Author's Note - A friend taught me how to cheat the system. I know it is late but i had to see if it works :) If this works to bypass the glitch in uploading through the document manager, message me and i will tell you how to do it. :)
Please leave a reiew, they are so inspiring.
Sweets couldn't look. He didn't have the stomach for these types of things. It was bad enough when it was a stranger, but this wasn't this was a friend. He held Brennan close. He face was now buried in his chest. He whispered words of encouragement, but he didn't realize he was doing it.
Brennan had never as vulnerable as she did right now. She had always maintained control over herself, even in excess. She felt as she had no control at all. Booth had always been the only one who held her this way. She remembered asking him once to stop allowing her to do so. The man she was grasping now, felt like the only thing anchoring what was left of her sanity. The craziest thing was she wasn't even sure who it was. Her mind was so jumbled, but at the moment she could care less. She just held on and let herself go.
Cam fought an internal battle. The doctor in her wanted to look, to do her job and evaluate the body they were about to pull from the water. The friend in her wanted to be anywhere but here. The friend was winning. She pushed her face into Wendell's chest and sang Amazing Grace silently to herself.
Wendell squeezed his eyes shut. He was into bones. He never cared for the ones that weren't breathing with flesh attached. He didn't want to see what was happening. When he volunteered to come down it was in hopes to find Booth alive. Now he wished he could take it back. He wished he was outside, or even at home in his ratty apartment, in his bed fast asleep.
The two men both held their breath as the body's head broke the surface of the water. They both stared in shock.
"It's not him." Barrows exclaimed
"It's Frank Thompson." Mike explained
The words barely registered to the four grieving friends.
"It's not him?" Sweets turned to look at the corpse in the other men's hands. "It's not him!" He almost yelled
This time the other 3 took the time to look at the body. They couldn't help but feel extreme relief. There was still a chance to find Selley Booth alive. The two women released their comforters and moved towards the body.
"Single gunshot wound to the head. Estimated time of death maybe a week, give or take a day or two." Cam Mumbled.
"Frank's been hiking these trails for year. He must have stumbled on the guy who did all this." Mike guessed.
Brennan just stared at the man. She hated herself for being joyous that a life had been taken. All she could be was thankful that it wasn't Booth.
"We have to keep search." She finally said. "He is still waiting for help."
Agent Barrows Reached for his radio to tell the others the news.
In an instant the mood of everyone in the area had changed. Many took a sigh of relief, while many of the locals now mourned a lost neighbor and friend.
Either way, everyone picked up their relaxed pace. The man they were searching for could still be alive.
Caroline couldn't believe her own ears. She grabbed the arm of the nearest agent and asked to please repeat what she had just heard to be sure. He smiled and did as she requested. Tears fell from her eyes, only this time from Joy. She ran to where Angela still slept and gently shook her awake.
Angela looked at her with puffy, red rimmed, weary eyes. "It wasn't him Cher. It was someone else." A smile slowly crept across Angela's face. She leaped up and wrapped her arms around the older woman. She felt horrible in rejoicing over another man's death, but she couldn't help herself.
Caroline quickly grabbed her phone and dialed Jared. She explained to him it was another body and that they were continuing to search for his missing brother. Jared thanked her profusely before ending the call to make a few more of his own. He still kept the gas pedal to the floor. Come hell or high water he was getting to his brother.
Barrows took Frank's body and carried it back toward were they had entered the cave. The other five continued on. He told them he would catch up to them later. The man was heavy, but he knew that those closest to Booth needed to be looking for all their own reasons and that Mike was needed in case he was found alive. He was the only one who was expendable in the group. He left his radio in case they needed it.
With five instead of two they no longer followed the zigzag pattern they had before. They spaced themselves equidistance apart and traveled in a straight line; each shuffling their feet from side to side and searching the darkness with their flashlights.
They walked in silence, no one could really think of anything to say. Each of their thoughts wandered in different directions, yet all resolved around one thing, Booth.
Sweets thought about the emotional fallout they would all experience. Mike wondered if he would have to sedate any of these people. Cam had visions of his corpse, trying to mentally prepare herself. Wendell floated through past hockey games. Brennan determined to find him alive.
Brennan couldn't help thinking that she didn't remember the cave being this large. Maybe because her focus was on Booth and escape she was distracted. She couldn't be sure.
At the entrance Jared arrived on scene, He saw many volunteers working on building a support system for the mouth of the cave. He assumed they were preparing to dig it out. His eyes search until he found Caroline and Angela, both looked aged beyond their years. He didn't imagine he looked so great either. He approached them.
"Caroline? Angela?" He called.
"Oh Jared," Angela cried moving as quickly as she could towards him, fresh tears now forming in her eyes.
"Did something else happen?" He asked
"No, nothing new since I spoke with you earlier." Caroline chimed in.
"It's just… it's just… they haven't found him yet, and Bren… if you would have seen the condition she was in when we found her… and it has been so long…" Angela sobbed.
"You don't know my brother that well, Angela. I have seen and heard many stories about things he has done that any normal man would have never made it through. Where is Temperance, is she in the hospital?" He was worried about his brother, but he knew if anyone could make it out of this it was him.
"No, she refused and she went back down to look for Booth." Caroline informed him.
"What? That's ridiculous. She is going to kill herself." Jared had always been attracted to the good doctor.
"He saved her. She was working where the landslide took place. If he hadn't yanked her out of the way it would have been her under it all. She spent hours digging him out. He died and she resuscitated him. Then he had her bandage him up and he helped get her out and injured himself more. The last she saw him he had fallen and went into the water. They've been searching forever and haven't found him, yet. They did find another body though. We all thought it was him. It's so cold. Brennan was almost frozen when we found her." Angela explained.
"So she feels obligated?" He asked.
"Partly, but she loves him. She always has. She just fights it. She is afraid of attachment. After her parents abandoned her as a child, she just protects herself." Angela explained further. She doubted she should be telling people about her friend, but she wanted people to understand.
"Seeley is a lucky man to have someone who cares that much for him. If he knows that will give him more reason to fight harder in there." Jared surmised. They all agreed. "Is there a way I can get in there? I can't just sit here while my brother is in there."
"I don't know, Cher, They have been working on widening that whole up there to be able to fit Booth out when they find him. They were only able to send some of the smaller fellows through earlier. I don't know what their progress is." Caroline said.
"Well I need directions to go find out. Maybe I can help up there." He said determination evident.
"They marked the trail, so you should be able to follow. Be careful Jared." Angela informed.
Jared was able to follow the trail he got up the side of the mountain to another large group of people. 'Wow, Seeley has a bunch of people out here for him. I wonder if he really knows how many people he has impacted. Caroline and Angela should be somewhere warm and comfortable instead of out here in these temperatures. Temperance should be in the hospital recovering. I am going to have to have a long conversation with that man.'
He saw a dirty and exhausted Hodgins being pulled from the whole. "Hodgins!" He yelled and quickly moved towards the man.
"Hey man how you doing?" Hodgins asked.
"Been better. So what's going on over here I just got a run down from Angela and Caroline." Jared asked eager for more information.
"Well I managed to widen the opening a bit, they are about to test it on the body they found down there." Hodgins explained.
"I'll be the next guinea pig. I want to be down there looking for my brother. Temperance must be out of her mind down there. How many went down." He inquired
"Uh right now it is Cam, Brennan, Wendell, Sweets, an FBI guy and a Medic. They were the only ones small enough to make it through. We even had to force one down. I've been working my ass off to get this done."
Jared could see doubt in the man's eyes. "So what's got you worried?"
"Quartzite is a very hard mineral. It has taken a lot of work to chip it away, but sandstone on the other hand crumbles quite easily. The area is composed of both. I am just afraid that there is too much sandstone and with all the moisture from the rain that it could collapse at any time. But this is our only chance if he is still alive. It could take days or weeks to stabilize and dig out the mouth of the cave."
"I see. Well it sounds like a risk worth taking. Let's see how long before I can get down there." With that both men walked towards the opening and watched as they hoisted up the body of Frank Thompson.
Down in the cave they continued searching. The water only reached their mid calves now and was gradually getting shallower. They had still not found any sign of Booth.
"He couldn't have just disappeared." Brennan spoke her thoughts.
"With all his injuries how could he make it this far?" Wendell questioned.
"Booth is strong." Cam spoke
"And strong minded." Sweets added.
With the shallower waters they were able to move more quickly and soon reached dry ground. A short time later they reached the mouth of the cave.
The newer arrivals saw the copious amount of blood through the area and their hearts plummeted to their stomachs. Booth's injuries were worse than they had anticipated.
Brennan looked frantically around."NO!" she cried out and crumbled to her knees. Booth was nowhere to be seen.