Author's Note: I'm overwhelmed by the support this story has received. I really am grateful that you've taken the time to read it.
Chapter 25: The Moments That Follow.
Booth didn't have to call them with the news. Cam, Sweets, Hodgins, Angela, Caroline, and Hannah- they were all together. They were at the Jeffersonian, wanting to be available in case their expertise was needed...wanting to be together, in case it was too painful to be alone.
In the early hours of the morning, they were draped over the various surfaces in Angela's office- sleeping, or pretending to. They didn't think to leave the television on, but it didn't matter anyway. Hannah was a journalist. She always got the news before it aired.
"Oh, God. Oh, no. Please."
Never the words you want to wake up to.
They surrounded her in an instant, and she gestured for them to turn on the television. Angela grabbed the remote and stood frozen at the scene on the morning news.
Tragedy in the Mountains. That's how the caption read. The anchor was cutting away to someone "live on the scene" who was basically explaining that there was no information, other than word of a serious explosion in the Alleghany Mountains.
"What do you know? At what point in the raid did the explosion take place? What about the agents? Are they okay?" Hannah was grilling whoever was on the other end of the line.
Everyone else shifted their gazes between her and the screen.
"Dear God. Sweet Lord Jesus." Caroline watched as the camera panned out, showing the flames from the explosion.
Hodgins put his arms around his wife, forcing her to lean on him. "We don't know anything yet. Everything might be okay. Maybe this is what happened after they got in and got her out."
No one believed him, but no one was willing to say so either.
"You're right, we don't know anything." Cam glanced at Hannah who was still firing questions, but seemingly receiving few answers. "Sweets, Caroline, can either of you get Booth or Hacker on the phone? We need to know what's going on."
Sweets shrugged helplessly, in shock. Caroline took out her phone and started dialing. When she didn't receive an answer, she just started over again. Finally, someone picked up.
"Hacker what the hell has happened now? All y'all's talking and planning, and this mess is what I wake up to?" She held out the phone and shook her head at his response. "Cheri, I don't give a damn. What is the condition of the agents?"
She smiled and flashed a thumbs-up at the group. Cam started to cry. Hannah collapsed on the couch.
"What about the people in the compound?" There was a pause, no thumbs-up this time. "I see...and Dr. Brennan?...I see. Yes, yes I understand. The minute you hear anything, Hacker. Don't make me call you." Her words were tough, but her tone was weary and her chin was puckered. She turned to circle of people around her. "Booth's okay. The WHR must have known they were coming. Or, hell, maybe they were just crazy. They ignited the explosives before the agents even penetrated the perimeter. There were some injuries, but nothing critical. Booth is being treated by medics on the scene. Hacker says he won't even need to go to the hospital."
"What about Bren?" Angela's voice was sharp. "What about Bren?"
Caroline couldn't meet her stare. "They are trying to put out the fire on the compound. We won't know anything official until investigators are able to process the scene."
"But unofficially?" It was Hodgins. He didn't want to ask. But he had to.
"She's dead," Sweets answered when Caroline couldn't. "She's dead. They all are." His voice was flat, his face blank. "They weren't going to continue in this world without their leader. Mass suicide. It's common with cults under stress. From the moment they took her...she never really had a chance."
oOo
She was...she didn't know where she was. She'd climbed through that open window and ran until she collapsed. In the grass, in the air. She lay there, waiting to die, waiting to be discovered, waiting for the sun to rise. But then the world had caught fire, and she crossed one of those possibilities off of her list.
There would be no one left to discover her.
oOo
Booth's ears were ringing. He was sitting in a chair in a makeshift medical tent as a doctor made him follow a light with his eyes. There was something...something to be done...but his mind couldn't quite grab a hold of it.
He had been a statue, and there were almonds, and then...
"Bones!" He jerked away from the doctor and his light. He fled the tent, trying to reach the compound. Trying to reach his partner.
There were people in his way, but he took no notice. He just kept pushing through.
"Booth. Booth." A voice he recognized. Someone he liked. Hawez.
He stopped for this agent, looked at him hopefully. But Agent Hawez shook his head.
"You can't go down there. The put out the fire, but...Booth, there's no one alive down there."
And that stopped him. Hawez was wrong- he could have gone down there. He would have...but he couldn't see her burned.
He hardened himself, turned from his friend and sought out his boss. That weak bastard had tears in his eyes. Booth wanted to yell that he had no right to tears. He wanted to remind him that he could have produced Max Keenan and prevented this.
But he wanted information more.
"Are they all dead?"
"They're still collecting remains. There are at least thirteen bodies, though, according to the techs."
"Thirteen?"
"At least. Booth, some of them were scattered...it's possible..."
Booth interrupted, couldn't bear to watch as this man, this man who could have stopped this, began to fall apart. "How do we plan to identify them? How do we plan to make sure?"
"Well, the Jeffersonian..."
"No. No, absolutely not. Not the men. If we find...if we find her, then okay. But not the men. Let the ME here handle it."
It wasn't Booth's place to give orders or make such decisions, but Hacker nodded. Not the Jeffersonian.
"Is there a search party in the woods, just in case one of them didn't want to drink the Kool-Aid?" He wouldn't be able to stand it if a single one of those men outlived his partner.
"Yeah," Hacker pointed to the sky, "the helicopters are searching."
oOo
She was at the ocean. The wind was pounding at her face. She could hear the waves crashing.
But that didn't make sense. Because she was in the mountains. She remembered coming to the mountains.
You can't be at both the mountains and the ocean.
"Ma'am? Ma'am, can you tell me your name?"
A sheet was covering her, someone was tucking her in. They were talking to her, but she couldn't hear them over the waves.
"Ma'am?"
It was a man. She tensed, started thrashing. He was wrapping her up, trying to lift her. She couldn't...she didn't want him touching her...
"Ma'am, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. Are you Doctor Temperance Brennan?"
That's not...that's not what the men called her. That was her name, but that's not what they called her. He said he wouldn't hurt her...he was a liar...she had to keep fighting.
"It's okay, it's okay. We're going to take you to the hospital. It's going to be okay."
He was a liar...but she couldn't fight. She needed to close her eyes. She was still waiting for the end.
oOo
Booth was sitting in the communications van, trying to avoid the stares of his fellow agents. Trying to think about the call home he needed to make. Trying to come up with a way to say what had to be said.
Hacker was there too, so was the guy from the ATF. Booth had never bothered to learn his name. It didn't matter anymore.
He'd almost gotten up the nerve to leave the van, to call D.C., to confess his failure. He was going to do it, but the radio crackled and all three men jumped to alert.
"This is Chopper 4, repeat this is Chopper 4. Requesting communication with Command."
Hacker grabbed the radio. "Go ahead with your message, Chopper 4."
"A female survivor has been found in the woods. She is stable, but non-communicative. Beginning transport to Lynchburg General."
"Copy that Chopper 4. Over."
Hacker turned to Booth. "It has to be her."
Both men were out of the van, heading toward one of the SUV's. Hacker called over his shoulder to the man from the ATF. "Agent Booth and I are headed to Lynchburg for information on the female survivor. Keep us posted on progress here."
It had to be her.