(Killer in the Concrete)

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I don't own Bones.

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Over the next couple of months, Brennan visited Gordon Wyatt several times along with her partner. Neither felt it was the best way to use their time, but it was a small price to pay to keep their partnership intact and Booth's boss happy. After the fourth appointment, Gordon decided that Brennan really wasn't in distress over the killing of Epps and seemed to have the support she needed. "I've decided to stop the sessions, Dr. Brennan. You and Agent Booth don't need to come back unless you want to." He had other agents that were in need of his help and even though he enjoyed the conversations with the couple, he couldn't in good conscious waste their time or his.

"We don't want to." Brennan had been quick to reply and Booth had laughed. She knew that she was fine and even though killing Epps had been troublesome for a few weeks, she had stopped dreaming about his death and she hoped it remained that way.

Free from psychiatric snooping, Booth had waved at Gordon on the way out of the door. "I told you she was fine, Doc." Once they were out of the room, Booth grabbed Brennan's hand and pulled her into his embrace. The outer office was unoccupied and Booth wanted to take advantage of that. After sharing an intimate kiss, they separated and continued out into the hallway. "I'll see you later, Bones. I have a pile of work on my desk."

Stopping off at the Diner for a cup of coffee and an apple fritter, Brennan was surprised to see her father sitting at a table in the back of the room. Moving quickly towards the table, Brennan removed her phone from her purse and called Booth. "My father is at the Royal Diner."

"Oh Honey, don't be that way." Max had returned to the area trying to connect with his daughter. He was feeling guilty abandoning her again and he wanted her to know that he wanted to be part of her life. "Tempe, I want to talk to you."

Any chance Max will stick around until I get there?

Before she could answer, Max stood up and placed a ten dollar bill on the table. "I really would like to talk you. Have some pie and coffee on me." He walked towards the front entrance and was gone in a moment.

"No, he's gone." Not sure what her father was up to, Brennan sat down and stared out of the picture window next to the table at the pedestrians moving down the sidewalk. Max wasn't in sight. "He said he wants to talk to me."

Maybe you should let him. At least you can find out what he wants and why he's back.

With mixed feelings, Brennan sighed. "He's a wanted man. I don't want to talk to him. I want you to arrest him." Her father was a murderer and men like him belonged in prison. Didn't they?

Well, if it was my father, I'd want to know what he wants to tell me, but that's me. You okay?

"Yes, I'm fine." Brennan ordered a cup of coffee and a blueberry scone instead of the apple fritter she originally wanted. "I wasn't expecting to see him. Do you think he's following me?"

Maybe. Look, the next time you see him, hold back and call me. Maybe I can get there before he bugs out.

"Alright." The call ended, Brennan picked up the money her father left and when the waitress came back with her order, she handed it to her along with the money for her order. "This is for you." Brennan didn't want her father's money and thought it would be more useful to the waitress.

Surprised she was getting such a big tip, Jane smiled. "Thanks Dr. Brennan. I appreciate it."

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Everyone was worried and they weren't sure what to do about it. Booth was missing and they didn't know where to look for him. Brennan was informed by the FBI that they had tracked down his truck to a parking space outside a decrepit hotel in Baltimore, Maryland, but there was no sign of Booth. Afraid that something had happened to her mate, Brennan tried to recreate his movements before he disappeared. Once she was in Baltimore, she stopped at the park where Booth had called her from and tried to decide what to do next.

Unaware that she was being followed, she was surprised, when her father suddenly appeared next to her car. "Honey what's going on? Why are you here?" He had been keeping an eye on Brennan for a few days and Max had noticed that Booth hadn't been home since the day before. He hadn't really thought that anything was wrong, until Brennan had left work in the middle of the day and drove out of town. To his surprise, he had followed her to Baltimore and he was starting to worry why.

Afraid for her boyfriend, Brennan exited her car and looked over at the men in the park who were playing with remote planes. "Booth was trying to track down a hit man named Ice Pick Kennedy. His real name isn't Ice Pick it's Hugh Kennedy. Booth thought it was appropriate to call him Ice Pick." She knew she was rambling, but she was trying to determine what to do and her father being in the area confused her. "He is connected to a case we're working on and it's possible that Ice Pick was the murderer we're looking for. Our victim was found in Baltimore and he was part of a crime organization run by Melvin Gallagher."

"Oh God." Max knew exactly who Hugh Kennedy and Melvin Gallagher were. "Those guys are very dangerous men. If Booth was tracking Ice Pick alone, he could be in real trouble. I mean really big trouble."

She didn't care how her father knew who Ice Pick and Gallagher were, but since he did, she thought he might be useful. She needed to find Booth as soon as possible since the longer he was missing the greater the possibility was that he was dead. "We know that Ice Pick is missing a leg. I think Booth may have figured out who he was and confronted him."

"I can tell you that Hugh was addicted to model airplanes." Max watched the group of men in the park preparing their model planes to fly them.

"Yes, we know." Brennan turned to stare at the pilots. "Someone we interviewed mentioned it. Booth decided he could use that information to find Ice Pick." Moving towards the park, Brennan was determined to find where Ice Pick was and perhaps find Booth.

Following his daughter to the park, Max decided that she couldn't investigate Booth's disappearance by herself. He knew that she was looking for a very dangerous man and Hugh Kennedy would murder her without a qualm if it would keep him free from the law.

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With Angela, Zach and Hodgins working in the Lab and Brennan and Max working the streets, Booth was found in an air hanger belonging to Melvin Gallagher at the Purdue Airfield in Oakville, Virginia.

Melvin Gallagher and his associate Clark Lightner were desperate to know if Hugh Kennedy was alive and they had kidnapped and tortured Booth to try to get that information. Booth had realized that if he said anything they'd kill him and if he could resist the Republican Guard while a prisoner of war then Melvin and his lackey would be a cake walk.

Of course, that cake walk had been quite painful. Gallagher and Lightner slapped him, beat him, kicked him and used a white-hot screwdriver on his leg. Booth had tried his best to pretend that what they were doing to him was insignificant, but in reality he was in a great deal of pain when he was rescued by his partner and her father. Much to his annoyance, Max left the area right after he was rescued, so the con man was still on the run.

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The FBI had appreciated that Brennan had found their agent. Both Brennan and Booth were taken to a nearby hospital so that his injuries could be treated. Once Booth was released from the hospital, Agent Harris had driven them both to their home. "The next time you decide to investigate someone on your own, I'm going to kick your ass, Booth." Harris worked for Booth in Major Crimes and he couldn't believe that his boss had gone after Hugh Kennedy by himself. "You have a partner, you should have taken her with you or someone else if she wasn't available."

Annoyed, Booth roused himself enough to stop his agent from his rant. "Just stop, Harris. I had a hot lead and I followed it. Kennedy got the drop on me, but he didn't kill me. He just tied me up in that hotel room and left me there. Gallagher and his stooge were looking for Kennedy too and they were the ones who kidnapped me . . . But yeah, I get that I shouldn't have gone on my own."

Brennan agreed with Harris, but she decided to wait until they were home before she brought up the subject. Her partner had tried to downplay his injuries, but she had seen his x-rays and she knew that he was going to need a few weeks to recover.

Once they were home, Harris helped get Booth inside the house and into bed. "Call me if you need me." Harris admired Booth and his fearlessness, but he was afraid that that fearlessness was going to get him killed someday.

Alone, Brennan leaned over her lover where he lay and studied the bruises on his face, chest, ribs and legs and the burn mark on his right leg. "The kicks to your ribs broke three of them. They will take a while to heal . . . The burn mark isn't too deep. It did do some muscle damage and it's possible you may have to use crutches for a few days." Glad that his injuries weren't as bad as they could be, she leaned over further and kissed him. "I'm glad you're home."

His ribs hurt and moving made them throb, but Booth placed his hand behind her head and kissed her. "Thanks for finding me. I was counting on it." He kissed her once more and moved his hand back so that it rested on the mattress next to him. "How did Max get involved in my rescue?"

Sitting on the bed next to her boyfriend, Brennan decided to be honest. "Max has been following me. I told you that I thought he was . . . When I drove up to Baltimore, he followed me there. He was curious about why I was in Baltimore and he confronted me. I told him that you were missing and he decided to help me look for you. When he heard that you had been looking for Hugh Kennedy and Melvin Gallagher, he became concerned for your well being. He said they are notorious in certain circles. I assumed he meant criminal circles."

"I don't like that Max has been following you around, but we can't do anything about it. At least not yet." Tired, Booth rubbed his eyes carefully, trying not to make sudden movements. "I don't know how you found me, but I knew you would . . . Harris is right, I should have brought you with me . . . I guess Kennedy is alive, but he's going to go into hiding again and we're probably never going to find the guy."

"You had me worried when you disappeared." Brennan sighed. "I'm glad that Max was able to help me look for you, but he's a wanted man and I should have arrested him or let the swat team arrest him . . . but, I couldn't let him be arrested, Booth. He helped me find you . . . I let him borrow my car to get away. I was grateful for his help."

Booth reached out and placed his hand over Brennan's hand. "Hey, no one expects you to turn your father in, Bones. If he's going to keep hanging around and following you, we'll catch him sooner or later. It's okay. You didn't do anything wrong. You did everything right as far as I'm concerned."

She sat beside him until Booth fell asleep. Once he was resting, she covered him with a blanket and left the room. Moving into the living room, she noticed something was out of order on the coffee table. As she got closer to the table, she could see that there was a piece of paper on top with a glass dolphin and a picture of Brennan and her mother resting on top of it. Curious, she read the letter. Tempe, I really need to talk to you about your mother.

Tired and feeling drained, she sat down on the couch and held the dolphin in her hand. The picture of her mother was a surprise since she didn't remember taking the picture with her mother. With mixed feelings, Brennan thought about her father and mother and decided that she wanted her father to stay away from her. She knew he was a murderer, but he was her father and she didn't want anything bad to happen to him. She knew that if he was foolish enough to keep trying to talk to her then he would be captured by law enforcement and he would be tried for murder. He had helped her find Booth and that meant there was still some good in Max. Wasn't there?"

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