Author's note - It is fixed. Happy posting my friends. :) As usual please review. my Ego needs all the help it can get
Jared had just set foot into the cave when he heard Brennan's heart breaking voice echoing through the cavern. He looked at the FBI agent beside him and then took off in a run. The deep waters made it difficult so he dove headlong into the water, and swam as fast as he could. The FBI agent watched and followed. Jared being Navy, pulled ahead of the other man. When he reached the point that the water was too low to continue, he jumped to his feet and sprinted forward.
He saw the others just ahead. Cam was holding Brennan and the men squatted down and offered words of reassurance.
"What happened? Is everything ok?" Jared shouted to them. He could hear the FBI agent closing in.
All their heads jerked towards the familiar voice.
"Jared?" Cam shouted in surprise.
He ran over and dropped to his knees with the group, a slight panicked look taking over his features.
"We didn't find him." Cam almost whispered.
"He is gone. He is…" Brennan broke down in a surge of emotion.
"Come on guys, we just turn around and keep looking, you just missed a spot is all." Jared tried.
Brennan looked at him with red eyes. She had only just realized who it was. She flung herself at him and wrapped her arms around him.
"I am so sorry, it's my entire fault." She sobbed.
"Shh , calm down Tempe. It's not your fault. The only person responsible is the bastard that set off the bomb. Seeley is who he is. He would have done this for anyone. Look at all he gave up for me and I didn't deserve any of it." Jared consoled her. "We will just head back that way and keep searching. He probably just holed himself up somewhere. We will find him. I won't rest until I do. I wish you would get out of here and get some rest though. You won't be any good for either of you if you don't get rested and heal up."
"I can't leave him again. I shouldn't have left him before." She cried.
"Tempe all these people are here to help and know how to help because of what you did." He stated firmly.
"I should have taken care of him." She argued.
"You will when he find him." he felt horrible because he knew this was most likely a lie. He could see the blood. He could feel how cold it was down here. He hadn't seen a sign of his brother at all, but this woman needed help. She should be warm and sedated somewhere, not putting herself through all of this.
"Come on. Let's head back and when we get back to that hole you go up and get what you need. If he we haven't found him. I will keep looking. I won't stop, Tempe, not until he is found.
Hodgins explained to the group that he had done his best. That he didn't dare do much more to risk the integrity. One wrong move and he could send half the mountain crumbling into the cave sealing them in. They would run out of air before anyone could get them free.
He couldn't help but consider Booth lost, he wanted the rest of his friends out of there. He knew many were thinking along the same lines, but no one wanted to say it aloud.
The area seemed to grow increasingly unstable. Pulling the body up and sending Jared down had caused some crumbling and he could see cracks that had formed in the area. He roped off a perimeter and told everyone to stay away unless they were pulling people out. All they could do now is sit and wait.
Jared pulled Brennan to her feet. He kept his arm tightly around her as they moved back towards the other end of the cave. He only now realized how many boulders and stalagmites that riddled the cave. His brother could be lodged around any of them.
"Tempe, could I let you go for a bit and you walk with Cam for a bit?" He asked softly.
She looked up to him with doe eyes and nodded. He motioned for the other men to come to him.
"Look I know my brother if he is hurt he is going to look for support and hold up somewhere, see all this stuff. If we find him it is going to be around that. If he thought he was dying he'd have tucked himself in deep. That's the army training. They train them to avoid being POWs." Jared told them.
Sweets felt stupid for not thinking of that earlier. A normal person in this type of situation would try and stay as visible as possible; a man who had been through a war would follow a different set of rules.
They all agreed that what Jared had said was sound. They allowed the women to continue through the center, while the men began their search of the more hidden areas. It was a slow process but they felt it would pay off in the end.
Cam couldn't help but be thankful for Jared's arrival. He calmed Brennan quicker than any of them could. Something about those Booth men. She also felt pity for the man. Deep down she knew they would find Seeley's body. That wasn't anything she wanted any of them to experience. They would carry that vision with them the rest of their days. The scars they would endure would be eternal. Booth had touched all of them in a very special way.
She wanted the man responsible for this dead. He didn't deserve to take in air for taking someone so special to so many away. Brennan and Caroline are two of the strongest people she knew. People who were strong enough to constrain their emotions. Now here in this remote area, both women broke down. Brennan hadn't reacted this badly when she found her own mother's skeleton on her exam table. She was afraid the doctor they all knew and loved would never come back after this.
The cold had long past sunk into their bones. All of them wished they were anywhere but here doing what they were doing; but under the circumstances, none of them would choose to be anywhere else.
Jared's thoughts drifted to when he and Seeley had been kids. He could never count how many times his brother took the beatings from their father in his place. Seeley would see what kind of mood dad was in and just know. If he was anywhere near their dad, Seeley would charge in and distract the man. He would do anything to draw the attention to himself. He would 'accidently' drop something, or trip and fall, sometimes he would just be loud. He would do everything he could to keep Jared safe. He would beat up school bullies, talk to his teachers if he was doing badly. When he went off into the Army he would send Jared money to make sure he was taken care of. Seeley had always thought of himself as a burden on Pops. That Pops should have been enjoying his older years, not raising two rambunctious boys. So even when away he did everything he could to lighten the load. He could have gone to college, but chose to go off to war. Jared always thought he had done that for him as well.
He wished he had acted more grateful of his brother's protection. He had always thought it annoying, that he was nosy or just a pain in the ass, but thinking back now he knew it was because his brother loved him. What he had once voiced as being afraid of success was far from the truth. He did solo jobs because he had always relied on himself and didn't trust others the way he had faith in himself. He would give up anything for anyone and was loyal to a fault. He only wished he could be half the man his brother was.
He couldn't help but think how few people who would look for him he was missing and out here in the dead of night in the middle of nowhere, over a hundred people worked for his brother. He cleared his mind for a moment and said a prayer. He prayed for a sign to help him find his brother, so he could get all these people out of here. To get them home safe and sound in their beds.
A few moments later, Jared tripped and stumbled into the wall he had been walking towards. His flashlight fell into the water and out of the corner of his eye saw something shiny. A gold Zippo reflected the flashlights beam, Seeley always carried that lighter.
He reached down and grabbed the light in midstride. He moved around a large stalagmite and behind the boulder closest to the zippo. His knees weakened as his brothers pale face came into view.
"Over here!" he shouted, voice quivering.