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Chapter 37: We All Fall Down.

Brennan may not have been ready to face Max, but Booth was. He had been waiting for this day for six weeks. Bones was rooted in place. She could say whatever she wanted about the knocking not bothering her, but her reaction was all he needed to be convinced that his gut was right.

Bones needed the knocking to end? He'd be happy to take care of that for her.

He yanked the door open, ready for a fight. The man on the other side wasn't who he'd expected, but he'd do just as well.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?"

"Where's my sister?" Russ Brennan made to step across the threshold, but Booth braced an arm against the jamb, blocking his way.

"If you think you're going to keep me out of this apartment, you're crazy. Look, I get it, you're pissed at me. And you know what, Agent Booth? You can be as pissed at me as you want. I don't give a damn what you think, but I'm through letting you shut me out. I'm Tempe's family-"

"Yeah, well Russ, I've seen the consequences of being part of your family, and I'm done letting Bones suffer them. I meant what I said on the phone. Leave now, or I'll make you regret it."

It would have come to blows, right there in her hallway, if Brennan hadn't chosen that moment to move toward the door. She appeared dazed, and her breath was coming in shallow gasps. She looked nothing like Dr. Temperance Brennan. She looked lost and small and terrified. She stole their attention.

Russ started towards her, but Booth stopped him with a hand to the chest. He didn't know where Bones went in these moments, but he knew that the best way to bring her back was to give her space.

"Bones?" His voice was steady, masking his concern. "Hey, Bones- it was just Russ at the door. He's just here to check on you. It's okay."

Booth was talking to her, and Russ was staring at her, and she had to be fine. She forced her way back. Her breathing normalized, and her eyes registered her surroundings. She would not acknowledge her lapse, rather she eyed her brother.

"What are you doing here?" It was a question she was getting used to asking.

"You wouldn't answer your phone. I needed to know you were alright. I told you I was getting in the car."

"That was weeks ago."

"Yeah, I've been here for a while, working up the nerve to knock on your door. I...I couldn't wait any longer though. Tempe, I've been following the trial. It's over, and Dad knows, and I wanted to warn you-"

"Once again, Russ," Booth interrupted, "your information is too late to be useful. We know about the trial. We know about Max, and I'll handle him. There are plenty of people looking out for Bones, so we're good here. Without you."

"You know, man, I don't know who the fuck you think you are, but I'm not here to talk to you. I'm here to talk to my sister, and it's none of your concern."

"The hell it isn't. If it has to do with my partner, it's my concern."

"Technically, Booth, we're not partners anymore." She mostly wanted to check out of this conversation. She would have been happy to go to bed and leave them to their argument, but she felt she had to interject on principle. It should have mattered to her that they were speaking as if she wasn't even there. As if she had no say in her own life.

Her comment hurt Booth, she saw the pain race across his features. And it pleased Russ- she recognized the look of triumph from their childhood.

She hadn't meant to take sides. She certainly hadn't meant to take Russ' side. She glanced longingly back at her sofa and the takeout cartons. It had been a mostly good night. Before.

More knocking. She went rigid. She could feel her heart pounding at twice its normal rhythm. The room started to spin. There was a physiological explanation for what was happening to her, but she couldn't remember it. Her instinct was to curl up, make herself small, throw her arms over her face- she fought it with everything in her.

Booth opened the door again. If she stayed very still, maybe they'd forget she was here. Maybe all of this could happen and get sorted out without her.

"Welcome to the party, Max. Now, why don't you take your son and go?"

"Where the hell were you, Booth?" Max didn't even let the door close behind him before he started yelling. "Where were you when they took her? Where were you when they held her for THREE FUCKING WEEKS?"

"You...You're really going to stand there and...," Booth's face was bright red from anger. He was literally spluttering, reaching for thoughts in his fury-addled mind. "Where was I?" His tone was low, deadly. "I was there, Max. I was there when they took her. Then I was here, spending every moment looking for her. Those first forty-eight hours? The ones that are so vital in cases of abduction? Those, I wasted. I spent them ripping apart the town of Virginia Beach, looking for a connection the case we'd been working. It was my best lead. I had no reason, you see, to believe that Bones had been snatched by some racist cult as a way to get to you because you didn't tell her a FUCKING THING! You did what you always do- you lied; and just like she always does, Bones paid the price. So don't you dare, don't you dare, come in here and ask me where I was, you lying fucking bastard. Don't you dare."

"I overestimated you, Booth. I trusted you to keep her safe. That's what you're always claiming to do, right? So you know what, I will come in here, and I will ask where you were, because from what I heard, you let them take her right out from under your federally certified nose."

"Dad-"

Brennan spoke, and her father pushed past the other men to take her in his arms. If he noticed the way she tensed and refused to return his embrace, he didn't let on. "Baby. I am so, so sorry." He pulled away to look her in the eye. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you? I want you to tell me, Tempe." He shook her a little. "I want you to tell me what they did to you."

She just wanted them all to go away. She wanted to disappear.

Booth didn't like the way Max Keenan was touching his partner. He didn't like the way it made her cower, so he grabbed his shirt and jerked him back. "Touch her again, and I'll kill you. I'll enjoy it."

"And you!" Max ignored Booth and turned on his son. "Where the fuck were you? I asked you to look out for her. I asked you to make sure this didn't touch her."

"What did you expect me to do?" Her brother's tone was desperate. "I didn't know anything about a cult. I didn't know that anyone would go after her. I couldn't have known that."

"You're right," Max was nose-to-nose with his son. "What did I expect of you? More than I should have. It's not as if I didn't already know what you were made of."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well this isn't exactly the first time you let your sister down, is it? Running off back when she was just a kid. I thought maybe you'd grown up, learned what it means to be family. Same old Russ."

That was a sucker punch, and it pissed Booth off. "And same old Max- trying to blame everyone else for his mistakes. You did this. You lied. You asked your son to lie. You kept her in the dark, so she didn't know to look for trouble. You kept me from protecting her and from finding her in time. Your daughter was taking your place. She was paying for your past. This whole mess? Is all you, Max. It's all you. You're poison. The best thing you could do for your daughter is walk out that door right now and never come back."

It was Max's turn to sound deadly. "Don't lecture me on how to love my daughter." He punctuated this by putting his fist right through her drywall.

The yelling started again, but she tuned it out. There was a hole in her wall. The damage was right there, for everyone to see. She couldn't leave it like that. She had to find a way to make it invisible.