A/N: Hi. =] I don't really have much to say. I'm a little brain dead today. xD But, not too brain dead to write.

About the angst, I've come to realize that it's not going to be a one-chapter thing, so I can't really warn you about what chapter that it's going to happen in, because it's more of a build up. So even though it's nothing too angsty just now, I'll warn you that it's going to start building very soon. That's all I can really say for now. xD

Chapter Thirty-Eight:

"I'm Trying To Get You To Understand"

When they stepped into the lab, Anderson looked around with wide eyes, looking at all the different pieces of lab equipment with an astonished expression. Booth had to laugh lightly at how fascinated he looked.

"You gotta stay close, alright, Anderson?" He asked, seeing how his attention immediately turned to the man next to him when he heard his name, "this place is big, and I don't want you getting lost in here."

"Okay," Anderson agreed, reaching over to clutch tightly onto Booth's hand.

Even though he was very mature, he was still small, so Booth had to make sure that he didn't go wandering off around the lab. When the little boy grasped onto his hand, he couldn't help but to feel immensely guilty. He promised that he and Brennan would find him somewhere for him to stay, and he knew that it was not a done deal that they would be able to. The last thing he would want was to let him down when he trusted him so much, even though he had only known him for a couple of hours.

"Bones is in her office?" He called out to the squints, waiting until Cam nodded in confirmation without looking over to him before he went to his wife's office, with Anderson's hand in his.

He knocked quickly, opening the door before she gave him permission to enter, to find her doing something on her computer.

"You know, Booth, there is no point in knocking if you're not going to wait for permission to enter," Brennan told him, not even having to look up from her computer to know that it was him.

"Well, you're my wife, I figured there was nothing you would be doing that you didn't want me to know about," he shrugged, "Anderson, this is my wife Temperance."

"Hi," he greeted her cheerfully, "I saw a picture of you from Mr. Agent Booth's wallet, and then another one in his office on the desk.

"Well now you're seeing me in person," she stood up so she could lean down to shake his little hand, "it's good to meet you, Anderson."

Anderson walked around Brennan's desk, examining the pictures that she had in frames. There was one of her and the rest of the 'squints' from a Christmas party, one of her and Booth that Angela had snapped around the time when they first got together, and one of her, Booth, and Christian that Portia had taken on her first official day working for them.

Barely even noticing that the little boy was wandering around Brennan's office, Booth spoke to her quietly, making sure that he couldn't hear.

"Caroline's here, and I have to go talk to her about our victim," he whispered, "do you mind keeping an eye on him for a few minutes."

"No, not at all," when he thanked her and turned to leave, she grabbed his arm gently, stopping him when something crossed her mind, "why have you become his official babysitter for the day? Aren't there other people who can watch him?"

"Well he likes me," Booth shrugged, "and, what can I say...I have a soft spot for him."

Brennan glanced over at the little Hispanic boy who was looking at her pictures, but not touching them.

"He is cute," she commented, "and he's very sweet too."

"See? I knew you'd like him," he leaned down to kiss her cheek, thanking her for agreeing to watch him for a bit, "I'll be back in a few minutes to bring him back to work."

"Okay," Brennan smiled, pecking his lips softly before he left her office.

Anderson looked up from her pictures when he heard the door close, and saw that Booth was no longer in the room.

"Where did Mr. Agent Booth go?" He asked.

"He just went to talk to someone for a few minutes, but he'll be back," Brennan told him, seeing that he was looking at her pictures from a bit of a distance, "you can examine those more closely if you'd like."

With her permission, Anderson picked up the picture of her, Booth, and Christian, looking at it more closely.

"This is Christian," he said, proud that he remembered what Booth had told him in the interrogation room, "why is he so little?"

"He's just a baby," Brennan walked around her desk as well to stand behind him, "he's only two months old. Soon he'll be big like you."

Anderson giggled, setting the picture back where he found it.

"Mr. Agent Booth is nice," he told her, "he bought me a bag of cheese doodles. I really like him," he looked at her cutely, "I wish I could live with you and Mr. Agent Booth."

"We barely have enough room from us and the baby," she laughed lightly, "but we won't let you go into foster care. I'm sure we can contact a family member of some sort."

"What's foster care?" He asked.

"Nothing," Brennan shook her head, not wanting to upset him by explaining what could possibly happen to him, "you don't have to worry about it. Booth and I will-"

She stopped when there was another knock on the door. Assuming it was her husband, she called for them to come in, slightly surprised when it was Angela.

"Hi sweetie," she greeted her, looking at the little boy standing next to her, smiling brightly, "hi. I'm Angela."

"This is Anderson," Brennan told her, as Anderson waved cheerfully at the artist, "Adelina Castro's son. Booth is watching him for the day."

"Well lucky Booth," she laughed lightly, addressing the real reason she went into Brennan's office right after, "I just dropped Christian off with Portia at your place. He was an angel. To be honest, Hodgins and I were about to fist fight over who got to feed him."

Brennan laughed lightly before Angela continued.

"So did you and Booth have fun at the FBI thing last night?"

"Yes," Brennan didn't sound overly convincing when she stated that she had fun at the event, "but we had more fun afterwards."

"You know that's what I like to hear," Angela smiled, "I want details, Brennan."

"Not right now, Ange. There's a child in the room," Brennan was grateful that Anderson was there, since he was a good reason not to go into detail about the night prior, "I'll tell you about it a little later wh-"

She stopped when the door opened again and Booth came back into her office, causing Angela to exchange glances between the two of them, smiling the 'I know what you know' smile at him. Booth wanted to ask exactly how much detail Brennan gave to her friend with a six year old in the room, but decided against it.

"I've gotta talk to Bones for a minute," he said, "Ange, would you mind taking Anderson to your office for a little while?"

"Sure," Angela smiled, squatting so she was at eye level with the little boy, "do you like to draw?" She asked, receiving a nod and a big smile, "Come with me. I have all kinds of stuff to draw with in my office."

Once Angela and Anderson left, Booth took a seat on his wife's couch, propping a pillow up against the arm and leaning his back against it.

"Adelina Castro was in a gang," he told his partner, looking over to her before he continued, "I spoke to Caroline, and she said she was supposed to testify against a gang leader named Marco and someone named Enzo in a trial soon. Any of those names sound familiar?"

"In the interrogation room Anderson said his mom had a 'friend' named Enzo."

"Exactly. I have a feeling Enzo is Anderson's father too, and that's why our victim didn't want them to meet each other. Here's my theory...our victim was in a gang. Her and another member got romantically involved, she gets pregnant, and decides to leave in order to give the best life possible to her baby. When a few of the gang members get busted for killing someone, Enzo threatens to tell the authorities that she was involved unless she keeps quiet. She doesn't listen, decides to testify anyway, and when they realize that blackmail isn't enough to keep her quiet, they kill her."

"I guess it's possible, Booth, but you have no way of knowing that yet," she reminded him, "we need solid evidence. Your 'gut feeling' won't hold up in court."

"I know, Bones, that's why I need to talk to some of these guys. I'm sure none of them will confess, or rat each other out, but it'll help me get a feel for them," he shrugged, "and, who knows, they might slip up and say something that'll get them caught."

"Can I come with you to question them?" She asked.

"No," he said simply, standing up from her couch and smoothing his suit out.

Brennan was utterly shocked by his answer. Sure, she asked if she could come, but it was more just to be polite instead of just deciding to tag along without telling him she was doing so.

"Why not?" She asked, the shock audible in her voice.

"Because, Bones, you and I both know that you don't really have a great history with gang leaders," he told her, causing her stomach to tighten into a knot at the mention of 'him'.

She grasped his arm when he went to leave a little less than gently.

"Don't," she warned, her voice harsh, "don't bring up Villeda."

Booth turned to look at her, shaking his arm out of her grip.

"I'm just trying not to get you kidnaped again, or get another hit put out on your by yet another gang" he told her, his voice just as serious as hers, "I figured you would appreciate that...after what happened last year..."

"Stop," she spoke when his voice trailed off, looking up at him with pleading eyes, "please. You know that thinking about Villeda makes me sick, so why are you pushing it into my face?"

"I'm trying to get you to understand."

"I'm positive that there are better ways to do that," she turned around so she was looking at the wall, blinking back the tears that stung in her eyes for a brief few seconds.

"I'm sorry," he apologized sincerely, "that was out of line. I shouldn't have said anything about Villeda."

"And..." she continued, ignoring his apology, "there were plenty of times after the abduction that I came with you to question suspects."

"Yeah, regular suspects, not gang leaders," he reminded her, "you have to see why the gang leader thing makes me a little nervous. I'm surprised you even want to be part of this case."

"Well I do want to be part of this case, and maybe you should have asked me before you assumed," she crossed her arms over his chest, still not daring to look in his direction, "at work, you need to start thinking of me as your partner and not your wife. Maybe...I just should have continued to work with Ricky, because if you're going to be overprotective, this partnership isn't going to work out."

She brought up Ricky on purpose, and she knew that he probably knew that. If he was going to bring up a topic that was sensitive to her, like Villeda, she was going to bring up a topic that was sensitive to him. The topic of her relationship with Ricky.

"Well it's obvious that's who you want to work with," he told her, "so maybe you should have. The only reason you wanted to work with me again was because you were scared when that guy held a knife to me. If Ricky's who you really want...then go to him."

Brennan couldn't help but to feel like that may have had a double meaning.

"Just go, Booth," she scoffed.

"Do you still want to work with me?" He asked.

"What I want is for you to get the hell out of my office," she finally turned to look at him.

"Fine," he kept his voice low, seeing that the topic wasn't up for debate, "I'll come back to pick up Anderson in a little bit."

Brennan uncrossed her arms, tugging at the bottom of her shirt.

"Is that all you're coming back for?" She had to ask.

Much to her surprise, Booth grasped her face gently between his hands and pulled her in to kiss her tenderly.

"No," he promised, once their lips separated, caressing her cheeks before he let go of her face, "I'm coming back for you too."

Before she had a chance to respond, he was gone, the door closing behind him, as he left her alone in her office, not knowing how she was supposed to feel after everything that just went on.

When Booth came back to the lab to pick up Anderson after he spoke to Enzo and Marco, he didn't see his wife, figuring that she still needed a little more time to cool down after their fight. It wasn't until later that night that he went back to the lab specifically to speak with her. Since it was fairly late for a six year old, Anderson had fallen asleep in the back of the car, and he had to carry him through the lab to Brennan's office, knocking softly with the hand that wasn't supporting the small child in his arms. When she called for him to come in, he entered, making sure not to wake him up.

"Hey," he whispered, closing the door silently behind him, and looking to the couch to see that she had picked up Christian from home, and he was sleeping in his car seat on the cushion to the far left, "what are you still doing here?"

"I didn't know if you were still angry with me, so I got Christian, let Portia leave, and brought him back here so I can work," she explained, gesturing towards the sleeping little boy in his arms before she spoke again, keeping her voice quiet as well so she didn't disturb him, "you still haven't gotten in touch with any family members?"

"No, not yet," Booth took a seat on the far right of the couch, allowing Anderson to continue to sleep in his lap, "I'll keep trying though."

Brennan stood up from her desk and took a seat in between Christian and Booth, looking at her husband sympathetically when he ruffled the little boy's hair.

"You shouldn't get too attached to him, Booth," she told him, "you know we can't keep him."

"Bones, he's not a stray cat," he had to chuckle at her warning, "he's a child. And I know we can't keep him. I have to continue to reach out to his distant relatives tomorrow. He may have never met them before, but at least they'll be family."

"He's going to be scared," Brennan told him, quickly clarifying, "it's not going to be your fault, but he'll be frightened going to live with someone he doesn't know. I'm afraid he's already grown very attached to you. He told me before that he wanted to live with us."

"Yeah, he said the same thing to me a few times today," he stroked the little boy's black head of hair gently again, "I promised I'd find him a place to stay, and I didn't."

Brennan could tell by the look on his face what he was about to ask.

"Booth, we can't," she answered the question before he could ask it, "we don't have room."

"It would only be for the night," he told her, "tomorrow I'll figure something else out."

"If we had more room it would be a different story, but we really don't," she said apologetically, "he'll have to stay at the Hoover tonight."

"Like he's in custody?" Booth shook his head, "No. I'm not going to do that to him."

After only a short silence, Brennan's office door opened again, and Angela came in, her coat already on and her purse in her hand.

"Hey, I just came to say goodnight," she said, lowering her voice when she saw Anderson, "is he staying with you guys?"

"We don't have room for him, but we may not have a choice," Brennan told her friend, "Booth feels uncomfortable leaving him in the FBI offices."

"I'll take him for the night," Angela offered nonchalantly, with a shrug of her shoulders, "he likes me. We drew together for a while and then Hodgins let him look in his microscope. We have a guest room he can stay in."

When Angela offered to take him, Booth was relieved, as he shook the child's shoulder gently to urge him awake.

"Hey, buddy, wake up," he whispered, seeing his brown eyes open to meet his, "would you want to stay with Angela tonight?"

Anderson yawned.

"I want to stay with you," he told him, "but Angela is nice, and Doctor Jack let me look at a bug."

"So is that a yes?" He laughed lightly, "Because, if it is, then I've gotta let you go with her now. But I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay," Anderson slid out of his lap, walking over to Angela and looking up at her, "I'm going to stay with you, okay?"

Angela laughed lightly and leaned down to hug him.

"You're cute," she commented, letting go of him and looking over at Booth, "do you have his things with you?"

"Yeah, they're in the back of my car, just come out with us," he stood up, offering his hand to Brennan, seeing her smile when she took it, knowing that their argument was only petty, and that it wasn't going to effect their partnership in the long run.

With the hand that wasn't holding Brennan's, he picked up Christian's car seat, and the five of them, Brennan, Booth, Christian, Angela, and Anderson, left the lab together.