A/N: Thanks to everyone who has sent me through a review. It's always exciting to hear what people are thinking about the story so keep it up. For those of you who have asked we should be seeing Booth in the next chapter.
Again I've changed some of the details from Season Six to suit my story.
This trip had been the chance of a lifetime and Daisy Wick hadn't even thought twice when she was offered a place on the team. The five year plan she had set up above her bathroom mirror was slowly coming into fruition and she couldn't have been more excited. She had already checked off several milestones, including working with Dr. Brennan, and she thought that this would be her chance to cross off be involved in making a major scientific discovery. She had put her relationship with Lance on hold for this trip and at the time she had been able to put it into perspective but now, trapped in this hell hole, she wasn't so sure.
Coming to work with Dr. Brennan had been a dream come true. Their personalities hadn't gelled originally; Brennan's take no nonsense attitude hadn't exactly been welcoming to her own more bubbly personality and it had taken them awhile to find a way to work together. While she was sure her boss still didn't understand her overly positive outlook on life, Brennan had come to respect her and Daisy valued that more than words could express. Like many in the inner Jeffersonian Medico-Legal Lab circle Daisy had been captured by Brennan's strength and thinly veiled vulnerability and had come to care for the older woman deeply.
She had watched as Brennan and Booth circled around one another, dancing around feelings that weren't as well hidden as the two partners may have thought. It was a great frustration to many of their friends that the two of them wouldn't simply put aside their fears and give into the love that swirled behind every glare and simple touch. The romantic in her couldn't help the shiver of excitement at her bosses whisper of his name before she succumbed to unconsciousness but the realist in her ached at the thought that the two of them may never have the opportunity to act on what she felt was fate.
From her position on the floor Daisy couldn't completely get a gauge on her bosses' injuries but she had begun to worry after Brennan fell into unconsciousness for the second time in a couple of hours. She had had to bite back tears when their kidnapper had woken Brennan by kissing her roughly and the older woman had called for Booth, mistakenly taking it for his lips against hers before the horror of reality filtered back into her consciousness. She didn't want to give their captors any more reasons to hurt the already battered anthropologist but they were utterly powerless until they could get their binds undone. Her cell phone pressed painfully into her stomach from where she lay but it was a reassuring pain that kept a glimmer of hope alive within her.
"I've got them," Jackson said quietly and Daisy was sure she had imagined it.
"Are you serious?" she asked twisting so she could see the Australian man.
"Yes," Jackson nodded enthusiastically.
"Good job mate," Dr. Andrews said as he pulled his hands free from the ropes that had been binding them.
Daisy kept one eye on the door as the two men quickly undid the rest of their restraints, taking a moment to clap each other on the back. She couldn't believe they had actually succeeded. The prospect of ever getting out of the restraints had seemed so unrealistic that watching the two men stretching painfully seemed almost like a dream.
"Not my first experience having my hands tied behind my back," the Australian grad student waggled his eyebrows comically.
"That's no way to talk around a lady," his boss admonished him as they both stood slowly and painfully, stretching the muscles that had cramped long ago, "You get Daisy out of her ropes and I'll start on Dr. Brennan," he said, his joking manner disappearing as he spurred into action.
"Daisy keep an eye on the door," he told her, "If you see any movement say something immediately," he told her as Jackson knelt down beside her and began to work feverishly on her restraints.
She nodded but hoped it wouldn't come to that. She still wasn't sure what they could do if their captors came back armed with the guns they brandished so cavalierly every time they stepped into the room. Their biggest hope for survival lay in her pants pocket and she was well aware that even that was a long shot.
"God," Dr. Andrews muttered as he stooped in front of the slumped woman tied to the chair, "What has he done to you?"
"Be careful not to jostle her too much," Daisy said quietly flexing her ankles which were now free, "Any wrong move and her broken ribs could puncture her lungs," she knew the man working to free her mentor was well aware of the consequences of Brennan's injuries but it helped her to keep her growing panic from bubbling over the surface if she recounted facts. In this way she and her blue eyed boss were very similar.
"Who should we call?" Jackson asked as he worked on the ropes binding Daisy's hands together, "The local police? Or someone back home?"
"I don't know how much battery I have left," Daisy said regretfully, "I think I know who to call. They'll have access to equipment that can maybe help pinpoint where we are and they'll be able to get in contact with the local police."
"Jackson once you have Daisy's hands free I'm going to need to two of you to come and help me get Dr. Brennan down," Dr. Andrews said, "We're going to have to move her slowly so we don't aggravate any of her injuries."
"What are we going to do once we get her down?" Jackson asked his fingers digging into Daisy's skin painfully as he worked the tight knot of her restraints.
"Daisy will make her call," Dr. Andrews said, "Then she will tend to Dr. Brennan's injuries as best as she can while you and I search this room to find anything we can use as weapons."
"Do we wait until they come back or do we try and get out?" Jackson asked, "Assumable they don't have anyone just outside the door or they would've been in here by now."
"I don't know," Dr. Andrews sighed, "We have no idea how many men there are here, or the layout of where we're being held. It would be suicide to go out there blind."
"Its suicide to stay here as well," Jackson said.
"Once I make my call someone will be on the way with help," Daisy supplied, sighing in relief as the ropes finally fell away from her wrists, "It might be smarter if we stay and fight if we have to. If we move we might have no chance of ever being found."
Jackson helped her to her feet and her body groaned in protest. After being bound for so long her muscles were stiff and twinged painfully as blood rushed back to them.
"We'll think about that after we get Dr. Brennan down," Dr. Andrews said, "The way that she has been tied means that all her weight is basically on her shoulders. Once I undo these ropes," he indicated the ones holding her hands above her head, "Her body will fall. Jackson if you stand in front of her and Daisy you behind you should be able to slow down the fall and it won't jostle her too much. Once she's stabilised we'll move her off the chair."
As he loosed the ropes slung over the hook Brennan's arms flopped limply to her side and her body began to slump to the side. Jackson moved forward to stop her body from slipping off the chair completely and Daisy looked to the door as Brennan groaned in pain. She was certain that they would be caught at any second but luck appeared to be on their side for the first time lately and the door remained closed. Jackson managed to slide his arms under Brennan's legs and shoulders and lifted her carefully so she was resting against his chest. Daisy was able to get her first glance at the true extent of the injuries her boss had suffered and she put a hand to her mouth as her eyes drunk in the bruises and contusions that were splashed across the older woman's pale face.
"Take her to the corner," Dr. Andrews pointed, "The further from the door we get her the longer it will take for them to get to her if they come back."
They all spared sad glances to the bodies of Charlie and Tessa that lay on the other side of the room as the three walked slowly to the other corner. There was no time to grieve for those who had lost their lives. Time wasted on grief now would only serve to distract them from getting out.
Dr. Andrews motioned for her to sit down and she fished her cell phone out of her pocket as she did so. The two men lowered Dr. Brennan down until her head was resting in Daisy's lap.
"We'll wrap her ribs the best we can," Dr. Andrews said stripped off his shirt and starting to rip it at the seams, "Make your call."
Daisy's hands trembled as she scrolled through her phone book. She was tempted to call Lance but wasn't sure if he would even answer her call. With the way they had left things she couldn't risk him not picking up at this stage. She knew it was early in the morning there but she just hoped that her call would be answered.
The Medico-Legal Lab at the Jeffersonian Institute in Washington DC was quiet except for the taping of a keyboard. The hallways were empty save for a couple of security guards who wandered aimlessly counting down the early morning hours until their shifts were up. Dr. Camille Saroyan was hunched over her computer finishing a report from the pile of paper work that had somehow managed to build up on her over the last couple of months.
Michelle was away on a school Biology trip and Cam hadn't been able to face going back to her place alone so she had stayed late at the office trying to get a handle on the growing pile. Staying late at the office had turned into staying all night at the office and the forensic pathologist ran her hands over her tired eyes in frustration. With all of her team off on trips around the world Cam had been working with the interns left behind to get through as many bodies stored in Limbo as they could before everyone returned. The work wasn't nearly as exciting as the cases they consulted on with the FBI and Cam's services were required mainly to okay tests rather than examining bodies as these didn't have any flesh or organs she was used to working with and she was quickly becoming bored.
She found that she missed 'her people' and their presence around the lab. Hodgin's frequent cry of King of the Lab never ceased to make her chuckle and Angela's call of 'Sweetie' as she admonished her best friend about some social protocol she hadn't followed was not something Cam had even realised she'd picked up on but surprisingly she found that she missed it. She hadn't gotten off to the best start with the forensic anthropologist but she found they had come to a mutual respect and she had grown to view the younger woman with a fondness she couldn't quite explain. Brennan had been abandoned as a teenager and had struggled to survive in the foster system and Cam hurt when she thought that Michelle may have faced the same fate. In some ways the forensic anthropologist was still a lost little girl who needed the guidance of those around her to make sense of the things she didn't understand and while she didn't make it easy for anyone to get close enough to give that guidance once you were in you were there to stay.
Cam smiled as she pictured the younger woman staring in confusion at her partner after he made a reference to a pop culture reference she obviously didn't get. The two of them argued with more passion than most people made love. She had known for a long time how Seeley felt about his partner and while in the past it may have caused her some pain she soon realised that whatever she and Booth may have shared was long since over and he only had eyes for one woman.
The phone on her desk rang shrilly and Cam jumped as it shattered the silence that had long since settled over the lab. She grabbed for it in a hurry worried that it was the school calling about something going wrong with Michelle and cursed as her paper work fell to the floor as her hands grabbed for the phone.
"This is Dr. Saroyan," she said clearing her throat.
"Dr. Saroyan it's Daisy," a hushed voice crackled on the other end of the line.
"Daisy? Daisy Wick? How are you? How are things going with the dig? How is Dr. Brennan? Is she driving the locals mad?" Cam chuckled at the thought of the strong willed anthropologist ordering the locals around like she did the FBI workers who dared disturb her remains.
"Dr. Saroyan I can't talk long my battery doesn't have much life left," Daisy rushed, "We've been kidnapped and they've already killed most of our team. They are Muslim radicals leftover from the war in Indonesia; they don't want us identifying the bodies and won't let us go until Dr. Brennan tells them who she's told about who we've uncovered. She hasn't told anyone but they don't believe her and they're killing people until she gives in. They've beaten her pretty badly. I don't know where they've taken us but I was hoping you could trace my call or something. We don't have any weapons and they've got guns so I'm not sure what they're going to do if they come back and find that we're all untied. I have to go so I can save some battery on my phone. Please help us Dr. Saroyan. Please. I don't want to die and I don't know what else they're going to do to Dr. Brennan."
Cam stared at the phone in horror as the dial tone sounded. She didn't know what to do or who to call first. There was so much racing through her mind that she hardly remembered to breathe. That definitely wasn't what she had been expecting when she picked up the phone.
Her first instinct was to call Booth only to remember halfway through dialling his number that he was off in Afghanistan. Her next thought was to call Angela and have her come in to try and start trying to trace Daisy's phone call to track their location only to remember that the artist was off in Paris with Hodgins. Her fingers danced frantically over the numbers as she dialled the number for the Hoover. She raced through her story with the desk jockey who answered the phone and demanded to be put in contact with the Deputy Director and tapped her fingers anxiously against the desk as she waited to be patched through.
"Dr. Saroyan I assume there is a reason you are calling me so early in the morning," Andrew Hacker's voice growled from the other end of the line, "I'm not due at the office for another three hours and was enjoying a rare sleep in."
"I'm sorry," Cam rushed, "But there's a situation with Dr. Brennan and Miss Wick in Maluku and I'm going to need your help."
