After a brief stop at home for Booth to change into a suit, he drops me off at the lab before heading to the Hoover for his meeting with Hacker. He had wanted me to stay at home to rest but I am too on edge worrying about his meeting to just stay at home doing nothing. He has taken my car as his SUV is still in the Jeffersonian parking garage. He plans to retrieve his key for the SUV and my car key while he is at his office.

I enter the lab and head straight for my office. As soon as I walk through the door, I flip the lights on and turn around to find Angela standing behind me.

"What are you doing here, Sweetie? Shouldn't you be at the hospital or at home?"

"No, Angela. Booth is in a meeting with Hacker. I don't want to be sitting at home alone. I need to be occupied for a while."

"Booth is in a meeting with Hacker? So soon? I thought he would still be in the hospital. Oh my god," She says disapprovingly "he didn't sneak out, did he?"

"No, Ange! He was discharged this morning. He's fine, he should have no lasting effects despite everything that has happened to him." I wish I could say the same for me. I have a feeling yesterday's events might trigger another round of my nightmares.

"Oh, that's great. I'm glad he's ok. We were all so worried. What about you, Sweetie? Are you ok?"

"Yes, Angela, I'm fine." I say a little exasperated as I sit behind my desk. I hadn't anticipated an interrogation when coming to the lab.

"Ok Brennan, I just wanted to be sure. I care about you, you know? I was more than worried when you went running off yesterday, I was beside myself. I didn't think you would be coming back."

I feel bad for snapping at Angela. I am still worried about Booth's meeting and it is making me irritable. I glance out of my office door to see the platform is empty. I am grateful as I know Lucille Burton's body was most likely brought here yesterday and I'm not sure how I would handle seeing her remains. I am finding it difficult to rationalise and compartmentalise my emotions about her and what she did.

"Is she here?" I ask Angela.

"Is who here?" She says as she eases herself into a chair.

I close my eyes and take a steadying breath "Lucille Burton. Are her remains here?"

"Oh. Yeah." Angela says gently "Cam did the autopsy this morning. You hit her, Brennan?"

"Yes. With a shovel." I say almost shamefully.

"That explains it then."

"Explains what, Angela?"

"Cam said her nose was broken and then smacked so hard it forced a fragment into her brain and killed her."

I recall my actions after I rolled her into the empty grave. I had struck her in the nose with my elbow, that must have fractured her nasal bone. Hitting her with the shovel would have forced the fractured piece of bone back into her brain, killing her. "I didn't mean to kill her, Ange. She was about to kill Booth; I did what I had to do."

"Hey, I know Sweetie. It's ok." She reaches across the desk for my hand and pats it gently. "We were listening, remember? And Cam has seen Perotta's report. We know what happened, it's ok."

Of course. I had forgotten they were listening. That must be how the hospital knew I had been given Propofol. I instantly realise that must have been what Sweets had told the EMT. I am anxious to know what is stated in Agent Perotta's report as it is likely to be pivotal in Hacker's decision about mine and Booth's partnership. Hesitantly, I ask "What did the report say?"

"That Burton had abducted you and Booth and that your actions were justified considering the circumstances. Although she was pretty pissed when she found out you'd took off on your own." She pauses then says "We were so scared, Brennan. We were all crowded around the phone in my office, listening. I was recording the call in case there was anything we missed. The worst part was when you went quiet not long after you had told us you had arrived at the coordinates; we all thought the worst."

"She drugged me, Angela. I was unconscious."

"Yeah, well we know that now but at the time we didn't know what had happened to you. That's when Sweets and Cam contacted Perotta. They knew you wouldn't be happy that we'd involved the FBI, but we thought you were gone." A tear slides down her cheek as she describes what was happening here while I was attempting to save Booth. "I was tracking the phone, so I knew she'd moved you. Sweets and Perotta were on their way to your new location when we heard you talking again. I've never felt so relieved. They weren't far from you when you asked me for the ambulance."

I can feel my own tears welling in my eyes. I am grateful that Angela forced me to take the tiny cell phone with me and that Booth and I have such good friends and colleagues. I didn't save him alone; I couldn't have done it alone. They were all there for us once again and I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for that.

"Thank you, Angela. Thank you for making me take the phone, for listening, tracking, sending Hodgins for my car, bringing our things to the hospital, just everything. Thank you."

She stands up and moves around my desk towards me. I get to my feet and meet her halfway. She hugs me tightly then pulls back with her hands gripping my arms. "You're welcome, Sweetie. You know that. Just don't ever pull a stunt like that again. Please."

I smile and nod my head. I cannot promise her that, so I don't say the words. I can't say that I won't ever risk my own life to save Booth's because I know that if he were in danger again, I unquestionably would.

Angela purses her lips and examines me. I know that she has realised that I haven't actually promised but she doesn't question me, she just chooses to stare at me disapprovingly instead.

She releases my arms and I sit back down in my chair. The physical and emotional stress of the past few days combined with pregnancy are making me feel exhausted. Ange continues with her disapproving glare and says, "So, what does Hacker want with Booth so soon after getting out of the hospital anyway?"

"He wants to discuss the events of the past few days and… our partnership."

"Oh, that's not good. Do you think he'll break your partnership?"

"I don't know Ange. Booth says he will fight it if Hacker tries but I don't see how." I let out a shaky breath and brace my head in my hands with my elbows on the desk. I suddenly stand up from my chair. Despite my bodily exhaustion, my mind needs to be occupied. "I can't just sit here waiting, Angela. I'm going down to bone storage for a while." I tell her as I grab my lab coat and head down to limbo.

0-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-0

I have been in bone storage for two hours with the same set of remains I selected when I entered still sat on the table in front of me, untouched. Unusually, I am finding it difficult to concentrate and find I am spending a large proportion of my time worrying about and missing Booth. I jump when my phone beeps with a text message. It is from Booth.

**Done with Hacker. All ok dnt worry. Will b at the lab in 10 xx**

I sigh with relief and begin placing the bones in front of me back in their box before making my way back to my office. I have been sat at my desk for a few minutes when he walks in. I lift my head up to see him stood in the doorway smiling at me. I stand up quickly and rush over to him, throwing my arms around his waist and crushing myself to him. He huffs as the impact of my body hitting his forces the air from his lungs. He staggers back slightly but it is only a fraction of a second before he is returning my embrace.

I can hear the bemusement and concern in his voice as he asks, "Pleased to see me Bones?"

I nod my head against his shoulder but don't ease up on my grip on him "It's irrational Booth. I know we've only been apart a few hours but, after… after everything, I have found it difficult to be apart from you."

"Me too, Bones." He says softly and places a gentle kiss on my hair.

I lean back to look at him. He looks tired and I am unable to read the expression on his face. He looks haunted, somehow. He shuffles us both backwards until we are in front of the couch and pulls us both down to sit onto it.

"What happened? What did Hacker say?" His text message said everything was ok, but I need to know what happened.

Booth leans back on the couch and rubs both his hands over his face. "He was not happy, Bones. He was almost as angry as I was that you went alone." He takes my hand and winds his fingers through mine. "He basically said this is your last chance. If you ever do anything like that again, it's over."

I swallow thickly as I try to interpret what he's just said. "Over?"

"Yeah, any more violations of policy or disregard for procedure, our partnership will be terminated with immediate effect. He feels he can't trust you in the field."

"Do you think he means it, Booth?"

"Yes, he does. But y'know, don't worry about it, Bones. Because if you do ever do something like that again, our partnership will be the least of your worries because I think I would have to resign anyway to become your personal bodyguard just so I could keep my eye on you or maybe I would just lock you in the lab." His tone tells me it is an attempt at humour, but I am not entirely sure he is joking.

"He'd calmed down somewhat by the time I got to see him; I think mainly because he'd had time to review the rest of the evidence they'd found when they'd searched Burton's place and he saw that you didn't have a lot of choice in what you did."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. They've found some disturbing stuff." His eyes move down and away from me. He looks perturbed and I am unsure why. I can only imagine it is what the FBI found in the search of Lucille Burton's possessions.

"What did they find, Booth?" I ask when I can't stand his silence any longer.

He takes a shuddering breath then blows it out through pursed lips. He leans forward and places his elbows on his legs. I mirror his position and he turns his head to look at me.

"She'd been watching us, Bones. For years it looks like. She had this whole room in the house dedicated to us. Pictures of us, pictures of Parker…" He shakes his head and pinches the bridge of his nose when he mentions that she had pictures of Parker. My heart palpitates and I feel a wave of nausea when I think of the implications of that. "...personal information, where we live, everything. Perotta showed me the pictures of it all. As far as they can tell, it started around the time you and Hodgins were buried alive. They're sifting through it all now to try and find out how she did it.

"She had surveillance cameras set up everywhere on the property. So, she would have seen if you hadn't gone alone. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but you did the right thing, Bones."

I smile a small smile at him although I feel no satisfaction from being right in this instance other than the fact that it meant I saved his life.

"What else have they found, Booth?" Something is bothering him, something more than just finding out that we had been watched by The Gravedigger and her partner for years.

"Sweets spoke to Karen Burton -William's ex-wife again to ask her about Lucille. To see what he could find out about her. Apparently, their mother disowned Lucille when she came out as a lesbian at age 18. Even wrote her out of her will, leaving everything to William."

"In a small town like theirs, especially in the 1980's, something like this would be somewhat scandalous. The gossip was probably too much for her mother." It could certainly explain Karen Burton's attitude towards Lucille.

"Yeah I guess she saw it as being shameful somehow. Lucille was devastated about being cut off by her mom. She left for college and never came back. She trained as a nurse and worked in a few different hospitals over the years until her identity was erased. Perotta's still working on what her previous identities have been. Burton had paperwork for several identities, but they need to work out if they were ones she'd already used or ones she had lined up. They also found a passport under yet another identity and a plane ticket for a flight this morning to Indonesia. She'd clearly been planning to make a quick escape after killing us both." We both winced as he said that. "The latest identity she was living under was actually a woman called Lucy Morgan who she was at nursing school with. She died in a car accident a few years after leaving college and Burton stole her identity." He shook his head in disgust. "When Perotta spoke to the hospital Burton worked at, they were shocked. Her record checked out probably because it was Lucy Morgan's and apparently, she was a model employee. They had no idea she wasn't who she said she was or that she had been stealing meds from the pharmacy."

"Or burying people alive in her spare time." I say in disgust. "When did she meet Heather Taffet?"

"Perotta's not sure. They haven't found any evidence to suggest exactly when Taffet and Burton first encountered each other before Taffet married William Burton in 1998."

"Which is also when Lucille Burton's identity was erased. She clearly thought her brother could be coerced into a sham marriage to Taffet. I wonder what temptations they used to convince him to marry her?"

Booth shudders and says, "I don't think I want to know, Bones."

"If their mother left everything to William, how come it didn't show up in the financials?"

"She didn't have any money to leave and William never claimed possession of the family home. His ex-wife claims he didn't want to live in it and have a repeated reminder of the loss of his mother, but he also couldn't bear to sell it. He just left it in his mother's name and abandoned it. The house is on some farmland which is also in his mother's name that used to belong to his grandfather. The coordinates where Lucille sent you are on the far side of it. The basement where she took us was under the house. It was a good place to hide. It was far enough away from the town that there were no neighbours to witness any activity. She knew it was still in her mother's name and everyone in town knew that William had abandoned the place. It was a perfect hiding place for her."

He glances at me and he looks distressed. His leg is twitching up and down as he refocuses his gaze at the floor.

I put my hand on his leg to stop the twitching. "What is it, Booth?"

He looks at me again and I can see tears in his eyes. "It was a close call, Bones."

I sharply inhale a breath as I realise that it appears to have finally sunk in for him what he went through. "Yes, it was."

"Perotta played me the call, you know, the one you made from the hidden cell phone." I nod in understanding. "It just hit me. Y'know?" He gently places a hand on my stomach. "I have you and this little one on the way. It's everything I ever wanted, and it was all nearly taken from me in the blink of an eye. If you hadn't come for me, I would be dead."

"Booth, I'm sorry. I put us in this situation, we should never have gone looking for her."

"No, Bones. You have nothing to be sorry for. She would have come for us eventually anyway, I'm sure of it. She had too much on us and she clearly had a vendetta. We just forced her hand. If anything, it worked in our favour. By finding William's remains, she knew she was almost out of time, so she had to rush. If she'd had longer to plan, I'm convinced she'd have planned it better and she would have got us, and we wouldn't have stood a chance."

"I'm not sure I believe that Booth."

"I guess we'll never find out, Bones. What I do know though, is thanks to you, we never have to."

"While I agree that my having a prophetic dream has turned out to be somewhat fortuitous, it is not an experience I ever wish to repeat. How about from now on, we just take the future as it comes, one day at a time without any knowledge of what might be to come, as it is supposed to be."

He nods his head and grabs my hands "On one condition."

I quirk an eyebrow at him as I wait for him to name his condition. He suddenly looks nervous and he starts to play with my fingers. He lifts his deep, fathomless eyes to meet mine and he says, "Marry me, Bones."