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: The Road Not Taken (Robert Frost, amazing poem btw)
Note: Erkith is a genius. I'll elaborate at the end of this chapter… hehe : )
Double Note: I didn't proof this chapter as thorougly as usual, just so you guys could get it faster, so sorry for any petty mistakes! But, ENJOY!
Brennan slowly opened her heavy eyelids as she rolled onto her back. The rain was beginning to lighten, but the sky was still dark as it had been all day. She faintly remembered seeing someone, or something, moving across the stream before the giant bout of lightning, but whatever it was had since disappeared from the other side. Standing shakily on trembling legs, Temperance winced as a jolt of pain ran through her entire body. She was stiff, sore, bruised, and tired. But, she had to find Booth, no matter what.
The ground was slippery, and Brennan found herself down in the mud more than she would have liked. But each trip just made her even more determined to get back up and keep moving. The stiffness was beginning to lapse, but her muscles only screamed at her even more as the feeling began to return to her limbs. Brennan felt the ground rise beneath her feet as she reached a small hill. The roar of the water was louder here, and a wispy fog rose on her left. She finished her climb to the top of the small mound of earth and peered out over the terrain in front of her. The river was gone now. She had finally reached the pool. If Brennan could run, or jump for joy, that's what she would be doing. Running down the hill and around it to where Booth was probably parked with the rest of the rescue squad. A fat lot of help they did… But in her current physical condition, she was satisfied with a speedy limp down the hill.
A root caught the toe of her shoe, and Temperance was flung down the incline. She landed, hard, and rolled out towards the pool. Brennan flung an aching arm out in an attempt to stop the rolling, and it worked. Along with the help of the dark waters, her movement slowed, and she lay still in the shallow liquid. Her roll down the small hill did nothing for her pains, and every nerve ending was on fire as she lay there. The determination to keep going was there, but this time, Brennan did not get up.
The sound of soft footsteps and a gentle splash reached Tempe's ears, but she did not have the strength to raise her aching head. A pair of strong arms wove their way under her knees and neck as Brennan felt herself being lifted into the air and set back again on the soggy earth. Someone was whispering gentle nothings, and the voice soothed the persistent throb behind her ears, and quieted the jackhammers behind her eyes. Brennan felt the heat of someone's breath on her neck, and goose bumps ran up and down her arms and neck at the warmth against her cool skin.
"Can't have ye findin' out what happened to the body by the river, now, can we?" Something sharp connected with the soft flesh of her stomach and twist through her skin. Brennan felt the rusty liquid that was her life source begin to leak out and run down her side. Too tired to react to the pain, Brennan felt herself hoisted into the air once more.
Booth paced anxiously around the small campsite the rescue squad had set up. The rain was beginning to taper off, and now it was drizzling lightly. Joe Arcult emerged from the large truck, holding a pair of heavy duty boots. He walked over to the group of men and sat down in a foldout chair, pulling the large boots on with an experienced air.
"Rains lettin' up, I'm gonna go walk round and see what I can see." Arcult announced, standing back up. Booth couldn't help but notice that the thin man's jacket looked a bit, well, bulkier than it had been five minutes ago.
"I'm coming with you." Booth ceased his pacing and walked towards Arcult.
"No!" Joe's sudden outburst made Booth take a step back. "I mean, no, I'm just checkin the terrain to see if we can go out n' look yet. If I find anything, I'll call ye. Now stay here in case she comes round here. I'll be back later." Arcult turned and left, looking back over his shoulder every few yards in a paranoid fashion. Booth had been suspicious from the first 'no' Arcult shouted, but didn't say anything because the man had been so helpful lately. But now, he wasn't so sure of Arcult's "good" intentions.
Booth resumed his pacing after watching the skittish man leave, observing which direction he went. The rain had almost stopped with only the occasional rumble in the sky. There was no other suspicious activity in the camp, Booth noted as he looked around. Randy Medder was busy repairing the fixture and bulb on the spotlight from when it had exploded in the lighting, and another man named Grafton was busy coiling the rescue rope back up and stuffing it into the tiny bag. It seemed a simple enough task, but the clumsy man seemed to be having trouble getting the rope into the bag. The truck driver, a sprightly man called Anthony, had brought some small snacks out of the cab and was busy asking people if they needed anything. Each and every person in camp was busy with some task or another.
Joe Arcult had been gone for a full hour, and Booth was sitting on pins and needles. Pacing had gotten old after a while, mechanical so it did not take his mind off of Brennan anymore. Now Booth was subtly rocking back and forth on his heels, concentrating on keeping his balance and waiting like an expectant father. After five more minutes passed, Booth had had enough. Without a word to the rest of the men, he slipped between the trees and silently followed the path Arcult's boots had made in the mud. The sky rumbled, and as Booth looked up from the track, he saw a shadow detach itself from the trees on the other side of the pool. Booth quickly crouched down behind a tree and some bushes, and he waited.
The squelch of boots on mud accompanied by a tuneless whistle announced Arcult's presence. Booth narrowed his eyes at Arcult, who was snapping off a pair of latex gloves with some stain on them. His jacket had settled down on his thin frame, no longer holding the bulk it had earlier. As soon as Arcult passed, Booth crept out of his hiding spot and quickly followed Joe's path around the pool, making sure to keep to the trees in case someone else decided to go and "scout" the terrain.
He came to the woods on the other side and ducked beneath the cover of the shadows. A glance back confirmed Joes' return to the camp. Back in front of him, a path of trampled leaves and grass lead him winding through the wood. The mud from Arcult's boots had fallen to the ground, providing the path that the man of questionable intentions had trod. But soon, the mud path stopped as if the last of it had dropped from Arcult's boots. A few feet up, the path forked. One path looked like the one Booth was currently one, well trodden and clear. The other, however, held the faint impressions of boots, just barely a path. Arcult could have gone either way, so Booth had to take a gamble. The left or the right.
"I took the one less traveled by, and that will make all the difference." Booth quoted, tweaking the words to his situation. He did not know what lay beyond either path, he only hoped one of them, preferably the one he was on, held the answer to Temperance's whereabouts, and Joes's suspicious behavior.
Her head throbbed in pain as Brennan opened her lead-infused lids. She fought down a wave of nausea and focused her eyes on her leafy surroundings. The once dark, wet sky had been replaced by green vegetation with water droplets and a thick tree branch that pinned her to the ground beneath the bush. Temperance noticed the rain had stopped, but the skies beyond the green were still dark. The twigs held her still, the bush and branch her current prison. Brennan laid her head back down on the cool earth and tried to draw back memories of what had happened. This blackout, wakeup somewhere new business was getting kind of old, not to mention annoying.
Footsteps drew her back from the barren land of fleeting memories as she tried to turn her head towards the sound. Brennan felt her eyes threaten to close again, but she fought off the darkness for the time being. A familiar black suit came into view through the thick foliage. Temperance's heart leapt, and the sudden high of a familiar pair of once clean, now muddy, shoes whipped her head up. The sudden movement, plus the heavy branch on top of her, sent Brennan's head reeling and vision swimming as she once again succumbed to the pull of the black abyss of oblivion.
Booth tensed as he saw the bush beside him shake slightly. A small whimper reached his alert ears, followed by a soft thump. Booth waited a few seconds, watching for anymore movement. When one came, he cautiously crept forward and hauled the giant limb off of the foliage before him. Kneeling in the mud to the side of the bush, he pulled back the leaves to see what injured wildlife was hiding. Boy was he in for a surprise.
He stared in shock at Temperance Brennan's still body. At first, he feared the worst, but the shallow rise and fall of her chest reassured him that Brennan was still there. His eyes traveled over her body, taking in the thick cord that held her ankles together, and the wire that twisted her arms behind her back. The pale, exposed flesh of her side revealed multiple bruises, and dried blood covered some shallow cuts on her neck and arms. Booth reached over to her head and brushed aside the hair that fell across her face. A strip of cloth was in between her teeth, and knotted behind her head. Brennan's eyes began to flutter open from the warmth of his touch, revealing the warm emerald color he missed so much. Booth swore that whoever did this to Bones, his Bones, would pay dearly for what they had done.
Yes, Erkith is a genius for having the idea of a bad Arcult! Genius, really. Next chapter, last chapter, is all laid out. I just have to link together the steps and phrases of the outline and it'll be done! So, cheerio! I hope to see your review in my inbox. It really does speed up the writing process. Until next chapter, Ash.