Life never goes in the direction you expect it to. At the age of 15 I never expected my parents to vanish without a trace and now that I had a family of my own I never expected that I would have to do the same.
Of course I had Christine, but I had to leave Booth behind.
He was the only man I had ever grown to love. He and our daughter had become my life. They were who I thought about when I got up in the morning, who I thought about before falling asleep, and who I dreamt about every night.
We found our house only weeks before Christine was born. Our home. It didn't matter what it was in the past, but as Booth liked to say it was "The Mighty Hut". A place of our own where we could create new memories and new life.
Our life was perfect for us right up until Pelant came along framing me of murder. A murder that I didn't commit. Everyone who mattered to me knew it wasn't me either. But they had no say; the evidence shined the spotlight on me as a suspect. What they and everyone else thought then meant nothing. There was nothing that could be done for me any longer as the evidence shouldn't lie. A warrant was about to be issued for my arrest. I was heading to jail for a crime I didn't commit.
I didn't want to run away from it all but I had to. A plan had been set up by my father and I had to follow through with it.
Booth had been planning Christine's baptism for weeks. Though I didn't believe in religion, and I still don't to this day, I agreed to let Booth have our daughter christened. Originally I hadn't planned to go, this was Booth's thing and though I love him with all my heart, this wasn't something that I wanted to participate in. But situations change. A day that should have been for celebration, unknowingly turned into a farewell to all I knew.
Booth, Christine and I were to go to the Christening and he would wait in the car around the car out of site from the church until it was time. My goodbye to Booth was one of the hardest things I had ever had to do in my life. How are you supposed to say goodbye to the one you love, not knowing when, if ever you are going to see them again?
I never wanted the kiss we shared to ever end, but it had to. I needed to let Booth know that it wasn't just because of Christine that we were together. I loved him so much, probably more than what he knew. More that can be said than just from actions and words alone.
It all happened faster than I thought it would. Booth went to get the car and drive it round to the front of the church to save me from walking around to the car park out the back and Dad drove round the corner to the front to hand over the car to me. When I got in the driver's seat I just drove, not ever looking back at whatever was behind me. I could hear Booth screaming at me and I just wanted to turn back to get him, but I couldn't. As soon as I left I became a fugitive. Hiding from the law. My father had explained to me what I assume he also explained to Booth. I wasn't in the system, but as soon as I was arrested I would be, leaving me to potentially fall in the trap and control of Pelant. Whereas Booth was the system, he had to obey the laws of the government. He couldn't know where I was. If he knew where I was going, he would either have to give me in or join me and face the consequences of aiming a fugitive and realistically ending his career.
I followed my father's plan right to the letter. I drove until I could drive no longer and spend the night in a slightly rundown motel, using the fake name I had been given and paying cash as all my cards had been taken away. Soon before we had arrived at our destination Christine had fallen asleep. She wasn't due to be fed for a few hours and I was grateful. I was exhausted and all I wanted to do was lie down and sleep. It wasn't until I looked over my daughter that reality hit me as what I think the term is, like a ton of bricks. All I wanted do was to run home and back into the arms of the man I loved. But I couldn't.
There was nothing I could do to change the situation except for giving myself in. But I couldn't do that so this is what I was left with. I collapsed into the bed from exhaustion and just cried and cried until eventually I must have fallen asleep and slept until I heard the ear piercing scream of my hungry daughter the next morning at 5am. Today was a new day and my first full day on the run as a wanted fugitive.
Hey all, thanks for reading! I'd love to know what you thought, so rate away! I started this off just thinking of it being a one shot but I'm not really sure what happened along the way. So this apparently has turned into a multichapter fic, but I have no idea of what length. We'll just have to wait and see what happens...