There was a silence following the gunshots that seemed just as loud as the echoing bangs had been. There even seemed to be a pause in motion, until the masked man who had been holding the room hostage collapsed bonelessly to the floor.

This seemed to trigger everyone else into movement: the police officer who had been pointing his gun at the suspect dropped his weapon and grabbed his arm with a yell; the closest man to him ran to his aid; the other perpetrator was handcuffed.

Booth saw nothing of this past the first man falling to the ground. He didn't need to know anything else apart from the fact that the gunman was dead. Booth had managed to shoot him, though not before he had gotten of a shot another officer, and as soon as he was sure of his aim all of Seeley's attention was directed to Brennan.

Her eyes were still open, though barely, and he gently touched her shoulder, trying for her attention.

'Bones. Look at me, okay?'

Her head just lolled a little farther to the side, 'Bones! C'mon, open up those eyes, I need to talk to you for a minute. Bones!'

He raised his voice until he was shouting her name, crying her name, and she rewarded those efforts by lifting her eyelids ever so slightly.

'That's it; you're gonna be just fine Bones. We're going to take you to the hospital and I'm not taking 'no' for an answer!'

She didn't yet have the energy to speak and so she let him babble on and try to find any of her injuries on his own. Everything was beginning to blur and she wasn't sure that she would have been able to figure out where they were anymore anyways.

She was wrong about that though; the second Booth's hands brushed along her stomach in their quest for any wounds she gasped at the horrible sensation. Black dots danced in her vision and she took great heaving gulps of air, trying to hold back tears and ignoring his concerned questions.

After what seemed like eternity the pain began to fade and she could feel his hand smoothing her hair. She tried to catch his eyes with her own but he wasn't looking at her anymore; he was looking over his shoulder at a group of approaching paramedics.

There was a flurry of activity as they knelt around her and someone's hand pressed where Booth's had been. The spike of agony was just as sharp and she found it harder to refocus this time. They were shoutingand shining lights and everything was becoming fuzzy again. She was sure that nobody would mind if she slept a bit but first she had to find... ah, there he was. Her eyes found his again and she tried to say his name. She felt her lips move ever so slightly but knew that there hadn't been any sound. He seemed to understand anyways and shot her the best smile he could, reaching out past all of the commotion to touch her cheek.

The feeling of his fingers along her skin were the last things she could remember before she faded out again.

--

Booth watched her shut her eyes, praying that he would see them open again. He stepped back as the paramedics lifted her onto a stretcher; he felt strangely useless now that they were here. Though he badly wanted to ride in the ambulance with her he knew that it would be more useful to have his car at the hospital. That and he knew that there some squints he needed to pick up on the way there.

Heedless of his bloody clothing and the uniformed man who shouted that he had to remain at the scene he leapt into his car, pulling out his cell phone as he sped off.

Hope that you liked it! There should only be a couple more chapters after this, but don't worry; I have plans for another Bonesstory that I'm even more excited about than this one. I'll be sure to post the first chapter of it when I post the last chapter of this one. My sincerest thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story or put it as a favourite (or even put an alert on it!). The support is both overwhelming and heartwarming!

Ciao for now, Moksgmol