Temperance walked through the hedges, following the tire tracks, noting in her head each and every detail. "Photograph all of this. Do not miss one misplaced patch of dirt or blade of grass, do you understand?" She stated, her voice was strong and forceful, her body erect and her eyes focused on her partner, standing beside the remains of her daughter's vehicle.
"Temperance." Ace said quickly, taking a step forward, she held her hand out to stop him, her eyes a steely blue.
"No." She shook her head, dropping her hand. "Christopher, this is just like every other case." She turned to the three interns behind her and her brow furrowed. "Where is Mr. Morris?"
One of the interns jogged to catch up, he stopped in front of her and froze at her inquisitive glare. Her eyebrow lifted, hoping to instigate the intern into speaking. "Uh." He stammered against her icy stare. "Agent Booth has him running an errand, he'll be back." He said. "Agent Booth said that he's taking Agent Fitzgerald to the hospital to talk to the witness."
"Thank you." Temperance said, turning around toward the vehicle.
"At least he got him out of our hair for a little while. There's no way he can focus on this. It's a wonder that you can focus in a situation like this, Doc." He said, finding himself on the other end of her glare. "Don't give me that, Doc. I know this isn't easy. It's not easy for me either. We're going to find them. It's not even a question." He said, turning away from her eyes, which still hadn't left his.
She tried desperately to compartmentalize the situation, but in reality her stomach was tightening like a vice, her teeth gritted hard as she breathed deeply through her nose. After several moments, she realized that Ace had continued talking, and was now trying to get her attention.
"Doc, did you hear what I said?" He said, watching her eyes move to his. He could see the cloud of despair within them, and light blue irises as they began to darken. "She was taken alive, the blood may not even be hers. The damage to the truck looks pretty bad, but you know that this thing can take a hit."
"She could be hurt, Christopher. She could be bleeding, and very badly hurt. She could be..." Temperance swallowed.
"We're not doing conjecture, Doctor Brennan." He interrupted. "We don't do that, and you know that." He said, giving her a pointed look as he watched a wave of relief roll over her features for his candor. "We know nothing until the evidence is in, and the subjects are found, alive. You got that?"
"Yes sir." She said, giving him the satisfaction of knowing that he had made her feel better about the situation. She turned around and immediately started barking orders to her interns, turning around to her partner she nodded to him and gave him a weak smile. "Thank you, Christopher."
"You got it, Doc. Anytime." He said, as he continued to take notes on the scene.
Booth drove through the city, his eyes were on the road, flicking this way and that as he headed toward the hospital, ever looking for a vehicle that might be the one that held his daughter and Melody. He glanced to the man in his passenger seat, his eyes focused on the passing traffic, darting between cars as he refused to look at the piercing eyes of the man in the driver's seat.
"How long have you known?" Booth asked, trying to keep his voice calm, but the low growl of anger still made it to his words.
"I don't want to talk about it." Aiden said, watching the traffic, trying to focus on the case, trying not to focus on the blinding fear and growing anxiety that was plaguing him relentlessly.
"Well, I want to talk about it." Booth growled. "This concerns my child and her life. I think that I have every right to know the details of her condition, considering that this is something that we will all have to focus on as part of our rescue strategy. How long have you known, Aiden? Does she know? Is this one of those things where you think it's true, but you don't want to ask, because she's Antonia and if you ask she gets all..."
"No, of course she knows!" He snapped angrily. "You know that she charts out every single moment of her life! She's a scientist, she's a perfectionist, she's eight steps ahead of everyone! She's a... She's... a fucking genius!" He shouted, staring into Booth's eyes angrily before feeling incredibly self conscious, he turned his face away and rubbed his eye with the palm of his hand. He remained silent as he stared out the window, his mind working so quickly, his eyes moving so fast over the other cars, that he was quickly feeling himself start to fray. His hands were trembling as he tried to steady them, and he was finding it very hard to keep it together. "We've known for a little over a month." He mumbled.
"A month?" Booth exclaimed, slightly louder than he wanted to, and when he saw Aiden jump, he immediately felt guilty, though quickly got over it. "Seriously? A month? You've known for a month that you two are going to have a kid, and you both have said absolutely nothing to myself or her mother? Grace doesn't even know? What is wrong with you two?" He ranted. "Do you have some sort of pact to keep things secret from people for as long as humanly possible? Jesus Christ, Aiden!" He exclaimed.
"To be perfectly honest about it, she's actually almost three months pregnant." he mumbled, knowing exactly what Booth's reaction would be.
"Excuse me?" Booth exclaimed, even louder than his last shout, he was actually satisfied when Aiden cringed at his tone.
"She didn't want to say anything to anyone!" Aiden exclaimed suddenly, looking at Booth's enraged expression. "She said that we needed to wait until after the first trimester! I agreed! I just did what she asked! She didn't even act like she wanted me involved at first!" Aiden exclaimed. "Can we please stop talking about this? Please?" He said, his breathing a bit erratic as he closed his eyes tightly. "I just don't want to talk about it right now. We need to find them, we just... we need to find them, and then you can ream us both out about it, okay?" He whispered. He wanted to keep his eyes closed, to take a deep breath and just close his eyes until he heard her voice again, but he didn't dare close his eyes for too long, not if he was going to find Antonia. There was no time to close his eyes.
Booth watched the young man beside him, the terror in his features and the way his body trembled in fear. He was trying his best to mask his own fear for his daughter, taking it out on Aiden wasn't going to solve anything. He needed him, they needed to work together to bring them back safely. There was so much unknown in the case. These men had already killed once, and severely hurt a young boy, and Booth was well aware that Aiden would do absolutely anything to bring his family back home.
Enveloped by darkness, a repetitive thumping sound. Wet. The smell of mildew, rubber, blood. Her body felt heavy, and her brain was fighting to figure out where she was. She felt the heaviness on her body move, a whimper. The thumping continued. Her hands were free, and she moved them up, feeling a tense, sharp pain in her shoulder, her arm, she winced in the darkness. Tires. Tires moving, thumping. Her hands moved over the weight on her, and she came in contact with skin, skin that wasn't her own, but it was warm. She was warm, sweating. Wetness of the perspiration was soaking her clothes as she felt the weight on her move, whimper.
"Melody." Antonia whispered. Her voice was thick with exhaustion and pain. "Melody." She whispered again, knowing that the girl couldn't hear her, but at least she could feel her breath, feel the wisps of air moving across her. She could feel the mop of hair near her neck move, the head that had been against her chest, feeling the gentle pulse of her heartbeat was trying desperately to see her. Hands reached up, touching Antonia's mouth. "Melody." She mumbled, feeling the girl 'hear' her in the darkness. More thumping, rhythmic thumping, a highway. She could feel the tightness of the girl's grip, grunting as she tried to move, cramped. She ran her hands over the girl, ensuring that she was free to move, free to shift. They were both hot, both cramped, but both alive, and that was the most important thing. The muscle pain would go away, the cuts, bruises, and scrapes would heal, the darkness would become light again, in time. Some time.
They shifted as the car moved, the thumping had changed to more of a humming, and what bothered her most was not knowing how long they had been driving. Her head was pounding, and she could feel the car shift to a louder road, a gravel road, a bumpy road. They could feel each and every turn, each and every curve, each and every rut in the road as she silently begged someone to find them. She rolled Melody slightly, wrapping her body around the girl as her aching muscles screamed in protest. Her hands roamed the car trunk, her fingertips rolling over trash and old rags, as well as the metal of the trunk lid, sealing them in as if in a metal coffin. She shifted slightly and rolled her fingers beneath the rug in the trunk, her fingertips slipping into a hole of a piece of particle board that was clearly holding something beneath it. It was clear that they were lying atop a spare tire, and with a little luck, this tiny piece of particle board would reveal what she expected to find.
She hissed in satisfaction when she felt the cold metal of a jack wrench, a type of crowbar used to unbolt a tire. She could feel the metal crowbar in her hands and sighed softly as she felt for the lip of the trunk. She pushed Melody further down her body, the little girl gripping her tightly, she pressed her cheek against Antonia's abdomen, gripping her tightly as Antonia's arms lifted over her head and she slipped the flat part of the crowbar beneath the lip of the trunk. She closed her eyes and pulled down, feeling the metal of the trunk bending under her weight as she pulled, the crowbar falling out of her grip after a moment. She moved it to the other side of the trunk latch, slipping as much of the crowbar beneath the lip as she could, tapping it lightly with her hand as she felt Melody grip her tighter. She closed her eyes and pulled down again, feeling just a little more of the trunk pulling away from the latch. She let out a grunt as she fell back, holding the crowbar tightly in her hands as she felt a bit of fresh air being released from the space she had created with the crowbar. She took a moment to rest, feeling her muscles screaming at her, whiplash settling into her body, she fought to control her pain. She sighed, slipping the crowbar into the small opening she created, she let out a loud, pain filled grunt as she pulled, and immediately felt the satisfying groan of metal protesting against the pressure. With a last push of the crowbar, the trunk suddenly flew open, sending a rush of air onto the two occupants.
Antonia felt the little girl grip her tightly, and suddenly there was a cloud of dust as the vehicle jolted to a stop, gravel spitting into the air. Antonia placed her hand on Melody's head for a moment, the action telling her to stay where she was. She gripped the crowbar just out of sight as she closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable moment when she'd finally meet their captors.