7.

ASC: Hope still reading? Enjoying? Keep going?

"Listen people here is what I need." Cam barked as she and Hodgins gathered the waiting staff after they entered the nearest hospital to the group's location. They had little to go on besides the fact that Sweets was most likely suffering from some form of hypothermia and that time was going to be limited to help.

The staff was informed of the agent's impending arrival and to listen to Cam's instructions on Sweets condition but she arrived knowing very little herself. She continued to list off every medical supply possibly needed to address various levels of hypothermia.

"I'm Dr. Vince Clark." The middle aged man said approaching Cam. "What can you tell me about this agent's condition?"

"I was hoping to know more by the time I got here." Cam admitted. "They are out of phone range. I am largely assuming at this point that Dr. Sweets is still alive."

"Well we never assume anyone is dead in cases of hypothermia until they are, for lack of a more tactful phrase 'warm and dead'. Many cases have shown inaccurate vitals being taken due to low body temperatures."

"Yes, I understand." Cam said not needing a refresher course.

"Dr. Soroyan I am here to assist in any way. I'll do whatever you ask…"

"No Dr. Clark, I'd like to be assisting you." Cam said and the doctor was taken back a bit. When he heard that the important FBI man was on his way in and the prestigious Dr. Soroyan was coming he had prepared for her to take the lead.

"I care very much for Dr. Sweets." Cam said feeling her hands shake a little, her stomach turn. "He's a dear friend. I would like to be involved and kept abreast of the situation, but I'm afraid my hands will not be steady enough to help."

"Yes of course." Dr. Clark said seeing the obvious concern in her eyes. "I look forward to working with you and hopefully we will have a favorable outcome."

Cam nodded and offered a small smile.

"Now, let's double check that we have everything." He said and she was glad she had something to do to keep her mind busy.

"Is he breathing?" Booth asked having spied Sweets blue tinted lips.

"I can't tell." Angela said trying to take a pulse.

"It may be difficult to tell in a person suffering from hypothermia." Brennan explained. "We need to get Dr. Sweets out of the cold immediately."

Booth stood up to quickly get on the move and Brennan stopped him.

"We need to move him carefully. Too abrupt or rough movements can cause ventricular fibrillation." She warned. Booth looked at her that he didn't know what that meant. "Like a heart attack."

"So what do we do?" Angela asked trying to composure herself as she held onto Sweets.

"We need to get that wet coat off Dr. Sweets." Brennan instructed as she walked away from them.

Angela & Booth leaned Sweets forward and pulled the jacket and dress jacket off.

"Oh God." Angela said at the sight of Sweets white button down drenched in dark red blood.

"Here, tie it with this." Brennan said handing a ripped section of the sheet she took off the small cot around it and handed it to Booth.

"I think the rest is pretty dry, just the coat was mostly wet." Booth said.

"Let's wrap him in this." Brennan said laying down the blanket on the ground.

Angela and Booth quickly but carefully laid Sweets on it as Brennan pulled it around Sweets.

"We need to go." She said and they thought it strange she said it.

"What's wrong?" Angela asked knowing something was up.

"I noticed Dr. Sweets is not shivering." She explained after she peeled back a closed eyelid of his.

"He was before." Angela said.

"Yes, I suspected that." She said allowing his eyelid to shut. "A patient who has stopped shivering and has dilated pupils is…."

"Not good." Booth finished for her. "Let's go." He added then took Sweets under the arms while Angela took his feet.

Soon Sweets was in the back seat of Booth's SUV. The cop who had been standing near helplessly watching said he would escort them down the mountain and call for help as soon as they reached the reception.

"They're fifteen minutes away!" Hodgins informed Cam and Dr. Clark excitedly as he put away his phone.

"How is Dr. Sweets condition?" Cam asked.

"Dr. Brennan didn't say a lot. She said to tell you that she would estimate that Sweets is in a moderate to severe stage of hypothermia." Hodgins said and wondered what that exactly meant.

"I'll get things ready." Dr. Clark said.

"What does that mean?" Hodgins asked.

"It's not bad news, but it's not good news." She explained in the shortened version.

Soon the sound of the cop's siren could be heard. The waiting team was near the door as Booth's SUV pulled to the emergency entrance.

Cam and Dr. Clark were by the vehicle before the doors could even open. Dr. Clark opened the rear passenger door to see Sweets lying across the back seat, Angela's arms wrapped around his chest as though she were trying to force warmth into him. Brennan sat on the opposite side trying to mask the concerned look she had.

"Miss?" Dr. Clark said to Angela holding out his arms. "Please let me help." He said tenderly trying to take Sweets from her. It broke her from her train of thought and seeing the doctor's kind face she slowly loosened her grasp on Sweets enough for the doctor and medical team to pull him out.

Hodgins came and helped Angela out who immediately started to cry in his arms.

"I just didn't want to let him go." Angela said and they knew she meant more than that moment there.

"I know, it's okay." Hodgins said holding her tight. "Hey what's this?" He said noticing the cut on her arm.

"Let's get that looked at." Brennan said as they stepped into the hospital.

They looked up to see Sweets being taken away and felt their hearts sink.

"Core temp 85.5"

"Heart rate is dropping."

"Is the blood re-warmer ready?"

"In one minute."

"IV in, warm fluid is now circulating."

Booth listened to the room of voices volley back and forth from outside the room. The others waited in the waiting room but Booth was too antsy. Cam stepped out of the room and was surprised to see him standing there at first, but after a moment she realized she would have been disappointed if he hadn't been. Sweets was one of his people and he was hurt. Of course Booth was near.

"How is he?" Booth asked in a tone so quiet Cam was sure she never heard that timbre before.

Cam sighed. "Not good. Not dead." She said but had to pause to collect herself from showing the emotion she was feeling.

"I wanted to ask before you told them. Angela is taking this pretty hard." Booth explained.

"I think we all are aren't we?" Cam said as a tear glistened in the corner of her eye. "He's so young Seeley."

Booth took a step forward and found little reluctance to Cam accepting a hug. She stayed for a second as she collected her couple of tears, more than she would normally allow.

"Can we do anything?" Booth asked. He was still solid, still holding it together though his concern his showing it was not.

"We wait." Cam said wiping away the last small tear as Brennan and Hodgins approached.

"Ange is getting a stitch in her arm for her cut." Hodgins explained. "She only went with the promise I'd run to get her if anything came up."

"I think right now we'll be okay. We just have to wait." Cam explained. "They are running rewarming fluids thru Dr. Sweets to raise his core temperature. Unfortunately in this case Dr. Sweets low body fat is working against him. If his temperature doesn't begin to rise quickly they will try a more aggressive method which is to infuse warming fluids into the chest and abdomen or thru the stomach and bladder."

"Hope it's empty." Hodgins tried to joke to lighten the mood.

"I don't think he ate all day." Booth said. "He was so busy, working." Booth's tone was some place farther away. He had thought of his rant that Sweets as off playing while he was eating his own dinner with Brennan. He realized he was wrong on several things about Sweets today.

"Can we see him?" Brennan asked.

"Thru the door." Cam said stepping back. "They won't move him to a room until they've stabilized him."

Brennan peeked thru the window on the door. She could hardly see Sweets the warming blanket and monitors surrounding him. She looked back at Booth who stepped away, he didn't want to see in, neither did Hodgins. They didn't want to see Sweets, not like that.

"I'm guessing it isn't good news." Caroline Julian said approaching them.

The lack of response said a lot to her.

"Well I've got something to take your minds off Dr. Sweets for a moment."

"What's that?" Hodgins asked her.

"Oh a little murder we were working to solve."

"I thought we found him." Angela said rejoining the group.

"Well his house sure, but it was pretty empty." Caroline answered.

"Except for the bodies." Angela said. "Oh there was a laptop there too, we need to…"

"Gone." Caroline said interrupting her.

"What?" Booth asked.

"While all this was going on and you all left in a hurry I sent a team up there. The place was empty. Nada."

"I saw the bodies." Angela said in a voice that insisted she wasn't crazy.

"I did too, what are you saying Caroline?" Brennan asked.

"I'm not saying you two are crazy, I'm saying your murderer most likely came in when you left and took them. And that laptop. The place is clean, nothing."

Booth rubbed his eyes. He knew it was a mistake on his part, they were so focused on Sweets he hadn't thought they had been watched. He wished now he would have had the cop stay, but then again maybe Edwards would have just killed the cop.

"Any idea where we might find him?" Caroline asked trying to get their attention. "Look I care about Sweets too, but I'd also like to make sure we don't end up with any more murdered girls."

"He's taking the bodies to the parents." Booth said.

The others considered the possibility. "He did leave Harding and Andrews for the fathers to find." Brennan considered.

"But why wasn't Melissa Phillips left, why was she being 'stored' at the cabin?" Cam asked.

"I'll bet because the dad wasn't home. He's often out traveling. He killed Melissa Phillips and when the dad was traveling he couldn't leave her so he had to store her." Booth said.

"Why does this Edwards guy care, what's the motive?" Caroline asked.

"You'll have to ask Sweets." Booth said.

"If he wakes up." Hodgins said crossing his arms.

"When he wakes up." Booth corrected.

Hodgins nodded, he was just upset about the whole thing.

"So if he can't find Melissa Phillips father, we know Liz Sanders was there too. Where does her father work?" Brennan asked.

"We might be able to catch this guy in the act of leaving her." Cam said realizing the possibility.

"He'll want her to defrost." Hodgins said finding it a difficult comment to phrase.

"We just might have time." Cam said looking at her watch.

"Angela, can you get us an address?" Booth asked turning to where she was a moment ago. She had been absent from the whole conversation, and now they noticed, the room all together. They looked and she was in the room where Sweets was, standing near the bed, looking at him.

"I can look that up." Hodgins suggested, knowing Angela was where she needed to be at the moment.

Booth & Brennan exchanged looks in their concern for Angela.

"I'll stay here with Angela and Sweets." Cam offered.

"Got it." Hodgins said jumping up from the laptop he had with him.

"I suggest you two and Dr. Hodgins get to that scene as soon as possible, after you call back up of course." Caroline said.

They nodded as though mom had just issued her marching order.

"I'll be at the office ready to issue whatever warrant you need." She called after them.

Once they were gone Caroline walked over to the doors and looked in.

"I thought you were going to the office." Cam asked confused.

"I will, in a minute." Caroline said in a softer voice as she looked in.