Title: Breath
Author: Doc
Disclaimer: Not mine, but I think I could manage if they were.
Rating: T
Summary: A crime against Booth and Brennan forces them to face themselves.
Author's Note: The review response has been great so far, I really appreciate you guys letting me know this was off to an okay start.
"So you neither one remember anything at all? Not the cab ride to Booth's house, not paying the cabbie, nothing?"
Dr. Cam Saroyan looked from one partner to the other, still incredulous despite having heard their story from start to finish twice through. She initially had been pretty annoyed at being called by Booth on her way to her Saturday morning nail appointment, but looking at them slumped on the two stools facing her on the platform she now just felt sorry for them. Booth looked completely wiped out, his mouth grim and lined, while Dr. Brennan looked pale and drawn. They both were in desperate need of showers, wearing last night's clothes, except for Booth's shirt that Dr. Brennan had placed in a freezer bag and was gripping in her hands.
"Cam we have to run those blood tests now," Brennan repeated. "And we have to test this stain on Booth's shirt."
"Let me get some vacutainers and phlebotomy kits; I'll be right back." She shook her head one more time at them, and went down the steps of the platform towards the autopsy suite. Wisely, she had kept her thoughts to herself about what had likely happened during the time they had 'lost'.
"Bones, we need …"
"The most likely candidates are rohypnol or gamma-hydroxy-butyrate, as both have amnesiac properties, and the tastes of both are easily masked by alcohol," she began as though he never spoke.
"Bones…"
"And as much as I hate to involve anyone else in this, we'll probably need Hodgins to work on this stain. I wonder what the chances are we could keep Angela out of it." Her voice sounded normal, as though they were discussing any of the cases they had worked.
Giving up on the conversation he was trying to have with her, Booth just sighed and answered, "It's not likely you can keep Angela away if you call Hodgins. Once we're done here, I'm going straight to Sid's to pull the security tapes from last night. Unless this was another 'Voodoo Mind Eraser Trick', someone put something in either the drink that was spilled on my shirt, or the drink that we shared. Hopefully there will be something on the tapes."
If she wanted to pretend this was just another case, he could humor her for now. He knew that her clinical detachment and focus on the evidence was her way of dealing with feeling not in control over the situation. Once they had a few more answers, he'd try again to talk to her.
"Alright, I've got what I need, I think. I'll draw a couple of tubes, and run them through the mass spectrometer, we should know pretty quickly what you ingested," Cam talked them through the process as she collected two vacutainers of blood from each of them. "It's been a while since I've done this on a live person, so bear with me."
Cam made quick work of drawing their blood and stood holding the four full vacuum-sealed test tubes. "I can start these on the mass spec, but I really think we need Hodgins for the stain on that shirt. Booth, call him and tell him it's some top secret government mission – that is, if you don't want Angela to come with him," she looked at Brennan for confirmation. At Brennan's nod, she continued, "In that case, he'll sneak over here for sure."
Booth slid down from his stool and pulled out his phone as Cam stepped away to run the blood samples, leaving Brennan alone on the platform, still clutching her makeshift evidence bag containing Booth's shirt. Images of the previous evening flitted through her mind, but ground to a frustrating halt every time she tried to remember anything beyond spilling that drink at the bar. The past few months had actually been some of the best in her life; with Russ now at home with Amy and the girls, she finally had regained some semblance of family. Plus, things with Booth had been…different… somehow. Since Christmas, their friendship had been more.
With a sigh, she shook off her thoughts, and stood from the stool, just as Booth was wrapping up his conversation with Hodgins.
"Bug man will be here in ten. Angela's at an art show today, so he's alone. Look Bones, we need to talk about last night." He stood in front of her, blocking her escape from the platform.
She noted his crossed arms and wide open stance and knew he wasn't backing down this time. Not ready to 'talk about last night', she fixed him with an icy stare.
"Booth, right now last night doesn't exist for either of us. Until we piece together the evidence, those hours are gone."
Not relaxing his posture, he replied, "We woke up half-naked in my bed Bones. My bed. You can't seriously think there's nothing to talk about."
"We start with what we know Booth and go from there. We were in that bar and we were served drinks that were probably poisoned. Once we have answers about the drinks, we'll move on to … the rest."
"Bones, ignoring the implications of what happened is not helping."
"I'm not ignoring, Booth, I'm working the evidence one piece at a time. It's what I do."
"No, you're trying to avoid the fact that …"
"Okay, folks, I have the results," Cam interrupted, swiping her card and climbing the steps to the platform. From the tension in the air, she had a sneaking suspicion that the partners were discussing what they had been not discussing since they arrived.
"Gamma-hydroxy-butyrate, aka GHB. Also goes by the monikers 'G', 'Georgia Home Boy', 'G-water', as well as a host of others. For the last two years, GHB has surpassed rohypnol or 'roofies' as the date rape drug of choice, thanks to a slightly longer half-life. When mixed with alcohol, it can cause marked anterograde amnesia, euphoria, loss of inhibition. At large doses, which it seems you two ingested, the amnesiac period can last several hours."
Cam looked expectantly at both of them, but despite anticipating the results they both looked shocked and didn't speak. She knew they were hung over and sleep-deprived, and that was just the physical. Waking up together without remembering what happened had to be an awful feeling. Taking pity on them, she took charge.
"Okay, so now we know someone drugged you. The question is whether you were both targets or if the spiked drink was meant for only one of you. I can tell you from the amount of GHB still in your blood samples, someone wanted at least one of you totally incapacitated. Once Hodgins gets to work on the shirt, we'll know who the target actually was."
"Speak of the devil and the devil appears," Hodgins called out as he took the stairs to the platform two at a time. "What's this top secret case you have for me G-man?" he asked with a smile.
Booth just glared until Hodgins' smile faded. "Bones and I were drugged last night at a bar. We shared at drink, because someone knocked one of ours onto my shirt." Bones held up the plastic bag but didn't speak.
"Cam ran some blood tests and they were positive for GHB. We need you to get everything you can out of this stain, particularly if this drink was spiked as well," Booth continued.
"Whoa. Dude. Are you okay? Dr. Brennan?"
"We're fine, Jack, thanks. We just need answers."
Taking the shirt from her, he glanced between them, and decided not to press for more details. "I'm on it," he parted with, heading to his work station.
Cam stood with her arms folded across her chest and said pointedly, "You can both get showers now."
"Gee thanks, Cam," Booth answered, although he knew she was right. He and Bones both smelled like smoke and bar stink. Maybe after they had washed away as much of the previous night as possible, they could sit down and talk. She wasn't running away from him on this, not if there was anything he could do about it.
"Cam, there's one more thing," Brennan spoke quietly, and Booth could hear a hesitation in her voice.
"Yes, Dr. Brennan?"
Bones took a deep breath and continued with conviction.
"I want you to do a rape kit on me."
A/N: I know this was not very B&B, but an important chapter for the case. Shippers hang in there.