The hours ticked by and there was still no phone call or demands made for Bones, which was making Booth anxious. He paced the lab, holding his cell phone in his hands and watching the squints work on what little evidence that they had. Hodgins had already been working on any particulates left behind in the tire treads while Angela was identifying the type of tires that left behind the marks as well as the common cars they were used on. Booth had already called every field agent he knew and they were all up and searching, combing the nearby areas closest to the Jeffersonian by eight the next morning. He wasn't going to give up or rest until he knew that Bones was back home safe. That was his promise as her partner and her best friend. He had promised her that nothing would ever happen to her and he wasn't going to break his promise. Booth was never a person to give up.

No one had slept since the previous night and everyone was on edge, but no one was more than Booth. The more he paced, the more images of Taffet hurting Bones and their baby came to his mind and the angrier he got. He would not be able to handle finding Bones' body somewhere in a ditch because she suffocated to death or something else entirely, but equally as horrifying. That was not something he would bring himself to think about any longer as he walked over to Hodgins' desk.

"Have you gotten anything yet from the treads?" he asked anxiously.

"I picked out the concrete bits that were common to the parking garage and narrowed what particulates were left to two very specific areas," he said, bringing up the images on the computer. "Whatever kind of car this was had been to Maryland. Morus rubra leaves, or Red Mulberry, and Quercus alba, or white oak were both mixed into the treads. Both are common to that area."

"Okay, anything else…Maryland is a pretty huge place compared to DC," Booth said urgently. If he knew an area, he could send a search team in that direction, but a whole state was just too large to encompass in time.

"There is this…Nelumbo lutea," Hodgins replied, pointing to another piece on the computer screen. "American Lotus. It's an endangered species only found in Kent county in Maryland."

"We need to send a team over there right now," Booth replied, pulling out his cell phone. "This is Special Agent Seeley Booth. I need a search team sent directly to Kent county, Maryland." He paused to listen to the other end. "Yes, bring the dogs. Bring extra officers, and have a medical evac team on standby. We're looking for Dr. Temperance Brennan. She is eight and a half months pregnant and will possibly need assistance." He listened some more before replying. "I'll meet you there."

After hanging up the phone, Booth stuck it in his pocket and looked back at Hodgins. "Thanks Hodgins," he said. "Tell Angela to plaster Taffet's image all over the news. If anyone sees her, we'll be the first to know."

Hodgins nodded. "We'll get her Booth," he said reassuringly. "Nothing is going to happen to Dr. Brennan."

"Taffet better be praying to God right now because she crossed the wrong man," he replied, stepping out of Hodgins' area and began walking toward the door of the lab. He knew that if anything every happened to Bones or their baby, there would be hell to pay over and over again for Taffet. And it wasn't the kind of repayment that came with three meals a day and an orange jumpsuit. Booth might've been a patient man, but this was not something he joked around with.

Climbing into his truck, he shut the door and took off toward Kent county in Maryland on the other side of the bay. It wasn't an easy two hour drive to make when he was used to having his partner in the front seat with him, but he made it and pulled into Kennedyville to meet up with some of the other officers and search team. Booth briefed them all on the situation at hand and knew that some of them knew about his and Bones' reputation for solving cases. Some of the officers they had even worked with before on other cases, so they were all respectful of the situation. Once everyone had been debriefed, they spread out and immediately started searching the nearby forests and close towns. Booth went into town to question people to see if they had seen anything. This was going to be another long day, but Booth wasn't giving up. He wasn't going to back down from this fight.

He spent most of the day interviewing local people, showing them the photographs of both Bones and Heather Taffet, but no one in town had seen either of them. He moved on to the next town, which was a few miles away. Booth followed the same routine for a few more small towns until it was dark. It had been twenty-four hours since he'd last seen Bones, which was making him antsy and irritated. He wanted to have her safe at home in his arms where he could know if she was alright. One of his biggest fears was her going into labor without him there and Taffet doing something to the baby after killing Bones. Booth knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself if anything happened to either of them. His daughter and partner were everything to him. Even if he and Bones weren't married, it was a hell of a lot closer than some people ever got to another person. So he trudged on, without sleep and without food, from town to town looking for a clue to point him in the right direction while the squints all worked back at the lab trying to solve this case before it became a murder case.


Brennan remained sitting on the side of the shed, looking around. Her eyes had finally adjusted to the dim lighting to see that she had no furniture or anything suitable to lay on to sleep. Looking down, her clothes were dirty, but there was no signs of blood, meaning that she hadn't been hit on the head enough to break her skin. Lifting her shirt, she checked her belly for signs of trauma and discovered that she was fine there. The baby was still kicking at a regular pace, which was comforting at least. Taffet hadn't come back since that first encounter, which Brennan estimated to be about four hours previously, so she wondered what exactly Taffet had planned for her. Brennan deducted that she wasn't going to suffocate her since she hadn't trapped her in a space with limited air or buried her in the middle of nowhere like she had the first time. She had not provided food, so her plan might've been to starve her and the baby to death slowly and painfully. Brennan had no idea, but she really didn't want to find out.

As she thought about that, she heard the awful screeching noise from the window that Taffet had opened before. Brennan turned her head to see Taffet standing there with a sneer on her face and an evil glare in her eyes.

"Having fun yet, Dr. Brennan?" Taffet asked.

"Not particularly," she replied curtly. "This is not my idea of fun, so it's inappropriate for you to even ask."

"Well, I'm having fun so that's all that matters," Taffet said coldly. "I cannot wait to see the look on your partner's face when he finds you and your child dead."

"Booth will track you down!" she exclaimed, sure that Booth would not give up on them. He never had before. He'd saved her life many times before without thinking about it when they were just partners, but now that they were romantically involved and expecting a child together, she knew that the connection between them was even stronger.

"By the time Booth and his army of feds find you, I'll be long gone from here and living up the high life in some foreign country where they can't extradite me back to the U.S. Prison gives you a lot of time to plot and plan," Taffet said, grinning evilly.

"You are an evil person," Brennan snapped, getting to her feet slowly. "And if I believed in a Hell the way Booth does, I would say that you are going to Hell. But I know that you won't get away with this."

"Oh but I will Dr. Brennan," Taffet said wickedly. "I will and there is not a damn thing you can do about it. Enjoy your last few hours of life Dr. Brennan. I assure you, they are very short."

"Booth will find you!" she shouted as Taffet slammed the window shut again, leaving Brennan alone as she slammed her hand against the metal side of the shed. "Damn it."

Brennan took a step back from the wall and breathed deeply, feeling a slight twinge in her lower back. Pressing her hand over the pain, she tried to massage it away as she bent over as much as she could. It subsided after a few moments enough for her to stand up straight again. Walking around, Brennan forced herself to think about the situation and her options. What would Booth do? she thought to herself. She knew that he wouldn't be stuck in this situation in the first place, but she was not Booth. He had years of Army Ranger training under his belt, but Temperance Brennan was not a helpless woman nor had she ever been. She had already checked the only door that seemed to lead out, but he was padlocked shut with several locks. This was bad, but she had been in worse. Looking around, she tried to find some sort of opening in the metal, but found nothing. The dull pain in her lower back came back again a few minutes later, accompanied by a sharp pain in her abdomen.

Brennan gasped and fell to her knees, holding her stomach in pain. The pain lasted a few more moments before subsiding. Brennan straightened back up, still on her knees. Reaching between her legs, she felt that her pants were now wet. She had gone into labor. In a metal shack. In the middle of nowhere with no medical help. This was worse. Way worse.


A/N: I felt really inspired, so I put up a new chapter earlier than expected. I really appreciate all the reviews so far. Please continue to leave them and let me know what you think!