So, here is the next part...still not completely happy with it, but oh well. The story must go on! Thanks again for your comments. Enjoy!

Chapter 4

Seeley Booth sat at his desk tapping his pencil. The past two weeks had been boring. There was no case, his partner was out of town, and his girlfriend, well, his ex-girlfriend, had run back to Afghanistan. The stack of paperwork in front of him was thin and he was hoping for a call, from anyone.

Since his partner was gone, he thought about calling her several times, but he couldn't bring himself to pick up his phone. Booth had been down that road once already and didn't know if he could handle admitting that he failed again.

Getting a message about a week ago, he knew his partner was out of town for two weeks. Maybe a little space is what they both needed.

Booth had just spent the entire weekend with his son, Parker. He thought spending time with his son, would take his mind off of things, but he couldn't be more wrong. The entire weekend Parker bombarded him with questions about Hannah and why they broke up. After moving on to another subject, Parker just kept the questions coming.

"So, does this mean you are going to be with Bones now?" Parker sipped his milkshake in the diner.

Booth practically spit his fries across the room. "What?"

"I like Bones. She talks to me about grown-up stuff. Bones thinks I am smart and she always answers my questions." Parker grinned with a mouth full of food.

"Parker, don't do that…wait a minute…" Booth leaned forward. "What do you mean Bones talks to you about 'grown-up' stuff?"

Parker frowned and rolled his eyes. "We are not talking about that stuff, Dad!"

"What stuff?" Booth felt his heart drop to his stomach.

"Not," Parker looked around, "boy and girl stuff. We talk about science."

Booth smiled thinking about the time spent with his son. He used that weekend to think about the situation with him and Bones and he sighed. It was a week later and once again his emotions were on the brink of collapse and he realized it was entirely his fault.

The phone barely rang once before he pounced on it.

"Booth."

"That was fast Studley. Apparently we have nothing better to do?" He could hear Angela's smile through the phone.

"Hi Angela, what's up?" Booth leaned back in his chair.

"Are you on your way?"

Booth sat up straight. "On my way to where?"

"Well, Brennan told me to assemble the team and I thought you would know…Uh-oh. You don't know do you? When she asked me to gather everybody I assumed it was, you know, every-"

Booth stood up and grabbed his keys. "What is going on Ang?"

She didn't answer.

"Angela, where is Bones?"

He waited for a second before Angela squeaked out her answer.

"In New York, helping solve a murder."

"I'll be right there."

With a jealous rage, Booth slammed his phone shut and bolted out the door.

Angela hung up the phone and smiled. "That should get the horses going again."

Dr. Camille Saroyan poked her head around the corner of her office door with a frown on her face. "What is going on Angela?"

"Oh our brilliant forensic anthropologist decided to go on a book signing and stumbled across a murder." Angela swung her desk chair to face her boss.

Cam walked in and blew air through her lips. "So, this meeting is about-?"

"I am not sure. She just asked me to set up a video conference and 'assemble the team'." Angela used air quotes for the last part of the sentence.

"I do not understand. Why would Dr. Brennan not call me? I thought we were finally in a place where we have an understand-" Cam was interrupted by her phone ringing. She produced an awkward smile. "Oh, look, it's the good doctor calling me now. Excuse me."

Cam turned quickly and walked out of Angela's office at a brisk pace while answering her phone.

Brennan talked to Castle and Beckett and they agreed to be present during her video conference. After calling Angela and Cam, she was invited to the police station in order to set up her equipment. Sitting in an interrogation room, she began downloading the digital photos and setting up for her meeting.

The door slowly opened and Castle stuck his head in. "Everything good in here?"

Brennan turned and smiled. She found Castle to be quite intriguing and was aware they shared some similar interests.

"Yes. Everything is fine. I needed to upload these pictures to the server, so my team can begin evaluating the case right away."

"Your team? Have you been together long?" Castle sat in the chair right next to Brennan.

Brennan sat back in her chair and nodded her head. "There have been people that have come and gone, but mostly we have been together nearly seven years."

Castle looked surprised. "Seven years? Wow. I would think that after dealing with murder from day to day, seven years seems like, I don't know, an eternity."

"We have had our ups and downs," Brennan looked distant for a moment. In that moment she had a mirage of pictures flash through her mind and she settled on her partner's face.

"But-" Castle leaned in.

Brennan blinked and shook her head. "Sorry." She smiled. "But, through it all we have been a family. You are there for each other when the days are rough and you celebrate when the days fill you with a sense of happiness. You do anything for your family."

Castle leaned back in his chair. Before he could respond, Beckett walked through the door.

Beckett saw the look on her partners face and thought she may have interrupted something. Feeling a twinge of jealousy, she shook it off and pulled up a chair.

"I have Esposito and Ryan interviewing some workers around the businesses where the body was found." Beckett smiled. "So, are we going to talk to your, um…people?"

Brennan never turned her focus away from her computer to look at Beckett. "Squints."

Castle and Beckett turned towards each other. With questioning eyes they turned back towards Brennan.

"Squints?" Castle asked.

"Yes. It is a personal moniker that my partner came up with years ago. We have adapted it as a term of respect and endearment from him." Brennan turned to see the confused look on their faces. She cleared her throat. "It's because we squint at things."

Beckett chuckled and Castle nodded his head. "It's cute."

There was a moment of silence and then Brennan's computer beeped. "Oh, my team is ready!" Brennan smiled.

"Let's do this." Castle grinned.

An hour after Angela had talked to Brennan, the team had assembled in her office. Dr. Lance Sweets, Hodgins, Cam, and student intern Wendell Bray looked up at Angela waiting for Dr. Brennan to start her link.

"Oh here we go!" Angela held her remote up and Brennan's face flashed before them.

"Hello everyone!" Brennan smiled widely.

A round of hey's and hello's were exchanged and Cam refocused everyone's attention.

"Okay Dr. Brennan, what do you need us to do?"

"First of all, I would like you to meet the leads of the team I will be working with in New York. This is Kate Beckett and Richard Castle." Brennan turned her computer to show the partner's sitting next to her.

"Wait a minute." Jack stood up. "Are you the Richard Castle? You write those novels about Nikki Heat. Very hot, by the way."

"That's me, in the flesh." Castle smiled.

"I see where you get your inspiration." Jack smiled and ducked out of the way of Angela's swatting.

Castles eyes widened as he stumbled over his words. "Um, well, I get a lot of my story lines from the cases we work on-"

"You sound like Dr. B." Jack smiled. "We all know that she gets her inspiration from-"

"Dr. Hodgins, can we stay on task here?" Brennan frowned. "I have uploaded some digital photos that I would like you to examine. There has been a human hand of a young boy found in the purse of a female teenage murder victim. The hand and some samples are being shipped to the lab as we speak and-"

Brennan was cut off by a loud sound from the other end of the link.

She immediately knew who it was.

"What the hell is going on here, Bones?"