AU:/ Yes, I'm horrible. I put two chapters up and never came back! Sorry, this is short, but I'll try getting something longer up soon! Hopefully before 2012! My New Years resolution makes me update every week so hey! Plus I can't submit to the plot bunnies and write another story! (Or maybe just post it… all you Merlin people I might be joining your realm after June, then again I have to watch season 3 first…. Darn it!)
Review people! I'd love to hear what I need to work or what you love! Even if it's that you like my sad attempt at humor and dislike my lack of updating!
Still looking for that sanity… though now it seems fruitless. Though not vegetable-less! Lame-o is my name-o, I know-o!
Chapter 3 The Partners In The Pain
" Max-" Booth began, planning to calm down the older man before he did something stupid, but Bones' father beat him to it.
" Where is she Booth?" Keenan growled. Seeley considered lying to him, but decided if the roles were switched, and Max knew where Parker had gone, he'd already have the older man pinned against the wall.
" We don't know." he finally replied. This didn't help relax the father.
" What does that mean?" he spat back furiously. Cam stepped in, leaving a slightly crying Angela with her husband.
" It means she ran out." the doctor replied, her tone slightly cold. She didn't need to deal with Max Brennan right now. All she needed to do was take care of her coworkers.
" So's she's not kidnapped?" Max demanded, a little less worried now that his little girl wasn't in immediate danger. Or so he thought.
" No, but..." Booth trailed off. He wasn't all that sure of what had happened to Bones. She had been attacked, obviously, but over what? And when? They needed more and Max's methods were unorthodox at best, illegal at normal, and unethical at worst.
" But what Booth? What happened to my daughter?" Max stepped further inside the office, giving the agent a deadly glare.
" We're not sure, she isn't..." Booth's heart refused to let him say it. Saying ti meant it was real. If it was real, then Bones had no memory of him. Or Cam, or even her dad. She still thought her brother and parents had abandoned when she wasn't even old enough to drive. She didn't remember Cam and all the arguments they'd had, or the times when she had made Bones go home when he couldn't. She didn't know Angela that well. Her pregnancy, all the lunches, all the advice, the smiles, the secrets, the sister Brennan had gained. Bones didn't know him. Didn't know all their lunches at the diner, all the laughs they'd shared, the smiles, the tears, the blood, the times they'd near died to save the other, the drinks at Founding Father's, the kiss outside the Jeffersonian, the Grave Digger, all of his words or explanations, Gormogon, Zack, the tumor, her sudden announcement that she wanted a child of her own, and wanted Booth to be the father, Sully, she didn't know that the team had shattered, she didn't know Sweets and how many times he had helped them, or how many times he, Booth, had made her life a little better, given her a hug, or all the moments where she made his job, the danger, the frustration of putting up with her and all the Squints, Jared, balancing Parker and his work, everything that made his life horrible, worth it. Just seeing her smile made the whole sky brighter to him. All those times she had made him a better man.
" Isn't what? Sane? Tall? Eating a hamburger? Isn't what?" hissed the older Brennan.
" She isn't Brennan. Or she is Brennan, but not the one you know." Cam supplied.
" You smart people, you speak in riddles." Max replied, confused.
" She has no memory of the past six years." Hodgins explained bluntly. Max looked close to passing out. His mouth dropped in shock. He looked at each scientist, artist, and cop in the room in a stunned, last, desperate attempt to see the hidden laugh that revealed this cruelty to be a joke. He found none, just deep sadness, pain, and fear of the present and future. Because right now the only thing safe, had been forgotten.
" Tempe doesn't remember... anything?" Max's voice was hollow and empty as he processed the astonishing statement.
" She'll be fine Max. She's Bones, she's tough as steel." Booth reassured the pained father, who was now sitting down in a chair as he tried to steady his breathing. But in truth, and everyone in the room knew, just from the look on the FBI agent's face, that this was both assurance for himself, and a promise.
An oath only Booth could make for Bones. That she would be okay, that she was Bones, tough as steel, and would be fine, that Bones would be happy.
Because that's what partners did.
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Still not vegetable-less, though I did run out of carrots…