Author's Note: Hey everyone! Thank you once more for your alerts and favorites and reviews. A special thanks to Steph, my beta. :) How to Save a Life is originally written to a man, but I edited it to make it speak to a girl. Short chapter, mainly because this is where the plot begins. Read onwards! (and review) Disclaimer: I do not own Bones or any of its characters- that's Hart Hanson's bragging right.
How to Save a Life by The Fray
Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life
Let her know that you know best
Cause after all you do know best
Try to slip past her defense
Without granting innocence
Lay down a list of what is wrong
The things you've told her all along
And pray to God she hears you
And pray to God she hears you
Chapter Two: Misplay
He sat in the chair across the desk, feeling like a child sent to the principal's office on the first day of middle school.
Hacker stared at him, contemplatively, worriedly.
"Booth." One syllable, one word, one name, yet with so much meaning placed in it.
"Hacker." Booth was anxious. Two months back from Afghanistan and he was being called up to Hacker? Was the solve rate not high enough? Was he going to lose his office? Was he being transferred out of Major Crimes?
"Booth, we have a case for you." Booth almost deflated with relief. Just a case.
"Um, okay, thanks for informing me personally. I'll call Bones," Booth replied, feeling better in a matter of seconds.
"No." Booth looked up from his phone, his prior concern returning as he scanned the look on Hacker's face.
"No?" Booth was confused. Was this a case outside of Major Crimes? He wasn't supposed to work outside of Major Crimes. He worked with Bones, solving crimes through anthropology, entomology, pathology, mineralogy, palynology, and whatever other 'ology' applied at the Jeffersonian. He smiled inwardly. Look at me, rationalizing all of this.
"No. This case is complete fieldwork, and honestly? We can't endanger Dr. Brennan's life on this one. Our contract with the Jeffersonian only allows us so much leeway. This isn't going to be a 'full participation' case for Temperance, I'm glad to say," Hacker explained. Booth was extremely confused.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up. This is going to be dangerous? Like, life-threateningly dangerous?" Booth didn't like the sound of this. The main reason he had left the war zone with such haste, besides Cam's obvious plea, was that he felt that he couldn't risk his life. He needed to be there for Parker. He remembered the Afghani woman's desperate voice, "This would not have happened if his father was here, where he's supposed to be; instead of out fighting someone else's war."
"Yes, Booth, I'm sorry, but you're the agent best fit for this job. It's actually about the case Temperance is working on. Harley? I'm going to need you to lie low for a while," Hacker declared.
Ha! Booth thought briefly, I was right about the undercover work. Hacker continued, "The job is far too hazardous for Temperance and the squints to work on. In fact, if they continue, their lives will most probably be endangered. Although Harley's killing sprees are sporadic, he did take out the officer to whom he reported his wife missing." Booth nodded his agreement. They couldn't have the squints in danger. Not with Cam having Michelle and Angela pregnant. Hacker was encouraged by Booth's consent so far, and surged forward.
"So, here's the plan: You begin tracking Harley. Then, if he strikes, we can say you were randomly killed. That way, not only can we take all the squints off the case due to personal reasons, but you're safe from him as well. After that, we need you to try to arrest him. But Booth, this is a dead or alive situation. Go ahead and take him out if you need to." Hacker said all this very seriously, assessing Booth's reaction. Booth shook his head slowly, trying to consider all of this without getting a brain rush.
"Who can I tell?" Hacker drew his eyebrows together.
"What do you mean?" Hacker asked, before realization dawned on him, "Oh, you can tell direct family, and one non-familial individual. This one's a little more high profile than the last fake death." Booth smiled, relieved, making plans to make absolutely sure that everyone he wanted to know would know this time around.
"Okay," Booth assented. "Okay, I'm in." He and Hacker signed some consent forms, and he was out.
o-o-o
Booth sat in his office, filing paperwork, reminiscing happily about his lunch date with Hannah. He hoped she wouldn't mind too much when he was 'dead'. He made a plan, picturing it all in his head. He would tell her about the operation, and at first she would be upset. Not with him, but with the FBI. But then she would do her little 'Hannah Half-Smile' and say that his absence would give her time to chase a lead. Then she would say that he should get his butt out of the apartment because she was already feeling the writing bug coming on and he had better go get himself 'killed' already. Hannah was so good that way. She was fun and relaxed, spontaneous yet oddly constant, girly, normal, and easy.
He was almost three-quarters of the way through with the paperwork from the last case- the one with the body found in the shower- when his phone buzzed.
"Booth."
"Hello, Booth? I have developments on the Harley case." Booth smiled at the sound of his partner's voice. It's cute, he thought, the way she says 'hello' like it's a question… As his musings trailed away he realized that he still had to tell her about the case going null. He'd wait till after his 'death' to tell Bones about the operation, just because he didn't want her to accidently let the squints know. Now that he thought about it, this case was really high profile. Even Sweets wasn't to be on this case; Booth was going to be assigned some other FBI psych-profiler.
"Um, yeah Bones, about the case… I'll be there in five, we have to talk," he responded, feeling bad that Bones had to waste her time on a void case. Still, he thought, Fisher probably got an extra load of depression off this case, so at least some good came out of it. Booth shook his head. That Fisher kid was all kinds of weird. Death and sorrow seemed to be his heroin and cocaine.
"Ok, see you soon. Bye!" Bones said, ending the call. Booth smiled at the phone and hurried to the parking lot. He didn't know how much time he had with Bones, Hannah, and the squints before this case started. He had better make the most of it. He had just put the key in the ignition when it hit him.
o-o-o