Chapter Twelve
Here we go!
"I brought you something. You seem to doubt my knowledge of your partner's death, so I brought you these." Brennan looked up wearily. He was holding some pictures.
"Shaw, Collins brought Hannah Burley in. Shes in interrogation 4."
"Thanks Candace," Shaw thanked the receptionist on her floor and headed for the interrogation rooms. She signed in and relieved Collins. Collins headed to the observation room. Everyone had heard by now who Hannah was and the whole story about Parker. Thanks to Cullen though, he put a gag order out on the who building. Nothing about this case was to be discussed with anyone without his permission. If this got out to the media, as they didn't know who Parker was, and Cullen found out who it was it was grounds for immediate termination from the FBI. That was a risk no one was willing to take.
She grabbed the file from by the door and looked over it before going in. Just to be sure no one added anything new to it.
"Hello Ms. Burley." Shaw greeted flatly as she looked at her file. She wasn't thrilled about having to talk to this woman.
Hannah didn't answer. She just stared straight ahead. Shaw sat in the chair across from the quiet woman.
"What, no hello? That's a little rude, but what else should I expect from a reporter." Shaw mocked.
"You want me to talk? You bring Seeley in here. I will tell him anything you want to know. Until then, I want my lawyer." Hannah looked at her while she was talking and immediately turned back to stare off.
Shaw sighed and left the room. Awesome. Charlie will love this. She thought sarcastically.
Klein came back down the stairs not to long after he went up. Brennan wasn't sure how much longer she could do this. Her back was no longer just lacerated. It was one big open wound. Her feet had burns on the soles, her wrist was swollen and she couldn't feel her hand, and Klein had left a two inch 'K' branded on her chest just between her breasts.
"I brought you something. You seem to doubt my knowledge of your partner's death, so I brought you these." Brennan looked up wearily. He was holding some pictures. She didn't want to see. If she didn't look it wouldn't be real, right?
He put the pictures in front of her face but she kept her eyes tightly shut.
"Open your eyes," He ordered. Brennan shook her head. He pulled the whip back and cracked it against her already wounded back.
"Open...Them."
Her eyes shot open when he squeezed her broken wrist. The broken bones rubbed and renewed pain shot through her.
"No, no he can't be dead," she whispered.
He held them up to her again and she couldn't contain a gasp. He was holding autopsy photos of Booth. His chest cut open in a 'Y' incision. His entire body looked bruised and battered, tons small lacerations covering his kin, and one leg gone completely. His neck had a slice across it but it didn't look fatal, not like the single bullet hole in the center of his forehead. He looked like he went through hell and back.
"No, no he can't be dead," she whispered. She thrashed her head back and forth. No he had to find her, save her. She couldn't be alone. He wouldn't leave her, he just wouldn't.
"Well believe it honey." He laughed.
"No, he's not dead." She shook her head again.
"Oh but he is. It was slow and painful. He suffered for days before someone slaughtered him like an animal. A different bone broken every twelve hours, brands and burns, acids, a painful way to go." He chuckled. Delighting in her sobs.
Brennan's whole body went limp and started shaking with sobs. One after the other they ripped through her chest.
Klein laughed and picked up his whip. He happily cracked it against her back a dozen times before deciding enough was enough. He packed up and headed out. She knew he wouldn't be gone long, and she was right. He came back in just ten minutes.
He paced around in front of her. He looked agitated for the first time since the interrogation room. He has been completely calm the whole time she had been holed up down here.
"This will be our last day together. Your little group is getting all riled up. They are getting close. I figure I can kill you and move on, leaving them to forever wonder what happened." Klein told it like a story. It sounded good to him.
Brennan secretly rejoiced. Nothing was here for her now. The world held very little meaning for her without Booth. She 'loved' him, in his words. She knew it was just an influx of hormones and chemicals in her brain. She couldn't make sense of it though; it didn't feel like anything she had felt before.
She dropped her head to her chest, still hanging from the chains. "Let's have a little more fun first, huh?" he smiled evilly an picked something up from the ground. She knew what was coming next. She took a deep breath and heard the crack just before she felt it. The blows were exclusively on her lower back. No higher than the T11 vertebrae no lower than the L4.
When the blows stopped Klein turned her around. "So how does it feel knowing you will never see him again?" Klein asked. He was one mean, sick son of a bitch. "How do you think he felt before he died? Was he begging for like I know you are right now?"
Brennan opened her mouth to answer but fell unconscious before she could speak. Even so the tears poured from her eyes. Her last thoughts were happy about finally being out of this miserable place. That is until a little voice whispered in her head. 'Parker'
Right then and there she couldn't give up. She let herself fall into the blackness but didn't let herself go. Not like she desperately wanted to a few minutes ago.
Klein laughed victoriously. It had never been his plan to get information about Booth. He could have cared less about Booth. What he really wanted was Joy Keenan. He had known her since she was little and had always been very strong. He watched her from afar as she grew up and watched as she got nothing but stronger. He wanted to break her, make her welcome death and hope for it.
"Listen to me, it is empty in there. I called ahead and everyone except out team was sent home. They don't know why. What's important is that you don't get mauled by all the people excited to see you." Hodgins explained. Booth nodded, he was ready to see his little boy. He got to see the pictures of his injuries and what he looked like in the hospital. He couldn't deny that he was both mortified and furious.
Booth and Hodgins walked into the Jeffersonian. He stopped in front of the platform. Angela and the rest of the team were up there with Parker. They were playing a game of some sort. Parker laughed and so did the others. Booth could tell though, they were fake laughs. Their eyes where sad and so were their smiles.
Angela looked up and saw me and Hodgins. She gasped and Parker turned around.
"DADDY!" he yelled. Booth limped forward as fast as he could and grabbed him off the steel table. He pulled him close and Parker wrapped his arm around him. In the corner of his eye he could see a few tears run down Angela's cheek. Hodgins grabbed her and pulled her into his chest. She turned into him relieved that he was home safe.
"Daddy, you're home! What happened. Are you okay?" Parker asked looking at his fathers injuries. Booth smiled and nodded tears forming in his eyes.
"I'm fine, buddy. How are you?" Booth looked over Parker inventorying the places that were injured to see how they healed. He was grateful to see that he looked fully recovered. He pulled him tight into a hug again and closed his eyes for a moment before looking at him.
"I'm better now that you are back. But I miss momma. Did you find her?" he asked Booth hopefully. Booth looked at him confused.
"Um buddy, Dr. Hodgins told me mommy was in jail," Booth told him.
Cam started shaking her head. "Not Rebecca Booth, Brennan."
Booth just looked at her as if she had lost her mind. Bones really didn't care for children. She liked them but she didn't want any. He knew that she had cared for Parker after he got out of the hospital but he figured Rebecca's parents would have stepped in by now.
"Bones told you to call her mom?" Booth asked incredulously. Parker shook his head.
"I asked her and she said she didn't mind. So did you find her?" he asked again.
"Uh, no buddy we haven't found her yet." Booth whispered.
Parker's smile fell, "Oh," he threw his arms back around Booths neck. He could feel the hot tears on his neck. Rubbing Parker's back and bouncing and swaying gently Booth tried to console the upset boy.
"It's alright Parker," he kept whispering in his ear.
Parker shook his head. It wasn't okay. Momma wasn't here and a really bad person had her. He was more than happy to have his dad back. He hadn't seen him in long time and he loved him. He had heard momma in her room asking someone for him to come home. She was asking for him to be alive and safe. It sounded a lot like when he and daddy prayed, but he knew momma didn't go to church or pray like they do.
"It's not okay daddy. I want her back. We have to save her, she saved me from the bad man. We have to help her daddy, please!" Parker pleaded.
"Of course we are going to help find her Parker." Booth assured him. He bounced and swayed for a few minutes until Parker calmed down.
"Do we know anything?" Booth asked.
"A little." Angela answered. Booth turned around to ask what that meant when he stopped.
"Whoa. Look at the belly!" he smiled down at her stomach. Angela laughed.
"I smuggled it back from Paris. I feel like I'm about to burst and the little is playing soccer with my organs." Angela rubbed the spot being abused.
"Can I?" He asked hopefully, holding a hand towards her belly.
"We weren't even sure you would ever get back here." She grabbed his hand and pulled him forward. She pressed his hand against her stomach where the baby was kicking.
"Oh my god. That was the whole foot. I could feel toes." Booth laughed. Everyone gathered around and felt the little feet repeatedly rapping against Angela's stomach. For a moment everyone truly smiled. The happy moment was needed all around and it drastically improved their low morale.
Charlies phone rang. Booth didn't even look over at him. He was pissed that he let something happen to Bones.
"Yea, Shaw." He answered. He nodded as the other person spoke.
"Well we have him safely back here at the Jeffersonian. How about I give the phone to him. He's not necessarily to happy with me at the moment." he held the phone out to Booth.
"Yea Shaw, it's Booth." he answered.
"Hey Agent Booth. Nice to have you back where you belong, Sir."
"Don't call me Sir, Shaw. Whats going on over there?" He asked, Parker still laying his head on his shoulder.
"We have Hannah Burley in custody. She is here in relation to Parker and Dr. Brennan. We believe she is working with Klein and may know where Dr. Brennan is. She said she will only talk to you."
"Thank you, Shaw." Booth roughly put the phone back in Charlies hand.
"Booth, can I talk to you for a moment?" Cam saw the exchange and the way Booth was acting towards Charlie. She knew why.
"Yea, hold on." He turned to Parker.
"Stay here for a few minutes?" He asked. Parker nodded.
"Sure Daddy. I'm going to do play in Uncle Jacks office." He mentioned as he landed on his feet.
"Uh, buddy you probably shouldn't play..." Before he could finish Angela laughed.
"Don't worry Booth. He has his own little desk in each of our offices and he knows very well what the rules are about touching. Also we don't have any cases going right now other than Bren's. He'll be fine." Angela assured him.
"Okay, I'll be right back. I love you buddy." Booth hugged him tight and kissed the top of his head.
"Love you too, daddy." he whispered and squeezed Booth a little tighter. It was difficult for Booth to walk away even though he knew Parker was safe and no danger would lurk in the Jeffersonian.
Booth walked into Cams office.
"Hey, umm could we talk in Bones office please. I've been in a basement for weeks, tied up in almost nothing. I would like to be in a room that did not resemble that place and wasn't this cold.
"No because her office is locked and your keys are in Parker's bag in Angela's office. So just bear with me. When we are done you can lay Parker down to sleep in there when you get the keys." Cam wasn't really worried about the room. She knew he was just worried and wanted to be around Brennan's stuff.
"You need to lighten up on Charlie. He did everything he could and has done a lot for us." Cam scolded gently.
"He let her get hurt. Twice, Cam. He should have protected her. He sees her almost on cases for some reason or another, right? How did he not know something was off?" Booth asked angrily. He was pacing and limping.
"Booth, she didn't interact with Charlie for cases. She accepted them, did what she needed and either sent them with someone else, or left them for him to pick up. She refused to go to lunch with him or allow him to bring her anything eat. He wasn't allowed to stop by after work to check on her even though Max was convinced she was in danger. She was always polite and willing to interact with him, but only if the whole team was around and if it involved Parker. She didn't replace you, Seeley. She hasn't been herself. If Parker was around she was happy and upbeat and always encouraging him to be happy and have fun and learn. She was happy when he was the topic of conversation or if they were talking about Angela and the baby, but other than that she was back to that same closed off Dr. Brennan I knew when I first started. Whenever someone mentioned your name, her eyes glazed over and she was seeing something else. If someone asked about you she shut down. Hell, I think Hodgins and Angela are the only people she really opens too. She won't even talk to her dad like she talks to Angela or Hodgins." Cam looked at Booth who was furiously wiping away at his wet cheeks.
He couldn't believe he let her down like that. He never should have gone back to the military. If he had stayed, none of this would have happened.
"Please Cam, I just want to collect my thoughts. It will be so much easier in her office than surrounded by people." Cam slipped out to grab the keys from Parker's bag. It only took a moment for her to return and guide him to Brennan's office. She handed him the keys and walked away.
He entered Bones office and inhaled deeply. Her smell washed over him and so did a reassuring calm. He looked around and noticed something. A blanket on the back of her chair. It was familiar and he recognized it as his own. Its the blanket that hangs on the back of his couch at home. The one she always hoards for herself on movie nights. He picked it up and wrapped it around himself as he sat in her chair. The blanket still smelled faintly like his house, but it smelled dominantly of her.
"Hannah," Booth walked into the interrogation room. His limp was much less pronounced now.
"Seeley!" She smiled wide as if he too would be happy to see her.
"Where is Dr. Brennan?" He asked angrily. He met Hannah when he first went over to Afghanistan. He talked to her in the chow line and made her laugh, once. She has been obsessed with him ever since. He couldn't get rid of her and was afraid when he went back this time that he would once again be stalked. Luckily for him she wasn't there. Unfortunately he knew where she was know.
"I don't know. She was never part of the plan with Klein. He was just supposed to get the kid out of the way. I promise! I never wanted to hurt you. I would never hurt you!"
Booth just stared at her. He was confused. What was wrong with this woman? Was she really that dense?
Hannah hurried to completely explain and get back on his good side. "Klein was supposes to take the kid and I was supposed to rescue him so that you would like me."
"And you thought you would get away with that!? You realize what Klein did to him right? Tortured him endlessly." Booth scattered pictures of Parker's battered little body across the table. Pictures that he couldn't look at again without losing the contents of his stomach. "Now he has my partner. The woman I lo...care about is stuck somewhere and I don't even know if she is alive!" by the time he was finished speaking he was yelling.
Hannah was shaking her head. "Please Seeley, I'm sorry. I love you. Maybe it's its for the best. She didn't love you like I do. I... I... I didn't know that he would do that. He was supposed to take the kid back to old gas station out side of town."
Booth stopped when she said that. "You need help if you think kidnapping my son and allowing him to be tortured just so you can save him will get me to love you." Booth turned around and stormed out. You could here Hannah yelling for Booth to come back.
TBC
This Chapter turned out a whole lot longer than I originally anticipated, but oh well. I think that will be the last of Hannah. Booth didn't seem pleased with her.