Chapter 10 - The Trick in the Traitor

"Booth, damn it, take the shot!" Brennan gritted out, struggling futilely against Lockton's hold.

Booth shook his head again, blinking rapidly. "No, Bones," he gasped, "I can't, I don't have a clean shot."

Lockton dragged Brennan further away, keeping himself very carefully hidden behind her. He was well aware of Seeley Booth's prowess with firearms and he wanted to be sure the only shot available was through Brennan. "Forget it, Agent Booth," he shouted, continuing to back toward the exit. "I'm not giving you any kind of target, you'll have to shoot her to get at me and we all know you'll never be able to do that!"

Booth glanced between Lockton, Brennan and the door. Damn, Lockton was close. He knew what was going on, so clearly he had some kind of plan. Booth couldn't let out him of here, especially not with her. They had snipers all around the building, but Lockton was proving himself quite clever in not presenting a clear target.

Booth's eyes scanned the room, looking for something, anything to help him. Anything to stop what he knew in his gut was about to happen. He wondered how this had all gone wrong so damn fast. Everything had fallen into place just as they had planned. But as Cullen had warned, Lockton was one step ahead of them yet again.

When Brennan had made her appearance at her own funeral in their attempt to push Lockton to reveal himself, he was ready for them. He had known all along she wasn't dead. The mole had been a part of the very small, trusted team who had been a part of faked death. Booth had actually been in the same room with her briefly; Agent Amy Carrigan, the female agent who'd been on duty with Simons at Bones's hotel. Cullen's team had grabbed her as she tried to escape from the back of the funeral home, but Lockton had already gotten the drop on them and snatched Bones. Lockton knew, of course, about Brennan's self-defense skills and positioned himself in such a way so she wouldn't be able to use any of her martial arts moves on him.

Now here he was staring helplessly as his partner was about dragged from the building by a psycho killer.

"Booth," he heard her say and he met her eyes. She was calm, preternaturally so, and she didn't divert her eyes from his. "Booth," she said again, "you have to take the shot." He shook his head slightly, but his gaze narrowed on her left shoulder. She spoke again, whispering, only for him, those blue eyes clear and bright. "I trust you, Booth, it's ok."

He swallowed hard, his eyes now pleading with her as Lockton took another step away. "Bones..." he moaned, sighting his handgun as carefully as he'd lined up any of the sniper shots he'd ever taken. "I..."

"I know, Booth," she soothed, "I know."

Booth breathed out, back in, out halfway. He stroked the trigger, met her eyes one last time, saw her nod, and squeezed the trigger. The shot echoed deafeningly through the nearly empty room. Brennan jerked, Lockton reflexively released his hold and she dropped like a stone. The next shot found its target in the center of Lockton's forehead, knocking him backward.

Before the smoke had cleared and the echo died, Booth was on his knees next to Brennan, gathering her into his arms. He yanked off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulder, trying desperately to stop the flow of blood. Without looking up from her face, he barked "Get a medic in here now!" and heard quick footsteps running toward the front of the building.

"Bones? Bones? Can you hear me, baby?" he begged, holding her as close as he could without disturbing his makeshift bandage. Her eyes fluttered open and he sighed in relief.

"Booth?" she murmured, trying to see his face.

"Yeah, baby, I'm here, you're ok. Just stay with me, Bones, ok? Just stay with me," he whispered, his voice breaking several times. "The EMTs are on their way in and we'll get you fixed right up, ok?"

She smiled a little and nodded, turning her head into his chest. She felt something drip on her cheek and looked up to find his eyes full of tears. She raised her other arm, placing her hand on his cheek, wincing a little at the movement. "Booth, it's ok," she whispered, wiping the tears from his cheeks. "You did the right thing and Lockton's gone. I'll be..." Her words were interrupted as she slipped into unconsciousness.

The EMTs entered the room then and swooped Brennan out of Booth's arms to begin stabilizing her. Once they got an IV started and some bandages on her wound, they carefully placed her on the stretcher and moved her out as quickly as they could. Booth followed, carefully gathering up his self-control, knowing he had to keep it together for her.

They loaded her into the ambulance, shouting orders and vitals back and forth. Cullen approached, but didn't speak. Booth looked at him blankly, then stepped into the ambulance. The EMT working on Brennan looked up at him, opening his mouth to object to his presence in the ambulance, but closing it immediately on noting the wild, desperate look in the agent's eyes. He looked out at Cullen, who nodded once. Booth didn't see anything but Brennan. He sat down on the bench next to her and took her hand, stroking the back of it absently as he stared at her face, willing her to open those beautiful eyes again.

Someone slammed the ambulance door shut and pounded the back. Sirens blaring, they took off through the heavy DC traffic. The EMT worked steadily, checking her vital signs, making sure the IV was in place and the drip appropriate. He called ahead to the emergency room, giving them a heads up on her condition. He glanced at the FBI agent periodically, taking in his blood soaked t-shirt and the tender way he held the woman's hand. His face was carefully blank, but every so often, the medic got a glimpse of his eyes. They were still wild, still desperate, and more than a little dangerous.

This guy was hanging on by a thread, and this woman was the thread.

~~B&B~~

When Cam, Angela, and Hodgins arrived at the emergency room, they found Booth sitting in the waiting room, forearms resting on his knees, head dropped down, staring intently at the floor. Angela moved to approach him first, but Hodgins pulled her back. She was angry about the deception, scared for Brennan and furious that Booth had shot her; mostly certainly not anything Booth was capable of handling at the moment.

"Ange," Hodgins said softly, holding his wife close to his side. "Let's wait a sec, ok?"

Angela looked at him, then back at Booth, really seeing him this time. Her anger faded as she took in his appearance, the bloody t-shirt he was still wearing, the haunted look on his face. "Yeah," she said softly, leaning against Hodgins, "you're right." She was still angry at the all the secrets, that she thought she'd lost her best friend, only to find she was alive and then shot. But she could see Booth was suffering enough at this point and she couldn't bring herself to add to it by berating him.

Cam was left to approach him alone. She sat next to him, placing a comforting hand on his back and leaning close to speak to him quietly. "Booth?" she said, "is she going to be ok? What have you heard?"

He didn't look up at her, but responded dully, "She's in surgery now."

Cam looked at her watch. They would have arrived at the ER about 45 minutes before, probably taken her into surgery shortly after that, so it would be several hours still before they knew any more. She hoped Booth could hold on that long. She could only imagine what this was doing to him. It would be bad enough if she'd been shot in the line of duty by a bad guy, but it was a hundred times worse because he'd been the one to fire the shot. On top of the fact that just barely a week ago, he'd been summoned to this same hospital to see her dead body. Cam sucked in a deep breath and stood, patting him on the back as she did so.

When she reached Angela and Hodgins, she said, "She's in surgery right now. It'll be a couple more hours before we know anything. Based on what I could gather at the scene, it was clean shot through her shoulder." She glanced over her shoulder at Booth, ensuring he couldn't overhear. "He placed it as carefully as he could to keep the damage to a minimum. She should be fine."

Angela sighed in relief, sagging against Hodgins. Her gaze returned to Booth and she murmured, "What about Booth? Is he going to be alright?"

Cam looked back at him again, then returned her gaze to Angela. Her eyes clearly reflected her concern for her old friend. "God, I hope so, Angela, I really hope so."

~~B&B~~

Several hours passed with all of them sitting in the waiting room. Booth never moved from his position on the edge of the chair. He refused coffee, a walk, conversation, any attempt to reach him. Eventually, they stopped asking and left him to his internal torment.

Finally, the surgeon entered the waiting room, pulling off his surgical cap as he approached. "Agent Booth," he called, scanning the room.

The voice cut through Booth like a knife and he jumped to his feet instantly. "Yes, Doctor, I'm Agent Booth."

The surgeon approached them and stopped in front of Booth. He took in the clothes, the wild eyes and thought for a moment the agent was going to collapse. He hurried to reassure him, saying, "Agent Booth, your partner is going to be just fine. The shot was very clean, just some muscle damage, which we were able to repair quite easily. She's lost some blood and she's going to be sore for awhile, but she'll be just fine."

Booth's knees weakened under him and he barely noticed as both Cam and the doctor reached for him. He dropped back into the chair, whispering a short prayer of thanks. "Thank you, Doctor," he whispered, "thank you."

"You're welcome, of course, Agent Booth," the doctor replied. Cam took the doctor's arm, leading him a few steps away to get further information on Brennan's condition. The doctor described the wound in more technical terms to her, reassuring her they had the full story. She'd be on antibiotics to fight off possible infection from the bullet and she'd have her arm in a sling for a few weeks, but there would be no permanent damage, just a small scar.

She thanked the doctor again and turned back to talk to Booth. Her eyes fell on an empty chair. He was gone. Confused, she lifted her gaze to check the rest of the room, only to catch a glimpse of him as he strode from the hospital and into the warm DC afternoon.

~~B&B~~

Brennan came back to consciousness slowly. Various shapes in the hospital room came into focus as she opened her eyes and tried to clear her head.

"Hey, sweetie," she heard Angela's voice say softly. She turned her head toward the voice and frowned.

"Ange?" she said, still trying to sweep the fuzziness from her head.

"I'm here, sweetie," Angela replied, taking Brennan's hand and squeezing it gently.

Brennan tried to sit up, wincing at the pain in her shoulder as she did. The events of the morning crystallized in her head instantly, causing her to gasp.

"Booth?" she whispered, looking frantically around the room for him. "Booth? Where's Booth?"

Angela exchanged a quick look with Cam, who'd approached the other side of the bed. Angela touched Brennan's good shoulder gently, pushing her back down into the bed. "Booth's...ummm...he's not here right now, sweetie."

"Not here?" she replied, her eyes almost immediately filling with tears. "Oh, no!" she gasped, struggling against Angela's touch, still trying to get upright. "Oh, Ange, you've got to find him...you've got to find him now! Please!"

Another voice joined the conversation then. "I'll go, Dr. B." Hodgins said. "I'll find him and bring him back here for you."

Brennan laid back into the pillow again, still fighting off tears. "Thank you, Jack, thank you," she mumbled as she drifted back into semi-consciousness.

The three friends looked at each other, all of them concerned about what was happening here. Angela turned to her husband, saying quietly, "You'd better go, Jack. Please find him and get his ass back here quick. I don't know what she might try if he's not here when she wakes up again."

Hodgins nodded, pulling on his jacket as he moved quickly toward the door. "I know. I'll take care of it."

Angela and Cam were left alone to stare at the woman in the bed in front of them, each wondering if the partners, their friends, their family, could find their way to each other this time.

A/N: Well, I hope you, my lovely readers, don't think this is really over the top. It just kind of wrote itself that way, not anything that I'd intended to happen! Also, thanks so much again to all of you who are reading this! The reviews and alerts and favorites really keep me going and I appreciate all the support! This story is finally winding down at last, and I must say I'll be sad when it's done! Please review and tell me what you think!