Okay, finally chapter seven. I'm sooooooo sorry for being so late with this. I've smacked my hands for you all. It's a little on the short side but I thought that you guys need to know what's going on back in D.C before we get back to Booth and Brennan. I think keeping Booth and Brennan apart for seven chapters is long enough right? If you play your cards right they might just reunite next chapter!

Chapter Seven: a new life and lost

"Julia. What are you doing here?" Cam asked as she skillfully sipped her morning coffee whilst slipping her car keys into her handbag, seeing the blonde woman who was standing uneasily near the entrance of the Jeffersonian. Julia looked a little distressed; she hadn't bothered to change out of her blue scrubs, obviously coming to the lab straight after finishing the night shift. The thirty two year old opened her mouth to speak but no words came out for a moment.

"Where's Seeley? I tried calling him. I mean it's been three days since we were supposed to get married and I haven't heard from him. That's normal right? Please tell me that he and Dr. Addy have just been busy on a case that the FBI is keeping under wraps."Julia hoped aloud. The friendly smile on Cam's face faded. Julia didn't know that he was in Brazil to see Dr. Brennan. She'd just assumed that she knew. Trying to be rid of the awkwardness and to keep out of Booth's business she continued to walk into the Jeffersonian with Julia right on her tail.

"What?" Julia was concerned at the change in Cam's facial expressions.

"You should really talk to Seeley Julia. It's between the two of you." She began to make a beeline for her office. Julia's mouth gaped.

"You know what's going on. I thought he'd call. I thought he loved me. I had doubts too, that's why I agreed to postpone but I still picked up the phone to call him. I've been to the apartment, to the FBI, and they said that he was on honeymoon." She choked back tears. Why was he doing this to me? Maybe it's too soon for us to get married. Work is hectic, I don't have time to be a wife and mother as well as doing rounds and become a great doctor. I can wait. No I can't. Maybe. . . our relationship was doomed from the beginning. All it was originally supposed to be was a fling after I ended by two year relationship with Greg. He said that he loved me. I thought he was different. All guys are like Greg.

"Julia. You really need to talk to Booth." Cam repeated her words in a firmer tone. She didn't want to be caught in the middle as much as it pained her to see Julia in her fragile state. She and Julia had become quite close since they'd announced their engagement. At first she didn't want to meet another of Seeley's dates, as he'd become quite promiscuous and the women only lasted a few weeks but when the engagement was announced she knew that Julia was around to stay.

"Camille. Please." Julia's urgent tone softened.

"Alright, Seeley's" just as she was about to tell Julia Booth's whereabouts Angela seemed to appear from nowhere with her sketchbook in hand.

"Hey Julia." She spoke chirpily as she'd had a full night's sleep for the first time in a long time and good breakfast that the baby agreed with. Hodgin's didn't seem to be as annoying to her since the postponed wedding. Things were looking up. Julia nodded a hello, knowing that if she spoke tears would follow. Usually she was a strong woman, but not knowing where her fiancée was and losing four victims to a drive by really put her on edge.

"Cam. I've got an I.D for the strangled burnt victim. Maribel Waters, fifty years old. I'm going to send the FBI this via fax." She announced.

"Angela. I thought you were supposed to be on maternity leave." Cam crossed her arms, minding her hot drink as she did so.

"I was. But sitting around a huge empty mansion with nothing to do but wait to pop isn't really appealing to me. Besides, Maribel needed to be put to rest." She concluded and then looked from Julia to Cam. She realized that she'd interrupted an intense conversation when neither of them talked.

"Okay. Well. If Hodgins asks, I'm not here." She said and then hobbled off in the direction of her office. Julia shook her head and then turned away from her supposed close friend.

"Forget it. I'll just try calling him again." she raised her hands in defeat before she walked out of the Jeffersonian. Camille sighed and hated Booth for his decision to leave Julia this way before she turned and walked into her office. There was at least three hours of administrative work with her name on it.

"Zack, I'm just saying once the baby is born, Angela and I think that you shouldn't conduct anymore experiments up in the flat anymore." Hodgins tried to reason with him but he just looked at him with a confused face as they made their way up to the building.

"I do not understand. My experiments are planned," he begun to launch into a huge speech so Hodgins cut him off before he could really get into it.

"Look, dude I know, but sometimes the calculations can be a little off. Do I need to remind you of the time you blew the lawnmower up? I think that it'll put both Angela and I at ease when we know our son is safe at our own home without a chance of being blown to smithereens." Hodgins said as the doors automatically opened for them.

"Statistically speaking," once again, before he could launch into a speech he was interrupted. Hodgins continued to walk into work and hadn't even noticed Zack's disappearance as he was sleep deprived. Angela had been in a good mood sleeping through the night but as a result Hodgins had not. Angela had wriggled and pulled off blankets in her sleep. One moment she was settled on her chest and the next she was on the other side of the bed. It didn't help that Hodgins was somewhat of a light sleeper.

"Hi." Julia was sitting on the bench outside the doors, she'd obviously been crying. Zack was immediately uncomfortable with the situation. Sure, he'd been in the company of Julia before, but never alone. And Booth had talked to Zack about Julia a lot as they'd travelled to and from crime scenes but he'd always ended up saying the wrong thing so Booth just forbade him to speak.

"Hello." He said and his fidgeting hands moved to his pockets. She furrowed her brow at looked at him like he was a little strange so he bowed his head to avoid eye contact.

"I had doubts too. I thought it was a good idea to call off the wedding for at least a month. I have pressure at work and it would've been a huge relief not to have pressure at home as well. I barely have time for myself let alone a husband and a ten year old boy. I had doubts. And I had a rough night and do you know the only thing that I wanted to do? I wanted to go home and curl up with my fiancée then go watch Parker's soccer game. And now I have no idea where he is." She spoke, she didn't care that it was Zack, she wouldn't have cared if it was the Dalai Lama. She needed someone to talk to.

"You do not know where Parker is? I think at this time he'd most probably be preparing for school." Zack spoke. Julia gave him the look again and he shifted from foot to foot.

"I meant Seeley Dr. Addy." She pointed out the obvious and Zack nodded.

"Agent Booth is in Brazil visiting Dr. Brennan." He stated and she looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

"Brazil? Why didn't he tell me? Who is Dr. Brennan?" she had questions that needed answers. Zach opened his mouth to speak but found himself to be interrupted again. He found it rather annoying that he couldn't finish a sentence at all that day.

"I'm gunna be a daddy!" Hodgins bellowed to all that could hear before he placed an excited kiss intended for Angela's cheek that landed on her earlobe. She hobbled from the building and noticed that Hodgins grip had tightened on her arm.

"Sweetie, relax. We have plenty of time. I think that we'll be stuck in the hospital for hours before little Jack arrives." She said and let herself walk a little slower but Hodgins was trying to usher her to the car.

That was when her water broke on the pavement. She looked down and then up at Hodgins with fright. This was really happening. They'd had months to prepare but now that it was really happening she was freaked out. They were going to have a baby boy. They were going to be parents.

"Can we hurry now?" he questioned and she was quick to nod.

"Yes. Open the door. Open the door." Her voice was raised when she repeated herself and Hodgins did was he was told, even if it did look a little clumsy from a distance. Once she was strapped in he kissed her forehead but she hastily pushed him away.

"Just drive Jack." She ordered and he ran to the other side of the car and hopped in.

"We're doing this." He stated and she turned to him and nodded. She noticed the tenderness in his eyes and then lent forward to give him chaste kiss on the lips before leaning back in her seat. With one last glance at her wife of three years he turned the key and they pulled out from the carpark.

"I suppose I am going to have to catch the bus home tonight." Zack thought aloud.

"The rebels would have left the camp now." She spoke in the familiar monotone voice. He watched her remove her head from his shoulder and looked down at her tearstained face. He nodded and then rubbed his chapped lips before wiping the sweat from his forehead. It had become dark but neither of the anthropologists had taken that into account until that moment.

"Is it safe to head back in the dark?" he questioned in a quiet voice with his British accent evident. In the four and a half years that she'd known the man she had never heard him this quiet and chilled to the bone. She came to her feet and wiped down her muddy knees, noting that it was a mixture of mud and blood as it stung at a touch. She couldn't recall how she'd hurt herself but felt that the injury was the least of her worries.

"It's a chance that we have to take. There could be survivors, and Dr White and Dr Raymond should be have arrived back from getting supplies." She reasoned and then took his hands, pulling him to his feet as well.

"Lets do this." He agreed and looked in the vague direction they'd emerged from before giving her a doubtful look.

"That is the way we came from right?" he had to be sure. She didn't answer as she wasn't sure either.