(After "The Hero in the Hold")

This story was requested by Anne1585. It's been a while since the request was made. I'm not sure if anyone else is really interested in a story like this one, so I only wrote three chapters. Let me know what you think of it.

I don't own Bones.

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Booth hadn't intended to take leave after he had been kidnapped and left on a decommissioned ship to be killed when it was sunk, but his grandfather had other ideas.

"I want you to come home for a few days." Hank had been told about his grandson's adventure by Deputy Director Brian Darouse when his grandson had been kidnapped and then found. He was Booth's first contact if anything happened to him and the Deputy Director had kept the old man in the loop while they'd looked for their agent. Now that the boy had been rescued, Hank needed to make sure he was okay.

"Pops, I'm okay, I promise." Tired, Booth was sitting on his couch trying to work up the strength to go to his bedroom and was seriously considering sleeping where he lay. He had convinced Brennan that he was alright, but he had been working on adrenaline since he'd been found on the ship. Now he felt like his muscles were noodles and he had a headache. "I just need some sleep."

Unconvinced, Hank could hear the weariness in his grandson's voice and he knew he couldn't risk the boy driving in that condition. "Fine. You go to bed. Rest is the best thing for you."

Once the call was ended, Hank walked into his bedroom, removed a suitcase from his closet and began to pack. "If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad will go to the mountain." His father had used that phrase a lot when dealing with his stubborn sons as they grew up and Hank used it when dealing with his grandsons. It seemed stubbornness was a Hank family tradition.

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He arrived at Booth's apartment at 9 in the evening. He didn't want to risk waking his grandson, so Hank used the spare key he kept in his wallet. After he let himself into the apartment, he walked carefully down the dark hallway into the living room. The nightlight in the kitchen and the neon light coming through the living room window curtains helped him see so didn't bother to turn on a light.

Careful to make as little noise as possible, he walked over to his grandson's bedroom and stared into the semi-dark room at the dark form lying on the bed. He couldn't really see his boy lying there but the light snoring he heard was reassuring. He knew his grandson must be exhausted, because as a rule the boy didn't snore. Leaning against the doorframe, he thought back to the past when Seeley Booth was a child living in his house. His wife had been alive then and she had taken such good care of her damaged grandsons. They both tried to help the boys heal from their ordeal with their father and it had been a slow and arduous task.

Marie had listened in shock when her husband had explained what had happened in Edwin's house. She had placed her hand over heart as Hank had described what he had seen when he'd entered their son's house and she had gasped as if in pain while he spoke of the punches and slaps his young grandson had received from the boy's father. Her husband had witnessed the horror as he'd entered the house, the cries of pain had made him sick as he had hurried through the living room into the kitchen. Horrified, Hank had pulled his grandson from his son's grasp and in a rage, he had ordered Edwin to get out. With no other options available, the older man had taken his grandchildren from the house and had arrived at his home in a quiet rage. Before he had left his car, before he had herded his grandsons into the house, he had closed his eyes and tried to calm down. He knew his grandsons were afraid and he had to be calm, he had to be disciplined. He had two frightened children on his hands and he had to make sure they knew that everything was going to be alright.

Once his wife, Marie was clear about what had happened, she'd walked into the living room where her little grandsons stood and gave them an assuring smile. ""Seeley . . . Jared, I want you to know that you're always going to be welcome here. This is your home now. Pops and I will look after you. You don't have to go back to your house again. Do you understand?"

His thumb in his mouth, Jared solemnly nodded his head while his brother had stared at his grandparents in a state of uncertainty. "Can't he make us go back?" Booth wanted to make sure he understood what was happening.

"No, he can't do that." Marie glanced back her husband and knew that if she had to, she'd go to court to keep Edwin away from his children. She had suspected something was wrong in her son's house when Marianne had run away and she had tried to get her grandchildren to tell her if anything was wrong, but little Seeley insisted that there wasn't anything to worry about. Now she knew he had covered up what Edwin had been up to and it made her sad. "You can always tell me the truth, Seeley. I will always support you. Do you understand? No matter how bad something is, you can count on me. I will always believe you."

The boy wasn't sure if that was true or not, but for now he would nod his head and try to be a good boy for his grandparents. He didn't want to go back to that house. He'd kill himself if they tried to make him go back to that house.

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After he slowly closed the door of his grandson's bedroom, Hank walked into Parker's bedroom and lay down. He wasn't tired and he wasn't sure he would sleep that night, but he knew he'd feel better if he rested his body.

His thoughts back in the past again, he could see his wife trying to be as gentle with her grandsons as possible.

Marie had talked to her husband the previous evening and he had promised to go back to the house for the boy's possessions. He had risen early that Sunday morning and was back about midmorning with some clothes and toys, but neither of them were happy with what Hank had brought back. The boys had owned two good pair of pants and shorts as well as three shirts, but their underwear and the rest of their clothes were pitiful and Hank refused to bring them back home. "He's been dressing those boys in rags. Edwin was always so careful to make sure they were dressed in good clothes when they visited, but those clothes in their dressers and the closet, a lot of them are too small or had holes in them. Why didn't I check up on them before now? When Marianne ran away that should have been a clue something was wrong. I handled this all wrong."

"Stop it, Hank." Marie wasn't going to let her husband start a pity party. They didn't have time for that. "We can't live in the past. We have two little boys that need us. I'm not sure how I'm going to let Ruth know what her brother did to his sons, but I will soon. In the meantime, we have to make our boys welcome. They need clothes, some toys . . . you brought Seeley's bike back so he has that until he gets bigger . . . We can't go on vacation this year and that's alright. We can use that money to settle the boys. New bed sheets for the beds . . . new curtains, maybe paint the walls." Marie had plans and Hank had done his best to help her follow through.

"We're going to go shopping this afternoon." Surprised, the boys had gone to the store with their grandparents and had been surprised at the generosity shown them as their grandmother had bought them new clothes. Seeley was embarrassed because he didn't want his grandparents to think he was poor or something or that he expected them to buy him things.

Bright and early the next morning, Seeley had got out of bed, changed clothes, went into the kitchen and made himself a butter sandwich which he ate standing over the trash can. Once that was done, he'd gone outside, found the push mower and started to mow the grass. Even though he was nine years old, he was tall and strong for his age and he'd made a lot of progress when his grandparents came looking for him.

"Seeley, what are you doing out here?" Puzzled, Hank had called out to the boy.

"I'm mowing the lawn." The child pulled the hem of his t-shirt up and wiped his face. "I'm almost done with the backyard."

Shaking his head, Hank had walked down the steps and over to where his grandson stood. "Seeley, thank you, but your grandmother has a good breakfast waiting for you."

"You're not mad at me, are you?" Afraid, the boy had stepped away from his grandfather wondering what he had done wrong.

"No, of course not." He saw the look of fear on his grandson's face and it made him feel sick. "I appreciate you mowing the lawn, I really do, but you need a good breakfast. Your grandmother even made some biscuits."

Assured for the moment, Seeley had walked around the lawn mower over to the steps and looked up at his grandmother. "You don't have to make me breakfast Grandma. I can eat cereal or butter sandwiches."

She had seen the look of fear on the child's face and Marie knew they were going to have to be very careful how they handled their grandsons. "It's no trouble, Seeley. I make breakfast every morning for Pops before he goes to work. Now come and eat. Your brother is waiting for you. He doesn't want to eat until you do."

That morning had been quite a lesson for Hank and his wife. "They had thought once the boys had had a good night's sleep away from their father, that all would be well. Reality had set in and they now knew that their grandson's recovery was going to be a long and slow process. "Marie, we did real good. Our boys grew up to be good men, fine men . . . Jared is in trouble right now with the Navy, but it's because he helped his brother and he did it against government regulations. They're both good kids, good men, Marie. They loved you so much and so did I. I still do."

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Let me know what you think of my story. Thanks