My first effort at a Bones fanfiction. I hope you won't kill me if you hate it ;) It might be almost kind of a cross-over thing towards the end, but you'll just have to wait and see for your self. The story is co-written with a good friend, and the chapters are inspired by different songs.
Prologue - From Yesterday
After the tragic death of his son, Booth went on a year's leave of absence, keeping in contact with no one but Temperance Brennan. He never promised her anything, but she couldn't help but hope that when he came back they would get together. Now he's back to work, but things are not the same. He keeps to himself, works even harder than before, and never smiles. Temperance is frustrated, she wants so much to help, wants to be there for him, but he won't allow her in. Finally he breaks the shocking news, he's quitting his job for a career in politics. On his last case he is forced to go to Europe, looking for a missing child. He never came back….
5 years later
Clip from the small local Washington newspaper, dated May 3rd 2012.
"Over the next few weeks we are going to have a look at unsolved cases of missing people from the area, starting off with FBI Agent Seeley Booth, well known in the local community from the case involving the abduction and subsequently the tragic death of his young son. Booth disappeared while working a case in Europe in May 2007, leaving both family, friends and investigators clueless as to what happened to him. After returning from Europe he was supposed to leave the agency, to pursue a career in politics.
Could it be that Agent Booth simply decided he couldn't come back for some reason? Was the loss of his son still too much to handle? Was he involved in a case that forced him to start over under another identity? Plausible explanations, however neither his friends nor his family believes it to be true. They all feel certain something criminal must have happened to him….
We tried to get hold of Booth's co-worker Temperance Brennan, also reputed to be his on and off girlfriend, but without any luck. However the agents mother, Mrs Harrieth Booth has granted us an interview.
- Mrs Booth, were there ever indications that your son wanted to break away from his life in any way?
- No, certainly not. Seeley was always very good at keeping in touch with both his friends and his family, even while he was in Europe working the case, he actually seemed like he had a good time, starting to get back to his old self. We just don't understand what might have happened to him….
- Rumours have had it that your son never got over the fact that he was unable to catch his son's abductor, leading to a state of mental instability. Wouldn't this indicate that he might have wanted to….
- No way! Of course, the loss of Parker was impossible to get over, but he was coping with it, he even had therapy!
- The police think it's unlikely that something criminal had happened to him, what do you think?
- Are you going to ask me the same question over and over? I really don't see the point in me being here….
- My apologies Mrs Booth! Please, I really didn't mean to dishonour your son's memory in any way. Do you think he's still alive?
(Mrs Booth has tears running down her face by now, the memories of Seeley still being just as painful as the day he disappeared.)
- I wish that I could say yes, but to be honest, my husband and I have little hope that we will ever see our beloved son again. It has been 5 years, and no word….
- When was the last time you heared from him?
- Oh I remember it clearly, it was about 3 weeks after he went over there, and he was in Italy. He called me from Venice. The case had come to a dead-end, and he was getting ready to come home. He sounded….happy, he liked Italy, said that there was something about Venice that had gotten to him, and that he would stay for another week before returning to explore the city a bit more. (She opens her purse and picks up a post card.) I got this a few days after the phone call: "Ponte dei Sospiri. There's something about this place, it gives me peace for the first time in over a year. I'm looking forward to coming home and getting on with my life. Tell dad I love him."
- Ah, The Bridge of Sighs….I've been there, it's a breathtaking place, with a very special history. Why do you think your son got so fascinated by this place?
- I don't know….but it's a lovely place. My husband and I went there the year after, it made me feel closer to Seeley I guess.
- Thank you very much for talking to us Mrs Booth!
After the phone call and post card to his mother, nobody ever heared from Agent Booth again. The last trace the investigators were able to find was a cash withdrawal made on the Rumanian border, along the railway line, is dated June 10th and is the last trace ever found.
One can only hope that in the future, the family will get the answers they need to put this matter to rest."
