I do not own Bones; it owns me.


Blood

After kicking in the door, Booth moved into the apartment with his gun out and his finger on the trigger.

"Russ?"

"Hello?"

Bones's voice trembled, causing Booth's head to turn to make sure she wasn't crying. Conscious of the fact that she didn't have a gun, he moved his body slightly in front of her as though he could shield her if a crazy gunman starting shooting at them.

"Alright, just stay back."

"Russ?"

Her voice was slightly higher-pitched, as though fighting down panic. Although she wasn't showing it, he could tell that she was barely holding on. If Russ wasn't there, it would break her. He tried to calm her down, knowing they desperately needed to keep a level head.

"There's no sign of a break-in. I'll check the back."

But there was no sign of life anywhere.

"Russ?"

Damnit, where are you? Do you have any idea what this is doing to your sister?

"Russ?"

He heard her from the other room, sounding scared and alone. Then, ever so quietly, "Oh my god..."

"Booth?"

As he hurried over to her, even before he saw what she was looking at, he knew what it was. Her voice had lost the high-pitched tone, but he could tell it wasn't a good thing. It was as if panic that she was trying to hide was forcing itself out.

"What?" He walked towards her, lowering his gun as he moved.

"Russ."

His gaze fell on the pool of blood and then back to her face. He could see the panic filling every contour of her face. It was something he couldn't stand to see. She was the strongest person he knew, and when a situation was so bad that she broke down... Seeing her so helpless was physically painful. Desperate to force the panic to leave her alone, he tried to keep his voice normal.

"Alright, just take it easy. Alright, we don't know that for sure."

But it wasn't doing any good. He could see her falling apart the closer he got to her.

"That's too much blood. Nobody could survive tha- that much blood loss."

She was stuttering; she never stuttered. His heart twisted as he looked down at the blood.

"Nobody."

She buried her face in his shoulder and he instinctively put her arms around her, as though he could somehow shield her from all of this.

"Alright. Okay. It's alright."

He could feel her shaking and he was tired of it. Tired of the world doing this to her. All she had ever done was try to help people and find justice, and what did she get it return? Pain, mockery, betrayal, multiple death threats.

Rubbing her back in an attempt to stop her trembling, he just let his hatred of the world build up. She hadn't had a family in fifteen years and now that she was finally starting to get it back, it was taken away from her. And the fact that someone in the F.B.I. that he trusted was doing this to her... If Max Keenan didn't kill Kirby, Booth might just have to do it himself.