smile on her face.

'You're actually here?'

She nodded again, the smile getting impossibly wider.

'I'm not dreaming?'

She laughed. 'No, Booth.'

'God, I've missed you.'

'I've missed you, too'.

'Mm. Kiss me again.'

'Booth…' she complied anyway. When they pulled apart, they were both breathless.

'Booth…' she tried another half-hearted warning but he was already kissing her again- and she'd met him halfway so she really couldn't tell him off.

'Yeah.' He rested his forehead against hers, still unable to believe he had a right to kiss her now. 'Bones?'

'Yes?'

'How long was I out?'

'About six days.'

'Six days, huh?'

He felt her nod. 'And seven hours and thirty-seven minutes.'

'And how long have you been here?'

'Seven hours and thirty-seven minutes. And six days.'

'Baby…'

'Don't worry, Max is babysitting. But I couldn't leave you.' She almost choked the last words, her steady tone cracking with her strong demeanour, and he was overwhelmed by the trust and vulnerability she was showing him. 'I was so worried, Booth', He opened his eyes to meet hers, and his heart skipped a beat.

'I'm OK now, alright? I'm OK.' He had to make sure she understood. 'I'm here. And I'm not going anywhere.' He pressed on her hand for emphasis. 'I'm sorry you had to go through that, baby.'

'It's not your fault', she gave him a watery smile.

'I know, but I'm still sorry.'

And that's when the shit hit the fan.

'So did we catch the perp?'

'Yes', she said, but the pride in her voice was overtaken by anger. 'But you still got hurt.'

'Yeah, but I feel like 100% now.' Mostly. Booth intertwined rested his head against the pillows. Bones was the best pain-killer. 'Where did I get shot, anyhow?'

Her eyes widened. 'You- you didn't get shot, Booth. You fell. He knocked you out with a tire iron after you shot him, and you fell.' She paused. 'Don't you remember?'

No. No he didn't.

Just then the doctor came rushing in, a nurse at his heels.

'Agent Booth, you're awake', he nodded summarily at the patient before efficiently getting down to work, checking his monitors and the like. As he worked, Brennan apprised him of the situation, but aside from a short nod to convey that he had heard her, he didn't seemed too alarmed about the memory loss. He was done with his task at the monitors quickly. 'Your heartrate monitor showed some strange signs a while ago. It must have been the shock at hearing the news.' Stretching out his hand, he introduced himself. 'Agent Booth, I'm your doctor, Jack Stetson.' Booth shook his hand numbly, still a bit dazed. He was beginning to feel the pain returning. Everywhere. 'So you say you that there are gaps in your memory, correct? No reason to be alarmed, you've just undergone a major surgery, some confusion is normal.'

Booth nodded.

'Yes, we'd just established that when you came in', Brennan replied.

'You are aware of where you are, and who you are-' he gestured to Brennan- 'and who your wife is?'

'Yes.'

'So you remember marrying her?'

He glanced to Bones but then he couldn't bear to look at her as he spoke.

'N-I..' oh God. 'I just knew she was min- she was my wife.' Images... white... garden... lab... no, church... fire... sunlight. White. Happiness... He was so confused. Helplessly, his eyes moved to her again. She looked like she wasn't breathing.

'Alright', Dr. Stetson accepted this with a short pause to scribble on his notepad. 'So you are aware of certain details but there are other things that are missing.'

Booth shrugged, feeling a bit lost and extremely helpless as he watched Bones and could almost see her shutting down. He reached for her hand and she took a deep breath as if she hadn't in a while, and relaxed visibly. He felt more prepared for the next round of questions that came at him.

'Do you know what day of the week it is?'

'No. Wait, I- I think I might have… I hit my head… Saturday. So Friday?'

'Very good, Mr. Booth. And what month are we in?'

'I'm not sure… November?'

'Correct. Year?'

Booth had gained confidence in going with his gut feelings by then. '2012.'

The doctor paused in consideration for a moment and then looked at Brennan, who released Booth's hand with a squeeze and moved to stand closer to talk with the doctor. 'You realised about the memory loss just before I came in, you say?'

'Yes.'

'That's odd. His heart monitor was showing unusual signs of activity a few minutes before that.' He tapped his chin thoughtfully. 'However, it would appear there is no cause for concern, so let's not worry about that now.'

The doctor kept talking but then realisation dawned and Brennan coloured.

'-could something have occurred that made you unduly nervous or agitated shortly after you woke up, perhaps being in a strange environemnt-?

Booth still remained confused, shaking his head.

'So you're saying there's something wrong with my heart?' His eyebrows shot up.

'No', both doctors replied at the same time. They glanced at each other, but Brennan continued.

'You asked me to kiss you', she replied quietly.

The doctor's eyebrows rose and he chuckled slightly. 'Ahh, well, that would do it.'

Booth didn't hear him because he was still staring at a blushing Brennan.

'So- oh.' Booth smirked. Bones. Always the teacher's pet, assigning the blame so she was completely innocent of it. She'd been a more than willing participant, but he'd asked her to kiss him.

'I did, did I?'

'Yes, you did.' Despite having the audacity to play at being obliviously literal, Brennan had the grace to blush still more deeply. He was enjoying this thoroughly. Then her eyes widened in panicked realisation.

'Unless- Booth, you do remember-'

He took a moment to catch on, sluggish as he was feeling. 'Ofcourse I remember kissing you, Bones. I was right here. God.' Then the realisation of how serious the situation was struck again. He took her hand. She was obviously worried and frightened. Curiously, he wasn't, atleast not as much- he remembered things, he just didn't remember everything. He remembered parts... just not the whole. That would come. With time, he'd learn. He'd get it all back. If he had Bones by his side, he could do anything.

'Hey, we'll get through this, right?'

'Ofcourse we will, Booth', she replied, as if there could be no other possibility.

For the first time since they'd discovered the memory loss, he smiled at her, and she smiled back. And for the first time of many, Dr. Stetson discovered how it felt to be completely forgotten altogether when these two were in the same room.

'Because you and me, we're the centre- right?'

'And the centre must hold.'

A/N: Please review? I promise another update by the end of the day if you do. This is most likely going to be a quick four-shot, my first foray into M fanliterature. Any comments would be much appreciated.