(The Shot in the Dark)
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Remember this story is AU.
I don't own Bones.
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He was living in a nightmare and he couldn't wake up. The horror Booth felt was indescribable. Brennan was in surgery and he didn't know if she was going to live or die. She had lost a lot of blood by the time he had found her and now all he could do was pray and hope that the surgeons could save her.
The fact that Brennan had been shot in the Lab just made the situation more horrifying. The Lab had twenty-four hour security and no one should have been able to get to Brennan, but the unthinkable had happened and he vowed that once this was over, he would make sure that nothing like this could ever happen again. He wasn't in charge of security at the Jeffersonian, but he was the liaison between the FBI and the Medico-Legal Lab and he could insist on security changes if the Jeffersonian didn't want to lose their contract with the FBI.
In the meanwhile, the woman he loved was being operated on down the hallway and there was nothing he could do to help her. Her life was in the hands of people he didn't know and that didn't help the situation. He had always tried to protect his partner, but clearly, he had failed and she might pay the price for that failure.
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Being the victim of an assassination attempt at work had never crossed Brennan's mind. Security at the Lab was reliable and she had known every security guard who entered the Lab especially the ones that worked at night. She talked to most of them though the conversations she had with them were usually inconsequential.
She woke to find herself in a hospital bed and her partner leaning over her. He looked exhausted, the black smudges under his eyes were prominent. The look of concern and fear were noticeable. "What happened?"
"You're in the hospital . . . you've been shot." He knew she was having a hard time focusing, so he repeated himself.
It was hard to let go of the dream she'd had while she was unconscious, but she did and her partner told her what had happened to her. She concentrated and knew that she had something important to say. "It was cold, when I was shot . . . cold at the wound site." Booth listened, but she wasn't sure he understood the significance. Her father entered the room and her train of thought was broken for the moment. While she talked to him, she found out that they hadn't recovered the bullet and there was no exit wound on her body. "What? That's impossible."
Aware that she was right, Booth tried to assure her that Cam and their team was on the case. Once her questions were answered, Max sat on the chair near the bed and smiled at his daughter. "You scared me when I heard what happened . . . I was scared, but . . . you're going to be alright, Tempe."
"Perhaps." Tired, Brennan closed her eyes and went to sleep.
"Booth, thank you for calling me . . . I know you're upset, but I know my kid and she's tough." Max rubbed his eyes, they felt gritty from unshed tears. "She's going to be okay."
He knew just how tough Brennan was, but his partner had flat lined for two minutes in the operating room and Booth knew that if she had been found just a few minutes later than she had been, she'd be dead now and it made him sick to think about it. "Yeah, she's tough."
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He watched her sleep. Even though they'd had some time together and even kissed and laughed together, once she was asleep, Booth had felt anxious about leaving her alone in the hospital. So far, her heart had stopped three times since she had been shot and miraculously, she had been revived. The last time it had happened was when her surgeon retrieved some antigens from one of her ribs. Since it had been a blood bullet that had been used to shoot her, that antigen would prove that Dr. Bahutan was the one that shot her. Before the procedure, she had assured him it was 100% risk free, but he should have known better. There was no such thing as a 100% risk free anything and it had almost cost her her life.
Determined to make sure Bahutan didn't get away with shooting her, she'd had the procedure done, willing to risk complications to do it. Booth understood why she had done it, but the risk had been too much as far as he was concerned. He couldn't bear a life without Brennan in it. He loved her so much and to lose her was unthinkable. Still what she had done had been a brave thing to do and he was proud of her.
At the moment, her breathing was steady and the silence in the room was interrupted by the medical cuff attached to her arm inflating periodically or the occasional conversation from people passing by the room. He studied her chest and was assured that her breathing was normal. Her face was composed and she looked so young while she slept.
The door opened and closed. Curious, Booth turned to see who had entered the room and found Deputy Director Carl Fairburn was in the room with them. Standing, Booth turned to face his boss's boss. "Can I help you, Sir?"
Motioning for Booth to sit down, Fairburn stepped closer to the bed and looked down at the slumbering Temperance. "She gave us all a scare I think . . . my wife was upset and I promised to come in and check on Temperance for her."
Confused, Booth stared at Fairburn and wondered what was going on. "I don't understand . . . why is your wife upset about Bones?"
Amused, Fairburn sat down on the chair near the window and crossed his legs, resting his hands on his knee. "My wife Sally is Max Keenan's first cousin. I've known Max for a long time. My wife is a lot younger than Max. Her father Shawn Keenan was Max's younger brother. Same father, different mother . . . Shawn died of cancer a few months after I got married to his daughter. Sally's mother died during childbirth so me, Max and his kids are the only family she has left . . . Temperance is my cousin by marriage if you haven't worked it out yet."
Stunned, Booth sat down and stared at Fairburn for a few moments, trying to take in what he had been told. "Why didn't you say something before now?"
Shrugging his shoulders, Fairburn knew that the younger man had a lot of questions for which he might not have a lot of answers. "I didn't want you to know because I didn't really know a lot about you when I became the Deputy Director. I didn't know if you were the type to try to take advantage of family ties or not." He saw the flash of anger cross Booth's face and held up his hand. "I said I didn't know a lot about you . . . I do now . . . Being related to Max Keenan, even by marriage is not a plus for anyone in law enforcement, you have to know that. Max and I agreed to keep quiet about our relationship and it seemed to be the best course of action."
"Why tell me now?" Curious, Booth knew that there must be a reason Fairburn was telling him.
"Well, my relationship with Max Keenan is a complicated one. I knew his kids when they were little, but Max and Ruthie got into some big trouble when Temperance was around two years old. They had some seriously angry killers that wanted their hides and they ran with the kids. They ran from Ohio to Illinois and they didn't let me or Sally know what had happened or where they were for a long time. Ruthie's relatives didn't know either . . . I tried to find out what had happened, but all I could find out was that they were helping some strong arm gang rob banks and it fell apart. Two Ohio State Policemen were killed during a robbery and the gang that did it tried to clean up the situation. They killed an FBI Agent who was working the case, which was covered up by Deputy Director Kirby, as you know and then they went after the Keenan's. I was just an agent working out of Baltimore at the time, so I didn't have access to Max's files. I couldn't ask too many questions because the last thing I wanted was to be connected to Max Keenan in anyway. It would have killed my career with the FBI."
Fairburn seemed to be giving him an honest history, but he couldn't help but interrupt him. "You didn't know that Max and his wife abandoned Temperance and Russ?"
Slowly shaking his head, Fairburn knew what Booth thought about Max leaving his kids behind. They were the same thoughts he and Sally had when they'd heard the story. "No, I didn't know anything about what had happened until Temperance started working at the Jeffersonian in 1998 and I got a call from Max telling me that his daughter was in Washington DC and he wanted me to keep an eye on her . . . My wife and I were shocked and we wanted answers, but Max wouldn't talk to me or Sally about it. He just ended the call and didn't call back. It was a long time before we found out what had happened to Ruthie. You know, when Temperance discovered her mother's body in Bones Storage at the Lab . . . Ruthie was a sweet woman, fiercely loyal and a genius with numbers. Sally was upset when we found out she had been murdered . . . Anyway, we decided not to approach Temperance or Russ to protect their identities. We didn't know if anyone was still looking for Max and we were afraid that if anyone found out about Temperance or Russ they might be kidnapped or killed. Their lives really were in danger . . . I was assigned to the Hoover in 1998 the same year Temperance started working for the Jeffersonian, so it wasn't that hard to keep tabs of her. Sally thought it was funny when she partnered up with you and started to solve crimes for the FBI. Temperance is nothing like her mother and father."
The story was disjointed, but Booth got the gist of the story. "No, she's not . . . Why are you telling me this now?"
"Sally is tired of being alone. She wants some contact with Temperance and Russ, but we know it will have to be done discreetly. I'm the Deputy Director of the FBI and I'd like to be the Director someday. Max is an albatross that I don't want him hanging around my neck, so Sally would like to have some contact with Temperance, but not as a relative, just as a friend. If you don't think she'd care for the subterfuge, then Sally will stay away from Temperance . . . Right now, my wife only has me in her life, we had a son, but he died of cancer when he was five years old. It's kind of sad when you don't have much family . . . I don't have any family at all except for Sally and her relatives. My parents died in a house fire while I was in college . . . You can talk it over with Temperance when you think she's ready for that conversation. We'll let her make the first move. If she doesn't want any contact with Sally, then we'll understand and we won't hold it against her or you. We know her life is complicated. Believe me, Max complicates everyone's life."
It was a lot to take in, but Booth understood Fairburn's caution. "I'll talk to her when we get home and she's well. It'll be up to her. No one can make Bones do anything she doesn't want to do, not even me."
Fairburn chuckled. "It's a Kennan trait, believe me." Their conversation done, he stood up. "I'll let Sally know that Temperance is okay."
Once he was alone, Booth turned his chair so he could look at his partner. "Shit Bones. What else is going to happen?"
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