"The future you have tomorrow won't be the same future you had yesterday." ~Chuck Palahniuk (Rant)

Chapter 25: It's All Over Now

Charlotte lay with her face buried in Clayton's chest for several long minutes, needing absolute assurance that he was in fact ok and knowing that when she finally sat up she was going to have to tell him everything. Clayton kept his arms tight around her or at least as tight as he could in his weak state. Finally, she lifted her face and looked at her husband for the first time in nine long, painful days. She was startled by the tears in his eyes, she had only seen him cry once before and those tears had been born out of happiness on the day they got married. These were tears of whole other breed.

She ran her hand across the stubble on his face that was threatening to form a full-blown beard. Cupping his cheek, she sighed and tears began to fall. "I didn't think I was ever going to see you again." Charlotte whispered through her tears as she smoothed her hand across his forehead.

Clay reached up with a weak and shaking hand and wiped the evidence of relief off her cheek, "I told you the day I married you that you would never be without me, that you were stuck with me, didn't I?" She nodded as more tears fell. He reassuringly ran his hand from her face, down her arms and linked his fingers with hers, "I love you, baby."

"I killed him." She confessed quietly.

Clay shifted in his bed, pulling himself up straighter but never breaking physical contact with Charlotte, "What?"

She grasped his hand with both of hers, "When we got the call that you were safe," she swallowed and took a few breaths, "the team left immediately and Gus wanted to give me a few minutes to get myself together. Tucker was in the car, in the backseat."

"How?"

She shook her head, "We don't know. He made Gus give up his guns and then he…" She trailed off, studying Clayton's IV and is overall condition and she suddenly knew all over again that she done the right thing when she pulled the trigger.

Clay tightened his grip on her hand, "He what, honey?"

Charlotte exhaled deeply, "He explained to me why he had been following me. He rambled on about my destiny and my path in life and how I was too focused on being happy and…" She trailed off again with tears streaming down her face, she leaned forward and he wrapped his protective arms around her.

"Shh, it's ok. Take your time." He rubbed small circles on her back and after a few minutes he felt her breathing return to normal.

"He said terrible things about you and then he…He told me that he had to," remembering the moment she decided to reach for her gun, she started trembling, "kill me because of the baby."

Clay sighed, dropped his head, and kissed the top of her head, "That's my fault. I'm sorry – he heard me and Bren talking. I am so sorry, baby."

Charlie sat up, "Do not blame yourself. This was all about me."

"No, this was about us. We're in this together."

"I love you so much." She sat up and cupped his face, realizing that she hadn't even kissed him yet. At that moment, Clayton realized the exact same thing. He arched his neck as much as he could and Charlotte bridged the gap between them. She kissed him lightly but he pulled her to him and deepened the kiss. It was a kiss full of washed away pain and enduring love.

When Charlotte pulled away, Clay smiled, "God, I missed you. I was so worried the first few days that he had gotten to you too but then he told me that Booth was on the case. He thought that it would unnerve but it only gave me peace of mind."

"They were all so amazing. All of them." She wiped a few tears away. "They came in and stayed with me and figured everything out. They made me eat and made sleep and kept me going and except for Seeley none of them really knew me. I only met them once or twice." She swung her legs up onto the bed and crawled up toward him. He moved over as much as he could and she settled, nestled between him and the arms of the bed. "I can't believe Seeley, I really can't."

He wrapped an arm around her, "Well, you've always said that he was a good guy, right?"

She nodded against his shoulder, "I just didn't know how good until now. And Temperance? That woman is…"

Clay laid his head against hers, "She is staggering."

B&B

Booth found Gus standing outside Brennan's room, leaning against the wall with an indecipherable look on his face. He moved to lean with him, neither looking at the other.

"Have we decided on a plan of action?" Gus asked quietly.

"I need to talk to Bones, then Woods. Find out what the big dogs want to do. But I have some ideas." Booth blew out a breath and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Think you can let Cam in on what's going on and help her get the body to the Jeffersonian?"

Eyebrows raised, Gus finally looked at Booth's profile. "Yeah? We're going to move him to the lab?"

Nodding, Booth turned his head. "Yeah. I have agents out there, yours and mine, with the car, keeping an eye on it. I thought it best that you and Cam get the car to the lab and get everything inside. She has access to all the restricted areas, and she's like Fort Knox when it comes to discretion. I only trust Bones more than I trust Cam."

Gus gave Booth a look he could only identify as relief. "Good to know."

Booth pushed off the wall and moved to Brennan's door. "I need to speak with my wife alone for a bit. I'll send everyone out, if you could tell them all what's going on, I'd appreciate it. Take Cam and Tucker to the lab, send everyone else home. We need to start locking this all down tighter than a duck's ass and keep it as quiet as possible. The agents outside are all senior agents, they know how to keep their mouths shut."

"Yeah." Gus nodded again. "I can go with Camille. Send everyone out and I'll debrief them."

Booth quirked an eyebrow at Gus's use of Cam's full name, but said nothing. Then he turned to Brennan's door and pulled it open quietly, not wanting to interrupt whatever conversation was going on inside.

Angela was gesturing wildly, obviously telling Brennan about the chaos that had ensued when she was discovered missing. "It was a madhouse, Bren. Seriously. I've never seen-" She stopped when she realized that Booth had joined them. "Hey, Booth."

"Ang." He nodded with a smile and crossed to Brennan, giving her a quick kiss before turning to the rest of the team. "Guys, I need the room for a bit. Gus is outside waiting to let you know what's going on."

Without questioning, everyone said goodbye to Brennan with kisses and hugs and promises to visit again later in the day. Once the last of them had exited the room, Booth turned to his wife and pulled her into his arms, hands rubbing slow circles on her back. Brennan linked her own arms around Booth, inhaling his scent and allowing herself to relax.

"I missed you, Bones."

"I missed you, too. Thank you for coming to find me."

"Always, baby. I'll always find you." Booth pulled back and was surprised to see tears in Brennan's eyes. "Hey…hey, don't cry." He wiped an errant tear from her cheek. "Everyone is okay. Tucker is no longer a threat. We can get you out of here in the morning and go get our kids. Life can go back to normal."

"Tucker? You caught him?" Brennan looked surprised.

Booth sighed and turned to lie back on her bed, pulling her against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and took her hands in his. Brennan relaxed against him, waiting for his explanation.

"Gus and Charlie ran into Tucker on their way here to the hospital."

"What?" She sat up and turned to look at him. "Are they okay?"

"Yeah. He was hiding in the backseat. He took Gus's weapons and made them drive for awhile. He basically told them everything…why he had been following Charlie, what he expected when he took Clay…everything." Booth swallowed. "Then, he threatened to kill Charlie to prevent her from having the baby."

"Oh."

"What Tucker didn't know was that not only was Charlie carrying a gun in her purse, but she had been trained to use it."

"Oh God. She…?"

Booth nodded against her shoulder. "Right between the goddamn eyes."

"Poor Charlotte."

"Yeah." He kissed her head and scooted down on the bed so she was practically laying on him. "If you think about it, though…it's sort of perfect justice. He started this with Charlie, and she ended it with him. She took control over something she previously had no control over, and finished it. I think that will go a long way to helping her deal with it."

Brennan nodded sadly in agreement. Then a thought occurred to her and she sat up. "I'm sorry I kept her pregnancy from you."

"Don't be, I understand. She trusted you with her secret, and I know you…you never break a confidence. I'm glad she had someone to confide in, actually." Booth pulled her back down on top of him, this time facing him. "You're an amazing woman, Temperance Brennan."

"That's Temperance Brennan-Booth, I'll have you know." She smiled, then leaned down and kissed him slowly, letting herself luxuriate in the comfort and safety of her husband's arms, kiss and love. They broke for air, both still smiling in a mix of relief and arousal. "I love you so much, Booth."

"I love you too, Bones. Always will."

B&B

A little under an hour later, Brennan asked Booth to go next door and check on Clayton. When he approached the room, he knocked loudly twice and turned the knob. He found Charlie still curled up next to Clayton, they both had their eyes closed and Booth decided it was best not to wake them.

"We're awake, Seel. You can come in."

Booth turned back around, "How are you two?"

"We're ok." She explained as she sat up and moved to the edge of the bed. "How's Bren?"

"Fine, dislocated wrist but nothing too serious."

Charlotte winced, "How did that happen?"

"When the fire started we struggled to get free and she pulled too hard." Clay told his wife as he pulled himself up in the bed.

"Oh."

Booth moved closer to them and took a seat in the chair at the side of the bed, "Clay, we need to talk about how all of this is going to be handled. I have some ideas but I know the final decision isn't mine."

Clayton nodded, "I've been thinking about it myself. I'll need to make some calls before we have a definite plan of action but I'd like to get your thoughts before I call anyone."

The two men watched as Charlotte stood and slipped her shoes on.

"What are you doing, baby?"

She turned and smiled at her husband, "I don't need to be here for this."

"It involves you, you should stay."

She bent over and kissed him, "I trust that you," she looked over at Booth, "both of you will do what's best. I'm gonna go see Bren." She kissed Clay once more and quickly left the room.

B&B

Charlotte knocked lightly on Brennan's door, not wanting to wake her if she was sleeping.

"Come in." She heard through the door.

Charlie pushed on the door and peeked around the corner. "Hey Bren…are you up for company?"

"Sure. Come in, please." Brennan pushed herself up to a sitting position and crossed her legs, yoga-style. "How is Clayton doing?"

Charlie grabbed a chair and moved it right next to the bed. "He's feeling a little better, now that he can stretch out. He'll be sore for a while, but the doctors say he should be just fine in a few days after some therapy."

"I'm so glad to hear that." Brennan looked down for a moment, and then looked up into Charlie's eyes. "And how are you feeling?"

"Great, Bren. Really. The doctor checked the baby and everything is fine."

"That's wonderful. And…" She stopped for a moment, unsure of the boundaries while wanting to gauge how Charlotte was feeling about the earlier events of the day. "What about…what happened? With Tucker?"

Charlie closed her eyes for a moment, the image of Tucker's head jerking back as a perfect hole appeared in his forehead popping into her head almost immediately. "I…I am dealing with it. I did what needed to be done."

Brennan reached over and took the other woman's hand. "You did the right thing. You did." She swallowed reflexively, taking a breath at Charlie's inquisitive look. "Booth and I had been partners for about a year when I had to…we were looking for a missing girl, she was abducted by the assistant of a serial killer named Howard Epps. When we finally discovered where she was being held, Booth ended up getting into a fight with the man, Gil Lappin, and was almost killed. If I hadn't…I heard the fight and went to help, and I walked up just as Lappin raised a crowbar to hit Booth…and I shot him."

"God, Bren…"

Shaking her head, Brennan continued. "If I hadn't done it, Booth would be dead. I had never killed anyone before, and deep down I knew I had done the right thing, but…"

"It's an enormous feeling, taking someone else's life. It's almost too big."

"Yes." Brennan turned slightly watery eyes to Charlie. "Booth came to me later that night, knowing I would be struggling with it. He had done it, so he knew. He knew what it cost me to pull that trigger." She took a deep breath. "But it would have cost me even more if I hadn't."

"You would have lost Seeley."

Brennan only nodded, unable to vocalize what that loss would have meant to her so early in their partnership. She still wondered about that herself on late nights when she couldn't sleep and her mind wouldn't shut down. "Booth told me that whenever you take a life, there is a steep cost. Yes, a life is lost, but the cost is exacted from you, as well. And you simply have to learn to live with it. It's hard, and it will take you some time, but you can find comfort in the fact that you did the right thing, Charlotte." Brennan moved to brush a hand along Charlie's abdomen. "This…this is what is most important. Beyond everything else, all you're feeling, Clayton being rescued, Tucker having done what he did all these years…that child is what is the most important. And when you doubt yourself…and you will…when you doubt and wonder if there was some other way, something else you could have done…remember that."

Charlie wiped her cheeks of the tears she hadn't even noticed she was shedding. "Thank you, Temperance." She whispered, leaning to embrace her new friend. "I will never forget what you did for us."

Shaking her head, Brennan laughed self-consciously and waved her off. "Now go…go back to your husband and be with him. He needs you just as much."

Charlie smiled and stood, taking Brennan's hand for a moment. "Your husband is a very lucky man, Bren."

"I know." She grinned. "And luckily for me, he does, too."

B&B

"Everything all worked out?" Charlotte asked as she ran into Booth in the hall as he was leaving Clay's room.

He nodded, "I think so. Clay's on the phone with the President now, running our ideas past him."

She leaned against the wall, finally feeling the full weight of her exhaustion, "What are your ideas?"

"The story is that Clay's kidnapping was a straight ransom deal, we were able to find the building that he was in after we received one of the ransom demands and the unnamed lone abductor was killed, by the Secret Service, during the rescue."

"And you're ok with that?" She arched a brow.

Booth nodded, "It's the only way for any of us to put this behind us. If we revealed what really happened we would never be able to move past this, all the evidence would…This is best."

"Thank you, for everything." She whispered.

"Hey, I'm just-"

She cut him off, "Don't give me that 'I'm just doing my job' crap, ok?"

"I wasn't going to say that. I was going to say, I'm just doing what needs to be done. This went beyond the job, Charlotte. Someone I care about needed my help. And because of the kind of people the rest of the team are that's all they needed to know to jump in feet first."

"They really are…" She sighed, "I wouldn't have gotten through this without them, I know that and I don't know that I would've gotten back without you." She stepped toward him and hugged him tightly, kissing him on the cheek as she let go, "You really are a good guy, Seeley Booth."

He smiled, "I do try. By the way, did you get checked out by a doctor?"

"I did." She looked at curiously.

"Good 'cause this last week put a lot of stress on you and that's not good for the baby."

She tilted her head and frowned, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I just…I don't know."

"I understand why, I do but I distinctly remember a conversation in which you said 'I just don't want to have children'. So?"

Charlotte laughed, "I didn't. For a long time I didn't but," she glanced into Clay's room, he was still on the phone but when he saw her he tossed her a wink, "about a year ago, I was sitting across from Clay at dinner and I realized I just wanted to have his children."