Shea-ds of Grey

Previous: The Standoff

Agent Neill pulled up in her car and looked over everything. She went inside, untying Katie from the chair, pulling a blanket from the couch to settle around her. “Medic's coming. Come on, let's get you all checked out.” She'd seen the Booths on the grass and knew. The way Seeley held his wife, the way she stared at her hands.

The first was always a bitch. But Ella had Seeley to help her with it and Neill wasn't about to interrupt that. Protocol be damned, this wasn't a 'protocol' case.

Ella rocked in his arms, her eyes staring at the body, then her hands. Body. Hands. Red. Shhh…no. Hush. Hush. Job. Katie was okay.

“Nate?” She wasn't asking for him for herself. She was focusing on things to keep her from seeing the…

Body. Red. “Seeley…I killed someone.” She whispered. “I killed someone.” She knew it was either him or her, but still. “He's dead…dead…”

Seeley watched her eyeline shift between her hands and the body. She was in shock. He moved, placing himself between her and the body, shifting her back with cautious hands, not wanting to place too much stress on her. Enough space to kneel in front of her, not to contaminate the body.

“He's on his way, Ella. Focus. Look at me.” One hand on her shoulder, the other rose to her chin to try and guide her eyeline. The unspoken words on his mind that he would make everything right. He didn't speak them, because he knew how he couldn't keep that promise.

“Ella.” He knew the stress could push her over the edge, like that first date. Funny how things mirrored one another.

“Focus.” Come on Ella, you can do this. I believe in you.

“On me.” Stay with me Ella, be strong, I know you can do this. Focus.

Many things occurred to her as he shifted to kneel before her. But she couldn't catch or hold any of those thoughts.

Ella. Her eyes met his.
Ella. Shhh no. Hush. His voice held a timbre, even if he wasn't aware.
Focus. She wasn't looking through him anymore. In their marriage, she had learned to follow that timbre, to obey and trust.
On Me. Their life, the life they lived wasn't solely about kinky sex. It was this. These moments counted too.

She focused. “Yes, Sir.” Anyone else would have seen it as Ella's husband pulling rank to bring his wife back from the brink.

No one had to know exactly what rank he was pulling.

Ella knew.

“Good. Now, stay focused.” He pulled her shoulders into him, her head on his chest, somewhere she was always calm. Almost always calm.

He knew Nate would be here soon. There wasn't much for him to do, he couldn't help. He could be there for Katie when Neill was finished with her. In fact…

The roar of a V8 could be heard in the distance. That wasn't like Nate at all. He'd apparently hit all the lights on green or didn't care. His blue Camaro screeched to a halt at the bottom of the drive before one of the officers wave him part way up. He dived out of the seat and ran, stopping next to Seeley and Ella for a moment, avoiding the carnage, trying to avoid any of the possible evidence around his home.

Seeley waved him inside, only lifting his arm to do so for a few moments.

Nate didn't need to be told a second time and sprinted for the house, pushing himself inside amongst the throng of people taking photographs. He looked for Katie, seeing her sitting on the couch with Agent Neill, wrapped up in a blanket, and he fell to his knees in front of them.

“Tell me she's OK, please tell me she's OK. Please tell me you're OK, Kitten.”

Heartbeat. Arms. Seeley. The coroner came and looked at the couple as he worked to get the body hauled away. “First one?” He asked Seeley quietly. They all knew.

Ella was only vaguely aware of Nate stopping near them.

Katie looked up, she was dressed because she'd been rearranging the basement again and taking things back and forth between the shed and the house. Neill looked at him, then Katie. “I'm okay. I promise.” She said quietly. It wasn't Katie's way to process in public, and her way of processing was through either song, dance, or being bound.

“Agent Booth shot the last Shea,” Neill informed Nate. “She can give you a better rundown of what this means when she's…” Her eyes looked out the window, to Seeley comforting his wife on the lawn. “but your lady here might be able to go back to being Miss Donnelly.”

Katie reached for his hands and Neill stood. “We already got her statement, but seeing as things are…concluded…I don't think much more will come of this.” She said as she left. Katie wasn't really processing it at all as she looked out the window. “Why are they like that? I heard a gun. Is Ella okay?” She asked her Master.

Seeley's eyes flicked up as he heard the coroner's words, but he didn't speak, All he did was nod, continuing to hold her until he knew she was OK. He would be there for as long as it took.

Nate relaxed a little when she said she was OK, his head turning to Agent Neill as she told him what happened. 'Agent Booth', good, he got… 'She' got him. He's not going to be happy if that's her first…

He took Katie's hands as she reached, holding them, rising and sitting on the couch in the space Neill had vacated.

“You heard that Booth shot him?” He didn't wait for a response, he knew she'd heard the Agent say what happened. “It wasn't Seeley.” He would wait for her to realize that Ella had fired the fatal shot. He didn't know how she'd take it, but He would be there for her.

There were very few people alive who knew who Daniela Leanne Booth was. Katie and Nate were two of those very few. Gabriella Lucia Carmichael.

But it wasn't computing. She looked outside again. Seeley holding Ella. “Ella wasn't shot?” She asked, then…the coroner was zipping a bag over…her uncle. Niall Shea's brother. A man she never knew. Her eyes grew hard for a moment. Then Ella rocked in Seeley's arms. Her fingers digging into fabric above body armor.

Seeley wasn't shot. Seeley hadn't shot Malachi. Ella. Ella had killed. For her. “Ella shot him. Oh no. Was it…her first?” She didn't know much about the world of the FBI, but she knew from Nate how hard a probie could take it when they lost someone on an ambulance call, how any of them felt when someone died on their watch.

Ella had fired. Killed. “I…Seeley has her. She's okay though, right? No one got hurt?”

Katie rarely thought of herself or how she should be reacting. It was all a lot to take in.

“No, she wasn’t shot.” Let her figure it out. She’s a smart girl, give her the time. Nate watched out of the corner of his eye what Seeley was doing for Ella. Taking care of her, as he would take care of Katie. It wasn’t the same, but it was the same. They loved each other. That meant they would do anything for each other.

“Yes, Ella shoot him. Yes, I think so. Seeley’s got her. I’ve got you.” He held her hands and squeezed. “She’s…” Not fine. She won’t be fine for a while. She’s… “She’s not hurt.”

Seeley reached up to stroke her hair. He knew she would need counseling for a while after this. He would do anything he could for her. He’d been through it. The first was always a big step, the rest would come and go easier. It would never be ‘easy’, just ‘easier’.

“Ella? Time to go.”

Ella was replaying everything. It seemed like hours even as she focused on her husband. Hours. Minutes. Moments. The yawning chasm of memory distilled down to white hot points of seconds. She hadn't even thought. He'd lunged and she'd acted. But in those points, she'd had an entire inner reaction.

I've fought too damn hard for my life to end because of some pompinara… Gun. Not me. Not today. Trigger. Not my friends. Not me. Mangia merde e morte.

Well…he listened. A strangled hint of a chuckle. Oh no. How could she make that sound? Tears glistened in her eyes. There weren't enough Hail Marys to save her now. She'd almost laughed.

Seeley. Seeley. The magic they made in pursuit of miracles. The way he had, from the day they met, looked at her like she hung the stars in the sky. They'd been through so much. He'd warned her this was an inevitability. And swore he'd be there every step of the way. They were 'Always'.

“Okay.” Focus. Seeley. Job. “Do we need to fill out anything?”

“Later. Someone will take your statement.” He didn't want to say too much in her shocked state, it could push her over the edge. It would be a shrink, someone who would get inside her mind and help her deal with the whole thing. It was a shame that Sweets wasn't still around.

He helped her to her feet and walked her down the driveway, passing Nate's Camaro with an appreciative glance, then to their Tahoe. He kept hold of her as he moved around the back, popping the trunk, and grabbing a couple of blankets from the side compartments. He let go of her for long enough to wrap one around her from behind, the opening in front, then helped her into the passenger seat, wrapping the second around her. He made a hole for her hand to poke out, settling it on the center console.

He ran around to his side, getting in, getting the engine running and into drive without even thinking about it, making sure he could take his wife's hand.

She'd be OK. He would make sure she was OK. It would just take time.

“Okay.” Single words for a moment. She had to…push it away. Dissonance. Compartmentalize. She closed her eyes and recalled the counseling after her parents.

“I don't know what to do, I can't deal with it…it's too much and it's causing too much conflict.”
“I know. Are you able to box them and deal with them one at a time?”
“No.”
“Let's try to work through them then, anyways. One at a time. Gabi…I have faith in you. You have us. More than you think. Not just me. We've cleaned up a lot of Mafia messes.”
“MY PARENTS…MY BROTHERS!! THEY'RE NOT A 'MESS' FOR YOU TO CLEAN UP!!!” “Oh god, I'm sorry, Dr. Sweets…”
“No, it's exactly what I wanted. You've been so stoic. Gabriella, you've been so strong.”

She was blanketed in warmth, and fingers slid between hers. She looked over at Seeley. Focus on the wonderful, Gabi. Ella. Focus. You two make magic together wherever you go. He loves you. You love him. Seize the good. Never let it go.

“Never let go, Seeley.” She whispered, a thin ghost of a smile on her lips.

He kept glancing over to see her eyes flicker behind her eyelids. He could see she was focusing on something.

He knew she'd spend six months in counseling with Sweets after her family's murder at the hand of the Carluccis, even if they couldn't prove anything was them. Using a third party was smart, they were spotless. Unfortunately, or fortunately for him, one family member survived. It was intentional, but it had resulted in the death of the rest of the family bar one. At his hand.

“Never letting you go, Ella.” He could see the start of a smile, so she was still with him. “Always.”

“Okay, so how are you feeling today?”
“Sad. Empty. I wanted to call my mom.”
“What made you want to call her?”
“I wanted a hug.”
“Come here, Gabriella.”
He hugged her and let her cry. That session was Sweets going beyond proper protocol to hug a girl who had lost her family. It was something that he had tried to explain to Booth and Brennan. Booth had demonstrated an understanding, even if he felt the Carmichaels had gotten what they deserved…they were still loved by the girl with the very very thin dossier. Bones hadn't been so empathic. They were criminals. They knew what they risked with the life they lived.
“Look at her dossier, Bones. She never asked to be born into it and she did her best to keep her nose clean. She just graduated with a degree she can't use because of her last name and her entire family is dead.” Bones didn't have a reply to that.“He was my friend too.” She said quietly to her husband. “I'm…remembering my therapy sessions. He never tried to tell me I had to be one way or the other. He was the only person I met who made me feel like my last name didn't matter. Until I met you. And Nate and Katie. Oh…Katie! Is she okay?”

Ella was finding her way back with the help of her husband and the memory of their friend.

And the sheer strength of spirit that had carried her through it all. She wasn't okay. She wouldn't be okay for a while. But she could compartment it all enough until she -could- be okay.

Next: Brothers in Arms