AN: This is my first FF. It's short, but I'm just trying to get a hang of the whole idea. And obviously I don't own Bones.
It happens in an instant.
One moment they're sitting in the dinner, drinking coffee and eating pie. (Well, one of them is.) In the next moment she's lying on the ground and her breathing is ragged. He doesn't know how it happened, but all he knows is that she's lying there and something is seriously wrong.
It takes him a full minute to get his feet to move. It's as he's moving to crouch down beside her and put pressure on her wound that he realizes the state of chaos the diner is in. Glass shards are everywhere. People are screaming and running and food has gone flying. Two minutes ago everything was quiet and peaceful, and now…
Now his partner was bleeding out on the floor beside him.
Somewhere in the distance he can hear sirens, and he realizes someone must have called 911, because he sure as hell didn't. Why, he doesn't know, but he hasn't been able to take his hands off his partner in fear that once he does the bleeding will get worse and she'll die and it'll all be his fault.
It's thinking those thoughts that finally gets him to look at her face. He can see the tears in her eyes and knows that she must be in pain. The fact that she hasn't made a sound worries him, but as his eyes move to hers they lock on his and he knows, at least, she's still conscious. Her chest is moving up and down, but it's struggled and it's so hard not to just burst out in tears right then and there because he knows that she's dying, right there beneath him.
The ambulance finally arrives, and he is asked to move aside so the paramedics can work and it takes everything he has left in himself to let go of her. They take her away and load her into the ambulance and still, they have not said a word to each other. Because they both know what will need to be said if they speak.
After hours and hours (actually, it was only 4) of waiting in the hospital he is finally told that she's stable. He's allowed to go and visit her, but he's scared, so he sends everyone else in before he does, to buy himself some time. He tells them that it's because once he's in there, he won't want to leave, but really it's because despite how much he had complained about being able to just go see her, he's terrified and can't make himself stand up.
Finally, it get's to the point where he can't delay it any longer, and he goes to her room. She looks tired, and pale, but she's alive and breathing and it's a relief to see her eyes open and the bloodless gown on her body. Neither speak, because they both know what words will need to be spoken and silence is preferable. He walks over to the chair, sits down and picks up her hand.
It's then that the tears start. Both of their eyes slowly fill and overflow with the salty liquid and even though she's alive and will recover, it's hard to find comfort in the pain they are experiencing. Their friends are rejoicing in the fact that she is well, but they don't realize the loss the partners are experiencing.
They never got the chance to tell them.
Death.
It happened in an instant.
But it wasn't her who died.
It was their baby girl.
