Disclaimer- Not mine. See? Short and to the point.
A/N- Sorry it's short, I'm pressed for time nowadays. Hope you like! And Bones was SO cool tonight!
Chapter Four:
Booth had finally managed to calm both his young son and himself after about ten minutes, with the emotionally exhausted child falling asleep in his father's arms. He carefully cradled the boy, and carried him out to the still running SUV. As he approached it, Bones noticed as he decided what to do. He couldn't very well drive with Parker in his arms, and yet he wasn't willing to let go of the child yet either.
Bones found the solution for him. "I'll drive, Booth."
He nodded, grateful, and slipped into the passenger seat, as Bones took the wheel.
"Where do you want to go?" Bones asked her partner, as he leaned his forehead against the cool glass of the window, Parker's head cradled on his chest.
He stared out of the window for a few moments, watching the world rush by, the world full of people who were safe, and happy, and completely unconcerned about a serial killer on the loose, because 'oh no, it could never happen to them'. A world full of people blissfully ignorant. Sometimes he wished he could be like that. Have such innocence. Now, even his baby boy no longer had that. He had stared into the eyes of his mothers murderer. And for that, alone, he would kill the man. The Monster.
Finally he replied. "The lab. We need to call the squints, give them a heads up. Cullen will be contacting us soon to inquire about her, and then they'll want the squints to see if the FBI's forensic team missed anything…" There was a harsh tone in his voice as he continued, "I wish we could put it off, until tomorrow, but then tomorrow would come, and I'd want to put it off another day, and I'd just want to spend the rest of my life waiting for tomorrows…" He shook his head. "No. It has to be today."
Bones nodded, understandingly. It would be best if done quickly, for both Booth and Parker. Putting this off wouldn't fix anything. It would be like putting a band-aid over a GSW. It wouldn't fix anything, and it would just hurt all the more when you tore it off.
She mad the call to Angela, telling her to get the rest of the team and meet her at the lab. And Angela, hearing the strain in her friend's voice, made no argument, promising to be there shortly.
Next, she called Cullen, to inform him of where they would be. He too, readily agreed, and said that he would arrive after he finished up at the 'crime scene'.
She hated the fact that the 'crime scene' as he had called it, was her apartment. That twice now, Booth had been hurt there, both times in his attempts to try and protect her. The first time with the exploding fridge incident, and this time, with the mother of his child. And she knew that although Booth no longer cared for Rebecca, she was still Parker's mom. And this still hurt him, worse than any broken ribs ever could.
--
When they arrived back at the Jeffersonian, they walked slowly, trepidation evident in every step. When they finally made their way through the doors of the lab, they found themselves to be the focus of three pairs of eyes, all staring at them questioningly, until finally Hodgins asked the most foremost question.
"Why did you want us here?"
Angela's inquiry was short to follow. "And why is Parker here?"
Zack asked, "Is it about the serial killer?"
Still seeing the lost look in Booth's chocolate eyes, she decided to field the questions. "Yes, Zack, it's about the serial killer. We're here because another body has been discovered."
"It couldn't have waited until morning?" Hodgins implored.
Dr. Brennan shook her head in the negative. "No, it really couldn't have."
Angela spoke up. "Sweetie, you never answered my question. What's Booth's adorable little boy doing here? If a victim's going to be brought in, shouldn't he be elsewhere?"
Brennan looked at the floor as she answered, speaking softly, for fear the child would hear, even as he slept. "The victim was his mother."
There was a collective silence as this statement was made, broken, finally, by Angela.
"Oh my God… Booth, I'm so sorry… Oh, poor Parker." She looked to Brennan for answers once more. "What- What happened?"
She glanced at Booth to make sure that he was okay with the retelling of it, before answering. When he showed no sign that he wished her to remain mute on the subject, she spoke. "My tires were slashed, so Booth took me home. She was nailed to the wall of my living room, with the first and only rule of the so-called 'Game'. We went straight to Rebecca's house to look for Parker. Booth found him hiding in his closet."
"Shit," Hodgins swore. "You don't think the kid- That he saw whoever murdered his mom?"
A small voice startled them all. "The bad man took mommy."
Nobody had noticed that the child had woken, as he had stayed prone against his father, and they were all so intent upon their current morbid situation. The fact that the kid had witnessed his mother's abduction sickened them. Nobody should have to endure that, least of all a four year-old little boy.
Parker turned in his father's arms to look at the collected group. His eyes were moist and red from crying, but there was a strength in the warm brown orbs that mirrored his father's.
"You saw who took Mommy, Parker?" his father asked him softly, gently stroking the soft blonde curls atop his head.
Parker nodded.
"Can you tell us what happened, buddy?"
Again, Parker nodded, and began his tale…
A/N- Please review. And thanks to eveyone who has so far, I love you all, you are amazing!