"Bones! If you wanted fries, then you should have ordered some for yourself!" Booth said, as he slapped away the hand that was attempting to steal his last French fry.

"I cannot believe that you just slapped my hand away, as if I was a child!" Brennan snapped back incredulously.

Special Agent Seeley Booth and Dr. Temperance Brennan continued bickering over the fry theft and hand slapping incident, but were interrupted by the ringing of Booth's cell phone.

"Booth… Yes, this is Seeley Booth. Yes, I'm Parker's father. Is he okay? Oh, my God! What happened?" Brennan stopped eating the purloined fry and looked at Booth with wide eyes. "I'll be right there."

"What is it? Is Parker okay?" Seeing the mixture of pain, anger and helplessness cross her partners face threatened to break Brennan's heart.

Booth took a few deep breaths and began to speak in a soft and halting voice, "Parker is with the nanny down at the police station. He's fine. Rebecca… Rebecca was attacked at her house… She… She… died at the scene."

Booth's normally imposing form seemed to shrink as he said the words. Brennan's hand closed over Booth's as she tried to figure out what to say.

"Booth, hand me your keys and we'll go pick Parker up from the police station," she said in a small and quiet voice. He looked so lost that she didn't want to startle him. Booth nodded absently and pulled the keys out of his pocket. He just sat there for a moment staring at the shiny keys in the palm of his hand. Before Brennan could grab the keys from his hand, he closed his fingers over them and tightened them into a white-knuckled fist.

"How am I going to do this? What am I going to tell Parker?"

Booth began to cry and loosened his grip on the keys. Brennan seized the opportunity and grabbed them with her right hand. With her left hand, she began to pull Booth up out of his seat. As she got him to his feet, she tossed down a few bills on the table.

The ride to the police station was silent, except for Booth informing Brennan of how to get to the police station where Parker was waiting. When they pulled into the parking space at the police station, Brennan turned off the car and took Booth's hand in hers.

"Booth, you can do this. You're the heart person, so speak from your heart. I wish that I could help you with that, but that's your area of expertise and not mine. I will be here for you and help in anyway that I can, but I can't promise that I won't say the wrong thing or have nothing to say at all. But, I'll be here until you tell me to leave."

"Thank you, Bones. You're doing a great job so far."

Brennan's sincere pledge to be there for him seemed to have shaken Booth out of his reverie. He was still stunned and devastated, but knowing that he wasn't alone was comforting. Booth marveled at the amazing woman sitting next to him. She has changed so much in the last few years. When he first met her, she had been so emotionally detached that she would have been incapable of making such an earnest and heartfelt statement. But, for whatever reason, she had let him in and he was truly grateful for it.

"Let's go inside. The sooner we do this, the sooner I can get Parker home. This whole thing has to be terrifying him." Booth squeezed her hand and got out of the car. Brennan exited the vehicle and fell in step beside her partner. Her hand found its way into his as they walked through the door of the police station.

"Daddy!!"

Parker jumped off his nanny's lap and ran to his father. Booth scooped him up into a fierce hug and walked over to where Parker's nanny, Rose, was sitting with the police detective.

"Mr. Booth? I'm Detective Valdez, the lead investigator on the case."

"Special Agent Seeley Booth, FBI, and this is my partner, Dr. Temperance Brennan."

"Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan. Am I correct in assuming that the FBI will be taking charge of this investigation?"

"It's likely. I'll need to call it in to the Deputy Director." Booth set Parker down next to Rose. "Can you hang out here with Rose for a little while, Bub? Daddy and Bones need to talk to Det. Valdez about some things and then we can go home. Okay?"

Parker obviously didn't want to let his father go, but he nodded his assent. "Promise, Daddy?"

"I promise, Park." After another big hug, Booth and Brennan left Parker with Rose and followed the detective into an interrogation room.

"Agent Booth, first I'd like to say that I am so sorry for your loss." Booth nodded his thanks and waited for the detective to continue. "How much detail do you want to know right now?"

"Go ahead and tell me everything. I need to know the facts." Booth didn't want to know any of this, but he needed to know so that he could help get justice for the mother of his son. He balled up his fists at his sides and resigned himself to the fact that the details of this conversation would likely haunt him for the rest of his life.

"Ms. Stinson was found in her home by the nanny, Rose Alipo. According to her statement, Ms. Alipo took the boy to the playground after picking him up from school and returned a few minutes after Ms. Stinson was expected to arrive. Ms. Alipo stated that she noticed that the door was open and the window was broken. Seeing this, she sent Parker back to the car and told him to wait for her there."

"So, Parker didn't see anything?" Booth breathed a huge sigh of relief. At least his son didn't have to deal with the gruesome mental image of his mother's lifeless body.

"No, Parker didn't see anything. He remained in the car while Ms. Alipo dialed 911 from her cell phone. Our officers arrived on the scene a few minutes later, entered the home and discovered the body. After giving her initial statement, Ms. Alipo and the boy were brought here so that she could be questioned regarding any recent odd occurrences at Ms. Stinson's residence."

"How was the victim positioned when she was found? Had she already expired when the paramedics arrived? May I see the crime scene photos?" Brennan winced at the expression that flashed across Booth's face as she referred to Rebecca as the victim. Seeing that pain stopped her from pushing farther forward with such direct and stark questions.

"The victim was found face-down on the kitchen floor with a single gunshot wound to the back of the head." Det. Valdez slid a stack of pictures across the table to Dr Brennan. Booth emitted a small strangled sound from the back of his throat when he saw Rebecca's body sprawled on the floor with her face hidden in a pool of her own blood. Det. Alipo continued answering Brennan's questions, " The body was cold and the victim had no pulse. Our forensics team estimated that she had been dead for at least 2 hours."

Booth shook himself and tried to force himself into investigative mode. "Did you find any outstanding evidence at the scene?"

"There was a note that was typewritten. It said 'She was never good enough for you. I would never treat you the way she did." The detective slid a plastic bag with the note inside to across the table to Booth.

"You weren't able to get any prints off of this?" Booth asked as he examined the note.

"No and we're still analyzing the prints found around the house, trying to see if we find any prints that shouldn't be there."

"Well, I think that's enough for me to get Cullen to make this an FBI case. Could you excuse us while I place the call?" Booth pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and waited for the detective to leave. Valdez nodded and left the room quietly.

As Booth started to dial with his right hand, he grabbed Brennan's hand again with his left. "This is Booth, I need to speak to Cullen, please... Sir, I need you to send agents down to the 9th precinct of the Metro police department and to Rebecca's house. Sir... Rebecca's been murdered... No, Parker's fine. Thank you, sir... Yes, I realize that, but can I at least assist? Thank you, sir.. That's all I ask... Yes, that would be great... Det. Valdez... No, you won't regret it." Booth hung up the phone and squeezed Brennan's hand again.

"Cullen is putting some agents on the case. I'm allowed to assist the team, but I cannot be in charge of the investigation. Cullen is going to have her body sent to the Jeffersonian, so we need to call the squints. He's calling Det. Valdez now to inform him that the FBI will be taking over the case because it involves the family of a federal agent."

Booth paused as he lost his grip on the facade of calm that he had adopted while talking to the detective. He slumped over and placed is head in his hands as he began to sob. Brennan placed her hand on his shoulders as she pondered the appropriateness of a hug. Deciding that Booth would probably hug her in a similar situation, she leaned over to him and put her arms around him. His arms immediately engulfed her waist while he cried with his head on her shoulder. He was squeezing so hard that Brennan was sure that he would suffocate her if he squeezed his arms any tighter. After a few minutes, Booth pulled back and looked into her eyes. He whispered a barely audible, "thank you," before wiping the tears from his face and pulling away. When he had regained his composure, he stood up and pulled Brennan to her feet. He kissed her gently on the temple and walked out of the interrogation room with his hand firmly clasped in hers.

"Parker, let's go." Parker bounded up to his father and looked at him with a puzzled look on his face. However, the boy did not voice his questions. He just raised his arms so that his father would pick him up and laid his head on Booth's shoulder when he was settled in his arms. Brennan and Rose trailed behind as Booth led the way to the SUV.

After dropping Rose off at her house, Booth started heading towards the Jeffersonian so that Brennan could get her car but Brennan put her hand on the wheel. "If you want, I can come home with you now and Angela can pick me up later. I mean, if you want me to come with you... I understand if you don't..."

"No, please. I'd really appreciate it if you could be here for me during this. There are a lot of difficult things to say." Booth nodded at the young boy sitting in the backseat absorbed in his GameBoy.

"Okay, let me check in with the team." Brennan called the team to confirm that Cullen had contacted them about the case. She was careful to speak in generalities and rely on scientific jargon so that Parker wouldn't realize that she was talking about his mother's remains.

After the trio got inside the door and took off their coats, Booth heard the question that he had been dreading. "Daddy, something bad happened to Mommy, didn't it?"