I'm sooooo sorry it's taken me so long to update! Finals, Christmas presents, decorating, AAAHHHH! To much stuff to do! Anyway, I'm on winter break now, so expect more updates more often! Yay! :) Oh, and thank you for getting me past the 50 review mark! You guys rock!

Brennan sat up, closing her eyes at the bright ray of light that fell across her bruised face. There was a jack hammer pounding her skull, and she couldn't see save for the tiny swelled slits her eyes had become. She straightened her spine, wincing as a sharp pain speared through her. Broken ribs. Bruised and swollen face. What felt like a fractured wrist from trying to defend herself. Shakily, she got to her feet and inched down the stairs. She was alone- Mr. Henson was probably at work and his wife was probably sleeping off a hangover in some crappy motel on the other side of town. Brennan reached the bottom of the staircase and headed for the kitchen. With any luck, she could ice her injuries and be back at school within a day or two.

After making her ice pack, Brennan headed back up stairs, walking gingerly so as not to disturb her broken body. She inched into the bathroom, wanting to examine her injuries more thoroughly. One glance in the cloudy mirror told her more than she needed to know. She face was completely black and blue and crusty blood lined the left edge. What she could see of her arms matched her face. Brennan lifted her shirt to just below the bottom of her bra. Her stomach and rib cage were bruised and covered with more dry blood. Carefully, she lifted her shirt the rest of the way off, and reached for a washcloth that hung on the back of the door. Brennan then proceeded to rid herself of the grime and blood that was caked onto her skin before opening the medicine cabinet and beginning her search for disinfectant and gauze rap. Her search proved successful, and Brennan did what she could to better her wounds. Feeling that there was no more to be done, she gently slid her shirt back over her head and made her way back to her bedroom. Just the simple act of cleaning herself up had seemed to have used up every ounce of energy she had, and she had no choice but to lay back down on the old, now bloodstained mattress and fall back asleep.

~B&B~

Brennan still wasn't there. It had been two days. She still wasn't there. Something had to be wrong. It had to! She couldn't just disappear! Could she? Booth shook his head. No, she couldn't. She had to come back, and if she didn't come back soon- Well, if she didn't come back soon Booth would have to do something about that. He would have to interfere. But how... He didn't know anything about her, her phone number, address, email, anything. He had nothing.

Booth didn't know why he cared either. She was just a girl. Not even his girlfriend! And he had only known her for a day! Why did he care? Why did he care so much that he couldn't even focus on anything anymore?! He was already forgetting about assignments, zoning out in class, at home, and even during football practice! He had never felt like that before, never had one person occupy his mind so... fully. Completely. Every waking moment was spent thinking about her, and even his dreams were plagued by the thought of her. Trapped. Alone. Kidnapped. Hurt. Dying. Dead. But she wasn't. Was she? There had been nothing on the news about a kidnapping, so he doubted that was it. Nothing about a body being found, so she was probably still alive. But where was she?

"Booth? Booth? Boooooth...?"

He was acutely aware of someone calling his name.

"Boooooooooooth...? BOOTH!"

He snapped out of his daze.

"Wha..."

Angela was staring at him from across the table that was now his and Cam's regular lunch spot. As it turned out, the group was not as hard to interact with as Booth and Cam first thought. Angela and Hodgins weren't to weird, and even though Hodgins turned out to have a strange fascination with bugs and conspiracy theories, he could hold a decent conversation. Sweets was quiet, but he too could be good for a conversation as long as you didn't mind said conversation turning into a discussion with the worlds youngest shrink. Zack was a different story. He seemed to be some sort of a cross between someone who had been living under a rock their whole life, a genius, and a child. Booth couldn't stand the kid, but Cam seemed to get along rather nicely with him.

They're new-found friendship was not perfect by any means. In fact, Booth was annoyed by most of the little group, only being able to stand Angela all of the time, and Hodgins and Sweets on occasion. He could not, under any circumstances, stand Zack. He knew Brennan was socially awkward, but Zack- he was in a league of his own. He was completely clueless! Booth couldn't stand talking to him, so he didn't. He used Zack's love of anthropology, a love shared by Booth's beloved Brennan, against him, convincing the brilliant boy that not talking to him was a special "male bonding ritual". Booth had a reason to ignore Zack, and Zack didn't put up a fight! It was perfect! Cam, who got along with Zack on some level, always reprimanded him, but not talking to Zack?! It was worth it.

Cam got along with the gang much better that Booth did for the most part. Angela was easy to get along no matter who you were, so their connection wasn't a surprise, but what really shocked Booth was how Cam was with everyone else. She was able to at least relate to everyone, talk about bug and debate shadow-y government agencies with Hodgins, contemplate the mysteries of high schoolers with Sweets- What was even more amazing, at least in Booth's opinion, was what she could do with Zack. She could actually understand his scientific mumbo-jumbo, and respond in an equal amount of unfamiliar words. She seemed to actually like the kid!

"You okay there Studly?"

As soon as Angela had gotten over the original shock at having the most popular, and albeit- the hottest person in the school eat lunch with her, Hodgins, Sweets, and Zack, she had developed a fun, flirty personality that had turned out to be quite infectious.

"I'm just worried abut Bones." He bit of a piece of french fry, chewing halfheartedly.

"We're all worried about her," Angela consoled. "She'll be back soon though, don't worry."

"I know, but I'm still worried."

Angela reached out, putting her hand on Booth's strong forearm. "I know, Booth. She's fine though, I promise."

"You don't know that though." Zack said, butting into the conversation. "You have no evidence to prove that Brennan is fine or not so you can't really give a valid promise one way or the other."

Booth put his head in his hand, rubbing his temples.

"Zack," Angela said patiently, "I don't need evidence. Brennan is fine."

"You don't know that..." Zack mumbled, turning back to his food.

"Yeah, we do." Booth cut in. "She's fine. She'll be back soon. She will."

Hang on, Hang on! Don't come charging with your pitch forks yet! Booth will come to the rescue soon! I think... Don't worry though! It'll be worth the wait! I promise! :) Anyway, Merry Christmas! Hope you have a good day and all that stuff! You know what would be a GREAT Christmas present for me?! That's right! Reviews! I love you all! You're all amazing!