Brennan's senses came back to her one by one. First was her feeling. Her mouth was cracked and dry. Burning. Her head was pounding hard, rhythmic pain slamming into her over and over and over again. She could feel that she was in a bed, but it wasn't hers. The sheets were silk not cotton. Her body felt bruised and achy, like she'd been in some sort of fight. It was like the time she had been beaten by one of her foster fathers and the likeness made her flinch in pain. A few tears leaked out of her eyes and slid down her face. What was going on? Had she been kidnapped? Struggling through her memories Brennan tried to think but gave up a few minutes later. She remembered leaving the lab and then nothing.
Next came her hearing. It was quiet but she thought she could hear traffic out on the street and a door slamming. She strained to hear more. God where was she? She could hear her own groan as it reverberated through her.
Then her sense of smell hit her. As soon as it returned, Brennan wished it hadn't. The putrid smell of vomit mixed with stale smoke and alcohol whirled around her triggering her sense of taste when she tried to swallow. Her dry tongue grated against the back of her throat and suddenly she could taste exactly what she could smell. Her teeth felt furry and she tried to ignore it, she was starting to feel nauseous.
Brennan opened her eyes but quickly shut them again when the bright light seemed to penetrate deep into her brain like a taser. She rubbed them before she could stop herself and the motion felt like she had a decent amount of sand trapped in there. As she adjusted to the light she pushed herself up and slumped against the head board so she could see. The room was simply but elegantly furnished. The queen sized bed she was in sat in the middle of the room with a closet by the door on the wall to the left and a window taking up the entire wall on the right. Another door opened onto a bathroom straight ahead. Glancing at the bedside table Brennan spotted the glass of water and slurped it down gratefully. As it hit her stomach she shuddered and tried not to retch, freezing for a while until the feeling seemed to pass. Lifting up the covers she swung her legs to the side of the bed and braced herself before standing narrowly avoiding landing in a bowl of vomit. So that was where the smell was coming from.
In the bathroom she stared at herself in the mirror. Her hair was tangled and the side bits looked like they had dried vomit in them. Her eyes were circled with darkness and were so bloodshot it was scary. Her lips were cracked and makeup was smeared all over her face. Cringing she moved her assessment further down her body. Her neck was decorated with small contusions which puzzled her. How did they get there? She didn't remember meeting a man, and there definitely wasn't one with her now. Unless she was in his house… Oh god, what if he was somewhere in the rest of the house waiting for her to wake up. Panicking, Brennan tried again to remember anything from last night. A flash of memory of dancing came back to her. So she had gone out last night. Which meant she probably was in some man's house. Looking further down her body she groaned. She was only wearing underwear. This was not looking good. Eyeing the shower in the reflection she peeled off her bra and undies and stepped in. The hot water felt nice against her skin and tired muscles. Closing her eyes she stood directly under the spray, trying to wash away things she couldn't remember.
After drying herself off and rooting around in the closet before finding some track pants and a t-shirt, Brennan stepped cautiously into the hall. She looked both ways but the hallway stretched in both directions and then turned so she couldn't tell which way to go to find the way out. Gathering her courage she chose right and tiptoed down the hallway, glancing back over her shoulder to check if anyone was coming from the other way. Suddenly she slammed into something and went flying backwards screaming in fright before landing on her back.
"I'm so sorry I wasn't looking where I was going." She apologized with her eyes closed. Horrified she felt tears escaping and clenched her eyes tighter to try and stop them. It wasn't working.
"Bren? Are you o.k.?" Brennan's eyes flew open to find Angela staring down at her with concern written all over her face. This was not what she was expecting. Had she gone out with Angela last night? But Angela didn't care about her anymore. So why is she here? A voice in the back of her head taunted. She let Angela pull her to her feet and followed her down the hallway before they turned off into an open lounge/kitchen.
"Where are we Angela?" At her question Angela spun around and stared at her.
"Me and Jack's house." Brennan looked around, vaguely recognizing that she had been here before. Instead of making her feel better, however, this information only made her feel worse.
"Why am I here?" She dreaded hearing the answer but she had to know. Angela pulled her over to the couch and they both sat down before she started talking. Brennan was starting to feel faint and she was glad she was sitting down.
"You called me." Angela sighed as she looked down at her watch. "You were slurring and I couldn't understand most of what you were saying but eventually I figured out you were at The Temptress and Hodgin's and I drove over there to pick you up. I was so worried Bren. You said something about some guys and how you didn't want them to take you and you were hysterical. When we got there we looked everywhere for you but we couldn't find you. Jack asked the bartender if he'd seen you and he pointed to this booth at the back that we hadn't noticed before. We went over to it but I thought it was a waste of time. That you must have gone home because there's no way the Temperance Brennan that I know would ever go into one of those booths with a strange guy. Jack persuaded me that we may as well check it out just so we knew we had looked everywhere so I pulled back the curtain." At this Angela paused to look up at Brennan who was staring at her in horror.
" You were propped up between these two guys. You were unconscious and they were…they…" Angela broke down in tears and Brennan didn't know what to do. Nothing Angela was saying made any sense.
"They what Angela?" Brennan spat out. She needed to know.
"They had their hands all over you. Up your dress. And you were just sitting there. Hodgin's told them that they'd better leave right now or he'd call the police and I pulled your arm to wake you up." At this Brennan had a brief flash of her arm being tugged roughly before Angela continued. "Your eyes opened for a second but then you passed out again. Jack and I, we carried you to the car, brought you home and got you into bed. I thought that was it, you'd sleep it off and wake up in the morning." Angela paused again to wipe her eyes and Brennan curled herself into a ball in the end of the couch.
"But I didn't?" She held her breath while she waited for Angela to reply.
"No Brennan. You didn't. I was dozing in a chair by your bed, to make sure you were ok, and suddenly you woke up and started vomiting everywhere. But I thought, you know, that's normal, you'd had a bit too much to drink and this was the result. You vomited for hours, Bren, hours. And once your stomach was empty, which didn't take long by the way, you started vomiting up blood." Angela looked up at Brennan to gauge the reaction she was getting to the story. Brennan stared at her with round, bloodshot eyes, urging her to continue.
"I ran and woke up Jack and he called 911 and told them what was going on. We thought you would need an ambulance but they explained that your symptoms were probably drug related and that as long as you were being looked after there wasn't much they could do. They told us to make sure you didn't choke on your own vomit and to let you sleep it off. That was 24hours ago." Brennan stared at Angela. She was so embarrassed that Angela had seen her like that. Suddenly Angela sat up and scowled at her.
"Do you have ANY idea what that was like for me Brennan? To see you like that? I thought you were going to die. And those guys? Drugs? What the hell is WRONG with you?" Brennan cowered while Angela yelled at her. She felt bad about making Angela look after her. She didn't deserve to be treated like this by Brennan. When Angela stopped yelling Brennan looked up at her. The pity in her eyes was too much. Quickly she jumped up and moved to the door.
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience I caused you Angela. It won't happen again." Turning around before Angela could see her cry, Brennan fled.
Author's Note: Hey thanks for the reviews. Don't worry Booth will make an appearance soon I promise, this is just the beginning… So what are your thoughts? Let me know!
