Chapter Seven: Aliens In A Spaceship
He scribbles on the scrap piece of paper, desperately writing words he needs her to hear. He doesn't care anymore. He doesn't want to hold up a facade that he can deal with the two of them being just friends.
He finishes the note, and tucks it into his pocket. 'Okay, I'm ready.' His leg is bleeding, and it's painful, but he needs Brennan's help to alleviate the pain.
'Is it a note to Angela?' she asks him.
'Yes.' His voice is pained, and she thinks it is only because of the pain in his leg, but tears are pricking at his eyes, and his mind is flying through too many thoughts, too many ideas that he'll never see her again. There was too much that he'd miss, too many things he wouldn't get to say, or do. 'Just in case that whatever you're gonna do sends me into shock and I die. Upside? Me not breathing doubles your survival time.'
'I'm not interested in surviving that way,' she says. 'What I'm going to do is make a long incision in the fascia to release the pressure inside.'
'And how long is a long incision? Wait. You know what, don't tell me.'
'It's best if I do it very fast and without empathy.'
He nods, tears welling in his eyes.
'Here,' she says, handing him a rolled up towel. 'Hang on to something and don't fight passing out. Are you ready?'
He grabs the support handles on either side of the car, gripping tight. He nods.
'Wait.' She bends down, pulling something from his leg.
'What is that?'
'Evidence of what happened to you. Let's worry about it later.'
'Here.' He hands her a copy of her novel. 'Put it in the pages of your book. I'll take a look at it later.'
She nods, placing the small scrap of evidence in the pages and turning back to him. He alters his grip on the handles and places the towel back in his mouth.
'It's best if you don't talk right now.'
He nods, but he drops the towel from his mouth, words following after it without any control of his own. 'I'm nuts about Angela,' he says. The tears are running down his face now, staining his cheeks, leaving tracks between the dirt that covered his skin. 'Over the moon. Stupid in love with her. That's why I bought her that crazy expensive perfume. If a man gives you a bottle of perfume like that, it says... it says I love you.' He breathed a sigh of relief. 'There. I said it out loud.'
He replaces the towel, breathing deeply. She makes the incision in his leg and he screams, all the while thinking of her, the girl that he loved, and he'd finally said it out loud.
Underground, an explosion occurs. Dirt travels upwards, but it also travels downwards, spilling into the car. The two people trapped inside cannot breathe, but they could not breathe beforehand, and so not much has changed.
Above ground, people are rushing to their location, digging in the dirt, searching for them. Angela is among them, her face desperate. She needs to see him, to know he's okay. To be able to say that she's there for him, that she doesn't care anymore about what she said. She needs him, much more than he could know.
And suddenly, Brennan is free of the dirt. 'Get Hodgins,' she breathes, and they continue digging. They pull him from the soil, but his face is still. He's not breathing.
'Jack,' Angela sobs. 'Come on!' Her hands are running along his face, brushing the dirt from his beard. He coughs, and is breathing again, and she lets out a sigh of relief before pressing her lips to his and kissing him for all she is worth. She hadn't kissed him since the night of their date, but she couldn't hold back any longer, couldn't keep her feelings in check. He kisses her back, and all his pain is forgotten, if only for a moment, as he collapses into her kisses.
'I went to visit you at the hospital,' she says, coming to stand beside him at his desk. 'I brought you this.' She holds up a teddy bear, but he only gives a shaky smile and turns away.
'They- they let me go home.'
'No, they didn't,' she says scoldingly. 'You left without being discharged. You stole crutches which I had to pay for.'
'They packed me up, pumped me full with antibiotics, stitched me up and gave me painkillers, so I'm good to go.' His voice is wavering, and his eyes stay on his computer.
'Could you please look at me?' she asks, and he turns towards her. 'You were buried alive. You were operated on without an anesthetic. You were pumped full of drugs. You really should be lying down.'
He takes a deep breath, running a hand through his hair. 'He's out there, Angela. And he buries people alive. I have to catch him. If I can figure out the exact alloy of aluminum then maybe I could... maybe we could... Plus the bumper sticker Brennan found in my leg...' He trails off. He can't talk. He's too jittery. All he can think of is being there, underground. When he had been released, he could only think of her, but now the dirt was filling his mind, taking over every part of his conscious. He needed to catch this bastard, if only so he could sleep at night.
'We're gonna catch him, okay?' Angela says. 'I promise you. We're going to start tomorrow, all of us together.' She lays a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him, but he looks up at her with fear in his eyes.
'I can't sleep, Angela.'
'I thought they gave you something for that?'
'No, I mean, I'm afraid. I'm afraid that if I close my eyes, when I open them I'm gonna be back in that car, buried, running out of air.'
Without hesitation, she says, 'Okay. Then you should come with me.'
'What?'
'When you open your eyes, I'll be there.'
'Yeah?' he breathes.
'Yeah.' She gives him a small smile and he nods.
'Okay.' She pulls him to a standing position, taking his hand. 'You know I'm good for that crutch money, right?'
She laughs, but she doesn't say anything.
They drove to her apartment slowly, her gaze wandering away from the road to his face every few minutes. He was leaning against the window, eyes closed. A small smile played across his lips, and she raised her eyebrows in question.
'What are you thinking about, Hodgins?' she asked.
He opened his eyes slowly, watching her. 'You.'
'Really?'
'Yeah.'
'What part of me?' She gave him a grin, teasing him, and he laughed.
'All of you.'
'And what are you thinking about to do with me?'
He paused, thinking of how to phrase his words, letting a smile tug at the corners of his mouth, a subconscious smile. 'I'm thinking about how, after all I've been through today, I can still manage to think about you, and about that dream I had the other week.'
'That dream in which...?' she trailed off but he understood, and nodded.
'Yeah. I've been having that dream a lot lately.'
She smiled, and turned back towards the road. They were nearing her apartment block, and she pulled into the parking space. 'You ready?' she asked him. He nodded and they stepped out of the car and headed up to the building.
She opened the door to her apartment, holding his hand and leading him inside.
'Do you want me to take the couch?' she asked.
'No.'
'Are you sure you don't want the bed? I'm happy to sleep on the-'
'Angie.' He squeezed her hand. 'I don't want you to sleep on the couch. I want you to sleep with me, next to me.'
She smiled, turning to face him. 'And what do you want me to wear?'
'Well, that's up to you.'
'Really?'
'Yeah, well, if I get the chance it'll be coming off anyway.'
She laughed, and he took the opportunity to kiss her. His lips crashed down upon hers, and he didn't hesitate in letting his tongue slide into her mouth, exploring. His hands held her neck, cupped her face, holding her to him.
She wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him close to her. She reveled in the contact between them, and a thought crossed her mind, one that insisted she find the hem of his shirt and pull it up over his head, if only so she could press herself against his skin, and feel the goosebumps that rose at her touch.
'Hodgins,' she breathed as he moved his lips away from her mouth and across to her neck.
'Mmm?'
'Will you take your shirt off already?' She could feel him grin against her neck before moving away and unzipping his jacket. She reached up to slide the material off his shoulders, and it fell to the floor. Next came his t-shirt, and he pulled it off his form in one swift movement. She ran her hands along the sculpted muscles of his chest, smiling to herself.
'What's so funny, Ange?' he asked. He slipped his arms around her waist, pulling her towards him.
'Nothing. I'm just... I've seen you topless before, but it was never like this, and I hadn't quite thought of it like this.'
'Like what?'
'So... so... scarily intoxicating.'
He grinned, kissing her cheek and along down her jaw. 'Is that a good thing?'
'It's a very, very good thing.'
He kissed her again, this time on the lips, trapping her mouth beneath his. His hands moved up to bury themselves in her hair as she continued to run her fingers along his skin.
'Hey,' he said, when they parted again. 'Why were you so desperate for my top to be off, but I get none of that?'
'Hey,' she mimicked. 'Why are you talking? Just show me the goods, Jack.'
She woke up to the sounds of his quiet sobs. She rolled over to face him, but his eyes were closed, his eyeballs jumping in their sockets. She laid a hand on his cheek, kissing his forehead gently.
'Jack. Jack, wake up.'
'Don't! Don't touch me! Help! Let me out! Get me out of here!' His head thrashed from side to side, caught in the nightmare, and Angela held his face in her hands, keeping him still.
'Jack,' she whispered. 'I'm here, Jack. Wake up.' She kissed his lips gently, and she could taste the sweat on his skin.
Slowly, he calmed down, and his eyes opened. 'Angie,' he murmured. 'It was so real.'
'I know.' Tears pricked at her eyes at the sight of his own, running down his face. She pushed them away with her thumb before settling down beside him, pressing her body against his, and wrapping her arm around him. 'But I'm here. You'll be okay.'
'I don't know if I'll ever be really okay again, Ange.'
She gave him a small, sad smile, but only rested her head on his chest, snuggling into him. He let her fall asleep again, but he couldn't close his eyes. Every time he did, he found himself inside the car again, dirt pressing in on all sides.
Instead, he laid there, watching her. He watched her body rise slowly up and down, in time with her breathing, and he gently ran his fingers through her hair.
'I love you, Angela,' he whispered, even though he knew she wouldn't hear him. She was too fast asleep.
Hi everyone! Again. Okay, so this is pretty much the last chapter I have already written (until quite a few chapters along anyways). Hope you enjoy it, and savour it, because the next one won't be up for a while. :)
Wynnie
