Page 2 of Booth

“I’m going to make myself take a hotel room or sleep in the room with you.I can’t burn the candle at both ends anymore.That’s dangerous too.”He laughed a little.“I can’t believe that I slept around the clock.I was at the first hotel for eight hours, drove home, and slept for another seventeen hours.We need to get you home so that I can sleep in one place and not wake up wondering where I am all the time.”

“See?You’re going to have an accident, and I won’t be able to see you when I get home.If we have a home.”He told her how he was going to make sure that there was plenty of room for her chair when she got to the apartment.“Your dad said we could live in the big house, there are bedrooms on the lower floors that we could use.”

“That might be the way to go.I never thought of that.But I’ve made arrangements to go and see these two houses with Bonnie, and we’ll chat.For all we know, a better house is out there other thanthe Lancaster home.”She told him that she hoped so.“I do as well.I feel better now than I have in a long time.Nothing on you, it’s all my fault for not going to bed at a decent hour when I get home.I’m forever reading this or that so I can get things ready for when you get home to me.”

“I want to get home, too.”She sniffled just a little.“Cullen was so sweet in going to your place to find out if you were all right for me.He said that he tried to wake you but couldn’t get you to move at all.You must have made him a little nervous, too, as he went to check on you a couple more times while you were out.”

“I’m still in awe that I slept that long.I really must have needed it.”She said she was glad that he’d gotten some rest, but not to do that again.“I won’t.I’m going to take better care of myself from now on.I really have been being stupid about my body, and that’s not good at all.My other half must have needed it as well.”

After getting off the phone with her, he realized how late it was.Getting things squared away with the boxes of things that had been delivered, he was suddenly tired again.Taking another shower, he went to bed at ten and set an alarm.He wasn’t nearly as tired, but he also didn’t want to sleep too late or he’d miss another day with Dee.

~*~

Dee was getting bored when the nurse came in to ask her if she needed anything.She didn’t, but did ask if there was anything that she could do.Anything.She’d even make calls if she had to, just for something to do.

“I don’t have anything for you to do, but I can get you a wheelchair, and you can travel around if you want.If you handle that well, I can even get you outdoors.The weather is really nice today, and you can hang out there for a little while.”She said that she’d love to feel the sun on her face.“Promise that you won’t walk around.Just stay in the chair so you don’t get hurt, and I’ll let you go out.”

“I won’t do anything I’m not supposed to.But getting out of here sounds like heaven.”After she got permission from the doctor for her to go out, she moved the chair around on the floor so she could prove she’d have no problems with it.At first, they were going to send a nurse out with her, but in the end, she was going out on her own.“Thank you so much.I can’t believe how excited I am for just a little bit of sunshine on my face.”

She had to pace herself in going out of doors.There wasn’t much to see, but since it was all different from her room, she enjoyed it to the max.Even when the breeze was a little chilly, she shivered and enjoyed that as well.Sitting off to the side so she’d not be in the way, Dee put her face up to the sunshine and enjoyed her afternoon more than she could have realized she would have.

It only took her about an hour to know that she had to go back in.She wasn’t in any pain, but tired.Rolling herself around was a lot more work than she thought it would be.Still, she had fun and would do it tomorrow if they would allow her to do that.She should have had Booth get her a cell phone so that she could have taken pictures for her trip and then called him.It was the only thing that would have made it better, and that was telling Booth how much fun she had had.

Going back to her room, she needed a little help getting into her bed.She thought about getting into the chair, but needed a nap more than anything.Once she was in bed, a fresh one as it turned out, she was able to set herself up so that she could not just take a nap but watch television if she wanted to.It was a good day today, and she was going to cherish it for a long time.At least until she was able to get home and have her own things around her.

When she woke up, Cullen was in the room with her.He’d been coming to see her once a week, and she enjoyed it.The two of them had been friends forever, and she loved still being able to see him when she was laid up.He was her best friend and would be until the end of time.The man was beyond kind to her, and she loved him more like a brother than anything else.

“I brought you some dinner.I talked to Booth.I didn’t realize how bad he was looking until I saw him today.He looks like he’s gotten enough sleep for a long time.”She told him how he was going to take better care of himself.“When I was in the service, I would go two or three days straight without sleep, and when I finally got some, I’d be laid out for days at a time.I know just how he felt.He told himthat he was going to bed by ten every night so he doesn’t make himself ill while trying to do everything at one time.”

They talked about houses, and he said how he was getting ready to do the same thing.Get him a house so he could get out of the apartment that he had.Cullen never was much on company, so she understood it more than most.

“Bonnie is going to help me as well as Falkner.I think between the two of us, we can find something to live in with our mates.Though I don’t believe there is one out there for me.She’d have to be pretty understanding to come to be with me.I’m still having nightmares.”She knew that he had them before getting out of the service, but didn’t know that he was still having them.She never asked him what they were about, thinking that they would give her nightmares as well, and told him as much.“And you’d be correct.I’ve been at this for too long, I think, and not that I can put myself in better positions to sleep, I think they’ll go away sooner rather than later.”

“I hope so.You’re too special of a person to be having nightmares like you are.I just know that of all the people I know, you’re the bravest man I’ve ever met.I mean it, too.You’re wonderful.”She saw his tanned face pink up just a little, and it made her smile.“You’re wonderful, Cullen.I hope everyone that you meet tells you that too.”

“I just hope that my mate is out there and she has a strong heart.I’ve been through some stuff, and I’m afraid that it’s ruined me for regular people and social settings.”He laughed.“Not that the service had anything to do with that, I don’t think.I’m a little socially inept anyway.I always have been.”

“I don’t believe that.You’re not a slob or a pig when you eat with me.Look.Your shirt is still nice and clean, and you don’t have anything in your mouth while you talk either.”They both laughed, and she could tell that he was needing to move again.To get out of the enclosed space of her room.“Will you still come to see me when I get back to Dresden with you?I hope that this isn’t the only time you come around.I’ll have to have one of the others beat you with a stick if you think I’m going to allow you to leave me alone.”

“I’ll see you more when you get back home.You’ve always been my best friend besides my brothers, and I don’t think that I could go that long again without seeing you.”She told him good, because she would miss him as well.“You know to tell me when you’ve had enough of me, right?I don’t want you just hanging around me because I’m your brother-in-law now.”

“Hey, I never thought of that.We’ll be related now.You have to come and see me more now that we’re related by marriage.Who would have thought that we’d ever be anything but friends?You saved me twice now.I owe you everything that I have with Booth.”He said that she only had to make him happy and that they’d be even.“I hope that I do make him as happy as he makes me.I love him so very much.And I love you so much, too, big brother.”

When he left her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek, she watched the news.There was a lot happening in the Columbus area, and she was glad that she didn’t live here.She wanted a place to be that was quiet and where everyone knew your business.Not that she wanted her neighbors to know their business, but it was better than she had it now with no friends or neighbors who would check up on her sometimes.

At ten o’clock, Booth called to tell her that he was headed to bed.They talked for a few minutes, her telling him that she’d been outside today and him telling her that he’d gotten things squared away with all the boxes that stuff came in.

“I opened them up to see what was in them, then taped them back closed, putting which room they went in on the box.That way, when we get to a house, we won’t have to figure out what goes where again.”She told him that it was a great idea.“Thank you, my dearest.There is plenty of room here now for you to get around, too.That’s what my main worry was about, how easy it was going to be for you to get in and out of rooms with your wheelchair.”

“I can walk a little now, too.I’m getting stronger daily.”He said that he knew that and could tell it more and more.“Good.I’d hate for all this work to go for nothing.I’ve been lifting weights, too, so that I can have some upper body strength when I have to wheel myself around as well.”

“You’re going to be just fine.And in the event that I’ve not told you recently, I love you very much too.”She thanked him and told him how much she loved him.“I’m going to go to bed now.I’ve physically worn myself out today with moving things around here and at the storage rental.I think that we should order the mattresses now so that when we get us a place to live, we can set up the bedrooms right away.What do you think?”

“I think that’s a wonderful idea.”The two of them spoke for a little while longer, and when they hung up, she felt as tired as Booth did.She was ready to be asleep by ten-thirty, too.

At eleven, the nurse came in to ask her if she needed anything before going off shift.No, she didn’t, but it was nice to know that they were still taking good care of her.Of course, when you had the president of the United States telling them you got the best of care, she figured that people listened.Laughing a little, she rolled over and closed her eyes.Sleep wasn’t far behind.

At three in the morning, she woke up needing to go to the bathroom.With some help, she was in and out again in less than half an hour.She hated that she still needed help with the smallest of things, but she was getting stronger daily and predicted that by the end of the month, still two weeks away, she’d be able to get herself around without any help.That’s what she wanted more than anything to be able to get herself in and out of bed without any help.

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