Booth knew something was immediately wrong as soon as his mobile rang and noticed the number was Angela. Picking it up off his desk and quickly pressing it to his ear, hoping that it was good news.
"Booth, its Angela. We need you over here. It's about Bren."
"What about her?" he questioned, anxiety suddenly washing over him as mental images flooded his mind of Brennan injured in hospital or worse dead.
"She's been acting strange all day. We haven't been able to talk to her at all, after examining the remains this morning she's been locked in her office until I knocked on her door to let her know it was her break. Without talking or looking at me she just walked out and she's been sitting in the rain for twenty minutes or so just staring blankly into space." Angela explained and Booth could sense the worry in Angela's voice. He couldn't help but swear under his breath, he'd been so busy with paperwork and interrogating the last suspects for a case he hadn't been able to talk to her properly for the past two days.
"I'll be right over Ange." Booth hung up the phone before Angela could get a word in and grabbed his keys from his desk, running out the door and as quickly as possible to his car.
Brennan stared off into the distance as she sat in the rain, her body trembled slightly and she shifted her weight on the bench before pulling her trench coat across her body to ignore the cold that was biting at her. Her auburn locks were completely drenched and were now a dark brown colour which was now sticking to her face. She bit her dry lip in an attempt to stop herself from showing any emotion and she squeezed her eyes shut, no she wasn't going to cry. Temperance Brennan never cried. Images flooded her mind of the small bodies that had been lying on her examination table only this morning, so young and yet they were dead. Not even old enough to experience the joys of their childhood, the angst and rebellion of adolescence and the freedom of adulthood. Her cerulean blue eyes sprung open as she tried to remove the images from her mind but they wouldn't leave her alone, almost as if they were haunting her. Brennan felt sick to her stomach wondering who would be so cruel and vile to massacre poor and defenceless children, the youngest had been only five years of age. Her lip trembled again and she bit it to try and regain control over her body.
Booth burst out of the car as soon as he parked on the side walk, grabbing his umbrella and locking the black SUV. His brown eyes scanned the area around him, trying to see her familiar figure and his heart almost broke at the sight of her sitting all alone on a bench, completely drenched. Opening his umbrella he rushed over, devastated to see her like this never had he seen her so emotional and so saddened.
"Bones…" he whispered, placing a firm grip on her arm in an attempt to help her up from the bench but she had refused almost instantly, remaining perfectly silent. What had happened to make her this upset and broken? Kneeling down to her face he held the umbrella over them as a sudden protection and cupped her chin in his hands and she tugged her face away to stare at the ground instead. Booth hadn't missed it though, her beautiful cerulean blue eyes he had always admired were now bloodshot and tears were threatening to well over them.
"Bones come on. Let's go somewhere nice and warm. You're going to get sick and it's raining." He pleaded, trying to make his eyes meet her own.
"No Booth." Was her simple yet cold reply as she avoided his gaze once again, suddenly feeling intimidated like he was able to look into her very soul.
"I'm perfectly fine out here." But he refused to give up on her and Brennan flinched as he cupped her face again to stare into her eyes and she knew it pained him to see her like this.
"Bones, you're being silly. I don't want you to get sick. Come on. Please." He begged, standing up and Booth froze instantly as he saw a single tear roll down her face. Shit, something was really wrong if she was crying all of a sudden. His thumb reached up to wipe a tear that escaped her eye and he frowned. Without any warning, Brennan hid her face into his chest and sobbed continuously his hand automatically reached up to stroke her hair and whisper words of comfort into her ear in an attempt to calm her down and help solve the problem.
Brennan rested her head in his chest, it felt so nice to have him comfort him he was so warm and caring for a second the thought almost made her smile but then the images came flooding back to her mind and she burst out into more and more sobs. Finally content with her crying and knowing she would be able to talk without breaking down again she raised her head to look up into Booth's eyes, those beautiful chocolate brown eyes.
"I-I don't understand it Booth. Who would kill innocent children? They were all found near the same place, decapitated and their limbs were sprawled all over the field right outside the house where the murder took place. Some of them were foster children… and others had a loving family but they were all targeted by the same person. What I really don't understand is why wasn't somebody there to protect them? They were just abandoned and probably died in fear knowing nobody could save them!" she explained, tears threatening to spill over her eye lids again and she bit her lip in an attempt to stop.
Booth frowned as he finally looked into her eyes, those beautiful and large cerulean blue eyes which were glazed over with tears, her whites were bloodshot and the rims of her eyes were dark red. Booth decided to make a promise to himself that he never wanted to see her like this ever again, in so much pain. He noticed that look on her face, the one where she would stare off into the distance her jaw slightly askew like she was thinking about something. Booth wondered what she was thinking about, the poor children? Maybe she was even putting herself in their positions, after all when she was fifteen she had been left all alone and had no family to call her own. He shuddered at the thought or maybe it was the cold, either way he didn't care and he cupped her chin in his hand forcing her now to look at him.
"Bones, it's all going to be alright. We've caught the murdering bastard and charges have been laid. He won't harm anyone anymore I promise." He whispered, stroking her wet locks and she pushed her head into his chest again and he heard her mumble something about never wanting to be left alone.
"Bones, I'll never leave you. I promise." He whispered into her ear, Booth knew he would keep that promise no matter what.
"You don't know how much it means to me that you said that Booth…" she replied looking up at him gratefully, her cerulean blue eyes shining and a smile crossing her face for the first time today. His words comforted her greatly, more than anybody could ever imagine and that's when she realised that she wasn't alone in the world, she had him. Special Agent Seeley Booth. A small gust of wind blew past and she shivered, suddenly realising how cold it was. Hearing him chuckle she cocked an eyebrow as he helped her up.
"Come on Bones; let's get into the warmth huh?" Booth questioned, resting his hand at the small of her back before walking inside the Jeffersonian with her.
