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Chapter 20: Sunset
Temperance barely noticed him standing over her through the pain that had erupted in her head. She heard him say something, but ignored it, squeezing her eyes shut instead.
And then she was sitting up, with a wall against her back. Still she kept her eyes tightly shut, willing the pain to go away. Slowly, very slowly, she felt it subside, to be replaced by a dull ache and some very hazy thoughts.
There was someone talking to her, asking her if she was alright. She opened her eyes and saw her kidnapper kneeling in front of her. He must have moved me, she thought to herself, fairly certain that she had been by the door just before. She focused her eyes back on his face and tried to concentrate on what he was saying.
"I'm sorry Cati, I didn't see you at the door. What were you doing? Are you alright now?" She felt that it really was far too much effort to open her mouth and reply, so she continued staring at him instead. Her passive tactics obviously worked, because he continued talking.
"It's almost over, querida." He paused and she thought his eyes looked wet. "I'm so sorry Catalina. I should have protected you…and little Nina and Tomas and mama." Now he was crying. He was holding her hand too, she noted. "I did try. I tried to give you a better life. But I couldn't do it. I wasn't good enough. I'm so sorry."
As he spoke, she felt her eyes wander. She had the feeling that she should be worried about something…something. Her gaze alighted on a knife, lying on the ground to his left. Her hazy thoughts slowly registered the significance of the object. Oh yes, now she remembered.
She felt a kind of detached sadness, knowing this man was going to kill her. Not fear, just sadness, that this would be her end.
Booth could see a building sitting back away from the road. Was this it? It had to be, it was the only thing around. I've found her, he thought, surely she's in there. He couldn't imagine any other possibility, he couldn't have handled another possibility.
He forced himself to slow down. There was nothing like the sound of a car speeding towards them to make a killer jumpy. He parked his car reasonably far away and got out; ignoring the low sun shining in his eyes, and the deep red colour the sky was turning.
Looking at the building, he was amazed it hadn't fallen down yet. I looked like it hadn't been used in years. Certainly it wasn't being used now. Most of the front wall was taken up with two rusted roller doors. Obviously this had been some sort of garage.
On the left was another, smaller door. Booth pulled out his gun and edged over to it. He couldn't hear anything on the other side. Was that a bad thing? He was still trying to shut out thoughts about finding her hurt, or dead…
He peeked around the corner of the building and saw a set of windows. He decided to see just what he would be walking into before he opened the door, so he moved quietly over to the windows for a look. Although the dirt smeared over the windows didn't help visibility, he was pretty certain there was no one in there. Just an old desk, and a bench on the opposite wall. There was also a door on the other wall too. He went quickly back around the corner and put his hand on the door handle.
The whole time he had been keeping up a mantra inside his head; Please be alright. Please don't be too late. Please be alright. And it only got louder as he became more and more worried.
He took a deep breath, clutching his gun tightly, and turned the handle. He half expected it not to open, but it did. He entered the dusty room as quietly as he could and looked straight at the door to his left.
Temperance had noticed that she was having trouble focusing on things. Her head was throbbing persistently, and she had a lot of different thoughts running through her head that she couldn't quite grasp.
The one thought that kept coming back was of Booth. She kept thinking that she had to tell him something…she had to tell him not to be sad, she had to tell him not to blame himself, she had to tell him it wasn't his fault, she had to tell him…no, that one was gone, she just couldn't quite grasp it.
She felt something touch her cheek and saw that it was his hand. The man that was crying, the man who thought she was someone else, the man who was going to kill her with the knife. As if conjured by her thoughts, the knife suddenly appeared in his other hand.
She wondered if it would hurt. Probably not. She needed to tell Booth she forgave him, and that he was the only one who could always make her laugh, and that he was the best partner she could ever have, and that it was ok if he didn't know what metatarsals were because she actually liked explaining it to him, and that…no, it had gone again.
Booth moved over to the door. She had to be in there. Just through this door. He was sure of it. He peered through a narrow glass pane that was set into the door. The room was quite dark, but he could tell that it was big. He could also tell that he couldn't see anyone.
As soon as he thought this, a movement caught his eye, to the left of the door. But he couldn't see that far to the side. The angle was all wrong. God, what if it's her! he thought, what if it's him!
He squared his shoulders, made sure his gun was firmly in his hand and reached for the door handle. Please let her be alright, he prayed once more, and then he burst through the door and into the room.
He scanned the room in a second…and there she was. She was slumped against the wall to his left and leaning over her was the man who had put them all through this hell.
"Freeze! Get away from her now!" Booth yelled, pointing his gun at him.
The man jerked around to look at him, but didn't move away. Booth couldn't see his face, but as he turned, he saw something glint in his hand. He had a knife!
"I said move away from her!" Booth yelled again. His eyes flicked to Temperance and back to her kidnapper. Why wasn't she moving? Or even looking at him? Please don't let him be too late!
He watched as the man turned his face away from Booth, back to her. He was saying something to her. Booth couldn't hear what. "This is your last warning!" He told the man, taking another step forward.
The man ignored him and Booth saw the knife move in his hand.
Temperance saw him turn his head to the side, but didn't take much notice of it. He looked back at her.
"I'm sorry." She thought she heard him say. She couldn't be sure what he said next though, her hearing was as temperamental as her eyesight at the moment. Fluctuating between clear and precise, and muffled and hazy.
Her eyes focused on his face, tunnel vision blocking everything else out. His own eyes were wide with…she didn't know what. And then he fell sideways. Just collapsed. She looked down at him, and at the line of blood that was slowly making its way down his face from his temple.
Several moments later the sound of a bang registered in her mind. She would have been curious about how he had suddenly acquired a hole in his head, but she was too tired to think.
Something was touching her face. She looked up to see Booth in front of her. So he did make it after all, she thought. She thought he looked upset, which was strange, because she felt perfectly happy. Why was he worried?
She realised he was talking to her, and thought she should put some effort into trying to hear.
"Bones? Temperance can you hear me? Are you alright? What did he do to you?" He sounded worried too. Maybe she should answer him, just to stop him from worrying too much.
He had started talking again. "Temperance, come on. Just talk to me, ok? I'm going to get you out of here. Just try to speak. Just tell me if you're alright."
Just talk. She could do that. She could do that for Booth.
"I'm alright Booth." She said with only a little bit of difficulty. "You're here. I'm alright." That was enough wasn't it? Yes, he wasn't looking like she was about to die now. Good.
Booth caught her before she fell sideways in a dead faint. God what had this guy done to her? He couldn't see exactly what was wrong with her in this light. It was getting darker very fast.
His backup had arrived while he was talking to her, and he could hear them all running around behind him and outside. He pulled her closer to him, away from the cold wall, and checked that she was still breathing before he lifted her up in his arms.
"You'll be ok, Bones. I promise…please be ok." He stood up, and carried her out the door, through the room crawling with agents, and into the cool, fresh air outside.
A paramedic came up to him and was about to offer to take her from him, but obviously decided better of it. It might have had something to do with the glare Booth gave him. Instead he stalked Booth over to the ambulance and pointed out the stretcher he could put her on.
Booth put her down very carefully and watched as the medics quickly took over. They had her up in the ambulance and hooked up to twenty different things, before he had the chance to assure her he would be right behind her. Not that she would have heard him, but still.
As soon as she was out of his sight, he ran to his own car and followed after the ambulance. He was insanely happy that he had found her, and alive too. But that didn't stop him from being sick with worry about what could be wrong with her, and what could have made her pass out.
But he was convinced that she would be ok. All he had to do was remember the smile she had given him when she recognised him, as though she felt perfectly happy in that moment, and the one thing she had to said to him before she passed out; "I'm alright Booth. You're here."
That was enough for him. That, and the pink and purple sky to his left, just above the setting sun.
Well? What do we think? Only one or two chapters to go!