Their next two calls were to Angela and Cam. Both women arrived in record time, just after the FBI did. They sat with their friends while they were asked a barrage of questions. Once they were done questioning Parker, Cam, after performing a cursory exam, took him to the hospital, while his parents were still being questioned.

"Have you worked any cases recently involving children?" Agent Malone asked, feeling a bit intimidated that the missing child was the daughter of the famous duo, Special Agent Seeley Booth and Doctor Temperance Brennan.

He's already gone over the "Do you know of anyone who'd want to hurt you or your children?" question, to which Dr. Brennan had replied, "Don't you know who we are? Of course there are people who want to hurt us!"

After that he decided to stay away from the "has she ever run away" question out of fear for his life. He knew that Agent Booth was a legendary shot.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, we are working a case with a child right now. A girl, 12-14 years of age. Her identity hasn't been determined yet," Brennan replied.

"It could be related, but pedo – umm – abductors who take adolescents wouldn't typically be interested in preschoolers as well," said Agent Malone pensively.

"Nonetheless, if the case of the girl in the creek is in any way related to Natalie, identifying her is top priority," Brennan said then turned to the woman seated next to her on the couch, "Ang, I need you to go to the lab right away and work on that facial reconstruction."

Angela looked at her wide-eyed. First off, it was almost midnight. Secondly, it was Saturday! Under any other circumstance, she'd definitely remind Brennan that normal people do not work on weekends or in the middle of the night. But, Angela knew that Brennan would be there, come hell or high water, if something happened to either of her kids.

"Okay. It will probably only take me a few hours to finish the reconstruction and run the image through the NCIC database."

Agent Malone looked at her incredulously, wondering if this was how Brennan and Booth's team worked; they said jump, the others asked how high.

"Thanks, Ang," Brennan said, squeezing her best friend's hand before she got up from the couch.

"Welcome. We're going to find her, Bren," Angela said, embracing her best friend tightly.

Brennan just nodded in reply.

"Is there any places that you go to a lot?"

"We go to the zoo a lot and Marvin Gaye Park. There's the little park on Massachusetts and P Street that Elizabeth, our nanny, goes to. Of course, she spends a lot of at the Jeffersonian and the Hoover."

"Okay, that's helpful. Can I get a list of Natalie's preschool teachers, Nanny, anyone else who takes care of her?" Agent Malone asked.

"Sure," Booth said.

"But, we are going to want to do our own investigative work, as well," Brennan said leaving no room for negotiation.

Agent Malone opened his mouth to speak some words of protest then closed it. He thought of his own eight year old daughter at home. If anything happened to her or his son, and he had the full might of the FBI at his disposal, he would certainly take advantage of it.

"Okay, but just let me know what you find out."

"Thank you," Booth said, knowing that Agent Malone couldn't be pleased about their involvement.

Agent Malone stood up. "I would like to speak to each of you alone. Agent Booth, could we speak in the kitchen?"

"Agent Malone, there isn't anything you can't ask me in front of my wife."

"Agent Booth, it is just standard procedure."

Booth was still an immoveable bulwark on the subject, "Standard procedure," he scoffed.

"All due respect, Agent Malone, but I've said that to suspects and witnesses many times myself. You do not need to speak with Bones and I separately. We are not having any problems in our marriage; neither of us are sleeping with anyone else or have a secret drug habit."

"Okay, I will document that you and Dr. Brennan refused to be questioned separately," Agent Malone said, hoping this wasn't going to be one long power struggle.

Agent Malone peered up the stairs, "It looks like the CSU is almost done."

As if on the cue, the head of the CSU said, "There were some prints on the bedposts, but they appear to Dr. Brennan's, Agent Booth's, or his son's."

Agent Malone nodded, "I think that is all I need for now."

"Thank you," Booth and Brennan said in unison.

"Please call me immediately if you get a ransom call or note," Agent Malone said giving them each a copy of his card.

Agent Malone was fairly certain that this must have something to do with Dr. Brennan's millions. Why else would you kidnap a millionaire's daughter?

"We will."

Within five minutes, Agent Malone and the CSU cleared out, leaving Booth and Brennan alone for the first time since they learned Natalie was missing.

Booth wrapped his arms around Bones, "We are going to find her, baby."

Bones nodded, "We will."

Booth squeezed her a little tighter. He thought, or maybe hoped, that she would cry. Booth knew her well enough to know that she was going to put on her brave face, while she was falling apart inside.

Booth brushed a stray hair from her face, "Malone thinks it's a kidnap for ransom."

"Did he tell you that while I was in the bathroom?" Brennan asked, looking up him, her blue eyes filled with sadness.

"No, I just -."

"Your gut?" Brennan said with a slight smile.

"Yeah. He figures that whoever took her did it for the money."

"Why not take Parker too then? Maybe we'd pay more for both kids," Bones said sarcastically.

Booth frowned. He had an idea why the kidnapper didn't take Parker, and it was one that he knew would upset his wife. He could lie, citing that at 5'10 and 170 lbs, Parker would be much more difficult to move discreetly. But Booth couldn't lie to Bones.

"Maybe, whoever took Nat knew that Parker wasn't yours – biologically," Booth said hesitantly.

Bones looked at him wide-eyed and said resolutely, "I might not have given birth to him, but Parker is my son. I go to his parent-teacher conferences, helped him get ready for his first date, kissed his goodnight until he said he was too old for that, I-."

"I know Bones, and Parker knows that too. Why do you think he calls you 'Mom'?"

"We should get to the hospital," Bones said softly.

Booth nodded, "Sure."

October 9, 2010, 2:45 AM

They'd relieved Cam of her ER duties over an hour ago, but they were still stuck in the ER waiting room. It was flu season, and the waiting room was packed with coughing kids. When they arrived around 1:30, they'd spent some time bringing Parker up to speed on what happened with Agent Malone. Then, they'd spent a lot of time trying to convince Parker that it wasn't his fault, telling him that if someone wanted to take Natalie, they'd have found another opportunity. Parker didn't seem altogether convinced, but after a while, exhaustion took over and he fell asleep with his head propped on Brennan's shoulder. Much to Booth's surprise, Brennan followed suit about 15 minutes later.

Bones was seemingly fast asleep when Booth heard her phone ring. So as not to wake her, he quickly extracted her cell phone from her jacket pocket. The screen read "Angela".

"Hi Ang," Booth said quietly.

"Oh. Hi, Booth. Is Bren there?"

"She's asleep. We're with Parker in the ER. Still waiting."

"Well, I just wanted to let her know that I got a hit on my sketch."

"Oh, great. Who is she?"

"Emma Barlow. She would have turned 14 a week ago," Angela said sadly.

Angela hesitated then said, "She lived in The Capitol Park Plaza apartments. Apartment 3C."

"Yeah, I know the place. Not the nicest. Should that mean something to me?" Booth asked.

"Emma lived three doors down from where Bren lived when she first moved to D.C."

Booth paused, trying to suppress his astonishment that Bones had lived in that dump.

"It's a big complex, probably just a coincidence."

"Booth, Emma was a foster kid."