--------------------------------
Epilogue
They were cutting her again, Y-incision style, and the man with the glasses was speaking into a recorder…
She was dead.
The bastards had killed her!
She looked down and saw no flesh left on her right arm, just disconnected muscles and bones, long humerus, ulna and a shattered radius.
The man kept cutting her, and she couldn't move, she couldn't breathe, and couldn't feel her heart beating. She'd known nothing existed after death, but what if this was it? What if she was just going to lay there motionless as this man, this impersonation of evil cut her time and time again?
"Bones!"
She opened her eyes to find Booth sitting on her bed, shaking her awake. It took her a minute to remember they were in Rome promoting her book after her publicist had insisted that she complete the book tour. And Booth… well, Booth was supposed to be sleeping on the couch in her hotel suite.
Her heart was beating extremely fast, in sharp contrast to her nightmare. Her chest couldn't catch up with her breathing, even with healed ribs.
"Are you okay?" Booth asked, reaching out to fix her hair, which she realized must be looking pretty awful.
She stared at him for a few seconds, still struggling to re-enter the waking world. "I—yeah, I think so. Did I wake you?"
He shook his head. "No, I was just tucking Hannah in when I heard you."
She didn't want to look at him, didn't want to meet his eyes for fear he would see how screwed up she felt. Instead she sat up on the bed closer to him and let his arms wrap around her, cocooning her from the man with glasses, protecting her from the sterile autopsy table.
"You wanna talk about it?"
She shook her head against his shoulder.
"Okay. Want me to stay here?"
Nodding, she pulled away, moving to the empty side of the bed. He crawled in with her, and she finally felt her breath and heartbeat slowing down. She didn't move closer to him; just feeling his proximity was soothing enough.
The nightmares were getting worse.
She was glad for the six-week leave she and Booth were taking when they returned home; she hoped it would be enough.
fin
Notes: Thank you to all who read it this far! I am almost done writing the sequel, which will be called "Taming of the Squint." I should start posting soon, but the more feedback I get, the faster I'll post (wink, wink).