He ignored her, not bothering to fight with her over it, "Did the video show anything?"
"It's in bad shape right now. I'm going to enhance it, and hopefully we'll be able to tell who did this," Angela let a small sigh escape her lips as she went to set up the feed. "Alright, let's try and solve this case before we leave to visit Brennan, shall we?" The two men in the room nodded silently before leaving to do their separate tasks. Angela's head was spinning from the days events. It had taken a year to get her best friend to admit she was in love with her partner, and it had taken a day for her best friend's life to come crashing down around her. If she was honest, part of her blamed Booth as much as Jack did. But it wasn't fair, and she knew that if she would've minded her own business this morning, Booth wouldn't have taken the day off, and he would've been able to prevent all of this. As much as she felt Booth was partly to blame, she blamed herself the most.
Booth ran his hands across his face, trying to think about anything but the woman he loved, lying broken down the hall. "Agent Booth?" his head popped up.
"Yeah, is she..."
The doctor smiled kindly, "She's out of surgery. She's stable, but we have to keep a close eye on her for a few weeks. She lost a lot of blood, and she has extensive injuries to all of her major bones..."
"Can you tell me, in simplest terms, what was broken? I know it sounds morbid, but I have to report back to her colleagues, who're trying to figure out who did this right now..."
"Of course, Agent Booth. Both her ulna's and radii were broken, her left humerus and clavicle...her mandible, that is, her lower jaw, was cracked... her pelvis and two ribs were broken, and her left femur and right tibia and fibula were broken," the doctor squeezed out a small, polite smile before continuing, "She's taken quite a beating, to be frank. She's going to be in a lot of pain, and it's probably going to hurt her to talk, due to the mandible fracture, but you're welcome to stay in her room."
"Well.. thank you for being honest with me Dr. Jacobs. You're sure it's fine that I wait in her room?"
"You're listed as her emergency contact, so I don't see why not..."
"I'm what?"
He smiled, patting the agent on the shoulder, "She's listed you as next of kin and emergency contact, so you're free to stay in there. Due to the circumstances of her attack and injuries, we're encouraging you to stay as long as you'd like--you're free to disregard all visiting hours. I have no doubt you would do it anyways, but I'd like to at least feel I'm partially responsible when you do..." Booth smiled at the older gentleman, before heading to Bones' room.
He opened the door slowly, letting his eyes adjust to the dim room. He saw her shape on the bed and couldn't help but notice just how fragile and vulnerable she looked. He placed a chair next to her bed, and gently placed his hand next to hers.
"Bones? Hey, are you awake?" he whispered. Part of him wanted her to be asleep, figuring she'd be in less pain, but most of him wanted her to open her eyes and see that he was there for her. Like he should have been that afternoon, when someone tried to kill her. Like he should have been that morning, when she'd tried to call him to tell him how she felt. "I know you're not awake, and that's okay... it's more than okay..." a tear slipped down his cheek as he struggled to find the right words. "Tempe... I love you. I've loved you since day one. I loved you when we did nothing but argue and disagree. I loved you this morning when I went out of my way to be a complete asshole. I don't know what I'm supposed to say to you, Bones. I need you. I need you to know that I'm sorry, that I shouldn't have let this happen..."
"You couldn't have stopped it, Agent Booth," the door cracked open and Russ' face poked through. Booth wiped his cheeks, and met him at the door. "She wanted me to give you this." He handed him an envelope with the anthropologist's loopy handwriting addressed to Seeley Booth.
"when...?"
"About a week ago, I got a letter in the mail from Tempe. Inside was this envelope for you, and instructions for me. She said the job was dangerous, and she wanted you to be given this envelope if I thought you'd need to hear what she'd have to say, when she might not be able to say it. When Ang called, I knew this was that time."
Booth nodded, "Thanks, man. Did you know anything about the emergency contact thing?"
"Yes, I called her after I got the letter, and she told me she changed that and next of kin to you, because you were closer. I read right through that, though. It wasn't because of proximity--Tempe wanted you to be the one they called if she was hurt because you protect her. Because she loves you." He sighed, "Any leads yet?"
"No, the team hasn't called yet. I should check on that... Will you it with her? I don't want her to be alone if she wakes up..."
"Of course."
Booth went into the waiting room and dialed the Jeffersonian. "Angela Montenegro."
"Hey, It's me. She's out of surgery... do you guys have any updates?"
Angela sighed, summoning Zack and Hodgins into the room; "The video feed is almost certainly a dead end. I'm trying to get traffic feed from the cameras on the street corners, but so far, nothing to report there..."
"I was able to determine that the weapon was a metal pipe, approximately three inches in diameter and a weight between 3 and 5 pounds..." Zack said, before gesturing for Hodgins to continue.
Jack exhaled deeply, trying to get his rage bottled up, "I got the samples that were embedded in her skin, and the pipe was steel... very old, probably taken from the piping of a building built in the early 20th century. I'm looking into all areas recently renovated that replaced the pipes we're looking for. Also looking into the employees working said renovations, and there disposal sites..."
Angela smiled weakly at Jack, proud of him for keeping his temper under control. "And using the data these two collected, I was able to approximate the attackers height and weight, being between 5'7" and 6'3", and weighing between 180 and 220 pounds."
"Thank you guys. I'll call you when she wakes up, alright?"
"Take care of her, Booth," Angela whispered, hanging up the phone.
"Yeah, take care of her, you obviously did a fantastic job of that today..." Hodgins muttered, wincing at the sudden pain in his legs.
"Did you take your meds, Jack?" Angela rushed to his side, helping him sit in a chair.
"Must've forgotten in all the excitment..."
"I'll go get them," Zack offered, rushing to Hodgins' office.
"You can't keep getting this worked up, sweetie. This isn't good for you, and it's not helping anyone else, either. Brennan is hurt, yes, and we are all upset and worried and scared out of our minds that this happened practically under our noses--but you're taking it out on the wrong man. Booth loves that girl, and he would've gladly taken the beating himself, if he could've." Angela placed a hand on his unshaven cheek, leading his face to look at her, "Just like I would've traded places with you in that car with Brennan."
"Don't compare the two situations Angela. You have no idea what it was like for us."
"Then tell me! All I've wanted since this happened is for you to tell me what happened to you down there..."
"You want to know? I almost died without getting to tell you I'm in love with you. I almost suffocated to death without giving you a $3000 an ounce bottle of perfume. I had to write you a note on a piece of Bren's novel telling you how I felt, because I didn't want to die with that inside of me. Bren had to slice my leg open release the blood filling it, and all I could think was "I may never see her again", and it scares the hell out of me to close my eyes now because I can feel that all over again! I'm actually afraid of the dark! Do you know what that's like? A grown man, afraid of the fucking dark, Angela! Don't compare this attack with what we went through down there. Don't do that to me, not now..." Hodgins stood, wincing, and hobbled for the door.
"Jack, please..." She stood, and approached him slowly, "I love you... don't leave here angry at me, too."
AN: hope you liked this, so far. Will continue when I can!! review, please!