They still don't belong to me. I'm still not making any money. I still have an essay to write in French. I'm still indulging in avoidance tactics.

Brennan had been unsure how Booth would react when he heard of her meeting with Rebecca, but she knew she couldn't keep it a secret. She had seen too much hurt caused by secrets to ever want to keep something like that away from him. She had been sure he would understand why she had to talk to Rebecca, so it was a bit of a shock when he seemed to think she'd messed things up.

She briefed him on their findings as he drove, biting back irritation as he drummed his fingers and whistled tunelessly. She was not going to admit she was annoyed. "So the first boy's father just gave himself up to the FBI for questioning?" she said. "Where has he been all this time?"

Booth shook his head. "That's what we're about to find out," he reminded her, glancing sideways as he drove. "I'm guessing it was that drinking buddy of his that we interviewed. He said he hadn't heard from Ryan Swift, but my guess is they were still in touch somewhere along the line, because Swift knew enough to ask for me by name. I got a phone call from the Bureau saying he was here, so I told them to hold him until we got there."

"He's been waiting a while."

"It won't do him any harm to sweat it out for a bit. Makes him more ready to talk when we do get there. Imagination is a powerful tool, Bones." He sounded preoccupied.

She nodded. The number of conversations that had been through her imagination in the time between Booth phoning her and appearing at the lab were testament to that. She glanced across at him a couple of times, concerned that she didn't know what he was thinking, and irritated that he seemed to be resenting her conversation with Rebecca, but he ignored their glances and concentrated on his driving.

They found Ryan Swift sitting in the interrogation room, an agent standing outside to make sure he stayed. By the look of him, he was incapable of going anywhere anyway. Booth's comment about making him sweat had been right. Sweat stood out on his brow, which he ineffectually mopped every few minutes as he sat fidgeting in the bare room. He wore torn jeans and a dark tartan shirt, open at the collar to reveal a well-tanned neck. Booth and Brennan watched through the observation window for a minute before entering the main room.

"He doesn't look like a murderer," Brennan commented.

Booth looked at her. "How many of those we've caught have looked like murderers?" he asked irritably, and she grinned, refusing to bow to his bad temper.

"Not many," she admitted.

"Come on, let's get this over with." Booth brusquely led the way into the main interrogation room. Swift stood up nervously as the door opened, and looked as if he was about to bolt through the door. Booth made a point of slamming it loudly, and Swift jumped.

"So, you're Ryan Swift," Booth commented. Brennan saw the man nod very slightly. She recognized him from the photos Rachel Swift had shown them of Jason and his father.

"What happened to your son?" Booth demanded.

Swift looked near to tears. "She told me I couldn't see him any more." He was almost whispering. "She couldn't do that to me. She couldn't take my boy away from me."

"So you abducted him."

"I had every right to take him! I'm his father!"

"What happened?" Booth insisted.

"I took him from school, I was only going to take him for the evening, but when he got into the car, I knew I would be in trouble. I just started driving. It was stupid, I know. I just didn't think." Swift shifted uncomfortably on his chair, and reached for a glass of water. His hand was trembling, Brennan noticed.

"We got as far as the other side of Pittsburgh, and it was late. We saw this motel there, and I decided we'd stop for the night. I booked us in, we got settled in a room, then I went out for some food. Jason wanted to stay there, he kicked up a fuss when I tried to take him out. When I got back..." Swift broke off, and drank deeply from the water.

Booth scowled impatiently. "When you got back..." he prompted.

Swift drew a deep breath, and went on. "When I got back, Jason was gone. There was a note, from a guy named Mike, saying he was Rachel's boyfriend and had been following us. He said that he was taking Jason back to her. He said that if I tried to see him again, they'd have me put in jail for kidnap."

"Do you have this note?" Booth asked.

Swift shook his head. "It was two years ago," he pleaded. "I was scared. I destroyed the note, left the motel that night and came to DC. I got a job here, and I've been here ever since."

"You didn't check that the boy had gone with this boyfriend?" Booth questioned. "You didn't check with his mother that he got back safely?"

"No, I - I believed the note," Swift insisted. "I was scared. I didn't want to go to jail."

"And Jason? You weren't worried about him?"

Tears began to fall down Swift's cheeks. "He hated me," he confessed. "The whole time he was with me, he was telling me how useless I was, how he hated me, how he wanted to be with his mom." He broke down completely into sobs, and rested his head on his arms on the desk.

"Didn't it ever occur to you that it was your responsibility to make sure it was safe?" Booth was almost shouting at him now. "That note was a fake, he was abducted and killed, and it's only because you didn't have the guts to admit what you'd done, that the case wasn't investigated then!"

Swift lifted his head. "It wasn't my fault!" he shouted. "If she hadn't stopped me seeing him - if she hadn't poisoned his mind against me - if only she'd listened!"

Brennan could sense Booth becoming more and more agitated. "Mr. Swift," she interrupted. "Who did you see at the motel?"

"There was a woman at the desk," he answered. "She seemed nice. She didn't see Jason leave, I asked her. She saw no-one around."

They questioned him for a while longer, Booth becoming more and more worked up, but Swift had nothing more to add. He was adamant that he had genuinely believed Jason had returned to his mother, and that the reason he himself had disappeared was that he was scared of facing kidnap charges. Until Paul Perry had contacted him that morning, he had believed Jason to be safely back with his mother. Booth arranged for Swift to be held in custody on kidnap charges, then offered to drive Brennan back to the lab to pick up her car.

Brennan spent the whole journey back to the lab listening to Booth complaining about mothers who ruin their children's lives by depriving them of their fathers. "Hey, I'm on your side, Booth, remember?" she told him, but he was in no mood to listen. Brennan was worried. She and Booth had been on the verge of something; now she was frightened they were going to lose what they had, and all because Booth couldn't get over his personal problems to deal with the case.

"Booth, calm down. You're getting too involved."

He glared at her. "I'm perfectly capable of working this case without getting involved, Bones," he declared. "Will you stop telling me how to do my job? You've done enough interfering in my life today, thank you."

Bones shook her head. "Booth, will you stop to think straight for a minute? We're dealing with a case where a father was banned from seeing his son, and you're currently having access issues with your own son. It's preventing you from seeing clearly. You're too busy relating the Swift family's problems to your own, instead of focusing on the case."

Booth just shook his head and refused to answer. She could feel his anger flooding the car.

"What happens now?" she asked instead, trying to distract him. She was determined not to get out of the car until she had got through to him.

"Now?" Booth looked at her, irritated. "It's too late to head back to Pittsburgh tonight. I'm going to go for a run."

Brennan could feel him withdrawing from her. She had to reach him somehow. "Can I come?"

He shook his head. "I run fast, Bones, and I prefer to run alone."

"You'll be alone. I'll keep quiet, I promise. And I like running too. Please?"

She could see Booth really didn't want to give in, but she had a feeling that if she let Booth withdraw from her now, she would never get him back. It had been a big struggle to allow herself to open up to this relationship. She wasn't willing to let go that easily.

Booth gave in with bad grace. "Be at my place in an hour, Bones. If you're not there I'm going without you."

She got out of the car, and into her own, then watched after him as he drove off faster than he should.

So that's the next part! The plot thickens. And reviews are welcome. Anyone figured out the murderer yet?