Missing

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own "Bones" or any of the characters associated with "Bones"… I wish I did though.
Pairings: Booth/Brennan, Angela/Hodgins
Spoilers: Season 2+
Summary: Brennan and the Squints work against the clock to find Booth before it's too late.
A/N: The title's only tentative. I haven't written enough to actually know what I should name the fic, but I had to name it something. I also plan on releasing a new chapter each week, on Wednesdays, at least until the hiatus is over. And this is totally unedited because I'm lazy. XP

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Dr. Temperance Brennan was going through papers on her desk when one of her co-workers, Angela Montenegro, burst through her office doors with a smile and a Santa hat on her head. She looked up, pale eyes flashing with annoyance.

"Merry Christmas, Sweetie!" Angela exclaimed, ignoring her friend's irritation. "Everybody's wondering where you are."

"They know where I am," Brennan replied swiftly.

"They're wondering why you aren't out there with them."

Brennan eyed the half-Asian, half-Caucasian woman leaning against her desk before depositing the papers into an envelope. "They also know why I'm not out there. Say, Angela," Brennan said, grabbing her coat from her chair, "Is Booth out there?"

Angela shook her head and followed Brennan out the door. "Nope. Did you even invite him?"

"I left a message on his answering machine. Or, at least I think I did," she added, waving to the other two members of her team, who were standing around the platform in the middle of the Medico-Laboratory at the Jeffersonian Institute, each with a drink in hand.

"You think!? When was the last time he called you anyway? I think you should totally dump him."

Brennan stopped and whirled around. "We aren't going out. He's just my partner, that's all," Brennan stated firmly, her face only mere inches away from Angela's. "How much have you had anyway?" She resumed her walk towards the front door just as her cell phone started to ring. "Brennan," she answered.

"I'm pretty sure there's more alcohol than eggnog—" Angela started but was cut-off by Brennan's hand in her face.

"Wa—wait, who is this? Calm down. Who is this?" Brennan frowned, her eyes darting from Angela to Jack Hodgins, the entomologist on her team, and Zack Addy, her assistant and grad student. "Rebecca?" she asked, confused. More darting glances. "Okay, I'll be right there."

Brennan turned to face her team of scientists, her face pale. "That was Rebecca, Parker's mother. Apparently she was supposed to pick up Parker half an hour ago, but there's no answer at Booth's place, and he's not answering his home or cell phone."

"But… we aren't trained for missing persons cases…" Zack commented, coming down the stairs towards the girls with Hodgins right behind him.

Brennan shook her head impatiently. "I still have to go..."

"Sweetie, you want me to come with?" Angela asked, taking off her Santa hat.

"Sure," she replied, shrugging on her coat and heading through the door with Angela on her tail.

"I guess we'll wait here for your call…" Hodgins called after them. "Should we have offered to go too?" he asked as an afterthought.

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It was dark when Brennan got out of her car. Angela had to jog to catch up to her long strides. She saw Rebecca standing in the front yard with a sandy-haired man who she forgot the name of, but knew as Rebecca's boyfriend. Both looked beyond worried and the man looked like he was ready to knock down the front door.

"Dr. Brennan," Rebecca said, walking forward to meet her. The man nodded his head in greeting.

Brennan nodded at the pair and started walking up to the front door. "When was the last time you heard from Booth?" she asked, knocking on the door.

"Three days ago…" Rebecca said, looking at her boyfriend for confirmation. "Yeah, three days ago. Drew and I were going out of state, so we had dropped Parker off the morning of. And then we called to check up on how Parker was doing at night, and everything sounded fine. Do you think Booth kidnapped Parker?"

Brennan frowned at the blonde woman. "Booth's an FBI agent," she stated bluntly. Digging into her pocket, she fished out her keychain and looked for the key labelled 'SB'.

Angela, still buzzed and with a lazy smile on her face, said, "Since when did Booth give you his key? And why didn't I hear about this?"

Ignoring her best friend, she unlocked the door and pushed it forward slowly. It was undeniable that her heart was hammering in her chest. Three days ago… that was when Booth had called her last. She had just gotten comfortable in her bed, and he had called to say 'hi' because the last case they had worked on together ended a week and a half ago and they hadn't seen each other since. Although she was unable to explain it, that one call had brightened up her entire week. But, that was Friday night, and nobody had heard from him since.

"Uh, are you going to go in?" Drew asked impatiently.

Brennan gave him a look and walked in carefully. Her black boots on the hardwood flooring sounded loud even to her ears. "Booth?" she yelled. Her right foot stepped on something hard, creating a cracking sound. Looking down, she saw it was a broken vase. Her hand reached out for the light switch on the wall, and they were momentarily blinded by the sudden light in the room. When they could see again, Rebecca gasped and Angela chirped in with an, "Oh my God…," while Brennan and Drew took in the scene quietly.

The foyer looked like a storm had ripped through it. Pictures that were on the wall were in pieces on the floor. The lamps were knocked over unceremoniously, and were lying in a puddle of water and flowers which used to be in the broken vase. There were scratch marks on the wall, most probably made from something sharp, and Brennan could see what she could only assume as blood in some of the scratches. She could also see bullet holes in the walls, and not for the last time, wished she was toting a gun for situations like these.

"Angela, call the FBI," Brennan said distractedly. She was only emotionally-dazed; the forensic anthropologist in her was working on automatic. She had moved further into the house and was turning on all the lights. The entire house looked like the foyer. She was nearing the bedroom when she heard a thump. Stopping suddenly, Drew bumped into her and whispered, "What?"

"I heard a noise in the bedroom," Brennan said, moving so she was in front of the closed door. "Why are you whispering?"

"It seemed like a whispering moment," Drew explained lamely.

Brennan gave him a look before kicking down the bedroom door with force. Among the noise of wood breaking, she heard a muted scream, but one look at the bedroom told her there was nobody in there. There was that thump again. She moved towards the closet, ready to kick the crap out of whoever was in there, but upon inspection, it was just Booth's clothes.

And then she felt and heard it under her feet. Moving the brown, oriental rug away, she saw there was a trap door leading to what she guessed was a crawlspace.

"Drew, I need your help. Grab something, anything, and get into position in case somebody attacks us," Brennan ordered, getting onto her knees so she could have better leverage.

Drew looked around the room and grabbed a broken desk lamp. He nodded to Brennan when he was ready.

Brennan nodded back and flipped open the door. Her mouth dropped open as a pair of eyes, swollen from crying, stared up at her in fear. "Oh my… Parker," she gasped, lifting Booth's four-year-old son out.

Drew dropped the lamp and gathered the boy into his arms. "Your mom and I were so worried, Parker," he cried. "Are you all right? Are you hurt? God, there's blood all over your shirt."

"Oh my God!!" Rebecca shrieked, running into the bedroom, hugging both Drew and Parker.

Feeling awkward, Brennan walked back towards the front door, where Angela was sifting through the mess that used to be Booth's work table.

Angela looked up, brown eyes curious.

"We, uh, we found Parker," Brennan answered.

"Where?"

"In Booth's bedroom," she said, biting her lower lip. "He was under a trapdoor in the closet."

Angela's eyes widen. "How did he get there?"

"I don't know. He's got blood all over him though, but he doesn't look like he's in any pain, so I don't think it's his blood."

"How are you doing, sweetie?"

Brennan shrugged. "I don't know, honestly." She chuckled when Angela gave her a hug. "We don't know anything yet, so I can't really think anything of all this."

"Yeah, but you can be worried. I know you're worried. You never answered me before: when did you talk to Booth last? Did you really invite him to the party?"

Brennan gave her best friend an exasperated look. "Are you going to start interrogating me again?"

Angela grinned. "Just trying to get the facts, sweetie."

"Friday," she answered, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "Friday night."

"Same as Rebecca then. And nobody's been able to reach him since?"

"Well, I tried calling him on both Saturday and Sunday. He didn't answer either call, but I just assumed he was busy with Parker. He said he was going to bring him to the aquarium on Saturday, and Sunday they were going to the zoo." Brennan sighed. Her eyes darted to the bloody walls again.

"Well, maybe he was. Parker's here, right? We can ask him later."

"Ask him what later?" Rebecca asked, coming out of the bedroom with streaks of tears on her cheeks. Drew was carrying Parker, who looked like he was asleep..

"What happened the last three days, but that can wait," Brennan said distractedly. There was a lot of dried blood on Parker's t-shirt; she had a feeling it was Booth's. The moment that thought came up she mentally scolded herself. No conclusions without corroboration. She took a deep, calming breath before saying, "The FBI should be on their way, let's wait for them in the front yard so we don't disturb the evidence anymore than we already have."

---

Brennan watched Rebecca, Parker and Drew leave in the ambulance, lost in thought. She was leaning against her car and waiting impatiently for Angela, who was talking to an FBI agent with spiked up dirty blonde hair, who had questioned her earlier. She had been given the green light by Sam Cullen, Booth's boss, to go back to the Jeffersonian and start going over every single piece of evidence they had acquired from the crime scene. She shuddered. Booth's place was a crime scene, and that scared her to no end.

"Sweetie, we can go now," Angela said, giving the red head a hug.

The agent who had questioned them had followed Angela over. "Don't worry, Dr. Brennan. We'll find Agent Booth," he said. "You work on whatever Deputy Director Cullen has given you and we'll find him. Cullen would never say this, but he's 110 sure that you squints will come up with something."

Ignoring the 'squint' comment, Brennan replied, "Thank you, Agent Falcon."

"We'll keep in touch. You two have my number. Call me if you find anything," Falcon said.

"Wait, what about Booth's son? Has he said anything yet?" Angela asked, looking hopeful.

Falcon turned around a shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. He hasn't said a single word to anybody but the paramedics say he's still in shock. We might have to wait a day or two before we can talk to him again. Rebecca's willing to cooperate, but she's a bit touchy when it comes to Parker. I don't blame her. If my kid went through something this traumatic, I'd just want people to leave him alone."

Brennan and Angela watched Falcon leave in silence before getting into the car and heading back to the lab.

Edit//
1. Thanks to mendenbar for the 'Deputy Director' Cullen thing!