Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They are owned by Fox, Josephson Entertainment, Far Field productions and Kathy Reich.
Her body was reacting before her mind would, before she could stop the spark of idea from gliding down her nervous system, from making her lips move, from making her tongue slide over the roof of her mouth as she spoke. First her words came out as nothing but air, then a cough. This grabbed his attention. He leaned back from her, his eyes meeting the pain in hers. "What is it Temperance?" she heard her own name slip from his lips like air from a pressurized hose; meant to sound tender but much too sadistic as he leaned his ear towards her cracked lips. She could barely look him in the eyes, her mind flying to what he had just done to her. A slow, heavy mantra began to waltz through her thoughts. Save your strength, save your strength, save your- "You cheated." She muttered with the force she had hoped would be behind it. He turned his eyes to her suddenly, their noses nearly touching and his green eyes nearly as intense as hers.
Lunging foreword with all the power she could muster, another loud crack sounding in her limp ankle, she aimed her mouth for his broken nose. What the hell are you doing Brennan? She almost stopped mid lunge to think about the answer. Saving my life.
He slammed on the brakes just after a red light, a red corvette whizzing past and honking like a mad man. "Asshole" Booth muttered under his breath, his companion, Angela Montenegro, sat plastered to the leather seat of Agent Booth's SUV, her eyes the only part of her anatomy moving to look at him. "He's the asshole?" her eyebrows raised now as he looked over then slammed on the gas before his head could turn to see the red glow turn to green. Suddenly his cell phone lit up and began to ring, its vibrations sending a buzzing noise as it sat in the holder. Flipping it open and hitting "send" Hodgins voice boomed into the car. "He lives in a small white house, the address being 1343 Asbury Road, take a left in central square and keep going 'till you reach Asbury, it should be the fourteenth house on the right, and their pretty spread out." Booth looked at Angela and vise versa.
"Thanks Hodgins."
"Find her Booth."
"Sure thing" he clicked off the phone and made an immediate and sharp left turn onto an old street. "Sure fucking thing."
The new blood tasted different in her mouth as her teeth caught the edge of his nose and tore skin. He began to scream and flail about violently. Swinging at him hard her fist connected with the lower to ribs on his right side making him topple over onto his chest and knees. Then her hand once again caught the same ribs, this time from the back and sending the air out of him. Gasping, he reached for her, taking hold of her hips and pulling her down hard. Then he was on top of her. Now what to do Brennan? She raised her knee quickly, hitting him in the groin and rolling him off of her. Crawling to the door she opened it, her ankle screaming at her, her wrist leaving trails of blood and screaming harder then the ankle. Using he handle and her right hand to lift herself she limped, groaning and cringing all the while out of the room, slamming the door behind her onto a pair of white fingers. She heard his scream through the door, his severed fingers lying on the floor next to her swelling ankle.
Turning into central square both of them visibly tensed, their apprehension for what they might find building. Booth looked over to his partner's best friend, only able to imagine what she might be thinking of. "She's alive Angela. I know she is."
"How?" the woman sitting next to him looked up at his face with watery brown eyes, the emotion of the situation playing over her features as easily as silk over skin.
"You could say it's my gut." He tried a weak smile but was too worried to manage it. He wished his gut could really feel it, but alas, there was no tingle, no clenching, nothing. He wasn't sure she was still alive and wasn't sure if he wanted to run the risk of finding out she was not.
Breathing heavily and leaning against the counter of what seemed to be a living room turned kitchen she took a second to calm the adrenaline that pumped through her veins. Searching the cabinets and drawers of the tan kitchenette with her good hand she looked for some sort of towel or weapon. Find the towel first she also found several rubber bands, and painfully wrapped it around her left wrist, then on went the rubber bands to apply pressure. That's when the door opened again. The noise made her jump as the metallic door slammed hard against the wall behind it.
Pulling onto Asbury Booth sped quickly down the thickly-tree lined neighborhood, the houses at least twenty feet from each other. Quiet, no wonder he got away with no reports of disturbance. He thought, his eyes pinning the numbers that rested on every mail box. 1322, 1325, 1327. Damnit, were coming Bones.
She had the sharp point of a knife in her hands in seconds, the handle sliding into her hands as the blade replaced the air before her hand. He smiled at the sight of the weapon, his eyes sparkling. "Temperance…." This time his voice was soft but taunting. "Come on Temperance, put the knife down, you'll only get hurt more." The twinkle shined brighter. Seeing it she turned and began to place the knife down on the counter, the metal of the blade hitting the tan counter top as he lunged for her. Quickly removing the meat tenderizer from its basket, in which other tools like ladles were held, she spun on him, the meat cleaver meeting the base of his neck as she dodged from his grasp, his body hitting the tile floor hard in unconsciousness. Struggling for breathe she tried to leave the room, meeting stairs that lead to a raised door under which a thin line of light spread.
He slammed into the driveway, his door open before he even stopped the car. "Stay here" he ordered her, his door shut before the vowel swept into the car. Angela sat anxiously as she watched Booth raise his gun and kick the fro door open, his words reaching her loudly from outside of the car. "FBI! Mr. Benjamin Bailey, you are under arrest for the disappearance of One Dr. Temperance Brennan. Come out with your hands behind your head!" But beyond that she could see nothing but short glances through the front window of booth searching the home.
She made it up the stairs slowly, the pain of her ankle making her dizzy, her wrist feeling like it was in a tub of boiling grease. But she made it. Turning the door's handle quickly she found it locked, a stream of cuss words flying through her brain. Looking around her she spotted a lump in the carpet and found not only the key to the door but her car keys, earrings and a clump of her own hair. Testing three of the eight keys she found the door finally unlocked and she stumbled out, the sunlight burning her eyes though it was only overcast. She managed on her feet for about four feet then fell, the dizziness taking over along with the pain. From there she crawled to the side of a building g that sat before her she couldn't tell what exactly what it was, her vision blurred, but it seemed to be a home.
He ran through the house, opening closets and doors, revealing empty room upon empty room. Angela couldn't take it any longer; she couldn't see him anymore as he had moved to the back of the house. Removing herself from the car she began to walk around the side, stopping in her tracks with the sight that lay before her, her eyes watering and the image blurring. Lying on the lush, deep green grass beside the home was a very thin, pale woman with short cropped brown hair, her closing eyes a light grey blue. Wrapped around her wrist tightly was a once white kitchen towel, now soaked pink. "Oh my god, Bren." She ran to the limp form, landing on her knees and scooping the figure up into her arms. The figure stirred and cringed as she was held.
"Let go of me, please, let go, please…" a tiny voice begged from the wrecked shell of Anthropologist, Dr. Temperance Brennan.
A/N: sorry for all the break-ups in lines, its just I wasn't sure how to tell the two different stories other wise. Hope you enjoyed.
