Hey there!
Here's the second chapter of 'Back To Me, Back To You' :)
The title should make more sense after you read this chappie and then the AN at the bottom of this chap.
Thank you all so much for the awesome reviews and all of the alerts and favorites.
Enjoy3
Jeffersonian, September 8, 9:23am
"The first thing we need is to find out what city he's in." Brennan said, pacing her office as her friends watched her.
"You don't know?" Angela asked.
"It was need to know. I tried to get Booth to tell me, but he wouldn't. All he could tell me was he was going to New Jersey."
"So how do we find him?" Hodgens asked, "It's not like Cullen's going to tell us."
"That's true." Brennan agreed, "Angela, can you find every report of gun fire heard last night in New Jersey?"
"I'm on it, sweetie." she left the room, headed to her own office.
"Cam, when Angela's finished, can you get the records for every person admitted to the hospital last night in every city Ange comes up with?"
"Of course." Cam left for Angela's office as well.
She didn't mind being ordered around by Brennan. Cam knew she wasn't trying to take over. And this was* her partner missing. She had the right to call the shots.
"What about me?" Hodgens asked eagerly.
"I need you to find out what is taking place in New Jersey that you think the FBI would use undercover agents on."
"You got it, Dr. B. Time to put my connections to work." Hodgens smiled and left the room, leaving Brennan to collapse into her desk chair.
She took a deep breath, fighting back the tears that threatened to spill over. Closing her eyes, all she could see was Booth's smiling face. The smile he gave her before he left. The last time she saw him.
"Please, let me be right." she whispered.
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Southern Ocean County Hospital, Manahawkin, New Jersey, September 8, 10:37am
The first thing he was aware of was the echoed beeping. Then the shooting pain through his head. He winced a little as he attempted to open his eyes while being blinded by the bright light above him. The smell of bleach was in the air, confirming his assumption.
He was in a hospital.
He looked around through slightly opened eyes. It was a small room. A window on the wall to his right, an open door on the wall to his left that led to the halls where nurses and doctors zoomed through on their rounds. On the wall across from him was a clock and a calender. Just then a young nurse happened to glance in on her way by and stopped.
"Oh, good! You're awake!" she exclaimed in an almost whisper.
He looked over to see her walk in. She was of average height, about 27 years old with golden-brown hair pulled into a ponytail and pink scrubs. She walked in and right up to the bed.
"How are you feeling?"
"Besides the headache, ok I guess." he replied with a rasp, "But I have two questions."
"Ok, shoot."
"How did I get here?"
"My husband and I were walking home last night when we found you in an alley. You were bleeding from a gash on your temple and you had a concussion. We brought you here, where I work obviously." she held up her ID badge, "I'm Kennedy Tate, by the way. The bleeding stopped, and your concussion wasn't the worst we've seen around here, so you should be ok. What's the second question?" she said all in a cheerful voice.
"Who am I?"
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Jeffersonian, 10:32am
"I've got it, Bren!" Angela called to her friend from her office.
Brennan was right beside her in less than a minute, "What?"
"There were three reports of gunfire being heard last night in New Jersey. One in Manahawkin, one in Clayton, and one in Atlantic City."
"I'm off to call the hospitals." Cam said before leaving the office.
"Good work, Angela." Brennan patted her friend on the shoulder before turning to leave.
"Bren."
She stopped before she was out the door and turned, "Yeah, Ange?"
"We're going to find him, sweetie. Don't worry." she tried to smile.
"'Don't worry' was the last thing Booth said to me." she turned and walked away.
Angela just watched with tears in her eyes as Brennan walked across the lab to Cam's office.
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"Do you have the information yet?" Brennan asked Cam as she entered her office.
"Not yet. I'm on hold with the hospital in Clayton right now." she whispered with the phone receiver tilted away from her mouth, "I'll let you know what I come up with."
"Thank you, Cam. I'm going to go call Shore Memorial Hospital in Somers Point, it's the closest to Atlantic City." with a nod from Cam, Brennan turned and walked back to her own office.
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"Oh my. This isn't good." Kennedy replied to Booth's question, "I'm going to get your doctor. You just hold on a minute."
He nodded and she left. He sat up, his head still pounding and he felt light-headed and dizzy, but he sat up anyway. Gingerly he touched the pad of gauze taped to his temple, wincing when it shot a pain through his head. Whatever happened, he wasn't sure he wanted to remember.
Just then the nurse returned, followed closely by a doctor.
"Sweetie, this is Dr. Monroe." she addressed Booth.
"You did hit your head pretty hard on the pavement. You probably have post-traumatic retrograde amnesia. You can commit to memory, but you cannot access past memories." said the doctor.
"Will I get my memory back?" he asked.
"You should. Most people in your situation do, but how long it will take, I can't say. It could be as little as days, or as long as years."
"Thanks Dr." Booth shook the gray-haired man's hand.
"My pleasure." the doctor turned and left.
"Where are my clothes? Maybe I have some ID." he asked, his voice losing the rasp and returning to it's former smoothness.
"Right here." said Kennedy, walking over to the closet, opening the doors and pulling out a plastic bag that was sitting next to a pair of sneakers.
She handed it to him and he dug around until he found his jeans and pulled the wallet out. Kennedy took the bag back and put it away as Booth opened the wallet and read the drivers license, "Robert Chapman. I guess that's me."
"Well, it's nice to finally know what to call you." the nurse said with a smile, "Can I call you Bobby?"
"Sure. Do you know when I can get out of here?"
"They want to keep you until tomorrow to make sure you're in tip-top shape. But, if you don't mind me asking, where do you have to go?"
"The address on my ID is scraped away, so I guess until I remember anything, I don't really have anywhere to go."
"Well, if you'd like, you can come stay with my husband and I. We have an apartment above our garage."
"You don't even know me. I don't even know me."
"Well, I just have a feeling about you. I like you."
"Thanks." he gave her a smile.
"On our lunch break I'll talk it over with my husband, but I'm sure he'll be fine with it." she smiled back and left.
For a while Booth just sat there, trying to force himself to remember something. Anything. But all he succeeded in doing was exhausting himself into falling back to sleep.
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Jeffersonian, 11:13pm
"Doctor Brennan," Cam entered Brennan's office just as she was hanging up the phone. "The hospitals are faxing over the names of everyone admitted last night. They should be here within the hour."
"Same with the one I called." she replied.
Cam was afraid to ask, but figured if Brennan hadn't thought about it yet, she needed to, "What are you planning to do if he's not on one of the lists?"
"I'll cut that bridge when I get to it, I guess." she said, honestly unsure of what to do.
"Cross, Dr. Brennan, not cut." Brennan messing up a common phrase never ceased to bring a smile to Cam's face, no matter the situation.
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He was standing in a garden, surrounded by roses of every natural color. He didn't know where he was and couldn't see anything but shrubs, roses and a dirt path between the bushes. It was a strait, narrow path, but he decided to follow it wherever it lead. What else was there to do?
The sun was beating down, casting a glow on the greens, reds, pinks, yellows and whites of the plants and caressed his face with warmth. He couldn't deny the feeling that he'd been here before. Something about this garden and the sudden laughs that echoed faintly through the air were so familiar. The laughs seemed to be coming from every direction, wrapping around him like a friendly embrace. Then suddenly, on the path in front of him, appeared a tall woman with brown hair that curled at against shoulders. She holding the hand of a small boy with tousled golden curls on his head. Neither's face was in focus, but he felt he had seen them before. Like he knew them. Like they were a part of him somehow.
They just stood there, staring at him with eyes he couldn't see. Then they turned and started running down the path, away from him. He ran after them as fast as he could, faster than they were going, but he didn't seem to be catching up with them. Their forms seemed to be getting farther and farther away from him.
"Wait! Stop!" he called after them, but they continued to run down the never-ending path until they disappeared into the abyss. He stopped in his tracks, trying to catch his breath.
"Wait!"
"Wait!" Booth's eyes flew open as he sat up, panting as if he really did run down that path.
He looked around his hospital room, noticing the clock read 11:49am, same date on the calender. He scrubbed his face with his hands and took a deep breath.
What the hell was that about? he thought to himself, Who are they?
So do you get it now? Booth has to make it back to himself before he can make it back to Bones. Back to me, back to you. Get it? :D