Breathless
Disclaimer: Bones belongs to Fox, Hart Hanson & Kathy Reichs. If it were mine Bones and Booth would have gotten it on by now.
The lyrics to the song that inspired this piece belong to Better Than Ezra.
Summary: Brennan deals with the traumatic events of "Two Bodies in the Lab" from Season 1.
Pairing: B & B
"Here you are now.
Fresh from your wars,
Back from the edge of time.
All that you were,
Stripped to the bone.
I thought you'd want to know.
When you feel the world is crashing all around your feet,
Come running headlong into my arms, breathless."
-Better Than Ezra, "Breathless"
In the middle of the night, a muffled noise awoke Seeley Booth from what been up until that particular moment a restful sleep. The sound was so faint that he wouldn't have heard it at all if it hadn't been for his heightened sense of hearing from his years as a Ranger. It took only a moment for Booth to recognize the sound.
It was Bones caught in the throes of a familiar nightmare that had repeatedly haunted her over the past five years.
It had been three years since she'd been held hostage and nearly killed by Kenton, the F.B.I. agent, turned mafia hitman. Although she'd worked through the experience, she never completely let it go.
Not even in the two years that followed in which their partnership had evolved into something more.
When the squints saw Brennan after one of her sleepless nights, they assumed that it was the trauma of being buried alive that bothered her so much.
They were wrong.
But Booth knew better.
He knew better because he understood what she was afraid of. He knew that what Temperance Brennan feared most in the world was feeling abandoned and alone.
At least when she'd been captured by The Gravedigger, one of her trusted squints had been with her to help keep her fear at bay.
But when she'd been taken hostage by Kenton she'd been alone, and had probably convinced herself that she was going to die.
And that was the reason her dreams often turned into nightmares, even so many years later.
In the few short moments that Booth had gotten lost in his thoughts, Brennan's cries had intensified.
Booth wrapped his arms around her sleeping form and whispered in her ear, "You're okay…I'm right here…It's all over…It's all right."
He said the words over and over, hoping they would penetrate through sleep and reach her consciousness.
Those were the same words he'd said to her when he'd rescued her that night.
He could still picture the scene in his mind exactly as it had been five years before.
He felt the pain in his fractured ribs as he struggled to hold his gun.
He heard the sound of the gunshot that he'd fired at Kenton.
But most of all he remembered the sight of a terrified Temperance, bound, gagged, and suspended from the ceiling.
Suddenly a loud car horn blared from the street below and Temperance jolted awake, gasping for breath.
With her vision blurred by tears, Temperance reached out for Booth. He held her tight as he felt the full force of her desperate sobs against his shoulder.
He wasn't sure how much time had passed when her voice broke the silence.
"It was like I was there again Booth. The gag was on my mouth…There were ropes around my wrists…I couldn't breathe…"
"I know Bones. I know…shh…you're safe now…I'm right here."
Booth held Brennan like that until they both fell asleep.
Fin