Addicted

"Booth? Booth, can you hear me? BOOTH-! Please wake up!"

As he walked toward the round table, he only had eyes for her. The band had started an easy, soft song, one that he knew very well. One that symbolised the both of them. Angela caught his eye, and she smiled, tapping on her neighbour's shoulder and then pointing toward him. He smiled as the woman he loved turned her head toward him, her eyes finding him among the crowd. She seemed to question what he was doing, as he gave her the signal for her to come toward him. She looked back to Angela and Hodgins, but it was Angela who ushered her on.

"Have I told you how good, it feels to me..?

"When I'm in you…?"

As she got up to walk over to him, he saw her dress, clinging to her, in silky swaths of light blue, bringing out the red of her hair and her pale skin. He held out his hand to her, ready for her questions as to why they were doing this, but he wanted to answer later. For now, this was just perfect. This was how it was meant to be.

"BOOTH? Did you hear that? Angela said-"

He touched her fingers, tenderly, trailing little flames up her arms, before he reached for her waist, and gently pulled her closer to him. She seemed to go with it, her eyes wide with surprise. She was going to say he was a little drunk, but he was perfectly sober. Sober enough to see her in all of her glory. She was beautiful up this close. He could hear the lead up on the stage begin to sing again:

"If I close my eyes forever,

Would it ease the pain: Could I breathe again?"

He began to rock the two of them, and Bones started to follow his lead. They were close, close enough to feel each other's heartbeats. A rush of colour went to Bones' cheeks, and he could feel her warmth radiate from her chest. She looked away, but this was not a moment for shyness to take over. He wanted her to look at him, and to take in this moment, this one second. For he didn't know if he'd have the courage to do it again, like this.

"I'm scared, Booth. Please don't leave me like this… I don't know what I'd do without you." The sound of heart wrenching cries and the feeling of a weight on his chest were all that tied him to here. What had happened?

He touched her chin, which seemed to find interest in the floor below, and pulled it toward him. 'Please look at me,' his eyes seemed to say. He started to twirl her around the dance floor, taking in the effect her dress, and her sparkling skin seemed to have on the people watching. Her dress billowed around him, around her, almost cloaking the two of them in the different shades of blue. Yes, he thought, this moment is all ours. She drifted out of his reach, but he strode to her in order to catch her, worried for a second that she wouldn't stop spinning.

He grabbed her waist, and brought him close to her again. When he saw her face, he burst out laughing, and she did as well. They crumbled into each other for what they'd done, unable to keep a straight face. The tension broke between them, and he could feel her become easy again, more relaxed in his arms. They resumed their composures, and started out again.

"When you're lying next to me,

Love is flowing through to me,

Oh, it's beautiful."

He closed his eyes, and placed his forehead on hers, glad for this, and happy for the one second in time he got in order to stay with her. She didn't let go of him, and didn't break away from him. She stayed where she was, like she always did, through thick and thin.

"Everything is clear to me,

Then I hit reality, and…"

"I lose it all, I lose it all… I lose it all," he murmured into her ear, the whisper caressing her hair. She jolted from it, from shock or pleasure, he didn't know. The beautiful second broke between them, and all he seemed to have left in him were a few tears, which he resolved would not fall until much later in the night. The breath was taken from him, and he was about to let go of her, when she held tightly to him. The one thing he wanted so badly, he was not allowed to gain. She said so herself. Months ago.

As the band was about to play into the last verse, there was a scream, followed by another, and finally the whole room was in uproar. He turned around, wondering what could have happened while he was away in his sweet cocoon of bliss. He saw the guns, saw the black clad men, saw the people around him crowding toward the exits, which he fervently knew were blocked. Beside him, Bones started and saw what was happening. She didn't move away from him.

Without a second's hesitation, he pulled out his handgun, and then time seemed to slow down. He started to hear the shots, and he didn't know where they were coming from, for they weren't from his gun. He shot at the first gunman easily, and then turned gracefully toward the next one and shot him, before grabbing Bones, and ducking the both of them out of harm's way. He heard one, two, three, four other shots, and more screams, and hoped the other squints were alright. Bones remained motionless, as he got up and raised his gun to the next shooter, who had his back to him. The kid didn't even know what hit him. He came to realise they were all kids, who didn't have much experience in the way of a gun. He shot away, until he had five of them down, but he could still hear more screams coming from the exit ahead of him, just beyond the table in front of him.

There were swarms of women and men trying to unblock the exit. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another man, dressed in a black tuxedo, reach into his jacket pocket, and pull out a switch. As quick as lightning, he aimed in his direction, and shot straight at his head, and shot again, until he was dead on the ground at least twenty feet away from him.

That was when he heard Bones scream, and his heart throbbed. He turned, as she shouted-

"BOOTH!"

BANG…

BANG…

BANG…!

The sounds of cries, and the feel of a weight on his chest, woke him up. He could feel something wet patter on his face, and he realised it was raining. Funny, he thought, why was it raining inside the building? Then it dawned on him. He was outside, and he was dead cold. A sleepiness took over his body, and he felt himself drifting off, when he felt the weight on his chest move.

"Booth! Please, stay awake, don't close your eyes again!" Bones? Why was she crying? Were they not on the dance floor anymore? Oh, yes, they were outside... And you couldn't dance out in the rain. Yes, he was laughing with her a few minutes ago, and-

"Bones?" he voice was slurred. Why did his voice sound so slurred? He wasn't drinking. At least, he didn't drink that much, enough to make him this drunk. He opened his eyes, and found them too heavy to keep open. When he saw her tear stained face, he began to worry. He wanted to say that it was alright, he must have had too much to drink… Jesus, did he collapse or something? Why was he lying on the ground? He must have groaned as he looked around him, confused and a little scared, because Bones put a gentle hand on his chest, and held him down.

"Oh God," she uttered, before putting her arms around him. Then he felt the pain in his chest. It spread to his stomach, his arms, and legs. And he groaned again, but this time he was sure of why: this pain was bordering on unbearable, fast. He jolted when she let him go too quick, and he felt himself falling back toward the ground, when she caught him, and held him close to her. He couldn't move his arms, or any part of his body for that matter. Her shaking made him want to reach out to her, and he tried, but failed.

"Bones..." He whispered, trying not to sound like he was dying. She clung to him tightly.

"Booth, it's okay, please don't leave me, please, I don't want you to go..." Her tears mixed with the patter of rain, and he caught sight of the blood, and saw how much of it there was covering his once white shirt. It was so red. He gasped against the onslaught of pain, and felt like curling into a ball. "Booth…" He couldn't hear anything, only her, and his fast breathing. He couldn't recall how he got here, and didn't know if he was responsible for all of this. He just wanted the pain to recede, to disappear completely and utterly from his existence.

There was the faint echoes of a song playing through his mind, and he felt a familiar tugging at his memory, like he should have recalled what he'd lost, but other than the whisper of;

"I'm not afraid of dying,

But I am afraid of losing you."

"Bones," he muttered again.

"Angela!" he heard her cry. Angela… The name sounded familiar too… "Angela, please help!" He felt the heaviness settle in again, and was about to fall asleep against this warm angel dressed in blue, but he felt himself being shaken, and he groaned again as he came back to where he was. "Don't you dare die on me, Seeley Booth!" He could hear other voices, a females', high and squeaky, and a males', calm and seemingly firm. What they were saying, he did not know. He took in another breath, and let it out shakily.

God, it hurt to breathe. His hand, motionless and cold, was taking in by a warm and rough set of hands. Someone was feeling his pulse. Bones, saying, "I called the ambulance, but…" There was no sound of horns blaring, and if there was, well then, where were they?

"Pulse… low... Can't feel anything, need to…" Why was he hearing in one and two syllables? What was happening? He drifted off into nothing, knowing there was no stopping the inevitable. "Bones," he felt tired, so tired. His breathing… Running out of air...

Cold… Hurt… Lifeless…

Images rushed before his closed lids: Bones, the... squints? They were smiling, a range of different people, all happy and calling out to him… His son, running toward him, the echo of laughter filling his ears…

He was holding someone in his arms, dancing with them, and twirling them around a dance floor. They were laughing at something they done, and something about losing it all… He knew that Bones was there, only she could make him feel alive like that, all the vivid colours that made up who they were when they were together clashed and sang harmoniously.

He took a deep breath, and gasped out again for air. Everyone around him, in the real world called out his name, and he hung on for dear life. He wanted to stay alive. He felt Bones' hand reach out and touch his cheek and he opened his eyes. "Booth," she cried.

"Bones," he replied, "…Love you..."

"Love you too, Booth," she replied. He was shaking from trying to stay here, trying not to go on. "Booth, you can do this, so stay alive. You'll be aright, I promise," he could tell she was crying still, but her voice remained firm. She was trying to be strong for the both of them.

He was going to have to hold on. He was going to have to try. Heaven would have to wait for him still. His guardian angel tied him to the one place he could still call home, with her, and the rest of the squint family.

"Baby I'm Addicted,

Don't wanna lose it all,

Baby I'm a liar,

But all I really know is you're the only reason I'm trying"