For several days, I thought about everything Christine had told me. I hadn't spoken to her or Jackson since my meeting and didn't think we would until I had more information to give them. Though I was officially working for Parker, something in me just couldn't keep the Booth children out of the loop. After all, they were important witness to whatever crime had been committed.

The more I thought about it, the less I understood. I now knew my instincts about the mysterious man had been founded. For some unknown reason, he had been pursuing, if not even stalking, the Booths until it had forced them out of their home and, I assumed, the state. However, I couldn't determine the reason why the man would have stalked this particular family.

After being back for two days, I decided to call Parker and Angela. I wanted them both together so I could break the news to them that Christine and Jackson were still alive and well. They both agreed to meet at a coffee shop close to the Jeffersonian Institute the following day. Afterwards, I called my friend at the police station who informed me he had no information to give me on the mysterious man. He said that it didn't fit any most wanted criminals and the face didn't look familiar to any older police officers. I thanked him for his time and effort.

I hadn't put much faith into it and yet, I was bummed that I hadn't been able to get an ID. That man held the key to what had happened that fateful night and we had no idea who he was. From the pictures, I figured he must have been in his early thirties. I would have to confirm the fact with Angela who was the only one, besides the Booth family members, who had seen him.

My daughter called soon after I arrived home asking if I wanted to visit. I agreed to spend the evening with her. It was a nice, quiet evening during which I kept my mind off the case. But the second I stepped in my apartment, all my questions flew back at me. I tried to tune off my mind as I climbed into bed and tried to fall asleep.

They sat in front of me. Angela had invited her husband and her son to the meeting. Not that I minded. However, it somehow made the whole thing more difficult. I started by explaining to Parker the reason for my trip to North Carolina. He stared at me, wide-eyed as I informed him his siblings were still alive.

"Christine and Jackson are safe?" he asked in disbelief.

I nodded.

"Yes. Your sister contacted Michael a few weeks ago. She is the one who asked Michael to put the pictures in the house."

"But how?" Parker asked, turning to Michael. "The door was locked."

"I borrowed my mom's keys to your house. Remember, you gave her the second set of keys?"

Angela turned to her son.

"I don't think it counts as borrowing if you didn't ask permission. Those keys were in my bedroom. What were you doing snooping through my stuff?"

Michael looked from his mother to me, unsure what to answer. Before this conversation could turn into a family matter, I continued my story.

"Anyway, she told me what happened to them that night. Everything she could remember that is."

I then explained to them everything Christine had told me. The four of them listened in complete silence to the horrific tale of the family's escape. Angela's eyes eventually watered as I went on and I heard her sniffle a few times throughout the story. Parker stared blankly at me. When I finished, I waited for them to say something. When nothing came, I asked a couple of questions that I thought they might have the answer to.

"Can you explain what "Thank Tony and Roxie" meant? Did they know anyone of that name?"

Angela chuckled through her tears.

"It's been a while since I heard those names!" she replied. "Those were the names they used when they went on undercover assignments. But they were definitely not on any assignments that night. We weren't even working on a case. We had solved the last one."

"Do you think it's possible that they took these identities when they were forced to move out?"

Angela shrugged.

"It's possible. I mean, it's something I can see them doing if they thought they were in danger."

"And they never mentioned anything to you about a stalker? Dr. Brennan never spoke of that man at the grocery store?"

All of them shook their heads negatively.

The more information I got about this story, the more my instinct told me that this had been a planned escape. After all, Christine had told me her father had grabbed a bag full of their stuff, as though he had been prepared for such an event. If he had been able to rent a car under a fake name, I assumed he'd had a fake driver's license. This demanded a lot of illegal planning that I just didn't see a serious FBI agent doing.

"Do you know anyone who could have helped them fake IDs?"

Jack chuckled loudly and Angela suppressed a smile.

"As a matter of fact, yes, we do," Jack replied.

"Brennan's father."

"And where can I find him?"

I directed my question at Parker who I thought would be able to provide that answer.

"Last I heard, he wasn't doing too well. If you want to talk to him, you better do it soon."

"Why?"

"He's dying. He has cancer."

I hated being in hospitals. The interior smell of them and the stillness of the corridors made me highly uncomfortable. I was grateful that Parker and Angela had agreed to accompany me. However, I had told them that I would need to speak to Max alone.

The man was lying in his hospital bed. Different tubes and wires were taped to him. He looked rather skinny under all those electric devices. His face was pale and dark circles colored the skin under his eyes. I thought of Dr. Brennan and felt a wave of sympathy towards her. If she was still alive, she probably wasn't even aware that her father was dying.

I took a chair beside his bed. The old man smiled at me and, in a whisper, told my two guides they could leave us alone. I told Angela and Parker I would meet them outside as soon as I was done.

"How are you feeling, sir?"

Max made some sort of unidentifiable sound.

"Well, you know…"

"I would like to ask you a few questions about your daughter, if you don't mind."

Max slowly blinked, as though nodding to agree would cost him too much energy.

"Go right ahead."

His voice was raspy, probably because he didn't have many opportunities to use it. From what I had understood earlier, Max didn't get many visitors. Angela tried to visit him once a week but it was never for a long period of time.

"Did you provide Seeley and Temperance with fake IDs before they disappeared?"

Max chuckled.

"I knew that I would get in trouble for that one day."

"So you did?"

He nodded.

"They asked me a month or two before they left. They didn't tell me why exactly. I knew some people who could help them with that. I did the transactions and everything. Booth didn't want anything to do with that but he said he needed to protect his family."

"And he didn't say why exactly he needed to protect them?"

"Not exactly. From what Tempe told me, they had some trouble with a man. They didn't know who he was but he was showing up almost everywhere they went. Booth just had a bad feeling about it. That was around the time they asked me for the IDs. After that, I wasn't around much and they didn't tell me the trouble had worsened."

"Did you know your daughter was missing?"

"I heard it on the news. But I don't know where they went or what happened to them after that. I've been worried about them for over 10 years. Do you know what that does to any old man?"

He had said this jokingly, I could hear it in his tone, a smile tugging at his lips. I found it bizarre that a man on his death bed could joke so openly. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to tell him about what I had learned. After all, he deserved to know at least partially what had happened to his daughter and grandchildren. However, I didn't want to cause him any more pain that he already seemed to be in.

"How long have you been sick?"

"About three or four months. The doctors say I have been lucky. This type of cancer could have killed me a long time ago but it didn't. I'm still here. The end is near though. I can feel it."

His words broke my heart and I thought of my own brother who had died from cancer a few years earlier. He had spent the last days of his life surrounded by his family and he had been happy. He had smiled and laughed until his very last day. As I stared at Max lying in his hospital, I knew I wouldn't be able to deny him what was left of his family.

"There's something else I should tell you. Christine and Jackson are still alive."

"Wh…what?" Max stuttered.

He tried to sit up which only resulted in physical pain. He flopped back down on his bed, wincing in pain.

"They are still alive?"

Without going into specific details, I explained to him what I had learned in the past week. I told him about Christine and Parker and the information I had received from her. Max stared at me blankly. Tears began to fall from the corner of his eyes. I felt a lump form in my throat.

"She is still alive…" Max whispered to himself.

"Yes," I whispered.

His eyes moved from me to the window. Silence filled the room. I was about to ask him if he preferred I left when he turned back to me, his eyes pleading.

"What does Christine look like?" he asked.

"She looks just like her mother."

A smile stretched across his face.

"Please tell her and Jackson to come visit me. I want to see them. I want to see them before I die."

I nodded, the lump growing painfully.

"I will. I promise."