Chapter Two:
When their captor left, Brennan felt Booth's hold on her release – slightly. She knew that he was probably in a lot of pain, so she felt it wrong to ask him to move. Instead, she pushed on his shoulders so that his head rested directly on her chest, and she could feel his hair tickle her chin. She ran her hands along his back and found the source of the blood on the floor.
A cut on his back, by the length and width of it, most likely by a knife. She was relieved to find that the blood had mostly dried, probably from him lying on it for so long. She felt him flinch when she touched it so she decided to leave it alone.
She was tired and accepted his warmth as a kind of blanket and to ignore it in an attempt to sleep. Within a few minutes she drifted into the best sleep she'd had since finding out that Zach was in cahoots with Gormogon.
What she didn't know was that the sound of her heart beating and the feeling of her hands on his head made Booth feel happier than he had been in a long time.
"Mr. Keenan, please calm down!" begged an obviously exhausted Sweets. "I'm trying to tell you everything that we know, but you are making it very difficult! Now please have a seat and -"
"Just tell me this: Is my daughter safe? You said she was with Booth, so she has to be right?" Max Keenan was bordering on hysterics. His daughter – his Tempe – was apparently missing and this very young man was telling him absolutely nothing about it. "And call me Max; Mr. Keenan isn't my favorite thing to be called."
"Okay, Mr. – err – Max, I can't be sure if Dr. Brennan is safe at this very second. But, as long as Agent Booth is with her, I am pretty sure that she will be totally safe."
"And if he isn't with her?"
"If he isn't with her, and we don't know if they are together or not for sure, then it will be time to worry."
"Do you have any idea what happened?"
"The most logical explanation that the team has been able to come up with is that Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth were kidnapped by the murderer of a man named Richard Glocken. They were currently investigating this man's murder and were on their way to Philadelphia to question Mr. Glocken's family."
"Makes sense."
"Yes, Max, I would like to ask you a question. You haven't seemed to take much notice of the fact that we have not been formally introduced, or that I am involved in this case."
"Would you like me to be?"
"Well, it would probably make you feel better to know what I do."
"Sport, I remember you. You were the guy who was an expert witness of psychology for my trial! You asked me all those questions, and never really commented. Just a 'Hmmm' every once in a while. Not even a 'And how does that make you feel?' to change up the conversation. But go ahead; tell me what you know about my daughter and her partner that I don't already know."
"Yeah, that's me." Sweets began. Based on his self preservation instincts, he decided to overlook the 'Sport' comment. "I am a psychologist, as you already know. The FBI assigned me to work with Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth, after Agent Booth arrested you, Dr. Brennan's father. I was to find any reason that this would affect their partnership, and determine if they should be separated. When your trial ended, I was taken off their case, but they fascinated me so I asked them if I could continue to have weekly meetings with them. It was evident in their first meeting with me that they had a very deep emotional attachment, deeper than most partners. They are very protective of each other, and I believe that the death of either of them would be profoundly difficult for the other to adjust to. Dr. Brennan was put thru that test a few weeks ago when she believed Agent Booth was dead because of a bullet meant for her. It turned out he had faked his death to catch a criminal. She did not know this of course, and her reaction was to bury herself in her work, not talk to anyone but Angela and she never came to talk to me. Not even once."
"That sounds like Tempe. How do you think Booth would react, y'know, if…? Oh God. I can't even say it myself."
Ignoring the blunder in the man's speech, Sweets continued. "Agent Booth has had to face the reality that he could lose his partner a few times. Each and every time, he became sulky and bossy. If anybody and I mean anybody, screwed up or made him angry, he would threaten them, or throw them up against a wall. He would do something about it. Of course the entire time he was sulky and bossy, his eyes were glossy and he looked as if he was going to collapse at any moment. But, it always ended well. Thankfully." Sweets felt it necessary to add the last part.
"How do you know so much? Tempe couldn't have possibly been put in danger so much in the time that I was arrested to now."
"You're right. I know most of this from Angela. She is basically a psychologist with no formal training. Please stay up here; I'm going to go down to the lab to see if the team has found out anything else. Agent Booth's family will be here within a couple hours. If they arrive before I get back please ask one of the security guards to get me."
With that Sweets exited the lounge, grateful to be out of the presence of Dr. Brennan's father. Dude was scary.