Disclaimer: I own nothing…
Summary: When Parker ends up in danger, Booth calls Brennan… A call that changes both their lives forever.
Rating: PG (for now… not exactly sure where this is going yet)
Author's Notes: My first 'Bones' fic… Hope you like it… Also, the lyrics are from Snow Patrol's 'Shut Your Eyes'. I'm not exactly sure why I chose it… It just felt right.
Shut Your Eyes:
It was strange.
She had never thought it would come to this. A lifetime of fieldwork and murder victims never could have prepared her for any of this.
The wound in her back was trickling blood, quickly. She could feel it running down her back, hot and thick. She had never expected to die like this, at the hands of a child killer.
She had gotten here first. Booth had called her, hysterical, when he had gotten a call from Parker; the little boy terrified and crying as he hid in the closet, away from the man who was beating his mother to death. And so Booth had immediately called the police, and then her, just as hysterical as Parker, and she had simply been in the right place at the right time.
It was moments like this that made her wish shehad been granted a gun…
Because now she was going to die.
But that didn't matter now, because she could hear Booth in the room, and sheheard the shots ring out, and she knew that at least the little boy, whose body was still shielded beneath her own was going to be okay.
The breaths she drew were shallow and painful as she tried her best to smile down reassuringly at the child who was settled before her cowering at the sounds of the gunshots. "It's okay." She murmured, barely sure if any words had actually left her lips. "It's your daddy. He's going to protect you."
"Temperance?" The voice was tiny, scared, and he could barely pronounce her name. It made her smile genuinely as she looked at him, still trying to reassure him that his daddy would never let anything happen to him. But his question surprised her… "Are you okay?" He was no longer scared for himself… He was scared for her.
His little hands reached up and cradled her chin as he gazed up at her, those big brown eyes reminding her so much of his father's. It was odd how much time seemed to be passing, as she stayed there, crouched over Parker, waiting for Booth to save the day. She couldn't see what was going on behind her, and she was too weak to turn around, the pain that consumed her too much to bear. Where it not for the little boy she was trying desperately to protect, she would have collapsed long ago. She was too weak even to force a reassurance for Parker. The poor child looked terrified. She knew he could sense that something was terribly wrong, and it broke her heart. He had already watched his mother die, and now here she was, dying, right in front of him.
It was at that moment that she felt Booth beside her, his voice seemed distant, but she could feel him; his hands gentle, but demanding as he pulled her into his arms and called for help from who she assumed were the police. His reassurances were lost on her as she stared up into his eyes. His voice was so far away, and it was getting more and more difficult to hang on.
All she heard was his whisper of her name before everything went black around her.
And when the worrying starts to hurt
And the world feels like graves of dirt
Just close your eyes until
You can imagine this place
Yeah our secret space at will
Shut your eyes Shut your eyes and sing to me
"I need some help over here!" His voice was panicked, as he held tight to Temperance, his hand resting over the wound as he tried to quell the flow of blood. She was no longer there with him, and he was terrified. Her heart was still beating, but it was weak, and he knew better than anyone that he could lose her at any moment.
Tears clung to the corners of his eyes as he watched Parker reach out, the boy's tiny fingers curling around Brennan's as he looked on sadly, tears starting in his own eyes. "She's hurt." His eyes sought out those of his father, begging for reassurance.
"She'll be okay." Booth smiled sadly, desperate to believe his own words. "She'll be okay."
And finally, the paramedics were there, pulling her from his arms. He let her go reluctantly; as though he feared her heart would stop beating the moment he relinquished his hold on her. But it didn't; he could see her breathing. It was shallow, but it was something.
"Parker?" He murmured expectantly; his voice a combination of sadness and relief as he pulled the boy to him with the hand that wasn't covered in Brennan's blood. The boy locked his arms around his father's neck and cried, peeking up only to watch as they took Temperance away.
"I don't want her to die." Parker mumbled through tears that were slowly soaking his father's shirt and mixing with the blood Temperance had left behind.
"She's not going to die." Even Seeley knew he was trying to convince himself as much as his son as he held the boy tightly, tears of his own threatening to fall as he prayed silently for his partner's life.
Shut your eyes and sing to me