The sound of steady beeping was the first thing that woke you up. Peeling your eyes open you were met with the bright lights of hospital lighting, and the smell of anesthetic. "Welcome back," You turned your head to be met with a smiling familiar face of Booth. "How are you feeling?"
"Dizzy." You remarked sitting up with the help of Booth. You noticed the room was filled with balloons, flowers, and even a huge teddy bear, this made you smile. "What are you doing here?"
"I sent your sister home to get a shower, she's been here ever since we found you." He said grabbing your hand.
"How did you find me?" You croaked out, making Booth pour you a glass of water which he handed to you. "Thanks."
"It was thanks to you. Your gps coordinates, and especially your ink marker. Everyone was thoroughly impressed." He said. "And it was Aubrey who found you, dug your out with his hands and opened the coffin and pulled you out. Kid was a mess."
Your heart pounded in your chest, but your head started to bring back the negative thoughts. "Why should I care?" You asked looking away from Booth.
He was silent, but that just told you he was thinking. "Why is it so hard for you to accept his apology? I know he is sorry about kissing that girl, and that you are the only girl he wishes to kiss, so why can't you see it?"
Now it was your time to be silent as you thought. "How long did it take Tempy to realize that you were thought she was the only one you loved?" You questioned. "Growing up in foster care, Temperance and I learned to never truly trust anyone who says they love us, but they will just end up trading you in later for someone better."
"You really think Aubrey is that kind of man?" Booth asked sounding a bit harsh.
"I don't know what to think because I have never had someone care about me so much before other than Tempy, you, and my friends at the Jeffersonian, so it's kind of hard letting me let anyone else in, you can't blame me!" Tears filled your eyes, and you would have stormed off, but you were pretty immobilized at the moment. "Closing myself off to people is one of the only things left that protects me from the world."
Booth didn't have time to respond because Bones and the others came in. "Y/N!" Bones exclaimed rushing over to your bedside. "You're awake! Booth why didn't you call?"
"She just woke up a few minutes ago." He defended.
"I'm fine, Tempy." You said forcing a smile, and you looked to your friends; Cam, Hodgins, and Angela, and they even brought Christine and Michael Vincent. "Thanks for finding me."
"You did all the work." Hodgins said. "We just followed your clues."
You blushed. "Just using what you taught and gave me. Those gold coins came in handy, so did the stethoscope."
"I know, we saw your handy work." Cam smiled sweetly.
Angela, who was close to tears hugged Michael Vincent close to her. "We're just so glad you're okay."
"Me too." There was a long pause, and you knew everyone was worried about you, so you decided to crack a joke. "So how much was I worth?"
"What?" Some of them chorused together.
"My ransom, I mean I hope I was at least a 100,000 dollars." You smirked.
Most of them gave you a deadpanned look. "2 million." Bones responded. That made you nod putting the room in silence again.
*****
After a few days, the hospital released you, and this was the first time since you woke up that you were alone. During your time on bed rest, you had a constant flow of visitors, all except Aubrey. This pleased and upset you at the same time, so you ended up spending you next few weeks locked up in your apartment watching romance movies, which ended up making you cry.
After watching a Nicholas Sparks movie, you were feeling especially vulnerable, and you walked to your balcony, where you got some fresh air. You stood there until there was a knock on your door. Looking at your watch, you saw it was late at night, making you wonder who it was.
You reached the door, and opened it up to be face to face with Aubrey. You froze seeing his face. "Aubrey?" You whispered. "What are you doing here?"
His face was exceptionally serious at the moment, unlike his usual playful smile. "Can I come in?" He asked.
"Uh," You said not really sure what you wanted. "I guess." You let him pass as you closed the door. "You want something to drink?"
"I'm fine." He said walking into you living room, but not taking a seat. Usual man of action stance, but when you came in and sat down on your chair and curled your legs up to your chest, he took a seat on the couch. "How are you? Booth tells me you're recovering nicely."
"Yeah, I'm fine." The small talk was a little unnerving. "Just a shock burn from the stun gun, and oxygen derivation. Nothing I can't recover from."
"That's good." He said wringing his hands together.
There was a long silence, and you asked the question that was nagging your mind. "Why are you here, Aubrey?" You asked a bit harshly.
He sighed, and leaned forward. "I came here to apologize." He said.
"You've already apologized." You reminded. "Before I got kidnapped."
"I'm apologizing for the way I apologized." You cocked your head like a confused puppy. "I handled things poorly, and I'm sorry I forgot to take in... other variables, such as your past, and how it shaped your personality."
"Did you talk to Booth?" You grumbled, you hated having other people talk about you.
"It was actually Dr. Brennan that spoke to me." He said. "She explained about how rarely you open up to others and trust them, and when you do and someone breaks that trust, well... Y/N, you have to know, I didn't want to do anything that would hurt you. Not stopping that girl from kissing me was the biggest mistake I have ever made, and I make mistakes all the time." There was his joking personality. "You have to know how truly sorry I am, and how I will do anything to make it up to you."
As he finished his speech, you knew you were going to start crying once more, so you got up and walked to your balcony where the wind could hopefully dry away any rouge tears before he saw, but unfortunately Aubrey followed, and looked over at you. "Y/N?" He asked.
"Why do you like me?" You asked in a shaky voice. "Why put up with me and my issues even though I push you away?"
Right away he answered. "Because you are everything I need in this world, and because I love you, Y/N." Now you let the tears flow, and Aubrey reached out his hand you your face, and when you didn't back away, he wiped away your tears. You stepped into his arms as he held you close to his body. "I will always love you."
You pulled back and looked into his eyes, and saw complete love and protection in them. As if on instinct, you grabbed his collar and leaned up and pressed your lips against his. The first millisecond, you could tell he was shocked, but he quickly recovered and wrapped his arms around your waist and started to kiss back passionately.
Both of you stood there kissing, until after awhile you rested your foreheads against each other. "I love you too." You whispered with a smile.
