NEXT!

Here it is.

R&R

"All I'm saying, Bones is that there has to be a compromise in a relationship." Booth said, shoveling some fries into his mouth, "I understand that you don't want kids nor do you want to get married, but suppose you find a guy who you decide you want to spend the rest of your life with who does want those things. Are you really willing to sacrifice the relationship because either a piece of paper that proves your love or the fact that you refuse believe that you would make a good mother?"

Brennan scoffed, "First of all, there is no man that is worth giving up my values for, Booth. And there certainly isn't just one person with whom I can feasibly spend the rest of my life with; I'm sure that there are numerous candidates whom I could share a life with that wouldn't be opposed to a life with no marriage or children just like myself." She said stealing a fry from off of his plate and then lifting her coffee cup to her mouth.

Booth shook his head, "I'm talking about love, Bones. Not contentment. I'm sure there are plenty of men who you could make content and whom can make you content, but love isn't just contentment. It's happiness. It's excitement to go home at the end of the day because they are waiting for you. If you had that opportunity would you really give up on a relationship like that because their views on marriage and children are different than yours? Would you really risk loosing that person because you are unwilling to compromise for them?"

Brennan furrowed her eyebrows and took a sip of her coffee, "Love is just chemicals Booth. I wouldn't be any less or more the person that I am now just because of dopamine and nor epinephrine gave me the feeling of euphoria when I see said hypothetical 'love interest' to which you are referring."

Booth laughed wryly and shook his head in disbelief, "You're avoiding answering my question, Bones."

Brennan heaved her shoulders and sat back in her seat, "Would I compromise my beliefs to make someone I cared about happy? I don't know, Booth. I've never been put in the situation. I guess it would depend on who it was, if I trusted them enough to know that they wouldn't lea…" Brennan stopped suddenly and looked away from him, "There are a lot of other factors that would need to be considered in this kind of situation therefore I cannot answer your question properly using only a hypothetical example."

Booth exhaled loudly and his cell phone went off. Grabbing it off of the table quickly he flipped it open to find that there was a text message from Cam. He looked up at Brennan and smiled, "DNA is a match for Daniel Cooper. Let's go." He said standing up and dropping forty dollars on the table. Brennan stood as well and they both shrugged on their coats and made their way out of the diner and into the car.

"Dispatch 22705." He said into the radio.

"Dispatch." The voice returned.

"Send back up and local units to 1405 Jackson Street."

"Acknowledged 22705."

Booth put the radio back on the console and turned on the sirens, "Bones, I want you to be careful in there. This guy was a Navy Seal, so no funny business."

Brennan scoffed, "Well are you going to let me have a gun this time or do you just want me to be a crouching goose?" she inquired.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Booth couldn't help but laugh lightly, "Sitting duck, Bones. Sitting duck. I'll give you my ankle weapon when we get there." Booth said glancing over at her, "He probably knows that we're on our way by now and has either run, which I doubt, or he has himself armed and is waiting for us." He said.

Daniel Cooper was a twenty eight year old ex Navy Seal who was dishonorably discharged when he was accused and convicted of assault on a number of men in his platoon among other various sexual harassment claims for women on his base. Booth and Brennan had uncovered three sets of female remains that had been raped and beaten to death who turned out to be those women who had made complaints against him. The case was an open and shut, but apprehending this kind of suspect; one who was well connected to the FBI because of family relations and who also knew how to defend himself in hostile situations was always tough to deal with. If Booth had it his way, Brennan would be back at the lab right now because there was no need for her to be put in harms way. However, Temperance Brennan was not a woman to argue with when it came to potentially dangerous situations. Regardless of Booth's numerous attempts to keep her out of situations like this, she always managed to out argue and logic him into letting her come along, but this situation scared him more than most.

"Just promise me that you will stay back, Bones?" he asked.

Brennan looked over at him appraisingly and pulled her arms in closer to her body, "If the situation permits it." She said nodding.

Booth shook his head, "That is not the answer I was hoping to hear." He said, steering the car around a slow moving driver who refused to pull over to the side of the road.

"I'm afraid you're not going to get that answer." She said smugly. Booth sighed inwardly and kept his eyes on the road.

When they arrived at their location the back up had yet to arrive, but Booth had decided that they were going to go in anyway. The house was a small rundown duplex on the outskirts of town. The lawn was overgrown in some places and in others completely bare. Booth crouched down and removed the small black widow from his ankle holster and passed it to Brennan carefully. She grabbed the gun and held it firmly in her coat pocket as they approached the front door. Booth hopped up the front steps of the cement porch with Brennan right behind him. He opened the screen door and knocked forcefully on the door, but the door swung open after the first knock. Booth looked at Brennan warily before looking around at the foyer, "FBI." Booth called, "Daniel Cooper, I have a warrant for your arrest, please show yourself." He said stepping into the house, gun at the ready.

He rounded the corner into the living room and Brennan stood right behind him. Before she could even register what had happened, Booth was on the ground. He had been shot in his shoulder, his weapon scattered from his hand. Brennan pulled her gun from her pocket aiming it around the corner to find Daniel Cooper standing there with a twelve gauge shot gun in his hand. Keeping her gun on him, she crouched beside Booth desperately trying to keep pressure on the wound. She could hear the backup units pulling up outside. Cooper dropped the shotgun as the footsteps approached his front door.

Brennan lowered her weapon. Cooper grabbed her wrist, wrenching the gun from her hand and pulled her into his arms, aiming her own gun at her head. When the police entered, they too were armed and at the ready.

"You all leave now and the doll might live." Cooper said.

Brennan scoffed, "I'm not a doll." She said rolling her eyes.

One of the police officers went to aide the wounded Booth and called on his hand held radio for an ambulance. The officers maintained their positions, holding their guns firmly on Cooper, waiting for the right moment. Brennan was trying to think of what she could do.

"We're going to get you no matter what Cooper. This is only prolonging your arrest." She said.

Cooper tightened his headlock on her, "Shut up." He whispered into her ear menacingly.

Brennan gasped for breath, "It's either this, or these gentlemen end up shooting you to death. Your choice." She said.

Cooper took a moment to consider what she was saying, "You know what? You're right." He said, "But you're coming with me."

He forcefully pushed her to the side and raised his gun. At one moment, three shots rang out. Cooper stumbled and fell back onto a floral print couch. Blood flow ceasing, eyes steady and unmoving, and his last breath exhaled out of his body. Brennan watched as the man's life left his body. She turned to see Booth still lying on the ground being tended to by a police officer, but what grabbed her attention was the others staring at her. She blinked and looked down at her chest which was covered by her own hand. As she peeled her hand away from her chest, she found a massive amount of blood on her shirt. And then she didn't see anything.

* * *

She took in a deep breath and buried her face further into the sheets that smelled like home to her and then rolled onto her back and smiled. There was laughter coming from somewhere and the smell of breakfast wafting through the air. Eggs, she thought, scrambled eggs and toast.

Something was amiss. She opened her eyes and noticed that she was not in her bedroom, nor was she in the hospital. She had never seen this room before. The laughter became more prominent and she abruptly sat up and scurried out of the bed. There was men's clothing on the floor at the foot of the bed. A dress shirt and a pair of dress shoes as well as a plethora of her makeup scattered on one of the dressers and her brainy smurf and jasper sitting contentedly next to a framed picture of herself and Angela at last year's Jeffersonian Christmas Party.

She was utterly confused. Had she been abducted by Cooper? Was what she dreamed a hallucination due to being shot? That wouldn't make sense, she rationalized. She obviously wouldn't have been abducted and then placed into a beautifully decorated room, completely unbound if she were. She made her way over to the closet and opened up the door to reveal a 'his and hers' walk in closet filled with both 'his' and her own wardrobe.

"Oh, good. You're up." A voice said from behind her.