This is my first foray into the world of Bones writing, and I've only read a few pieces here so if it is anything like something else I apologise. I've loved Bones from the beginning and always wanted to write something, but was scared I'd make a muddle of the one and only fantastic character that is Brennan. Anyway I've given it a try, because this idea hit me in the shower today and all throughout an 8 hour work shift it wrote itself inside my head, please let me know with a review if you enjoyed it. I was thinking of perhaps a part two, a year later if there is interest. Enjoy :) Italics are the flashback scenes.
Last Tuesday
He stared down at the seemingly bottomless hole in front of him, he had never imagined this ending. Earlier today her mother had told him that she was always terrified that her daughter's body would be coming home in a box from some far off Middle Eastern country where her daughter was sent to report, but never that she would get a telephone call from Washington telling her that her precious daughter Hannah was dead.
Hannah had followed him to Washington, she had spent her days 'up on the hill' chasing stories on health reform, education expenses and budgets for the forthcoming senate year ahead. Simple, non-dangerous, basic reporting, nothing like the work she had been doing when the two of them met. Hannah had loved the dangerous nature of her job she had been living before she met him, she had loved the thrill, the exhilaration. But she had given all of that up, and what was her reward, her death.
Things were not meant to be like this, Hannah wasn't even have meant to have been with him on that seemingly normal Tuesday morning, almost a week ago. The day had seemed to start so much like any other. The two of them laughing in bed together, giggling at anything and everything. He had never imagined that it would end with him making a long distance call to Hannah's mother whom he had only spoken to once on the telephone in the whole time the two of them had been dating. It had been suggested that the two of them would have spent Christmas with Hannah's family at the end of this year, but that would never happen now.
It had all began when the bones of a young female had been found on the side of a busy road. Her bones had been mixed with the bones of a dog and later it had been discovered by the squints at the Jeffersonian that it was the body of Carlie Majors, a grad student studying engineering, who had gone missing two months earlier after failing to return from a run with her Labrador. The dog bones had of course been identified as Benny, Carlie's pet and not as originally thought a rogue predator that had died as a result of digesting Carlie. The problems first began when it was discovered that Carlie had been dating her college's biggest drug dealer, but she had been seen kissing another man at a party the weekend before she disappeared.
On the day before Hannah's death Booth had spoken to Carlie's mother, her roommates, the man she allegedly had kissed and then finally her boyfriend, Alex. Booth had challenged Alex's alibi, which was that he too was also seeing someone else and had been with her at the time that Carlie had gone missing. Alex was a challenge, he was a smart arse, he repeated Booth's questions like a parrot, refused to answer questions and consequently Booth had become increasingly frustrated, the interview had ended with Alex basically storming out of the room, threatening Booth as he left and Booth following. It hadn't been a good interview but no-one had thought it would lead him here.
She stood further back in the cemetery, shading herself under a tree, from the mid fall sunshine that had begun to break through the clouds. The two of them were alone now, the other mourners had left long before. Angela had asked if she wanted to go back to work with the rest of them but Brennan had declined, she couldn't leave Booth alone here, it wasn't right. She had been standing watching him ever since, every so often she could see his head nodding as if he was talking into the hole in the ground. She had never understood his fascination with talking to the dead, after all the dead couldn't hear, they were after all of course dead, that is why they were there. But then this was Hannah that had been buried today, the woman who Booth had described his relationship with as 'as serious as a heart attack'. That was why she had stayed in this cemetery, he was her partner and he needed her. She winced slightly as she stepped forward from beneath the tree and walked towards Booth.
He could hear her footsteps shuffling along the lawn long before she appeared next to her. He felt her arm slip around his, a simple gesture that they had shared many times before. He turned to look at her, smiling as much as he was able, another gesture that she returned. Her face was still slightly bruised on one side, however she was no longer wearing the adhesive bandage that she had had to wear for a few days after the incident. To anyone that the two of them knew, she had simply slipped at her apartment and hit the side of her face on one of the many anthropological artefacts she kept as souvenirs. The truth was a completely different matter. Booth closed his eyes, and leaned into her shoulder, letting the memories of last Tuesday, the day when everything changed wash over him.
He smiled as he wandered down the quiet side road, if he was honest he had certainly enjoyed his morning. Hannah and himself giggling and laughing this morning before the two of them met Bones at the diner for their regular breakfast. Hannah had volunteered to join them, given that she didn't have to be at work until late that morning, there was nothing interesting happening, according to her. Yesterday's interview drama with Alex had been forgotten overnight, Booth knew that eventually with Bones' help they would discover what had happened to Carlie. He watched as his girlfriend spoke to his best friend, the two of them smiling at one another eagerly discussing his fondness for eating pie at any time of the day. It was important that Hannah and Bones liked each other, it after all made his life easier. Bones was his partner, his friend, and a woman he had once loved, she was an unusual woman, different to anyone else he knew but nonetheless she was important to him. Then there was Hannah, the woman he had met in a war zone, a woman who made him feel alive, a woman that he loved now, the woman that he lived with, another woman that was important to him. It was wonderful to have the two of them becoming friends. He stopped behind the two of them, looking downwards towards his feet, for one of his laces had come loose. He called out to them, and both of them stopped walking and waited for him. Soon enough he was done, and he caught up to the two of them, standing in between them, trying to explain to Bones for what felt like the hundredth time that cooked fruit wasn't disgusting as she vehemently believed. The three of them were laughing so hard at one another that not one of them realised that they were being followed.
He opened his eyes again, the memory difficult to relive, it had after all been on constant replay in his head ever since it happened. Bones' head had rested upon his, which was still leaning against her shoulder, he sighed quietly as his eyes closed once more and the memory continued.
Neither Hannah nor Bones had noticed until it was much too late, until the unmistakable sound of a gunshot had come their way. However Booth was the first to realise, a few seconds before, years of sniper training and army work had made him receptive to even a click of a trigger. He hadn't had time to say anything, all he had time to do was act. A split second decision, a decision he was never unable to undo. He heard the trigger and he leapt to his left, the side that Bones had been on, sending both her and himself crashing into a pile of rubbish from one of the restaurants that backed onto the side road. It was when he heard a scream from his right that he realised what he had done, Hannah was lying in the middle of the road, her blonde hair fanned over the pavement, bleeding from her stomach. Without thinking once again he leapt up, and in doing so he lost his weapon, it fell to the ground next to Bones with a loud clunk. He crawled towards Hannah, as another trigger was pulled, this time it came from next to him, Bones had aimed towards the shooter and he had fallen to the ground. He continued towards Hannah, as Bones stood up, holding his gun in front of her, advancing towards their attacker. With all the precision of the agent that she wasn't, she kicked his gun away from him.
"Booth, he's dead." He heard her say, her voice slightly trembling. She turned back towards the two of them, the gun still held in front of her, ready in case they were attacked once more. It was then that Booth dared to look down towards Hannah, her body was shaking slowly, her teeth chattering.
It was then that Booth's eyes flung open once more, he couldn't relive seeing Hannah like this once again, not here, not standing over where she was buried. He looked towards Bones once again, he could see that her eyes were closed, he was surprised given her reluctance for cemeteries. He moved his head from her shoulder and stared out towards the trees.
Brennan could see that Hannah was in trouble, that she needed medical attention, medical attention that she felt would come too late to save her, nonetheless she pulled out her phone and called for both her partner's back up and an ambulance for Hannah. She remained standing, whilst Booth spoke to Hannah, holding her, trying to reassure her that she would be okay. She glanced quickly towards all angles making sure that there would be no other attempts on their lives, as she heard Booth make a small whimper, and she raced quickly to kneel beside him, Hannah had stopped shaking, her teeth were still.
She felt his head pull away from her, the subtle movement dragging her back to the surroundings of now, and not what had happened last Tuesday. Neither of them had mentioned the fact that he had pushed her out of the way. She had lied to everyone except the agent in charge of Hannah's death about how it had happened, everyone else thought that her injured face was as a result of an unlikely home mishap, even if they didn't necessarily believe her and no-one had seen her badly bruised and scraped leg and she wasn't going to show anyone. She adjusted her arm's position within his and his face turned towards her.
Booth felt Bones' arm move against his and he turned his attention back to her face, rather than the trees that had been holding his gaze for as long as he was able to concentrate without seeing Hannah. He moved so that he was facing her directly, his hand not touching her arm reached out to touch her face.
"Why didn't you tell anyone the real way this happened?" he asked softly, mentioning the incident for the first time, just between the two of them.
She looked towards him, "You once told me that there were certain things and events that were just ours. I felt that this was one of those times." She replied in her matter of fact tone, so worryingly calm but familiar to him all at once. "I didn't feel that they needed to know."
He smiled slightly, as much as he was able, "Thanks Bones," was the only response he could make.
"No Booth, thank you." She replied, her voice slightly less calm than before, "Thank you, and I'm so sorry."
Booth didn't reply, he simply sighed as she continued, her arms snaking around him, pulling him into a hug, "I'm so sorry about Hannah, I'm sorry about last Tuesday."
END.
