Chapter Ten:
"Hodgins, see if you can triangulate the Bone's cell phone signal." Booth said. His partner had been missing for two days. It was Friday. That meant that Parker could have been missing for nearly a week. He bet that the two were together.
"Booth, no offense, but her cell phone could be dead by now." Hodgins said.
Booth picked up the closest thing he could find, which just happened to be a glass beaker and threw it up against the wall. It shattered into a million pieces, which seemed to mirror what his heart was doing.
"Booth!" Angela exclaimed.
"It's my son, my partner! I can't do anything but sit here and wait." He exclaimed. "What kind of man, protector am I if I can't protect the two people who mean the most to me?"
"You're human Booth. You let your ex keep your son on your weekend because it made your son happy. You forfeited your own happiness for him. You are showing Brennan how to communicate with the living, she is growing as a human being. You did all this, and you will continue to do all this because we are going to find them. You can't give up. If you give up, then who is going to continue on Booth?" Angela placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Thanks Ange."
He could tell that people were giving up hope. Last night, Shelia Vasquez, appeared on TV pleading for any information on their missing children. Booth didn't appear because of his job, and mostly because he was out searching for his son. He wasn't one of those parents who stayed at home waiting for a phone call. He was a doer, and he was going insane. There wasn't much more he could do.
Search and rescue had been called off. It seemed to Booth that it was becoming more of a recovery mission. There were also less volunteers showing up. They were now dredging the lake with the discovery of Brennan's car.
Her car had yielded no help to discovery of where she was being held or where she was in the wilderness. He ran his hand through his hair. He needed his son. He needed his Bones.
"Booth, we found her cell phone signal." Hodgins said running up to him. He grabbed the coordinates, and he and the rest of the squint team ran out to find her and Parker.
Booth contacted Cullen to let him know. He sent the information to the men at the park. They were going to focus the search on another area of the park, by the lake.
"What are other things in that area?" Booth wanted to know.
Zack pulled up the schematics. "There are a series of underground mines that were used to mine copper in the late 1960s. They were closed down in the 90s. Most of those tunnels collapsed in."
"Most but not all. It would be a good place to hide my forensic anthropologist and my son." Booth said. Angela caught his slip of the tongue with him referring to Brennan as his.
"Booth, they blocked all the entrances."
"There might be other ways in though. It is the only place in this whole damn park we haven't checked yet!"
They took off the site. Booth had a new fire lit underneath him. They pulled up to the lake and started down a trail.
"Bones, Parker, Sam!" The team started to scream. Something red and familiar caught Booth's eye.
He ran over to the spot and pulled out the hoodie that Brennan had spotted two days before, next to it was his partner's cell phone. He saw the dried blood on it and the bullet hole. "Parker!" He screamed.
He handed the hoodie to Angela who started tearing up. "Booth."
"This means nothing. He isn't wearing it. Is there a mine near hear?"
"There is air vent over there." Hodgins pointed to it. Then it looks like it goes to the right."
"We have to find a way down there." Booth said.
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Sam noticed that the pretty lady was struggling. Her health had been failing her and Parker was more feverish. But she continued to walk on.
"Tempe?" Sam asked. "I think I am going to run up ahead. I see some light."
She looked up ahead and saw some light. "Go ahead Sam, I will be right behind you."
She shifted Parker to her hip. He was having a hard time staying away, sometimes murmuring for his father in his sleep. She kissed the top of his sandy blonde mop. "Parker, I will get you back to your Dad, I promise."
She continued to make her way. Her breathing was labored. She stopped to rest leaning down against the wall. She looked to were here leg was grazed by the bullet. It was oozing, it wasn't a good sign. Her shoulder ached. She bet that was infected as well, and on top of the cold that was never going away, well . . . she could tell she was in bad shape.
Sam looked back and saw Dr. Brennan unconscious against the wall. There was a grate keeping them from getting out. "Help us please!" He started screaming at the top of his lungs.
Booth and the rest of the team was trudging along the forest along the path of the underground mine. He occasionally would find an air vent, but nothing that would help. It was getting dark and Cullen kept calling to tell him to get back to the check in point, but he just couldn't. He needed to find his son and partner.
Booth's ears perked up. The squints were still screaming. "Quiet down. I think I hear something."
The all stopped and heard a voice screaming for help just south of where they were standing. They all took off running to where the voice was coming from.
Brennan woke up. Her body was giving out. Parker was resting quietly on her lap. She felt as if she was dying. She whispered to Parker knowing the little boy wouldn't hear. "Parker, tell your dad I love him." Parker unconsciously held tighter on to her.
Booth ran up and saw a rather dirty Sam Vasquez standing on the other side of the grate. "Mr. Booth, the pretty doctor and Parker are over there. They are hurt really bad." Sam told him with a very hoarse voice.
Booth shined his light into the tunnel and saw Brennan collapsed against the wall with Parker on her lap. He saw the bandage on his son's shoulder.
"Angela, call the FBI. We need a blow torch and a medic to get them out!"
"I am going down that air shaft." He said. He shined his flashlight down to the opening to the air vent. He shot the lock of and dropped himself into the mine.
He ran over to where his partner and son where. Booth dropped to his knees. "Parker, Daddy's here." He whispered into his son's ear.
Parker opened his eyes. "Daddy?" He wrapped his arms around his father's neck and nuzzled closer in. "Daddy, me and Tempe don't feel to good."
"I know honey." He said. He shifted Parker into a comfortable position and dropped down to tend to Bones. Booth did a once over and looked at her infected wounds. "Oh God Temperance."
She opened her eye. "I knew you would find us." She gave him a weak smile. She was wheezing. Booth took off his jacket which was a difficult task to do with Parker still clinging on to him. He wrapped it around his partner since Parker had on Bone's jacket. "Booth, it's hard to breathe."
"I know Honey, hold on. Just rest now. Help is on the way." He dropped a kiss on her forehead and was holding on tight to his son. Parker was feverish. Brennan couldn't breathe. He wanted to panic, he wanted to scream, but he knew he had to hold it together. He walked over to Sam and began to comfort the child.
Angela made the call never letting her eyes off of Booth. He was sitting there calming Sam, even though Booth didn't know if his loved ones would make it.
AN: Thanks for all the support. I finally brought the two back together after several chapters apart. We have to make it through the hospital now! I'm having a hard time with those chapters, even though it is written already. Booth obviously would have to run back and forth between their rooms, as a father he won't want to leave his son's side, and he loves Brennan – just having a hard time with where I want to concentrate his time. Brennan or Parker, you can vote if you want. Review please – need some inspiration.