Hellooooo, fellow Bones Fans! We're getting close to the premier, but I've been working on this one for a while now and I am eager to get it posted before season 8 begins.

This was based on an Anonymous prompt from the Bitesized Bones challenge at the Bones GA Community on LiveJournal. "What if Booth was badly injured while Brennan was on the run?"

This will be eight installments, posted M,W,F for over the next 2.5 weeks. You will obviously have to ignore anything you see promo or spoiler wise that contradicts my little story. This is all purely from my imagination.

Special thanks to a couple of the usual suspects, jadedrepartee and RositaLG, for their suggestions and beta work and to Alanna, the best cheerleader a fic writer could ask for.

Here we go!

Contact

"This is very bad." Angela's voice shook as she watched the doctor retreat through the doors of the waiting room.

Hodgins' voice came from behind her. "Booth is strong, Angela. He—"

Angela turned on her heel and faced her husband and friends, tears streaming down her face. "He's not as strong right now as he has been before. Not without Brennan. He's not in a good place to fight this kind of battle." She took a steadying breath. "We have to tell her. She needs to know this is happening. She needs to be here. She'd want to be here."

"I agree that his recovery might be easier for him mentally if she were here, but we have no way to contact her, do we? I mean, unless you know something, Angela." Sweets leveled his gaze at Angela. If anyone would know how to reach Brennan, it would be her.

But Angela shook her head. "I don't…I don't know. Brennan wouldn't do that to me. She wouldn't put me in that position. She would know the FBI would be watching me, anyway. I'm her best friend…" she trailed off.

"Then maybe we go public," Cam suggested. "Get it in the news that an FBI agent has been shot. Brennan's smart. She'll figure out a way to find out if it's Booth."

"She could be anywhere, though. We couldn't be sure she'd see it," Sweets pointed out.

"So what do we do? There must be something," Angela sounded desperate. "Some way…"

"I know how to get in touch with her." A quiet voice came from the back of the group and all eyes turned to Hodgins. "I know how to reach Dr. Brennan."

Angela's eyes grew wide. "Jack!" She gasped. "How…"

"I got a message by courier the day after she left. It wasn't signed, but it was from either her or Max. It said that if it became absolutely necessary that she contact home, I was to place an ad in the Honolulu Craigslist real estate section, listing our condo for rent."

"We don't have a condo in Honolulu," Angela whispered.

"Yes, we do. Cantilever bought one about 30 minutes after I got the letter, just in case the Feds are watching. The message gave me very specific wording. 'Big Island condo for rent. Fully furnished, beach views, washer/dryer and pest control included. Call and ask for Jack Stanley.' The note said if I had to place the message to be sure to get a burner phone with the DC area code, then reiterated again it was only to be done in case of an emergency."

"This definitely qualifies as an emergency," Angela said.

"So all we have to do is get a phone and place the ad?" Cam asked.

"I have the phone; got it right away, just in case. I figured if I needed it, I wouldn't want to waste any time. "

"So then we just place the ad and wait," Cam said.

"Yeah. I don't know how often she's checking it, but Craigslist ads cycle out after 10 days, so I'd say she's looking for it at least that often, just in case."

"Guys, you're forgetting, she can't just show up here. She'll be arrested," Sweets reminded them.

Cam took a deep breath. "Get out of here, Dr. Sweets."

"What?"

"Go. Get out of here. You work for the FBI. I don't want you here when we decide if we're going to do this or not."

"Hey, I'm on your side. He needs her and she deserves to know."

"That may be, but it's better for you if you're in the dark. Neither Booth nor Brennan would want any of us compromising our careers for this. I can protect the three of us," she motioned between herself and Angela and Hodgins. "But I have no influence at the FBI. You'll be out on your ass if they find out you were involved in contacting her and didn't tell them."

Sweets looked at all three Jeffersonian team members before nodding slowly. "Fine." He blew out a deep breath. "Fine, I'll go. But if there is anything I can do, promise me you'll ask. I want to help him, too; you know?"

"We will, man," Hodgins assured him.

"Maybe you should go contact Rebecca. Figure out how to tell Parker? That's helpful in a… less illegal way," suggested Angela, squeezing his arm in comfort.

"Yeah. That's…that's good. I'll do that."

"I'll call you when he's out of surgery," Cam promised.

"Okay." Sweets picked up his suit jacket from the back of the hospital chair where it was draped. "Okay," he said again before leaving the waiting room while fishing the phone out of his pocket.

"I don't envy him that phone call," Cam said once he was out of sight.

"I'm more worried about the one we're going to have coming in," Hodgins said as he grabbed Angela's hand and gave it a supportive squeeze.

"Yeah," she agreed, her eyes filling with tears once again. "Me, too."

Hope to see you Wednesday for chapter 2!