The police cruiser pulled to the front of the hospital, parking in a restricted space reserved for emergency vehicles, and Booth and Brennan climbed out, and immediately moved toward one another, as if magnetically pulled. They had been told some of what had happened, but they didn't know what the full extent of the injuries were to their daughter. Shane had spoken briefly about the incident, but between the seemingly organized crisis aversion procedure that the family seemed to whisk themselves into from his initial announcement, to the sharp, pointed glare from Booth, Shane had found his voice drifting off into silence.
They walked through the hospital expertly, pausing for a moment to just look at the directory and speak to a nurse. They were instructed to go directly to ICU, and that a doctor would be by shortly to inform them about Grace's condition. As they reached the floor for ICU, they stepped out of the elevator to a flurry of activity. Doctors and nurses were moving every which way, and a small crowd of people were gathered in the waiting room. Booth could see among the small throng of people, that the chief of police was amid the crowd, his eyes scanning the mix of other officers and one or two members of the media, looking into the 'story' of the day, a cop shot on Christmas Day.
"Mr. Booth." Chief Denna said, his voice moving through the crowd quickly, as Booth's eyes lifted to meet his daughter's boss's. He reached his hand out to the other man, his eyes holding a glimmer of fear as he shook Booth's hand.
"Seeley is fine." Booth said, feeling his wife's hand squeeze his when she heard the strain in his voice. "Any word yet?"
The chief nodded to a quieter corner, away from prying eyes and ears of the others gathered in the room. "The incident occurred at three this morning. Suspects in a four-door sedan were pulled over for improper tags. It was routine until one of the suspects swung their door open, striking Officer Booth, and while she recovered. She regained control, and the suspects drew a firearm." He said, noting the tears welling up in Doctor Brennan's eyes. "Bullet lodged in her right arm." He sighed. "When she fell, the suspects took off, ended up driving over her right foot. They are x-raying that to see how much damage."
Booth straightened. "Where was Shane?" He asked, glancing to his daughter's partner. He stood in the corner as other officers patted his shoulder. His glances to Booth and Brennan seemed slightly nervous, and the dark, haunting stare from his partner's father was not helping his anxiety.
"He was in the car. It was a routine stop."
"Until it wasn't." Temperance said coldly. "Have the suspects been apprehended?"
"Not yet, Ma'am." The chief said, clearing his throat. "Officer Dolan called in for back up, but we were unable to catch up with the suspects. We have an APB out on the vehicle. No witnesses other than the officers and the occupants of the car. We're waiting on Grace to tell us what went down." He glanced over at the other officers who were starting to disperse, heading back to their patrols. "We have dash cam footage, some radio transmissions. We're going to review, and we're going to find them, Mrs. Booth."
Temperance flinched when he reached over and touched her shoulder, and Booth squeezed her hand. She hated being coddled or talked down to, so that gesture of sympathy made her skin crawl.
Their attention was pulled to the doctor stepping into the room holding a clipboard in her hand. She walked toward the Chief, and glanced to Booth and Brennan. "It's alright, these are Officer Booth's parents." He nodded.
The doctor nodded and took a slow deep breath. "Surgery was successful, we were able to remove the bullet fragments from her upper arm and shoulder." She said softly. "There was a lot of blood loss, and significant damage to Grace's shoulder." She began, watching the concern and fear in Brennan and Booth's eyes. "She sustained a pretty bad contusion on her head from her fall, and her ankle is not fractured, but there is significant damage to the tendons in her foot and ankle." She said softly. "She'll be brought into a room shortly, while we wait for her to wake up from the anesthesia. A nurse will be by shortly to show you to her."
"Thank you." Temperance said, feeling a rush of relief as answers to her questions were slowly answered. She glanced at her husband as he stood, staring at the doctor as if he hadn't heard a word. "Thank you." Temperance whispered again, grabbing his arm, she tugged at Booth. The doctor turned away, but he continued to just stare into nothing, his eyes unseeing. "Booth." She whispered, giving his arm another tug. "Booth?" She watched his jaw clench, and noticed that the hand that wasn't in her own, was squeezed into a tight ball. He turned his head, looking down into her imploring gaze. The intensity in his gaze concerned her, but the edges were softened when he looked upon his wife. "They'll find them."
Antonia pulled her car up to the emergency room doors, her passenger had remained quiet the entire way. She hadn't attempted conversation but had noticed that throughout the ride, his eyes had moved in her direction on several occasions. He made no move for the door handle. Antonia tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. "Hey, we're here." She said, his attention drawn back to her.
Aiden's eyebrows lifted, and he glanced to the parking lot. "We can park, you know. You didn't break my legs."
She lifted her eyebrow at him sardonically, waiting patiently. When his eyes narrowed, she scrunched her nose at him. "What?"
"You have to go in too." He watched her eyes move to the right, and back to his.
"I'll park the car."
Aiden sighed heavily. "Do you think I'm stupid?"
"That's a difficult question to answer. I haven't known you very long." Her voice took on that tone her mother's often took when she pretended that she didn't understand something. It was something that she very often heard when her father would mention some kind of popular culture reference that she wasn't keeping track of.
"Funny." He replied. "What is your problem?"
Antonia clenched her jaw, narrowing her eyes at the stranger in her car. Drawing in a deep breath, she closed her eyes for a moment. "You can go in now." She said, reaching into her pocket. She pulled out the three cell phones that had been on the counter, and held them out to Aiden. "Give these to my dad when you see him."
"Antonia, he told me to bring you here. I think he wanted you to actually go into the hospital."
"I don't do hospitals." She replied with another slow breath into her nose. "Dad knows where to find me when he has news." She said simply. "I'm sorry that we ruined your Christmas." She said it sincerely, a tinge of regret in her voice took him by surprise. Her regretful stare quickly switched to impatience. "You can go now." She nodded toward the hospital.
"Anto..." He started to protest and she pushed the phones into his bad wrist, yelping at the insensitive move. He grabbed the phones with his other hand. He swore out loud, pulling back. "You're a goddamned psychopath." He mumbled, climbing from the car quickly.
She didn't wait for him to walk away, and barely waited for him to close the door of the car before she pushed the pedal down, and left him at the curb of the hospital alone, and without a car.