Chapter Eleven:

Booth checked Brennan over thankfully the bullet had just grazed her side, it was a deep cut though, and would require stitches. They took cover behind the large SUV that the FBI provided for Booth.

Booth kept his eye out, occasionally taking a shot when he had the opportunity. From what he could tell, the gunman was shooting out of the bay window area that was in the kitchen.

"Booth, what kind of madman is my daughter living with!" Brennan asked as another hailstorm of bullets came flying at them. Booth could tell the man was shooting with an automatic. He reached around and grabbed the Kevlar vest out of his trunk. He could only get a hold of one safely. He handed it to her.

"No Booth, you wear it." She told him, applying pressure to her side.

"Nope, not going to happen. You are going to wear it, you have already been hit. I'm a better shot then you, and I'm not injured, so I will be able to move better than you. If you are insisting on staying here, then you have to put on the vest." He argued with her. He won, and she reluctantly put on the vest.

Booth popped back over the side of the vehicle and let out two shots at the perpetrator. "Damn that was close."

He looked around. People were coming out of their houses know, and he was screaming for them to get back inside. He sure as hell didn't want anyone to get hurt. He only prayed that Brennan would have her happy ending.

Backup came and got in formation waiting to figure out what they needed to do next. Booth heard the door open up, and at first he thought that it was the perpetrator giving himself up. Booth and Brennan looked up. A woman stepped out. Tears were flowing down her face.

"Please stop shooting!" She yelled from her spot on the porch.

"Ma'am, please come to safety." Booth yelled to her. He was hoping that he could get one hostage out of the way, and then have SWAT storm the house if need be. They could get the necessary information from the lady to find out where Elizabeth was.

"I can't. My daughter is upstairs asleep. My boyfriend will kill her if I don't comply." She walked back inside, leaving the door open behind her.

"Booth, Elizabeth is in there!" Brennan stood up.

"Damn it Bones, stay down. He is still armed and dangerous, and if you can't tell, obviously a little unstable. Now we know that Elizabeth is upstairs, we can try to take the bastard down." Booth forced her to the ground and argued with her.

He grabbed the bullhorn from one of the officers. "This is the FBI come out with your hands up." He said into the device.

"You know that isn't going to happen." Brennan hissed at him. He could tell that she was becoming more and more impatient.

He was rewarded by another round of bullets coming from the window. He dove for cover. "You know," he said looking at Bones. "Just once . . . once, I would like these assholes to make my job just a little bit easier. Why don't they ever listen?" He mumbled. Booth looked at the red stain that was growing on Brennan's shirt. "You should let the paramedic's take you to the hospital to get that taken care of."

"Like hell am I leaving you and Elizabeth here with some crazy guy. I think I am going to veto that idea."

Booth shook his head. His partner could be so stubborn at times.

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They sat behind the SUV for hours, dodging bullets, both literally and figuratively.

"Booth maybe I just wasn't meant for the conventional family. Maybe this is a sign saying I wasn't meant to have my own children." She whispered. All of the control was taken from her, and she hated that feeling.

"Bones, look at me." He whispered. When she didn't he raised her chin, making her eyes met his. "Look I will admit to you that you haven't had the easiest of times, but you do deserve everything that you want. If I can make sure you get it, then I will try my best to give it to you. We will get your daughter back. I promise you that."

"What happens if you can't keep that promise?"

"I will try my best to make sure you get everything you want." He reached down and squeezed her hand, and covered her as the gunman decided he was getting bored and sent another stream of bullets their way.

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Booth welcomed the sound of sirens when he realized that he would be running out of ammunition soon. There was no way he was prepared to face a crazy person. Well, he was never ready to face a crazy person, but today he thought he would just be questioning people about the disappearance of the girls and serving papers for a DNA test, not be in a full on shoot up that didn't seem to have an end in sight.

Backup arrived with a SWAT team waiting instructions on whether to enter the house or not. The head of hostage negotiations came to try to stop the volatile situation from getting worse. He tried several times to have contact made with the gunman, but soon found out that all cell phones in the house were shut off due to non-payment and that there was no landline.

Booth picked up the bullhorn. "This is FBI. Come out with your hands up." He said into the device.

"Like that is going to work." Brennan hissed. Booth knew that his partner was become agitated with the situation. All she wanted to do was find out the truth about her daughter and she was so close to finding out the truth.

"Once, just once, I would like some asshole to make my job a little easier." Booth muttered to no one in particular.

"Yeah, but then where would the excitement be?" The hostage negotiator said.

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A short while later, Booth heard the door open. The gunman had been silent, guns from all around were trained on the door. He and Brennan's heart skipped a beat when they saw who had opened the door. There on the front porch stood a little girl, around three and half. She was completely oblivious to the situation in front of her.

"Elizabeth, get back into the house." The woman inside screamed. Booth watched as the woman's husband took a fist full of her hair and flung her back inside the house.

There was no clear shot, so no one took it. A split second later, the gunman open fired again, with his adopted daughter standing in the middle of the mayhem.

The shots frightened her and Elizabeth immediately started crying. Tears were streaming down her face.

"Oh God!" Brennan froze. She only saw her daughter, crying, in the middle of an urban battleground.

Booth sprung into action and tossed himself over the front hood of the SUV and ran toward the little girl. He tried to dodge the bullets that where flying by him, praying that none would hit the little girl. He grabbed her quickly, feeling a bullet graze him just as he got to her. He dove for cover on the other side of the porch. It wasn't much, but it would have to do for now.

"Shh, it's going to be okay. I've got you know." Booth said trying to sooth the little girl. He realized how cold she was, and just how small she really was. He looked into her eyes and saw that she had the same exactly blue as her mother.

"Thank you for saving me." She whispered to him.

Booth searched for his partner in the chaos. She had unfrozen a split second after Booth had made his move. The gunman had paused for a second, giving Brennan enough time to squeeze the trigger, putting a bullet through his shoulder. The gunman wailed in pain dropping the rifle. At that moment, SWAT ran into the house to subdue to man.

Booth held the little girl. Brennan ran up to them and wrapped her arms around them.

"Elizabeth, this is my partner Temperance. We are going to take good care of you now okay." Booth told her. Elizabeth nodded her head, reaching out to held by Brennan. Booth transferred Elizabeth over into Brennan's waiting arms, and they made their way over to the paramedics to get checked out. Booth knew that they were closer than ever to Elizabeth coming home with them.


AN: Sorry it took me a little bit to get out. I was working on Means, Motive, and Opportunity and then Yours Forever, Love Seeley, and I acutally had half of this one written when it got earsed so I had to rewrite it, but here you go. I hope you like it. We are steps closer to getting Elizabeth home. Also, don't worry I will explain how they adoptive parents fit in with the case.