A/N: just in case anybody was trying to figure it out this is not set at a speciffic time in the show just my own mind making things up as i go which includes place names which are plucked from my head at random. although Great Falls really is a city in Montana but i just got thast off a map. thanks for the reviews and hope you enjoy the rest.
Her heart dropped and the contents of her stomach threatened to rise as what she had been convincing herself to be impossible only hours before sparked into a reality she was not ready to deal with. It was a threat as plain as the paper it was written on, not only on her life but the lives of those she loved the most, her messed up version of a family that she would die to protect. It was then that it hit her, she refused to let them or their loved ones get hurt because of her and there was only one way to make certain that didn't happen. She had to sacrifice herself, there was no doubt in her mind about it and it was a choice she was glad to make as long as they were safe. Brennan allowed herself just one shaky sob and just a single tear before she pulled herself together, wiping the only proof of her pain away as she picked up the phone and dialled her accountants number. The conversation was short, sweet and to the point and Brennan hung up with an idea quickly forming in her mind, gaining strength by the minute. With one last painful look at the photographs to convince herself she was doing the right thing, she replaced them in the folder and hugged it tight to her chest as she left her office trying desperately not to sprint the distance to Dr Goodman's office. He had returned six months earlier and relieved Dr Soroyan of her duties for which Brannan was excessively grateful for. Cam had always rubbed her the wrong way and the fact that she and Booth had a fling, no matter how brief, didn't gain her any points in Brennan's book. She was too consumed in thought to notice the squints watching her rushed progress through the lab.
"I wonder why Brennan is in such a rush?" Angela said as she leant on the railing her back to the three men behind her.
"Bones looks like she just saw a ghost." Booth noted as she disappeared behind Goodman's door.
"Ghosts do not exist so it is highly improbable Dr Brennan saw one." Zack commented dryly as he occupied himself with a cranium reconstruction. Both Angela and Hodgins rolled their eyes at this but Zack was too preoccupied to notice.
"They do so!" Hodgins argued before returning to the original conversation, "And Dr Brennan had a file with her so she's probably got some information from Justine to discuss with Goodman." With that he returned to his microscope and the particulates Booth needed identified.
Hodgin's answer, however logical, didn't sit right with Booth. His gut told him there was more to the story and he was determined to find out what was going on. So when Bones exited Goodman's office twenty minutes later he rounded on her with his charm smile in full swing, the one he knew could make her tell him anything but to his surprise she simply brushed him off insisting she had phone calls to make before locking herself in her office. Booth was now certain something was up and had a sneaking suspicion that the folder that she wouldn't let out of her sight was the cause of it. Against his better judgement he let her have her space, she would tell him what was wrong eventually, she always did. He was sure of the fact until he arrived at the Jeffersonian the next day. She was holed up in her office again but this time Angela was with her and according to Zack they had been in there for the last two hours. Booth tried to force back the twinge of hurt that rose in his chest when he found that Bones didn't trust him enough to tell him what was going on but the hurt turned to worry when after another hour Bones and Angela finally emerged. Both women had been crying, their puffy red eyes giving them away but niether women said anything as to the reason. Something had to be done, Booth had to know why Bones was hurting, if he knew, he could fix it, his three years with her making him positive of the fact. So Booth plastered on the biggest charm smile he ever remembered using before swaggering confidently towards Bones who was now crouched over the remains on a nearby examination table.
"Hey Bones its almost five, what do you say we cut out early and head down to Wong Foo's?" His smile faltered when she didn't even look up at him.
"I can't," She replied, "I have an appointment."
"With who?" he huffed indignantly.
"Its 'with whom' and it is none of your concern."
"The hell it isn't!" Booth had now passed hurt and was now waist deep in anger. His normally limitless paitence reahing the end of it's teather. She was closing up again, his efforts having the opposite effect and he had a sneaking suspicion she was just making up the "appointment". "You're my partner, which makes it my business."
"Booth," she said his name with such venom it surprised him. Her eyes snapped to his suddenly, pools of liquid fire, challenging him to argue. "No matter how you have deluded yourself, you are not my keeper and I do not need your permission to come and go as I please. I intend to go to my appointment, after which I will go home and maybe have a glass of wine while reading my favourite book. If you are that desperate for company I'm sure Mandy or whatever her name is will be happy to oblige, seeing as she is your girlfriend. Now if you will excuse me I have matters to attend to."
"Bones, what the hell?" was the only thing he could say but he was talking to her back as she retreated back to her office. Booth had had just about all he could take but now he was even more determined to figure out what was wrong. Cool, calm, analytical Temperance Brennan did not blow a gasket for no good reason but just as he made a move to follow Bones and break down her office door if need be, he was confronted by an equally furious artist.
"Don't." Angela warned her voice holding a menacing tone Booth had never heard her use before. "Leave now Booth before you do something both you and Brennan are going to regret."
"Leave? But I didn't do anything!" Booths eyes were wide with disbelief. "What's wrong with Bones? Why won't she talk to me?"
"I'm warning you Booth you do not want to push this, now leave before I make you." Angela folded her arms across her chest for emphasis and in that moment she looked so fierce and formidable a chill ran down Booth's spine.
"Fine!" Booth shot back bitterly before storming out of the lab unable to help the longing gaze into Brennan's office. He was going to find out what was wrong with her even if he had to force it out of her. He couldn't just sit by when the women he loved was in pain, Seely Booth was a man of action. Except of course when it came to actually telling her his true feelings. He had tried many times but a stifling fear made him break out in a cold sweat when he even considered it, so he hid behind meaningless relationships and meaningless sex when his heart cried out for his auburn haired anthropologist.
Brennan sat in her office feeling utterly ashamed of herself. There had been no appointment and she had lied straight to his face but he gave her no other choice. She didn't mean to explode like that and she was well aware that it was not Booth's fault and she was taking it all out on the wrong person. It was just the thought that there would be no more dinners at Wong Foo's, no more late night paperwork, no more being with Booth once she left. She stifled a groan as she thought about it, she didn't even know where she was going but everything was ready and she needed to stop making excuses, the sooner she was gone the sooner they would be safe. Angela knew that she was leaving and why, Angela had to know but she just couldn't bring herself to tell Booth, he would try to help and get himself killed in the process. If whoever was after her had her father scared she didn't want to think about what they were capable of. No! She was doing the right thing not telling Booth no matter how much it hurt. Her progress was slow as she made her way home, her mind frantically remembering every detail of the sights she would no longer see, the Jeffersonian in all its grandeur, her route home, her apartment building, her apartment itself with all her collected curios. Maybe she would see it again one day but for now it was time to gather what she needed and collect only her most treasured possessions. As she finished and scanned the room for anything she might have forgotten she noticed the answering machine's blinking light indicating that she had messages to listen to. Brennan left the rucksack that contained everything she could need for her new life by the couch while she walked to stand in front of the machine. There was only one message and she fought the urge to delete it when her father's voice echoed around the room.
"When you decide to come to your senses call me on Russ' old cell phone number and the sooner the better Temperance."
Before she registered what she was doing Brennan had picked up the phone and was dialling the number she had memorised when her brother had given it to her two years prior. It rang twice before it was picked up and her father's gruff voice filled her ears again.
"You were right," she began before he could get a word in edgeways, "A package came for me with photographs. Bloody photographs of my friends and a note that said me or them and that I have three days. I'm packed ready to leave because I can't let anything happen to them but the only way I can make sure of that is to get the bastard that's doing this and the only person capable of doing that is you. So here's the deal dad, I only leave DC if you tell me where you are. I come to you and we do this together so I can get my life back."
There was a long pause before he spoke again, "I'm in Great Falls Montana, a small hotel called The Jack Rabbit Inn, ask for Matt Taylor. Hurry Temperance, I don't put it past that FBI partner of yours to bug your phone and if he knows where you're going he'll just come after you and where we're going he can't follow."
"I'll leave within the hour," She nodded even though he couldn't see it and the question that had been plaguing her surfaced once more and she lacked the emotional strength to brush it aside again. "But Dad, if this man wanted me dead there are easier ways to do it, how does making me leave everything behind affect you? What does whoever is doing this get out of it?"
"If you hurt I hurt, he's taking away what you love the most and what I love the most is to see you happy. I promise Temperance we're going to get this son of a bitch or I'll die trying."
Tears sprung unbidden to her eyes at his words, all that he had done temporarily forgotten. All that mattered was the now, which was her father promising to do anything for her. Motivated she clarified the details with him and hung up the phone taking another look around the place this time with a hope she hadn't felt before. Her reverie was interrupted by a loud rapping at her door and her heart sank again before she reigned it in again, she knew who was on the other side of the door and she knew her resolution was crumbling by the second. She had to keep it together, she could control her emotions, she had done for the past three years, there was nothing different about today. That thought as logical as it sounded flew straight out of her head as she pulled open the door after ensuring her rucksack was well hidden. Booth stood there with his arms crossed across his chest and an unreadable expression on his face.
"There is something going on and you're going to tell me what it is." His tone was no non-sense and his eyes held hers with the sheer force of his gaze.