Jims haunted eyes locked with his before he turned his back and strode off. He wants to follow, to comfort but there really are no words to soothe the gut wrenching agony the other man must be in. He follows anyway.
He finds him standing stoically staring at the mesmerising landscape, lost in the memories he dearly wishes could be classed as distant, he wonders if there looking at the same thing,, because really the only word to describe the view is beautiful, but he really doubts his friend sees it that way.
He wonders if he can see the apple green grass, the mass of brightly coloured flowers that seem to stretch on forever or whether the only sight that shows itself to Jim is of a scorched barren field littered with the broken bodies of people he once knew, once called friends.
He wonders if he can hear the distant echo of laughter and conversation drifting from the people he can no longer bear to be around, or whether the only sound ringing in his ears is an endless scream of terror, gunshots and crying, the threatening whisper of execution orders..
He wonders if he can smell the aroma of dinner wafting under his nose or whether it's lost in the smell of death, blood and burning flesh. He suddenly turns and stares straight at him and he sees the answer to his thoughts in eyes that seemed far too old for their owner. He feels his breath catch in his throat as he reads the pain and despair burning a hole through his heart. He was silent and a quiet Jim always set alarm bells ringing in his head, as if the situation they were thrusted into didn't do that already.
He respects the silence because what can he say, he wants to reach out to his friend but he knows Jim wouldn't be able to stand being touched. That one simple act of compassion right now would be his undoing and its already taking everything he has to keep himself together...bones wishes he would just let himself fall apart, than he can get on with his task of picking up the pieces.
But no stubborn as ever he simply reverts his gaze back to the distance, the unspoken request set in the tension of his shoulders, but bones doesn't move. couldn't. because dammit leaving him alone now would be the ultimate in cruelty and anyway he's exactly where he should be, exactly where he wants to be ...standing behind the man he calls his best friend.