A/N: WOW! You guys are awesome! I'm glad you like this.

Now, before you all tell me I'm mean for this chapter, I know. But you'll live. Really. Trust me. ;-)

Disclaimer: I don't own Bones. Just playing.

36 hours previously…

"It's all your fault, you know."

Booth swallowed the apple pie in his mouth, giving his partner an astonished look. "What? How is it my fault?"

Brennan stabbed at her salad, frowning. "You're the one who asked me not to fire my father. If you hadn't, he wouldn't be at the Jeffersonian and I wouldn't see so much of him."

"Bones," Booth sighed. "What's wrong with seeing your dad? I thought you guys were getting along all right."

"That's not the point," Brennan said. She glared at Booth. "He keeps wanting to talk to me. He's constantly asking if I need anything, am I feeling all right, am I getting enough rest…"

"He's being a father, in other words," Booth grinned.

Brenna rolled her eyes. "Booth, I am an adult and got along perfectly fine without a father for years."

Booth shook his head as he signaled to one of the waitresses for a coffee refill. "Bones, he's trying to connect with you. And he's trying to make up for all the lost time."

"But I don't need a father, Booth. I don't need someone hovering over me, trying to take care of me. I have enough trouble trying to stop you from doing that."

"Ouch," Booth put a hand to his chest, pretending to be in pain. "You sure know how to hurt a guy, Bones."

Brennan blew out an irritated breath. "Booth, I realize it's part of your alpha-male tendencies to be protective of those around you, but you have to realize I've taken care of myself long before I met you."

"But admit it, Bones," Booth said, as his phone rang. "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be eating right now. You'd try to get through the day on a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of coffee."

"I suppose I'll have to acknowledge that," Brennan said as Booth answered his phone. "But Booth I've never fainted from lack of food and…"

She paused as she saw the look on Booth's face. Brennan wasn't talented when it came to reading people, but she knew her partner well enough to know that whatever he was being told on the phone wasn't good.

"Okay, we'll be there in –" he glanced at his watch. "-about 20 minutes. Yes, Dr. Brennan is here with me. Right." He snapped his phone shut. "Hurry up Bones, we gotta go." The waitress came by with the coffeepot. "Can I get that to go, please?"

Brennan felt a chill. Oh no, not another one… "Booth, what is it? It isn't…"

The grim expression on Booth's face told her what it was even as he said the words. "Another body. And another note to you from The Professor."

She shuddered as she pushed her plate away, no longer hungry. Another body. That makes three. What does this killer want?