I must admit that I forgot about this for a while, but now there is only one more part. I hope this isn't too bad…

Part III

Silence was prominent in the household at night. The kid was sleeping, there were no electronics on, and the only sounds to break the silence were the occasional snores from Seeley Booth in the master bedroom. He grunted and rolled again when suddenly the wail of the alarm system screeched in the night.

Booth rolled out of bed with the sheet wrapped around his waist. He peeked up to see his wife sit up.

"Seeley, what the hell is that?" she asked fully alert.

"I don't know," replied nervously as he stood. He reached for the jeans beside him on the floor and quickly put them on. He reached in the nightstand and unlocked the box that held his gun. He kept it to his side in case it was a false alarm so that he didn't frighten Emily. He turned back to his wife.

"Bones, don't move until I check it out." He knew full well that she would move anyway, but he felt like he should at least say it.

He moved slowly down the hallway, towards Emily's room. She was the end of the hall and he could already see that he door was still ajar like he always left it after he said good night. However, a shadow cast in the living from the stove light in the kitchen caught his attention; it was too big to be his daughter. He felt Temperance behind him and whispered over to her.

"Check Emily's room." She nodded and moved slowly, trying not to make the floor creak.

Raising the gun, Booth proceeded down the stairs and towards the kitchen. He was about to round the corner when there was a gasp from the top of the stairs.

"Seeley, she's gone, and the window's open." Booth's body went into overdrive as he rounded the corner to find the kitchen empty, but the front door now wide open, letting the cold air into the home. He ran out to see a figure running down the street, holding a fighting child under his arm.

"Holy shit," he said as he took pursuit. His feet, covered only in colorful striped socks painfully pounded the pavement, but he didn't notice. The man made a left up onto another street and used something on a key chain to unlock a car. Booth sped up despite his lungs screaming for fresh air.

"Freeze!" he shouted into the night. The man turned and looked, his face hidden in the shadows. Emily looked directly at him and her eyes showed him everything; she was scared to death. Booth stopped in his tracks and raised his gun. He knew he had a clear sight to the man's head, but he couldn't pull the trigger god forbid it hit Emily.

"Put her down, drop the gun, and get down to the ground slowly," commanded Booth.

The man just chuckled before firing at Booth. Emily screamed and Booth moved out of the way, but the bullet still hit him in his shooting arm. The car peeled away and Booth raised his arm to fire at the retreating truck, but couldn't pull the trigger in case the bullet strayed. He watched as the car disappeared into the distance, until he could no longer see the red taillights of the car.

He was rooted to the spot; fear, confusion, and anger taking over him. He barely registered the sirens wailing in the background that were responding to the alarm going off, and Bones probably called the FBI as well. He vaguely felt an officer check him out and then call for the paramedics to look at him. He didn't remember being put in the back of an ambulance and fending off the paramedics. He only remembered his wife sitting next to him in the back of the ambulance as he pulled her close.

"Cullen is here," she stated with as calm a voice she could use. Though her voice was calm, her body was shaking. The man in question appeared in front of Booth.

Booth moved forward. "Sir, I was able to get the license plate of the car he took off in. Once I'm finished here we can run the plates."

"Agent Booth, first off, you're not on this case." Booth nearly stood up in rage and was ready to shout at his boss before Cullen put up a palm to stop him. "Look, you are too close to the case and you have a temper. This will be dealt with the right way and taken care of with proper documentation."

Booth processed what Cullen had said. Of course, that's what they always said, pulling agents that are close off cases. But he knew that there was something that he had to do.

Booth took a deep breath, trying to keep his voice level and calm. "Sir, with all due respect I think that I should be on the…"

"No Booth," said Cullen firmly. "You're going to the hospital, getting a good night's sleep, and letting a task force deal with it."

Booth was now irate. "Sir, the first twenty-four hours are imperative." Booth pulled his arm from the paramedic and then left the ambulance despite protests from Brennan, Cullen and the paramedic. He marched inside his home and returned minutes later, dressed in a dress shirt, slacks and a tie.

He unlocked his truck and turned to Cullen. "I'm going to my office to run the plates."

He pulled out of the driveway and flipped on his siren, despite the fact that it was nearing three in the morning.

Brennan shook her head, her head a swarm of feelings. Cullen offered her his hand. "Come on," he said. "I'll bring you there."

Brennan grabbed a few things from the house and got dressed before joining Cullen on the way to the Hoover building. They stopped at an all night coffee shop for something to eat and then entered the building. Brennan took a deep breath as they stepped off the elevator and headed towards Booth's office.

He heard them coming and was watching their approach. Cullen gave Booth a nod. "I'm going to check some things in my office. I'll be back in a bit."

"Thank you Agent Cullen," said Brennan. She placed the coffees on the desk and pushed them towards Booth. Booth regarded the object under her arm. His jaw moved side to side for a few, before he stood and faced the window with his hands on his hips.

Brennan stood and absentmindedly stroked the stuffed gray elephant, waiting for her husband to say something. Instead she noticed that his body was shaking and that he started sobbing. In two long steps she was there, her arms wrapped around his waist, their child's favorite object lodged between them.

"Tempe, I'm sorry," he choked out as he held her close. "I had the chance to shoot him, but I couldn't. I was afraid that I would miss. I just practically let him get away freely."

"It's not your fault. You got the plates, now we just hope that they match."

As she finished the sentence, the computer beeped signaling that it found a match. Booth dashed over and wrote down the name. "Steven Crawford. 324 Oak Street." Booth looked up as the sentence was spoken at the same time as Cullen spoke.

"Two local police units showed up at the home at 11.23pm responding to a report that a car was stolen. It matched the one you described. The owner is a sixty-five year old man."

Booth groaned and threw the paper to the desk. "Okay, so we're back to square one. If only I saw the damn guy." Silence filled the room, no one dared to speak.

They heard the elevator doors ding and a young agent ran into Booth's office. "Sir, you've got a very important call on line 1."

"Are you tracing it?" questioned Cullen. The younger agent nodded in reply before slipping from the room.

Booth put the phone on speaker. "Booth," he said.

"Agent Booth, this is an old friend," replied the man with a garbled voice. "We need to meet. Get five hundred thousand dollars from your bank account. When I see the money move, I'll contact you again." The phone clicked.

The electronics agent walked into the office. "Prepaid disposable cell phone. Sorry Booth."

Booth threw the phone down and broke the receiver.

Brennan wiped at her eyes, still clutching the child's doll. "I'll work on getting the money as soon as the banks open."

Booth nodded. "I'll go through some pictures, maybe recognize some of the facial features I saw under the streetlight."

"I'm going to see if I can get a bank manager in early for you guys, and then brief HRT," announced Cullen before backing away.

Before leaving to get the bank information, Brennan turned to Booth. "This isn't your fault." She gave him a peck on the cheek and left the elephant with him.