9-17-07

Arrested

Seeley Booth was dreaming. He dreamt that he and Madeline Madison, his partner, were arresting an arsonist in an office supply warehouse in Las Vegas. Maddy was yelling at him because his phone was ringing, and it was breaking her concentration. In his subconscious, it seemed as though the ringing had deafened the dream and he was now drifting awake. But the ringing was still going. It took until the fourth ring for Seeley to open his eyes and realize that his cell phone was actually blaring at him in real life. He fumbled around his nightstand, trying to locate it in the dark.

"Booth." He half groaned into it. Someone was crying on the other end. This forced him to sit up and feign alertness. Switching on his lamp, he spoke again. "Maddy, is that you?"

After a moment the caller answered. "No, it's me, Lynne."

"Lynne, what's going on?" Worry was beginning to flood him. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. It's not me that I'm calling about." Lynne's voice wavered. "It's Maddy."

He was instantly wide awake. "What happened to her?"

Now she started sobbing so hard he could only catch the words "police station" and "arrested".

"Lynne, you need to calm down. I can't understand you when you're crying this hard. Take a deep breath and start over."

A few seconds later, Lynne responded in a shaky voice. "Maddy was just arrested for assault and attempted murder. She called me from the police station and told me to call you, since she only got one phone call."

"What the Hell?" Seeley practically shouted into the phone. "Who the Hell would she attempt to murder?"

Lynne let out a deep sigh, knowing that Seeley was not going to like the answer. "Jason Zecker."

A deep scowl formed on Seeley's face. Jason Zecker, Maddy's latest boyfriend. Well, ex-boyfriend as of last week. She had broken up with him after she caught him cheating on her. He said some pretty nasty things to her when she did it, threats of getting back at her among them. Seeley had hated him before that though. Although, Seeley hated all of Maddy's boyfriends for a not so discreet reason.

"He framed her." Seeley decided immediately.

"Duh!" Lynne scoffed. "And you need to go fix it!"

Running a hand through his hair, Seeley starting grabbing pieces of clothing in an attempt to form a suitable outfit. "What do we know? Anything?"

"Nothing." Lynne replied, dejectedly. "Maddy is being accused of arrested murder, it's not like they're going to be courteous enough to give a lot of phone time!"

Seeley's mind raced. This was insane. How could anyone suspect Maddy was capable of murder, or even jaywalking, for that matter? "I'm coming to pick you up. We'll figure something out. Just let me finish getting dressed."

"Hurry! Maddy's all alone in there." Lynne told him.

"She's tough, I'm sure she's ok. She'll hold up until we're there. So stay calm until I get there." He was about to hang up, when Lynne began to say one last thing.'

"Booth."

"Yeah?"

"We can't let her go to jail. She's Maddy…she wouldn't last a week in there."

After a pause he answered. "I know."

Hanging up the phone, Seeley pulled on a plain black t-shirt with his dark jeans. He was going for a forceful, in control look. Lynne was right, he had to get her out of there.

Seeley thought there had never been more traffic at one am before. Why were there so many people out driving at this time of night?

As he sat in front of an unbelievably long traffic light, he tried to grasp what was going on. Jason was a bastard. Was he really so mad about his and Maddy's breakup that he would try to send her to jail for it? That thought stopped Seeley cold. His mind recalled a conversation that he had had with Maddy one night several months ago when they were stuck in the car on the way back from an out of state crime scene. They had been talking about fears. Well, first they had been playing a twenty questions game.

"Your turn." Seeley stated.

Maddy thought for a moment and then asked, "What's your biggest fear?"

"I'd have to say, losing people who are close to me. That and exploding refrigerators." He replied, referring to the time when he had opened Maddy's refrigerator which had had a bomb placed in it, which was meant for her.

She stuck her tongue out at him.

"What's your's?"

"I've got a fair amount of fears, more than I'd like to admit. But my biggest one is probably being alone."

"What are the next two biggest ones?"

"Probably going to jail and losing a loved one, like you said."

There it was. Going to jail. Swearing loudly, Seeley turned the corner sharply as soon as the light changed. He couldn't let her go to jail. He absolutely, without a single doubt, could not let Maddy go to jail. She had confided in him and he would be letting her down in one of the largest ways if he let this fear become reality.

To be continued…..