Disclaimer not mine

Bodies

Booth drove through the busy streets of Washington DC in silence. He had watched Brennan from the corner of his eye from the moment she had jumped in the SUV. He was worried. Taffet had been a cause of nightmares for the entire Squint Squad since the moment she had fallen in to their lives and now it seemed someone was hero worshipping her. It made him feel uneasy. He knew it would upset Brennan and the way she sat staring out the side window of the SUV as if she was a lost child proved to him he was right. He slowed the car at traffic lights while he waited for them to change. He could stand the silence no longer.

"So, ah Bones" He started.

"Yes Booth"

"The body was found in the woods. Some kids playing there discovered it" He started to wonder whether he should have run to Brennan with this case. He knew Caroline was unsure of their involvement. But who else was there?

"Poor kids." Brennan sighed. He remained silent for the rest of the journey. He knew a silent Brennan was never good news. He knew she was already angry and terrified just by the mention of the Gravedigger. The thought that there was someone else out there willing to carry on with her work was disgusting and equally as terrifying as when Taffet had escaped from prison a few months earlier. Brennan glanced across at Booth as she rested a hand on his knee. She could see him smile slightly at her gesture. She knew he was as scared of the woman as she was.

"Taffet was wrong Booth. You know that right? It is over" He nodded as he briefly covered her hand with his larger one.

"I know"

"Who ever the murderer is this time. It is not her. It is impossible for the killer to be her" Brennan was trying to be rational, even though the thought of Heather Taffet made her feel sick with nerves. It seemed that whatever happened they could not escape the woman.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jack sat at his microscope. He had been quiet since Booth and Caroline had visited the lab earlier. He knew that rationally it couldn't be the Gravedigger again. She was locked in a secure unit, under constant psychiatric evaluation. He sighed as he heard someone approach.

"Dr Saroyan" He looked up briefly from the microscope as his boss watched him.

"Dr Hodgins" She smiled kindly. "If this case is too close to home for you, you can work on something else" She watched as he turned back to his work for a moment before turning back to her.

"Have you said this to Dr Brennan or Angela? They were affected too. I'm working this case" He tried to control his temper. He didn't want anyone to know that he still had nightmares about dying in the buried car, of watching Dr Brennan die. Or that Angela and Booth never came home. He held her gaze.

"Very well Dr Hodgins" She stepped away "Oh and I have had this conversation with Angela and I will with Dr Brennan. I won't have this team disrupted and destroyed by that woman any longer. If that means I remove this department from its status with the FBI so be it" She walked back to her office hoping that whatever was going on in the field Brennan and Booth were coping better than she was. She walked up the metal staircase to see Angela stood at the top.

"Talk to him Angela" She nodded towards the resident bug guy. Angela sighed and nodded.

"I will, I don't always know what to say. But I'll talk" She smiled sadly as she walked down the steps towards him.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Booth waited as Brennan followed him to the woodland where the body had been found. Police and FBI agents swamped the area; the whole site had been cordoned off. She snapped on a pair of latex gloves as Booth held the tape up for her to pass underneath. The corpse remained in the shadow of a tree. She walked up to the remains as a police officer stepped back from the remains.

"I'm Dr Brennan of the Jeffersonian" She watched as the young woman nodded and pointed to the large black plastic sheet that covered the body. Brennan knelt down and removed the sheet.

"Female, aged 25-40. Never given birth. No visible signs of injury. Dead approximately five to ten weeks" She stood and turned to Booth. "What makes you think this woman died at the hands of someone copying Taffet?" She had seen nothing to suggest that to her.

"The body wasn't found where you see it now" He pointed to the distance. "The kids thought they had found a holdall. Dragged it up here when it got too heavy they opened it. Found, well they found her" He wrinkled his nose.

"Where is the bag?"

"Over there. The police officer is talking to the boys. Jeez, they are about the same age as Parker" He shook his head sadly.

"So the evidence has been compromised. I have to get this all back to the Jeffersonian" She sighed as Booth nodded. Her voice shook slightly as he crossed to her.

"Bones are you ok?" He held her gaze. Her blue eyes bored in to his brown ones.

"Yes" She blinked. "Any resemblance to the Gravedigger case is purely coincidental at this juncture."

"Yeah" Booth sighed as he held her gaze. "That's what I thought"

"She can't be doing this, she can't be" Brennan closed her eyes. "Not again, not now" Booth nodded.

"Let's get back to the lab. Bones, you are right it isn't her. There is no way it can be" He hoped he was reassuring her. He knew he sounded less than convincing. Brennan nodded.

"Yeah" She stepped away from the crime scene. "It isn't her Booth" She looked around the crime scene one last time before leaving. Something felt wrong; it was as if she could feel Taffet's eyes on her. Booth had said something but she didn't register what, her feet wouldn't move until she felt a gentle pressure on the small of her back as Booth guided her back to the SUV.

authors note. More soon, please let me know what you think xx