So very sorry for the delay.

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Chapter 10

They sat in Booth's SUV in a somewhat awkward silence, both reveling in the fact that they almost kissed one another. Booth sat in the drivers seat, occasionally sneaking glances at Brennan; she was staring out the window, apparently deep in thought. He returned his gaze to the road after another one of his glances. He had really wanted to close that distance between them; cross that line that he had sworn he wouldn't cross. It was becoming a whole lot harder to follow it. Brennan was having the same problem. She had feelings for Booth that she had never felt before, and it scared her. It scared her that he was able to penetrate the walls that surrounded her as easily as she could tell the difference between a fibula and a tibia. She turned and glanced at Booth, who was staring out the front windshield, almost dazedly.

"Booth." She called out to him. He took a moment before answering, but then turned his face towards her before returning it back to the road. 'Here it comes.' He thought. 'The scientific mumbo jumbo that says we cant be together.'

"Yeah, Bones?" he answered. She paused for a second.

"I still don't understand the context of the phrase that Agent O'Donald used. I mean, obviously it caused some sort of effect on you, as it caused blood to rush towards your face, but…"she paused again as she tried to remember the exact wording that he had used. "What exactly is the meaning of the phrase 'making out'?" she asked, in her totally clueless way that Booth loved about her. But then his mind registered what she had just asked him. And he groaned to himself.

"Well, uh…" he began, then stopped, flicking on his left turning signal in the process. She looked at him expectantly, and he sighed. "It usually, uh…" he cleared his throat and coughed, then continued, "means that, well…Agent O'Donald was assuming that we were about to, uh…kiss. For a while." He said. He stopped at a red light, and then chanced a glance at Brennan. She was looking at him, but seemed to be staring through him at the same time. Turning back to the road, he saw that the light had changed to green, and he made another left onto Wood Canyon, passing an elementary school with a teal roof. He scoffed at the idea of a teal roof, and told himself that Parker would never go to a school like that. Brennan pondered about what Booth had said; there had been no doubt that she had wanted to kiss him. In fact, she had almost initiated it. She knew that Booth did not want to cross that invisible line between them though, and she respected that.

"Well," she began, " scientifically, it would not have been surprising if we had." She said. Booth quickly turned to look at her.

"What?" he asked. She turned and looked at him again, watching him as he watched the road.

"Well yes. We were in an intimate setting, we were alone, and you, as an attractive alpha male, was shirtless." He laughed almost sarcastically. She was comparing their relationship scientifically. "Yes." She said, almost more to herself than to him, as they made their way to the house of Mary Finn. He parked in front of the medium sized house and stared at her, waiting her to finish her thought. "Our reactions were nothing more than a simple firing of electrical impulses enforcing our sexual attraction to each other." Booth stared at her incredulously, and then sighed in frustration.

"Did you ever think that, maybe, it might be a little more than that?" he asked her angrily, opening his door and shutting it rather forcefully. Brennan watched him in confusion as he stalked his way to the front door.

"What?" she asked the empty car. She was confused. She slowly opened her door and followed Booth, who was waiting for her at the front door before knocking on it. Booth said there was a line between them. That they couldn't cross it. But now, he was basically saying the exact opposite of what he had said before. Before she could dwell on it further, the door opened to reveal a little girl of about eight. She had brown hair and bright green eyes that sparkled.

"Hey there bud. Are your parents home?" Booth asked him nicely. He took out his badge and showed it to him. "I work for the FBI." The little girls eyes widened.

"You catch bad guys!?" she asked excitedly. "That's what I want to do…ever since my sister…" she trailed off, and her eyes went downcast, before brightening. "Did you find her?" she asked. Just then, a pretty woman with brown hair came to the door. Before Booth could reply, the little girl shouted, "Mommy! They found Mary!" Booth looked troubled as the little girl told her mother that. The mother looked at her little girl happily, then looked towards Booth and Brennan. Upon seeing their faces, however, her happy face turned down sadly.

"Mrs. Finn, I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth, and my partner, Dr. Temperance Brennan." The woman nodded sadly, holding her door open and beckoning them in. He let Brennan go ahead of him, before following, mentally preparing himself to break the heart of this poor woman.

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Mrs. Finn led Booth and Brennan into her sitting room, adjusting her pink shirt as she walked. Sitting down, her daughter climbed into her lap.

"Haley, go upstairs." She ordered her daughter, pushing her gently off of her, but Haley clung to her.

"But I wanna hear about Mary." She said in a whiny voice. Booth looked at her, clearly uncomfortable with the situation.

"I said, go upstairs." She said it with such finality, and in such a harsh tone, that Haley obeyed, and bowing her head, made her way up the stairs. Booth and Brennan exchanged glances, a little shocked at such an unaffectionate display. Booth cleared his throat.

"Is your husband home?" he asked her. Mrs. Finn shook her head.

"He's out of town on business." She said nonchalantly. Brennan eyed her warily. Something was not right with her.

"Oh, well, I am sorry to inform you, but we have found your daughter." He told her in a gentle tone. She shrugged her shoulders.

"I figured as much. I mean, that's why you're here, isn't it?" She sighed, and leaned her head forward, resting it on her hand. "Do you need me to identify her?" Brennan looked at her in disbelief.

"That won't be necessary." Booth told her. He looked at Brennan again, both sharing a silent understanding that something was not right with Mrs. Finn. "I must ask, was your daughter a cheerleader?" Booth asked her. Mrs. Finn eyed him.

"Yes, she was. For Orange Crush." She paused for a second. "Is that why she was killed?" Booth paused a split second before answering.

"We have reason to believe so." He answered. She sighed and leaned back against her couch, running a hand through her short brown hair.

"My husband killer her." She said quietly. Booth and Brennan exchanged shocked glances.

"Excuse me?" Booth questioned.

"You heard me. He killed her." She paused again and sat up. "He was the one that insisted she be a cheerleader. He gave her all the private lessons, ever since she was four. He made sure she was the best. He may as well of killed her." She stood up. "Is that all?" she asked them. Booth nodded.

"We are sorry for your loss." He told her. They let themselves out of the house, and walked back to his SUV. Once inside, Booth turned to Brennan. "I suggest we keep an eye on good ol' Mrs. Finn." He told her. Brennan nodded in agreement. Booth started the car, and then pulled away. Mrs. Finn watched them pull away from her window. Once they had left, she let the curtain fall slowly back to where it was, then sat on the little window seat next to the window. A tear fell down her cheek, soon followed by another.

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They stopped for lunch at a place called Daphne's, located in the Aliso Town Center, a sort of hangout place for the local teenagers, and ordered food to go. They had not spoken about the conversation they had had in the car when driving to Mrs. Finn's house, and continued to ignore the topic. Brennan was the first to break the silence.

"Now that I think of it, do you really think that Mrs. Finn killed those girls? I mean, she is a woman, and all the victims had signs of rape." She asked.

"She could have an accomplice. You never know. Something was just…off with her." He took a bite of the chicken fajita he had ordered and smiled. California sure did have good food, he mused silently. Before he could enjoy his food anymore, his cell phone went off. He groaned and then answered it. "Booth." He answered, and listened to whatever the person on the other end was saying. While he was talking, Brennan's cell phone rang.

"Brennan." She answered, and listened as well to what the other person was saying on the line.

"We'll be right there." Booth told the person on the phone, and then hung up. Shortly followed by Brennan. "Well," he said, clapping his hands excitedly, " we got a break in the case. A private cheer instructor was taken into custody, after one of Mary's friends said that they were in a 'secret' relationship. It turns out that he taught all the girls as a private teacher." He said, while starting the car.

"And I have information that was found on the body." Brennan told him. "The body had strands of fibers located in the hands and back. Hodgins identified it as the same type of material that is commonly used in the cheerleading practice mats, and he also confirmed that the body was in the same place as the others, around a lake."

"And I have agents searching around all the lakes." He smiled as he flipped on his siren to get to the FBI building faster. "Looks like our instructor just turned into our number one suspect."

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"So you taught Mary Finn privately, did you, now Chuck?" Booth asked the private instructor. Chuck shrugged nervously, pulling at the white t-shirt he was wearing, and then cracked his knuckles. Booth flipped through his notes. "And you also taught Anna Day, Janelle Richoter, and Nicole Sanna?" Chuck nodded his head.

"They were all really good. I made them get to the top of their teams." He smiled proudly.

"Uh-huh." Booth answered, looking at him distastefully. "How old are you?" Chuck looked at him strangely at the change in the conversation.

"Twenty." He said slowly. Booth nodded.

"And did you know that it is a federal offense to have a sexual relationship with a minor, Chuck?" Chuck squirmed in his seat.

"We liked each other, a lot." Chuck told him.

"Oh, so you admit to having sex with Mary Finn?" Booth asked him, smiling smugly. He had caught him in his trap. He loved it. "Did you have sex with Anna Day, Nicole Sanna, and Janelle Richoter as well?"

"What?! No. They were like, ten. I'm not a pervert." He said. Booth changed topics again.

"So, you and Mary have sex, she regrets it and threatens to tell, so you kill her to keep her quiet." Booth whistled lowly. "Along with Anna, Nicole, and Janelle."

"No!" he looked nervously around the room. "It wasn't like that."

"So you did have sex with Anna, Nicole, and Janelle, didn't you Chuck. He leaned onto the table, and put his face near Chuck's. "And then killed them to keep it quiet." He opened his mouth, and then closed it. His face hardened.

"I'm not saying anything else until I get a lawyer." Booth laughed sarcastically.

"You better get a damn good one."

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"I don't know. Something doesn't feel right." Brennan said as they got back into the Booth's SUV. They had spent the entire day interrogating the suspect, or more like Booth doing the interrogating, and Brennan watching behind the glass. An agent had come in a little while later after Booths first interrogation, holding a shirt that matched the same type of fabric found in Brennan's apartment, and that was found in the bushes. They had also found a box underneath his bed, containing a sweatshirt, some jewelry, and a girls pair of underwear, all with blood on them.

"I thought you didn't trust your gut." Booth said smugly. Brennan rolled her eyes.

"I don't. I guess you're rubbing off on me. It's just…it's all to easy." She said.

"Most murderers make it easy…once we find them." He told her. "This means, we are almost done with the case, which means, we are going to the beach." He stopped at a red light, and clapped his hands eagerly. Brennan rolled her eyes.

"Uh-huh." She said, but the thought kind of pleased her. He wanted to spend his time at the beach with her. It made her smile.

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Review please. I'm a review whore. They make me write more, faster. :D