Love hurts, like a bullet in your heart.
Brennan played with the idea. What it would be like if I was dead? The gun was against her head, the trigger was ready to be pulled, to take her out of the misery. Forever. She could see Booth once more. She didn't hear that someone was entering her apartment. Melinda walked in the room and saw Temperance, holding a gun in her hand, ready to shoot herself.
"Bren, don't do this. You'll be sorry." Melinda said. "Please, everything will be all right. Just give me the gun, and we'll talk. Brennan do you think this is what Booth would have wanted? Do you think that he would have told you to kill yourself?"
Brennan handed Melinda the gun and sank in her bed.
"How can everything be okay again? I lost Booth," Temperance said. "You don't understand what it feels like. You have never felt it was your fault that the man you loved the most was dead."
"Bren, I do, I understand." Melinda sat next to her. "It hurts so much, and the night after you think you're never gonna make it through the night, that there is nothing word living for. That you better be dead, because you can be with him again. And though now it may feel that it will never get better, it will. I'm not saying you are going to forget about Booth. It just is gonna hurt less every day, until you can talk about it. And you only remember the nice things. Bren, there are so many people that need you."
"What would you know about it? Booth is the only I have ever loved so much." Brennan replied "If he is not with me, there is no one to care about me."
"Parker, he'll need you. He just lost his father. " Melinda said "If he loses, his Dr. Bones, it's gonna be two times as bad. Brennan you have to try to live again."
"You don't know what it's like, he is dead because of me," Brennan cried. "That bullet was meant for me, but he had to jump in front of it. You don't know what it feels like!"
"Actually I do." Melinda replied. Temperance looked at her.
"It was a normal case, I was almost 22 years old, we were heading for a crime scene. And we were really happy. He was talking about a second child, and I was about to go on a digging. Than we arrived at the crime scene, a guy walked on the scene, he was the father of a murderer I convicted. He pointed a gun at me. Evan, he jumped in front of me, catching the bullet in his long. He died right there on the crime scene, in my arms.
After that I felt it was my mistake that he was dead. His parents were blaming me too. They never thought I was right for their son. The night after he was killed, I wanted to kill myself too. I just wanted to get it over with, to not go through another day like this. Not a day without him. I wrote my goodbye note, and I wanted to jump.
That's when it hit me, I couldn't leave my family and my daughter behind, wondering the exact same thing I was wondering. What they could have done to stop me. It hurt like hell, I didn't go to the funeral. I didn't want to let go, but somewhere inside I knew I had to. I had to let go of him. I did, I lost all my belief in the bureau, and I left. I've never been to his tombstone again. But guess what? I moved on, and now I met someone I love as much as I loved Evan. And things are going better, and I thank God every day that I didn't do it. That I went through the pain."
"Do you think I'll ever love someone as much as I love Booth?" Brennan asked Melinda.
"I don't know Bren." Melinda replied "But I do know you can't do what you were about to do. You have to let go of him, but your life goes on. You can't stop now. Booth would have wanted you to be happy."
Brennan slept in her bed, Melinda was sleeping right next to her, hearing her cry in her sleep. She stayed there in her apartment to make sure she wouldn't do anything stupid. She breathed again. The next day she took her phone while Brennan was in the shower n and dialed Angela's house.
"Angela, can you come over to Brennan's?" Melinda asked. "Well, I went to check on her last night and I found her with a gun to her head, ready to end her life. I have an appointment with my gynecologist in two hours, and I don't think she will do so well on her own."
"Okay, I'll be there in a half hour." She heard Angela say on the other end of the line. Brennan came out of the bathroom in her pyjamas, not ready to get dressed.
"Angela is coming over." Melinda said. "I think it's better for you not to be on your own right now. I know I didn't want it. She'll be here in second. I have to go to my gynecologist for a check up. I'm sorry, but I'll be back right after, I promise."
Brennan fell on her couch without any reaction to what Melinda had told her. She turned the tv on, and started crying. She had gotten the tv for Booth, and now he was not there to watch it. There was a knock on the door, Melinda opened it.
"Thank God, you were here." Angela said while embracing Melinda. She stepped in the apartment.
"She hasn't said anything since last night." Melinda said "I think she's going worst."
She took her coat and left. "I should be back at four," Melinda said.
"No, I'll take care of it. And this evening, Scully is coming over." Angela said "You should go home and sleep in your own bed. Tomorrow Camille is coming, and I'll be keeping watch tomorrow afternoon."
"Me and Prue will come tomorrow night." Melinda said, "Maybe that will help her."
One week later
"Bren, we should go," Angela said to Brennan who was bending over the examination table looking, at the bones.
"I'm not coming," Brennan said. "I should identify this body. His family wants to know what happened to him."
"That's all right Dr. Brennan" Cam said, "That's what they need to know."
"He has been dead for 100 years, I think they adjusted already. We need to go to his funeral." Angela said. "You need to say goodbye to Booth."
Melinda came off the stairs, she walked to Brennan. "You need to go, Bren. I know what you're thinking, if you don't go, you won't lose Booth. But he's gone, no matter what you do. It doesn't matter if you won't go. You have to say goodbye to Booth, he would have wanted you to. Tempe you loved him more than anything in this world, You owe this to him. You need to go to the funeral. I did not go to Evan's and I have always regretted it. You have to go."
At the funeral she was not able to cry, she had cried too much the last days, that she felt like she was unable to. Caroline was saying good things about Booth. A man came to the casket. All of the sudden a soldier stood up from the others. It was Booth. The man hit him, Brennan ran up to the casket, taking one of the hands from the fake body. She hit the man with it.
"Nice shot, Bones." Booth said. She hit him in the face, everyone was watching her. Melinda was confused. And a little mad at the same time.
Brennan walked away, breaking down in the parking lot. Her boyfriend was alive, and he didn't tell her. The man was alive, ALIVE! Why wouldn't he tell me? She cried her heart out. Booth was standing behind her, embracing her.
"Bones, what happened there?" Booth asked.
"You are alive Booth. Why didn't you tell me?" Brennan said "I thought you were dead. Hell, I almost killed myself. Melinda stopped me. It was the worst thing that ever happened to me. Why? Why would you do that?"
"I gave a list to the boss, for people to know I was alive. You were on it. I don't know why you were not told. I swear." Booth said. He kissed her forehead. She kissed his lips, and they went to her apartment, They lay on the bed for hours in each others arms.
"Melinda was a good support." Brennan said. "She told me what happened to Evan, she understood what I went through. She had been through the same. Evan did the same thing you did, he jumped in front of her, saving her life. Why did you do it? Why would he do it?"
"Because, I did not want Pam to kill you." Booth replied. "I didn't want that to happen. And for Evan, I guess he just wanted the same thing. I would die for you Bones, if it would happen again, I would do it again. I would save you."
In the afternoon the Gormogon case got another twist, artificial teeth were found, and that lead to an entire experiment, Zach and Hodgins were standing around, doing a short test. All of the sudden there was a loud bang. Melinda saw the fire, and ran toward the lab. She saw Zach, he was laying against the floor. Oh not again, she thought. She got to Zach.
"My hands, they hurt." Zach said
"You're going to be fine, Zach." Melinda said "They are going to get you to a hospital, and you are going to be fine. Just stay with me Zach, please. Don't leave me. You're gonna be a dad in two months. Zach."
An ambulance came, and took him away. Melinda waited outside for Zach to come out. A couple minutes later they wheeled him outside with bandages around both of his hands.
"His hands are damaged pretty badly." The doctor told her. "It has yet to be determined if he's gonna use his hand like he used to. My guess is that he won't be that correct anymore, his job is going to be hard for him. Sorry."
" I'm sorry." Zach replied "I'm sorry, for what has happened. What happened to Hodgins?"
"He's fine, thanks to you." Melinda said "You saved his life, I couldn't be more proud."
"You want to read something to me?" Zach asked her. "Angela is getting some books, your thesis."
"Please Zach, I don't have to read that again." Melinda smiled, "All right I will. But just get a little sleep first, you look tired. I'll be here when you wake up."
A couple hours later she was reading out her own work to Zach, who seemed to be enjoying it.
"Secret societies keep people busy," Melinda read. "A war goes on between secret societies, and killings of others. Yet they don't seem to find it wrong. They seem to miss every sense of feeling in their body. A heart and a soul together form the human body, but what if we only conclude out of rationality, will our actions seem less wrong? Or will we lose every sight on life? Is making a rational mistake less wrong than killing someone out of fear or anger? Does rationality make us able to leave the world of good and evil and grow to a higher level, where good and evil no longer exist? And people no longer think with their heart, but with their mind? I think that be a bad place, as a heart can love. And love makes a different world. Where there is no place for . . . "
Booth and Brennan entered, they had been on the office, dealing with some cases, the Gormogon skeleton had been stolen. Brennan and Booth came in.
" If you knew what I know, you'd understand. You'd be proud of me." Zach said, Melinda's face changed, not realizing what was going on.
"I've always been proud of you, Zack. I've never met anyone more rational or intelligent. But there's a fault in your logic," Brennan said.
"What is going on here?" Melinda said "Why are you here?"
"He's Gormogon's Apprentice," Brennan replied. "He switched the teeth, and put the bones in limbo. He killed a man."
"Oh my God." Melinda said "You killed someone."
"With all due respect, you aren't cognizant of his logic." Zach replied
"Logic, he's a fucking Cannibal Zach, He kills people and later eats them. What the hell is logical about that?" Melinda said.
"Assumption number 1: Secret societies exist." Brennan saw how Melinda nodded, but still felt a little bad.
"Accepted. Hodgins has been explaining this to me for years." Zach said. "Melinda you must get to the same knowledge I did."
Brennan moved on. "Assumption number 2: The human experience is adversely affected by secret societies."
"Accepted." Zach said while giving Melinda another glance.
"Assumption number 3: Attacking and killing members of secret societies will have an ameliorating effect on the human experience." Brennan said like it was coming out of a book.
"Accepted." Zach pretended not to care.
"All of your assumptions are built on a first principle, Zack. To wit: the historical human experience as a whole is more important than a single person's life." Brennan heard Zach agree. "Yet you risked it all so you wouldn't hurt Hodgins."
"Where is Gormogon Zach?" Temperance asked "You've got to tell me."
"He won't." Melinda said "He probably is just waiting to go to him. Zach in your rational world there is no room for me."
She walked out of the room, closing it behind her.
"He first approached me three months ago at a symposium on burning plasma diagnostics. I don't know his name. I've never known his name but I've been to his house. I was blind folded when he first took me there. But I remember every turn he took and I was able to estimate his speed. So when he brought me home, I found it on a map. It's in Bedding Ridge on a street called Savoy Crescent. It's a big place, almost as big as Hodgins' house but run down. There's a flight of stairs at the back – outside. There's a blue door. It'll be locked but there's a key hidden in the crevice to the left of the door just above eye level. You will see a hallway. If he's found someone, you will smell meat cooking and that's how you'll know you're getting close. One last door, and you'll have to be fast. He'll be at the bottom of an incline in the floor. He'll have a knife. He's very fast. And he's very strong." Zach told
Brennan looked at Zach, not understanding why he did it. Melinda was outside standing against the wall, still panicked. Brennan waved at her, but she didn't look back at her. She understood how she must have felt. Booth left the room. A couple of hours later they were all in the hallway. Melinda was hanging onto Brennan, engrossed by her boyfriend.
Booth walked toward them.
"Did you get him?" Cam asked Booth. Booth nodded, and stood by the rest of the team.
"How could this have happened?"Angela asked
"Logic." Brennan replied.
"No. I'm sorry, Cherie. That might cut it with you eggheads, but this happened the way this always happens: a strong personality finds a weak personality and takes advantage." Caroline replied.
"No, that's where you got it wrong. You don't know Zach. How can you say he has a weak personality? You think you're so great, saying you know what caused this. Zach was a strong person, the most strong and rational person I've ever met. But he changed, his rationality took over him." Melinda said.
"I hate to say it, but he was a grown man, he chose to kill someone, no one forced him. He believed the things Gormogon told him, and that doesn't make him weak. It makes him a psycho. How could I ever love a psycho?" She ran away.
"Let her go," Brennan said when Angela wanted to go follow her. Scully and Mulder entered the hallway.
"We heard, how could this have happened?" Scully asked "Zach was a good guy."
"We don't know" Hodgins said "If we just noticed anything. . ."
"Melinda must feel so. . ." Mulder said
"Yeah, she feels bad, she says he's a psycho." Brennan said "She trusted him, and he betrayed her."
"What is going to happen to Zach?" Scully asked
"Well, he's probably going to a mental house," Caroline replied
"Zach's not insane." Dr. Sweets said. "I think something more is going on, something Zach is not telling us everything."
"Well, I don't care, Cherie." Caroline said. "He confessed, I don't care why he did what he did."
"I'm going to check on Melinda." Brennan said while walking down to the elevator. She pushed the bottoms off the parking garage, when she walked out of the elevator, she noticed blood on the floor. It led to Melinda's car. There was a note on her windshield. 'You betrayed me, now I'm taking what your love.'
Brennan looked around her looking for other evidence, not seeing any. She walked upstairs taking the note with her.
"Gormogon is alive." She yelled when she entered the hallway where they were standing. "He's alive, and he knows Zach told us."
"I shot Gormogon" Booth said
"No, you shot someone else, He took Melinda with him." Brennan said. "He kidnaped her. You betrayed me, so I'm taking what you love. Melinda. There was blood, Booth, leading to her car. He got her, he has got Melinda!"