Chapter 4 –

Disclaimer – I don't own Bones, blah, blah, blah.

AN – I was hoping to update this Wednesday evening, but I got really discouraged after seeing that they had canceled the new Bones ep. I understand why, and it makes sense, but I still wanted to see it. :( On the other hand, I really do enjoy "aliens in a spaceship." I find the whole scene where Booth, Hodgins, Zack and Cam and the others are staring down at the expanse of, well dirt, and then Booth catching the little puff from the bomb, and the running, and rescues, very emotional. I don't cry at movies, I'm not sure why, but I never have. But this set of scenes always makes me feel it, and I can almost feel myself tear up.

Thanks for reviewing the last chapter. Eight reviews is better than two, but I was still hoping for more. However, I decided to take Goldpieces advice, and try to focus on the fact that few reviews doesn't mean people aren't reading and enjoying.

However, reviews really do make my day and it's always nice to hear (well read) that people like it. If this was a perfect world, I'd always receive a minimum of ten reviews per chapter, but I'll take what I can get.

Now… read the chapter and enjoy (hopefully).

It only took about 20 minutes to reach the new campsite. Even though Parker had seemed to regain his energy upon seeing Dr. Brennan, it was only a few minutes after leaving the site when he began to lag again. This time it didn't matter to Booth that he needed to carry his son as he had two extra FBI agents tagging along who were carrying all of the gear he had hauled up originally.

Upon reaching the new campsite, the three adults did a quick search of the site making sure there were no more bones or body parts to be found. Once they were satisfied, Booth had one Agent work on setting up the tent, while he and the remaining Agent set about getting the fire going.

He knew it seemed kind of odd to be setting up the tent when it was almost for certain that he wouldn't be spending his week camping out here as originally planned. But he had Parker to think about, and the little boy was starting to feel the excitement of the day catch up with him and was now half-heartedly planning with Ellant and leaning against his backpack.

So Booth planned on getting those hot dogs cooked so that there would be at least one promise that he did manage to keep to his son before putting his son in the tent for the night. At least someone might as well get some sleep that evening.

An hour later Booth was trekking back to the original campsite with one of the Agents at his side. He'd left the other one sitting beside the fire keeping watch as Parker slept in the tent. Luckily, the day had been draining for the little boy, and it hadn't taken much persuasion to convince him he needed to go to bed.

Which was a good thing, considering Booth had been feeling so guilty about the whole evening that he'd broken out the making for s'mores as they were finishing up the hot dogs. At least there had been enough of those ingredients to share with his fellow Agents.

The two Agents had had to sit there trying not to look hungry as Booth and Parker inhaled their hot dogs. Booth felt a little guilty, but not much. After all, he wasn't expecting company and since they didn't have a lot of packing space he'd only packed enough hot dogs for the two of them for one night.

As they entered into the original campsite Booth found himself once again impressed with how quickly the FBI, and Bones for that matter, could set up. The campsite was flooded with light coming from three different portable flood lights set up to provide maximum coverage. There was also a portable table set up that currently was holding a part of the skeleton, including Parker's infamous femur. But what shocked Booth the most were the bushes. Well, lack of bushes would be more accurate. In order to have access to the remains they had cut away all the bushes. Bushes, or parts of the bushes were being placed into large paper bags for transport back to the lab so Hodgins could check them out. They had been in contact with the body for an obvious long period of time and would provide clues about the decomposition rate.

Brennan and Zack were kneeling in the dirt by the body. In between them was a wooden contraption set up over a piece of plastic sheeting. Booth recognized it immediately as the sieve the squints often used when uncovering bodies. They'd shovel out thin layers of dirt and place in on the sieve so that they could catch even the smallest pieces of bone they might have missed otherwise. Currently the entire skeleton lay exposed before them, minus the left leg, whose pieces were sitting on the portable table.

Ditching the Agent, Booth headed over to his squints to see what conclusions they had come to.

"Hey," Booth said softly, crouching down beside them. He'd learned quickly in his early work with Brennan not to speak too loudly when approaching her from behind. She had almost floored him the first time he'd made that mistake. However, there was something about speaking soft and quietly that seemed to seep into her consciousness and he was willing to do anything to not be attacked again.

Brennan didn't stop working to acknowledge him, although he had seen her flinch when he spoke. Zack, on the other hand, did stop and turned to look at the Agent.

"Hi Agent Booth." Since receiving his doctorate, Zack had gained a lot of confidence and was now willing to step up and speak with the Agent. He'd finally realized that to be "one of the guys" didn't mean he had to be ignored.

"Zack," Booth smiled at the young Doctor and clasped his shoulder. "What have you guys found out?"

"Well, at first glance the remains appear to be male. Probably 30 – 35 years old. My guess is Caucasian."

"Zack," Brennan warned her former protégé.

"Sorry Dr. Brennan," Zack blushed, before continuing. "But of course that can't be confirmed until we're back at the lab, since racial profiling is very difficult and not one hundred percent accurate. He's very decomposed and since the weather has only started to really thaw out the last month or so after the persistent freak snow storms, I'd say he's been here since at least last fall, probably last summer."

"You mean to say that people probably camped here while he was…" Booth trailed off, pointing at the skeleton while wincing. "Wouldn't they have smelled something?"

"Yes, the smell would've been quite horrid," Zack confirmed. "But we have yet to determine when this campsite was last used. We've collected samples from the campfire pit to have Hodgins analyze."

"Don't forget," for the first time Brennan actively involved herself in the conversation, "it's quite possible that people arrived at this campsite, thought there was a dead animal near by and moved on. Unfortunately, because of the smell, people rarely search out the cause." The last part was said in disgust. As if it should be people's duties to determine if there is body present. "That's why we have so many bones in limbo. Not all of them were very well hidden, it is more likely that at some point shortly after their death, someone was quite close by to the victim, but was turned off the area by the smell. Therefore we don't locate the body until years later and have a much harder time solving the case."

"Got it Bones," Booth tried to head her off from continuing her lecture. "If you smell something funny, it's best to search out the cause."

"Exactly," Brennan didn't seem to notice that he was trying to prevent the continued thread of conversation and continued on her spiel, "but then again, it's possible that people found the body and never reported it in."

"But that's illegal," Booth exclaimed.

"Yes it is," Brennan nodded her head. "There have been many studies done on crowd theory over the years. It's actually quite fascinating. Do you remember the case involving a young women who was murdered in New York a few years back? It happened right outside her apartment building and there were over 30 witnesses, but no one did anything to help her even though she was screaming for help. One of the theories that has been tested and written about is how when a person feels they are part of a crowd, they tend to abandon their social responsibility. These witnesses didn't want to become involved, and since they knew they weren't the only one witnessing the act, they left the responsibility of action to the other witnesses. However, if everyone feels this way, the no one ever ends up acting. There have also been interesting studies looking into how leaders are able to gather a crowd and form it into a corporation, with many of these having a religious edge. By using these theories about crowds, people, often religious figures, are able to control their followers."

Booth tried to calm his uprising anger as she managed to turn an inane conversation/lecture into an attack on religion. "Okay Bones, we got it, you don't like religion and anyone who believes in it is part of a cult."

"I didn't say that Booth," Brennan turned to look at Booth, meeting his gaze head on. "Although, now that you mention it, there are a lot of similarities between organized religion and cults."

"Can it Bones," Booth snapped, before counting to ten silently in his head as he attempted to control his anger.

"Can what?" a confused expression took over her face. "I don't feel the need to can anything."

"It's an expression Bones," Booth sighed tiredly, lowering his voice so that any of the agents near by would be unable to hear him. "I don't want to fight, not tonight, please."

Brennan paused, opened her mouth to say something, but apparently thought better of it. Instead, she nodded silently and turned back to her work.

"Um Agent Booth?" Zack spoke up hesitantly and Booth swung around to face him, having forgotten he was there.

"Yeah Zack?"

"I think you'd also find it interesting that we located a ring," Zack moved to a stack of things that were laying on some plastic sheeting next to him and pick up the small metal circle before passing it over to Booth, along with a pair of latex gloves.

"Was he wearing it?" Booth questioned as he slid on one of the gloves so he could examine the ring closely.

"No," Zack shook his head. "It looks like he probably had it clenched in his hand." Zack held up a hand forming it into a fist as an example. "It looks kind of small too," Zack noted.

"It's not the size of the rock, it's the thought that counts," Booth replied absently as he examined the ring. It was very simple, just a small gold band with a single diamond. There didn't appear to be an engraving in it either. In fact, it looked like a ring whose design would probably show up in every ring catalog in the world. But Zack was right, the ring did appear quite small. "Hey Zack, are you sure this body is male?"

"Yes, why?"

"Because I'm pretty sure this ring belonged to a female."

Thanks for reading. :) Please take a moment, just a few seconds to let me know what you think. What do you want to see more of, less of, keep the same? Improvements/criticisms, I can take it all.

I don't remember the name of the women that Brennan mentions, and I have to admit I'm not even positive if New York is the right city. I do remember reading about this, and seeing the case on one of those shows like Forensic Files or Cold Cases.

Crowd theory can be really interesting. What I wrote about it may not be completely true, I didn't really do any research. I briefly read parts of the wikipedia page (which we all know isn't a incredibly reliable source) and what I could recall from what I heard about that case and psych classes I took in University.

I realize that stuff seems to be moving really slowly in the case, but I'm having trouble figuring out how much detail to include, and what areas I can skip. Some of it is just so easy to write, like the Parker interaction. But I'm thinking that I might just skip to them being out of the woods in the next chapter and back in DC. What do you guys think?

Once again, please take a moment to review.