Finally an update or continuation of Square One is here. After so much chaos in my life for the past couple of weeks; track meets, Michael Johns leaving Idol, school trips, college acceptances, Moonlight and Supernatural Season finale...and not forget the Bones Finale. I was creying at the beginning of the episode. Those writers really toyed with my emotions. Plus poor Zach! that was not expected at all...despite having caught the supposed Gormagon I feel like Sweets has skeletons in his closet...pure speculation. So This chapter was hard to write because i didnt know where to begin...so PLEASE NOTE: I HAVE CHANGED THE ENDING FROM SQUARE ONE. IT ENDS WITH SEELEY GETTING ON THE PLANE TO VERMONT...SCRATCH THAT. THE NEW ENDING IS ALTERED TO - SEELEY DIDN'T GET ON THE PLANE AFTER HIS BREAKFAST WITH MICHAEL. HE RETURNS HOME TO PATCH THINGS UP WITH BONES.

'Jet Lag' occurs 4 yrs into the future...

Parker is in the story. he is 15 and was adopted by Booth when he was 11. i will give more details of how they met later int the story

All the characters from the previous story, Square One will be in this story. As for their live nothing has changed much :) so i hope you enjoy this chapter. it was hard to write because i didn't know where to begin. Another important this is that i have joined forces with Beaglelvr93 (Becca) to write and come up with the plot for this story. She is helping me come up with interesting twists and turns in the upcoming chapters :)

ENJOY AND REVIEW :)

4 years ago immediately after square one

Welcome to Vermont : The Green Mountain State, the larger interstate sign read. After hours of driving, with the occasional stops for coffee, food and gas, Booth had finally reached his destination. The long ride to some might seen enjoyable; one can relax and enjoy the vast flat land surrounding the highway or the farms of corn along the back roads…a connection with nature. However, Seeley thought otherwise. With his green army duffle in the trunk of his Camaro, Booth drove through the states connecting to Vermont with a heavy aching heart. His thoughts were not on the road, despite his attempt to keep himself focused.

For the past couple of minutes, hours, days and months his mind knew the familiar path to Temperance. Booth griped his steering wheel tightly with one hand while the other ran back and forth in his messy raven hair; he was 'assessing the situation' as Temperance would have called it. His eye stayed fixed on the broken line separating him for the cars to his right wondering what he had done wrong. Why he hadn't found Temperance in his bed after he returned from his breakfast with Michael. When her clothes that were carelessly hanging on his furniture were gone, when he returned to his apartment. The meal he had prepared for her was untouched. The apple-cinnamon oatmeal was still resting on the table next to a clean empty bowl with a spoon it. When he saw the letter untouched he knew that she had left without taking his possessions.

He called out her name when he entered, hoping that she would still be there, but she was gone. She had left without touching his letter. The letter was addressed to her with perfect his perfect penmanship. Booth had tried a couple of envelopes with her name on it, and finally picked the one with the best and clean calligraphy. He knew she would appreciate it. However seeing the letter on the table said other wise. Still in confusion as to why she left, Booth picked up his letter. He saw that it was opened half way through. It was clear that she had hesitated to open and read the contents of the letter. His rosary, keys and dog tag lay on the table intertwined revealing that she had fumbled with them. She had touched them, perhaps debated whether she should take them while they were still in his hand, he thought. It was apparent that she didn't want them, that is why she had left the metal possessions on his table. He walked into the bedroom and noticed that evidence of their sexual passion had been erased. The room looked sterile. Not was hair was out of place, he almost began to wonder whether Temperance had come over the night before mad as hell and somehow they found their way onto the bed.

He was about to believed this until he walked further into his bedroom and that when his assumption was proven wrong. His nose picked up a faint smell of love making. It was confirmed. Booth and Temperance had had sex the night before. Booth couldn't help but wonder why she had left. He knew running was her MO but never had she run away from him. This was the first time. Refusing to believe that she had run away from him or rejected him, Seeley frantically searched for a note with her hand writing, or something that proved to him that Temperance had temporarily left.

Unfortunately he didn't find anything of that's kind. He sat on his freshly spread bed, with his head in his hand. Pain, confusion and agony were pulsing through his body. What had he done wrong? He didn't know. He pulled out his cell phone to call herm but his call was immediately picked up by the voice mail.

"Ugh Bones," Seeley began leaving his message unsure of what to say, "I cancelled my flight today and when I came back you were gone. I'm assuming you're at work or on your way to work. I need to see you. I'm leaving for Vermont soon so meet me at Sid's I'll be leaving in about an hour. And ugh… ugh call me when you get this."

Seeley got up from his bead and left his apartment with his fist closing the things he had left for Bones. With the cold metal keys in his palm Seeley left his apartment. He took the elevator not wanting to be late for his meeting with Bones. As his feet touched the pavement outside his apartment building, Seeley jogged over to his Camaro. Forgeting all about the pain that was aching in his heart, Seeley gently slid his keys into the ignition. He turned the key and his car came to life, within minutes Seeley entered the diner.

"Seeley, my man," Sid called out waiving his hand at him.

"Hey Sid," he answered dragging a stool that was under the counter.

"What have you been up to?" Sid asked a little chipper to Seeley liking.

"You know a little bit of this…a little bit of that," Seeley answered vaguely running his right fingers through his finger, an action he had done several time that day. The hair action was followed by a rather large sigh connoting sadness, pain and uncertainty.

"I would give you a scotch neat but it's," Sid looked at his watch before continuing, "9:52 am and you have that pretty car of yours outside. I wouldn't want to be responsible for aiding into the death of you and your car."

"A scotch does sound great right at this moment," Seeley said.

"Pie?" Sid offered.

"And a cup of coffee please."

"You got it." Sid left Seeley sitting alone at the end of the counter waiting impatiently for Bones. Ten minutes had already flown by. Where is she Seeley began to wonder. Subconsciously Seeley was now fidgeting, his hands let hand tapped the counter and his right rested over his cell phone.

"Here you go," Sid said bringing placing two plates of blueberry, cherry pie and a cup of black coffee in front of Seeley.

"One pie is enough Sid," Seeley said pushing the cherry pie away from him.

"I know," he said pushing it in front of him again, "it's for the Bone lady," he said with a smug grin.

"How do you…"

"You are checking your phone every two second Booth, plus she is the only person you meet with for pie," he explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world

"I hate cherry," Seeley said with an immature voice pushing the plate away again.

"But she like's it," Sid pushed it back.

"Well she only likes it because I hate it." Sid didn't disagree with Seeley's comment. He just added another reason when she liked the cherry pie

"Oh…and to stop you from finishing her pie."

"True," Seeley mumbled showing a piece of blueberry pie in his mouth.

Sid dismissed himself and attended other customers leaving Seeley waiting. He checked his phone and the clock read 9:20 am. His pie was almost gone, and his coffee cup had been refilled. Seeley continued to slowly eat his pie savoring the taste. After few bites and a couple of sips he checked his phone again. 9:35 am it read and no missed calls. Ten more minutes and he would be gone. He couldn't afford to be late for his orientation later that afternoon. He had to leave for Vermont in a couple of minutes. She will be here he assured himself. Ten minutes passed by and she wasn't there. Temperance did not show up. So much for being friends, he thought. Seeley pulled out his wallet and dropped a twenty dollar bill on the counter. He left the diner and seconds later it was no longer in sight.

Now here he was in Vermont. The Green Mountain State. He looked around and saw mountains, but he didn't see any green mountains. His eyes landed on some whitish-brown and muddy looking mountains. The snow was melting in preparation for the spring season. The more snow he saw melting, the more flower bud he saw starting to bloom on trees and the more he go swallowed by the state of Vermont, the quicker he realized that each mile that he drove expanded the distance between him and Temperance Brennan. He drove for tens of minutes more without a car that passed him, but that all changed. Opposite his lane, front of him Seeley saw a black SUV. He sighed, and took a couple of breaths to calm himself down. He tightened his hands on the steering wheel as the black SUV closed the distance between them. Seeing black government SUV closer was harder that seeing it in his dreams. In his dreams the SUV was just a black mass of color, sometimes with tinted window and on a few occasion it had government number plates. This SUV that was now passing him resembled the SUV that had transported him from the Quinton Holding Center back in Afghanistan.

For a moment Seeley drifted back to the day he was loaded into the black SUV. The sun was scorching, and very bright. It had been hours, days, maybe months since he had seen the sun, nor breathed the humid air of the desert he had no idea how long he had been held captive. The details were hazy, but one thing he remembered for sure was pain. He was hurting all over. He couldn't stand; his feet were swollen, bruised and covered with both fresh and dry wounds with puss flowing out the old rotten wounds. His head was pounding. His heart was longer beating with a strong pulse. His mind had been altered, ripped apart and then sewed together randomly. The confusion, ambiguity uncertainty and pain that surrounded him made him feel like he was on the brink of death.

The bright light of the sun made him feel as if he was ascending to heaven, but the ruthless heat told him he was entering the 9th circle of hell. He wanted to grab his rosary and pray for strength but he didn't have it. Around his bruised neck hung his dog tags, his abdomen was not in good shape either. He had a couple of broken ribs, the skin right below his chest was turning into a puke green color, it was turning into purple and yellow and some red dots were visible. He had suffered internal bleeding from the broken bones. The sickly colorful rainbow on his abdomen didn't take a genius to figure out that he his wound was rotting from the inside.

As he reminisced on the SUV memory, Booth felt his eyes rolling to the back of his head and his muscles clenched tight due to the memory. He felt himself loose control over his body and mind. He was drifting back in time. Not wanting to end his life in an accident Booth carefully pulled off the road. He turned of his car and tried to fight the invasion of the horrid memories. He failed. He was now hearing them, the explosion, the people yelling help, the cries of mothers and their children. He heard the machine gun showering bullets, he saw civilians fall from the gun shots. And then he heard him. He heard Hayden calling out to him.

"DON'T FUCKING TELL THEM SNIPPER!"Hayden screamed at Booth from the chair he was bound in.

"You don't tell us anything your friend dies," a voice behind the mask said.

Seeing his friend in pain was enough torture for Booth. He opened his mouth about to say something, but Hayden yelled at him again, "Snipper don't tell them…" his words were replaced with a loud scream. The one of the three men had followed his chief's command to place the his of the hot wire electric into the dish of water Hayden's feet were in. Hayden felt the electricity run through his veins, his bone and through his heart. He was no longer in his army gear. He only wore his camouflage pants and the metal dog tags around his neck. His body was wet from sweat and blood that was trickling down his body mingling with the water that he been thrown on him. His head no longer had cropped hair, but was entirely bald. From were he was sitting, Booth could see the fresh cuts from the sharp razor that had been used to scrape his hair off. Hayden's face was not in good shape, his lips were swollen and his left eye could barely open from the beating he was given.

"Tell us!" they demanded.

"Soldier don't you dare…" another scream followed.

"Your friend will die!"

He opened his mouth to speak but no words could come out. He desperately wanted to tell them that they were U.S snipers…but the words that came out were "Go to fucking hell," with those words his own pain began.

Booth's head was resting on the steering wheel as hands searched for the one thing that would calm him down, his hand reached to the passenger seat he felt the beads of his rosary. Booth's hand clinched tightly in his right fist and began praying blindly feeling the cross and the beads that followed.

"…Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.," he said through his teeth. Booth repeated the Hail Mary prayer three times. It was then his breathing came to normal, his blood pressure dropped significantly and the voices, faded one by one until he could only here the sound of his breathing and the cargo truck that was passing by.

Present Day

"So, excited?" Booth asked the 15 year old boy in the seat next to him. Parker simply shrugged.

"Parker, this is Washington D.C," Booth said applying unnecessary emphasis on Washington DC.

"Oh joy," Parker tried to match his father's enthusiasm.

"Oh joy?! Oh I get the sarcasm. Parker DC is going to be fun. I'm sure you'll love it," he said reassuring.

"I guess," he mumbled as he put his I-pod earphone into his ears.

"Parker is everything alright?" Booth asked. Parker had been excited about DC as much as Booth, finally living in a state where something happened.

"Parker," Booth sighed, "I thought we talked about this." He looked over to the teenage boy whom he had adopted when he was only eleven.

"I know we talked about us moving," he began talking not facing him, "I just hate the fact that I'm leaving my friends. I know I didn't have a lot of them but people were actually starting to warm up to me. Yesterday the captain of the football team said high to me. I've been in his class for trig class for7 months and always called me 'Brainiac' because I skipped a grade. Last week he said hi to me. Plus you know Mindy Johnson she said smiled to me last week in English class…"

"Parker trust me you will make plenty of friends. People in DC are nicer," his voice hitched at nicer, "than people in Vermont."

"Liar," Parker answered his eyes still looking outside the window.

"Parker…"

"D.C. will be better than Vermont, I guess," Parker replied as they passed a 'Welcome to Philadelphia' sign.

"Of course it will be! I knew you would warm up to it sooner of later. You'll be able to take the subway to school or I can drive you instead of your snow boots. It doesn't rain and snow as much so that's good right?"

"I guess," Parker said listening to Linkin Park's 'Pushing Me Away'

"And no more snow!" he added yet again. "AND, think of the monuments! The museums! The cherry blossoms! Oh and they have a lot art museums if you wanna go there. Yep! And now you can tell all your friends that your dad works for the F.B.I!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"You're not my dad," Parker said catching Booth off guard. It was only a matter of seconds until he realized Parker's lips twitching, suppressing a grin.

"That's cruel, Park. For your information-," Booth paused for dramatic effect, "-I've been your dad for the last three-"

"Four." Parker corrected immediately.

"-Four years. So don't give me this 'You're not my dad' crap."

"I'm looking at this logically Seeley," he said. The words logically conjured up Bones in Seeley's memory. He hadn't thought about her in a while. His face hardened at the thought of her. How has she turned out? He wondered. Most importantly he wondered if she was married again, engaged, dating or single. He knew one thing was for sure, she didn't wait around for him. Seeley tried calling, but she didn't respond. He tried email but it was ignored. Michael had told him that she was gone to Peru for a contract job. Seeley knew she wasn't back yet but didn't know if she was ever coming back. She had run away far away from him.

The only time he heard from her was for his birthday and Christmas. Seeley received birthday cards and Christmas cards. Tempe sent the cards to either Michael or Matt and then they would forward them to Seeley. The cards were simple, nothing extravagant. The first year, his birthday card simply read, Seeley on the top with a Hallmark Happy Birthday passage on the middle and then signed with her delicate hand writing Happy Birthday Booth. She didn't need to sign the cards because she knew he would remember her hand writing.

The next year on his birthday and Christmas, Booth received cards with a different signature. Instead of just 'Happy Birthday Booth' another name was added. For the past three years the signature came as Temperance and Connor. Who the heck was Connor? Booth didn't know. He tried to ask Michael and Matt but they told him that it might be Tempe's boyfriend…maybe fiancé. None of the two men knew who Connor was. Booth couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy when he read Temperance and Connor.

"Dad," Parker called Booth worried about his blank stare.

"Huh?"

"You okay? You know I was just kidding about you not being my fathe…"

"Don't worry about it Parker. I know," Booth said giving his teenage son a reassuring smile, "what do you want to do when we first get in?" I asked. The boy brightened considerably at the prospect of being able to choose.

"Let's find place with great pie," he suggested with a dreamy look on his face. The duo looked at each other and found twinkle of joy in each others eyes and began reciting as fast as they could, "Apple, pumpkin, blueberry, blackberry, aaaaannnnddddd cherry!"

"Don't forget strawberry rhubarb!" Parker added. Booth chuckled.

"That's my boy."