Disclaimer- I don't own Bones… But I do own Fatal Voyage, Grave Secrets, and Bare Bones! Woot!
Booth was sitting on one of the beds in the hotel room that he and Tempe shared. He felt the need to incessantly tap his fingers on the side table to the left of his bed. Seeley Booth knew that if something happened to Temperance, he would punish himself for the rest of his life, but he had nothing to go on. He had already called the local DMV asking for information on the license plate number of the blue station wagon. They told him he'd have it in a day or two but Seeley knew that FBI Ids could be very mind altering. He'd get their call in a couple hours.
Seeley had nothing to do but wait. He didn't want to enjoy himself when Temperance could be out there in need of help, but where the hell could he look? He continued tapping his fingers.
Five hours later, he woke up leaning against the headboard with his hand still on the nightstand. It took a moment to realize where he was. He turned around to look at the other bed hoping to see Temperance lying there. His expectation was shot down when he took in the image of that empty, unused bed.
Seeley ran a disconcerted hand through his messed up hair and sighed. "Where the hell is she?" he asked the abandoned room. His eyes widened as he remembered something. "Oh my god!" Booth smacked his forehead. He reached for his cell phone on the nightstand and dialed Tempe's cell phone number anticipating the anthropologist's voice or the voice of her abductor.
His wish was granted: "Thank you for calling Dr. Temperance Brennan's cell phone. I'm not available right now, but please leave your name and phone number and a brief message and I will return your call as quickly as possible. Thank you."
Booth spoke into the receiver. "Bones. I know this is pointless leaving you a message… I just… God, I hope you're-" A slender hand took the phone from Seeley's hands and snapped it shut. Thunk. The phone was dropped on the ground behind him. Booth turned around.
"Bones! Who took you? Did you escape? Did he let you go? What the hell happened? I'm sorry I left. I was so worried. I-" Tempe's lips swallowed the rest of Booth's words.
He was dazed by her action that at first he barely felt the blade impale his gut. Pain shot through Booth's eyes. He looked down at his stomach seeing a dagger sticking from it. He raised his quickly blurring vision to the woman standing before him.
Tempe's eyes were dark; the blue of her irises disappearing into her pupils. Suddenly she felt a pain in the back of her neck. The blue returned as she doubled over, hand on the bed for support. "Booth?" She looked at Seeley, oozing blood from the stab wound she knew she inflicted. She was short of breath and felt something digging into the back of her neck.
"Temperance. Why did you…?" Booth moaned in pain.
"God Booth. Seeley. I'm so sorry. I couldn't help… I knew what I was doing… I couldn't stop…" She lifted her hair and felt behind her head. Something small and hard was sticking from her lower skull where she knew her cerebellum was. She grabbed hold of it and pulled, collapsing from the throbbing in every vein of her body. "AH!" Tempe shrieked as she yanked the thin wire from her head.
Booth watched all of her movements through half-closed eyes. He saw her fall to the floor in exhaustion. He saw her slowly rise after a few minutes and look into his eyes. Then he saw nothing.
Tempe dialed 911 immediately. The ambulance came within minutes. She slipped the wire into a plastic bag for testing and put it carefully in her purse before leaving with Booth to the hospital.
An hour later, Booth was lying in a hospital bed and Temperance was in the hallway sitting in a chair outside the ER. Booth was stable. The blade barely punctured his small intestine. The dagger and wire were recorded as evidence her fingerprints on both.
Temperance knew she'd have to deal with a ton of trials. She wasn't charged yet with attempted murder, but she understood that it was inevitable. The wire was her only way to prove that her brain was being messed with. She didn't know if Booth was on her side or not.
A doctor opened the door next to her to welcome her in. "He's in a poor condition. You can't stay for long. You also need to get your brain checked out in the neurology section. That wire could have done extensive damage to your cerebellum." Tempe looked at the good doctor. He was handsome in an old rugged British Anthony Stewart Head kind of way.
Tempe rose from her seat and slowly stepped through the doorway and stood just inside the room. The doctor closed the door behind him as he left the room to give them privacy.
Booth was sitting up in his bed. "Hey Bones." Tempe could hear an edge in his voice but she could tell he was trying to act like it never happened. "God Bones. I'm not going to bite." Booth grinned slightly.
Temperance took a few steps forward. "I'm really, really, really, really sorry, Booth. I…" she sighed. "I know apologizing won't help, but…" she looked down.
Booth's grin melted away. "Bones, I can't help being a little pissed. You stabbed me. I guess I just… I trusted you." Temperance opened her mouth to defend herself, but Booth held up a hand to silence her. "I know it wasn't your fault and there's nothing you could have done. I guess it just scares me that someone could do this to you."
Temperance stared at him. "What you mean is… you subconsciously think that I let it happen." She looked away.
"I know you didn't, Bones. You always seem so strong and independent like nothing can happen to you. I guess I've just come to believe it. Something like this occurring… It's just surreal."
"Someone violated my mind, Seeley. You and I both know that this wasn't my fault." Tempe fought back tears. A look of resolve came over her features as she turned to look back at her partner. "Are you with me or not, Agent Seeley Booth?"
Booth's lips curved into a smile. "What do you think, Bones? 'Course I am!"
Temperance returned the smile. "So did the doctor tell you how long you're going to be here?"
"Yeah. Legally, he can't make me stay more than a night, but he suggests I stay about a week." He sounded disappointed.
"What about the case?" Tempe asked, her good mood quickly sinking. She knew the answer.
"Cullen is pulling us off. He's putting new agents on it. We're supposed to write reports for the newbies and get back to Washington DC." Seeley noticed Tempe's dejected expression. "The killer knows you, Bones. He knows what you look like and how to get to you. You don't want to be here."
"I want to help catch him, though, Booth! I want to put that guy behind bars. We could use me as bait! He obviously wants you dead. So maybe we could use you as bait. I like that plan better."
"Don't you get it Bones? I have orders. I follow my orders. And if you can't tell, I've kind of disabled." Booth pointed to his bandaged stomach.
"Are you trying to make me feel guilty again?"
"Sure. It's something to do. But the point is, we're leaving Hawaii. We're going back home. You've got a day to pack."
Tempe raised her eyebrows. "I never unpacked, Booth…"
"True," Booth agreed. "So what do you want to do for twenty four hours?"
"Theories!" Booth rolled his eyes. "I can't just drop this case so quickly, Booth. It's sick and twisted, but so intoxicating."
"Alright. I have a few theories. First of all, I think Gale Shyam and your abductor are connected."
Temperance walked closer to Booth and vacated the chair to his right. "Who is Gale Shyam?" she asked.
"He's the guy that I went with the night you were taken. He led me to this empty beach. There was this little hut or a shack or something. I didn't go in, because I realized he was keeping distracting me for a reason; feeding me false information." Booth didn't regale his partner that Gale had wanted her in return for the info. "I hurried back to the morgue looking for you. I even asked to see the security tapes. Apparently you talked to a man named Max Collins?" Booth asked for her to concur.
Tempe nodded. "Yeah, he was acting a bit off..."
"I have reason to believe that he was the one who snatched you up last night." He waited for a response.
"I don't… No, he didn't seem like… What are your reasons for this hypothesis?"
"I got a call from the DMV after Cullen and I talked. I had asked for information concerning the license plate number of the car you were thrown into. The videos showed that same car drive back into the parking lot and the same man walked out. Max Collins." He watched Tempe's surprised face.
"Well that wasn't expected… What an asshole."
"I agree." Booth nodded.
"So. Any other ideas?" Tempe asked.
"Kind of. The shark girl was fed to sharks. We've established this. There's got to be a reason. Are they his pets? Is he going to sell them? Or is he just a sick bastard?"
"I think having sharks for pets falls under the category of being a sick bastard." Fury seeped though her blood.
"I guess. But I think these murders have to do with this Shyam character and his 'powerful' employer. They're involved in something dirty."
Tempe quickly caught on. "You think that sharks are being sold to Shyam."
"Right. I think this is black market stuff."
"But that doesn't make any sense, Booth. People eat shark meat all the time. They sell it in grocery stores around the world. It's not illegal."
"Just consider this for a second, Bones. What came first: the chicken or the egg?" Booth asked.
"That's a rhetorical question."
"Could we look past the obvious for a second please? What came first: your shark girl murderer or the partnership between Gale and this unknown murderer?"
"Oh! I see what you're saying. Gale and his employer are into the black market. There's this murderer feeding bodies to sharks. What better way to get rid of the sharks that hold the evidence of murders than sell it on the black market where no one cares if the shark ate someone or not?"
"You've hit the nail right on the head, Bones! See, you can be scenario girl sometimes."
"But this isn't for sure, Booth. We've got to consider the options."
"You're out of time, Miss Brennan. It's off to the neurologist with you." The Anthony Head wannabe was back ordering rest for Seeley.
"I'll be sleeping here tonight Booth! So if you need me I'll be outside," Tempe said quickly as Dr. Head pushed her into the hall.
Temperance thought about the things Booth said as she waiting for her test in the neurologist's office. 'What about the cave? That's obviously where the girls die. The killer slips a wire into their heads and makes them tie themselves up and throw themselves to the sharks. That's why there are no defense wounds on the bodies. And-' her thoughts were interrupted by the neurologist calling for a Brennan, leaving Temperance at a startling apprehension.
"Good morning, Miss Brennan. I'm Dr. O'Laughmiston. I know it's a weird name. Just call me Dr. O."
"Ok, Dr. O…"
"What's up, Miss Brennan?" Dr. O asked.
"An MRI apparently."
"We just need to see what's going on inside that little noggin of yours." Temperance felt personally offended. She thought Mr. O had said 'little noggin' to disparage her intelligence. But she didn't say anything.
The test began at 7:00am and she received her results at 9:00am, getting frequent calls from Booth asking how she was. Dr. O walked into the examination room as Tempe hung up with Seeley.
"There's nothing wrong with your cerebellum, Miss Brennan. The neurologist just drilled a small hole in your skull and slipped a wire in your brain. The wire didn't go down too far and the hole in the bone will heal. You're fine, Miss Brennan. The doctor who did this obviously knew the wire would be temporary. He didn't use a lot of material, but he knew what he was doing. If you don't mind, may I ask who performed this surgery?" Dr. O looked up from the paper containing Tempe's results.
Temperance didn't fully trust Dr. O. He seemed overly cheerful and it unnerved her. "I forget his name. Of course, I was drugged so I'm a little foggy on the details." Every lie must hold a hint of the truth.
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"Clearly he knew it'd be temporary. He thought you'd kill me then go jump off a cliff like the others," said Booth as Temperance flicked off the hospital room light. Booth had been moved from the ER to a regular room and a separate bed had been pulled up for Tempe.
"But that didn't happen." She adjusted herself on the small cot, trying to get comfortable: an impossible task.
"Way to state the obvious, Bones." Booth smiled in the dark as he stared up at the ceiling.
Tempe turned her body to face Seeley. "You need your rest, Booth. We're leaving early tomorrow."
"Damn it, Bones. I've been resting all day. It's boring." He swiveled his head to look at Tempe.
She closed her eyes and yawned. "Only boring people allow themselves to get bored," she said resignedly falling into herself.
Booth didn't answer as he could tell she was exhausted after a trying day. She looked so innocent as she slept. You'd never tell that she'd actually bite your hand off at a single touch.
Seeley Booth slowly feel asleep remembering that painful kiss of death…
