This is my first fic in a long time. Please read and review, everyone knows we love them!
The room was quiet. The only sound was the beeping of the monitor, reassuring her that the heart was still beating. She had never been so frightened. Not only had she almost lost her husband, now one of her best friends were surviving purely because of the machines surrounding them.
Doctors and nurses had come and gone. Checking vitals, administering medication. No one spoke to her, but she didn't care. She didn't trust her voice just then. All she could do was pray to a God she wasn't even sure she believed in.
Angela leaned forward, picking up the cold hand of the person lying in the bed opposite her.
"You're gonna get through this, Cam. You have to." She whispered, losing her fight with the tears that had been pooling since she first arrived at the hospital.
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Cam slammed her car door. Carrying her field bag in one hand, she made her way over to the reason she didn't have to go home to an empty house again. It had been months since Arastoo left, she should be used to it now. Yet every time she walked through her door, her heart broke a little. Even after all this time, she half convinced herself he would still be there.
Hodgins was already by the body, digging through the muck and bugs surrounding it. She put her bag down and knelt opposite him, assessing the situation before her. Dr Brennan was going to have a field day with these remains. She loved the weird ones. Cam, on the other hand, preferred the normal run if the mill dead body.
"What do we have, Doctor Hodgins?" She asked, pulling her gloves on.
"Dead guy," he replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Very observant," Cam retorted, dryly. "How do you know the victims a male?"
"Well, it's a 50/50 chance. I took a guess." Cam rolled her eyes at her friend, smiling a little at his quirky nature.
"Oh boy," Aubrey exclaimed as he approached them. "So, what do my beautiful-brained colleagues have for me tonight?"
"Might want to watch the way you talk about Cam's brain there, Aubrey. Wouldn't want her man overhearing," Hodgins joked, throwing Cam a cheeky grin. She lowered her eyes, keeping her face impassive. She knew who he was referring too, yet she couldn't stop her mind going to Arastoo.
"Uh-oh, the photojournalist?" Aubrey asked. Cam assumed Booth told him, there was no way she would have told the young agent herself. No matter how much she liked him.
"His name is Sebastian, and he's not my man," Cam stated, smiling slightly.
"That's not what the smile on your face is saying," Hodgins teased.
"The smile on my face is saying 'mind your own business'." Sebastian was really a sweet guy, but he wasn't Arastoo. He didn't make her heart jump out of her chest just by walking in the room.
"What about the victim's face?" Aubrey interrupted. "What's their face saying?"
Cam jumped at the change of subject. "Uh, not much. Looks like scavengers ate through most of it, but the height of the pinna and the length of the lobule suggests the victim was male in his mid-to-late 40s." Hodgins shot her a grin, she just shook her head.
"You got all that off half an ear?"
"I guess you can call me 'the ear whisperer'." Aubrey snorted a little at the quick-witted pathologist, noting down the information she gave him.
"Ooh, sorry to interrupt your clever turn of phrase there," Hodgins commented, "but something is not right underneath this guy's shirt. It's like he's sucking in his gut."
The three of them turned their attention to the flannel shirt on the victim. The shirt seemed to be dipping, Cam reached over to unbutton it, revealing a deep hole where stomach should have been.
Aubrey leant back, wrinkling his nose at the sight. "Okay, that does not look natural," he said, holding his breath.
"Ugh, wow. I'm gonna call the lab and tell them to prep the platform," Cam said, pulling out her phone.
"I'll do it," Aubrey jumped in. "I don't want to take you away from the lovely smell of disgusting death."
"You alright there, Aubrey?" Hodgins asked, the agent just nodded his head and turned away. His nose still scrunched trying to block the smell from the corpse. Hodgins grinned at Cam, who just shook her head smiling. She felt sorry for the guy, not everyone was as accustomed to this as they were. "According to this little maggot mosh-pit, this guy's been dead for two days."
"This is a high traffic area," Cam said. "People come in and out of this lot all day."
"Which means there's no way that this guy would go unnoticed for two entire days."
"Someone dropped him here. They wanted us to find this body." Cam had a bad feeling about this, she'd been in this game too long not to realise when something wasn't right.
She stood and looked round the lot, trying to find anything that might give them a clue why the murderer chose this spot, when she heard a phone ringing.
"Maybe that's them now," Hodgins said, pulling out a phone from the victim's chest. "That's weird. There's a wire attached to the…"
"Back!" Cam shouted. "Everybody back! Now!" Cops, agents and squints alike all ran and ducked for cover. Cam jumped over the body and grabbed Hodgins. She pushed him in front of her, with a strength she didn't even know she had. She took one more step and it was like the world exploded around her. She jumped on Hodgins, taking the brunt of the blast.
At first, she felt pain.
Then nothing.
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"Aubrey, what happened?" Brennan asked as she, Booth and Angela ran through the hospital doors.
"I don't know," the young agent said, standing. He was covered in sweat and dirt from where he hit the ground. "I just stepped away to make a call, and Hodgins and Cam, they were right there when the body blew up."
"Oh my God!" Angela put her hand to her mouth.
Aubrey turned to her. "The doctors won't tell me anything. I have no idea what's going on." He pleaded with her, willing her to understand why he didn't know what happened to her husband
"Just relax," Booth said, putting a hand on the young man's shoulder. "We're gonna get the answers when there's answers to give."
"Is anyone else hurt?" Brennan asked.
"Four dead so far, all cops, all pronounced dead at the scene," Aubrey replied. Bile rising in his mouth as he thought of those who lost their lives.
"No, I can't…" Angela chocked. "I can't do this. I have to… I have to find out what's going on. I'm gonna find the doctor." She turned to walk away but stopped dead in her tracks, tears filling her eyes as she saw Hodgins walk, gingerly, towards them. "Oh my god!" She almost cried as she ran to her husband.
"Hey, hey," he soothed "I'm okay, I'm okay. Just a big ball of sore, but nothing a little aspirin can't cure." Angela couldn't contain herself any more, she wrapped him in her arms. Careful not to hurt him but needing to touch him.
"How about Cam?" Booth asked, concern for his oldest friend etched all over his face.
"I saw them rushing her into surgery," Hodgins replied, pulling away from Angela to see the rest of them. "It didn't look good." He felt so helpless. "She pulled me out of the way," he told them. "She used her body as a shield to protect me. Cam saved my life."
"I think we should… I think we should go home," Angela said. "You should… you should get some rest." As much as she loved Cam, she needed to get her husband home.
Hodgins pulled away from her, as she tried to take hold of his arm. "No way, Angie, no. Not while that son of a bitch is still out there that did this." There was no way in hell he was going to go home to rest while Cam was fighting for her life, because of him.
"Hodgins is right," Booth said, as Angela opened her mouth to protest. "This guy just blew up a bunch of cops, put Cam in hospital. He's gonna pay for what he did."
"Well, then let's get to work," Aubrey spoke up.
"Ok everything goes through me, alright? I'm gonna take the lead on this case. Aubrey, I know this is your case, but…"
"No, I get it."
"Angie, you should stay here. Someone needs to be here for Cam," Hodgins said. He didn't want her around any of this, and they needed someone they trusted to watch over Cam.
"No, but I…" she tried to protest.
"Ang, I'm fine. Seriously. Cam needs you more than me right now." Angela didn't say anything, she didn't want to leave him, not now.
"Okay," she said softly. Giving into his determined face. Hodgins kissed her softly, trying to show her that he really was ok.
"Let's go," Brennan said as the couple parted. They left then and Angela turned with eyes burning, but she couldn't cry. She had to be strong; for Hodgins and for Cam.