Brennan watches in horror as fire engines pull up outside of the warehouse doors, the fiery blaze threatening to engulf them. She anxiously searches the faces of agents pouring from the building. As time ticks by the stream of agents leaving the building dwindles. Fire hoses attack the flames licking at the air and firemen start to appear from inside the building, some carrying bodies…none of them Booth.

The tension in her stomach is so tight that she feels the urge to vomit, but she is afraid to tear her eyes from the building in case she misses the one agent that she has trained her senses on. She's scared, not something that she openly admits often, but right now she has never been more afraid than she is right now. Her mind is blank and her eyes sting from the smoke that is engulfing the surrounding area. In the distance she can see Jared ordering men into the building and directing those coming out, every now and then he turns to make sure she is still within a safe distance. Glancing back at the door she watches anxiously.

Cullen walks over to the trooper car and kneels down next to her. He smiles at her sympathetically, understanding some measure of her fear. Her eyes meet his reluctantly.

"Have you found Booth?"

He shakes his head and looks towards the door. "No, it's been over an hour now.. He hasn't made contact, the other agent that he was with hasn't made contact either…. I'm sorry, we're not hopeful right now."

Tears find her eyes again and she allows them to run down her cheeks leaving white tracks. Cullen puts a hand on hers and gives her a gentle reassuring squeeze.

"What was he doing here?"

Cullen looks at her again. "We were working alongside the local authorities, we had a tip off that a gang that we've been tailing for quite some time were in the area. They specialise in manufacturing bombs and selling them on to terrorist and extremist groups. Most of our resources have been driven into catching those responsible after one of their bombs was used to blow up the house of a Canadian Ambassador and his family in their home…. He wasn't even supposed to be here tonight, he volunteered at the last minute, I had him on another detail, but he'd been helping in this case."

A look of defeat crosses the man's features and Brennan squeezes his hand through her own tears.

"The fire chief is his brother?"

She nods. "That's how I got to be here. He was dropping me off when we got the call."

"Must be hard for him too. I'll keep you updated as soon as I hear anything Dr Brennan." He pushes himself to his feet and lifts the radio to his lips once again as he makes his way towards the pumper trucks and Jared.

She stares with unfocused eyes at the doors of the warehouse, her heart sinking with every second that passes by. No one has left the building in at least twenty minutes, no one except for firemen, paramedics litter the space and as she takes in the devastation around her she sees agents on stretchers, hunched on the steps of ambulances and collecting evidence of the blast. The scene before her is a real life mosaic of action. Glancing back up at the warehouse she sees three people exiting the building. One man is being supported by an agent and a fireman. She squints at the injured man and is quickly dismayed to see that it isn't Booth, she watches as the men lead the injured one to an ambulance. The fireman shakes the hand of the unknown man before leaving, as she looks again she recognises the face of that man.

With her heart thumping in her chest and her pulse roaring in her ears she catapults from the car seat. The officer standing next to the vehicle doesn't have enough time to react because she's already halfway across the open space.

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He rubs a weary hand over his face and looks up to find his superior, instead he is greeted by the sight of her running towards him, her cheeks stained with tears and although confused by both her presence and emotion he catches her unsteadily with open arms. Wrapping her tightly within his grasp he closes his eyes as she buries her face in his neck and holds onto him for all that her life is worth.

"What are you doing here?"

She doesn't answer, and he can feel the tears soaking through his shirt and skin. He doesn't press her for an answer, just continues to hold her as tightly as he can without crushing her tiny frame. He strokes her hair, trying his best to comfort her as he presses light kisses onto the side of her face.

The red and blue flashes around them, and in the distance a fireman stands talking to a fire chief, congratulating him on that fact that his brother has been found. As the man turns to confirm the presence of his brother he feels like an intruder on a private moment between a man and the woman that he loves. Both are too caught up in the moment to realise that they are being watched, both too relieved to be alive and able to lean on one another.

Booth pulls back and looks into her eyes. She forces a smile through her tears and he puts a comforting arm around her shoulder as he leads her back to the vehicles.

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I know it's short…what do you think?