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;)
Thanks for being so amazing!
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CHAPTER 31
"I love you."
It took three steps for him to stop walking, and almost an entire minute for him to turn around and look at me. I wanted to shout that I didn't mean it, pretend I hadn't said what I said, or maybe just run, run away until the shame couldn't follow me anymore.
Metaphorically speaking.
Was I as desperate for his presence as this? As needy as to actually let myself say it?
He looked… lost. I didn't know what to say, whether to cry or laugh or just beg him to forget it.
So I didn't say anything.
"What did you just…?" he croaked finally.
I couldn't. I couldn't say it again. To my horror I realised a part of me had been hoping for some sort of reciprocation, which made no sense because I had already rationally decided my feelings were not returned. I was suddenly glad that I hadn't been connected to a monitor to measure my pulse, because then the pounding of my heart would have been obvious to both of us.
"Bones, please don't play games with me."
"Not a game."
He walked slowly toward me, like a weary hunter afraid his prey wasn't quite dead yet.
"What do you mean? What… did you just…? Why would you say that?"
The tears were coming again. I felt the stinging sensation in my eyes and fought it. I just looked at him.
"Bones, I heard you, right? I mean… You did say…?"
Not a single drop escaped my lashes, I just breathed.
"Bones, talk to me!"
I blinked, but still not a tear fell down. Feeling secretly proud of this fact, I just sat still.
"Temperance…"
Alas, my undoing.
"You heard me."
"Did you mean it?" He asked, taking a step toward me. I was taken aback by the force irradiating from his eyes. A sort of hopeful violent joy that would burn anything in it's path, including me.
My phone rang.
Had I been prone to watch more movies or maybe find the time to read more often I would have noted on the clichéd moment of the interruption of a pivotal conversation. As it was, I quickly wrenched my eyes from his grasp and twisted to find my cell.
It had been on the night-table next to my bed and now it was vibrating, making the glass of water next to it rattle dangerously. I quickly answered it without checking the caller ID once again. "Brennan."
"Dr Brennan? Is Booth with you at this moment?"
"Who is this?"
"I think you know."
I motioned to Booth and he understood by the look in my eyes who I was speaking to. Without a word he rushed off to ask for a trace on the call. The feelings between us, so important seconds ago were shoved back to second place, before work.
"Mr Bram, I was beginning to think you'd disappeared. Where are Anne and Margaret?"
"They are away, Tempe."
Oh God. Away?
"I need to talk to them. What have you done, Frank? Are they alive?"
"Of course. Why would I hurt Margaret?"
Anne. Please, Anne!
"Bram, let me speak to Anne." I tried to hide the worry in my voice, even though he must be able to hear the slightest tremble. "Just Anne, please…"
"I miss seeing you, Tempe. You were so beautiful. But if you don't stop looking for me with your friends, I'm really going to regret not killing you."
And he hung up.
I sat on the bed, immobile for approximately three seconds preparing the most efficient course of action, then made a decision. I got up, dressed in the new clothes Angela had left for me, and sprinted out of the room.
"Booth!" I looked around the corridor, trying to find him. A few people were walking up and down, probably patients, and two nurses were helping an elderly woman into her room, but Booth was nowhere to be found.
"Brennan, sweetie!" Angela was at the other end, a few metres in front of me. "It's five in the evening, you can't leave until tomorrow…"
"Frank Bram just called me!"
"What?"
I leveled with her and began walking quickly.
"Where's Booth?"
"He just ran past me, that way…"
I broke into a jog, and my friend followed my pace easily.
"What have you found out?" I asked. "You've examined the place, right? The house where I was found? You've performed the necessary procedures…?"
"Yes, yes, everything. But I haven't been to the lab to ask for results yet, I was with you the entire-"
"Then Hodgins! Get me Hodgins on the phone! I need to know what they've found out. First priority, is Margaret Stoker still alive? Second priority, does any evidence suggest where Bram could have taken her and Anne? Third-"
"Hey! Slow down, Bren, you only woke up a couple of hours ago!"
"I can't."
"Why this sudden…?"
"Because I can deal with everything else once this is over. Until then, my life is on hold, Angela." I said firmly. This was no time for frivolous sentiment. "I need you to help me now. Why did Bram let me live? I can't understand why he didn't kill me. It was the logical thing to do. Leaving me to die is not the same as making sure I don't tell everyone he was the killer. He knew there was a chance I would be found, or would find a way to escape. All that work, trying to lay the blame on someone else, for nothing?"
"What makes you think I have an idea…?"
"Angela, you understand better than I do. Help me. Please, why would he leave me behind alive?"
"I…" we stopped, having reached the main hall. Two FBI Agents were speaking to Booth and he had a phone by his ear.
"Booth!" I called, pushing past everyone between us.
"Hey, Bones they couldn't trace it. Only get that it was a payphone, but the call was too short."
"I considered the possibility of failure. All right, I want to know the facts."
He stared at me for a moment, trying to figure out what to say.
"What do you mean?" he settled for finally.
"I want to know everything. What have you found? Trace evidence, fingerprints, proof of life for Mrs Stoker… Have you begun investigating Frank Bram? Why did he have so many alibis? Have you interrogated any of his 'friends'? Can you take me to the Jeffersonian now? Hodgins must be…"
"Bones, you can't be on this case anymore."
"What?"
The world around me froze, but not the way it had last time when I was looking at Booth and time let us forget that seconds flew by so fast… no, this time the world blurred into nothingness as a choking, horrible feeling flooded me. Just like before, a dark force sucking the life out of me, leaving me alone. Even with Booth right in front of me it came back: cold emptiness.
He took my arm and walked me over to a corner, away from Angela and the Agents. I was swaying slightly, and blinded by fury, but his touch was warm and his eyes kept the fear momentarily at bay.
"Bones, you're no longer allowed to be fully involved in the…"
"I know what 'can't be on the case' means!" I burst out, feeling nonetheless trapped. "How can you say that? Why? Are you afraid that my capture will compromise my objectivity?"
"No. But my bosses are. They absolutely forbid me to let you… I'm sorry, just listen… it's protocol, Bones. You know that."
I couldn't believe this. "Booth, you can't do this to me…" I breathed, putting a hand on the wall to steady myself. If I wasn't there nothing would get done properly. They'd mess it all up. Everything would be ruined. Booth was an excellent agent, but he couldn't command my team by himself without a forensic background. What would we do? What would happen to Anne?
"Bones, you have no idea how hard I fought against them…"
"No. I need to finish this. I need to be involved! You still need a forensic anthropologist! Who will take over?"
"No one. The evidence is particulate matter from now on. There are no new bodies, and the other ones have already been through the most thorough examination by you." His hand was still on my arm, and for a crazy moment, as he said those terrible things, I wanted to wrench it away from me. But it wasn't Booth's fault. I needed him, and he knew what really mattered. He understood my mind like no one else.
He knew who I was.
To prevent myself from letting thoughts go back to our conversation from before, I tried to think of alternatives. And in my mind a new course of action began to form…
"Bones, let me talk for a second, okay? I know how you feel about protocol. I know you always stick to it but that you ignore it without second thought when that's the right thing to do."
Could it be…?
"This is the right thing to do, Bones. They can't stop you from going to work."
A warm rush invaded my body, and I smiled at Booth, fiercely proud to be his partner today more than ever.
"Thank you."
"Just remember you'll have to lie. You're not allowed to work on the case technically…"
I cut him off with a kiss.
"Thank you, Booth."
He quickly glanced at Angela, who was speaking to one of the Agents (Agent Dan Norris now that I looked at him, one of the idiots I'd met at the fundraiser). Having asserted no one we knew was looking at us, he pulled me into him and returned the gesture with a long, heated, spine arching…
"We should go." I said, firmly putting a hand on his chest.
"We'll talk when this is over."
I nodded.
After saying goodbye to Agent Norris and Agent Pendrell, I turned to Angela.
"Meet you at the Jeffersonian, okay Ange? We can discuss scenarios once more and try a few simulations I have in mind."
"Okay."
"I need you on this, Angela. I couldn't do it without you."
She smiled and gave me a quick peck on the cheek.
"Bones, let's go. I'm driving."
"For once, Booth, could I…?"
"Two of your fingers are broken and you've been in hospital the past thirty-six hours!"
"I remain a very good driver!"
"No way."
"Please?"
When I opened the door of the hospital to exit into the sunlight, a feather-light brush of fingers against my back made me smile, despite of the circumstances.
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Don't hate me.
Or cellphones. Hating cellphones is wrong. Just think of what we'd do without them.
Please.
Instead of hating me, review this chapter. Reviewing is good. Hating is bad.
Think about it! ;)