Temperance

I had meant every last word I had said before Booth went to get the car. I was not with him only because of Christine. I loved him more than I thought I ever could. Driving away with Christine in that car seat was about the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I hated to admit the truth but dad had been right. Pelant had me in a corner. It was a choice of ending up in prison for something I did not do or try to make a run for it so that the team could build a case against him. I had to protect those I loved most. Getting behind the wheel of that car was the only way to protect Booth and keep Christine safe.

I drove until the sun was a memory. I did not stop until Christine let me know that she needed to changed or fed. I found a rest stop with just the right amenities to changer her and allow her to breast feed. I was feeling guilty for leaving the way I did. I found myself wishing I could be Christine. She had no apparent situational awareness.

It was hard not to look into her innocent eyes and not see Booth looking back at me. In the past, I would have found such a statement ridiculous at best. I could see him in them. It hurt to see it. I tried hard to return to my rationality but there was no going back. Christine and Booth had shut the metaphorical door through their influence. I could not help but wish that this whole thing was just some nightmare I could wake up from. My surroundings reminded me that this was a very real situation I never thought I would be in.

Dad had left some burner phones in the car for what I assumed was emergency only. He had left me the strictest instructions to their use. I felt the impossible to defeat need to call Booth one more time to let him know we were okay. I had learned after a few of our past investigations to make it fast. Pelant or the FBI would be watching him in order to get me.

I heard his voice when he answered. It was his usual greeting with an edge that had to be a result of what we found ourselves in.

I told him that I could not tell him where I was. I couldn't tell him because I was not completely sure where I was and I did not want him looking for me. I told him Christine and I was just fine. I knew he had to be worried. The last thing I told him was the most important to me. I told him that I loved him. It was all meant to make him feel better, but I started to wonder if I was trying to convince myself of the same.

"I love you too Parker." He sounded almost choked to say it. I knew he could not use my name to ensure my safety.

I hung up feeling sad yet happy. I found it an odd feeling to feel contradictory emotions all at one time. It felt good to hear his voice, but it hurt to have to hang up so fast. I felt the kind of pain run through my mind and heart that almost forced me to cry. In about a days' time, dad would be catching up with me give me what I needed to get through this. For the first time in my whole life, I felt like dad's past life was helpful.

Maybe it was the fact that Christine was just given the Catholic rite of Christening or my fear of what was ahead, but I found myself praying to the night sky that all of this would be over soon. Christine needed her dad as bad as I needed the best friend and lover I had ever had. I just kept praying. I was praying for her, for me, for Booth, and for the team.

Booth

I could have strangled Max for convincing her to run. I could have done it with my bare hands. As much as I hated to admit it, Max had been right. The evidence kept pointing to her and it would have been a short trial. She would have ended up in prison for life and I would have had to raise Christine without her. Max had been right on a few fine points. Max could keep herself safe because he knew how to be a fugitive. He was also correct in recognizing that both Bones and Christine were in grave danger with Pelant on the loose. I actually understood and appreciated the fact he kept me from becoming an accomplice.

Her words before I went to get the car replayed in a loud, constant loop in my head. Part of me knew I should have been scare when she said that. Part of me just brushed it off as her way of showing new affection towards me. Truth is that she never had to tell me that Christine was not her only reason for being with me. I had been in love with her for some time and she came to love me over time. I think she realized how much she loved me when Grave Digger got her paws on me. Word was that she knocked her out for what she did to me.

"Okay Booth. I have a few burn phones as a favor from an old friend. Once I find her I will call you from it. All you and the team can do is put this insane SOB away. I only ask you to trust me when Christine and Tempe's safety is concerned. I won't let anything happen to your precious little girl or my own." Max said before disappearing.

"I trust you. Please bring them back to me safe. I love both of them more than they can ever know." I almost sounded as if I was begging.

I felt the need to pray. I went back into the church to kneel in the pews. I prayed that God would protect my little girl and her mother. I prayed that He would give me the strength to get through this. I prayed that all of this would end in some positive way. I wanted my girls back with me.

My phone rang again as I was strapping myself into the car. The caller ID screen gave me no name but I had a sneaking suspicion that it was trouble calling to gloat cold heartedly.

"What a darling house you have and I have yet to see a prettier nursery in the magazines. Pity that all of that will become history when it goes up in smoke. Check mate." I heard the threat through his words.

I could have spoken my mind, but it would put all I loved into greater danger. As far as I knew, he did not know what she had done. I wisely just listened. It was not until after he hung up that I realized what he must have done. He had been in my house when I was not around. The nursery would have been the target if Christine had not been with her mother. My home was no longer safe and probably rigged to blow up at some point determined by him.

After speaking to Hodgins and Angela, I had a place to stay. I made an effort to be watchful of anything out of the ordinary and tried not to use my phone for anything that could raise suspicion or risk my girls' lives. My phone rang again with another "unknown" on the caller id screen.

I thought at first that it could be Pelant to harass me more. I was secretly hoping that it was Bones calling. There was an involuntary edge to my greeting.

"I can't tell you where I am. I wanted you to know that Christine and I are safe. I love you." She seemed to speed through it.

I could only respond with "I love you Parker." I did not want anyone who might be listening in around me to hear that I was talking to Bones. I felt her words resonate through every part of me. I started a continuous loop of prayer running through my head when I went to sleep. I needed mercy, I needed this to come to an end and soon.