(A/N): Hi, long time no update, I know. Honestly, I got stuck, then I had a dissertation to complete and exams, then I got caught up in Harry Potter. But, I just have a waiting game to play with my university now, to see what degree I will get, and so I have decided that whilst I'm only working at my job (and looking for a new job because hey, I need money to live on), I will focus upon my writing for a while. Hence, this chapter for you all. Now then, I love each and every one of you butterflies, and I hope you enjoy this chapter. I really hope that the next chapter I produce will be for Heaven Can Wait, and though I make no promises of that nature, for I may update something else first, I do promise that I will endeavour to get you a new chapter asap. Is that okay? Anyway, enough of my ramblings on, read on and enjoy! I still own nothing.

Take Two

Chapter 10

"What was that look?"

Amethyst glanced up from her laptop, and the further work she was doing looking into Max Keenan, and his relationship with the real Father Coulter, to find Russ stood over her, curiosity and worry warring for dominance on his features. Silently, Amethyst offered him the seat beside her on her bed, where she'd been working out of the way of her mother and her partner, not wanting them to accidentally discover what she was slowly uncovering. Once her uncle had seated himself beside her, she finally designed to answer him. "What look?"

"You know what look." At Amethyst's genuinely confused expression, Russ revised his thoughts. She really didn't know what he was talking about. "Earlier, when I brought Father in," his eyes twinkled a little at the play on words he used, "you got this shocked look on you face. It was only for a moment, but it was there. So, what was all that about?"

Amethyst sighed, setting her laptop down on her nightstand as she turned to face Russ, granting him her full attention. "I was looking for him; I told you that." He nodded. "I met him one day in a diner, though obviously I didn't know it was him. I was fighting with my dad and he was trying to pull me away. Your dad stepped in, told my dad off and defended me."

"That sounds like dad." Russ agreed, though his face remained serious. "I never really asked this, but Ammi, what's your dad like? Why isn't he with you and Tempe now? I just want to understand, that's all. You know you and your mom have cured me of my idiotic ideas." He smirked at the last comment. Both Brennan and Amethyst had gone to great length to explain to Russ that their dynamic worked for them, and their lives, and that his 'idiotic ideas' about anything to do with them would be unceremoniously quashed in an instant. It had taken a little time, but it had worked, and Russ' relationship with the mother and daughter duo was all the better for it.

"My dad? Well, he and mom love each other, but they'd kill each other if they were still together. I think they function better as friends than they ever did as anything more. I set custody arrangements, and the only time my parents really share me is at Christmas. They live under the same roof for a whole week and a half without resorting to murder, which is great for them." Her smirk faded as she regarded Russ' unamused mien. "Look Russ, once upon a time, they loved each other dearly. Things happened, and they realised they couldn't live with one another anymore. As time has gone on, they've gotten friendlier again, to a point where one could almost, almost call them friends, albeit tentatively. I think Booth is much better for my mom than my dad ever would be. I'm not one of those children that can't see that their parents are incompatible for one another. I love them both but I'm not blind to their faults. Just as I'd hope that they're not blind to mine or each other's."

"Thanks for explaining it to me." Russ made to get up before turning back to the teenager, a frown settling over his brow. "Ammi, did dad follow you out of the lab?"

"Yeah, wanted to know who I was."

"Did you tell him?"

"No. I figured it was up to mom if she ever wanted to tell him."

"Do you want him to know?"

"I… I don't know. I'm focused more on mom and Booth at the moment. Will you tell him?"

"…No. Tempe doesn't know it's him yet, and I'd rather it be her choice of whether or not he finds out. That's not to say he won't find out anyway, but…"

"…He won't find out from you. Thanks, Uncle Russ."

Russ smiled at the rare title Amethyst addressed him with. She didn't really call him uncle, and it was something he wanted to hear her say again. It gave him the sense of family he didn't know he'd craved from his own side of his relations, even though he had Amy and the girls. He wouldn't be telling his dad anything, no matter how much he pushed for it. He'd protect his niece and his sister. It was what a big brother and an uncle should do.

…

"Delaney's murder, the threats on Russ' life, this is all happening now because of a little metal dolphin we found on your mother's grave. FBI field office in Denver traced it to a local artist in Colorado." Booth handed the small dolphin in an evidence bag to Brennan.

They'd been working from Brennan's apartment, but when Booth had gotten a call about a potential breakthrough, from someone he trusted, they'd moved back to the FBI building. They'd left Amethyst with Russ, neither of whom had seemed either pleased or displeased with the idea. Both Brennan and Booth thought that they would just do their best to ignore the other within the cramped space of Brennan's apartment. Booth had warned them not to go anywhere alone.

Brennan held the bag in her slender fingers as she picked up the narrative. "Who identified dad as the buyer. But Delaney left the FBI fifteen years ago," she pointed out, setting the dolphin figure down on top of the paperwork.

"Somebody told him about your dad." Booth replied.

"And didn't tell you?"

"They're part of the conspiracy."

"You must be annoyed." Brennan placed a hand on his arm sympathetically. She knew how much he hated when those kinds of things happened.

"Yeah, you know what? I am." Booth practically growled, though he covered her hand with his own to squeeze it with gratitude before dropping it to walk towards the door of his office. "And I don't like finding out there's a dirty FBI agent in this building." He closed the door, careful eyes watching to see if it had caught anyone's attention. Satisfied, he made his way back over to his partner, who looked more concerned for him than anything else in that moment. "Alright, here's what I think happened. Delaney goes to your father, asks him to hand over the evidence. He doesn't do it? He kills you or Russ." Booth's jaw clenched at the idea that anyone could hurt his Bones. It hadn't been that long since she had been buried underground, after all. He still got a little nervous when she wasn't with him, and he knew Amethyst was the same. Brennan managed to send him a slight smile of reassurance.

"I'm alright, Booth. Anyway, dad calls Russ to warn him, and then kills Delaney." She ended with a slight sob, not knowing how anyone could kill in cold blood so much. She knew she'd have the capability to do so, should anyone harm Amethyst or Parker, mainly Amethyst, but there would be no way she could take such a decision lightly, despite the capability.

"Guts him and burns him, leaving a calling card behind. 'Don't mess with Max Keenan's kids'." Booth finished for her, gathering her up into a light embrace, both comforting and protecting her.

"Am I supposed to like that?" Brennan asked, mainly rhetorically, resting her forehead on his shoulder.

"You know, Bones, I'd take a stand-up crook over a crooked cop any day of the week. In a messed up way, he's being honourable." Their conversation was interrupted by Caroline storming into the office, though she paused in the doorway.

"Booth." Both glanced over to her, though neither made the attempt to move from the other's light hold. "I got us a meet with the judge, let's go. And you," she pointed at Brennan, 'better get back to your lab in case we're successful." She left the office as abruptly as she'd arrived. Brennan stared at Booth, a question burning in her icy blue eyes.

"I find it best to just do what she says." Booth answered her unspoken question swiftly, offering her a lopsided grin that made her want to kiss him.

"Okay." She stated, though it came out as more of a question. As Booth made to let go of her, she asked the one question that had been eating at her the whole case. "Booth, why just me and Russ? Why not my daughter as well? It seems logical that a person's children and grandchildren can be used against them, rather than just the children."

Booth shrugged. "I don't know, Bones. The only people who can answer that are dead or wanted for bank robbery right now. I really don't know."

"Then we need to get this case closed, to find out just how much danger my daughter is in as well as my brother and I."

"We'll figure it out. We always do."

…

After Russ' shooting, Beckett's release and Booth's subsequent suspension, the team continued to work doggedly on the case, including another visit to 'Father Coulter', in which Max thoroughly dismissed any further progress on the case by stating that 'Max' wouldn't contact him again, and another conversation between Brennan and Booth about whether or not Max should be arrested and who should be the one to perform that task. When they caught the name on the list that Caroline gave to them, Brennan tried to call her brother, to no avail. Frantically, Booth drove Brennan to her apartment as she tried to call her home line, Russ' cell and Amethyst's cell, the latter of whom was supposed to be sticking to Russ like glue. None of the lines picked up, further fuelling the panic of the partners as they pulled up outside Brennan's building and pounded up the stairs, foregoing the elevator as being too slow.

Reaching Brennan's door, Booth drew his gun before kicking the piece of wood open, calling out for Russ as Brennan called out for Amethyst. Finding neither, Booth moved to check the back rooms as Brennan noticed the large pool of blood on the floor of her living room, too large for anyone to have survived losing it. No, she tried to think, even as she cried out, "Oh my god." She felt her brain shut down in fear and panic as she called for her partner, who came running at her shout. "Russ. Ammi."

"Alright, take it easy. We don't know that for certain."

"It's too much blood." She told him breathlessly, her mind stuck on a constant loop of negatives. "Nobody could survive that amount of blood loss." She then collapsed into Booth, sobs racking her frame as she cried into his shoulder. Booth's arms circled her torso, holding her upright as he prayed to every deity he could think of that the girl he thought of as a daughter, and the girl's uncle, were safe and well. He didn't think he could bear it otherwise. And he knew it would break his girlfriend if her little girl was harmed, or worse.

…

Amethyst shot a glare at Max as he parked up at the back of the place he was staying. She was sat in the back of the Jeep-like vehicle, Russ in the passenger seat. She had a bruise on her left cheekbone, but other than that she was unharmed. Russ was completely unharmed. She scowled harder at Max, trying to ignore everything that had already gone on.

A knock on the door made Amethyst jump from her position on the couch, book in hand as she'd curled up in the corner of the comfortable piece of furniture some time earlier. Russ had spotted her and smiled, telling her of times when her mother had done much the same as a child. The knock sounded again, but before she could get up, Russ had beaten her to it. One look through the peephole had Russ whispering "dad", gesturing for Amethyst to move out of the way.

Taking the hint, Amethyst stood with her book and silently moved to her room, settling on her bed to continue reading her book. She heard Russ open the door followed by a hushed conversation that she only heard snippets of. From what she had heard, she could tell that Max wanted Russ to get out, that whatever threat was out there was going after Russ still, and he needed to be safe. Russ was fighting it, and eventually, she heard him tell Max that he was going to the restroom. Instead of doing that however, he slipped into Amethyst's room, causing her to look up and discard the book she was reading.

"Russ?" She whispered almost silently, her head cocked in question.

Russ sat beside her. "We need to get out of here, Ammi. Dad's here, so I'll go with him, and as soon as I'm gone, I need you to get somewhere safe, alright? Is there anywhere you can get to quickly?"

"I'll go to my dad's offices. It's a ten minute drive from here." Amethyst assured him, sliding off the bed to grab a pair of combat boots and a hooded sweatshirt, so she could leave instantly after Russ and Max.

"Son, what's taking so long?" Both Russ and Amethyst froze at the other voice, not having time to move as Max appeared in the doorway. He blinked in shock at the sight of the familiar teenaged girl stood in the middle of a bedroom, one boot on and holding the other one, hooded sweatshirt over her head but not over her arms, with his son sat on the bed, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. "What is going on here?"

The sound of smashing glass made them all jump and run towards the sound, Russ helping Amethyst put her second boot on whilst in motion. The whizzing sound of a bullet made them all drop to the floor, Russ' weight covering Amethyst and causing her face to smack the floor a little too hard. Amethyst nearly groaned, knowing that the tenderness she could already feel meant that there would be an almighty bruise forming there almost instantly.

"Stay down," Max commanded, "and get back in the room until I say otherwise." Amethyst just caught sight of a man she recognised from the FBI office, though she didn't know exactly who he was, before Russ was pulling her up and getting her back into her room, shutting the door behind them.

"Have you got any kind of weapon in here?" Russ whispered frantically. Amethyst took the pen pot off her desk and shook the contents out on her bed, handing Russ a knife she had hidden in there, before reaching for her closet and producing a metal baseball bat.

"This is all I have here." She returned, wielding the bat as Russ held the knife comfortably in his hand, both ready and aimed at the doorway. They waited silently as they heard sounds of a scuffle followed by two gun shots, another scuffle followed by a third shot. Then, silence.

They exchanged glances but didn't move from their defensive positions as they heard footsteps heading towards the door, followed by the turning of the doorknob. They readjusted their hold on their respective weapons as the door opened.

"It's me," Max called out just as Russ stepped forwards, brandishing the knife, and Amethyst made to swing the bat at the abdomen of whomever entered. Both managed to curtail their activities at the last second, though Max looked pleased that they had some method of defending themselves ready. "Come on, we need to go. Now."

He shepherded the pair into the living room, where Amethyst saw the FBI man covered in blood, her mother's new shower curtain waiting to wrap the body up. She felt sick at the sight of the lifeless man, and turned to the other two to say so. "What did you do?" She demanded of Max, her voice low and controlled. Dangerous. Russ flinched slightly, but Max barely even seemed to notice that she'd spoken.

"Russ, get the girl in the car. Third one down. I'll bring that." He gestured towards the body.

"I'm not going anywhere with you." Amethyst countered.

"Don't argue with me." Max told her, his temper short after the fight he'd just been in to save his son.

"I'm not arguing; I'm making a statement. I'm not going anywhere with you." She turned to Russ. "I'll leave with you, but I'm going to dad's office like we discussed."

Russ opened his mouth to agree, but Max replied before he had the chance. "No. Nowhere is safe right now. Leave your phones on the side, they can be traced. I'm taking you both with me."

"That's kidnapping." Russ and Amethyst stated together, eyeing Max with similar expressions of wonder for his sanity.

"If that's what it takes then so be it."

"I'm not kidnapping her, dad." Russ shook his head. "Tempe would kill me, bring me back to life and kill me again. Just let her go to her dad's place. I'll come with you."

"No, too risky. You," he pointed to Russ, "bring the shower curtain down with him in it in exactly two minutes time. You," he pointed to Amethyst, "you're coming with me."

Amethyst was going to fight him until she spotted Russ giving her a slight shake of the head, telling her not to fight him on it. She didn't know why, but she trusted that Russ wouldn't let any harm come to her, so she only gave a token struggle as Max grabbed her by the arm and pulled her along to a waiting car, piling her into the backseat and locking her in the vehicle. Hunkering down, she began fiddling, trying to find a way of circumventing the locking mechanism, but before she was able to finish her task, Russ had arrived, and the father and son had climbed into the car.

Amethyst continued to glare daggers at Max, even as he climbed out of the car. Russ turned to her with a soft smile of apology. "I'm sorry, Ammi, but he would have took you either way, and I didn't want you to get hurt. I'll make him leave you here before he takes me elsewhere. Can you tell Tempe something for me?"

Amethyst nodded. She didn't like it, but at least she knew the reasons behind Russ' actions, or lack thereof. "Sure, Russ."

"Tell her that I'm sorry, and that I'll always be her big brother, no matter where I am." Russ glanced out of the windshield as Max appeared to have finished his quick scout of their surroundings. "And dad isn't usually like this. It's his worry for Tempe and me that have made him like this."

"What, a murderer?" She asked sardonically. Russ shook his head.

"No, and I don't like it either. I meant this paranoid, worried, the kind of person that would kidnap a teenager out of a misguided need to protect her." Russ replied pointedly. Amethyst rolled her eyes.

"Fine, I won't hurt him too much, but there is no way I'm going any further with you two. I'd rather walk home from here. Mom's probably already freaking out." Amethyst sighed, but climbed out of the car, Russ on her heels as Max finally returned to them.

"Alright, now we're out of immediate danger, let's get back to our conversation." Max told them almost cheerfully. "Who are you? Why were you in my daughter's apartment with my son?" He asked Amethyst, before turning his questions to Russ. "Why would Tempe kill you for taking her? Why was she there, not even fully dressed, in the first place?" His connotations were clear, making uncle and niece both cringe at the implications.

"Dad, no." Russ was the first to reply, his nose scrunching up in disgust. Amethyst shook her head.

"I only didn't have shoes on. That's hardly 'not dressed'." She told him, not even bothering to hide her dislike for him. "And I resent your implications."

"Well, what was going on then?" Max pressed, watching with curiosity as his son and the teenager exchanged glances, clearly deciding on what to tell him. He didn't get as far as he did without the ability to read people. Finally, Amethyst nodded in resignation, sighing as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I was there because I live there." Amethyst told Max bluntly. "I'm his niece." She gestured to Russ.

Russ nodded his agreement. "Yeah, I'm her uncle."

Max felt his mouth moving, though no words were coming out. He had no way of coping with the information they'd just handed him, and there was no way on earth that he would have ever guessed. "You're… you're Tempe's daughter?" He finally managed to choke out. Amethyst nodded mutely.

"But, you're like thirteen."

"Fourteen, actually. I'm fifteen next week." Amethyst replied defensively. Russ placed his hand on her shoulder, a mixture of comfort and warning for her not to lose her temper too soon.

"But… that would've made Tempe…"

"Fifteen." Russ answered for him quietly.

"No. Not my baby." Max shook his head in denial.

Amethyst rolled her eyes again. It was going to be a long day.

…

"Mom!"

Brennan braced herself for the impact, even as her brain wondered at the fact her baby girl was there, with her, even though she'd spent most of the night looking for her, on and off with Booth. Eventually, she'd decided to see the priest, to see if he could help her at all. She hadn't expected her daughter to be there, looking relieved that Brennan had appeared.

Brennan hugged her daughter tightly, tears seeping down her face as she felt similar ones from her daughter wet her shirt. She could be angry with her later, but for now, the terrified mother was simply relieved that her daughter was safe and sound in her arms. "Ammi. I'm so glad you're alright."

"I'm fine, mom." Amethyst pulled back a bit. "I love you."

"I love you too." Brennan's eyes fell to her cheek, to the bruise there. "What happened?"

"Russ fell on me." Amethyst tried to shrug it off as Max appeared, once more dressed as a priest.

"Temperance."

Max secretly wondered how he'd not noticed earlier, as side by side, the relationship between the two females was blindingly obvious. However, he had a job to do, and he gestured for his daughter to walk with him, telling her tales of her youth and agreeing to do things her way for a change. However, he slipped slightly, and, the smart woman his daughter was, she caught it.

"You've had work done, but I cannot believe I didn't see it earlier. Dad?"

"Tempe." Max's smile fell as Brennan looked crushed at the revelation.

"You... did you kill Delaney? Did you take my daughter? Where's Russ? You said he was safe with you, but you're here, so where is he? Why should I even believe you?" The questions came bursting out with such rapidity that she didn't even notice she'd slipped in regards to Amethyst.

"Russ refused to take her, so I did. I didn't know you had a child, Tempe. You were only a child yourself. That's not the way to bring another child into this world."

Brennan felt herself bristle at the words. "That was my decision and I stick by it. Amethyst is my daughter, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Have you even tried to know her?"

"She avoided me ever since I took her from your apartment." Max admitted.

"There you go then." Brennan spat out. "I'm going to have to arrest you."

"Why?"

"You broke the law!"

"I'm not going to jail honey."

…

"He loves you, you know."

Brennan glanced over to her daughter. They were alone for once. Booth was round at Rebecca's to see Parker and to give him a gift he'd promised the five year old. Brennan had been lost in her thoughts for a long time, though she made sure her eyes never left her daughter for more than three seconds at a time. "Who?"

"Russ. He said to tell you that he loves you and that he'll always be your big brother, no matter where he is."

"He left me. Again." Brennan sighed, pulling her daughter into her arms. "I gave him a second chance and he left, again."

"Mom."

"No, sweetheart. You, Booth and Parker are all the family I need."

To Be Continued…