A/N: I think I have messed up the timeline for the story, but I'm going to leave it the way it is and keep Aubrey rather than Sweets and keep our two main characters unmarried for the time being. Also, there's no Christine or Hank yet.
Booth couldn't bring himself to smile when Brennan entered his hospital room. He was glad to see her, something she probably already picked up on when she and Aubrey had found him inside the huge water tank. He had been lucky that the water was cold, since it had slowed the bleeding from a gunshot wound in his leg and a stab wound in his stomach, and had also been lucky that the water had really only been waist deep. He had been able to stay conscious longer than he would have in any other circumstance, which had allowed him to use the last of his energy almost twelve hours earlier to get the attention of his fiance and his FBI colleagues. Booth had kept himself awake while Aubrey and another FBI agent had climbed into the tank and rescued him, had even stayed awake long enough to see Brennan and give her a weak, one-armed hug. Then, Booth had passed out, only to wake up in the emergency department of Washington General. He was exhausted once he regained consciousness, but he had forced himself to stay awake throughout the doctor's examination so he could see Brennan. Brennan had told him to rest and to let the doctor operate on him. Her confidence had helped him to relax and she had given the doctor permission to surgically repair the damage. Five minutes after that, Booth was fast asleep from the anesthetic.
Now, twelve hours after being rescued, Booth had just been situated in a room in the intensive care unit, and he was still half asleep. He had woken from his surgery just thirty minutes ago, and the pain medication he had been given was starting to take effect. He could feel his eyelids drooping, which was partly why he didn't feel like smiling.
"How are you feeling?" Brennan asked Booth softly after giving him a gentle kiss on his cheek.
"Tired," replied Booth. "Thank you for finding me."
"I always find you, Booth."
"This time... I wasn't sure you would. Not in time, anyway."
"That would never have happened." Brennan smiled. "You should get some rest. The doctor said that the surgery went well, but you have a long recovery ahead." She adjusted the blanket to make sure it was covering her fiance.
Brennan gave Booth's nasal cannula a slight adjustment to make sure that it was sitting properly inside his nose. She checked that the cords for his heart monitor were straight and not stuck underneath Booth's body, ensured that the pulse oximeter and the blood pressure cuff were on correctly so that Booth would be comfortable as he slept, then gave him a smile.
"I'll be here when you wake up again."
16 Hours Earlier
"Brennan, Aubrey's in your office. He says there's something urgent he needs to talk to you about," said Cam.
"Okay. Mr Vaziri, you can continue from here. I'll be back soon," said Brennan as she stripped off her gloves and headed over to her office. "Agent Aubrey? What did you need me for?"
"It's Booth," said Aubrey, and the pain and fear he was feeling was obvious in his voice.
"Booth? What happened?"
"We aren't sure. He was on his way to work when I spoke to him last, and now he's missing."
"Missing? How can he be missing in less than two hours?"
"Local police found Booth's car at the bottom of a ravine. There was blood and glass on the seats."
Brennan shook her head. "No. It isn't Booth's blood. Look, I'll call him right now..."
"We already called him several times. He's not answering. Normally, we wouldn't class someone as missing, but since Booth works for the FBI..."
"He knows way too much valuable information," finished Brennan, knowing that Aubrey wouldn't lie to her about her fiance.
"Has Booth said anything to you about being followed or threatened?"
"No. We did find out that one of the criminals he helped put in prison was released a week ago, though."
"Who was it?"
"His name is Jason Watson. Booth arrested him for selling government files to drug lords."
"Did he ever threaten Booth?"
"I only ever saw one letter from him to Booth, telling Booth that when he got out of prison, he was going to murder him. You don't think it could be him, do you?"
"It's possible. I'll look into him and see what I can find. Do you think you could do something for me?"
"Depends on what it is."
"Can you go home and find me that letter?"
"Of course. I don't know if Booth kept it, but he does have a box of letters and stuff from other cases. I suppose he could have put it in there."
"Thank you, Dr Brennan."
"Please, Aubrey, call me if you find anything. Anything at all. I can't lose Booth."
"I won't let you lose him."
Aubrey sighed as he got the news he had been dreading- the blood in Booth's car was the missing agent's. There had been a lot of blood, which worried Aubrey, because that amount of blood loss couldn't be good for a person. Added to that, the forensics team that had combed through the car had found two bullets, one of which was red and had some of what turned out to be Booth's skin on it. Aubrey wasn't sure if Booth could have survived a wound like what he must have received, although he knew he would never tell that to Brennan.
"Aubrey, I have it," said Brennan as she stepped into the bull pen at the FBI.
"Have what?" Aubrey asked distractedly.
"The letter you wanted... Is something wrong?"
"No, I was just reading something."
"The blood belongs to him, doesn't it?" Brennan asked dejectedly, sitting on the edge of Aubrey's desk.
"Yes. There were two bullets in the car, too."
"Did they hit him?"
"One did. I don't know where it him, but it did."
"He's going to be fine," Brennan said confidently as she stood up.
15 Hours Earlier
Stumbling as he tried to run, Booth found himself unable to keep going. The bullet that had gone through his leg had left a wound that was still bleeding, even an hour later, and he had already lost a lot of blood. He was getting tired and that pain from his leg was getting worse. He needed to stop and sit, even just for a minute, to catch his breath. Booth sat on a rock and stretched his injured leg in front of him. He had to stop the bleeding before he bled out. He was just about to take his belt off when he heard something nearby.
"Agent Booth? Where are you hiding?!"
"Damn it!" Booth muttered under his breath. "How did he catch up so fast?"
Booth dragged himself up and started limping towards a small group of trees. But, before he could reach them, his leg gave out and he fell to the ground. Groaning, Booth failed to notice his attacker until a knife came towards him from nowhere.
"You are going to die for putting me in prison!"
Booth didn't know how he was going to get out of this mess. He had no weapon- his gun had dropped from his hand a while back- and his attacker was pretty much on top of him. There was nowhere to go. Booth let his mind wander to thoughts of his fiance, and how much he loved her, as the knife stabbed into his stomach, and he passed out.
