Update 26- Bravery From Within

The car was filled with a tense silence. Harding found his eyes wandering to his passenger more and more during the drive, and finally, she caught him. She didn't turn her gaze from him and he could feel her eyes burning into him, he focused on the windshield. He could feel the cool chill from the ice blue eyes that were on his face. "Where are we going?" She asked. Her voice was no longer vulnerable, it was no longer full of fear, though he could sense that she was just hanging by a thread, a fragile thread, and if he twisted her the wrong way, it would snap and unravel in front of him.

"A bar."

"A bar?" She asked, the hitch in her voice telling him that she wanted more than just that.

"Deuce said its run by this guy."

"Snake Eyes." She replied, shuddering as she remembered the soulless eyes of the man in the picture from the file.

"Yes. I saw him there."

"You went there?" She asked, her eyes now staring more intensely at him, if that were possible.

"I did." He nodded. "I didn't give any indication of who I was, and I don't think he knew who I was."

"You don't think?" She asked, her voice full of disdain, and Harding paused, he was trying to choose his words carefully, and she could see him visibly wince at the harshness in her voice, and tried her best to calm herself.

"If he knew it was me, Temperance, I'm sure he would have done more than just ask me to leave."

"He asked you leave?" She asked. "Why don't you stop playing this word game and just tell me exactly what happened." She said, shaking her head as she gritted her teeth.

"Deuce visited me yesterday morning. He told me that the bar belonged to Snake Eyes. I wanted to find more information, so I went in, and the bartender was a bit harsh, but you could tell just by the way that they acted that the bar was just a cover for something else. I didn't really fit into the neighborhood, or the look of most of their customers, so they acted like I didn't belong, not like they were ready to kill me. Snake Eyes came out from the back room. He asked me to leave, and that was it. He could have done something to me right there if he knew it was me."

"And what if he does know it was you? I mean… I thought he was looking for Deuce… there's no proof that he's even looking for you. He is just trying to get your source." She said seriously, watching Harding nod solemnly.

"Which is why he went after you." Harding replied. "I don't know if they expected to find you there, or not." He replied. "They know that you were connected to Booth, and they know that Deuce has been leaking information about Booth's case. We're going to find her, Temperance." He said softly.

"You can't… know that." She whispered, letting her eyes flick to the window, she felt the car slowing as they turned onto a local street. "There's no way for you to know that they…"

"Temperance." He said, reaching his hand over to her, he grasped her hand tightly in his. "No negativity." He whispered. "We're going to find her, and she's going to be fine." He whispered, pulling the car up toward the bar, he looked out the window as they passed, and lifted his hand from Temperance's, and gritted his teeth. "Shit!" He exclaimed, slamming his fist into the steering wheel as he squealed the tires and pulled from the curb.

"What?" Temperance asked, her anxiety rising in her chest as if it could get any worse, her eyes flashed to the bar that they passed. "Was that the bar? Harding? Was that the bar? Where are you going?"

"Yeah, that's the bar." He said with a nod, making his way down the road, he lifted his hand to the siren, flicking it on.

"I don't understand, you said we're going there, you said that this was…"

"There was a folded card…"

"A folded card? I don't know what that means." She said, watching him for answers.

"A folded face card." He said, glancing to her as he drove quickly through the streets.

"Is it from Deuce?"

"Yes… it indicates that he folds." He said with a nod.

"I still don't know what that means." She said, holding the door handle as he took a sharp curve.

"A fold, in poker… it's to drop your cards… you're out of the game."

"I don't understand, Deuce is out of the game?"

"He went there… he gave himself up…"

"What does that mean for us? What does that mean for Antonia?" She asked, her eyes flashing instinctively behind them.

"It means he's giving himself up for her… he's sacrificed himself… I don't know what this does for them. I do know that once he folds, there will not be any more clues… Folding indicates that any clues we may have missed are null and void, and any clues in the future are either someone else trying to lead us off the scent, or to lure us…"

"So what do we do? He's given himself up, does that mean they return Antonia?"

"That means we need to find her now!" He exclaimed. "We're going back to my office, we have to look through the files again." He said with a nod, he twisted the steering wheel again, sending them careening around another corner as he made his way toward the Hoover Building as quickly as he could.

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He could see nothing but the white flashes of pain in his head from the abuse he had been subjected to. He could hear her crying, sobbing so angrily, that it was making it more painful than the cracked and possibly broken ribs that he knew he had. He needed to see her, hold her, talk to her. He needed her to stop crying. He needed to stop the fear. "Toni." He said, his voice was weaker than he would have liked, but he needed this. "Antonia, baby." He said, grunting at the pain in his chest with each breath. "Antonia… please… Toni…" He whispered, noting that the pain was a little less when he did this, less strain on his lungs, his ribs. "Toni, please…" Booth said again.

She sobbed harder, her crying turning into hiccups as she mumbled something, lamenting sadly amid the sobs, it was hard to discern anything that she was saying. Booth knew that he couldn't ask her to come to him. He couldn't get her to stop crying, unless he actually physically did something. Weakly, he tried to move, losing his breath in the pain as he stretched himself slightly, his hand still behind his back, he used his feet to slide himself across the floor, closing his eyes as he raked his body across the dirty floor, the smell of metal, blood, and must filling his nostrils as he tried to push himself across the floor on his back, knowing that what he needed to do was roll, but he also knew he couldn't do that. The risk was too high for him to pierce a lung with a broken shard of rib. "Toni… Toni, Deuce is here now, baby…" He whispered as he found that one turn, and he could be against her.

He grunted as he rolled onto his side, feeling the wool blanket against his cheek, he could feel her moving beneath it. Her hands were tied, he knew that much, and she was barefoot, her tiny feet having been hanging from the blanket when they brought her out of the freezer. She was probably so cold, and so scared, he could only imagine. He was scared. "Baby…" He whispered, hearing her sobbing loudly, he knew she was facing him, her body curled in a ball. "Toni…" He whispered again. He leaned up with his mouth and grabbed hold of the blanket with his teeth. "Toni…" He whispered, pulling it again, slowly, her face was almost visible with the dim light from the tiny square window in the door. "Baby, I can see you…" He whispered.

"Deuce!" She exclaimed amid her sobs, she pushed herself hard into him, her head landing on his collar bone, he leaned his head down and tried desperately to curl himself around her, as she pushed her body into him as far as he could get it, her knees pushing into his chest.

"Careful… careful, baby… It's okay." He whispered. "I'm here… I'm here… Shh…" He whispered.

She continued to cry into him, her sobs finally slowing as he held her against him with his chin, wishing he could just pull the ropes from his hands and hold her in his arms. "I'm here, baby… I'm here… it's okay…" He whispered as she hiccupped instead of sobbing, her face pressed into his chest. "Did they hurt you?" He whispered. "Did they hurt you, baby?"

"My hands hurt." She sniffled.

"I know, baby… mine do too…" He nodded. "Is that all that hurts, baby?" He whispered, closing his eyes against the possibility that they had done anything else to her, he listened with his breath held for her answer. "Is your hands all that hurts?"

"Yes…No… my tummy hurts…" She whispered, her body trembling against him as she sniffled. "Deuce…" She mumbled against him. "I want to go home." She whimpered.

"I know, baby… I am going to get you home… I'm going to get you home, baby." He whispered, kissing her head as she pushed herself into him harder, he could feel her knees pressing against his ribs, but gave no warning. Her comfort was the priority now, his was secondary. He needed her to calm down. He could feel her body trembling so violently. "I'm here though." He said softly. "I'm going to take care of you… I love you so much."

"Can't you go invisible, Deuce?" She whispered. "Can't you go invisible and get us both out of here?" She whispered, pushing her knees harder into him as she pleaded. "Can't you save us?" She whimpered.

"Oh baby…." He whispered, his voice was full of sadness that he couldn't just snap his fingers and make it happen, that it wasn't nearly as easy as she had made it sound. He kissed her head, not knowing how to answer her questions.

"I'm scared, Deuce." She whispered, giving in on her pleading, she figured he wouldn't answer her. He had never mislead her before, and if he didn't mention it, it wasn't because he didn't want to do everything he could to comfort her. "I'm so scared."

"I know, baby… I know… I know you're scared, it's okay to be scared… I'm here, I'm not going to let them do anything to you. I'm not going to let them hurt you."

"I want mommy, Deuce… I just want mommy… I'm so scared… It's so dark here, so cold… so cold, Deuce."

"I am here, baby, push into me as hard as you can… I'll try to keep you warm… it's okay…" He whispered as he winced as her knee pressed into him harder. "Mommy and Ace are coming… we just have to wait… they're going to find us… or we'll get out of here, Deuce didn't really think very far ahead in his plan… he just needed to be with you, he needed to find you."

"I want to go home." She whimpered again, feeling him kiss her head, she liked the way it felt, and each time she whispered how scared she was, he would set that kiss on her head, and each time he did that, she felt a little warmer, and a little more safe.

"You are being so brave, little girl… so very brave… Deuce is so proud of you… Your mommy would be so proud of you… you're so brave…" he whispered.

"Mama is brave."

"Mama is very brave." He whispered back. "You're being just as brave as your Mama Bones… I'm so proud of you…" He whispered. "So proud." He paused. "Me and your Mama… we were partners, you know…" He whispered.

"Partners?"

"Yep… It was our job to protect people… protect people from bad guys like the ones out there… so your Mama, she knows what she's doing. She's a very brave woman, and I know she'll find us." He whispered. "I trust her like I trust no one else in the whole world." He whispered.

"I trust you, Deuce." She replied softly. "I love you, and I trust you."

"I love you, Toni." He whispered back. "I love you so very much." He said, feeling himself becoming slightly choked up at his words, he could sense the tears that were threatening to fall.

"I'm not scared when you're with me." She whispered.

"And I'm not scared when I'm with you." He whispered in return, kissing the top of her head, he felt her relax against him, while he kept his senses and his body in high alert.