The road turned suddenly. Booth lost control of the car on the road, still slippery with the rain of the previous night. The car went careening down the hill, bouncing off the trees, going too fast to stop. Through the sound of the braking branches and crunching metal he heard he turned to look at her, catching her eyes for that fraction of a second. He saw her lips moving, telling him two simple words.
'I'm sorry,' she told him.
Sorry for what he couldn't remember. The argument they'd been having was lost to him now, no more than a series of inconsequential words. He looked at her and tried to ask her why but somehow the words were lost in the confusion of his thoughts.
'I love you' he said.
He didn't know where the words had come from but the instant he said them he knew they were true. He did love her and he was sorry he hadn't realised earlier. All those times he could have told her and didn't.
'I love you temperance' he said as her eyes widened in surprise and her lips curved into a smile before she started to say something back.
Then the world went black with the sounds of metal scraping against metal, bone scraping against bone growing so loud until he welcomed the silence and the blackness that consumed him. His only thought was that he didn't want her to be alone.
B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B&B
The first thing he felt was a slight trickle of warm liquid down the side of his neck. He thought he should care but somehow couldn't bring himself to. The next thing he felt was the pain. Everything hurt so badly that he wanted nothing more than to sink back into the blackness but he knew now that he couldn't as with the pain can the memories of what had happened.
He forced his eyes open with an effort that seemed to drain all the strength he had left. He didn't know how long it took him to make that small movement he just knew that he'd done it and that was all that mattered. He looked at the scene around him, his eyes skimming over the ruins of his car, not taking anything in so that the true horror of what had happened never realised itself.
Then he found what he was looking for. Her hair, once pinned back behind her head, now lay across her face full of blood both old and new. He reached a hand towards her disregarding completely the pain scorching its way across his shoulder. Gently stroking her hair behind her ear he caressed her cheek. He could feel the warmth knowing now that her heart was still beating, still trying to hold on.
He slowly became aware of an incessant noise in the background and a light flashing in his eyes, glaringly bright. He heard voices but couldn't distinguish the words. It didn't matter anymore. He knew that someone had found them, someone was here to help them, here to save them.
They were going to be alright now. He didn't know how nor did he care, all he knew was what his heart was telling him. Just then, it was telling him to sleep, to let himself go back into the blackness because they were going to be alright. His Temperance wasn't going to be alone.