Hey. It begins, or continues... however you look at it...happy reading.
XO
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Chapter One:
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Angela was awoken by the sound of the bedroom door opening. The book she had been reading had fallen on her face when she had fallen asleep, and she smiled when she moved it aside and was greeted by the warm smile of Hodgins.
"Sorry Angie, I didn't mean to wake you up." He went to her and kissed her gently on the forehead while he started to take off his jacket.
"It's okay. I was trying to wait up for you but I must have dozed off. What took you so long?" She watched him as he prepared to join her in the bed.
"A new body came in just after you left, and Cam wanted me to run an analysis on the clothing to see if there was anything that would help us identify who he was, or where he had recently been. You would have loved it... it was a gooey one. They found it in a sewer."
"Hmm. Sorry I missed that." Angela went back to the book she had been reading, she had fallen asleep at a really good part, and she wanted to see how it played out. She already knew how it ended but she wanted to read it again, just to be sure.
The final part anyway... where the girl finally gets the guy.
Jack climbed into the bed beside her and lay down close to her. He leaned his head on her shoulder and tried to read the book over her arm. He laughed when he saw which one it was.
"Haven't you read that enough yet? This is what...your fifth time?" He kissed her shoulder, and crept the kisses slowly to the back of her neck. He felt her shudder, and he smiled.
"Seriously, this is her best book yet. I can tell she's so happy because of the way she writes. And the sex scenes between her main character and the FBI agent...whoo! They have definitely gotten a lot hotter since those two hooked up for real. Wherever they are... I'm pretty sure they are enjoying themselves!" She smiled at the man beside her, happy as ever that they had come to their senses and decided to live their lives together. She had never been happier.
"That's probably how they have two kids already! Lots and lots of practice." His kisses to her neck got a little bit slower, a little bit more tender, and she turned to the man,
"It'll happen for us, Sweetie. We just have to be patient. Our kids will come... everything happens eventually..."
He took the book from her hand and tossed it over his shoulder as his lips connected with hers. She laughed for only a second and then was otherwise occupied by their own efforts at conception.
Morning came quickly for the two, and they still had time and energy for one more quick try at conceiving their own child. It had been six months since they had decided it was time for their own kids. Six months had passed since Angela had gotten the post card in the mail which made her jealous enough of her best friend's life to want one of her own. Six months, and nothing so far.
Not that they weren't trying.
They showered together and readied themselves for work together and drove to the Jeffersonian in the same car. They only parted when Cam wanted to speak to Hodgins to get an update of any results he had found from the tests he had begun running the evening before.
As Cam walked off, and before he followed her, he turned back to Angela with a wink.
"See you for lunch? Same time, same place?"
She returned the wink and carried on to her own office. On her desk, waiting for her, was a skull with a post-it note stuck to it. She shook her head and snorted as she pulled the note off. It was from Wendell, asking her to put a face to the unknown man. She picked up the skull and started her initial observations of how deep certain tissue markers should be, and not long after, she was lost in the task.
The morning passed quickly, and her stomach growling drew her attention back to the time. She was going to meet Hodgins at the new Egyptian store room, and she was already late. There would be no time for food for lunch. She thought she could grab something later.
As she hurried through the lab, her attention was caught by Agent Sullivan and Deputy Director Cullen speaking to Cam, Wendell and Hodgins on the platform. Hodgins waved her to join them when she caught his eye.
The two men waited for the artist before they continued. Angela really wondered what was going on. Cam looked upset, and Jack looked at her carefully as though he was trying to figure something out.
She leaned on one of the lighted tables and the two men continued with the explanation as to why they were there. Cullen did the speaking.
"So, Miss Montenegro, just to catch you up, Doctor Hodgins discovered something in the pocket of the jacket found with the body that was brought in to the Jeffersonian yesterday, and he called us with what he discovered. It turns out... the note was a handwritten copy of some information that was under the highest level of security, detailing a date and some coordinates, and the names of the people involved. It was known only by three people, and two of them are Agent Sullivan and I. The third was an undercover agent who had been trying to find out all he could about the Gravedigger's Crew and had finally found them about three months ago. He was in deep with them, but he kept in regular contact with us until about a week ago. Then all communication stopped."
Cullen paused and the Squints looked at each other to see who was following. Everyone seemed to be.
"Do you think this body is your undercover agent?" Angela asked Cullen.
He nodded.
"We need you to identify him right away. We need to know what happened. Booth and Brennan could be in a lot of danger if any one of the Crew has seen that note. It contained vital information about a rendezvous spot where we were supposed to meet them."
Sully took over the story now.
"We have identified the Crew, but we have no evidence that they have done anything wrong. They all have clean records, except we know that they, with Heather Taffet, were responsible for the explosion at the Jeffersonian where those five people died. Including Agent Perotta."
Everyone saw the pain that was still in Sully's eyes when her name was mentioned.
"We were planning on setting a trap for them, and Booth and Brennan had agreed to be the bait. They are tired of being on the run and they all want to come back to DC. We're all sick of waiting for the Crew to make their move, so we're going to set them up. Now, we're worried that they might have caught on to our plan."
Angela couldn't keep the excitement from her voice in spite of the news that her friends were about to risk their lives to catch the people who wanted them dead.
"They're coming back? When?"
"Our people were supposed to meet them south of Cuba yesterday, but we got word from the Coast Guard that they didn't show up. They're fifteen hours late, and we need to know if the dead man is who we think he is, and then we need to find the Crew before they find Booth and Tempe."
Sully looked around the room and saw similar expressions on every single face. Worry and anticipation. Everyone there wanted to see their friends who they hadn't seen in so long, and their kids, who nobody had ever seen.
"What can we do?" Cam asked the two men standing before them.
They asked to see the body, and when they did, Sully was sure that it was the man who they thought it was. His age and height seemed right. Angela confirmed it for them when she showed them the computer generated simulation of what the man's face may have looked like. Cullen asked the Squints to find out how he had died, and he and Sully left quickly to make finding Booth and Brennan, and their family, the top priority of the FBI.
The Squints were left by themselves in the autopsy room. Even though it had been rebuilt after the explosion, it was the very room where Bones had given birth to her daughter. Cam smiled at the memory, even though at the time, it had been a life-threatening situation.
Hodgins came up to Angela from her side, and gently placed his hand on her back.
"I'm sure they'll be fine Ange. Look how much they've already been through... If they can't take care of themselves, then I don't know who can."
"I hope so. I hope they're okay. I miss them so much, and I really want to meet the little Booths. I bet they're both gorgeous." Hodgins caught the longing smile on her face, and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. She smiled at him, and Cam cleared her throat.
They both looked to her, and she suggested that the sooner they found the cause of death and any information they could about the dead undercover agent, the sooner their friends could come home.
As they each went about their specific jobs, Angela and Cam joked about the family. Neither one of them could imagine Brennan with one kid, never mind two. They both wondered how they were dealing. They both wondered if they were safe.
Two days passed and the Squints had collected all the information they could find about the murdered man and passed it on to Cullen and Sully. They heard nothing in return from the FBI and they all were worried about what was happening. They didn't like being kept in the dark, but they understood that the lives of their friends and their kids were in grave danger. Their whereabouts had to be kept secret until they were safe.
Angela hoped that was soon. She missed her friend so much, and had tried to push it to the back of her mind the entire time they had been gone, but now that she knew they longed to come home, her excitement for their return dominated her thoughts.
Those thoughts were in her head while she waited for her lunch date to meet her at the Diner. She randomly fidgeted with items on the table while she waited. Her head was suddenly brought up when a man stopped at the end of her table.
She looked at the man and her jaw dropped as she recognized the Navy Seal who had disappeared with Booth and Brennan. Their own personal body guard. Her jaw dropped further as she looked at the little girl tucked in his arm. His other hand held a baby carrier with a blanket thrown over it.
Angela was speechless as she stared at the little girl. There was no denying her paternity. She was the spitting image of Booth, with one exception; she had her mother's bright blue eyes. The blue eyes looked at her now with a familiar look of apprehension. The small girl seemed unsure of who this woman was. Angela continued to stare, and Murphy finally had to break her shock.
"Ange, I have to be quick about this... Seel and Temperance have the Crew on their tail and I snuck away with the kids in the middle of the night. She said to trust you, and that you would keep them safe. She said to find Max if you could. He would know what to do, but I think I'm being followed... I lost the guy just a couple of blocks ago, and Temperance said you might be here if you weren't at the Jeffersonian, and I called there... so I have to drop them with you and try to see if I can find the tail and get him to follow me further away from the kids. You'll help us right? Things are moving fast now, and I've got to go, before buddy figures out what I've just done."
He handed the small girl over to the artist and set the carrier on the table. The little girl reached her arms back to the man, but he just kissed her on the cheek.
"Bye kiddo. I'll see you soon okay! Be a good girl for your Aunty Angela." Murphy brushed her dark hair behind her ears. He looked to Angela who was still shocked, and her eyes went from his to the girl now on her lap who looked like she was about to cry. Angela tickled her and the little girl just looked at her.
While the girl was turned away from him, Murphy started to make a motion for the door, but Angela finally found her voice,
"Wait, I don't even know his name! What am I supposed to do? What's going on?"
Murphy stopped and turned back to her, but he didn't want to set Payton off crying, so he stayed where he was. It broke his heart to have to leave the little girl with someone who was a stranger to her, but Brennan said there was only one person she trusted as much as Booth and that was Angela.
"His name is Rio. Make sure you ask Bones about that sometime. It's a good story how he got his name. He is revered as a god to an entire tribe in the Amazon." Murphy had a wicked smile on his face. Angela was definitely interested to hear the story. All in good time.
Angela flipped back the blanket on the carrier and revealed the little boy, who looked just like his mother.
"Oh my god... he's beautiful. They both are." She gushed at the sleeping boy, and smiled at the little girl. Payton was finally starting to trust the woman who held her, and a small smile crept on to her lips. She looked even more like Booth when she smiled. Angela realized that she was hooked and instantly in love with these kids.
She turned back to Murphy and he mouthed the words, 'Call Max' and he quietly and quickly went to the door and was gone, leaving Angela with the two little Booths.
She had Payton giggling like mad with tickles when Hodgins finally came through the door and approached the table. She noticed a very confused look on his face as he approached,
"Ange, I know we want kids but you can't just steal other peoples. I think it's frowned upon..."
She just smiled at him.
"Look at her Jack; does she look like anyone you know?"
She watched the man's face as it gained a comprehending look.
"Holy Crap! Are those...?" She nodded. "What are they doing here? Where's Doctor Brennan? And Booth?"
Angela shrugged her shoulders as he sat down on the other side of the table and stared at the little girl, who eventually gave him a smile that melted his heart. He was obviously hooked too.
"Murphy just dropped them off, they're being tailed by the Crew, and he asked if I would call Max to help us keep them safe. Sounds like something major is going down..."
Payton looked back up to the artist and said clearly,
"Where's mama?"
"I don't know Sweetheart. I don't know."
The little girl looked back to her again after looking at her little brother, who continued to sleep soundly.
"Where's daddy?"
Angela had no answer for her.
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To be continued...
(not as fast as usual, but fast enough. I hope!)
