Chapter Nine:
Booth stood behind Bones rubbing her shoulders as she waited for Zach to place the tissue markers on the infant skeleton that was shipped from Mexico yesterday thanks to Booth's phone call to his friend.
"What if I'm wrong Booth? What if this is in fact Elizabeth?" She whispered quietly. Booth had withheld the fact that they were working on what could be Brennan's child. It would have caused bias, and he didn't want that to happen.
"If you are wrong then we will bury her here close to her family, to her mother." He replied still rubbing her shoulders. "Why don't we go get something to eat and let them do their work." He suggested mostly for himself. He didn't want to think of the baby on the slab being his partner's child.
She nodded knowing he was right. "Thank you for being here with me." She told him honestly as he led her out of the lab.
"There is no where else I would rather be." He replied helping her with her coat.
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After lunch at the diner, Booth decided that it would be a good idea to take Brennan to the park to spend some time with Parker. He pulled up to Long Creek Park and quickly parked when he spotted Parker. The chill of the morning had left and the sun broke through the clouds warming up the day. Brennan smiled when she saw Parker running toward them.
"Daddy! Tempe!" He screeched trying to catch his breath. Booth felt his little boy's arms wrap around his legs.
"Parker did you tell Rosa where you were running off to before leave? Booth asked him. Booth had taken the time to go over safety with Parker's soccer team to let them know what they can do to stay safe.
"Yes he did Mr. Booth." Rosa said catching up a couple of seconds later. Booth smiled thanking her for watching him on short notice. He took his son's hand and they made their way toward the swings.
Suddenly Parker stopped. "Daddy you have to hold Tempe's hand too." He demanded. Booth shrugged his shoulders, holding his hand out to his partner. She looked down at the small boy and not wanting to deny him anything, she took her partner's larger hand into her smaller one, interlocking their fingers together.
For some reason unbeknownst to him, Booth brought her hand to his lips gently placing a kiss. Her hand felt soft and smooth. He could smell the faint smell of her perfume. Booth searched her features for a reaction and he was rewarded by a smile that he hadn't seen in days.
Booth placed Parker on the swing and began to push him. Brennan looked on longing for the day where there would be play dates with her partner and his son. Brennan heard children giggling, enjoying the warm front that had come through warming the DC area on their day off from school. The sun shown brightly, almost too bright. Brennan raised her hand to shield her eyes from the sun's offending rays, and that is when she saw it, Grass is Greener Fertilizer/Extermination Services.
"Booth there is a fertilizer service here." Brennan pointed out the truck to him.
"Bones, keep pushing him. I am going to figure out what is going on here." Booth said moving out of the way so she could take over.
Booth walked away watching tossing a final glance over his shoulder. "Booth be careful." Brennan called to him.
Booth canvassed the area looking for anyone wearing a uniform identifying themselves as part of the fertilizer/exterminator service. He didn't see anyone, so he walked up to the office to get the rooster and to find out who worked there, mentally noting the license plate number.
"Here you go Agent Booth. I just checked with the supervisor and we aren't scheduled to have any extermination services today." The desk attendant told her as she handed him the file.
"Thank you." He flashed her a smile as he walked back out of the building. He looked around for the van again, discovering that it was no longer parked in the field by the grass. He called the appropriate channels to get what he needed for a warrant for the Grass is Greener Fertilizer/Extermination Services to get the chemical breakdown for Hodgins.
He walked back over to where Brennan was still pushing Parker. "Higher Tempe, higher!"
"Park if I push you any higher, you might fall off." She told him, half jokingly, half serious. Brennan saw Booth come closer. "The fertilizer van left about three minutes after you went into the building. I was going to confront him to keep him here, but I didn't want to leave Parker and Rosa by themselves out here."
"Yeah, thanks Bones." He told her. He walked over to Rosa explaining the situation to her, wanting her to take Parker home. Booth had a sinking feeling that he was going to be called to the park again.
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Angela heard the sounds of the partner's fighting when they came walking up to the platform. "Booth why can't we just go over to the fertilizer place and ask for their formula?"
"Because it would be a waste of time. You know they won't give it to us anyway because of competition and junk like that." Booth explained.
Angela sat sketching the picture of the child adding the right amount of shading. The sadness overwhelmed her. Hodgins came up behind her. "What are you thinking about?"
"They were children Jack. Innocent. Their entire lives were in front of them. What kind of sick bastard kills children?" Angela whispered. She was completely disgusted by that fact. She threw the sketch that she was working on for one of the exhibits.
Booth put his arm around Brennan's waist, pulling her closer. "Let's go find out the inevitable."
She nodded. They walked into Cam's office. "What do you have for us Cam?" He asked straight.
"The DNA does not match the sample of DNA that was given to us." Cam answered him.
Brennan smiled at him and walked back out into the lab. Brennan walked over to the child laying on the cold slab. "There is another mother out there who has no clue what happened to their child." She whispered to no one. "Angela can you input the skull information into the computer?" She asked her friend as she walked up.
"Yeah. But God, sometimes I hate my job." Angela told her.
"I know Ange." Brennan whispered to her.
Booth jogged up to Brennan. "Bones, we have to get going. We have the warrant for the fertilizer company. Let's go." He put his hand on the small of her back leading her out of the lab. "Bones, are you going to be okay?"
"Right now Booth we have a case about two murdered little girls. Those parents deserve to know what happened to their children." Bones answered decisively. It was at that moment that Booth knew that he couldn't live without her.
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Booth called Caroline on the way to the fertilizer plant to let him know that the child that Brennan thought was hers was in fact not. The manager was obviously not happy about having to give out the formula. It was time for them to finally get a break in their case and for Brennan to finally have Elizabeth back home with her.
AN: Here is the next chapter. Sorry it took a little bit to get out. I had to figure out where it was going first and add more to the case because it is essential to the story line. It was a filler chapter, but please still review. Thanks for reading.
