Chapter 72
Alex woke up two hours before the alarm went off, relatively bored and irritated since she's done sleeping. She tried getting comfortable and tossed around a bit but the sleep won't come back. Her husband laying on his back head turned to the side and one arm thrown over his face loosely snoring softly. She traced the outline of his jaw lightly with her finger tip and kissed his nose before getting out of bed. Checking on her daughter beside her who was also fast asleep she headed downstairs. Switched on the kettle and made some coffee. She came back upstairs a few minutes later with the steaming cup of caffeine and dashed into the bathroom closing the door behind her and ran a bath. A freaking bubble bath, at 05:30 in the morning.
"Haven't done this in ages." Alex whispered to herself putting her hair up in a high bun on the top of her head, before sinking down in the tub filled with bubbles. Taking sips of coffee throughout the duration of the bath. She laid there eyes closed resting her head against the back of the tub enjoying some time for herself. Yes, she loved her family but sometimes she needed some alone time. Half an hour later she heard Phoebe whimper and she got ready to get out but decided against it. Ryan's there and he's more than capable of handling their daughter, she tried to reassure herself. A little while later the room was silent again and she assumed everything is back to normal.
Ryan changed Phoebe's diaper and laid her back down, making his way across the bedroom towards the bathroom where he stopped in his tracks taking in the sight of his wife in the tub almost overflowing with white foam.
"Don't say anything." Alex sad without opening her eyes and pointed a foamy finger in the general direction of the door. "Why are you in the bath at 6AM?" Ryan asked completely forgetting why he came into the bathroom in the first place. "I couldn't sleep and thought I might as well spoil myself with a bubble bath." Alex justified her current situation. "Okay, if you want to call that spoiling yourself. I'm not gonna argue with you on that one, Alex." Ryan smiled turning on the shower as Alex gets out and drains the water.
"All right people find a seat and let's get this day started." Maranda announced as she entered the briefing room. "Not even a good morning. Well this can't be good." Nimah mumbled under her breath as she took a seat next to Shelby. "Good morning Shelby's baby." Nimah greeted her friend's baby rubbing over the prominent little bump. A ritual that has started between the four friends where they always rubbed her belly in the morning when they entered the office. Most pregnant women would feel uncomfortable with things like that but Shelby had no problem with it, she was happy that her friends was as excited as she is about the new life growing inside of her.
"I'm hungry." Alex told them as she took her seat next to Natalie who extended her hand in the form a handshake. Uncertain of what was going on Alex shook her friend's hand. "Nice to meet you hungry, I'm Natalie." She laughed at the expression on Alex's face.
"All right, we're moving in on an auto shop down on West Lake." Maranda started waiting until she had everyone's attention before continuing. "I got intel that a white truck protected by four bodies will make its way there and the truck is loaded with cocaine. We don't have much time so we need to get going now." She concluded, as the staff dashed out and got their gear on ready to get their day started.
"You okay to do this?" Caleb asked Shelby once they were outside waiting for the black FBI trucks to arrive to take them to their destination. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" She wondered looking at him questioning seeing his eyes dart to her abdomen. "I'm fine and capable of working. I'm not handicapped." She answered not waiting for him to respond waling off in the opposite direction.
"She'll be okay. I've been there." Ryan said as he came up behind his friend seeing the worry in his eyes, motioning for him that they should get going. Caleb nodded and followed Ryan.
"We're two blocks out, get ready." Maranda said as they got closer. A white truck made an appearance and the FBI driver made an attempt to track them down. He made a turn and came to a stop in front of the white vehicle with the other van at the back of the truck so he had no choice but to stop. They all hopped out and ran over
They got him out and set him on the curb handcuffed with one of the agents keeping an eye on him so he wouldn't make a run for it when he got the chance. They got in the back of the truck searching.
There were brown bags of what looked like sugar but no one knew for certain what was in it. Ryan got out a pocket knife and poked a hole in one of the bags, but they didn't find what they were looking for a find powder like substance started spilling out through the hole. "What the hell, that's flour." Ryan said as he poked more random bags that was stacked in the back.
"You're al wasting your time in there." Maranda announced coming around the back of the truck to stop her agents. "What do you mean?" Shelby asked confused. "Were your intel off?" Alex asked also confused since there was nothing at the bottom of the truck either. "No I'm saying the drugs aren't in the truck. They are the truck." She told them walking around to the right side of the white truck the agents following her.
"Let's check the painting." Ryan said and poked a whole in the white painting of the truck with the same pocket knife he used a few seconds ago. When he took the knife out of the truck white crystals were heaped up on the blade. "Are you telling me this entire thing is coated in cocaine?" Shelby asked amused. "Yep and now we have to find out who the driver is working for." Maranda concluded equally as amazed as her colleagues since she had never seen anything like this in her career.
"Booth, I need you to drive the truck back to the lab so they can get it checked out. As well as those flour like bags in the back." She ordered seeing the look on Ryan's face. "Me? You want me to do it?" Ryan asked hoping it was a joke. "Yes Ryan, you." She answered again. "Take someone with you in case you're afraid of getting mugged." She smiled walking away from the group.
"Don't look at me. I'm afraid of jail." Matthew said when Ryan glanced over at him. "Caleb?" Ryan retorted to his best friend. "It'll be fun like fast and furious. Except we're not fast and we lack the awesome cars, but hey, a cocaine truck can add just as much fun to the whole thing." Ryan pleaded trying to convince the blonde. "Ride or die, remember?" He asked and Caleb shook his head. "If that's the case I'm definitely not getting in that truck with you." Caleb tried to get out of it but Ryan pushed him into the passenger side door and closed the door behind him as he got behind the wheel and drove off towards the lab.
Shelby sat in the cafeteria with her feet on one of the chairs feeling extremely light headed. Hoping no one would notice she's looking off and grateful that she's alone and no one familiar is around her. She got a bottle of cold water hoping that would make her feel better.
"You okay?" Alex asked when she got back from the bathroom and walked towards the cafeteria to get a coffee before going back to the office. "Yeah." Shelby smiled nodding her head hoping looks convincing enough. "You look really pale. Should I call Caleb?" Alex asked walking back from the counter towards the table where her friend sat. "No! Please don't. Because then he'll give me the whole I told you so speech and I can't deal with that right now." Shelby pleaded looking at Alex hoping she'd understand.
"Can I at least take you home then?" Alex asked not liking the way the blonde is looking right now. "No, Alex. I'll be fine." Shelby snapped and Alex decided maybe it's best to leave it at that. She went over to collect her coffee. "If you change your mind you know where to me." Alex said softly before leaving.
Shelby returned from the cafeteria and walked slowly back to the office, feeling unsteady on her feet but was determined to make it to the office door and driving herself home or to the hospital depending on how bad she'll feel within the next half an hour. Suddenly everything started spinning and blackness overtook her.
Natalie rushed to her side the moment her friend hit the ground. Panicking at first not knowing what to do, but figured the hospital would be her best bet. Alex, Nimah and a few others came rushing to the blonde's side. "Can you move and give her some air!" Nimah yelled and the crowd moved away. Matthew came out and carried her to the couch laying her down calling an ambulance.
"Are we going back to the office or we staying until they're done taking the truck apart?" Caleb asked as the pulled into the lab. "They didn't give us a time frame for when we should be back, so we might as well stay." Ryan shrugged in no hurry to get back to the office. He and Caleb started helping getting the paneling of the truck so they can get to the cocaine and packet it so it can be weighted as part of evidence. That took them nearly two hours to do, and afterward the helped unloading the bags of the flour looking substance that has to be tested.
The ambulance arrived and took Shelby to the hospital. Alex went with her while Nimah and Natalie followed in Shelby's car behind them. Alex called Caleb's phone twice since it happened but it kept ringing. And then she remembered that they usually never take it with them when they went out on calls, so trying to call Ryan would also not help since his phone is probably also at the office.
When they got to the hospital they did some tests and the doctor was concerned by how pale she was and gave her some feeding through an IV. "You scared us." Natalie said standing at the end of the bed Alex and Nimah on either side of her. "I'm sorry. I don't really remember what happened. One moment I was sitting in the cafeteria and then I woke up in hospital." Shelby said softly.
"Mrs. Haas, and entourage, how are you feeling?" The doctor asked when he entered the room. "I'm okay." She nodded. "Fluctuations in your blood pressure may make you dizzy and even cause you to faint, since your blood pressure drops due to the progesterone hormone that widens your veins during early pregnancy. You need to finish that bag of fluids then you're good to go home. But, you're on bedrest for the rest of the week." The doctor concluded walking out of the room after he greeting the other three.
"Bedrest. What am I going to do with myself? Did someone call Caleb?" Shelby asked and the ladies shared a look. "I tried hi and Ryan but I assumed they left their phones at the office since I couldn't get through to either of them." Alex explained.
"But someone will inform him when they get back from the-" Nimah was in the middle of her sentence when the door flew open.
"Shelby? What happened? Are you okay? Is the baby okay?" Caleb asked rushing to her side almost pushing Alex out of the way. "Why didn't any of you call me when this happened?" He asked no one in particular panic evident in his voice.
"We tried. Your phone went to voicemail all five times." Alex explained walking towards the end of the bed here the other three was standing. "Well, you should've tried harder!" Caleb exclaimed eyes spitting fire as he looks at her friends. Alex stepped forward to say something but Natalie put a hand on her shoulder restraining her.
"I'm fine. It's not their fault." Shelby tried to calm him down. "If anything were to happen to you…" He trailed off. "But it didn't. I'll be fine." She said hoping he would stop worrying.
"You guys should leave because my fuse is really short and I might blow up any moment." Caleb said looking at them one by one. "You really need to take it down a notch we get that you're worried we are too." Nimah answered him but he shook his head.
"Caleb stop it!" Shelby raised her voice tears making her eyes sparkle.
"It's okay Shell. We'll get going then, call you later." Nimah said as all three of them walked towards the door.
"Hey, why do you guys look like you're about to kill someone?" Ryan asked walking up the hallway towards them. "About to kill you friend, yes." Natalie said blowing out a steady breath. "I'd rather not ask what happened." Ryan said hugging Alex. "It's better that way yeah." She replied holding him a little tighter.
They all got into Ryan's car and drove back to the office since Nimah and Natalie drove Shelby's car there so they can have transport back home. They got out and walked to office but Ryan and Alex remained seated. "Wanna talk about it?" He asked turning to his wife.
"Caleb blew up at us for not calling him when Shelby fainted, but we did he left his phone in the damn office. And now he has the nerve to tell us to leave because he's mad at us." Alex said looking at him. "I can take a lot Ryan, but I have limits too and he was close to pushing my buttons." She rambled on not allowing Ryan to get a word in.
"I get that he's your boy but what the hell man. That was unnecessary."
"Sweetheart, you need to calm down." Ryan looked over at her seeing the frown on her face. "He's over reacting, and quite frankly I would've done the same thing if I were in his shoes. But, I don't condone the fact that he spoke to you guys the way he did." Ryan stated hoping it would be a start and that his wife would start to calm down. "Come on. Let's go find the bad guys." He nudged her seeing a small smile appear on her face.
Hey, it's been a while. I wanted to write some Caleb and Shelby drama. I feel like this chapter is all over the place and it feels rushed and sloppy. I'm sorry but I tried to get my thoughts before they disappeared on me again. The case is not concluded I'll wrap that up in the next few chapters. Thanks for reading. Lovies-S.
