AN: Thank you guys so much for all of the adds! And a big thanks to those who took the time to review! Your thoughts make me update faster. :) A lot of you said you wouldn't mind extra long chapters, so we'll just see what happens. Some may be long and some may be broken up. Go with the flow people! Haha Oh and FYI, "The Doctor in the Photo" episode never happened here. Enjoy!
"Find the Carmichaels?" Cam asked as Brennan joined her and Daisy on the platform.
"We thought we did," Brennan replied. "But the Carmichaels we found don't have a son named Jake."
"Unless they're lying," Daisy interjected. "People with things to hide are known to do that."
"I can assure you Miss Wick, that unless they managed to crop him out of every one of their family photos, they're not lying."
"Well, do they have a son at least?"
"Yes."
"Then maybe Angela got the sketch wrong."
"Miss Wick, she's been doing this for eight years and she has yet to be wrong once."
"There's a first time for everything, Dr. Brennan."
Brennan let out a frustrated sigh and turned to Cam. "Did Hodgins manage to find anything on either of the bodies?"
"Ask him yourself," Cam told her as Hodgins approached them.
"I found something," Hodgins said proudly, as he joined them on the platform. "I found some Chlorophyta attached to one of the bones."
"Which is?" Cam prodded.
"Your basic green algae. Now based on where it is in its life cycle, I can tell you that the bones have been in the ocean for roughly ten months."
"Stephanie's parents did say that she's been missing for a year," Brennan stated.
"Okay well that's…something," Cam said.
"We have no case," Brennan responded.
"You're right. We don't. So what exactly do you suggest we do, Dr. Brennan?" Cam asked.
"We could consult Avalon again," Daisy suggested.
"Even if that was an option, anything she told us wouldn't hold up in court," Brennan explained. "Booth is trying to track down the correct Carmichael family, but even if he does find them, there's no guarantee that they can help our case." She looked at the victims laid out on the lab tables. "I don't know what else we can do."
(Insert line break here.)
Brennan sat in her office staring at what little information they had on this case. There really wasn't much. Neither she nor Daisy had been able to find any markings on the bones. They had to have been drowned. And the only way these people would ever get justice would be if Booth was able to get a confession from a non-existent suspect.
"The answer you seek is not going to be found on that piece of paper."
Brennan looked up meeting Avalon's gaze.
"Why aren't you out catching the bad guys with Agent Booth?"
"There aren't any for us to be catching."
"Have you spoken with the victims' families yet?"
"One of them. I really shouldn't be discussing this with you."
"Dr. Brennan, I found this case for you. You can talk to me about it."
"Oh you don't already know everything that's going on with your 'abilities?'"
"I am not 'all seeing', Dr. Brennan."
"Could have fooled me," she said, sarcastically moving away from her desk.
"Why don't you like me?"
"Never said I didn't."
"I don't have to be a psychic to notice how you feel. I assume you're upset because of your current relationship status with Agent Booth. I told you that he loved you and he even told you so himself. I was right; you have no reason to be mad at me. It takes two people to make a relationship work, and you pushing him away is not helping things."
"I'm not pushing him away! He's ignoring me. And you said everything would work itself out."
"I said that everything would work itself out eventually. You just have to give these things time."
Brennan sighed and began to head out of her office. She was not going to let Avalon get to her again; she couldn't.
"Oh and Agent Booth should be calling any second now to let you know he found the right family."
Brennan shot her a skeptical look right when her cell phone began to ring. "How did you –?"
"I'd suggest actually talking to him," Avalon said as she began to walk away. "It could fix a lot more than you think it will."
Brennan rolled her eyes as she answered her phone. "Hello?"
"Bones, I found the Carmichaels. These people actually have a son named Jake. Want me to swing by the lab and pick you up?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Are you sure? You sound kind of distracted…"
"I'm not. I'll see you in a few minutes." Brennan hung up on him and stared at her phone. Why did Avalon have to be right…about everything?
"Something wrong with your phone, Bren?" Angela asked coming up beside her.
"No, it's just Avalon said that Booth was going to call saying that he found the Carmichaels and he did right after she said so."
A small smile crept across Angela's face. "I told you."
"This proves nothing."
"It proves everything."
"Angela –"
"Brennan, don't start with me. Avalon is a real, legit psychic and that means that –"
"Means what, Ange? Booth and Hannah are engaged; they're getting married. There's no room for me in that equation. I think it's time that we both accept that and just let me move on. Booth did."
"Booth did what?" he asked, walking up behind them.
"Found the Carmichaels," Brennan said quickly. "Come on, let's go."
Angela shot Brennan a look that Brennan immediately returned as she followed Booth out of the lab.
"So," Booth started as he climbed into his SUV, "Avalon give you any more advice on this case?"
Brennan responded with a muffled laugh.
"Is that a yes?"
"She gave me some advice, but it wasn't about the case."
"So then?"
"It's really none of your business, Booth," she said, staring out the window. They were silent for a moment before she began talking again. "So what happens if these people give us nothing? We just give the bodies back to their families and stop considering their drowning a homicide?"
"Well, you haven't found any evidence of foul play, have you?"
"No."
"Well, then I don't know what else we can do."
"I hate this case."
"No, you don't."
"I don't?"
"You hated the Gravedigger case. This? This may not even be a case at all. You don't hate it."
The mention of the Gravedigger started her thinking about the past. Being trapped in her car with a bleeding Hodgins, Booth being stuck on a boat that was set to detonate with one of his hallucinations caused by the brain tumor, the nightmares that these events used to give her, the trial…
"You're right. I hated that case."
"We've been lucky. We haven't had a 'big bad' like the Gravedigger, or Gormagon, or Epps in a while."
"You realize that now that you've said that, we will?"
"Since when are you superstitious, Bones?"
"I'm not. But in the movies, whenever someone says something like that, something bad happens."
"Yeah in horror movies. Since when do you watch those?"
"I've had a lot of free time lately."
"Bones –"
"Oh look we're here," Brennan stated, getting out of the car before Booth even put it into park. She'd had a lot of free time lately because Booth had been spending that time with Hannah instead of with her. Their friendship was practically diminished these days. And she really hoped that Booth would get the hint without her saying so. She didn't feel like taking Avalon's advice of simply talking to him.
Booth walked passed her and knocked on the Carmichael's door. A little girl who couldn't have been more than seven answered. He smiled at her. "Hey there, are your mommy and daddy home?"
"Mom!"
"She has very healthy lungs," Brennan muttered, moving to stand next to Booth.
"Bones," he said through his teeth. She shot him a "what did I do?" look.
"May I help you?" asked the middle-aged woman who appeared at the door.
Booth flashed his badge. "We're here in regards to your son, Jake."
"Susie, why don't you go find your father," Mrs. Carmichael told her daughter. "What kind of trouble did he get himself into this time?"
Mr. Carmichael joined them at the door just as Brennan said, "We found his body."
"Jake?" Mr. Carmichael asked. "Serves him right, with the types of people he was hanging out with."
"William!" his wife chastised. "You'll have to excuse my husband; he never got along with my son." William wandered back into the house.
"Was Jake from a previous marriage?" Booth asked.
"No, I wasn't married to his bastard of a father," Mrs. Carmichael said softly. She looked up at them, tears welling in her eyes. "I was raped in college."
Booth and Brennan exchanged a look before Brennan asked, "I know this may be hard, but do you remember who his father is?"
"Travis Kobus."
"Ma'am do you have any idea if Travis could have been the one to hurt him?" Booth asked. "You should also know that we found his girlfriend, Stephanie, as well."
"Oh that poor girl. I honestly have no idea. I've never told Jake who his father was and I really couldn't even tell you if he's still in jail or not."
"So, you got him convicted?" Brennan asked.
"Yes, and after I came forward, several other girls did as well, so I don't know how long his sentence ended up being."
"We can look into that," Booth told her. "Do you know anyone else who would have wanted to hurt your son?"
"Well I can tell you that Stephanie's father wasn't too fond of him. He threatened him once to get out of his house or else he'd shoot him, but I can't imagine him killing his own daughter. Of course, Jake's friends weren't all that friendly either. I can give you a list of their names."
"That would be great," Booth smiled.
Mrs. Carmichael went back into her house to make the list. "I'll be right back."
"I guess we finally have a case," Booth stated.
"Unless our new leads turn up empty. Then we are right back where we started."
"Way to be optimistic, Bones."
"What would you rather I say?"
"I don't –"
"Here's your list," Mrs. Carmichael returned, handing Booth a piece of personalized stationary. "I really hope you catch whoever did this. And please, give him a special kick in the nuts just for me. Jake may have been trouble, but he was still my son and I…"
"Don't worry, we're very good at what we do," Booth assured her. "We'll catch this guy."
Mrs. Carmichael thanked them and then closed the door before Brennan muttered. "If there's anyone to catch."
"Seriously?" Booth asked her, heading back to his SUV.
"What? We have no evidence, Booth. Unless someone confesses, we have nothing."
"What happened to you, Bones?" he asked, turning around to face her. "You never used to be so…"
"Like a cold fish?"
"No, you're not a cold fish; you're Iceland, but –"
"Iceland?"
"You don't remember that conversation we had? Oh…"
"Was this a conversation you had with Hannah?"
"No, it was part of that coma dream of mine. But what I was trying to say is that you –"
"You still remember that coma dream?"
Booth locked his gaze onto hers. "Of course I do."
"Oh," Brennan said softly, moving her head to stare at the ground. "You were saying."
Booth moved closer to her and reached out, tilting her head up to look at his. "You just don't seem to enjoy the job anymore."
Brennan was shocked by his action. It was something he used to do all of the time to get her to look at him, but ever since Hannah, he hadn't done it. She missed the familiarity of it. She missed the familiarity of him.
"It's just not as exciting as it used to be."
Booth nodded once, seeming to understand. "We should get going. See if we can find any of these people."
"Right. Yeah, let's go."
They sat in silence as Booth drove them back to the Hoover.
(Insert line break here.)
They learned that Travis Kobus was still in jail; apparently he had killed one of his victims, so that ruled him out. Booth and Brennan were able to track down all but one of the people on the list Mrs. Carmichael had given them and they were all dead ends. They both agreed that it was getting late and they were going to resume their search in the morning.
As Booth headed up to his apartment, he found that he couldn't get that coma dream out of his head. He kept picturing the beginning of it: being in bed with Bones. God, what was wrong with him? He has a fiancé, and her name wasn't Temperance Brennan.
"Hey babe," Hannah greeted him without looking up from the newspaper as he walked in.
"Hey," Booth replied, tossing his keys on the table by the door.
"Long day?"
"You could say that," he said, rubbing a hand over his face.
Hannah got up from the couch and moved over to him. "What happened?" she asked, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"It's just…Bones…"
"Is she okay?"
"I don't know. She's been acting really…off lately."
"Any idea why?"
"Maybe…"
"Care to share?"
Booth sighed. "No."
"You know that you can talk to me, right?"
Booth thought about that statement. He was going to marry this woman; he should be able to talk to her. And yet at that moment, he realized he really didn't open up to her all that much. Hannah knew about half of what Bones knew. And that fact scared him.
"Yeah, I know. It's just not my secret to share." It was only a half truth, but Hannah was going to have to deal with it.
"Well okay," Hannah said, kissing him. "What do you want for dinner?"
(Insert line break here.)
The next day Booth and Brennan found themselves boarding a cruise ship. Their final suspect worked there as a bartender.
"The last time I was on a boat was for that singles cruise case last year," Booth commented as they climbed aboard.
"Well this looks promising. Cal Greene could have easily tossed them overboard."
"Yeah, maybe we can close this case after all." Booth stopped a man as he passed by them. "Excuse me, do you know where we can find Cal Greene?"
"Where else? He's behind the bar."
"Yeah, I got that much," Booth said flatly. "Where's the bar at?"
The man pointed them in the right direction and then wandered off.
"Nice guy," Booth said under his breath as he headed toward the bar.
"Uh, Booth?"
"What is it, Bones?"
"The boat's undocking. Any idea where we're headed?"
"Hopefully not far."
"Right, watch us end up in Mexico."
"I'm FBI, Bones. I have the power to turn this ship around and make them go back."
"You just keep telling yourself that, Booth. Now let's go talk to Cal."
"I can! Remember that body we found on that plane to China? The U.S. had jurisdiction, so they had to fly us back home."
Brennan smiled and shook her head as she entered the bar. Booth huffed and followed her. The two took the last empty stools at the bar.
"What can I get for you folks?" Cal asked them.
"A confession would be great," Booth said with a smile. He pulled out is FBI badge and showed it to him.
Cal's face paled.
"Do the names Stephanie Jobson and Jake Carmichael mean anything to you?" Brennan asked.
With that, Cal jumped over the bar and took off at a run.
"Oh I just love it when they run," Booth said sarcastically. "At least he can't go very far."
"Unless he's an excellent swimmer," Brennan pointed out.
Booth shot her a look before running after Cal. Brennan ran off in the other direction, hoping to trap their suspect in between them. Sure enough, she saw Cal and Booth heading her way, but so did Cal. In an attempt to save himself, Cal grabbed Brennan and tried to push her overboard.
"Get your hands off of her!" Booth yelled as he approached them.
But Booth was too late. Cal was too strong for Brennan and he managed to push her off of the boat. Booth froze in his tracks. He could either save his partner or catch their suspect before he did something stupid. He peered over the edge of the boat; Bones was no where in sight.
"Bones!" he called.
Nothing. Booth took off his gun and his badge before diving in after her. She surfaced, coughing right when Booth hit the water. He surfaced a couple seconds later, looking around frantically for her.
"And this is helping, how?" Brennan coughed as the boat continued on its path without them.
"I…I couldn't see you. I…I thought…"
The two stared at each other for a moment before frantically yelling for help, hoping someone on the boat would hear them. Finally someone spotted them and then disappeared.
"Hopefully, he went to tell the captain to stop to the boat," Booth said.
Brennan splashed him.
"Hey! What was that for?"
"You're an idiot, you know that? I'm fully capable of swimming. You didn't need to risk your life by jumping in here after me!"
"Sorry that I was trying to save your life. Next time, I'll just let you die!"
"Oh, real mature comeback."
"Here, grab on to this!" the captain yelled throwing them a life preserver. "We're going to lower down the life boat and then bring it back up with you guys in it."
Booth's arm brushed Brennan's as they grabbed for the life preserver, and she instantly pulled her arm away.
"Why are you so mad at me?" Booth asked.
"That's a loaded question."
"What did I do wrong?"
"Where do you want me to start, Booth? The last time you risked your life for mine, I walked around thinking that you were dead for a week."
"Bones –"
"Or you know, maybe I'm upset because you can't remember that the last time we were alone together was the first week we were back before Hannah showed up!"
"Bones –"
"You want to know why I'm upset? For five years, I was your best friend and now if it's not work related, you can't even give me the time of day."
"Sorry to interrupt," the captain started. "But the life boat is ready."
Brennan glared at her partner before swimming to the life boat and completely ignoring him as they were rescued from the cold waters of the ocean.
(Insert line break here.)
Brennan stood at the bow of the boat with a towel wrapped tightly around her shivering shoulders. The sun had gone down and the moon reflected off of the ocean water in front of her. Her words to Booth were on repeat in her head. She hadn't meant to blow up at him like that, especially when all he was doing was trying to save her life. The fact that Cal Greene had escaped their custody and killed himself only made matters worse. She knew that Booth was blaming himself; thinking if only he didn't care so much about her, Cal Greene would still be alive. Now they really had no case. She heard footsteps coming up behind her and she didn't need to be Avalon to know that they were Booth's.
He stood beside her, a matching towel draped around his shoulders. "Why do I care so much?"
"About me?"
Booth sighed. "I know that you can swim. I should've gone after Greene, but I couldn't just leave you there."
"It's not like we had a case against him anyway."
"Bones, I'm sorry."
"It's okay."
"No, it's not. You were right. I've been pushing you out of my life and I don't want that to happen. Just because I'm…"
"Marrying someone else?"
"Bones –"
"Look, I like Hannah, you know that. I would just like her more if you didn't spend every second of your free time with her."
Booth nodded, turning his head to look at her. "So, you want to go to the Royal Diner after this?"
"I already have plans to meet Angela."
"Oh. Okay." Booth turned his head back to the ocean, hurt evident in his voice.
Brennan couldn't help but smile, knowing that she had gotten to him. "Rain check?"
"You got it."
They turned to face each other and shared that look they used to give each other so long ago…
AN: Feedback is appreciated! And I have to write 21 more "episodes" and only have a couple of ideas. So if anyone would like to suggest an episode idea, or even just a title, feel free! :)
