Booth returned to his apartment and kicked off his shoes. He checked his house phone for messages and there were none. Again, he called Brennan's phone and it went straight to voicemail. Pacing he waited to leave another message.

"Bones, it's me again. Listen, I don't know what happened but whatever it is we can talk about it. I mean, if you got scared or whatever, it's okay. We can talk about it. Just call me back when you get this."

He flipped the phone closed and leaned his head against the doorframe to his bedroom. His head was telling him that she got scared and backed out of their date but his gut was telling him something was wrong. Deciding to go with his gut he slipped his sneakers on and headed back out. He drove passed her apartment but her car was not there. He drove to the Jeffersonian and her car was not there.

"Damn it, Bones. Where are you?" He muttered to himself.

Knowing Brennan the way he did he knew that if she didn't want to be found, she wouldn't be, and she was definitely hiding from him. Why wouldn't she? She did stand him up after all and he spent two hours waiting on her in that little restaurant. Try as he might he couldn't be angry at her. She had been through a lot in the past few months and it was beginning to wear on her. She had survived being buried alive a little over three months ago and to the best of his knowledge she was still suffering nightmares from it. Her father's reappearance into her life was causing its own havoc in its only little corner or her mind. Then to top it off Booth had been glued to her lately. Somewhere between the chaos and the nightmares he slipped up and kissed her. He was afraid she was going to run when he had but was pleasantly surprised when she kissed him back. They had agreed to try seeing each other on a more intimate level and then she pulled back.

It was hard to notice at first because she pulled back from everybody about two months ago. She covered it well by throwing herself into her work, but Booth noticed the subtle changes of her pulling back in to herself. That was her coping mechanism. If she needed space and time he would give it to her, he was a patient man. She seemed fine otherwise, but leaving him sitting in a restaurant for two hours without even calling him with a bad excuse was cowardice and Bones was not a coward. So the question that still lingered was, was she okay? His gut was telling him she was in trouble and she had a bad habit of getting herself in to trouble.

Pulling into a parking spot at the Washington Memorial he scanned the lot for her car but it was not here either. Not sure of where else she would go he flipped open his phone and dialed it.

"Hey, Agent Studly, what's the matter? Bren too much to handle?" Angela joked as she answered the phone.

"That's not funny, Ange. Bones never showed up. Have you heard from her?" He asked, his voice quiet and controlled.

"Not since this morning. She mentioned going to get her hair done before your big date." Angela replied. "It's not like Bren to simply not show. She usually will call or something. That's not like her, Booth. You of all people should know that." Angela spoke up.

"You would think that wouldn't you. " Booth said dryly. "She's not exactly been acting herself lately, Angela." Booth conceded.

"Yeah, I've noticed. You're not the only one getting the cold shoulder these days, Sweetie. Just give her some time to deal with whatever is going on in that supersized head of hers. She'll come around and when she does don't go making her feel bad for feeling confused. If you do. . ." Angela began to threaten.

"I know." Booth cut her off. "I've worked hard on pulling down those walls brick by brick. I'm not about to hand her fresh mortar." Booth explained.

"Good boy!" Angela said overly enthusiastic.

"Angela, do me a favor. If she calls you tell her to call me. I just need to know she is okay. She doesn't even need to explain why she stood me up, just that she is okay and not in any trouble."

"Sure thing, Booth." Angela agreed.

Booth closed his phone and headed home, praying his gut was wrong for a change.

oOo

Brennan rolled over and looked at the clock on her phone, MON 7:45 AM.

"Shit!" She muttered as she threw herself from the bed and into the bathroom. She turned the hot water on in the shower and climbed in. She grabbed the shampoo and poured a liberal amount into her hands and began rubbing her scalp and pulling the shampoo through the length of her hair.

"What the. . ." she questioned at the shorter locks.

She was about to pull back the shower curtain and look at herself in the mirror when she felt an unusual burning sensation from her pelvis as the soapy water ran past a fresh wound. She looked down to see a fresh tattoo, skull and crossbones, on her left pelvis/hip.

"Oh my god. . ." She muttered. "What have I done?" She asked aloud.

She quickly soaped up a washcloth to wash her face. After running it over once she looked at in surprise at the amount of makeup that came off.

"No. . .no. . . no. . . . not again." She groaned as she scrubbed her face.

Finishing up she threw a towel around her tender body. She wiped her mirror clean of steam and looked at herself. Her hair was cut short, just below the ears, and was turning into a curly mess. Angrily, she dried her hair and attempted to tame the rampant curls but in the end just added some moose and let the curls be.

Deciding that the curly mess wasn't all that bad and definitely easier to take care of she threw on some make up to hide the dark circles under her eyes. She couldn't remember the last time she slept well. Her dreams had been plagued by nightmares, when she could remember them. She searched through the drawers in the bathroom until she found a large enough Band-aid to cover the tattoo and applied some antibiotic ointment to it before covering it up. Slipping from the bathroom and back into her bedroom she quickly dressed and gathered her things for work. Skipping coffee, she grabbed her bag and keys and headed out the door.

She barely realized it as she pulled into her spot at the Jeffersonian as her mind tried to make sense of her predicament. Frustrated, she made her way into the building. She barely made it to her office and put her bag up before she was spotted. She was booting her computer when Angela came flying in.

"Bren, where the hell have you been? I've been trying to call you all weekend!" Angela announced.

Brennan barely looked up from her screen, "I was out of town. Something came up." Brennan said quietly.

"I hope whatever it was, was worth standing up Booth for. " Angela inquired. Brennan's eye shot up at the mention of her partner's name.

"I forgot about our arrangements." Brennan said in a defensive manor.

"You forgot?" Angela asked incredulously. "You obviously went to get your hair done as you had planned, which is totally sexy I might add, but you forgot about your date?! That's not like you. What's going on, Sweetie?" Angela asked as she took a seat in front of Brennan's desk.

Temperance felt the walls closing in. How was she supposed to answer? She stood and walked briskly passed Angela, grabbed her lab coat, and headed to Limbo. Angela sat there for a minute completely stunned. Never had she ever seen Brennan act this way.

Down in Limbo Brennan paced the halls as she took out her phone. She had 17 missed calls from Booth, 24 text messages from him too. Angela had called 6 times and left 10 text messages. She flipped the camera on and looked through the pictures and erased all from the past 48 hours. She shoved her phone into her pocket and pulled out a set of remains as she forced the tears not to fall.

That is where Booth found her as he came strolling down the hall. He debated questioning her about Saturday night but decided to give her space and time and let her tell him what happened when she was ready. For the time being he had planned on acting as if nothing happened. As he got closer he could see that she was bent over, engrossed in a set of remains.

"Come on Bones, we've got a case!" He announced as he placed his hand on the small of her back. Normally he wouldn't be so forward but he needed to touch her to feel that she was real and okay after not being able to reach her all weekend.

"Booth!" She jumped slightly and whirled around, causing Booth's hand to slide from her back to near her hip. He gripped her slightly in an effort to comfort and ground her.

With his hand on her left hip he stared into her blue eyes as his thumb absent mindedly began drawing circles near her pelvis. That's when he noticed three things: one, she was not usually a jumpy person near him; two, she had cut her hair and with the way it was curling everywhere it was sexy as hell; and three, she seemed to be in pain.

"Didn't mean to scare you, Bones." He said quietly.

She recovered from her fright quickly and wanted nothing more than his reassuring touch but she felt unworthy of it. She had left him sitting at a restaurant waiting on her and she never showed. The worst part was she couldn't even tell him why. Now he wasn't even mentioning it and she worried that she had damaged their relationship for it.

"I wasn't expecting you that's all." She said in nearly a whisper.

Booth searched her eyes and saw them pleading back to him, begging for his acceptance. He leaned down and was about to kiss her when she pulled away abruptly and started walking back to the elevator. "You said we have a case" she threw over her shoulder as she entered the elevator.

He explained where the body was found and the circumstances. He kept the conversation strictly business-related. He tried his best not to demand her whereabouts from the weekend, but it was hard. This was not the first time she had taken off MIA over the past month and it was starting to eat at him. Finally, he could resist no longer.

"So, how was your weekend, Bones?" He asked, doing his damnedest not to sound angry.

"Okay." She responded shyly, looking out the passenger's window.

She had refused to make eye contact with him since they left bone storage. He was convinced she was hiding something from him but decided not to press the issue. She had never given him a reason to doubt her until now.

"So, do you want to tell me about it?" He asked as they pulled up to the crime scene.

"Nope." She said as she jumped out of the SUV and started walking to the back to change into her jumpsuit.

Booth said nothing but watched her mannerisms as she dressed. Her movements were languid and in the light of the day he could see the amount of makeup she had used to over the probable circles under her eyes. She reached back to put her arms in her suit and the hem of her shirt rose up enough to reveal and bandage near her left hip and pelvis, where Booth's hand had been a little less than an hour ago. He was right when he registered physical pain in her eyes and he was sure his eyes would reveal anger if she would look into them. Anger that she was hiding something and that something may have gotten her injured. But she wouldn't make eye contact with him and so Booth watched her, no studied her every movement as she processed the crime scene. He barely remembered to take note of the things she was telling him about the body before her. He had known this woman for the past five years, had learned every mannerism, and she was lying to him. Her silence spoke volumes.

When they had finished the at the crime scene he drove her back to the Jeffersonian in an uneasy silence. When they had finally pulled up Booth hit the locks before Brennan could escape the SUV, a fraction of a second later and she would have been gone.

He shut off the engine and took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. "Is there something you want to tell me?" He asked, turning his body so he was facing her. His voice remained calm and in control, despite the raging war of emotions within him.

"No." She said quietly, her eyes meeting his for the first time since they left that afternoon. Please don't push this, she pleaded in her mind.

Booth nodded his head, "Okay." He whispered as he leaned over and gently pressed his lips against hers. A spark ignited between them and she responded with her own need, hands wandering here and there. Booth's hands expertly played in her hair. "I like it," he whispered huskily, "but this worries me" he carefully added as his fingers slipped at the waist of her pants near her bandage.

Brennan's mind raced. She liked where this was going with Booth and she knew she was going to have to give him something or he would only continue to pry. Her mind came up with a quick lie and thankfully Booth was too busy following her hands as she lowered her pants. "I didn't want to show you until it was healed, but if you're worried. . ." she lied as she pulled the bandage back and revealed the very raw tattoo.

"A tattoo! That's what you're hiding?" Booth asked, somewhat relieved. He knew this still didn't answer all of his questions, but she was sharing and he would accept that it was a start. She smiled sheepishly at him and he smiled back. "I think it's cute, Bones. Although, I never would have suspected you for a tattoo person." He joked.

"Maybe you don't know me as well as you think you do." She said in a flirtatious voice as she unlocked the car.

"Maybe I would like to." He flirted back. A smile crept across his face as he watched his Bones blush as she ran inside.

oOo

The rest of the week moved along at status quo. Bones never mentioned the weekend and Booth didn't press the issue. Bones seemed to be back to herself and Booth was starting to think maybe he was paranoid, seeing something there that wasn't. Brennan had really been making an effort and it showed. Even Angela noticed that Brennan was being extra social.

Booth's gut wouldn't let it be though. She was supposed to be his girl, and that meant sharing things. So why was it that she still seemed to be so hidden. Whenever he would approach the subject she managed to distract him. Come to think of it she seemed to be keeping each person in her life compartmentalized from other aspects of her life.

The weekend came and Booth had Parker, but every time he called Bones she either answered or called him back rather quickly. When he spoke to her Sunday night she said she was working on a new chapter in her book despite a headache and he smiled to himself, she hadn't written since the Gravedigger had her. After dropping Parker back off at his mother's house, Booth went by Brennan's to see if she wanted to go get something to eat. As he pulled in he realized her car wasn't there.

He shook his head knowingly as he pulled in next to her car at the Jeffersonian. He made his way through the employee entrance and down to the lab. Most of the lights were out except for a small one in Tempe's office. He was going to fuss at her about working too much when he realized that she was still wearing the same clothes he had seen her in on Friday as she lay asleep on the couch. Then, suddenly, everything seemed to fall in to place. She wasn't sleeping at home and when she was she probably wasn't sleeping. The mood shift and behaviors were all from lack of sleep. He felt like slapping himself in the face for not realizing the signs of sleep deprivation on his girlfriend.

As he came around the couch to wake her he realized that her eyes were open. She was staring off into space, her pupils were dilated and she was muttering incoherently. She smelled of alcohol and there was a half empty bottle of Jack Daniels on the table. He reached out and ran the back of his hand across her forehead and the skin was warm and dry, he felt a strong pulse in her neck. Bones was drunk or strung out, or both. He took the bottle and emptied the contents down the sink before picking up Bones and taking her back to his apartment to sleep it off. The last thing he wanted was for Cam or Cullen to find out that Bone's may have turned to alcohol just to get a good night's rest, or even worse, drugs.

He wanted so badly to believe it was just alcohol but alcohol wasn't enough for Temperance Brennan to stay at work for 48 hours in the same clothes. Sleep deprivation can make some people do things they never would. Hell, Booth had seen his own men in the army hallucinate from lack of sleep. He understood the power draw it could perform. So the burning question in his mind is: Is sleep deprivation enough to cause Temperance Brennan to seek out illegal drugs? Once she was settled into his apartment he crept away, locked the door, and went to her place to find out.

As he slid the key into the lock of her apartment he took a deep breath and made a silent vow that whatever he found eh would stick by his Bones, no matter what. He would help her work through whatever was going on. He had been in her apartment a handful of times and was not prepared for the sight before him. Boxes littered the halls and the couch and by the looks of it she was haphazardly packing things up. Empty beer cans lay strewn throughout the living room. As he examined the shelves and boxes he noticed it was only her most prized and breakable possessions she seemed to be storing away or perhaps that what she was starting with? His mind reeled. Was she getting ready to run?

He made his way into the kitchen and the dishwasher was half open and full of molding dished. He threw in a dishwasher tablet and set it to run. As he looked around he could not figure out what she was thinking by the mess in the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and found most of the food was moldy and expired. Where had she been eating? Had she been eating? Now that he thought about it she did seem lighter than usual. He grabbed the trash can and was about to start tossing old food out when he heard the distinctive clink of glass on glass. With a heavy heart he pulled the first bottle out of the can and set it on the table. By the time he was done there were no less than six bottles of wine, whiskey, and vodka. He washed his hands and left the bottles on the counter.

He made his way to her first bathroom and noticed there was no medication or indication that anything was out of the ordinary. He moved on to the one place he had never seen in her apartment, her bedroom. The décor in her room surprised him and was shockingly girly with muted pinks and purples. On her nightstand was a picture of the two of them at the benefit ball last Christmas. She looked so alive and healthy then. Now she was pale and sunken in, a shell of her former self. Three more wine bottles were in the trashcan. She had clothes thrown all over the place, some still on hangers. It looked like the room of a seventeen year-old, not a nearly thirty year old woman. He looked through her nightstand and dresser and was relieved to find nothing out of the ordinary. He made his way into her bathroom and noticed a first aid kit lay out on the counter and what appeared to be blood in the sink. A broken wine bottle lay in the trashcan, a matchbook for a place he had never heard of, and a couple of paper bracelets you get when they let you in some clubs. He pocketed the matchbook and bracelets to look up later. He went to the medicine cabinet and found a couple of prescription bottles, mostly full, and all from Sweets.

She has been seeing Sweets? She hates psychology. His mind had a hard time wrapping around the thought because, in his mind, he felt betrayed that she had not come to him with whatever the problem was. They were supposed to be dating that meant she should be telling him whatever was wrong, she had in the past, why not now. He pulled the bottles down and noted their use; one for insomnia, one for anxiety, and both filled shortly after she was buried alive.

Everything was starting to fall into place and he felt slightly relieved. No signs of drug use that he could see. She was drinking, a lot, and that worried him. He could only assume she hadn't come to him because they were not officially dating when it all began and she was ashamed to tell him now for fear he would walk away. The matchbook and bracelets were temporarily forgotten and he came to the conclusion that he had to show her he was here to stay. Set with a new found resolution to help his girlfriend, Booth headed home to his Bones, all the while trying to figure out how he was going to approach the subject without her getting pissed he went through her apartment.