Once again thanks for reviewing last chapter. Hopefully you like this one. Includes Sully, though some will be happy with him this chapter - you'll see what I mean.
Brennan struggled to control her emotions as Booth's eyes fluttered open. He looked around, taking in the ceiling. Then she saw his deep brown eyes settle on her blue ones. She saw the hint of a faint smile.
"Bones?" he asked, his voice thick with drowsiness and confusion. He turned his head. Brennan nodded and reached forward, hugging him. He groaned in pain and she drew back, afraid that she had hurt him.
"You're awake! You've been in a coma."
"What happened to me?"
"You don't remember? We, you and I, were captured, and tied up. You tried to…." Tears choked her words. "… Tried to save me, but he shot you. I was afraid that I didn't reach you in time. You'd lost so much blood. I don't know what I would have done if you'd have… have… died."
Tears were flowing freely from her eyes now, and she wiped them away quickly so Booth wouldn't see her overflowing emotions. But she knew that he had, and was grateful that he didn't comment on it.
Booth nodded, showing that he understood. Brennan was glad that his memory hadn't been lost with his blood.
"Do you know who did it?" he asked, and tried to sit up. He grimaced in pain, and Brennan touched his arm, gently pushing him back down. Brennan ignored the speeded up heart monitor, but inside, secretly smiling.
"We found the evidence. Well, actually, Angela drew my memory. Oh, Booth, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."
Booth rolled his eyes. "'Course it's not."
"Yes it is, as we both know our capturer. Very well. And it's my fault he came."
"Who was it?"
Brennan was hesitant to say the name out loud, but Booth raised his eyebrows, waiting. She took a deep breath. She knew what Booth's reaction would be, and prepared herself for it.
"Sully."
As to her expectation, Booth tried to punch the bed pole in frustration, but his chest was bandaged, and his arm was still in pain, and so only made it a bit of the way, his face wincing.
Amazingly, for a person only just come out of a coma with a bullet hole in his chest, he could curse well. "Damn that bastard Sully. I should have expected it was him. Where is he? I swear, when I get out of here, I'll…"
Brennan shook her head sadly. "You can't. He's dead."
Brennan surprisingly felt no pain when she said this. She supposed this was rational – this man had tried to kill her! But she usually felt some sort of emotion when announcing someone was dead, yet she just felt empty.
Booth looked shocked by this news, though Brennan could see some joy in his eyes, though annoyance that he couldn't kill Sully himself. He tried to be serious. "How?"
She swallowed. "He had lost too much blood. We found him on his bed, his head bashed in. We sent him here to the hospital, but it was too late."
"How long have I been out for?"
Brennan thought for a second. It didn't take long for her brain to wrap around the facts and grasp them. "5 days."
"Wow. What's happened?"
Brennan didn't want to fill his mind with all the details, so she gave him the basics. So much had happened over the past few days that it was hard to remember all of it anyway.
"When you were shot, I used the knife to escape, and knocked him out. The ambulance came and took us both away, but Sully escaped. Angela talked to me, and I realized I remembered who it was. We went to his house, and found him on his bed, covered in blood. We called the ambulance, and he went into emergency care."
Brennan thought for a second what had happened next.
*
She had left Booth's room, and gone to visit Sully. He was awake, just, and Brennan gave him an ice cold stare as she walked over to him. He had tried to apologize, but her ears were deaf to his pleas.
"Why? Why did you do it? I can understand Booth, but me? Why?" She tried to sound angry, but it came out tired, longing for an answer to all her problems.
"When you said no to me, I was upset. I have to admit. And I knew why you stayed, but somehow it didn't matter. While I was away I realized that you were the girl for me, and I came back. But when I went to the Jeffersonian, and they showed me to your office, I saw you in their with Booth. You were hugging each other."
"Sully, Booth and I are partners…"
"I know, but it hurt, Tempe. It hurt me that you would rather stay with your partner then with me. You couldn't fool me with your lies, or try to explain it was work. I knew it was because of Booth. But when I saw him with you, I got angry. You were supposed to stay with me." He coughed up some blood, the pain and disgust showing on his face.
"I didn't mean to get you. But you were there with Booth, and I got high. I knew you wouldn't keep quiet, so I took you too. I'm sorry. I suppose you could arrest me, but I'm dying anyway."
Brennan looked over him. This last fact was true. She could see the life slowly leaving his eyes, the color draining out of his face every minute. He was coughing more ferociously now, a harsh, hacking cough. More blood came up, and Brennan watched, not sure how to feel. Pity? Anger? But she was blank.
Soon the nurses ushered her out of the hospital room. Sully was in great pain, and Brennan knew she would never see him again. Was she meant to be glad? Upset? She walked out into the dimly lit white hallway, the smell of medicine filling her nostrils, sharp and unusual. She watched from the doorway as the nurses surrounded him, and, though she couldn't hear anything, saw the heart monitor go flat, and the nurses slowly standing back up, a finalized look on their faces. Brennan hung her head and went to grab a quick coffee from the hospital café.
The coffee was too sweet, but knew she needed something to keep her energy up. She drank it on the way up to Booth's room, thinking it would be a good idea to see him. She sat quietly in his room, watching his face. He seemed to be recovering quickly, and, somewhere in her heart, Brennan felt proud of him. He was her Booth, strong in any injury, fighting the pain of a bullet, coming to save her after he had been blown up, even though he was in major pain. Brennan felt her throat close, and forced the tears back down. She wouldn't cry. She reached forward, stroking Booth's chin, the thin stubble scratching her palm.
Suddenly she saw his mouth moving, the mumble of his lips undistinguishable. She leaned forward. The sound came out groggy, but understandable. "…Love you."
Brennan was shocked, but soon subsided. Clearly he couldn't be talking to her.
"Booth?"
*
"When you were shot, I used the knife to escape, and knocked him out. The ambulance came and took us both away, but Sully escaped. Angela talked to me, and I realized I remembered who it was. We went to his house, and found him on his bed, covered in blood. We called the ambulance, and he went into emergency care. And then, well, he just, died."
"Did you get to talk to him?"
Should she tell him the truth? She knew it would hurt him, and he would be out to get revenge, even though the offender was dead. She knew he would be angry that someone had tried to hurt her, and would go to any lengths to get pay back, to make sure she's safe.
After a slight hesitation she made a decision. "No. I wasn't allowed in, and they told me had died." She hated lying to him, but it was the only way to keep them safe.
Booth mumbled. "Oh."
Brennan had a vague thought. "Booth? What were you thinking about before you woke up? You were mumbling, then you said 'Love you'. Rationally, it would have been impossible for you to be talking to me, so who were you talking to?
Now it was Booth's turn to make a decision. He could have easily told her that he had been thinking of her, dreaming of her, but he knew that he could never do that. "Oh. Um, I was dreaming of Parker."
Brennan took this as a reliable excuse and dismissed it. But she knew that somewhere deep down, she wished that he had said that he was dreaming of her. She shook the thought out of her head.
The room was silent for a few minutes, except for the distant sound of the heart monitor, a soft beeping disturbing the thick tension in the room. Watching it, his heart rate looked relatively normal.
Booth's gaze was distant, his focus on some dot in the corner. He looked as though he was deep in thought.
"Bones?"
"Yeah?"
"I have to tell you something."
She looked slightly puzzled. "What, Booth?"
He seemed to lose heart. "I wasn't really dreaming about Parker, you know that, don't you?"
Brennan looked confused. "Well, I do now." Brennan's heart was fluttering. What was he really going to say?
"During that time when I was in a coma, I was thinking of how lucky we were, and how lucky it was that you got out alive." Booth was twisting his words just slightly. Brennan could see he was struggling to find the right words to use. She gave him a questioning, trying to urge him on with her eyes.
"Also, I was thinking about how…" The heart monitor started to speed up, the beeping getting louder. "…How…. What I've been meaning to tell you for quite a long time, but was a coward and never did."
"What are you saying, Booth."
But Booth wouldn't be interrupted. The heart monitor was getting even faster and louder. "I was also thinking, maybe, when we get out of here…"
The heart monitor beeped continually, in a long, flat note. Booth looked as if he had choked on something, and leaned forward.
"Booth?" Brennan stared at him in horror. Then the nurses started to rush in, pushing her out of the way.
"BOOTH!" She called out over the heads, but no one listened to her. She was shoved forcefully out the door, and the plank of metal was shut in her face.
So, cliffy there. Please review telling me any ideas for the rest of the story, and, most importantly, what will happen to Booth. Hopefully you liked sully dead - i did :D!
Thanks for reading!