Brennan froze. She knew about Booth's father. She couldn't believe that the kind man who had rescued her from her personal hell was the same man who caused Booth to live in hell for his childhood. She realized she couldn't move; she was too stunned by the news. "Bones, you okay?"

"What?" She heard what he had said, but was having trouble processing it.

"Are you alright?"

"I-I don't know…"

"Tempe, I probably owe you an explanation too," Abe said. He knew he was in trouble.

"I- I think I need time to process this," Brennan immediately began to walk away from the two Booths. She expected Booth, like he usually did, to follow her, but after a few minutes, she suspected that his father had restrained him.

It just didn't make sense to Brennan. Abe had helped her cope with her parents disappearance, given her a place to stay, threatened to hurt anyone who even looked at her the wrong way, never drunk, and worked hard to help her have the best possible life she could. And yet this was the same man who had drunken himself into nothingness, beaten her partner daily for the most insignificant things, and then abandoned him without a word. Yes, he admitted to her that he had been an abusive father. She had not expected him to be beating his children daily, though. How can one man be so different? Through all of this, she didn't realize tears had begun to run down her face.

Eventually, Brennan found herself outside of the Jeffersonian. Though Brennan did not usually see things as signs, she thought this meant her work would reveal the correct thing to do. However, Angela greeted her before she could return to Limbo.

"Hey, Bren. Are you okay?" Angela was immediately concerned for her best friend.

"No," was all that she could manage to say.

"Come on, let's talk in my office." The artist led the anthropologist into her office. Tears were still rolling down Brennan's face. "Okay, Bren, what happened? This morning you were thrilled to have Abe here, and now you're in tears alone. What happened?"

"Ange, is it possible to be a monster and good man?" The question threw Angela.

"What?"

"Is it possible to be a good person and do the unthinkable?"

"Yeah, I mean, look at your dad. He killed a man and left you and Russ, but it was all because he thought it was the right thing."

"What about abuse? Knowing what you were doing was wrong?"

"Whoa, what? Did Abe abuse you?!" Angela panicked

"Not me. His kids."

"He has kids?"

"He abused them and then left them. They were only kids… But then he did so much for me. I don't know what to do. What to feel."

"He probably left them to protect them."

"He left them because their grandfather told him to get out of his house…" Brennan remembered Hank telling her that.

"But he didn't come back where he could hurt them."

"He had already abused them for so long though." After a moment of silence Angela spoke again.

"Why did he tell you all this at lunch?"

"He didn't…"

"Then how do you know all of this?"

"His son. He attacked Abe. It came out…" Brennan was not ready to say the son's name, to fully admit that her liberator was the drunken father who abused Booth.

"You trust the son more than Abe?"

"Abe admitted it. Ange, what am I supposed to do?"

"You could talk to him?"

"Which one?"

"Abe. Do you even know the other one?" Cam entered the room.

"Dr. Brennan, are you alright?" The past cop noticed the tears and puffy, red eyes.

"Abe isn't as good of a guy as Bren thought," Angela explained.

"What he'd do? Do we need to hide a body?" Cam was only half kidding. They all know that Brennan could be deadly if she wanted to be, though.

"No, though he might be at the hospital by now…"

"What?!" both women were stunned. Angela was the first to speak. "Bren, did you seriously send him to the hospital?"

"No, his son might have."

"I'll have Booth check it out. He called earlier and is back in town. I told him you were at the dinner. I'll tell him you're back here but your Abe might be in trouble."

"Don't," was all Brennan said. Angela and Cam exchanged confused looks.

"You don't want us to help him?" Angela asked.

"I don't want Booth involved." Cam suddenly realized where she had seen Abe before.

"Oh my God. Abe is Joseph." Brennan just looked at her and nodded.

"Okay, I'll bite. Who's Joseph?"

"Booth's dad. He showed me old family pictures when we were dating. That's why I thought I knew him."

"Wait, so you lived with Booth's dad and never figured it out?" Angela asked stunned.

"I lived in Chicago, Booth is from Philadelphia. I knew Booth's dad's name was Joseph Booth, I knew him as Abraham Hartell. I knew he abused Booth, but he saved me from abuse. I had no reason to surmise that they were the same man."

"So, he changed. He had like eleven years to think about what he'd done. He probably thought of helping you as a way to prove he'd changed."

"This may be true, but psychology is a soft science and I do not have confidence in it."

"Brennan, you need to talk to one of them." Almost as if he had been standing outside waiting for the opportune moment to enter, Abe entered.

"Tempe, I really need to explain this to you." He knew that he was the cause of the tears running down her cheeks. And he felt awful. He was trying to correct his mistakes with her. He had hoped that they would never have this conversation, but now knew it was inevitable.

"We can discuss it in my office," Brennan responded, wiping away her tears and standing to go to her office. The older man followed her as she left the room.