A/N: Okay – much thanks to each of you who take the time to review, its nice knowing your thoughts, that you're enjoying this, or just out there! As reviews for this fiction or others I've written come in – I can't help but be shocked that people actually LIKE what I am doing! So THANK YOU ALL! –Riviera41797-

Chapter 10

Seeley Booth slammed on the brakes of his SUV, threw it into park and hurried out of the vehicle, the ambulance just a few minutes behind him. The gravel road was a cloud of smoke as his vehicle had sped down the road, disrupting dirt and gravel. The dark finish of his SUV was covered in a fine film of dirt from the dust the road had kicked up.

The sun was beginning to set, so it was getting darker out, and cooler. The sky was a palette of indigo and a blaze of orange and yellow. The song of crickets had begun, and a few birds were flying from branch to branch twittering as they did so.

Booth spotted the older man wearing jeans and a red flannel shirt. He was crouched down beside Bones and he quickly reached his side, and knelt beside an unconscious Bones. He struggled to swallow past the lump that seemed to lodged in his throat. She looked terrible, extremely pale, dark circles under her eyes, her hair in long stringy strands, and gaunt. Her clothes were wrinkled and dirty, and he quickly felt for her pulse, it was somewhat slow and weak, her breathing shallow.

Who the hell was responsible for this? His mind raced at the possibilities, he reined in his anger, knowing to save that for later. He stood and regarded the other man.

Booth held out his badge for Mr. Frette to see, and the older man stood, and offered his right hand for him to shake, he accepted the gesture. Booth estimated Wayne to be about 6"3, maybe 220 pounds, light blonde with grey hair. He glanced down and spotted a grey dog stationed beside Bones. The dog regarded him warily, her stub of a tail wagged twice.

"Agent Booth, thank you for getten' here so quick. She isn't looken too good. Ambulance on the way?" Wayne asked, peering over Booths shoulder expectantly, and meeting his eyes again.

Wayne ran his hands through his hair and replaced his orange cap. He sighed wearily. "Nothing ever happened like this round here before…" he trailed off, looking down at Temperance again.

"Yes, it should be arriving momentarily…." Booth trailed off as he stepped around the man and went to Bones' side. He lowered himself to the ground, and lifted her head and placed it in his lap, pulling the hunting jacket up around her shoulders more securely.

"Bones…hey…come on Bones, wake up…" he called to her, staring at her eyes, willing them to open. "Temperance…" he tried with more emphasis, no response. Her eyes remained stubbornly closed. He glanced up at Wayne, who was looking down at him with sympathy.

Misty hadn't moved an inch. She whined again and looked from Booth to Wayne and back to Booth again. "Misty" Wayne called to her, "Come". Misty stood and trotted to his side, and sat down.

"How long has she been out here? Was this were you found her?" Booth asked the other man quickly, as the wail of the ambulance siren was heard in the near distance.

"I don't know how long she's been out here, Misty here found her. I was just out in the woods, gonna get my huntin' stand ready for the season" Wayne advised him, shoving his hands into his pockets, and kicking at the gravel with his work boots.

"Who else lives out this way?" Booth asked, raising his voice to be heard over the quickly approaching siren. He looked over his shoulder and saw the red flashing lights making their way down Five Mile Creek road.

"Well, myself, then Adam Rogne, and old Mrs. Bouffleur 5 miles out. Lotta forest between our homes….young lady there musta walked at least a few miles. My place borders Adams" Wayne said, gesturing down the road to the right.

The ambulance pulled up beside where he and Wayne were, and hurried over to where Temperance lay. Booth gently transferred her head back down on the other mans gloves and let the paramedics do their job.

Booth stood by and watched as the two paramedics quickly loaded Temperance onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. The moment she was inside, the one paramedic began to check her vitals, after slipping an oxygen mask over her face, as the other paramedic shut the doors.

Booth was behind the young paramedic as he turned from shutting the rear doors, and jumped a little at Booth standing there, a dark expression on his face.

"Yes sir?" the young man asked, startled and somewhat intimidated by the FBI Agent.

"You taking her back to North Memorial?" Booth quietly demanded

"Yes sir, we are, excuse me" and the young man rushed to the drivers door and got in, turned the sirens back on and took off in a cloud of gravel dust again.

Booth watched the ambulance leave and turned back to the older man.

"Mr. Frette, you said that you had a neighbor to your right, Adam was it?" Booth asked, pulling out a pen and paper from his inside pocket.

Misty had gone off to sniff in the brush along side the gravel road, Wayne gazed off towards his dog, and answered "Yeah, Adam Rogne. He inherited his ma's place a while back, young man. Probably 'bout that young woman's age, nice enough kid, keeps to himself though. You'll find his driveway 'bout 2 miles down the road there" he pointed to the right. "Then old Mrs. Bouffleur lives past him 5 miles down. Fiesty old thing, her kids take good care of her. This here is a dead end road though, so we don't see a lotta traffic" Wayne advised him.

Booth looked to the older man, and said "Thank you for calling me sir. I appreciate it. If you think of anything else, you can reach me on the card you found, okay?"

"Guess it was right lucky she had that card of yours in her pocket, wasn't it son?" Wayne said grimly

Booth looked at him a moment, then turned and head back to his vehicle. He slid into the drivers seat and sat there a moment, hesitating. He really wanted to get to the hospital to check on Bones, but something told him he should go and check out this Adam character.

Ignoring the urge to check out Adam, he started the SUV and sped down the gravel road, swerving only once to avoid hitting a rabbit sitting in the middle of the road. The rabbit jumped and hopped quickly to the side of the road out of the way.

Booth opened his cell phone and called Hodgins to let everyone know what was happening. He could hear Angela in the background demanding to know what was going on, and was Brennan okay. Hodgins agreed to meet him with Angela and Zach at the hospital in 20 minutes.

Booth closed his cell phone and slipped it into his pocket. He couldn't seem to shake the picture of the way she looked when he cradled her head in his lap. She looked so fragile, so weak. Not at all like the strong woman he knew. Knowing that she was nearly alone in the world made his heart lurch. He would make sure she'd never feel alone again.

End this chapter.