Set in early November 2013 (about 3 weeks after the events of My Bones) and this is a case through the eyes of Booth. Booth begins to see the parallels between the murder victim and Brennan causing some concern coming from his friends and family.
"Female, mid-30s, Caucasian. Death was around 3 weeks ago." Wendell said looking at the body that was lay down by the lake. "Seems to have suffered extreme physical trauma prior to death."
"How bad?" Booth asked opening his note pad to take notes.
"Dislocated arm, fractured ribs and the brittleness of the bones indicate dehydration for about 2 weeks maximum." Wendell explained further. Booth looked up from his notes a moment. He shook his head and returned to the pad. "Pelvis also indicates that she was pregnant."
"What?" Booth exclaimed.
"Yes, around 7 months in gestation." answered Wendell. "I cannot see the fetus though."
"What is that on her hand?" Booth said.
"Looks like a dolphin ring." Wendell lifted up the hand and Booth felt the burning feeling of sick forming in his throat.
"So…um…. what do you think happened to the baby?" Booth asked, stuttering a little.
"I don't know." Wendell answered softly.
bxbxbxbxbxb
"Ok, so I have managed to get a visual of the victim." Angela said over the Video Conference showing Booth the image of the reconstruction she had done.
Booth looked at the image and looked at a photo of Brennan he had on his new bookcase. The victim had a lot of physical parallels to Brennan. They both had nut brown hair, blue eyes and pale skin.
"Are you okay Booth?" asked Angela seeing the look on Booth's face.
"I'm… fine Angela. How are you?"
"Me? Well one of the twins has their feet lodged in my spleen. But I'm dandy. I might call it a day and see Brennan."
"She may be asleep but she could do with the company." Booth smiled slightly and scanned the image against the MPDb and found a match to a woman who went missing 5 weeks before.
"Agent Booth?" Sweets asked when he knocked on Booth's door.
"Sweets?" Booth said lifting his head.
"Have you found an identity yet?"
"Hmmm… Jessica Ambet. Fits the description that Wendell gave me at the crime scene. Come here a moment." Sweets moved behind the desk and looked at the screen. "Who does that look like to you?"
"Umm… she looks a little like the murder victim." Sweets said dumbly.
Booth walked over to the bookcase, grabbed the photo of Brennan and held it up to the image on the screen. "Now who does that look like?"
"Booth, she isn't Dr Brennan. Dr Brennan is safe, in a hospital and recovering. Jessica Ambet is dead."
"She was 7 months pregnant, Sweets, and she had a dolphin ring and had similar injuries to Bones."
"Booth you are reading too much into this. You need to keep it together for Dr Brennan's sake because right now, you are the only stable thing in her life. And we also have to talk to the victim's husband and you cannot lose control in front of him. Ok?"
Booth looked between the victim's image and Brennan's photo. "Ok, let's go and interview the husband."
bxbxbxbxbxb
Booth knocked on the door and waited for it to be answered. The door opened and there stood a man around the same age as Booth. "Yes?" he asked.
"Mr Ambet, I'm Special Agent Booth and this is Dr Sweets, we need to speak to you in regards to your wife." Booth said holding up his badge.
"You better come in." Mr Ambet said opening the door and letting the pair into the house. They sat on the chairs and Booth noticed some toys on the floor that looked as they belonged to someone under the age of 2. "Have you found her?"
"I'm sorry, Mr Ambet. Your wife's remains were found this morning." Sweets explained gently.
"Oh my God." Mr Ambet said struggling to breathe a little. "What about the baby?"
"We're not certain but I assume the baby died along with your wife. Again we are so sorry." Booth said.
"You don't have to be sorry. You didn't kill her yourself. Why would anyone do that to a pregnant woman?" asked Mr Ambet.
"Do you know about any ex partners?" Booth asked.
"Or had she been receiving mail that would be deemed unusual?" Sweets added hastily.
"She had been receiving mail that was creeping her out but she just thought that if she ignored it, it would stop. But about three weeks after the first letter, she disappeared. I reported it to the police because for her to go missing was out of character for her, especially as she was pregnant." explained Mr Ambet.
"Have you got a copy of these letters?" Sweets asked.
"Yeah. she said that if the guy kept sending them then she was going to the police for stalking." he got up, went to the draw and pulled out a small file. "Here they are." Mr Ambet handed the letters to Booth. Booth opened the file and at the same time heard a small voice.
"Daddy?" it was a small girl, around the same age Katy was. Booth just looked at her and thought 'This is exactly my life'.
"Hey Francesca, can you give me a minute and I'll be with you." the man said to his daughter. The little girl gave a small smile and toddled out. "How am I going to tell her that her mother is dead?"
Booth struggled to breathe slightly but managed to compose himself. About half an hour later Sweets and Booth exited the house and Sweets turned to Booth sharply. "Booth, you need to stop seeing the parallels between this case and Dr Brennan and yourself. Asking if ex partners could have done it means you are bringing your personal life into the work place. Well more than you have."
"It seemed plausible Sweets. I had to ask. Look, you can just drive me to the hospital. I've had enough for the day." Booth got into the passenger seat of Sweet's car and Sweets sighed getting into the driver's seat.
bxbxbxbxbxb
Brennan was asleep with Izzie on her chest while Angela was reading a magazine that was set on her extremely large bump. Booth came in and rested his suit jacket on the chair next to Angela. "Hey." he said.
"Hey, she got tired so she decided to take a nap. I just cannot get up to try and put Izzie in the cot. She's fine though, we've been talking about nonsense." Angela explained lifting her head. Booth picked the baby up and she gave a little whine.
"Shh. It's ok." he whispered bouncing her a little trying to settle her down but soon she settled into his chest and gripped her tiny hand on his shirt before he sat down on the chair.
"How are you getting on with the case?" Angela asked.
"We may have a lead but I'm thinking of giving it to another agent." Booth answered.
"Why?"
"Because the case is too similar to what happened to Bones. The victim looks like her, she had a husband and a child Katy's age and she was 7 months pregnant. I'm struggling to stay focused."
"Booth, she's not Brennan. Look at her. She may look like death but she is alive. Mind you, you don't exactly look like you are in the land of the living."
"Thanks. I'm just exhausted. I've been back and forth between the house to see Katy and this place." Booth had to divide his time between the two. Katy would stay with them on a Sunday night to keep it fair for everyone. "How are you?"
"Well, I have barely slept in the last two months. I am the size of a house and I cannot move without my ankles hurting like hell."
"First time I've heard you complain in this entire pregnancy."
"I've had more things to cope with than my ankles. She looks even smaller in your arms." she noted to Izzie. Booth looked and smiled at her.
"She needs feeding." Booth said when Izzie whined again and he grabbed the spare bottle on the side. Brennan had tried to breast feed her but she had been advised not to breast feed her while under medication so Izzie had been placed on formula bottles. Near every feeding time, a bottle was placed on the bedside table for her to be fed.
Booth shook the bottle and cradled Izzie and she latched onto the teat and starting suckling. "That's a good girl." Booth cooed. Sitting on the bed, he felt Brennan stirring.
"Do you want me to leave you guys in peace?" Angela asked.
"Give me a minute and I'll help you up." Booth replied seeing Izzie's eyes flutter open as she suckled.
bxbxbxbxbxb
Booth woke up in the middle of the night and stared at the ceiling. A few hours before he and Brennan had a talk. He told her of the case; she told him she thought she had depression. Booth said he would help the best he could.
He looked at Brennan and then to Izzie. He knew that Jessica Ambet wasn't Brennan, but the similarities between them were so obvious. If he gave the case to someone else, it would feel as though he was betraying Brennan and Izzie. He would betray that little girl he saw earlier. He needed to solve the crime.
Brennan woke up with a loud gasp and sat up panting and tears starting falling from her eyes. Booth sat up with her and held her while she cried.
bxbxbxbxbxb
The next morning Booth entered Sweets' office. "Is everything okay Booth?" Sweets asked.
"I need to solve this murder. For her husband, daughter and for Bones." Booth explained. "Have you looked at those letters?"
"Yes, the stalker clearly had an infatuation with Jessica Ambet. They described how they saw her through the bedroom window, the way she smelt. This is someone who knew her."
"Was there a name at the bottom?"
"No. The letters were signed by a Romeo."
"As in Romeo and Juliet?"
"Possibly. I think she found out who was stalking her, went to meet them, an argument started and she was murdered."
"And the baby she was carrying?"
"That is the mystery."
"Right, have you done checks for any similarities between cases?"
"Yes, I have about 45 previous cases."
"45?"
"Yes, so if you want to do this, we better get started."
bxbxbxbxbxb
"Sweets, have you seen the parallels between these five cases?" Booth said holding out some files. Sweets took the files. The women were all mothers with young children. One had been murdered in a public walking area in the park. Another had been at their house. All murdered in brutal ways. All had received letters from a mystery person called Romeo.
"This may have some DNA evidence on them." Sweets said pointing to the letter.
"I'll ring Cam and give her the letters. She should be able to get both fingerprints and DNA off." Booth grabbed the files and ran out of the door.
bxbxbxbxbxb
"Booth stop pacing up and down you are making me nervous." Brennan said getting frustrated with Booth as he walked up and down in front of the bed waiting for Cam to call.
"Sorry. I just need this call so I can find the man who killed Jessica Ambet. This is important." Booth explained stopping.
"I… I've spoken to a hospital psychologist. They say that they can give me some medication. Also they doctors said I can be discharged since I have physically recovered."
"That is good. You don't sound too enthusiastic."
"Booth…" Brennan hesitated but decided not to tell him the truth. "I'm fine Booth."
Booth's phone rang and Booth grabbed it as fast as he could. "Booth." Booth listened to Cam and breathed a sigh of relief. "That's great, thanks." Booth hung up. "Bones, Cam has gotten the DNA back and I need to arrest this guy. I'll be back soon, ok?" he kissed her head and squeezed her hand.
"Just get him Booth." she gave a small smile and he kissed her head on more time before leaving.
bxbxbxbxbxb
Booth knocked the door rapidly with a load of police officers behind him. "FBI open up." Booth shouted. Getting annoyed, he kicked the door off its hinges and walked through the house looking for the man. Booth walked up the stairs. Opening a bedroom door he found a man on the floor unconscious "Up here!" he shouted.
bxbxbxbxbxb
A couple of hours later, Booth had finished the paperwork and rushed to the hospital only to find Brennan packing her stuff into a bag. She was dressed in sweatpants and a cardigan.
"I thought if I could be discharged then there was no use for me to be in here. Did you find him?" Brennan asked.
"Overdosed on crack. He's in the hospital now and he is under guard." Booth answered.
"And the…"
"They found the skeletal remains this afternoon. Bit horrific actually." he paused for a moment when he saw Izzie and decided to stop for Brennan's sake. "Do you need help?"
She shook her head. "You can get Izzie into her car seat while I go to the bathroom." Brennan walked away from her bag and towards the bathroom. Booth walked over to the cot and picked Izzie up and placed her in the car seat.
"We're going home now Izzie. You are going to share a room with your big sister and she is going to look after you." he said strapping her in. "I know that you had a rough ride into this world, but you are safe now and that is all that matters. No one is going to hurt you ever again." he stroked his finger over her tiny cheek before putting on her hat. "And please make my life easier by not being frightened of loud noises. I think one of you is enough." he smiled and gave her head a kiss before finishing off Brennan's packing. Well, if he was going to help, he'd better make a start on it.