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Harding and Fitzgerald handcuffed their suspect, read him his rights, and led him through the trees, back toward the crime scene. They asked him no questions, and he offered up no information. His face was cut up pretty badly, and he looked like his eye would be swelling up in no time. "I need to talk to Antonia." Seeley said, looking around for the person who had just beat him to a pulp, he felt Aiden tug him a little harder.
"No." He said definitively, and they pulled him toward the waiting car with the other two agents.
"I just need to…"
"You just need to shut up, and get in the car." Aiden said, as he and Ace awkwardly pushed him into the open door of the other agent's car. They closed the door, and turned to the agents as Harding began to explain what had transpired.
Aiden took a step back, glaring at Seeley in the car, he looked up to see that the coroner van and the flatbed were arriving. He looked around, noticing movement behind Harding's truck, he walked over. Stepping behind the SUV, he could see that Antonia had pulled off her latex gloves, shredded and bloody, they sit on the tailgate of the SUV. She was attempting to open the first aid kit, her eyes refusing to lift to his and her hands trembled. She fumbled with the kit, dropping it onto the tailgate with a frustrated grunt, and picked it up again.
"Hey." Aiden said softly, reaching for the kit. He fully expected for her to pull it back from him, but she placed it in his hands. He opened the kit, and set it down, reaching for a bottle of water in the back of the truck, he opened it and tossed the cap onto the tailgate. He looked to see her eyes lift to his. It was clear that she had either been crying, or was on the verge, so he was very careful. "You alright?" He asked sincerely, and she nodded. He carefully reached forward and took her wrist tenderly in his hand, listening to the small gasp of surprise, she watched him turn her hand palm side down, and held it tenderly in his hand. He got a good look at her hand, scratched and scraped, dabs of blood from her assault on their suspect. He indicated that he was going to pour the water over them, nodding to her. "Close your eyes…" He said softly, and she did, gritting her teeth. He carefully poured the water over their hands, cringing at the pained look on her face, he winced when she whimpered, rubbing his fingers over her wrist for a moment until she stopped cringing.
"Closing my eyes doesn't make it hurt less." She whispered, opening them again, she let out a nervous laugh.
He chuckled a little, and offered to rinse the other hand, pouring the rest of water over them, he reached into the truck for a roll of paper towels, his hand still holding her wrist tenderly. "Harding is very well prepared." Aiden said, finally letting her hand go, he pulled off several and carefully started to dry her hands. She let him carefully rub her hands with the paper towel, cognizant of the scratches.
She swallowed hard, gently pulling her hands back, and pulled another paper towel off the roll. "I think he was a boy scout or something." She said, carefully drying her hands, she stared at her hands as she dried them for several moments, avoiding eye contact. "Thank you." She said softly.
"It's not a problem." He replied.
She suddenly looked up, reaching forward for his wrist, the one that she had injured that morning, and he was surprised when she gently held it for a moment. "It looks better."
"Yeah, just a mild sprain. The ice helped."
"Good." She said softly, looking up at his bruised face, which looked a little better since he had cleaned up, and had time to tend to it. "I'm sorry about this morning."
"It's okay." He nodded. "I should know better than to sneak up on someone like that." Aiden could feel a slight blush rising in his cheeks, and glanced over to the coroner van, and back to Antonia. He smiled a bit, and nodded, sliding the first aid kit across the tailgate to her. "Let me know if you need any more help, okay? I'm going to check with the coroner, and make sure they don't compromise any of the evidence."
Antonia smiled gratefully, swallowing hard as she felt her emotions begin to fluster her a bit. "Thank you." She said softly, and watched him head for the van and the waiting technicians.
Antonia pulled the gauze from the first aid kit, focusing on her hands for a moment, she could hear another set of feet heading in her direction. She looked up to see Ace standing over her. He had a look on his face that showed how livid he was. She could only remember one time when he looked so absolutely worked up, and it was a memory she'd prefer to forget.
She swallowed hard, waiting for him to yell at her, tell her that she was irresponsible and what she had done was dangerous. She looked up at him, her eyes having dropped the defiance and guard from earlier, her spirit having been satisfactorily crushed. He looked into her eyes and saw something that he hadn't seen in Antonia's eyes in a very, very long time. Fear. He sucked in a quick deep breath and his words got caught in his throat. He looked back at the other people who were on the site, and then back to Antonia. He cleared his throat. "Are you done here?" He asked.
"Yes." She nodded. "I was going to catalogue the evidence that I personally pulled, but I'd like for you to handle it, please." She said, tugging at her bag, she pulled the evidence bags from it. "I feel that there is a conflict here."
He nodded knowingly, and took the evidence, arranging it in a container in the back of the truck, he placed it with the handgun they had found as well. "We're just going to get everything all wrapped up here, and then we'll go, okay?"
"Okay." She nodded, looking down at her tattered knuckles. She watched as the other agent's car passed them, with Seeley sitting in the back seat, his eyes following her as the car passed. "Where are they taking him?"
"They're going to take him to holding, see if we can get him to talk about what happened." Ace said, touching her shoulder, she continued to try to wrap her hands, finding that they were trembling too much. He reached forward and took her hand, gently wrapping the gauze in place. She looked up at him gratefully.
"I'm sorry." She whispered to him, swallowing hard she sighed. "I'm just worked up, and I saw him there in the woods, and I … I'm sorry."
"I know you are, kid." Ace said softly.
She scoffed playfully, and sighed as she accepted his arm around her shoulder, and a little squeeze. "Let's get this over with." She said, sighing softly as she and Harding stepped back toward the scene to ensure everything was done to their liking.
Booth and Temperance remained at their daughter's bedside throughout the day, holding her hand and talking to her gently. There were no more seizures, but blood was drawn and it was possible that there would be further tests once she regained consciousness. Parker had gone to his mother's house to spend Christmas with his boys. Temperance told him to try to make things as normal as possible. She knew it would be impossible, but Parker wasn't above trying. He didn't like hospitals any more than any of their other family members.
The love seat held the tall, gangly, sleeping body of Jack Hodgins V. He had gone home briefly for a shower, and to tell his parents what had happened, but had quickly returned to the hospital and Grace's room. Temperance leaned her head on Booth's shoulder, closing her eyes for a moment and Booth held her close. He turned his head and kissed her temple. "I love you." He said softly, hearing her sleepy reply. He closed his eyes for a moment, resting for a moment, he just barely heard the small squeak of sound, and when he opened his eyes, there were two beautiful blue eyes staring at him from the bed.
"Daddy?" she whispered again, the corner of her lip curling up just a bit.
"Hey, baby girl." Booth said, sitting up, Temperance's head lifted from his shoulder, and she looked a little confused, but caught her daughter's eyes staring back at her.
"Gracie K." Temperance sighed, like she had been waiting for that moment to speak her name, waiting for there to be some positive energy before she said her daughter's name.
Grace's brow furrowed as her eyes darted slightly over herself, she looked back at her parents. "What happened?" she whispered. "Why…" She tried to shift a little, and Temperance stood to place her hand over her daughter's forehead.
"Hey, hey… don't move too much." Temperance said softly, watching her daughter's eyes look up at her, they were frightened and cloudy with tears. "Just take it easy." She whispered, kissing her forehead.
Booth just watched for a moment, and stood up. "Do you want me to get a nurse?" he asked, watching Grace furrow her brow again. He pushed the button at Temperance's nod to the call button.
After a moment, the nurse came in, smiling slightly as she approached the bed, looking down at her young patient. "Well good morning, sunshine." She said in a soft voice, as Grace followed her with her eyes as she walked around the bed, glancing at her monitors. "Your mom and dad have been waiting all day for you to open those pretty eyes."
Grace seemed to calm a bit, the anxiety in her parent's eyes seemed to dissipate slightly at the nurse's presence and making sure that Grace was comfortable. "Grace?" she said, and the girl turned her head to the nurse, she asked her a few more questions.
Booth backed up to the love seat, where JV lay with his head back, mouth agape in a full on snore. Booth gave his leg a shove, and JV jumped, gasped, and nearly choked on the snort that he released, catching himself just as he started to fall off the couch, he gave up. He rolled off onto the floor, his back against the loveseat. "Geez!" he exclaimed, when suddenly he heard something that was music to his ears, Grace's laugh. He looked up, and could see her sparkling blue eyes looking toward him. "Gracie girl." He said, a brilliant smile lighting up his face.
"Get up off the floor, goof." Booth said, giving him another shove with his foot.
JV stood up, and approached the bed quickly, scooping up her hand with a smile. "You look like crap." She whispered.
"Yeah, well you don't look like you'll be winning any beauty contests any time soon." JV snapped back, he received a poke from Temperance, his ears started to burn when she laughed. He wanted to say more, but with her parent's watchful eyes made him nervous. "It's good to see you, shorty."
"It's good to see you, goof." She smiled, letting her eyes stay on his for a moment longer, she swallowed hard and glanced to her mother. "Did they find the little boy?" She asked, watching a wave of confusion over her mother's eyes, she looked to her father and he was equally as confused. "Shane." She said softly. "Where is Shane?" She was surprised that her boyfriend and partner wasn't right there with her parents. "They have to look for the little boy."
"What little boy?" Temperance asked, her eyes flicking to Booth. "Sweetheart?"
"Seeley." She said, watching as Booth's eyes darkened.
"Booth?" Temperance whispered.
"Seeley was in the car." Grace said, swallowing hard, she looked up at her mother as her eyes filled with tears. "You have to find him, he's in danger." She whispered.