3
Angela sat in her office staring at the skull in front of her. There was something oddly familiar about it. She sketched mindlessly, her hands just knowing where to go. It only took a few moments for the image to come together, all of the light pencil marks forming a picture. She felt her fingers shaking as the pencil fell to the floor. She looked into the eyes of someone so familiar that they took her breath away.
This had to be a mistake; there was no way that was correct. Clearly there was an error in placement of the tissue markers. She was not staring into the face of the victim, she could not be. Suddenly she felt bile rise her he throat.
She threw the pad to the floor, pages flying as it went. Just barley making it, she reached her trashcan, empting her stomach into the metal container. Her chest heaved heavily, tears slid from the side of her eyes. She needed to get out of here, away from the drawing, somewhere to clear her head.
She stood up, pulled her coat from the back of her chair, and took off. Stopping only to apologetically alert a janitor that her trashcan needed emptied. She felt slightly guilty that he did not know what he was walking into, but the level of emotional distress seemed to top everything else.
She did not know how she managed to get into the car or even recollect the drive. All she knew was that she was suddenly standing in front of the large white house with shaky hands and the taste of her own vomit still in the back of her throat. Taking several deep breaths she took a step. Her legs felt heavy and her lungs felt constricted. Breathing was taking all of her effort as she staggered up the steps, ringing the doorbell and letting herself fall to pieces.
That was how Brennan found her, clasped and choking on her front porch. Her long brown hair in her face, tears plastering the strands to her cheeks. She reacted, the mothering instinct in her kicking into overdrive. She pulled her friend into the hallway, closing the door behind her.
"Angela?" Brennan knelt before her, surveying her stance, trying to get a clear view of her eyes. The crumpled woman on the floor was catatonic, slipping slowly into shock and worrying her. She reacted quickly, getting up from the floor and running into the kitchen. She glanced at her son still sitting on front of the TV clapping along, oblivious to the urgency if the situation.
Picking up her phone, she pressed it to her ear, after jabbing the first speed dial. She pulled a glass out of the cabinet and held it under the faucet.
" Hey Bones," His voice sounded smooth and rushed. She could hear the slight pick up in his tone as he uttered her name.
"Booth, I have Angela here. She is in shock, I do not know what happened." It came out in a rush as she carried the glass of water toward Angela's body, still in a panting heap on the floor.
" Oh thank God. I got a call from Cam about twenty minutes ago. She said that one of the maintenance people came into her office complaining about vomit in Angela's trash can and Angela was no where to be found. She called her cell but got no answer and no one knew she had left. She was freaking out." She heard him shuffle the phone to his other ear, and the rustling of papers in the background.
" She just showed up on the door step completely non-responsive. She won't even answer me when I call her name." Brennan said reaching out to push Angela's bangs away from her flushed face.
" Is she hurt?"
" Not that I can see, just in shock."
" Take her to the hospital. I'll tell Cam that we found her and that she is alright, then I'll meet you there." He said his voice softening.
" I am afraid for her, she seems to be getting worse as time goes on." Brennan said, her voice shaking.
" It will be alright Bones, I promise. Just get her to the hospital." Booth's voice was a comfort to her, allowing her to think clearly. She whispered her goodbye, before reaching out to pull her friend up from the wooden flooring.
It was a struggle to get her into the car, half dragging her through the house and into the garage. It took every ounce of strength to get Angela's dead weight into the passenger side of her small SUV. Once she had buckled her silent friend in the car she ran back into the house gathering things for Michael.
The boy seemed to sense his mother's urgency, sitting still in front of the dancing cartoons, but his eyes following her movements. He did not even fight when she approached him with a coat, pulling it around him before picking him up. She grabbed his tiny shoes, throwing them into the larger brown leather bag she used to carry his things, before slinging that and her purse over her other shoulder.
She buckled him in, grateful that he seemed to understand the need for silence, before pulling herself into the drivers side. There were no normal after thoughts as she pulled pit and made her way to the freeway. She did not even think about the untouched glass of water on the floor or if she had remembered to lock the front door. The only thing she could focus on was getting Angela to the hospital and figuring out what the hell was going on.
******
Booth was already there, waiting with open arms to take Angela's slack body from the passenger side. He reached into his wife's Honda and plucked the woman out as if she only weighed a few ounces, before nodding to Brennan and allowing her to drive around into the parking lot.
The ER was crowded; people were waiting in groups, conversing in their various states of unwell. Booth hated the hospital. Spending time here was an occupational hazard, one that he had managed to avoid for almost a year. Yet here he was again, carrying a non-responsive woman in for admittance. Cam was already at the desk, talking with the nurse, she nodded towards them and in the same breath Angela was out of his arms and being whisked away behind the scenes.
" Does anyone know what happened?" He asked, trying to put pieces together that did not make sense.
"Not a clue. Hodgins said she was sitting in her office about to start a facial reconstruction on the victim from the mud pit the last time he saw her. Then almost an hour later the janitor is yelling at me about vomit in a trash can and Angela is missing."
" Bones said she found her on the front porch like that. She would not blink or respond at all. Something pretty major had to have caused it." He said crossing his arms.
" I suspect some sort of emotional trauma," Brennan's voice caused the pair to turn, noticing her for the first time. She stood there with Michael resting on her hip and two large bags hanging from her shoulders.
" Bones, where are his shoes?" Booth asked taking his son from her, watching her dig through the leather diaper bag. She easily produced two tiny Nike sneakers, displaying them in her palm.
" Why are they not on him?" Booth asked plucking them from her and moving to sit down so he could put them on.
" I was in a hurry, I was going to put them on when we got here." She said innocently, curious as to why he was so exasperated, assuming that it must have something to do with the situation at hand.
" Hello, people, let's focus on Angela." Cam said, trying to hide her amusement at Brennan's parenting skills.
"Did anyone check her phone to see if she received any calls before she left? Perhaps something upset her." Brennan said, pulling a sippie cup from the bag and handing it to Booth.
" She has the phone with her. I don't know, I guess we just wait." Cam sighed and plopped down into the open plastic seat opposite Booth. A strange silence fell among them, each trying to focus on anything other than what was going on. Trying to solve a puzzle that was missing all the pieces in their head.
They were so lost in their own thought that Booth jumped when his phone went off, startling his son. Michael's wail jostled Brennan as she reached out to take him, while Booth located the offending object.
" Booth." He barked, annoyed in general and the situation.
" Booth, It's Hodgins. The only thing I found in Angela's office was her sketchpad on the floor. The pages were all flipped around so I don't even know which one she was working on. I'm sorry man." Hodgins' voice sounded cloudy and distant, as if his mind were elsewhere.
" It's alright, I am at the hospital now, they admitted her about twenty minutes ago. We will just have to wait and see what she says I guess." He said before hanging up the phone. The last thing he wanted was a trail of squints in the ER asking him or Brennan a dozen questions.
" Bones, sit down." He said scooting over unnecessarily so that she could sit to his left, one arm resting over the back of the chair. For once she did so wordlessly, bouncing their son on her knees. Everyone was tense, and the tension only mounted as time went on.