A/N: I know this series has a very loyal fan base and I discovered this show during quarantine. I fell in love immediately with all the characters and the stories that were told. But I wanted to write this story to explore my favorite character. Seeley Booth.
I always felt like there is so much more to his character than the show allows us to see. So I hope I do this character and the show justice. I hope you like the first chapter! Enjoy.
Chapter 1: You've Got One Bullet Left
Seeley Booth strolled into the Jeffersonian with a smile on his face, humming a tune that was just playing on the radio in his car.
As he walked through the winding halls of the Institute, his smile slowly started to fade as he realized there was not one person in the building.
Normally when he walked in, there would be lab techs running around, an occasional cop or two waiting for results or just supervising. Even an office member grabbing a cup of coffee.
He would usually wave or acknowledge them with a smile or nod, but as he spun around on his heel, there was no one in the building. He couldn't shake the unsettling feeling that started to dig into his gut.
A gnawing deep in the pit of his stomach.
It was quiet. Too quiet.
Booth rounded the hallway and found his way in front of the Medico Legal Lab, but for some reason, the glass doors that opened automatically once they detected motion stayed shut.
'Huh' Booth thought to himself, reaching out an arm. He waved it in front of the door with a quirk of his eyebrow. Still, the doors remained closed.
"Hey?" Booth questioned with a tilt of his head.
He looked around to see if there was anyone maybe coming behind him or anyone else standing around waiting for the doors to be opened. He just wished someone else was here with him. Didn't matter who it was. Just knowing he wasn't alone would be enough.
But no one came.
Hey! Hello? I can't get in!" Booth shouted against the doors. He peered through the glass trying to see anything or rather anyone who could let him in.
The room was empty. Everything was still and silent in the lab. There was no sign of anyone around. But the lights were on, making the quiet space come to life.
With a puff of irritation, he threw his arms out in disbelief, taking a spin around the room with a slight tsk on his lips. One more attempt. He started knocking on the doors and yelling for someone to let him in.
"Hey! C'mon! If this is some overdue joke on an FBI agent, I have a gun and I'm not afraid to use it." Booth joked in a light voice. A playful smirk tugged on his lip, but it was gone as soon as it came.
The only sounds he could hear was his voice and his breathing getting more rapid. The silence was getting harder for the stoic FBI agent to handle. He fingered at the collar of his shirt nervously, loosening the tie. He felt like he couldn't breathe all of the sudden.
"Bones? Anybody?"
He waited a few more minutes, locked behind the glass doors. With a defeated sigh, he finally decided to give in to his gut feeling and make his way out of the building.
As soon as he turned around, the glass doors sprung to life and opened. Booth felt his hand reach for his gun, slightly caught off guard. His fingers rested on the top of the cool steel, and it made him feel grounded somewhat.
He took a cautious step in the room. His fingers more tightly gripped onto the handle of the gun.
As soon as he stepped inside the lab, the lights went out immediately and he was left in pitch black darkness.
He could hear his heart pounding in his ears. A heavy thud thud echoing as his pulse raced. The blood rushed into his head as he felt nervous sweat trickle down his brow. His lungs felt like a large brick had been used to crush them as his breath caught in his throat. The gun was completely unearthed now and he held it with shaking hands.
A single light suddenly came on and shined right onto the medical table on the platform where Bones and her team would examine the remains.
Booth blinked the black dots out of his eyes to readjust to the light. He tried to focus and pointed his gun up at the light quickly, looking for anything suspicious to shoot at.
He kept walking forward and squinted his eyes to see if he could find anything strange in the room. But he was alone.
He climbed up the three steps that led to the platform and saw that a skeleton laid on the table, their bones spread about to create the frame of a person.
Booth sighed relieved. It was just him and clearly someone who was very dead.
He used his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his forehead and let a shaky laugh escape him. He felt foolish for being so scared of nothing.
He slid his gun back into its holster and walked closer to the table.
"Well, well... look who finally decided to show up."
The FBI agent looked around for the source of the voice in confusion. It was so dark that he wouldn't even have been able to make out a person, even if he could sense them.
When he looked back, the skeleton rose off the table, the skull looking right at him.
Booth yelped, jumping back. He stumbled down the steps and withdrew his weapon pointing it at the skeleton, his breath coming out in shaky gasps.
"Please there's no need for that. I can assure you. I'm quite dead."
Booth stayed frozen in place, his gun trained on the skeleton that was now sitting up, dangling their bones off the edge of the table as makeshift legs.
"Don't be frightened Agent Booth. After all, I was once a person."
Seeley gritted his teeth hard against each other. The scraping sound echoing in his ears. Dull earth eyes wide open. His gun was shaking from the tremors coursing through his body. He cursed as his hands rebelled against him, fully giving in to the fear. He closed his eyes for a second and tried to settle his racing heartbeat. Reaching a hand up, he rubbed his temple.
Was this really happening?
"Never on time and yet always there." The Skeleton said in a clear crisp voice.
Booth blinked a few times, trying to make sure he was seeing what he was in front of him. A skeleton wasn't actually talking to him, was it?
"Come now, you don't actually see a real threat here, do you"? The Skeleton asked, shrugging its shoulder blades for good measure.
Seeley thought about that for a moment. There was no danger. Just a skeleton talking to him. Just a very dead person sitting up and having a conversation with him. Nope no real threat here….
"Lower your weapon, Agent Booth."
For some reason completely beyond his understanding, Booth listened and lowered his gun.
'This isn't real….I'm not really talking to a bunch of bones. This skull is not speaking to me'
Booth blinked his eyes over and over, hoping they would finally focus and there wouldn't be a skull looking right at him, sitting like a person.
"You look at me with disgust and horror. I was once a person, you know. Just because I don't have skin, or a heart doesn't mean I'm not real. That I wasn't real."
The skull shakes its head back and forth before leaning towards the FBI agent with a scowl.
"How do you live with yourself? Looking at your failures every day. You never save us in time. You just come to collect the damages."
Booth stays silent, still trying to get his brain to wake up, but that didn't mean the skeleton's words weren't sinking into every corner of his mind.
"I had a family. I was loved. And now I'm a pile of bones. And you don't see past that."
"That's not true." Booth says in a small voice, not recognizing it, when he hears himself speak.
"Really? Then how come you never come before we turn into t..this? You think you're doing something good by finding the person who did this to us? You don't do anything good. You let the person hurt us, kill us, and then you come to collect."
The skeleton just stares at Booth for a while. A slight tilt of the skull has Booth jumping in his shoes again.
"Believe me Agent Booth, I know you. You think you're a good person? I know you're not. Lucky for you, I wasn't afraid to die so I'm at peace with what I am now. Just a pile of rubble for people to scrutinize and judge. But you, you'll never have peace because you never come in time."
Seeley closes his eyes, the words stung like a white-hot poker cutting through his soul. Each word digging deeper than the last.
"I'm sorry." Booth says, barely above a whisper.
"Ahh yes those two words. You think if you say them enough times, they still have meaning? They still give comfort? For you to go "I'm sorry" with a pathetic frown. You think that's what people want to hear from you?"
The skeleton clasps its bones to form hands and the skull stares directly at the shaking FBI agent.
"You are nothing!" The skeleton barks, the words echoing off the walls. The bones crumble apart from the thundering voice until they lay on the table again, each back in the exact position they were in before.
Booth takes in a shaky breath. It was quiet again and he gulped, his throat feeling constricted from air. He had forgotten to breathe.
He ran his sleeve across his forehead, wiping the sweat from his cheek and dripping from the tip of his nose.
He looked back up at the table, expecting to see the skeleton well and alive again, but the bones remained locked in place.
Did that just happen?
Booth ran his shaking fingers through his hair. His heart was still racing. He couldn't rest until he knew that what had just happened didn't happen. It didn't happen, right?
He grabbed onto the railing, his hands grabbing the cold metal. He tried to lean his head to see if he could see anything without moving his feet yet. Tremors were still coursing through his entire body.
Finally, he gave in and climbed the steps again. The bones didn't move. Then again why should he expect them too? He crept closer. The bones stayed still.
Now he was standing directly over the table. The bones remained in their place, but the skull slowly turned its head to look at Booth.
Booth jumped back startled, banging his elbow on the edge of the table in the process. He groaned in pain, trying to rub the tingling sensation away.
"Are you afraid to die, Agent Booth?"
When Booth looked up, the skull hadn't moved.
Booth's feet were glued to the floor as his eyes bounced back and forth nervously.
What….is….going...on? I-I gotta get out of here!'
Booth walked past the table hastily and climbed down the other stairs, but his eyes caught a glance of something that grabbed his attention right away.
A latex glove was laying still, peeking out from the edge of an open door.
Seeley gulped and walked cautiously over. He drew out his gun, not trusting anything besides the steel in his hands.
When he made his way around the door, the sight that laid before him dropped him to his knees.
Temperance's lab assistant Zack laid sprawled out on the floor. His arm was stretched out as if he was reaching for something while the other laid limp beside him. Blood oozed out from under his head.
Booth kneeled down and grabbed Zack to flip him over. A single bullet hole was found on his forehead. His hair had been plastered back from the sticky warm blood.
"Oh god no! C'mon kid! C'mon wake up!" Booth tried to slap his face gently to rouse him with no success.
He shook Zack senseless trying to get him to wake up and leaned his head down to listen for a heartbeat. He knew there was no point. A bullet in the head was the best way to make sure someone was dead.
Booth raised a hand to his mouth, kneeling beside the kid on the floor.
Suddenly Zack's eyes opened, and he moved his eyes to look over at Booth.
Booth fell back on his behind with a yelp, his knees collapsing under him when he saw Zack's eyes were open.
"You never liked me anyway." Zack said in a stiff tone.
Then his eyes closed. For good.
Booth grabbed at his chest in pure panic. His breathing came out in short spurts. He was gasping for air. His legs were spread out in front of him, one bent slightly.
He looked at Zack and the color had drained from the young lab assistant's face. A small black hole remained on his forehead. His hair was drenched in his own blood. His eyes were open, locked in a blank stare, and an eyelash clung to the side of his cheek. Besides the blood from Zack laying in it, the shot was clean.
It made Booth wonder who would do this. The person was definitely experienced as the bullet hole was directly in the center. It was a clear kill shot.
Booth stood up, his knees shaking and looked down at Zack one last time.
"I did like you." Booth whispers sadly.
He leaves the room and pulls out his phone to call for an ambulance to pick up the body.
God not even to try to save him, but to pick up the body. Seeley felt sick to his stomach.
He dials the number and listens for the ringtone to start.
"H…Hodgins!" A weak voice calls out.
The phone clatters to the floor as Booth rushes over to the voice, knowing it immediately.
"Angela?" Booth calls out trying to find her in the darkness. He places his hand on the wall feeling for the familiar glass doors.
"B…Booth!" Angela cries out.
Booth bursts through the doors and looks around the room. Then he hears it.
The shaky intakes of air.
He leans down to find Angela laying on the floor. Her arm was thrown over her chest while the other remained at her side.
"Ang, no." Booth whispers as he looks at her.
Her blouse had drops of blood staining the blue collar. And her face had taken on a ghostly pallor. Her bangs were coated in blood.
With shaking fingers, he brushes her hair aside, feeling the warm sticky liquid touch his skin. He closes his eyes when he sees it.
A single bullet wound perfectly centered on her forehead.
"B…Booth" Angela says between gasps of air.
"Shhh don't talk. It's okay." Booth gently placed her head on his lap as he sat there comforting her. A single tear ran down his cheek. There was no point in telling her she would be fine. He knew the truth.
"H…Hodgins said he w..would come back for me." Angela croaks out. Her eyes were getting duller by the second.
Booth didn't even think to look for Hodgins. He was focused on Angela, but now he had a cold feeling of dread in his stomach.
"I..is he coming?"
Booth scans the dark room, trying to find any indication of the other lab member in the room. A sliver of light catches his eye, and he has to hold back a gasp.
There on the other side of the room, a chair had fallen over and a shoe laid beside it.
"B..Booth, Booth he said he was c…coming." Angela choked out, struggling to breathe.
"Shhhh easy Ang. I'll find him for you, okay?"
Angela just looks at him and nods slightly as she continues to fight for each breath of air.
Booth almost falls over once he's up on his feet. Angela was dying. Right in front of him. And now as he walked over to the shoe, he could feel his lungs constrict.
He grabbed the chair, pulling it off Hodgins and that's when his heart sank.
Jack laid face down on the floor, his arm bent at an unnatural angle. His legs were stretched out and the shoe laid at a tilt towards the floor.
Booth had to release the breath he didn't realize he had been holding and closed his eyes for a second.
Dear god, please don't be….
Booth lifted Hodgin's head gently and there it was.
A single bullet hole, perfectly centered on his forehead. Jack's blue eyes were locked open, the pupils as small as dust and a tear had frozen to his cheek. His curls were laced with blood from the wound.
He gently laid Hodgins' head back on the floor and shrugged off his jacket. He didn't want Angela to see. He placed the jacket over his head and half his body.
Booth was reeling and felt his stomach lurch as all the bullet holes flashed back in his mind. They all seemed to be a clean shot with just a little blood surrounding the wound. He knew this was definitely a targeted kill.
With that thought in mind, he rushed over to a garbage can by the desk and retched violently, the bile strands clinging to his lips.
"B…Booth." Angela's voice shakes.
Booth rushes over to her side and kneels down.
"I'm here. I'm here." Booth takes her cold hand in his. It was so cold. Too cold for the warm kind person Angela was.
"He's n…not c…coming, is h..he?"
Booth doesn't answer for a minute, but she didn't deserve to be lied to. Not in her final moments.
"N..no." Booth whispers, his voice heavy with emotion.
Angela doesn't say anything for a while and the room is silent except for her gasps of air. Booth continues to hold her hand, using his thumb to glide over the skin, trying to comfort her as she declines.
"B…Booth?"
"Yeah?"
"Why is it so dark in here?"
Booth felt the question hit him square in the gut. He looked up to see Angela's eyes locked open. Tears were still running down her face.
Seeley buried his head into his hands. A few quiet sobs escaped him. He reached his hand over to close her eyes.
He stayed like that for a while, not bothering to care who heard him or saw him this way. These people were his friends, and he would make it his mission to kill whoever did this to his family.
Suddenly his head shoots up when he realizes there's still one person he hasn't found yet.
Bones
Seeley stands up. Every part of his body was shaking. The tears were coming, and he didn't bother wiping them away. His legs felt like they were underwater as he took one step at a time. He felt like he couldn't breathe and rested his hands on his knees for a minute, bending over.
And then he sees it. And he almost falls over.
She laid there, still and quiet. Like she had just been placed there gently. No limbs hung out askew. Her arms and legs were glued to her body.
He ran over to her, almost tripping over his feet. He fell to his knees beside her.
"B…Bones?" He croaked out.
She was quiet. Too quiet.
"Bones…. hey. C' mon Bones. Don't do this to me. Please don't do this to me." His eyes welled up with tears as he looked at her, tracing her jaw with his fingers, cupping her cheek.
Her eyes opened and she looked right at him.
"Booth?"
"Bones! Bones, hey I'm right here, okay? You stay awake. You're gonna be fine. Just fine, so don't you know…. don't close your eyes." Booth pleaded with her. His eyes fell on the bullet hole on her forehead.
Centered perfectly.
At that moment, he felt like he had been killed.
Everything he had ever loved had been taken away from him and he felt completely broken inside. And the one person he would die for was dying right in front of him.
"You're crying." She said barely above a whisper.
"Yeah…yeah I am Bones."
"Why?"
He didn't know how to answer her. He just kept blinking the tears out of his eyes. He sniffed as he ran his fingers through her hair.
"I don't think I've ever seen you cry."
"People cry when they're sad, Bones."
Bones stayed quiet for a while Seeley sobbed over her body, he touched her face, her hair, her skin, trying to lock the memory of her inside of him.
He leaned his head into hers as the sobs took hold of him. He was losing the one person he ever loved, and he never even got the chance to tell her.
"B…Booth?" Her eyes searched for his face.
"Y..yeah Bones?" Seeley lifted up his head and looked at her.
Her question would haunt Booth even in his conscious thoughts.
"W..why did you shoot us?"
Suddenly Booth looked down and found himself dressed in his army camouflage uniform. A heavy strap clung to his shoulder holding his rifle in place.
Booth felt his entire body freeze. His heart started to crawl up his throat but ended up falling into the pit of his stomach. The air felt so tight as he gasped for oxygen. The veins in his head bulged as the blood rushed into his head. He could feel the bile rising in his throat. Everything clicked into place now. The centered bullet holes. The clean shots. The targeted kills.
It was him.
Booth ripped the strap off his shoulder and threw his rifle across the room.
He looked down at Bones and her eyes were closed.
"No! No! No! Bones please!" He cried out, searching desperately for her pulse on her cold wrist.
Her eyes opened again; tears welled up in them.
"S…Seeley."
It was at rare moments that they called each other by their first names and so he knew what was happening when she said his name.
"Temperance."
Her last words would haunt Booth for the rest of his life.
"You've got one bullet left."
Booth looked down and in his hand was his familiar handgun, his finger dancing dangerously on the trigger.
He looked back up at her and unlike the others, her eyes were closed. The black gaping hole made Booth sick to his stomach.
Seeley sobbed heavily, collapsing on top of Brennan, hugging her body close to him. His broad shoulders shook as his emotions took over him. She was his one. His reason. And he had destroyed it.
Everything he had ever loved was gone. And he was the one who had taken it.
Booth sniffed back tears as he pulled himself off Bones. She still looked beautiful. Laying there peacefully with a bullet hole in her head.
Angela laid a few feet away from them, a bullet hole in her head
Hodgins laid beside a chair, a bullet hole in his head.
Zack laid by the glass doors, a bullet hole in his head.
Bones' words echoed in Booth's mind, locked inside for only him to know.
You've got one bullet left
Booth was the one. He was the one who did this to his family, to his friends. He had killed them.
Are you afraid to die, Agent Booth?
Seeley's eyes turned cold, and he tightened his jaw. He stood up off the floor.
With a shaking hand, he lifted his gun out of the holster.
You've got one bullet left
Booth exhaled a long breath of air before pointing the gun up to his head. He closed his eyes and pressed the trigger.
"AUGH!" Booth shouted and jolted upright, the sheets falling from his arms. He pants heavily, feeling sweat drip down his forehead. He buries his head in his hands, running his fingers through his hair.
He had never experienced a dream like that…ever.
He tries to stop his rapid heartbeat by taking a few breaths to calm himself. He jumps when he hears his phone ring beside him and reaches out with clumsy fingers to grab it.
B..Booth." He says, trying to settle his voice.
"Booth, where are you? It's quarter after eight! You said you would give me a ride since my car is in the shop." Brennan speaks quickly, her voice conveying her irritation.
Booth closes his eyes and brings the phone away from his ear to rest it against his forehead for a second. He had forgotten that he said he would do that. He had forgotten her.
"Booth?"
He hears her say his name again and pulls the phone back to his ear.
"I'm sorry, Bones. I overslept but I'll be there in 10."
"You overslept?" Brennan asks, clearly not believing him.
Booth pinches the bridge of his nose, knowing the tone in her voice very well.
"People do over sleep Bones. It's not a crime, you know? Look, I said I'll be there in 10 and I'll be there in 10."
Not waiting for a response, he ends the call and chucks the phone on the bed.
He leans forward, his hands gripping the sheets. He could still see the bullet holes, the blood. He blinked the dots out of his vision.
He hopped out of his bed and took a quick shower before changing into his suit for the day and heading out the door.
Yep, this was going to be a long day….
Alright so that's chapter 1! I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know your thoughts and review! I'll continue if you guys like this story. Thanks for taking the time to read.