Jack was on his way to see Angela. He had a question that could definitely wait, but he had reached his limits for how much longer he could wait to see her today. Smiling to himself, he made the turn down the short hallway towards Brennan's office. Dr. Brennan was on vacation. Perhaps he could sneak up on Angela and surprise her with a light kiss on the back of her neck; it was one of her favorite spots to be kissed.

Jack grinned as he felt that familiar twinge in anticipation of the kiss. If you had told him a few months ago that he would be feeling like a teenager, (which he had never really felt like before – even as a teen!) he would have laughed. But Angela---God, Angela! He was the luckiest man on earth.

As he approached Dr. Brennan's office, he heard her phone ring and saw Angela move to answer it.

"Sweet!" Jack whispered. She'd be distracted and he could totally sneak up on her. He moved through the doorway and into the office, Angela's back towards him. He drew nearer, quietly reaching towards her waist and saw her entire body language change. Frowning, he stopped and tuned in to what she was saying.

"Oh God---yes. Yes. I understand. Is it that serious?"

Jack gave up on any surprise attempts and came around to stand next to her. When he touched her shoulder, she looked up at him with two unshed tears hovering in her eyes.

"Okay. We'll be there as soon as possible." Angela hung up the phone and faced away from Jack.

"Ange? Honey, what is it?" Jack was concerned now---worried. He reached out to her.

Angela turned around just as the two tears she had been holding onto coursed down her face.

"Angela?"

"It's Tempe," Angela started and, saying her name made her start to cry.

"What? What's happened? Angela, tell me!"

"She---she's in the hospital. Someone beat her---pretty badly," Angela started.

"What? Wait---"

"Jack, she's in a coma with internal bleeding. They don't even know if---if---she's going to make it," Angela finished, falling into Jack's arms.

"What? How? I don't understand!" Jack was angry, confused, and---quite frankly--- in total disbelief.

"The last time I spoke to her, she told me she was 'looking in to something'. I tried to ask, but she blew me off. Jack I have to go to her."

"We have to go. I'm not letting you go by yourself."

Angela nodded and pulled away. "Oh, God---I have to tell Booth."

o/o

FBI Agent Seeley Booth was mad, frustrated, and annoyed. He was mad because his superiors had foisted a rookie on him to take through the ropes on a new case. He was frustrated because the new case happened to be a murder investigation and every time Booth turned around, he felt like he was tripping over the guy. He was vastly annoyed at Bones because she was on vacation and this current investigation was right up her alley.

"No! Marcus---don'ttouch that! Just---just stand to the side for a minute, okay?" Seeley quietly swore for at least the 30th time that day as the rookie agent stepped away from the crime scene. How dare Bones go on a vacation any way? He was sorely tempted to call her cell, but he knew she was out on Cape Cod, poking around some Native American site. She probably had no cell service. Booth pulled out his own cell, seriously considering calling her when, as if on cue, his phone rang. The number, curiously enough, was Bones' office.

"Booth," he answered, distractedly looking over to see what Marcus was doing. When he didn't hear anything right away, he frowned. "Yeah---hello? Bones, is that you?"

"Seeley? It's Angela."

He frowned. She had never called him by his first name. Hell, she had never called him. His gut tightened a bit. Something wasn't right.

"Yeah, Angela---what's up?"

There was a pause long enough to cause Booth to think the call might have been dropped. Then, very quietly, he heard Angela say something.

"Wait a second, Angela. I can't hear you." Booth took several steps away from the crime scene and put his hand up to block his other ear.

"Okay---go ahead, Angela."

"Seeley, there's been an accident. Temperance is in the hospital."

He could tell from her voice that something was very wrong. "What? Why? What happened? Where is she?"

"She's in Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis. There was some kind of an assault…," here Angela's voice broke.

Booth felt his control on reality slowly begin to slip. "What do you mean, 'an assault'? How badly is she hurt?"

There was another pause and this time Jack Hodgins' voice answered his question. "Booth, it's Hodgins. We don't know any of the details. All we know is she's in the hospital in a coma. She's got broken bones and some internal bleeding. Angela and I are leaving in 20 minutes."

"Make it 15 and I'll pick you up," Booth replied, closing his phone. He was working on automatic pilot right now---not allowing himself to think about everything he had just heard. He couldn't afford that---not yet.

He made one quick phone call, pulling in a favor he had coming to him, and---after giving Marcus some easy paperwork to do, left the site.

Once in his SUV, he gripped the steering wheel tightly and allowed a little of what he had just heard to slip into his mind. Bones was in the hospital. It sounded bad, but he knew some people tended to over-react in situations like this. He also knew, however, that Angela was not one of those people. Broken bones. Internal bleeding. In a coma. In a coma! Assault.

Booth bit the side of his cheek, hard. He could not allow himself to feel anything. He had to go into full FBI mode; it was the only way he could stay objective enough to function. Turning down the road which would lead him to the Jeffersonian, his mind slipped slightly towards what he would see once they got to the hospital. Bruises. Blood.

"No!" Booth whispered through clenched teeth. He swallowed hard and forced himself to concentrate on what few details he knew. Bones had gone to Cape Cod for a "working vacation". She was there to help with the identification of some extremely old remains found at the site of a Native American excavation somewhere near the salt marshes of Sandwich. She'd been there for six days at this point. He hadn't heard from her since the Friday before she had left and needed to know if she had checked in with anyone else. She'd only been gone for six days---what kind of mess could she have possibly gotten herself into in six days? Booth grunted in slight amusement. This was Bones he was thinking about. Six days might as well be an eternity.

o/o

"Angela, Booth's here," Jack called as he saw the black SUV pull up near the side door to their branch of the Jeffersonian.

Moments later, Angela appeared with Cam and Zach following behind. Zach looked more subdued than normal and Cam was clutching two file folders. Angela was talking to her as they were joined by Hodgins and walked out the door.

Angela looked up at the sound of the car door shutting and watched Booth as he came around to greet them.

"We ready?" Booth asked by way of greeting.

Jack nodded and opened the back hatch of the SUV in order to throw his and Angela's bags in. Working with Dr. Brennan had taught them early on to keep emergency overnight bags packed and ready in the office.

"Here, I pulled these in case there's something in them that can help you," Cam handed the folders to Booth. "These are the most current files she'd been dealing with just prior to leaving."

Booth nodded in acknowledgment and turned to go, but Cam's hand on his arm stopped him. "Seeley---she's a strong woman. You know that. She'll pull through."

Booth looked at Cam, his eyes hard and his mouth a thin, tight line. He nodded once and got back in his vehicle.

Cam turned to Angela as Jack got in the SUV. "You need anything, you know where to call, right?"

Angela nodded and looked at Zach. He looked lost and hurt---like a puppy. "Hey, we'll have her up and sending you skull fragments in no time."

Zach swallowed and nodded. He didn't trust himself to say anything. Angela smiled gently at him and then joined Booth and Hodgins.