OK, guys. Don't get too excited about the two posts in as many days. As it were, my day off is tomorrow, so you might get a new chapter tomorrow, as well. But with this splitting headache I like to call Migraine nagging me incessantly, it probably won't happen. I'll see what happens. But for now, here is chapter 7. If you guys could give me feedback, that would be awesome and appreciated, but totally not necessary. Thanks for reading, anyway. Enjoy!


The forty five minutes of traffic riddled driving it took to return to the lab from the Robustelli residence was thickly silent. Pain and sorrow hung above Booth like a dark cloud, pouring grief over him in sheets. The empathy he was feeling had a vice grip on his heart, and he couldn't shake the image of Carmine standing before him, ordering him to catch the person who killed his daughter. For the first time he could ever remember, he made a promise that he wasn't sure he could keep. There were more factors than just him investigating in this case, and one of them seemed to be more emotionally involved than he, despite her efforts to hide it.

Why was this case affecting Bones so deeply? He could understand if she were in the same situation as Angela, but that just wasn't the case. She was hiding something, and he was just as determined to figure out what that was as he was to solve this case.

Holding up his badge at the security check, the guard peered at it for a moment, then nodded as the gate rose to allow Booth access. He pulled into the parking area, scouring the lot for a space before finding one ten yards from the front entrance.

As he killed the engine, he glanced at Angela, who wore a vacant expression. Her eyes were glazed with another round of unshed tears, the puffiness from the previous rounds reddening the rims around her deep brown orbs. Her cheeks were still pink from the force of crying for an hour with Roselyn. He hadn't the heart to pull her away from her grieving before she was ready, so he just stood there, watching as they clung to each other, tears flowing in streams down the set tracks on Angela rosy-tan cheeks. Roselyn's husband stood behind her, grasping his wife's shoulders between his wrinkled hands.

Now she sat in his truck, ready to cry once again, but with no other sign of emotion in her swollen eyes. They remained in silence, his patience with her suffering never ending.

"You have to let me tell Greg," she said suddenly, her voice strong, despite the wavering from tears waiting to escape.

"Why?"

She began ticking off points on her fingers. Index finger, "My part in this investigation is done." Middle finger, "I've known Greg as long as I've known Janelle." Ring finger, "I promised Roz and Pop he'd find out in person." Pinky finger, "I can fly out to Vegas without holding back the investigation." Thumb, "And Bren needs you here. Probably more than she'd ever admit."

He raised his eyebrow at the thumb point. "What?"

She rolled her reddened eyes. "Booth, you're a smart man, you should be able to figure it out." He gave her his best confused look, and she sighed. "I can't tell you why, but this case is hell for Tempe. I'm surprised she's held it together this long." She placed her fingers on the door handle, but turned back to him. "She needs you to be here for her. I need you to be here for her. OK?"

He wanted to argue, to tell her that talking to the family was not her job. He wanted to make her tell him why Bones was bothered by this case. But instead, he just nodded, unable to form a coherent sentence, let alone a decent argument.

Angela opened her door and climbed out, prompting Booth to do the same. She walked a few feet ahead of him, her arms crossed protectively over her chest. He quickened his pace, pulling the door open and holding it for her as she crossed through. She smiled weakly over her shoulder before reaching into her purse. She held out her ID for the security guard, and headed straight for the elevators after he nodded his approval.

Booth did the same, receiving a worried look from the man checking his ID. He simply shrugged his shoulders, keeping the details of the case confidential, as they should be. He walked up beside Angela just as the elevator dinged to announce its arrival. They stepped inside simultaneously, and rode up to the lab silently, that same cloud hanging above them both.

The second they stepped out of the elevator, Hodgins was wrapping Angela in a hug. The look on his face showed that he had been worrying nonstop since they had left. When Booth shifted his gaze to the examination are, he saw Zack and Bones still working diligently on the skeleton.

Moving over there, he climbed the stairs and then stepped beside Bones. "You find anything?" he asked, his eyes roaming over the arrangement of bones.

"The C2 and C3 vertebrae were fractured," she stated flatly, her voice cool. "A sharp rotation of her neck caused the bones to break and, with the severity of these breaks, quite possibly transected the spinal cord, cutting off her ability to breathe."

Taking a calming breath, Booth asked, "Anything else?"

"The little muscle attachment that was left showed a dislocation of the left shoulder," Zack said quickly, eliciting the second raised eyebrow from Booth in less than an hour. "I did the examination of the body before the remaining tissue was removed from the bones."

"I've completed my assessment of the bugs found with the body," Hodgins said as he climbed the stairs.

"Where's Angela?" Bones asked.

"She's on the phone with the airline. She's trying to get a ticket to Vegas for as soon as possible?"

"Why?" Zack asked, confusion etching itself into the question.

Booth put his hand on the young man's shoulder. "She's flying out to tell the fiancé."

"Isn't that your job, Agent Booth?"

"Yes, Zack. But it's better that Angela does it."

As Zack went to speak yet again, Bones butt in with, "What did you learn from the bugs?"

Hodgins cleared his throat as he took his cue to speak. "That she was more than likely killed at the end of September."

"That fits," Cam said from behind Hodgins, causing him to turn around. Booth, along with the others, gave a curious stare as she climbed the stairs to the examination area. "Janelle Robustelli was reported missing September 25, 2007 by her parents. The investigation into her disappearance is still open. The files are being transferred to the Jeffersonian as we speak."

"Did anyone see her before she disappeared?"

"I don't know. We'll have to wait for the files. It shouldn't be more than an hour."

"Do we have an address for Janelle?" Booth asked, anxious to start his end of the investigation.

"Now that I have," Cam said. Handing over a sheet of white paper, she smiled meekly. Then, turning on her heels, she walked away from the group.

"What are you going to do now?" Bones asked him, her voice tired.

"I'm going to her," he motioned to the skeleton, "home to see if I can find anything that will help us catch the creep who killed her." Taking a steadying breath to stave off the quaking emotions in him, Booth sent a questioning look in his partner's direction. "You in?"

After a brief moment of hesitation, she gave the first verbalization of the effect this case was having on her. "Damn right, I'm in."