She was hyperaware of her heart pounding in her head, of the blood dripping into her eyes and down her neck. It took an immense effort to creep her fingers out and pull herself weakly forward, her broken wrist screaming in agony. She collapsed on the stone floor, choking on the blood that flooded her mouth. She coughed, the blood dripping onto the floor but leaving its metallic taste on her lips. Faintly, she heard his slow footsteps behind her and felt his fingers knot in her hair.

"No", she moaned, pleading. He yanked her up and slammed her down into the broken glass, her head cracking against the ground. She felt blood—far too much blood—seeping through her hair, running down her neck and pooling on the floor. It was soaked in seconds. She tried to push herself up, fingers groping for a purchase on the stone, but slipped in the blood and dropped back to the ground. She felt a shard of glass slice across her cheek, burning faintly… she had no time to dwell on it. A hard kick to the side flipped her onto nearly onto her back, landing painfully on her wounded shoulder. His boot made contact once again with her side, again and again… and she heard the sharp snaps of more ribs cracking. A sickening crunching noise rang out, and pain lanced through her ankle. She failed to hold back the scream. Several seconds later, her face was slammed into a corner. Unimaginable pain exploded beneath her left eye, and the strangled cry escaped from her lips once again. He dragged her up by the arm and threw her, hard, against the wall. As she landed in the shattered glass, she knew something was wrong. The pain was fading, giving way to a sense of peaceful numbness, and she was alerted to the fact that something wasn't right solely by the warm wetness spreading over her leg, the feeling of something digging deep into her thigh. It was alarmingly fast-flowing. With it, the last of her strength drained from her body, nearly dragging her consciousness with it… a black ring had formed around her field of vision, closing in, becoming hazy… she barely noticed being dragged across the floor, dropped again, his boot pressing slowly down on her throat, until she realized that she was choking again, because of more than just the blood in her mouth. As tears squeezed from her eyes, she coughed as the pressure lifted from her neck. It didn't help her breathe through the metallic red liquid. She couldn't see anymore, the world blurry, surreal… and she didn't know where she was, or why. She didn't remember anything, the only thought filling her mind one of death. Her death. The end. It didn't resonate with her, didn't mean anything. She remembered a face, one she couldn't put a name to, and that was all as she felt cold steel brush against her wrist. End… the end…

"I'll give you one last chance, Temperance Brennan" his voice permeated the thick fog, the whispered phrase echoing around in her head. And somehow, through the red blood in her mouth and the pain in her jaws and the mind-crushing fatigue, she was able to whisper a single word.

"No".

It didn't come as fast as she thought it would. A mysterious popping noise reached her through the fog, and the steel was gone, the red, red blood still flooding her throat. A faint voice was shouting, barely reaching her, but making her curious enough to crack her eyes open. She heard her name, saw the blurry face of someone she knew. He looked desperate, scared… but why? She was just too tired… much too tired. She wanted to sleep. But as soon as she closed her eyes, a fragment of a sentence reached her ears.

"Can't sleep yet… come on… stay with…" she would have frowned if she'd had the strength. Just because of the desperate tone of his voice, her eyes opened into slits, and she tried and failed to draw another breath through the thick blood in her mouth, her throat, choking her… She couldn't obey the voice, she wanted sleep, needed sleep. Now. So even as she felt herself being moved, she let the blackness take over her. The last thing she heard was a voice-that same, comforting voice-saying,

"Hold on".

And she would try, for him.

A/N: Originally this was a oneshot, but I've gotten reviews to continue, so I think I will! But I have one condition: REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! I've only gotten 3, people! I know you can do better than that! Criticism is fine, just no flames. Never written a fanfic before, so... yeah :P

Thanks very much for reading though, and keep in mind that because I usually don't write things like this, the following chapters may not be that great. I'm not the best at writing with characters that aren't my own, so I'm sorry if it turns out OOC!