Dr. Brennan meet Dr. Brennan
Chapter 14
By LizD
A/N: The Doctor in The Photo comments at end so you can ignore if you'd rather.
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The room was black as pitch. The only sounds were of the two women struggling against their restraints lost in their own thoughts, fears and determination.
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Tempe was chiding herself. How many times had she gotten herself into a situation that had certain death spelled out all over it? How many times could she possibly expect to get out of those situations? There wouldn't always be Ryan, or some other law enforcement professional watching her back, to step in and save her or get her the medical attention she needed just in the nick of time. How did it all go so wrong so fast? They had told no one where they were going? They weren't sure themselves. They happened on Jack Grogan's little stretch of wilderness from something they learned at lunch from a waitress in a road side diner. Who would affect a rescue this time? Would this time truly be the last time?
Tempe thought of her daughter, Katy. They hadn't seen each other much in the past few months, but they talked on the phone regularly. Katy was not overjoyed at the domestic development between Ryan and her mother, but tried to pretend that it was no big deal. Katy, like most children, held out an unreasonable hope that her parents would reconcile. It was easier to forgive her father the multiple indiscretions up to and including the new wife that was only five years older than Katy than it was to forgive the mother for falling in love. Tempe never admitted - in so many words - that she was in love.
That thought sent her mind spinning in a whole other direction. The words I, love, and you were not part of her experience with Ryan - Andy, Andrew. Why did she continue to call him Ryan? He had asked her not to. Made a joke about how his sainted mother had toiled over picking the proper Christian name. He had said that only his cop buddies - professional colleagues - called him Ryan. Clearly they were so much more that 'professional colleagues.' So why did she continue to call him 'Ryan?' She liked the name Ryan better than Andy but that's hardly the point. Was she still keeping her distance? Why hadn't they found a new place to live? Why was she dragging her feet? Why was she not planning on selling the condo? How many lifelines can you hang onto in a relationship before they just start getting in the way and cause more damage than good? Was she trying to sabotage any chance they had? Was she that much of a chicken? Did she honestly think she couldn't survive another break up? What was she missing by not trusting? Ryan was not Pete - he had proved that over and over again.
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"Talk to me," Tempe said to Brennan.
"About what?"
"About anything." Her voice was trembling. She was actually scared. At least this time she had her namesake with her. "Tell me about Booth."
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Brennan's mind had been full of a lot of things as she worked in the dark to free herself. Currently she was trying to understand how much pressure she needed to exert to pull her chains from the wall. But just like with everything in her life Booth was all over it. What would he say? What would he do? What would he expect that she would do? He thought she was a fighter, he had said as much. Said that her being a fighter was sometimes enough to get away. Maybe the chains were pointless and the real fight should begin when they were retrieved to be hung.
Hung? Brennan had never pictured her death. She imagined being gone, but she never actually considered the process of dying. She knew more about death than most people. She knew the pain and hurt that the body suffers. She could outline point by point, what happens in during a hanging. But she wouldn't. She couldn't. She wouldn't let her mind go there. Booth would expect her to fight.
The last conversation they had he was a bit short, curt even. She tried not to take it personally, but maybe she should have. She hated psychology. She hated relationships. She sucked at them. She remembered the last dinner they had together, the very nice walk they had around the reflecting pool and then that awkward, chaste kiss and embrace in their parting. It had seemed natural to kiss good bye, to do something more than smile and nod and turn away. But at the last second it was as if realized that what they were about to do was out of the ordinary, not natural and a first. More thought should have gone into it. The thing was she had thought about kissing him, but each time she shoved it away. She had her chance. The best they could hope for was friends, right?
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"What do you want to know about Booth?" Brennan asked.
"What was the first thing you noticed about him?"
Brennan was quiet for a long moment. There were so many things to notice about Booth: the breadth of his shoulders, the narrowness of his hips, the way he carries his body. Those things she noticed about the man who came to find her at the American University. But the first thing she noticed about Booth was something that stirred something in her, something more than biological urges.
"Brennan?"
"When he smiles at me, it lights up his eyes." Brennan said in a far away voice that she wasn't sure was her own. There was a time when she thought he would never smile at her like that again. "We didn't like each other much when we first met."
"There's a surprise."
"There was a sexual attraction of course, but -."
"You never acted on it."
"No." Brennan repositioned herself to get a better angled to pull on the chain. "Which in hindsight is regrettable."
"Only in hindsight?"
"Booth believes in love, commitment, relationships."
"You don't?"
"I never did."
"Until you met Booth."
Brennan didn't respond.
"What color are his eyes?" Tempe asked.
"Brown," she said simply. She knew the color but it was his expression that touched her soul
"Ryan's are blue," she said not really expecting a response. "I have described them as neon, electric, ice, flame and too damn blue."
Brennan was confused. "I'm not familiar with 'too damn'."
"When he turns those baby blues on me, I melt."
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Booth and Ryan were heading out by helicopter to meet up with the officers on the ground. There was so much noise they couldn't talk. There were only a few lights on the ground to guide by. It was like looking into the black abyss. It was no wonder Grogan was out there.
Ryan was just anxious. He didn't like helicopters – he rarely needed to fly in them. He was also anxious because they were moving fast to somewhere for something but he had no idea what. He knew Tempe. He knew she had more lives than a cat, but at some point they would run out. He didn't want to be the one to let her down.
Booth was totally out of his element. He wasn't up on the case, the area or the language. He had to rely on the SQ to do their jobs. Booth wasn't good at relying on other people.
A report came in. GPS had located Dr. Brennan's phone.
"Which one?" Booth and Ryan asked at the same time.
"Dr. Temperance Brennan," the disembodied voice came back over the radio. "DC area code."
It was about thirty miles from where they found the car and close to the location that was marked on the map they found in the bag with the laptop. Units were on the way. The helicopter would divert. Neither Booth nor Ryan was sure if that meant anything at all. But it was something.
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Dawn crept in the tiny window of the room where Tempe and Brennan were being held. There were four cots pushed up against a wall and a small wood burning stove in the far corner, but it was not lit. Brennan was finally able to see Tempe's face. She wondered if she had the same terrified look that Tempe had.
"We aren't going to make it," said Brennan flatly.
Tempe nodded but continued to work the screws on her chain. Her fingers were bloody and the wound in her shoulder was bleeding again.
With her feet braced against the wall, Brennan pulled really hard and again and again and again. Without warning she fell back; the chain in her hand. She had freed herself from the wall. She dragged herself across the floor to where Tempe was. With the added strength and some exerted energy and Tempe was also freed.
Brennan helped Tempe up. She looked out the little window to see if she could see where they were. All she saw was woods and hills in the distance. Tempe had gone to listen at the door. Nothing. The door was not locked. Holding their chains up and as quietly as they could, they slipped from the room. A dark hall led to another door. They listened at the door for the sounds that Jack Grogan or his companion was awake. There was no sound.
Very gently Tempe opened the door and looked. There was no one in the room. The door on the other side of the room was ajar. They didn't hear any movement. They crossed the room to the door that lead out of the house.
The stepped out into the cold morning air – Brennan first, Tempe following.
They turned the corner at the end of the cabin. Off to the side was Loni Grogan digging a grave. There was a small body lying next to the hole. It was the old man. Brennan and Tempe exchanged a look. When did he die? Were they saved?
Loni was a large woman. Close to six feet, well over two hundred pounds of muscle. She had been working hard all her life. She didn't speak – at least she didn't speak to them, but she was strong enough to manhandle them. They watched as she Jack had barked orders at her that she understood, so she did comprehend. Was there any way to get through to her? With Jack Grogan dead she was free.
Beyond the grave they noticed three nooses hanging from a make shift scaffold. Apparently not. She would hang them and herself.
Tempe tapped Brennan's shoulder to indicate that they should move off around the other side of the cabin. They turned and Brennan tripped on boulder in the ground. She was back on her feet in a moment.
"RUN!" She told Tempe.
Tempe of course didn't.
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When Ryan and Booth got on the ground another report had come in. A waitress a diner had reported seeing two women fitting the description of the doctors Brennan. She reported the information that she had given the women about a man living up in the forest reserve.
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Loni was bearing down on Tempe and Brennan. With a wide swift stroke of the shovel, she knocked Brennan back on the ground with a hit on the side of the face and chin. Brennan was dazed and the wind was knocked out of her but she did not lose consciousness. Tempe kept her distance as best she could, but needed both her hands free to defend herself so she dropped the chain that was still attached to her ankle. Loni stomped on the chain, reached down and yanked it back. Tempe was thrown on her back, sprawled on the ground being dragged by the chain toward the gallows grabbing at anything to prevent the forward motion.
Brennan struggled to her feet and stumbled after them all the while pleading with Loni that she didn't have to do what she was doing. Loni ignored her pleas, swung again with the shovel; with her long arm and the long handle of the shovel she cut a very wide swath. Brennan looked for some kind of weapon, but found nothing that would get her close enough to knock Loni down and free Tempe. The backward swing from Loni clipped Brennan in the hip and again she was down on the ground.
Loni grabbed some rope from the tree stump, flipped Tempe over and tied her hands behind her back with the skill and dexterity of a rodeo roper not heading Tempe's cry out as her gunshot wound again opened and bled. Loni wrapped the chain around her ankles. Tempe was immobile on the ground.
Loni turned her attention to Brennan who was struggling back to standing but was disoriented and stumbling. Loni again grabbed the chain around her ankle and dragged her back toward where Tempe was. Both women were echoing pleas and reason and anything they could to get Loni Grogan to listen. She heeded nothing.
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Booth and Ryan were looking through field glasses at a clearing in the distance. They saw two people standing with ropes around their necks, hands and feet bound. A third person was laboring up next to them and putting the rope around her own neck. Booth looked to the tactical officer standing next to him.
"How accurate?" he nodded to the XM2010 sniper rifle in his hand. It was the same gun Booth used in Afghanistan. It was accurate up to just shy of four thousand feet. The kid looked like he was fifteen and terrified. "HOW ACCURATE?" he screamed again.
"I can ... Fifteen hundred feet … but I can't."
Booth took the gun from the kid and took a position.
"You aren't serious," Ryan stated. "We're over a thousand feet away." Ryan looked back at Booth. "Are you that good?"
A shot rang out. A second. A third. Ryan put the field glasses up to his eyes. All three bodies were down on the ground. At least they weren't hanging from the gallows. One started to move. She struggled to standing. She was a big woman; twice as big as either Brennan or Tempe. Her hands weren't bound. Her legs weren't bound. A fourth shot rang out. The woman fell to the ground in a lump.
"Yes," Booth stated. "I am that good."
Booth handed the rifle back to the kid who was dumbstruck. He set off running toward the clearing.
"Good to know." Ryan et al followed.
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A/N: The Doctor in The Photo comments: Really wanted to love this episode. Think ED was pitch perfect in every scene. The directing and mood was perfect for what it was supposed to be. Thought it did exactly what they (the writers) wanted the show to do (in my mind) - Turn Brennan's world upside down for three days. But it left me with no clear idea that anything permanent had changed. Didn't Brennan say at the end that all she needed was three days to turn it all back around? How is that helpful? Isn't that a message from the writers to the viewers that it will be BUSINESS AS USUAL come January? I have a lot of other opinions tied up with this episode, but this is not the right place for it. Stand alone it was a great episode. As a game changer - only time will tell.
I hope you are enjoying this version of The Doctors Brennan. One more chapter - the wrap up - and we will be done with this little AU.