Disclaimer: It doesn't matter belongs to Alison Krauss

Author's Notes I don't know anything about the Forensics Team (the ones that collect hairs, finger prints etc) and so they all made up.

Oh yeah and I own Mack Winters–I can create good guys! Yay!

Chapter 10: Sinful Protector

Angela walked purposefully across the apartment after stopping momentarily to take in the mess that was the lounge.

Booth turned instantly when he heard her enter, looking at her desperately. His cheeks streaked with tears and looking even more like the lost child than he had sounded on the phone.

"Booth…" she whispered, embracing him tightly, hoping that her touch, insignificant to that of the missing woman, would be enough to make him feel even slightly comforted.

His arms wrapped round her also, but it felt odd to be holding a woman that wasn't Temperance, cold almost and so he pulled away as quickly as he could.

Angela simply watched him with sad eyes as he ran his hands through his hair and went to go on looking outside.

She turned after a moment and surveyed the room at hand, trying to think the way that she should, or at least logically… had Temperance been here? And if so what had she been doing?

Stepping slowly and careful not to disturb anything that might be considered evidence she went and crouched by the coffee table; the centre of the room and where the most damage had been gathered.

Frowning as a box caught her eye she shuffled forwards and picked it and the item near it up.

A pregnancy test.

A used pregnancy test.

A used, positive pregnancy test.

Brennan wasn't… was she… oh God…

Angela was torn between telling Booth and keeping it from him, watching his slumped figure several feet from her she decided no, he didn't need to know.

Not now, he already thought, and was correct in thinking, that she had been kidnapped knowing that she was pregnant with his child as well…

The Forensics Team showed up as she put the test in it's box and hastily put it into her bag.

If the team found out Booth would know because you could guarantee that he would demand to be assigned this case and it would tear him apart to know that there was one more person to save than they thought.

Besides it wasn't up to anyone but Temperance herself to tell him. She could persuade and advise and comfort and just be there but she could do nothing further. It wasn't her place.

"Angela," Jack called as he stood in the doorway of the apartment, Zack behind him as they watched the Forensics Team begin doing their jobs.

Angela looked up and gave them a weak half smile "can they…?" she trailed off, looking at the person in charge of the Forensics Team, Shaun Albrow.

Peter looked at the two men stood in the doorway and nodded slowly "don't touch anything," he instructed before turning back to his work.

Jack and Zack nodded their agreement and went to stand near Angela, and as they spoke in hushed whispers with accompanying darting glances, two police officers and another FBI Agent walked in.

"Booth," the Agent said sharply.

Booth turned "Hey Mack," he sighed slightly before making his way over to them, dodging the Team who were currently taking the debris in the middle of the floor to pieces.

"What happened here?" Mack Winters asked.

"She was kidnapped," his reply "what're you doing here?"

"I'm conducting the investigation," Mack answered hesitantly. Five foot eleven, broadly built with slightly tanned skin and vaguely curly dark hair.

Booth's eyes narrowed "I am," he said, once more regaining the composure of the straight-talking agent he was mere hours ago.

"I told Cullen you would want too but he was insistent. I mean are you sure you're up to it?"

"Yes," came the stoic reply "I'll talk to-"

"Look, there's no way Cullen's gonna budge you know that. Just let me deal with it. I promise we'll do everything-"

"I'm working on this case," Booth stood his ground and Angela watched the exchange nervously. Booth really wanted the case but Winters was right. He was in no fit state to be carrying out a case that hit so close to home.

"Not with permission, which is what you need," Mack had been calm and sympathetic but now was the time to actually make the other agent see that in his situation he had no control.

"She's mine," Booth growled in an almost primal fashion.

Angela's eyes widened and she was a little surprised when Jack intervened.

"Look man, you know this guy's right-"

"I am not going to just stand aside and watch some one else be-"

"The white knight," Angela put in gently "sweetie…"

Booth glowered at them all "fine. You do this. I've got my own investigating to do," with that he stalked from the building and slammed the door behind him.

Angela went to follow but was held back by a hand on her shoulder.

"Just leave him," Mack told her softly "I know you think he needs to talk but I know Booth. He just needs some time to sort things out,"

Jack crossed his arms "unless he goes and does something incredibly stupid,"


When she opened her eyes she was struck by a moment of blind panic before her eyes began to adjust to the darkness. Seconds later large industrial lights flicked on over head and she squeezed her eyes closed and shied away from the offensive light.

Slowly she began to adjust and opened her eyes once more and was amazed to find the person crouched in front of her was Pete Phillips.


Booth stood in front of his car for a moment before just walking away from it. He needed to walk. To clear his head.

It doesn't matter what I want,
It doesn't matter what I need,
It doesn't matter if I cry,

­­Mack Winters was a friend. An old friend and he trusted him with his life and hopefully it went both ways but this… he would trust him with his own life but not with Temperance's. He had know idea exactly who Dr. Temperance Brennan, partners with Special Agent Seeley Booth, works in the lab as Forensic Anthropologist was. She was all of that and so much more.

She was … there were no words, not his eyes, no words that came close. Strong, beautiful both mentally and physically… they seemed so… unworthy.

And someone had taken her away. Her car was outside she had to have been there and that made it that much worse. At least if she hadn't been there he could have gone and searched places, the grocery store, the park, the lab… anywhere but with her having been there… was she even still alive?


Temperance tried to speak and only succeeded in finding that he mouth was filled with a rag of some sort, she moved slightly only to find that her hands were bound tightly and repeatedly with a rope round her wrists.

Pete chuckled "comfy?"

She fixed him with a filthy glare and gave a small mewl of discomfort as the rag was removed roughly. Her mouth was dry and her tongue felt rough, her jaw ached having been in the same forced position for so long.

Pete looked at her, his head cocked to one side. Then everything started making sense, flashes of the tiniest things starting to fix together like a puzzle.

Pete Phillips was a math teacher at the local high school to wear he lived, the only alibi he had that night was from his wife–was she in on it too–And now she was here, bound and gagged, wherever here was.

Don't matter if I bleed,
You've been on a road,
Don't know where it goes or where it leads,

"You bastard," she whispered hoarsely "you killed your own daughter,"

Pete grinned even more maniacally "I did," he agreed "clever one aren't you?"

Unable to think of anything to say she cocked her chin and gave him a look she knew didn't come anywhere near close to what she thought of him but at least it portrayed a fraction of it.

Pete got to his feet and looked down at her "hope you find your accommodation comfortable. After all, wouldn't want you too loose that baby of yours would you? I'll be back soon," he laughed at the look on her face and left the room, heaving the large and heavy door across its railings to a close.

He… her…

She whimpered pathetically, determined to try and think a way out of this situation.


Parker would need collecting from school but he just could not bring himself to do it. To have to be there, amongst the crowd and tell a boy who thought of Temperance as a hero of sorts that he'd kicked her out and now she was in the hands of a… something and whether she was alive of dead was of complete uncertainty. He just couldn't do it.

As if on que a chime from his pocket indicated a received message. It was Jack oddly enough.

He was grateful that they hadn't called him and even more grateful by the spore specialists offer.

Want me to collect your kid from the school?

So completely out of character it was hard to tell whether it was a moment of compassion or whether it was per instruction of Angela he simply replied a quick: Yeah thanks.

It doesn't matter what I want,

It doesn't matter what I need,

If you've made up your mind to go,

No hassling. That was one of the few things about Jack he was able to like. He didn't hassle, didn't try and goad you into talking about something you didn't want too. Angela did it because that was just who she was and she was a woman whose prime belief was that talking about things always made you feel better.

Zack was so unsure of himself it was a little unnerving and possibly scary. And Doctor Goodman… Doctor Goodman could act like a father and a best friend at exactly the same time, talking things through also one of his basic beliefs.


The ropes were tight and chafed when she tried to pull free, she wanted to scream but daren't for fear of what might return, she wanted to cry but tears meant admitting defeat, she wanted… she wanted… she wanted Booth.

She pulled her legs up to her chest, her bound hands resting against her stomach and her forehead resting against her knees as she fought back tears. Everything, everything had gone wrong, ever since… ever since Carter, ever since he had done what he had.

In her work she expected to meet nasty people who did horrific things but he had started a chain of events that started on a slow descent and was just speeding up faster and faster as it whirled into a pit of darkness and despair.

I won't beg you to stay,
You've been in a cage,
Throw you to the wind you fly away,

Would she get out of this? On some level she could feel a small part of her hoping she didn't. That the pain and suffering and the agony of knowing exactly the mistakes she had made would all go away. She wouldn't have to face telling people she was pregnant, that Booth had kicked her out. That inside all she was, was a scared child begging to be loved and protected and accepted as she was rather than met with odd looks a dirty glances as people didn't understand the words she spoke, the job she did and the things she did.

She hit her head against her knees. How could she wish that? How could she even think that… yes Booth would be free of any chains she had bound him by and then everything… no! Stop it! She did not want to die!

The door reopening made her look up again and she saw a rather scared looking Anya enter the room.


Booth looked out over the large pond whose bank he was stood on simply watching the murky depths with morbid fascination.

He looked down at the perfectly smooth pebble in his hand and skimmed it across the top of the water watching it plunge under the surface out of sight like all the others he'd thrown before had.

"Damn you Booth I love you… I love you!"

Her words echoed in his head once more, the look on her face. She looked so lost, so out of control… in need.

She had needed him and even throughout the time that he had known her the sadistic part of him wanted her to break down and cry, to need him like that just so he could hold her, be the one in charge. The protector.

He sprawled to his knees as his legs buckled under the weight of it all. His pressed into the sparsely decorated grass and the grit that the pebbles he had thrown had laid amongst. Tears flew forth and sobs that he hadn't even realised he was holding back tore through his body viciously as he pressed his forehead into the ground and he wept.

It doesn't matter what I want,

It doesn't matter what I need,

It doesn't matter if I cry,

Angela watched as Booth skimmed the pebbles across the surface of the water from her car.

She felt guilty not telling him what she'd found and was pretty sure that hiding evidence wasn't exactly as pure and innocent as she'd liked to believe.

Mack was great and really straight with them all as well as being sympathetic and professional at the same time and that just made her fee that much worse knowing that she was lying to him.

Don't matter if I bleed,
Feel the sting of tear,
Falling on this face you've loved for years,

Her thoughts however were interrupted as Booth fell to his knees and she was out of her car and at his side in seconds.

She didn't speak and neither did he, she simply put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him to kneel with his back straight. So he was looking at her, one look in his eyes told her exactly what to do and so she wrapped her arms round him, pulling him to her chest and embracing him warmly.

As he sobbed into her shoulder her own tears found their way down her face and two friends clung to each other and cried as the afternoon sun illuminated the tiny drops of rain fell also, as if the sky too wept.


"Any news on the Phillips case Doctor…" Dr. Goodman trailed off as he surveyed the empty and blatantly abruptly abandoned lab "where is everybody?"

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