12.

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Recap 11: Sweets is given a strong hallucinogen that makes him think he is talking to the more positive version of himself, and the child version of himself, both of whom exhibit his ability to overcome dangerous situations. He hallucinates that his body is falling apart and he tries to literally pick up the pieces. Booth, Brennan, Cam & Hodgins review the evidence collected so far which includes the missing man who holds Sweets cell phone in his pocket. Booth finally deduces where Sweets is.

Sweets knew quite some time had passed. Up until now he had been able to track time fairly well but yesterday's 'trip' had erased the ability to ration time. He knew he had been there since Friday and he heard Joe on the phone about one last delivery for Thursday, tomorrow. The last Sweets remembered was Tuesday night, if this was Wednesday night, not on did Sweets have no memory of Wednesday, but time was ticking for Joe had said last delivery. The other diminishing factor was that Sweets had been gone for a week without food, hardly any water, hadn't slept in a week, was unsure if he had developed any infections from the dingy surroundings and after the nearly 36 hour drug induced trip yesterday he was holding onto the last illusions of his own sanity.

They aren't coming for you Sweets told himself, fearing the end was near. They tried, you know that, sometimes the good guys just don't finish first Sweets found that hard to say. Though his life had been rife with turmoil and periods of loneliness he was above all an optimist, and deep down, it was a hope he would cling to till his last breath. He thought of himself, the boy, you saved yourself he reminded himself. You did it before, can you do it again.

He tried to cling to that thought as his heart rate continued to slow, not from drugs but form his own body shutting down from the pain it had endured. His bruised and broken ribs had kept him breathing properly, developing into pneumonia. The lack of nourishment had abated his ability to move well, and the exertion brought on from the drug induced trip yesterday stripped the last remaining energy from his body.

"One more for the road?" Joe asked coming into the room. "This seemed only appropriate." Joe said pulling out an object Sweets recalled from his youth.

"I want everyone there." Booth said shouting into his cell. "Yeah well they shouldn't have screwed up two days ago. How do I know sir? That's why I'm the best you have, getting the other half of the best the bureau has. Now I'm going in if you want to send me some back up, that's up to you. I'll be there in four minutes."

"You plan on driving pretty fast then." Brennan said jumping in the passenger seat. Booth knew he wasn't going to be able to tell her to wait here. Nor in reality did he want to – if he found something grim, he would need Brennan.

Booth's SUV sped from the Jeffersonian parking lot. Cam and Hodgins watched it go.

"If we leave now they can't see us follow right?" Cam asked.

Hodgins smiled and they both ran for Hodgins car.

Sweets could feel the blood drip on his back as he lay as he had before, face down on the cot in the near dark, only the moonlight illuminating the room. Joe enjoyed the darkness, feeling it would make the psychologist more at ill ease.

"It's no fun if you won't make a noise." Joe said getting tired from his task.

Sweets didn't say anything.

"You finally run out of smart ass remarks?" Joe asked.

A sound of a siren made Joe walk to the window and away from Sweets. The siren of a squad car zoomed past the building and down the road. What were you worried about, no way they found you Joe smiled to himself and looked back to the bed. It was empty, spare for streaks of blood.

What the….Joe said stepping closer to the bed. He looked between the bed and the wall but nothing was there. He turned 180 degrees to turn on the light but Sweets stood in the doorway, his feet unsteady on cut feet, his sweatpants huge on his now emaciated waist, his tee shirt clinging to a bloody back. The moonlight illuminated his figure that with a stiff breeze would knock him down. The one thing that was there, strong as ever, were his dark eyes, unwavering, unyielding. It also helped that he held a gun in his hand.

"What you got there doc?" Joe asked, not very worried. He knew a quick rush and the doc would go down. Hell if he breathed heavily he could take him out with a breeze. Yet for all his physical detriments they seemed to unphase the psychologist's steely resolve. His youthfulness seemed lost, his resolve was hardened, he had one last task at hand.

"I can't think of a smart ass remark but this will do won't it?" Sweets said in reference to the gun.

"Sure kid, that's pretty good. But you're not gonna win this."

"I never liked bullies Joe." Sweets said in a low and dry voice.

"I bet you knew your fair share." Joe began to talk, he knew if he spoke long enough, most likely Sweets body would fail him and he would collapse.

"I bet you did too." Sweets responded back. "It's your type Joe, you were bullied, you became the bully."

"And you?"

"I was bullied and I became a man, one who stood up for others, helped them. You're a missed opportunity Joe."

The insult hurt, Joe couldn't deny that any more he could deny the waver the phycologist had on his own feet, sores that were now opening under his body's weight and bleeding. Joe decided to make his move.

Joe stepped forward to rush him, "You're nothing but a…." Joe stopped speaking after Sweets fired the gun. Sweets looked down in the darkness. In his haste he had picked up the first gun he saw, he wasn't sure then or now if it was the tranquilizer gun or the real gun.

Booth raced thru the front door, Brennan on his heels. He went past the crime scene from earlier in the week and up the stairs, all the while his gut confirming his each step in the right direction. He reached an upper story, one that baffled him before and this time he saw the strange brick wall, this time with a door, also made of brick open to it.

"Dammit!" Booth said looking at the trick door. His gut wrenched as he had been so close this week, a fact he knew Joe was proud of, his desire to make the agent suffer almost as much as the psychologist had been apparent in his threats.

Booth approached the open door with caution and pulled his gun. Brennan waited a few steps back. Her whole being wanted to race into the room, she had to know, no- she had to find her friend.

Seconds felt like forever as Booth inched forward, unsure of what possible trap lay ahead for them. Instead in the doorway he found a small kitchenette and past that a small room. Booth saw a figure on the floor and his heart stopped. He turned on the light to see the figure on the floor was Joe.

Brennan saw Booth's shoulders relax and quickly arrived at his side.

"Where is he?" Brennan asked scanning the small room to see a cot, drips of blood on it and Joe lifeless on the floor.

"Bones." Booth said swallowing hard. "Why is there blood on the bed?"

Brennan stepped closer to look at the distinct pattern. It was devoid in the center, as though someone were lying there, and the blood dripped around the torso making a sort of outline. Brennan looked to the floor and picked up a length of stripped wire and got the picture. She dropped it at the realization of the two factors while Booth's face turned mahogany at the same deduction.

Brennan looked at the light now entering the room and saw the footsteps leaving it, bloody footsteps. Brennan pointed to them, the pair turned to follow them leaving Joe to bleed on the floor.

Booth and Brennan ran into Cam and Hodgins at the door's entrance catching each duo by surprise. The sound of approaching agents was in the distance.

"Where? I mean is he…" Hodgins asked unsure his heart was still beating, Cam felt certain hers had stopped altogether.

"He's not up there." Booth said trying to think.

"What do you mean? He moved him?" Cam asked.

"No, Joe's up there." Booth said.

"I don't understand, did you kill him?" Cam asked cautiously.

"I didn't get the chance." Booth said solemnly. He still wasn't entirely sure what had happened. He was also upset at the missed opportunity to put the psycho in the wall a few times.

"There was a lot of blood, and footprints leading from the room." Brennan filled in.

"Footprints?" Hodgins asked, he imagined them in snow or something.

"In blood. But they faded at he steps."

"That must be Sweets." Cam said somewhat hopeful but deeply fearful. "Where would he go?"

"We're assuming he got out, what about the accomplice?" Hodgins asked.

They shivered at the thought. It was cold out and their worry instead of being resolved had deepened.

"We should start processing the room." Hodgins said trying to think of where to find clues.

"No, we need to find Sweets, if someone has him then we need to get there." Booth said prioritizing.

"I think Sweets walked out of here." Brennan said. They all looked at her as though she were crazy so she elaborated. "Joe is dead, it's doubtful the accomplice did it. Those footsteps left the room in a slow, short pace, there were smears as though the person were dragging his feet. If Sweets were being pushed out they would be far less casual."

It started to make sense. The quartet now wondered what was worse, Sweets wondering the streets or being with an accomplice.

"This isn't an area of town where you wonder around lost." Hodgins said looking around. The other agents arrived and Booth told two of them to secure the scene and the rest to start on a search pattern. Though the neighborhood may have been dicey they wanted to waste no time separating ways to cover more ground. Booth didn't like the idea of losing more of his people.

"Okay, you two and us two." Booth said. He motioned for the other agents to stay in pairs under the dark of the night.

"One last thing." Brennan said. "Sweets is hurt, bleeding and who knows what else, his instincts may catch on to want to burrow, hide."

"He's not an injured animal." Booth said irritated.

"Primal instincts will cause one to…" Brennan began but Booth interrupted and said he got what she meant. He didn't like the idea because it made Sweets that much harder to find.

Late night turned to midnight as the sets of devoted searchers continued to look. Booth tried to keep his faith as he searched every box, feared the opening of every dumpster and yet found no Sweets. His adrenaline was running short while his fear was running high. His flashlight scanned quickly so Brennan could not see the quiver in his hand. She knew it was there, as she knew it would be in her own but said nothing as she continued to search.

Sweets would risk life and limb for Christine, for me or Booth, I can't give up on him now she told her tired feet that pressed on. She didn't have the same gut feelings that Booth had and instead she relied on her knowledge and searched for places that she thought a person may go.

Miles passed and the path they took began to get fuzzy. Brennan began to wonder if they should regroup, Booth wanted to call out SWAT to help search. They felt their miles had been too far and turned back, hoping to see something on the way back, a new angle that might yield a result.

Booth stopped and knelt to the ground. Brennan stopped beside him to ask if he was hurt and was about to remark his shoes were not the proper choice for this. His red rimmed eyes answered her question directly.

"I know Booth. Me too." She said and they stood together.

Brennan looked up at an old overpass. It was a distance from the road that the flashlight could not reach. Brennan walked closer to it, a perfect place for one to retreat to, it was high up, protected from the elements and out of sight. She walked briskly and Booth had to pick up his pace to catch up.

"Bones, what are you doing?" He asked looking up at the crevice.

"It's perfect Booth." She said scanning in the darkness.

"No, it's…." Booth said not thinking anthropologically. Booth put his faith in his wife and shined his light in the spaces. A few homeless moved under the light and Booth kept the light moving until he could see a figure not dressed or covered in dark and dirty blankets like the others. He took off running towards it.

Quickly he and Brennan climbed the incline to the small space in the overpass. The coolness of the night had set in and the chill was severe. Booth shone his light again up at the figure wedged into the space, it jumped and Brennan pushed the light down.

"What are you doing Bones, it's Sweets right?"

"He's not himself Booth." She said cautiously as she approached. The darkness was a hinderance but the light was too abrasive. "Sweets?" She said softly stepping forward.

The pace was too slow for Booth who rushed forward wanting to confirm it was indeed the focus of their undeterred search for five long days.

"Come on Sweets let's get out of here." Sweets said reaching to grab his arm but he only scooted further away. As he did the blood from his back smeared the wall, illuminated by a passing car. Booth felt sick at the sight and Brennan put a hand to pause him.

"I'll call for an ambulance." Booth said feeling useless and stepping away.

"No, the lights and sounds will terrify him." Brennan said. "Just get someone to bring a car."

Booth called an agent then Cam. Brennan stepped forward offering a low and soothing voice.

"Sweets, do you remember me?" Brennan asked. She listened for any sound or response. He stopped shuffling she took that as a yes. "We've been looking for your Sweets. We were very worried."

The shuffling remained still.

"I would like for you to come with me Sweets. Would you come with me?" Brennan said holding out a hand. She waited patiently, a pace too slow for Booth who remained a few steps back. Brennan's hand was in the light and soon trembling fingers entered the moonlight to touch Brennan's. She let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. She put her hand out for the other hand which soon appeared. She pulled the arms forward and slowly an outline appeared in the moonlight but one she hardly recognized, she thought she had mistaken the person as another homeless man. But those dark eyes, they were Sweets.

Booth looked up with the same insight, that this broken and beaten man was indeed their Sweets. Booth rushed forward but the motion of another person caused the wavering Sweets to back up and fall down back on his elbows.

Sweets looked up again at Booth for a second and then quickly away as though ashamed.

"Sweets." Booth said softly this time as Brennan had suggested but Sweets eyes refused to connect with his. Booth felt insulted that Sweet wouldn't acknowledge him but he put his own feelings aside as an SUV, his SUV, pulled up with Cam behind the wheel.

"Come on Sweets." Booth said softly not locking eyes with him either as he thought the young doctor wished.

Sweets looked up to Brennan for help and Booth failed to understand what was still going on. Hodgins and Cam ran excitedly when Brennan paused for them to stop where they were. They were confused, their friend was found! What was the problem they wondered.

Brennan placed herself in Sweets shoes and took a guess as to what he was feeling. She put out her hand which again Sweets took as she pulled him to again unsteady feet. Booth looked down at Sweets feet to see them issuing blood again as well as taking on a blue hue from the bare feet on the cold ground.

Sweets tried vainly but he was unable to hold himself on his feet and started to waver back again, a motion that caused Cam and Booth to jump forward again in a natural reaction of seeing their friend fall. Sweets waved his hand muttering "I can do it" as he fell back. Brennan didn't want the fragile man to take another spill and grabbed his arm but he twisted in pain.

"Let us help Sweets." Booth said taking the other arm.

Passing out now Sweets failed to argue as the quartet helped him down the incline's overpass towards the SUV. Hodgins was at the wheel but he realized he was going to have to abandon the seat with the look Booth gave him.

"Open the back." Brennan suggested where Sweets could lay flat unlike in the seats. Hodgins & Cam jumped in the rear passenger seats helping the tall figure in the vehicle as softly and gently as possible.

"Bones…" Booth said pausing her but stopped as it didn't seem important at the moment.

"Booth, he doesn't want you to see him as weak." Brennan said, guessing what she had when she put herself in Sweets shoes, she would not want to be seen as weak in Booth's eyes either.

"He's lived thru five days of hell and just shot the guy who did it to him." Booth said completely surprised by her observation. "Why the hell would he think that?"

"You can ask him that later." Brennan said stepping in the back of the SUV with Sweets. "I'm not a psychologist but I know a good one."

Note: If I did not make it clear enough, I apologize, but please note that while Sweets is picking up his crumbling limbs, that occurs Tuesday night. The team finds more clues on Wednesday and heads to find him Wednesday night. Which means that all of Wednesday is unaccounted for in Sweets POV….for now….