Chapter 11. The happy end?

"Mr. Sweets. Mr. Sweets!"

Sweets was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't realize that it was his name being called. He tried to focus on the person in front of him. At first he saw a strange blur with a vague shape. For a few seconds, Sweets couldn't concentrate. He shook his head and only then understood that it was a doctor who stood right in front of him. A surgeon to be exact.

When Sweets' brain caught up with his visual receptors, he jumped out of his chair and exclaimed, "Daisy? How is she? How is my son? How did the…"

The doctor lifted his hand to stop the flaw of questions. Sweets immediately felt silent.

"The surgery went well. Both your wife and your son are going to be fine."

Sweets exhaled in relief. The doctor continued, "We are going to place the boy into the incubator for premature babies for a while. But he is not in danger. His lungs are a bit undeveloped; however, he is sure to make a full recovery."

"Can I see them?"

"You can see your son right now, but your wife only after she is moved out of the operating room."

Five minutes later, Sweets stood near the incubator and looked at his second child. Daisy and he agreed to name him Andrew Michael in honour of Daisy's father. Sweets' own father's name was Alexander. His firstborn son got it as his middle name, so it was fair.

The stupor of the last few hours faded. Everything was fine. Daisy had given him quite a scare, but it turned out well. Suddenly Sweets remembered that he had not come to the hospital alone. 'Alex!'

…

When Cam with the group of agents came back to the house, she immediately felt that something was wrong. The van, which should have taken the remains back to the lab, was still parked nearby. She was sure, that it should have left some time ago. The other strange thing was Hodgins absence.

Cam approached the van's driver.

"I'm looking for Dr. Hodgins. Do you know where he is?"

The man scowled and looked at his wristwatch.

"I wish I did! He asked me to wait for him five minutes 'cause he had left something on the crime scene. And that was twenty minutes ago!"

The feeling of dread spread through Cam's veins. Forgetting about the driver, she turned around and ran back into the forest. The search team leader saw it and sent three of his men after her.

When they reached the crime scene, Donald was nowhere to be seen. Hodgins lay on his stomach at the far end of the area. Cam ran to his side praying that nothing irreversible had happened. Falling on her knees near his body, she checked his pulse with shaking fingers. When she found one, she exhaled and called one of the agents to help her roll Hodgins over.

"Jack," she shook his shoulder. "Jack, do you hear me? It's Cam. Come on, Jack!"

His eyelids fluttered and after a few moments he opened his eyes, squinting over the light.

"Cam? What happened?"

Cam chuckled despite the circumstances.

"You tell me."

"What? I… Oh… I came back here to retrieve my jacket. Then I heard something behind my back. I turned around…then nothing."

The expression on Cam's face darkened.

"Ditrich managed to sneak back to the house somehow. We should go back immediately!"

They helped Hodgins up. Meanwhile, the other two agents did the same for the one that had been guarding the place.

…

'Alex! Where is he? How could I forget about him?'

Sweets hurried to the reception area. He was panicking. The Central Hospital was too big for him to find Alex without any help. He didn't want to think that the boy could have left the building.

When he reached his destination, he saw a young nurse talking on the phone. Sweets shifted from one foot to the other while waiting for her to end the conversation. Two minutes later the nurse hung the phone, wrote something on the sheet of paper in front of her, and, finally, looked at Sweets.

"What can I do for you, sir?"

"I need your help! I was holding his hand all the time! But then he was gone. I don't know where he is! My wife…and he…I…"

The nurse smiled patiently as if dealing with distraught people was everyday occurrence.

"Sir, explain, please, what happened."

Sweets sighed deeply and started over, "My wife was checked in with a premature delivery a couple of hours ago. At that time I was looking after my friends' son. I had to take him here with me. And now I'm not able to find him!"

"Calm down, sir. I'll make an announcement. Somebody is sure to have seen him. Do not worry. What is his name?"

"Alex Ditrich."

The nurse nodded. A few moments later the whole hospital heard about the missing boy.

…

The last half an hour of their journey to the hospital Booth counted by seconds. The three-hour long trip seemed like an eternity.

Brennan's condition didn't change. But, even Booth could see that she was in a bad shape.

Sometime through the journey Scarlett woke up. For a good twenty minutes they were not able to calm her down. The girl was scared by unfamiliar surroundings, smells, and sounds. She was too young to understand Brennan's condition. So they told her that her mother was just sleeping. And then it took them another ten minutes to persuade her not to try waking Brennan up. Fortunately, Angela managed to distract the girl with a children book that she had found in her purse.

As soon as they were in the hospital, Brennan was taken away from them. Neither Booth nor Angela was allowed to go with her.

"Booth, I think we should go find Sweets. I'm worried about Daisy!"

The announcement that Alex was lost stopped them. They looked at each other with dread.

…

Donald carefully made his way towards the house. He was furious. He thought, 'those people have ruined my life, my revenge'. First, they made it impossible for him to punish his wife who had a nerve to contradict him. Secondly, they took away his son first, then his daughter. And, third, they found out his deepest, most guarded secret. The secret he was able to hide for the last eight years. This secret was about his wife, about Diora Ditrich, nee Liam.

…

"Al!" Scarlett exclaimed suddenly pointing at something behind their backs with her little finger. Booth turned around sharply. There was Alex coming in their direction. Angela made a strange whimpering noise.

"Scarlett!"

When Alex noticed his sister in Booth's arms, he started to run toward them. Scarlett reached out for him and he took her into his arms, hugging her with all his might. When his feeling calmed a little, he looked up into Booth's eyes and said, "Thank you."

Booth was not able to hold it any longer. He fell on his knees and hugged both children.

Some time later Angela tapped him on his shoulder.

"We should go find Sweets."

Booth nodded. But before they went to the reception he asked Alex, "Why did you run away from Sweets?"

"I didn't want to, I swear! It's just… I was bored, so I decided to look around. I didn't want to get lost!"

When they found Sweets near the reception area a few minutes later, the psychologist looked like death warmed over. Only after he saw both Alex and Scarlett did the colour start to come back to his face.

Then Alex asked a question that was on Sweets mind, too.

"What about mum? Is she okay?"

Booth and Angela looked at each other. Sweets saw that and paled. Something was not right.

"Alex," Booth swallowed. "Your mother is here, in the hospital tight now. A doctor is examining her."

"A doctor? Is she hurt?"

"Yes, she is. But now she is out of danger. Everything will be alright, trust me."

…

Diora. They had first met at the party their mutual friends were throwing. She was working in the theatre, but dreamed of appearing on the screen. He had just opened his auto repair shop and his business was going fine. She had attracted his attention immediately: long dark hair, blue eyes, fit body. Two months later they started to date, and then got married. Hell broke loose a couple of months after the marriage.

He thought that his wife should obey him without any complaints. She disagreed. At first they just yelled at each other. Then he began to hit her in order to teach her a lesson. She decided to leave him.

One day he came home from work to find her packing. The rage overwhelmed him. Never before had he been so angry. And he showed her, what it meant to disobey him. He stopped the beating only when he realized she was dead.

He needed to hide the body. The easiest solution was to bury it in the forest. He did just so. Then a few days later in Washington, he saw a woman who resembled his Diora so much that he was not able to stop himself. She had to be his. She would be his wife, his Diora. And she'd better not make him angry. With those thoughts Donald took what his insane mind thought was his.

…

Angela took the kids to the cafeteria. Sweets went to be with Daisy. Booth stayed near the room where Brennan was treated.

Doctors had already taken an x-ray that showed two fractured ribs and a broken right wrist. Brennan had a lot of bruises and cuts, but it was the head wound that was the most dangerous. However, the doctors were not able to predict the consequences of it, not until she woke up.

Suddenly his cell started ringing. Not even looking at the caller's ID, Booth picked it up,

"Booth! We got him!"

"What?" He asked, not understanding. Cam sighed on the other side.

"Ditrich. We got him. He tried to sneak to his car, but was sighted on his way to it. Everybody was on alert after he had made the huge mistake of knocking Hodgins and one of the agents out."

"Are they alright?"

"Yes, they are fine."

Booth felt like a huge weight was lifted off of his shoulders. He felt his eyes watering.

"Thanks, Cam. I owe you. All of you."

"No, Booth, you don't. We wouldn't have done it without you, you know it."

After some thought she asked, "How are Dr. Brennan and her daughter?"

"Scarlett is fine. As for Bones… I don't know. The doctors say they can't tell till she regains consciousness. They are still there with her."

"It'll be fine, Booth. We'll be leaving for Washington soon. I'll call you when we are in the city."

When Angela saw Booth crying, she thought the worst had happened. Her throat was so dry, that she managed only, "Bren?"

Booth shook his head and looked her in the eyes.

"Ditrich. They've caught him. He'll pay for everything he had done!"