Between Sleep and Awake (Rated M, mystery, angst, fluff, insanity)

Omg, the suspense! It's killing me!

LOL thanks Shakari!

This is awesome--but I'm worried that if Booth is in a coma(drug-induced though it be) how will he come get her. The way your writing this kind of reminds me of a The Sound and the Fury in that your never sure exactly what time period your in. I like how your telling it as far as I can tell with her captured (by the Agent we met last chapter??) and hallucinating to the time before to get us caught up to present. Bleeding from the neck is only probably the jugular --and that's not really important right? Whose brain needs silly things like oxygen?

Cameomum wrote:This is awesome--but I'm worried that if Booth is in a coma(drug-induced though it be) how will he come get her. The way your writing this kind of reminds me of a The Sound and the Fury in that your never sure exactly what time period your in. I like how your telling it as far as I can tell with her captured (by the Agent we met last chapter??) and hallucinating to the time before to get us caught up to present. Bleeding from the neck is only probably the jugular --and that's not really important right? Whose brain needs silly things like oxygen?

Wow. Thanks for the great compliment. Especially comparing my writing to The Sound and the Fury. Faulkner is amazing! Thanks for everything! I will be continuing this in a day or two, hopefully sooner. Sooner is always better!

Okay mama,

What a wonderfully interesting concept and you definitely have me hooked! Wicked story, and it is a little confusing, but so interesting, that I can't help but read more!

Please post as soon as possible, you rock!!

Bella

Wow! Thank you Bella!!!

You're Welcome!! NOW POST!!!

Bella

Love it, you have me on the edge of my seat.

Thanks for the replies, ladies!

Between Sleep and Awake

Part IV: Last Call

The soft rubber padded on the floor. Chunks of concrete ground beneath the worn heels.

I tried to keep my eyes open long enough to try to piece together what he was doing. Bending down, reaching for my ankle, unlocking the padlock. The man lifted me and we were walking. In all honesty, I was stumbling, but he bore my weight as I was transferred to a smaller room.

I watched the single bulb swing in the distance, the light bouncing around, illuminating the obscured objects in the room.

The basement floor grew soft, then crumbled and grew beneath our feet. The gray flat ceiling became an open window to the world and gray autumn clouds rolled overhead.

My feet kicked the leaves. Left, right. The soil beneath becoming visible as I walked. Then I stumbled, my ankle twisting at a painful angle. The slope was steep, making it difficult for me to slow my descent.

I landed. Then I sat up slowly. Millions of red ribbons, moist with mud and blood obscured the face of the person who I had landed on.

Tentatively, I reached out and pulled a few aside. That face. Those eyes, though opaque with the mask of death, were familiar. I pulled them aside faster, quicker until he was more visible. My heart thudded in my throat, my head pounded.

"Booth. Oh, G-d, Booth." He was beneath me in the pit of death.

"What the hell is going on here?" He asked, but his lips didn't move.

I scrambled backward.

"It's not possible. I'm hallucinating. It's not possible!" The muck and mire sunk beneath my nails and fingers as I struggled up the embankment, my heels slipping in the mud, my hands grasping for anything and everything that would lend me aid.

And I was running. The trees whizzed past on either side of my head as I ran. The rain-moist leaves making my feet slip with every third stride.

The gun shot rang through the quiet afternoon. Bark fragmented an inch from my head. I turned to the left, down a path that seemed familiar. The sound of waves crashing against a shore grew louder as I ran. The boards of the ancient bridge pounded beneath my feet.

And there was only one direction to go. Down.

"Cold?" He asked as we walked into his building. I didn't have to reply. His jacket was across my shoulders before a word had even escaped.

We stopped in the stairwell. I could tell he had something to say. Frankly, I am not good at reading people, but I would have had to have been a fool not to see that he wanted to say something to me.

"Bones, I..." He started hesitantly, "It wasn't the same without you."

"You missed me?" I smiled.

"Yeah," he whispered.

"I... missed you, too."

We were at the door, then inside his apartment. He touched my face gently. "This isn't just sex with me, Bones."

"I know."

"I want to make love to you."

I leaned forward and kissed his lips. They grew cold in that moment and I pulled back as a tracheal intubator grew from the gap and oxygen pumped through it.

Without a word, Cam came into the hospital room and took a seat beside me. "How are you doing?"

"Fine. You?"

She smiled sadly and handed me a report, "Ballistic fingerprinting connected the firearm that shot Booth with a December 2002 bank robbery."

I reached for the report. "And it's not Clarence Voigt?"

"He was in Europe at the time of the bank robbery."

"Was anybody arrested?"

"No, but the detective in charge of the case said that they believed it was an inside job."

"From inside the bank?" I thumbed through the report farther, "The Centura Bank? They stole more than 500,000 dollars."

"I have a feeling someone went to the Bahamas for Christmas."

"Wait a second... wasn't the Centura Bank purchased by the Royal Bank of Canada?" I stood up abruptly and walked toward the exit.

"Where are you going?" Cam asked, bewildered by my unexpected change of direction.

"Nowhere. It's pure conjecture. I'll be right back."

Snow began to fall as I walked through the underbrush. A short red brick building grew from the ground as if it had been there for years. Firewood was stacked neatly on the outside of the building and a blue tarp had been placed on top with one chunk of wood weighing down the whole contraption.

I stood on the cutting block and peeked through a tall window, darkened with age and time. Through the greasy film, I watched as a man's figure walked slowly past. He stood by a distant window for a minute. What was he doing? What or who was he watching for out that window?

My scalp felt like it was being ripped apart as a strong hand grasped my pony tail and yanked me from to the ground. He must have been over six feet tall as he overpowered me easily. I scrambled in the snow, skittering backward until I could stand again.

He quickly yanked me back to my feet muttering something in his mother tongue before throwing me head-first into the corner of the building, my face splitting open like a ripe cantaloupe. Hot blood burst from the wound and slipped beneath my collar, soaking my shirt within seconds.

The shock of the blow caused me to falter and gasp for breath. Then he swung at me. I ducked and tripped him before running through the forest, the trees passing on either side of me like I was being sucked into a vortex, being drawn to the water, to freedom.

Icy water. A plunge to freedom, only to be drawn back into the world by a strong hand.

"What are you going to do with me?"

"Purify you."

I fell into the dark basement. I felt cold, my face throbbed with searing pain that seemed to tear at my throat. The whole side of my face felt like it was afire.

"Purify you," he said in accented syllables. Yet I couldn't fill in the missing pieces. French Canadian, but the voice did not belong to Prideaux. Was it coincidence? It just did not make sense in my fevered mind.

His toe dug into my ribs, the oxygen was drawn from my lungs as the blinding pain spread.

"Where is your partner now?"

"Last call for flight 1197 to Toronto. Last call for the 1197 for Toronto. We are now boarding all aisles. Thank you."

Exhausted travelers walked past me and I felt like the stone on the shore. The tide went out, but I stood still. Booth. Always there. And this time, he stood with a bouquet of flowers and a familiar grin.

"Flowers?"

"I know that you like daffodils, but roses were the only thing they had."

"Sure." I burned my nose in them. The luscious perfume filled my lungs, bringing me back to a thousand memories.

"Let me get your bag." He reached for it and we walked through the airport together. I saw him look my way several times. And I did the same, glancing over at him, taking in his familiar presence.

"I thought Ange was picking me up?"

"I may have bribed her."

"Let me guess. A gift certificate to Macy's? Shoes? You got her a day off? You didn't kiss her, did you?"

He just laughed and opened the door for me. "As it turns out, Angela is a lot easier to bribe than that."

"What did it take?"

"I just asked," he grinned.

I shook my head and held back my laughter. "That's not the definition of bribery, you know?"

I watched as he loaded my luggage, admiring his form. Then he came around and opened my door for me.

He blocked me with an arm and closed the door again slowly, "Mind if I bribe you now?" He leaned in close to me.

The heat rose to my cheeks, "Sure."

"Go out to dinner with me, Bones."

"Booth--"

"Not a date. You can take your car and I'll take mine. Meet at that Italian place?"

"OK," I replied, then I sat in the SUV.

Booth's cell rang as we got on the road. He answered it then turned to me, "Are you too tired to do some crime-fighting with me?"

"I'm never too tired for that."

"I'm never too tired for that," I heard my voice echo against the walls. My eyes flickered open. Even that small movement took every last bit of energy I had. Even if I wanted to escape, I wouldn't be able to get farther than the doorway before passing out again. The room I was now in was small. Six feet by six feet. Windowless. No vents. The smell of mold hung even thicker in the air, most likely from the lack of circulating air. A fan hung several feet above my head, but it was turned off, leaving the room feeling muggy and stale.

Why was I moved? To make way for another victim? Was this the next stage? Was this where I would be raped? Murdered? Left to die? Purified?

At that point, I only wanted to cry, but dehydration made that an impossible feat.

Darkness.

Another great chapter. It's finally starting to come together...a bit. Loving it!

Mama,

OH MY GOD, I'm LOVING THIS!! SO GOOD! I love how you are keeping the stories right and even though the bouncing is kind of confusing, it's also brilliant. The stories are intertwining so beautifully and we all know that Booth will some how come to the rescue, but also the memories of him are what's keeping her alive. Brilliantly done, I can't wait for more!!

Bella

Oh, you must enter a new chappie soon! I insist!

I will try soon and I love your new picture in your siggy.... it was a perfect moment.

Thanks I put that in the screencaps thread too...

Try. I will be waiting.

LOL Thanks!!! And I see the new avatar lol! My sister has been visiting, so I haven't had as much time to write as I like. I usually like writing in the evening. That seems to be when the words flow the best and when I'm tired I think a little crazier.... so that's when stories like this come about lol.