21-A Hero's Journey

It had been three days with no progress. Without a body, Brennan couldn't examine. Without a suspect, Booth couldn't interrogate. Angela couldn't sketch. Hodgins couldn't experiment. Sweets couldn't profile. Cam couldn't settle anyone down because no one needed settling down. "One more day," Hodgins mumbled, head in hands.

"Maybe it was another distraction," Angela suggested.

"From what?" Hodgins asked. Angela shrugged.

The doors slid open and a delivery man walked through the lab. "I'm looking for Special Agent Seeley Booth," he announced.

"Yeah, that's me," Booth said as he hopped off the platform's low railing.

"Sign here," the man instructed, and Booth scrawled his signature before taking the thick envelope.

Carefully, he set it on one of the examination tables and opened it. A folded piece of paper was on top of what looked like a manuscript. "Sweets," Booth mumbled, and the young psychologist stepped forward. "WHY DOES AN INADEQUATE WRIST OPPOSE OUR WORST? THE EASIER PRO ANGLES THE CRACK."

"Sniping," Sweets said.

"Yeah, I got that," Booth replied.

"The first part is asking you something directly, Agent Booth." Booth looked at him intensely. "It's asking why you don't take the shot more often. Why you don't kill. The second part," Sweets continued after a breath, "suggests that whoever has been making these…let's call them threats, is better than you. He'll kill who you can't."

"Who can't he kill?" Hodgins asked.

Booth sighed. "People who I have doubts about."

Sweets took the manuscript. "A Hero's Journey," he said, flipping through.

"What's that?" Angela asked.

"It's also called the monomyth," Brennan supplied. "It's the typical story of a typical hero."

"There are three main parts: Departure, Initiation, and Return."

Booth took the book. "Part One: Departure. Her selective empire resides."

"What?" Sweets said, grabbing the book again. "Whoever sent this wrote that in there."

"What does it mean?" Hodgins asked.

Sweets pursed his lips. "It's referring to the lab. The 'her' is Dr. Brennan. At the time of her first meeting with Booth, she had selected all of you to be here, except for Dr. Saroyan, of course. Dr. Brennan is like the queen of the lab, this is her empire. She has chosen this to be her empire, and you 'reside' here."

"What's the first part, Sweets?" Booth asked.

Sweets flipped through the pages. "The Call to Adventure. The hero, in this case Booth, is living his normal life when suddenly he is called to action in an unknown place."

"So…the lab?" Booth asked.

"Yes. The call to action was asking Dr. Brennan for help. Then there is Refusal of the Call, which you also did, Agent Booth, when you told Ms. Julian that you would not work with Dr. Brennan. Then there's Supernatural Aid." He stopped. "I don't know what that part was," he admitted.

"It was God, Sweets," Booth told him.

"God?" Sweets asked.

"Yeah. That night Bones and I…whatever…I knew God had put her in my life. And God stopped me from going to the pool hall that night and every night since."

Sweets took a deep breath. "OK. God. Then comes Crossing of the First Threshold. That was solving the case with Dr. Brennan's help."

"Hey, don't forget about us," Angela added.

Sweets smiled. "And Dr. Hodgins and Angela," he added. Angela smiled. "So after that there's Belly of the Whale, in which Booth shows a willingness to enter into Dr. Brennan's world."

"But that took a year," Brennan argued.

"It doesn't matter how long it takes, just that it happens," Sweets explained. Booth shifted closer to Brennan, both of them very aware of how true that statement was. "OK, so that ends Departure. Then there's The Road of Trials, in which Booth undergoes a series of ordeals. This would be your cases, probably with special emphasis on a select few. Then comes The Meeting with the Goddess, where you experience a love so strong and unconditional it is unrivaled by any other."

Booth smiled and kissed Brennan on the head before wrapping his arms around her from behind. "What else?" he asked as he rested his head on Brennan's shoulder.

Sweets sighed. "Woman as Temptress. The hero is tempted to abandon or stray from his quest, with Woman as a metaphor for those temptations."

"What's that part?" Brennan asked.

Sweets opened his mouth but Booth spoke first. "It's my coma, Bones." She rubbed the hands on her stomach and Booth kissed her shoulder.

"Yes," Sweets agreed after some moments of silence. "Then comes Atonement with the Father. This could refer to Max's trial or any time you've gone to confession, probably confession if we're going in chronological order. Or it could also be your acceptance of Max's more fatherly approach to Dr. Brennan's life. Anyway, next is Apotheosis. This would be the beginning of your concrete relationship with Dr. Brennan. Then it's The Ultimate Boon."

Hodgins snorted. "Sorry. Funny name," he said when everyone looked at him.

"This is the achievement of the goal," Sweets continued. "This is different for you because your goal doesn't have a limit."

"Well, actually…" Booth started. Everyone looked at him expectantly. "I told Bones that I wanted to put away as many people as I've killed, and I've done that. But now I want to keep doing it, obviously. I mean, I had no idea we'd be so successful."

Sweets nodded. "That's what's called Refusal of the Return. You have found happiness in this world, and don't want to go back to your 'old world.' Then there's the Magic Flight, in which you bring the boon back to your world. You've done this by arresting people and testifying in court." Sweets flipped to the next page, which was blank except for "A WORLD SCREAMS" written in marker.

"Why is it like that?" Cam asked.

"This constitutes the parts of the journey you must now undertake, Agent Booth," Sweets answered, flipping through the pages. Rescue from Without, The Crossing of the Return Threshold, Master of Two Worlds, and, finally, Freedom to Live."

"What's Rescue from Without?" Booth asked.

"This is when your world comes to bring you back, since you are too weak to do it yourself."

"So this…person…thinks he's rescuing me by…by what?"

"By making you kill him," Sweets supplied.

"Why would he want to get caught?" Brennan asked.

"Because he wants me to know it's him. The craziest ones always want to be caught. Epps, the Gravedigger…they want the recognition."