My name is Brennan. I'm Dr. Temperance Brennan. I work at the Jeffersonian Institution. I'm a forensic anthropologist. I specialize in identifying people when nobody knows who they are. My father is an ex-con, my mother was a bookkeeper and an ex-con. I have a brother. I'm Dr. Temperance Brennan. I had a partner… I was alive…
I woke up early on Monday, as usual, and went for my morning jog in the park. It was November, so it was quite chilly outside. To stay fit, I needed my morning runs. I had a dreadful feeling when I got home that something terrible was going to happen that day, but I shook it off. One cannot tell the future. I should have listened to my gut though. I ate the feta eggs I made last night, drank a cup of coffee and headed off to work. I started at the Limbo, since I had a few remains I planned to work on identifying. My partner, FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth was spending his last day off with his son, Parker. He told me he had planned this city tour for Parker where he would show everything to him. I told him not to be absurd, he couldn't show everything to him in one day, but he insisted on doing the tour anyway. He wanted me to meet him at the new parking garage two streets down from the Jeffersonian, so I could accompany them to a tour at the museum. I gladly accepted his invitation. I focused on the bones in front of me, picking up one by one, noting every little anomaly. This Monday I let my interns sleep in, there was no murder to solve and I liked to have some alone-time at the Limbo – so I told them to come in for 10 AM and then they will also work on remains at Limbo.
The hours flew by so fast I barely realized it was time for me to meet Booth. I packed back the bones into the box I had taken them out of earlier and headed for my office. I dropped off my lab coat, picked up my coat and bag, then headed towards our meeting point. I had identified 2 remains and I was still nervous that I couldn't finish the third one, I felt being so close to getting a positive ID. I walked down the street in a slow pace, I wasn't in a hurry as I still had at least a good 20 minutes to get there and the garage was no more than 10 minutes away. I breathed in deeply the early November breeze. I saw Booth's SUV turn into the garage. And what happened next, I wouldn't have believed if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. There was a loud grumble and the ground started shaking under me, then with a squeaking sound, the parking garage started to collapse. For a split second my heart stopped. I just saw Booth's SUV going in and it just started collapsing. The collapse stopped but it looked like the whole building could fall apart any minute. I saw some passer-by making a phone call in a hurry and he kept yelling with the 911 operator to send every available unit to this address. I couldn't stop myself from yelling his name. I was stopped dead in my tracks.
"BOOTH!" I somehow hoped to see him walk out with Parker without a scratch and wave to me. I tried to catch the slightest sign of anyone moving inside. There was no movement, and for a few seconds there was complete silence. My legs started shaking slightly and I was about to run towards the building to find them myself when I heard the sound of sirens getting closer and closer. Before I could take any step further a police officer stopped in front of me.
"I cannot let you go in there Ma'am, it might collapse any minute." he said, but we were still another street away from the garage.
"Let me go!" I broke free from his hold and I was about to start running when he stopped me again "My partner and his son are in there! Do you hear me? I have to go in there. I have to find out if they are alive!"
"I cannot let you go in there Ma'am, I'm sorry!"
I saw the firetrucks and ambulances stop at the road front of the half-collapsed garage and my heart was trying to jump out of my chest. Which of course could never happen, but I felt this strange urge to just run inside and don't care what everyone else does or thinks. One truck stopped behind us but I couldn't take my eyes off of the paramedics and other people running inside and bringing out people, badly injured people – they went inside before the chief cleared the building stable. They didn't care about the chances of the building collapsing onto them. They just wanted to get as many people out as they could.
"Follow critical response protocol. Everybody understand?" I heard a man's voice talking behind me. I turned around and saw the chief fireman "Nothing we can do about the people trapped in the parking garage right now. We evacuate everybody else first."
I glanced back and saw two apartment buildings on either side, then turned around and run up to the chief.
"Captain Reed! I'm Dr. Temperance Brennan… my partner and... and his son are trapped inside the building, I… I just saw them going inside before it started collapsing."
"I'm sorry Doctor, but that building is way too unstable to even think about that right now." he started walking away towards the Washington Public Safety Critical Incident Center truck and he just went in without looking back at me.
"No but we have to go..." I tried to get him to listen to me but it was too late, he slammed the door. I turned around seeing paramedics running everywhere, making people lay down on the ground and treating their wounds. The whole scene was a mess and I kept turning to see if anyone could help me. Then I finally saw a familiar face standing on the corner and I ran up to her.
"Angela!" I shouted as I ran towards her.
"Bren, what is it?"
"They are inside the building… Booth and… and Parker!" I could barely speak.
"Oh my God! Are you sure?" I just nodded and then turned around just in time to see Hodgins coming out of the building, his clothes and hair full of white dust.
"Brennan!" he ran up to me "I saw them going inside, he even waved to me!"
"Who?" Angela looked confused.
"Booth! And… and his little guy… Parker!" he was out of breath "I ran inside, but… I… I couldn't find them!" he pointed towards the paramedics "We were pulling out bodies a-and people with broken bones. We tried to get to as many of them as we could before they ordered us out!"
"They are afraid that the entire building is gonna collapse." I heard Sweets' voice coming from behind me. I turned around and saw him also being covered in dust. He must have seen my confused stare at his clothes because he added "I was walking out from the garage when it started collapsing. I ran right back inside but I couldn't see anyone."
A man at the critical response truck was testing a sample of concrete that has fallen onto the street. He soon had a terribly shocked look on his face.
"CHIEF!" he called for his boss who was still inside the truck "CHIEF!" after the second yell, Captain Reed came out asking what has happened "It's built from recycled concrete!"
"What?" I couldn't believe what I've just heard, I ran up to them "What do you mean it's recycled?"
"It's recycled Ma'am, it's not real durable concrete made from hard rock, it's only ground-up concrete debris."
"Oh my God." my world was starting to spin, I had to fight the urge to just run inside, I had to find them. I had to get them out alive! I ran back to Hodgins and turned him towards the building "I'm going in there." I whispered so only he could hear it.
"They won't let anyone past them. I tried." he whispered back but I started walking towards the garage.
"Okay, so I try again." I nodded and kept walking but he grabbed my arms and stopped me.
"Brennan, you can't." he sighed "You can't." my heart started beating faster and I felt the tears that I was fighting so hard to hold back rolling down on my face.
"Oh God, I hope they are still alive in there!" I hugged Hodgins to keep myself from falling to the ground.
"I know. I know." he tried to calm me down, but it was impossible. I let him go and saw paramedics still running around, treating really badly wounded people. People who were lucky enough to be on the ground level.
"Local 4 operating engineers are sending in more heavy equipment." I heard someone's voice coming from behind me.
"Well, tell them to get a move on!" the other voice's was Captain Reed's. I turned around and saw him walking towards us with a man in a suit and tie next to him. It was Councilman DeMaro, I recognized his face from the morning paper.
"Captain Reed! Was the bad concrete enough to cause this kind of collapse?" I heard Sweets' voice coming from behind me as he and Angela and Cam came to stand beside us.
"No, that wouldn't be enough to cause such a catastrophic failure. I spoke with the structural engineer who built it… they think that it was an outside job."
"An outside job?"Angela asked in disgust.
"You think someone made the garage collapse?"
"From the looks of the remaining structure it looks like something blew up at the first level." the Councilman nodded.
"The combination of the blast and the bad concrete would compromise the structure of the building and it would immediately collapse." Hodgins said as he realized what happened.
"I want to go in." I blurted out "My partner and his son are trapped inside there!"
"I don't want a marble rolling around in there right now. It's not a question of if that building is coming down. It's a question of when. I promise you, if we can get enough equipment in there and shore it up, I'll go in there myself."
"Captain Reed!" someone near the building called the captain's name and he just left as standing there, staring at the damaged garage. I saw paramedics getting bodybags from the trucks and they started covering the dead bodies. My heart was beating so fast I felt it was impossible to breathe. I decided I was not going to give it up so easily. I started looking for the Captain in the crowd and when I found him, I stood in front of him so he would have to listen to me.
"Listen to me! I am not letting my partner die inside with his son. I saw him going right inside when the collapse happened! They couldn't get to higher levels in time, they must be on the ground level."
"You see them going inside doesn't mean they are alive!" the Captain argued with me.
"It means they are in there!" I yelled, I couldn't control my emotions anymore.
"I can't risk other lives!"
"There is a 10-year-old kid in there! We can't just stand here!" I tried to sidestep him but he caught my arm.
"I'm letting you stay out of courtesy, Doctor. But if you try to go into that garage, I'll put you on the other side of the barricade!" he tried to reason with me and just left me standing there again. I stared at the building, tears rolling down on my face and that's when it happened. Again. I heard creaking, rumbling, glass shattering, some indistinct shouting and the building moved again, more debris fell onto the street. I remembered my dreadful feeling from the morning, and I had the same terrifying thought at that moment.
"It stopped creaking and moving!" someone yelled from the crowd.
"What does that mean?" Angela came over to me.
"It means that I'm going in." I dropped my purse and my coat to the ground and took a sprint towards the building. I heard Captain Reed's voice as he ordered people to stop me, but thanks to my morning runs I was faster than they thought so I easily outrun them. It was quite dark inside but due to the creaks the collapse caused there was some light coming inside and it was enough to help me navigate through the debris.
"BOOTH!" I called out his name, hoping to hear a response. I heard something coming from the far side of the building and I ran towards it. It was a black car, buried under a great amount of debris. I saw someone lying next to the car and I ran towards the person. I recognized the blonde hair immediately.
"Parker! Oh my God, Parker!" I knelt down next to him and checked for any kind of vital signs. Thankfully he was alive, just unconscious. I heard footsteps coming towards me and when I turned around I saw Hodgins kneeling down next to me.
"Is he… ?" he asked terrified to hear the answer.
"No, he is alive. Can you take him outside?"
"And leave you here alone? No, not gonna happen." he shook his head.
"I need to find Booth, but if I do at least I could tell him that his son is alive and in a safe place."
Hodgins sighed and shook his head.
"Okay, but I'm coming back." he said and I helped him lift up Parker. He started walking towards the exit slowly and I went for the other side of the car to find my partner. My heart was racing, I had thousands of thoughts running through my brain and I wished I could find him alive. That was the painful moment when I realized, I needed him. I needed him alive and well and right next to me every single day. That was the moment I finally understood my feelings for him. Up till now I tried to keep them bottled away, kept telling myself that I would compromise our partner- and friendship. I had to find him, alive. Or I would die too. I realized that I could not survive without him. I found a poker chip right next to the left side of the backdoor of the car. I picked it up and instantly recognized it. It was Booth's lucky chip.
"BOOTH!" I called out again and that's when I heard it.
"Bones…" it was faint and I almost missed it. The building started creaking again and a few debris fall right behind me. I stumbled forward, trying desperately to find him. After a few steps I heard him again.
"Bones…" I looked down and there he was. He was lying right next to me, his face and hands bloody, his voice as he said my nickname almost inaudible.
"Booth!" I cried as I fell to my knees and grasped his hand "I am going to get you out of here!"
"You… should…h-have… s… stayed… outside… Bones." every single word was a painful try for him, he could barely breathe, speaking was a torture.
"Sshh… don't speak." I tried to check out his wounds. He could localize painful stimuli and conversed with me slowly but normally.
"Ugh… my head… is about to… explode…" that was when I realized his diagnosis. Initial GCS of 5, point tenderness at the left parietal… this all means internal bleeding. I had to get him out of there, but debris had fallen onto his legs and it was too heavy for me to lift it. There was rumbling and creaking again "Bones… g-go!" he said finally looking at me. I could see the pain in his eyes and I just let the tears fall freely.
"I am not going anywhere Booth! I'm staying right here, right here with you." I cried as I clasped his hand again. He smiled a weak smile at me.
"You still in for that tour at the museum?" he could make me smile even in his worst conditions.
"Once you are out of the hospital, we can go anywhere you'd like." I smiled back at him "I am not going to leave your side Booth, ever again. No matter what. We are going to spend the next 30, 40 even 50 years together." I let the words come out, there was no going back.
"Temperance… a-are you… saying…?"
"Yes, I love you Booth! And I'm getting you out of here alive, because otherwise I'm not going to survive." The realization took me by surprise. If he doesn't live, I have no reason to live.
"Bones… I-I..." before he could say anything, there was glass shattering and creaking again and this time the moving and rumbling didn't stop. The building started shaking and I fell backwards, his hand falling out of my grasp.
"Booth!" I tried to get back onto my feet but the shaking of the building kept me from doing so. I saw debris falling around us and at the other side of the remaining building even a car fell down from the upper level of the garage. And as I was trying to get back onto my feet, a 100-ton heavy debris fell right in front of me. My heart stopped.
"NO!" I ran to the debris and tried to push it but it wouldn't even budge. There was no way he could survive the hit of that debris. I fell to my knees, crying and screaming uncontrollably. It couldn't have happened. I couldn't believe it… I felt like my heart was going to break into millions of pieces. The rumbling and squeaking kept going on and I heard a huge creak right over my head. I didn't pay attention. I was still trying to move the debris that had fallen on Booth "NOOO!" I cried as it still didn't move. I felt something falling towards me and then everything went dark and I was pinned to the ground knocking the breath out of me. And the dark persisted – forever.
The End