Lucky Chapter 9

Kevlar vest on, glock in hand Booth exited his vehicle and cautiously approached the men surrounding the cabin. He found the commanding officer for the S.W.A.T team, Captain Joseph Marcs. He approached and flagged his attention. "Hey, I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth." He said shaking the elder mans worn hand. After the man had given his name, Booth eagerly started fishing for information. "Can I have a run down of the situation?"

"Ok. The men are at different points around the perimeter of the cabin. From what we can see there is one male inside: Caucasian, early to mid 20s, short dark brown hair. He has a weapon, glock in a hip holster. There are also several hunting rifles in there also, but they appear to be locked up."

"Any sign of Dr. Brennan?" he asked hopefully.

"Negative. But Agent Darrow didn't seem to be present at the beginning of the sweep. So, I have a man searching for any windows or hidden trapdoors that indicate a basement or underground room. He should be getting back to me very soon."

"That's good. So what strategy are we taking?"

"He is in full view. So we're planning on storming the place with flash bangs as soon as my man reports relevant hostage information." Seeing the distressed look on his face the older man said, "Don't worry Agent; we have several of the best snipers trained and ready. We can handle this."

Just then the crackling of a radio clicked in and a young man reported back. "Captain, we have a basement window on the west wall. I can confirm a hostage: Caucasian woman, late 20's early 30s, Brown hair. She's shackled and injured. Over."

"Roger than. I will have an ambulance on standby."

"When are we going in?"

"We are going in as soon as I order it and no sooner. We don't want to startle the guy into doing anything drastic." He said in a stern tone. "Agent this is my operation, so you will stay behind us. When we reach the basement you then have my permission to proceed and retrieved your partner."

"Thank you, sir."

10 minutes later, Captain Joseph Marcs ordered the men inside; he followed at the back with Booth trained at his heals. The flash bang was set off when Darrow was in the kitchen. It sparked, banged and then caused the surrounding area to fill with smoke. The officers with masks proceeded to jump him from behind, slamming him into the wall, while forcing his hands into cuffs. They then disarmed him by removing the holster. The kidnapper fought and cursed at the men holding him. Booth however, resisted the urge to kill the man then and there. He kept his head and focused on retrieving his partner. He rounded the corner following the captain. They got to the basement door and found it locked. But the captain immediately cocked his leg and splintered the door off its hinges. He then stepped aside and motioned for Booth to enter first. He didn't need to be told twice; he barrelled down the stairs, only stopping to survey the room for anymore potentially threats, seeing none he zoned in on the slumped form of his partner. It shocked him to see her in that position. But he managed to put aside the shock and the 'freeze in your track fear' and run to her side.

Kneeling down he looked her body up and down noting the visible injures. What concerned him the most was her unconsciousness. Moving his hand he rubbed his hand over her cheek, "Bones?" nothing, "Bones, Wake up!" he said forcefully.

That's when an officer tapped him on the shoulder; he unwillingly reverted his eyes to the man behind him and was relieved to see him holding out a set of key. Before stalking off to the sidelines the man muttered, "got these out of the scum's pocket." Booth took the keys out of the awaiting hand. He then spun back to Bones and quickly worked on the locks of the cuffs trying to be as gentle as he could. As he snapped one cuff away from one painfully thin bloody wrist he placed it by her side and did the same with the other. When she was free from the confines he pulled her head to him and cradled it in his lap, running his fingers through her hair in a comforting way. (For whom I'm not quite sure.) He was startled when his fingers suddenly caught a lump. Concerned he carefully parted her hair and was confronted with a gash; it was bleeding slightly but had begun to clot in places. He had just smoothed her hair down when her eyes began to flutter open, closed before finally staying open and focusing on the man cradling her in his arms. "Am I dead?" she asked confused in a gravely voice.

Totally confused Booth replied, "No, why would you think that?" his hand begun again to run through her matted locks.

"B-b-because you're dead Booth." She said tear running down her face, leaving a track due to the accumulated grime and all ready fallen tears. She then moved her numb hand to reach up and graze across his cheek.

"No, Bones. You and me are alive. I'm sorry I lied, I'm really really sorry." He said crying both with regret and happiness.

"B-b-but..."

"Shh, helps coming alright. You're going to be just fine. We can talk more about it later." This caused the anthologist to relax into Booths safe embrace. "I'm so glad I got here on time Bones."

He heard her whisper a quiet "Me too" before her eyes started to grow droopy.

Moments later he heard the bustle of movement above his head, but he never let his gaze move off her; hypnotised by her cloudy grey eyes. But that ended all too soon for his liking as two eager paramedics tried to push him aside. "Sir, you have to let us assess her injuries." "Move aside, sir."

"You're going to be fine, Temperance, we're going to be fine." He whispered at her non-responsive form, tired and in pain. "We're the centre and the centre will always hold." he mumbled. Her eyes suddenly flickered to his, and he jumped into the moment, emotions surging inside him. "Do, you know why that is, Temperance? It's because I love you. I love you Bones and I'm so sorry." He said stroking her cheek. Her eyes held his.

"Now there are people here to make you better. So I'm going to let you go, but I'll be right over there." He said pointing across the room at a spot that was visible from here, before returning his eyes to hers. "I won't let you out of my sight again. I won't leave you again." At that he moved her to lie against the floor and stood, moving to the spot where she would be able to see him.

The paramedics swarmed in, taking her sats, dressed her wrists. They shone the light in her eyes to test pupil reaction due to her head injury. They asked her name and she told them, not leaving the Dr. out of her name. This made Booth smile; even in a semi-conscious state she was still her stubborn self.

The paramedics then loaded her on to a stretcher. Seeing this Booth returned to her side and managed to convince the men to let him ride with her. He hopped into the back of the awaiting ambulance and sat beside the stretcher. He moved his hand to ghost hers and they rode off towards the hospital.

Wow, I am so proud of myself. This chapter was pretty easy to write, I knew exactly what I wanted to put in it. I really hope you liked it, review and let me know, as your opinion really matters to me. R&R!

Elly x