This a brand new case story that will lead Booth anad Brennan to admit their feelings for each other. Somehow it will happen.
As always, I don't own Bones or any of the characters. Special Agent Donovan is my own.
Please, enjoy...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
***
Special Agent Booth opened his eyes and immediately knew he was blind-folded. His eye-lashes brushed against the material that was bound around his head and it tickled. He wanted to rub his eyes, but he soon discovered that his hands were bound as well.
They were behind his back and he was lying on his side. His left arm was numb and he suspected that he had been in that position for some time. Trying to roll over, it was discovered that he was in a very small, confined space and there was almost no room to move. He felt, with his foot, the bars that held him captive.
The captive lay still for just a second and tried to let his hearing help to discern where he was. There was only silence. He thought that maybe he could hear a drip of some kind, but it seemed very far away and the sound was faint. Almost muffled.
His arm was totally numb, and he wondered how he could get the blood flowing again. He wiggled and shifted until he felt the pins and needles of the returning blood flow shock his sensory receptors back into use. He cried out at the unexpected pain that his motions brought.
It only took a few minutes before both his arms felt normal again. He took a deep breath and thought back to the last thing he could remember before he woke up wherever he was now.
*
He was in his apartment.
The phone had rung. Not his cell phone, but his land line.
It had been a wrong number. He had hung up the phone, thinking nothing of it.
He had been thirsty and had gone to his fridge to get something to drink.
There was half a bottle of water that Bones had left there a few days before. He hadn't known why he kept it; perhaps the thought that it was something that had touched her lips had made him keep it.
He drank the water. Again, thinking nothing his actions.
*
That was the last thing he remembered.
Now it was dark.
He was cold. That was one sense that could not be covered or bound. He could feel the cold, chill damp of the air around him. He suspected he might be in a basement somewhere. The smell that permeated his nostrils was one of mouldy, damp earth. He could definitely hear the dripping now. And something else, but his brain was still a little foggy, and he couldn't tell what it was.
He thought of Bones. His thoughts always went to her when he felt danger. He always regretted the things he had never said and the things he had never done. Had he waited too long? NO. He would get out of this mess. One way or another.
He also thought of his son, and how he was supposed to be spending the weekend with him. Parker would be so disappointed when he didn't show up and that broke Booth's heart. He had never wanted to be the type of father that disappointed his son.
Booth had no idea what day it was, or how long he had been unconscious. There was so much he didn't know; lying there in the dark.
He started to suspect that the water he had drunk had been poisoned or drugged. Someone had probably broken into his apartment and spiked the liquid. He really should have gotten a better hiding place for his spare key. That fake rock had apparently failed to fool someone else too. He should have taken Bones' advice on that one.
His thoughts were interrupted by a sound growing louder. It was footsteps, and they were coming closer. It was the sound of heavy boots scraping against a concrete floor. He heard a door open nearby, and the footsteps entered the room where he lay.
Booth lay completely still, pretending to be unconscious.
The sound of a rusty faucet being turned on made him wonder what the hell was going on. He heard the water flow and seconds later his body was showered with cold water.
He could pretend to be unconscious no longer, and he cried out and sputtered when his face was blasted by the water. He heard laughter.
"Thought you might be thirsty by now Agent Booth." The laughter continued, as did the cold water spraying the bound FBI Agent.
The voice that spoke was not at all familiar to Booth, but it was heavily accented, and he felt he would recognize it instantly if he heard it again. He tried to place the accent, but couldn't. It might have been eastern European, but his thoughts were interrupted when the water sprayed him directly in the face again.
When drowning became a real fear, Booth tried to turn his head away from the water blast, but there really was no room to move.
The water stopped as quickly as it had started, and the squeaky faucet was heard again until only the dripping was audible.
Booth sputtered the last of the water out of his mouth and nose and could contain his anger no longer.
"Who the hell are you? What do you want with me?" The sound of his saturated voice surprised him. It was like he was in a dream.
The heavy boots approached him until they stopped near his head.
"We have never met, but you took something from me once. Something very important. Something I can never have back, and now, you're going to pay for it." The accented voice still was not familiar to the man lying bound in the cage.
"What? What did I take?"
"You will find out soon enough. Your son will join you soon."
Booth lost it then.
"If you hurt so much as a hair on my son's head, I'll make you pay. I'll kill you!"
"You are in no position to be making threats Agent Booth. I have no intention of harming your child; I am merely going to make him watch you die. I will be back in one hour with another drink for you."
The footsteps faded away, and the door opened and closed. The steps faded until Booth couldn't hear them anymore.
His brain racked with options, or the lack there of any.
Parker was in danger. He had to warn Rebecca, or the FBI, or anyone. His thoughts went back to the forensic anthropologist who was his best friend. Was anyone even looking for him yet? Bones would be looking. He was sure of it. He sent a plea into the dead air around him...
"Bones! I need you! Please hear me!"
The sound waves of his voice echoed slightly against the walls and he knew that she hadn't and couldn't have heard him.
He shivered in the dark.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile...
Doctor Brennan was in the Medico-Legal Lab of the Jeffersonian. She was in the room affectionately dubbed Limbo with her best female friend, Angela.
She held an old bone up to the light and studied it intensely as the artist played with the tissue markers of the skull on the table. Angela was hoping to have the markers done before lunch, and the full composite sketch of the face done by the time she left for the day. There was no rush really, the bones had been in storage for years now, but Brennan had insisted on her help with identifying the remains.
No other cases were pending, so Angela had easily agreed. The two of them hadn't spent much time together lately, and it was nice to just chat while they worked.
Angela watched her friend study the bone against the light and smiled to herself. Same old Brennan. Put a bone in her hand, and lose her until she put it down.
The artist watched the expression on her friend's face change, and saw the focus fade from her eyes. Brennan's face visibly paled, and she shuddered. The bone fell from her hand and clambered onto the floor.
"Sweetie, what just happened?" Angela rushed to her friend's side and put her hand on Brennan's shoulder.
Brennan looked at her, but there was still no focus in her eyes.
"I...don't know. I just had this chill come over me. I can't explain it..." The blue eyes of the Doctor focused slightly, but they looked nervous to her friend. "I'm sure it's nothing. Maybe there's a draft in here."
Angela was not accepting the explanation so easily. There were no drafts in the Jeffersonian. The temperature and humidity were regulated methodically by computer.
"Honey...are you okay? You are really pale..."
She was interrupted by a knock on the door. The two women turned to see Doctor Sweets with an unknown man in a dark suit standing there. They looked briefly at each other and then Sweets spoke.
"Hello Doctor Brennan... Angela, this is Special Agent Donovan with the FBI, and he was wondering if he could ask you some questions." The psychologist and his companion started to cross the threshold.
Agent Donovan held his hand out to shake with the good Doctor, but she ignored the offered appendage.
"It's nice to meet you Agent Donovan. What can I do for you?"
"Uh, we've met before. You and I and Booth worked a case together a few years ago. You don't remember?"
Brennan shook her head. The dark-haired, light-eyed man continued.
"Well, the reason I am here actually pertains to Agent Booth. I was made aware that the two of you spend a lot of time together."
"We're just friends, and partners." Sweets and Angela noticed how quickly she spewed those words out. A tad bit defensive in both of their opinions.
"I never meant to imply otherwise Doctor Brennan, but you do spend time together right?" Brennan nodded. "I was wondering if you heard from him at all this past weekend?"
Brennan looked to Angela quickly, and she seemed to pale a little bit more.
"No, he was planning on spending the weekend with his son. I haven't spoken with him since Friday afternoon. Is everything okay?"
"We're not sure. It seems nobody has heard from him since Friday, including his ex and his son, and he didn't show up at the Hoover building this morning. We are starting to grow concerned."
"Well, I am of no help. I don't know where he could be."
"Doctor Sweets and I were wondering if you would like to come with us to check his apartment, to see if anything is amiss."
Before Agent Donovan finished the sentence, Doctor Brennan was halfway to the door and already removing her blue lab coat.
In minutes, the three of them were in Donovan's FBI issued vehicle and heading towards Booth's apartment.
Doctor Sweets didn't speak; he just quietly analyzed Doctor Brennan's response to the situation. She seemed slightly agitated, even though she was trying to mask it. Sweets was trained to recognize small and subtle changes in anyone's normal responses to certain situations. Brennan was responding with great concern.
The three of them let themselves in using the key that Booth had given Brennan some time ago. Donovan raised an eyebrow at her explanation that Booth had given her the key for emergencies. He wondered just how much the two of them really meant to each other. Clearly they were more than just friends and partners.
Agent Donovan led the other two slowly into the apartment, calling out Booth's name. They were greeted only by silence.
They all commented that nothing seemed out of place.
Until they entered the kitchen.
Sweets was the first to notice the empty water bottle laying on the floor, by the sink. He reached for it, but both Brennan and Agent Donovan called out for him to stop.
"There may be fingerprints or other evidence on that bottle. If something happened to Booth, this might be our only clue as to what happened." Brennan reached for one of the drawers and pulled out a plastic baggie.
Both men noticed her familiarity with the kitchen and Donovan quashed his smile as he picked up the bottle with his pen and dropped it into the bag being held open by Brennan.
"I should get this back to the lab. If something has happened to Booth, time may be a factor."
She couldn't explain how she knew something was wrong. She just knew.
Sweets and Brennan waited by the door while Donovan did another quick sweep of the apartment. Nothing else seemed out of place. The Agent called the FBI to get the forensic examiners to do a thorough examination of Booth's living quarters.
As Brennan locked the door with her key, she noticed a small brown stain on the doorframe.
It was blood. She knew it was. Her heart skipped a beat.
Something was definitely not right...
Her cell phone rang from her pocket...
**
**
To be continued...