Usual disclaimers apply, please see first part

Booth greeted Angela with a smile, although his head was throbbing. He walked past her, into Brennan's office, and sank down gratefully onto the couch. He slipped his arm out of the sling and stretched it along the back of the couch, resting his head back thankfully. Brennan put her hand on his shoulder, and he looked up at her.

"Are you okay? Do you want some aspirin or something?" she asked.

He smiled gratefully at her. "More or less, and no I'm okay, thanks," he said, and she nodded and disappeared.

A few minutes later she was back, accompanied by the rest of the squints. Angela, he was pleased to note, was carrying a tray with steaming mugs of coffee on it.

Brennan sat down next to him on the couch, with Zack at the other end. Angela and Hodgins pulled up chairs and sat facing them, anxious to hear the full story. Booth had not spoken to any of them since they had identified the bodies, and he was gratified to notice the looks of concern they were casting his way.

Then Brennan twisted round slightly on the couch to face the others, leaning against his chest, and he caught Angela's eye. The artist was looking surprised and pleased at how comfortable Brennan seemed to feel with him. Booth had to admit to himself that he felt pretty good about it too.

"As you know by now, it was Charlie the motel owner who was responsible for the deaths of the boys and of the second boy's father," Brennan began, wrapping her hands around her coffee mug.

Hodgins nodded eagerly. "You said he was a fan of your book. That should have been a warning to start with."

"Hodgins!" protested Brennan. "Not everyone interested in books on crime is a murderer!"

Booth leaned forward to pick up his coffee in his left hand, and suppressed a grin, again exchanging glances with Angela.

"He was barred from seeing his son following a bitter divorce and accusations of violence," Brennan went on, apparently deciding to ignore Hodgins.

"So when Jason Swift and his father turned up at the motel, it felt like a personal insult," Booth put in. "There he was, banned from seeing the son he loved, and Ryan Swift was there with his kid, and didn't seem to know how to handle the boy."

"Jason Swift actually looked similar to Charlie's son," Brennan went on, "so Charlie tried kidnapping him and scaring Ryan away from reporting it. As we know, he succeeded."

"We can only guess at what went wrong," Booth continued. "Perhaps he thought he could pretend Jason was his son. Perhaps he took his temper out on the boy. Perhaps he abused him. But whatever he did, we know that Jason was killed soon after Charlie kidnapped him. Then Charlie buried the body over the road on the waste ground."

Brennan took up the tale. "Six months ago another father and son turned up at the motel. Charlie tried the same trick again, but this time the father refused to be scared off. He must have followed Charlie, and Charlie attacked him with a chair leg, shattering his skull." She put her hand on Booth's knee as she said this, and Hodgins suddenly started choking in his coffee. Booth caught his eye, and Hodgins raised his eyebrows in an expression of mock admiration. Brennan, completely unaware of this exchange, continued her explanation. "Perhaps he panicked then, and killed the boy as well. Again, he buried the bodies over the road, on the waste ground."

"But they started building on the waste ground," Angela put in. Brennan nodded.

"Yes, and they found Jason's body. That's when I got called in."

"And then the other bodies," said Zack wisely.

"When I stayed at the motel, Charlie was genuinely pleased," Brennan explained. "But when Booth stayed he started to feel a little nervous. When we left he felt he'd got away with it, and then Mikey and his Dad turned up and he must have felt like it was his birthday."

"But then we went back," Booth said. "And he really didn't want us around. We thought at first he was just nervous around me because I'm a cop. But he had planned to take Mikey, and was worried we would spoil his plan. He also knew far too much about what we were investigating. We thought it was just local rumour, but the waitress hadn't heard anything about the bodies."

"But where was he?" Hodgins wanted to know. "You thought he'd taken the boy somewhere in his car."

Booth nodded. "That was my fault," he admitted. "When I questioned Charlie that afternoon he was working on his car. When his car had then moved in the evening I assumed he was out in it, but in fact it had been taken to the garage, to deal with an oil leak. Charlie hadn't gone far at all. We think he was in the little shed next to the garage. He had a stack of kids' clothes there, just the right size for Mikey and the other boys. He saw me searching the place, followed me into the garage and whacked me."

"It's only because Booth was able to call for help before he blacked out that he and Mikey are still alive," Brennan commented, leaning into his chest comfortably and rubbing her hand on his thigh. This time both Angela and Hodgins were fighting to hold back laughter.

As the squints left her office to recommence work, Brennan turned to Booth with a satisfied smile on her face. "I don't think they guessed a thing," she said confidently.

He smiled at her. "Uh – I hate to burst your bubble, but Angela suspected something as soon as she saw you snuggling up to me on the couch, and when you put your hand on my knee Hodgins worked things out as well," he pointed out gently.

"I didn't..." Brennan realized she was still settled comfortably against him, and jumped up and strode to her desk.

Booth stood up and walked over to her. He indicated the three squints, who were still visible the other side of the lab floor. Hodgins and Angela were busy talking to Zack, who was shaking his head and looking disbelieving.

Brennan followed his gaze. "Oh." She looked back at him and appeared to be thinking deeply. Then she shrugged. "I guess if they know already, I don't need to fight the temptation to do this." And she wrapped her arms round his neck and pulled him close for a passionate kiss.

Before he relaxed into the kiss Booth was vaguely aware of Hodgins and Angela pumping the air triumphantly, while Zack was pulling money out of his pocket and handing it over to each of them.

Just the epilogue to go now, to tie up the last loose end. Then I need to get started on the next story!

Thanks for staying with me. I appreciate it.