As promised, a quick update! Happy Tuesday a.k.a. three days til the weekend!
Brennan was fiddling with the horn, and it woke Hodgins up.
"Whazzup?" he said groggily.
"I was scared I had killed you," Brennan said, looking at him. "How's your leg?"
"So much better."
"Good."
"What are you doing?"
"Trying to hotwire the horn to be able to send a text message."
"There's service down here?"
"We get radio, so I'm saying yes," Brennan answered.
"You'll have a microsecond to do it. Put in a resistor."
"Good idea."
"So what do we say in such a short text? Goodbye? Thanks? Tootles? Nice knowing ya?" Hodgins asked.
"You are gonna analyze this dirt," Brennan started.
"Don't say dirt. I hate the word dirt," Hodgins interrupted.
"You're going to analyze the dirt," Brennan went on, ignoring him, "and you're gonna tell them where we are."
She handed him a scoopful of dirt, and he looked at it.
"Ash, nitrogen, sulfer," he muttered. He spit into it.
"Where are we?" Brennan prompted.
"I'd say Virginia."
"We need to be more specific."
"Give me your laser. I also need Benzophenone."
"Angela's perfume," Brennan said to him. "That's all that's in this car with that."
"Three bloody grand that cost me," Hodgins huffed. They'd already had that conversation earlier when he'd told her how he felt about Angela.
"I'll pay your for half when we get out of here."
"I never told you, but I'm rich."
"So am I."
"No, you're well off. I'm the only person left alive from the Cantilever Group."
"Then I won't worry about splitting the cost," Brennan replied. She poured it into the dirt, and he examined it further.
"Camera," he instructed, and she handed it to him.
"Well?" she asked.
"I know where we are," he answered. Brennan felt anticipation then and hope. They got it all set up, and Hodgins reassured her he had lightning fast thumbs. She pressed the horn while he sent the text, and all they could do was hope that it went through.
...
Booth had finished threatening Vega. He had been unsuccessful at getting ransom money before that. He was feeling helpless and angry when he found himself outside Brennan's apartment. He wanted to check on Parker for some reason.
"Hey," Russ said, opening the door. "Did you find her?"
"Not yet. I just...how is he?" Booth asked. Brennan cared a lot for this boy, which made Booth want to care a lot for this boy.
"Upset for a while. He eventually fell asleep," Russ answered. "I'm trying not to freak out."
"Me too," Booth agreed. He could see Parker sleeping on the couch where he crashed. Russ hadn't wanted to move him for fear of waking him. He was clutching one of Brennan's hoodies. The sight of it tugged on Booth's heartstrings.
"I just got her back, you know?" Russ said. "I can't lose her. Neither can he."
"I know," Booth nodded. His phone vibrated then, and he stared at it. Was he seeing things? Had he finally snapped? He was looking at a message from Brennan, and it made zero sense.
"What?" Russ asked.
"Does this mean anything to you?" he asked, showing Russ.
"That's from Temperance," Russ said, realizing.
"Yea."
"I'm sorry. I have no idea what it means."
"I gotta go," Booth said, rushing out without even saying goodbye. He looked at the message. It was numbers and one letter. He tried calling it to see if it was a phone number. Nothing happened. He tried calling Brennan's phone, but it went straight to voicemail. It was time to bring in the big guns from the lab.
...
Brennan had punctured the spare tire. Hodgins made a carbon dioxide scrubber from her camera. They were running out of air, and Brennan tried not to panic.
"I think we aren't gonna make it," Hodgins said.
"Booth will find us."
"You have a lot of faith in him."
"Not faith. I just have seen what he is capable of doing," she argued.
"I'm sorry, but we're buried alive with no idea if our message got out much less understood, and we have barely any air left. That's faith, baby."
She frowned at him.
"Sorry. Baby was a reflex there. Please don't fillet me with your knife again," Hodgins begged, but he was smiling a little. He got a tiny smile back from Brennan.
"The last thing I wanted to do was traumatize Parker again," Brennan said after a moment. "And that's exactly what will happen if I don't get out of here."
"You sure love that kid," Hodgins noted.
"I do."
"You gonna adopt him?"
"I want to," Brennan answered. But it's complicated. She left that part out.
"Well, let's keep our faith in Booth then," Hodgins suggested. "But if we don't get out of here, then we should probably write our goodbyes." He wanted to add to his letter to Angela that he'd already written. He had one for Zack and Cam too. He'd even composed a few sentences for Booth even though they weren't close.
"Okay," Brennan agreed, pulling out her book and ripping out a page for him and for her. She let him go first. She was thinking of what she wanted to say. She thought of Booth a lot, and she knew there was an attraction there. She thought of Parker. She decided then what she was going to write.
...
"Come on!" Booth shouted. "What does it mean?!"
"I'm trying," Zack said, flustered.
"Booth," Cam warned.
"We ran out of time. They have no air, but I know Bones and Hodgins. They will have figured something out. We have to find them!" Booth shouted. Angela was trying not to feel paralyzed by the clock saying zero on it.
"I...I can't figure it out," Zack said.
"Did you try calling it?" Angela suggested. Booth snorted.
"I already did all the stupid guy stuff. That's why I'm here at the Brain Factory," he answered.
"We need to look at this differently," Cam reasoned. "It's a message specific from one person to someone here. Who?"
"Easy," Booth said. "It's from Bones to me. We work together and have an understanding."
"It's numbers," Cam told him.
"And we all work together," Angela said. "Hodgins..."
"Right, Hodgins is in the car too," Cam interrupted. "They are buried alive, and Hodgins is about dirt, so the message is about dirt. But who is it to?"
"Hodgins is about dirt and Angela," Zack said. "So Angela."
"No," Angela said, getting it. "He's telling us about the dirt, so he is counting on you to figure out the numbers, Zack."
"Oh," Zack said, suddenly understanding. "Periodic table. The numbers." He started to think.
At this point, Vega came in with his associate to tell Booth they could not get more time from the Gravedigger. Booth ignored him, focusing on Zack, who was growing excited.
"Mascerals," he was saying. He was looking at a map now.
"Narrow it down for me," Booth instructed.
"1.4 is rare," Zack went on. He kept on muttering to himself.
"What does it mean?" Booth asked. "English please."
"It means he knows where they are," Angela answered just as Zack pointed to a specific point on the map.
"I know where they are," he echoed.
And everyone leaped into action.
...
"Blow us up," Hodgins said, observing what Brennan was doing. "That'll kill us for sure."
"So will suffocating," Brennan commented. She was going to use the airbags to blow a hole and try to crawl out. It was a huge risk, but she was willing to take it.
"Right. Well, let's do it," Hodgins said. "Better off going out with a bang anyway." Brennan finished hooking it all up and sat there for a moment, realizing what this could mean.
"If we are less than four feet under, we'll be free," she said.
"And if we're deeper?"
"Then we'll die."
"Awesome."
"You should get as far away from the blast as you can," Brennan suggested. He laughed.
"I already am. Come on back and join me," he said, offering his hand. Brennan moved to sit beside him. It was now or never.
"It's been a privilege, Dr. Brennan," Hodgins said, going to shake her hand. She hugged him tight instead. She didn't want to admit how scared she was, and neither did he. Then Hodgins got ready to set off the charge.
...
Booth and the others got to the quarry. He stood, searching. Parker's plea and face were right front and center in his mind. There was no way he was going back to that boy with bad news.
"Look for any signs of digging or tracks," he instructed the others. "Come on!"
He kept looking hard. Then, a puff of dirt rose in the air.
"There!" he shouted, running down the hill as fast as he could. He landed on his knees, digging furiously. The others joined him, and Booth found a hand in the dirt. He pulled, and Brennan came to the surface. She coughed.
"Hodgins," she said. Booth pulled her out of the way as Cam, Zack, and Angela dug for Hodgins.
"We got him," Booth said as they pulled Hodgins out, who was also coughing. "Bones, we got you."
Brennan felt like crying. She saw Angela kiss Hodgins. Cam and Zack were smiling and hugging him next. Brennan turned her head to see Booth looking at her. She felt the note in her back pocket and remembered the words she had written. He was right there. She could tell him everything right now.
"Parker loves you so much," Booth said. "He made me promise to bring you home. Bones, tell me you're gonna adopt him? He needs you to be his mom. I've never seen a child love someone as much as he loves you."
Everything died on her lips. Parker wanted her to be his mom. How could she be his mom if she let Booth take him away? Everything felt so dizzy and confusing. Booth was telling her to adopt Parker. She wanted to adopt Parker. Her head hurt.
"I'm going to adopt him," she said. Booth grinned and hugged her tightly.
"Thank you. I'm glad you're okay," he told her.
"Me too."
As much as it pained her to hurt him, it pained her much more to hurt Parker, and that she had swore she'd never do.
...
Booth refused to let Brennan out of his sight. She had to force him to wait outside her office while she changed into her extra clothes. She did not want Parker to see her like that. It was very early in the morning, and she was exhausted. She would be getting lots of rest that day. She'd probably keep Parker home from school too, not that he'd let her out of her sight she guessed.
"He is going to be so excited," Booth commented when she emerged from her office and they started walking. She had showered in the decontamination shower before changing.
"Oh, shoot," she said, patting her pants. "My keys. They're on my desk."
"I got 'em," Booth said.
"It's okay..." she started, but he was already running back for them. He saw her clothes bagged for evidence in the corner as he walked to her desk. He scooped up the keys and headed back to the door when he spied the piece of paper on the floor near the evidence bag. He bent to pick it up and got a bit nosy. He untucked it a little, saw his name, and smiled. She had written him a note. He tucked it into his pants pocket to read later. He'd sneak it back into her office afterwards. He was very curious to read what she would have written to him when thinking she was going to die.
"Thanks," Brennan said as he handed her the keys. He put his arm around her shoulder as they continued walking. He didn't care if Cam saw. There was something telling him that he and Cam weren't going to make it anyway, that it was more or less a short term relationship. He felt something when he was with Brennan. He just didn't know what it was yet.
...
"Tempe," Russ said, heaving a huge sigh of relief as she came through the door. They hugged tightly.
"Thanks for watching Parker," she said.
"You were buried alive," Russ replied. "Don't even worry about me. How are you?"
"I'm fine," she dismissed. She'd deal with her traumatic experience alone later. She did not like showing weakness to others let alone her brother or Booth.
"Really?" Russ asked in disbelief.
"Where is he?" she asked, getting to the point.
"Couch," Russ answered. He and Booth watched as Brennan went over to Parker and gently shook him awake. His eyes flew open, and he gasped.
"Bones!" he cried, throwing his arms around her neck. Brennan hugged him furiously. She did her best not to cry. She didn't want Parker to see her weak or vulnerable either.
"I'm here," she said.
"I was so scared," Parker said. "I thought I'd never see you again."
"Well, I'm here, and I'm never leaving you," Brennan promised. She felt the shot to the heart as she said this, avoiding looking at Booth. She knew how angry he was going to be when it all came out, but she would cross that bridge when she got there. It wasn't like she'd never let him have anything to do with Parker. She just really wanted to be his mom. They could figure it out. Maybe they could share custody. Brennan didn't want to worry about the details in that moment. She'd figure them out later. And again, she still didn't have solid proof Booth was Parker's father. She was guessing. Parker then let her go and raced over to Booth, who bent down to accept his hug too.
"You kept your promise," Parker said.
"I did," Booth agreed. Brennan avoided looking directly at both of them. She didn't want to start comparing their bone structures again. Not now. She knew it wasn't right, but she just couldn't bring herself to.
Parker came back to her, and she walked him to his room.
"Do I have to go to school today?" he asked.
"No," she shook her head. "You and I are taking the day off."
"Yippee!" he cried. He bounced into his bed, and Brennan got in and curled up behind him. He fell back asleep in no time, and Brennan found herself almost falling asleep. The images of being in her car kept appearing. Eventually, though, sleep won.
"Hey, Bones," Booth whispered, sticking his head into the room. He smiled upon seeing both Brennan and Parker sound asleep. He backed out and closed the door behind him.
"Sleeping?" Russ asked.
"Yea."
"Good."
"Tell her I'll call her later," Booth said. He shook Russ's hand, and he walked down to his SUV. He smiled as he pulled up the image of Brennan with Parker in his mind. Who would have thought she'd make such a good mother? He went home and changed and tried to get some shut eye. The letter from Brennan to him was forgotten. Without realizing, it had fallen out of his pocket as he had changed and skittered underneath his bed from the momentum. And there it remained. For now.
Stay tuned!