Okay...I know I am really WAY behind on completing my other story, but sorry...my muse and my mind are fickle beings and after that finale there was no way I could keep from trying to make some sense out of it. In fact, I think I am getting ready to watch it all over again as soon as I post this.

Riding Out the Storm
Booth sank down on the church steps, his hands cradling his head. How in the hell had everything gotten to this place? Less than fifteen minutes ago he had felt like nothing in the world could touch his family...Bones, Christine and he had stood in front of Father Jacob and Christine had been baptized-Bones even insisted on being present!

"Dear God...help me...please...," Booth whispered. His eyes burned with tears he refused to let fall. His throat tightened, his tonsils felt like they were on fire from holding back screams. How could she do this? She took their baby...his little girl. She ran...without him.

Just a few weeks ago he had assured her they were a team...he even turned down a lucrative job in Hollywood because it meant he wouldn't get to work with her. He needed Bones in his life. Without her he was lost. Without her, what chance did he have against Pelant?

"Bones...what were you thinking? Why would you leave me? Leave...us?" Booth shook his head in disbelief. He raised his head, staring up at the bell tower on the cathedral. He sat there, staring up into the sky, as if searching for answers, even as he heard the distant rumble of thunder. Some time later, Booth felt the first cool drops of rain on his face. Faintly he heard the storm, but it was drowned by the questions swirling through his brain and the pressure of what felt like his heart being ripped from his chest.

*****
Brennan kept her eyes darting between the rear and side mirrors and on the road in front of her. She was careful to follow her father's instructions to the letter: take secondary roads, stay away from major highways and intersections that would have traffic cameras. Drive to the agreed meeting point. If all went well he would catch up with her there. If not, he would be at the next agreed upon stop. She had just enough cash to get that far.

A large flash of lightening caught her eye off to the right of the road. Seconds later it was followed by the loud BOOM! of thunder. The noise was so loud and the car was so quiet that the sudden commotion woke Christine abruptly from her motion-induced sleep.

"Shh...Shh...It's okay Christine...Momma's here...I'm right here...It's okay...just a little noise...you're okay..." Brennan tried to use a calming voice to help lure Christine back to sleep. Her daughter was not cooperating. Her annoyed cries from being rudely awakened from her pleasant nap became louder and more insistent at not getting someone's undivided attention. "I know baby...I know...Momma needs to keep driving right now...please honey...shh...shh...we'll stop in a little while, okay?"

Brennan shook her head in frustration. It was irrational to think that the four month old would have any real understanding of what Brennan was saying. Regardless, Brennan continued to speak calmly, hoping her tone of voice would start to calm the infant. Twenty minutes later with a screaming infant in the back seat, she had to admit defeat. Her own head ached, a migraine forming behind her eyes. Her eyes were brimming with tears she refused to shed. She started looking for a safe place to pull over to try and calm her daughter down.

Finding what appeared to be a local bus pull out on he side of the road, and not having seen any traffic behind her in over fifteen miles, Brennan took a chance. She pulled the car over and ensured the locks on the car were secured. Brennan crawled awkwardly over the center console to reach the back seat. Christine's scream were at an all-time high now, her face red and splotchy from exerting herself, her fists shaking in the air next to her head. Brennan had never seen her daughter achieve such a tantrum.

"Okay...Okay Christine...calm down baby...Momma's here...I'm not going anywhere." Brennan lifted her daughter out of her carrier and cradled her in her arms over one shoulder, rocking her gently. "I know...I know what you want...but I can't give that to you right now...Momma's got to do this for everyone. It's the only way Sweetheart, please believe me. It's the only decision I could make. I didn't have any other choice. I couldn't survive if-" Brennan cut off her own thought, choked by the cry in her throat, tears escaping from her blue eyes. She bent her head over her daughter, breathing in her sweet smell. She turned her head and suddenly she could smell Booth's aftershave on the blanket in which Christine was wrapped.

Brennan caught the sob before it escaped her throat. No, she thought. This was the rational decision. This is what I had to do to give everyone time to catch Pelant. To keep her family safe. To keep herself safe. To keep Booth safe. She couldn't survive if Pelant managed to get to Booth...if he managed to take away her family. "He's proven himself already to be clever. But we will catch him. He will make a mistake. We will find how he was able to escape his house...how he was able to murder those people. We will go back. We will...I promise. I promise..." Brennan continued to whisper her promises to her daughter, rocking her in the small car...in the middle of the storm.

AN: I was expecting Pelant to cause chaos...but I was not expecting that ending...no way, no how! Hart and Boreanaz did a fantabulous job, as did the writers...I, for one, can hardly wait to see how they untangle this mess. In the meantime...my muse insists on pursuing the possibilities beforehand. If you are willing to go along for the ride, or if you have suggestions, constructive criticisms, please use that nifty new Review button right down there and share. It is much easier to put myself and my writing attempts out there if I know I am at last on the right track...or getting better as I go. :) Thanks!