IMPORTANT: This is my first ever Bones fic, and even though I've read almost all of the BoothxBones ones here, I have still only seen the show twice! So, if there are mistakes, tell me so I know what not to do later. Much thanks!
Disclaimer: I own nothing, only the scotch tape holding posters to my wall.
Spoilers: None (I've only seen two episodes anyways…)
Pairing: Booth x Brennan
Chapters: Was going to be two, but can't really do that now, can I? At the moment, it'll be around four or five chapters
Last Words: Again, I have only seen two episodes and I am mostly going off of what I have read on people's stories. Don't hurt me! –hides in corner-
Chapter 3: Hold On When You Feel Like Letting Go (I was listening to Good Charlotte hehe)
Note: Alyssa, I wasn't going to put this up just yet but since you insist on checking every ten minutes… )
Booth watched in horror as Brennan once again slipped between his fingers and out of sight.
"Bones?" He called to the waters. Booth felt the familiar grip of panic begin to squeeze his chest, and he set off to sprint after Brennan once again. A gentle, yet firm hand gripped his shoulder, halting his movements. Booth spun to face the man who dared keep him from Bones. It was gentle Joe Arcult.
"No use wasting your energy here. This river ends in a large pool a little farther down. We can head over there, and then you can pick up your pretty little girlfriend." Arcult said with a twinkle in his eye. Booth opened his mouth to protest, but Joe was already heading back to the truck. Booth took one last look at the river, wondering why he had hesitated before deciding to protest about Tempe. The water rushed down the path laid out for it from previous rainy seasons, a carved conduit from the years water had been rushing through here. The river took anything that dared step into it along for the journey down to the pool. Booth glared at the river. It took his Bones from him in one second. He glanced back down the river where she had been swept away once more.
"C'mon Bones…" He urged. And with that, he jogged back to the car where Arcult, Medder, and some others from the site were waiting for him.
Brennan watched the tree in front of her with contempt. Since it had ruined her chance of escape from the damnation that was this river, she had been shoved under the water once again and come up behind the large tree. This was both a good thing and a bad thing. Good because if the tree got stuck, she could grab it and stop her journey down the river. Bad: if it stopped, her journey could end with her shattered body stuck in the protruding branches. Or, it could stop in a deep place and Temperance could be dragged under it by the current, either going down the stupid stream once more or getting caught in the branches and drowning. This was a pleasant situation, indeed.
Another wave of water pushed her from behind, and Brennan's face splashed down into the water. The force turned her into a somersault like many before, and she came up trying to force water out of her nose and suck air in when two things happened. First, she realized that Booth was no longer running after her, and instead she heard the sirens of the rescue squad pass her and trundle on down the road. The fact that Booth was no longer with her bothered her more than it should have. It was Booth, after all. But, she remembered as water once again flooded her eyes and mouth, there had been that passion in his eyes, a fire similar to her own when in a sticky situation such as this. Although she didn't know exactly what it stood for, Brennan knew it had been for her. Before she could go any further in her analysis, the second thing happened.
The tree managed to lodge itself in between the banks at a particularly narrow spot, deep too. Just what Brennan had been dreading. She gathered her energy in a last attempt to keep her head above the water and get herself out of this situation. The brittle branches caught her roughly, and she was stuck in them for a moment before the current forced her against the truck, snapping the thick limbs as if they were mere twigs and scratching her face and arms as they broke. Temperance pulled her legs out of the pull of the current so that the river could not pull her back under and she surveyed the surface of the tree with chattering teeth. Where the thicker branches had broken there were now the remains of the base of the branches, providing some rather handy handholds. If only Booth was still here, he could save her. But she was alone, and just like it had been her entire life, Brennan would have to save herself.
Temperance turned herself so that her knees were pressed against the trunk and her shoulders were squared. She stretched a trembling hand up and grabbed a hand hold with stiff fingers. The water continued to roar around her, running over her shoulders but pushing her further up the face of the tree. She reached with her other hand and found another bump on the tree to hold onto. With teeth gritted and a set mind, Temperance Brennan hauled herself halfway out of the water and began the difficult climb from the freezing river and onto the tree.
Booth was out of the large truck before it had even stopped. He could see lightning reflect off of the near calm surface of the large pool as he ran towards it, tripping over roots and sliding in the thick mud. He heard Arcult and the others following and shouting at him to wait for the light, but he paid them no heed. Booth skidded to a stop next to the dark pool and peered through the heavy rain, searching for either the infamous tree or Brennan. Booth's heart fell. There was no sign of either.
The black watch on his wrist beeped noon, but it could just as well have been midnight. The skies were still pitch-black, and the rain hadn't let up yet. Thunder and lightning fought for dominance in the sky, each crash bigger than the last. Medder appeared beside him. He quickly set the spotlight up again and the thick beam cut through the rain. The sweeping light only confirmed Booth's earlier observations: nothing.
"Well don't that beat all." Arcult drawled. "She must've gotten held up by that tree or sometin' else farther up the river." Arcult scratched his balding head under his cap.
"I'll go back up the river and look for the tree. Stay here and watch the fall incase Brennan shows up." Booth pointed to the small fall where the river met the pool. Medder nodded and set the light on the fall, illuminating the soft fog that rose from where the river poured into the pool. Booth turned to go.
"You be careful now. Can't have both of ye missin'." Joe gently told Booth. The FBI agent nodded once before sprinting back up the small hill of the pool and up the river. The dark waters rushed past him on his left as he strained to find Temperance in the water. But, like before, the forensic anthropologist was just out of reach.
Brennan lay gasping on the other side of the river. How she managed to haul herself up the side of the tree and craw across it to the bank, she had no clue. But it had sure been easy to drop like a rag doll from the tree to the soggy ground where she now lay. Temperance rolled over on her side as yet another fit of coughs conquered her shaking body. The water continued to pour from her mouth as she hacked her way through the foul tasting liquid that had flooded her lungs. When the fit passed, Temperance rolled back onto her back, the rain drops falling hard on her face.
For once, Brennan was glad that she was so numb. If it wasn't cold and there was no feeling in her body right now, the pain and injury she had obtained from her journey would be near unbearable. Even in her deadened state, Brennan could feel the lump on her head, the pain in her knee, and the overall ache of her battered body. She groaned as a small branch detached itself from a tree and hit her on her injured knee.
"No use sitting here." Temperance said to herself. She had to find Booth. Something inside her told her that if she could only find Booth, everything would be okay. And her gut told her that this wasn't the most ideal location to be. So, Brennan gritted her teeth and, using the tree for support, hauled herself to her feet. Her knee hurt tremendously, but she could walk. Her new resolve to find Booth gave her strength as Brennan limped away from the tree and downstream. If she could find the pool, maybe, just maybe she could find Booth…
Booth studied the tree wedged between the banks. Where on earth could Brennan be? A small movement on the opposite side of the river caught Booth's eye, but he wrote it off as the trees and shadows dancing in the rain. Booth could not see anyone stuck in the branches on either side of the tree, so that meant either Temperance was past it, or even stuck beneath it. Drowning.
He kicked the tree in frustration at his own thoughts of Brennan being gone, and just because at that moment, he really hated the tree. But he froze when he heard it creak. The sky flashed dangerously as the log continued to quiver and all of the sudden, Booth got a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He felt the hair on the back of his neck and on his arms stand on end against the pounding of the rain as the air around him began to sizzle. Booth flung himself away from the river and onto the ground just as a giant crash of lighting hit the log dead center. The dead wood cracked in an explosion of sodden splinters and flying branches. The river grabbed it at the break and the wood fell away from the banks as the river whisked it downstream. Booth felt the splinters from the wood hail down on his back and head while he stood and watched the two pieces of lumber roll away to the fall. He looked back across the water and saw a small, dark shape quiver on the ground a few feet away from where the tree had been.
"Lightning must've knocked down some other stuff, too…" Booth mused. He took another good look around the river. No Brennan. His own footsteps sounded hollow in his ears as he jogged back to where Arcult was, the panic of the situation slowly squeezing the life out of him.
Arcult listened as Booth described what happened with the tree in great detail, and watched Booth's eyes as they flickered from Arcult's face to the water and back again.
"Well, if ye didn't see her, she must've not been there. Don't worry, sir. She probably got tossed up on the shore. We'll find her. I'm sure of it! But it's no use in this weather." A crash of thunder accented Joe's statement. "We're gonna hafta wait till it dies down a bit." Booth nodded rigidly. He hated waiting, especially if he didn't know how it was going to turn out.
"I'll find you, Bones. Just hang on a little longer." Thunder echoed around him as his words were whipped away by the howling winds. Medder's spotlight flickered out with an explosion, leaving Booth in the dark holding onto his last bit of hope. "Just hold on."
Ah, don't you just love cliffies? Well, if canadianagurl wants to call me the cliffy queen, I better live up to it! Hehe. I don't know if I really like this chapter, but I'm also kind of worried about Alyssa and if she's gonna go crazy. (jk ur awesome lol) So, leave me a little review and tell me what you think! I got school tomorrow, so I hope to finish the next chapter up either tomorrow or the next day. Bear with me people! -Ash