A/N: After a vacation consisting of floating down a river in a tube next to a cooler filled with the best kinds of foods and drinks I could ever want for whole days at a time, I think I'm ready to continue on with some plot in this fic.
Booth fought to not smile because everything seemed to be working out so far that day. His Bones wasn't dating that idiot and the squints have no clue that he had just ravished their boss in the next room. It seemed like nothing could go wrong after so much good happening so soon, but he had no idea how wrong he was.
Chapter 7:
Zach and Hodgins sat next to each other in the back of the SUV, fast asleep and leaning against one another for support. Angela sat beside the window, grinning like the proverbial Cheshire cat, which Booth seemed to be mirroring much to Brennan's dismay. Brennan was just anxious to fully involve herself in a case instead of letting her mind be distracted by the man sitting beside her. It seemed that every break her mind took from the case was filled with images of what they had done earlier that morning. The sex was amazingly hot and fantastic all around; except it was still with her partner. Of course she would admit that he was very attractive and physically fit – I mean the guy had her pinned against a wall as he gave her the best sexual encounter that she had ever had in her life. She had even allowed him to mark her, which she had never let any other guy do. She had always been able to keep her head during sexual intercourse. Always thinking logically with her head. Her past lovers have called her inhibited and passion-driven when in bed, but they didn't know that she was still always thinking.
Except Booth.
Booth had driven every thought from her head and even afterwards when she should only be thinking, wow, that was great sex instead she was thinking, when can we do that again and I wonder if we could date and not ruin our partnership. The logical portion of her brain dismissed the dating game right away. They were partners first and foremost, then friends – although that line was becoming hazy as of late. If they dated, would there be two lines growing fuzzy? It could seriously jeopardize their partnership and compromise the cases they might work on in the future. Dating was clearly out of the question, although she could feel a horrible lurch in her stomach and chest when she dismissed the advanced form of relationship that they could have.
Trying to convince herself of what was best she repeated the statement, Booth and I are only partners and friends, over and over until she thought she was going to be physically ill from her stomach and chest aching. She must have looked the way she felt because a large hand covered hers and gave a gentle squeeze of reassurance. She looked to Booth with an expression that clearly spelled out how confused she was with his course of action at the moment, but couldn't help but smile when he grinned at her, because it was that same grin that she refused to let get to her, but some how always did.
Booth let go of her hand and returned it to the steering wheel of the vehicle he was driving. In an attempt to keep his mind off of Bones he went through their daily agenda. They would spend a couple hours at the morgue where the squints would continue their stuff while he looked into the families and history of the people they were going to interview that same day. Hopefully he would be able to wrap up all of the interviews and then he could send the squints minus Bones home to DC with the cadavers in tow. Then he and Bones could return to DC when they tied up any loose ends the next day and continue the case from the comfort of home where he wouldn't be as tempted to jump his partner in the most unlikely of places.
They'd only been there ten minutes when Brennan began her narrative in much the same fashion as the day before. Booth tried to listen while sitting in front of a lap top researching the records of the girls and women who lay on steel beds before his partner.
Two hours later Booth collected an already exhausting looking Dr. Brennan to the SUV as she gave last minute instructions to her team for while she was away.
"Zack, keep working on the remains, and call me if you find anything big."
"Define 'big'?" Zack asked.
Booth turned and glared at the squint before Zack put his hands up in mock defense and turned to the tables again.
"Come on, Bones." He pulled on her arm almost dragging her to the SUV. "You do still want to do field work, yeah?"
Brennan nodded and finally gave into his pull and climbed into the vehicle.
"So where are we going first?" Brennan asked, already heading off a possible discussion from the night before.
"I get that you don't want to talk about last night right now, but sooner or later we will have to sort it all out, but for now I'll play you're little game." Booth reasoned.
"I'm not playing any game – "
"We're going to visit Jennifer Hoover's parents and then Isabelle Rodriguez's mother. They live only a few blocks apart."
Thoroughly sucked into the case Brennan began to ask and present information like she did any other case. "Did the other victims live in this neighborhood as well?"
Booth shook his head, "no, in fact, the others were found in very different neighborhoods. Niki and Holly, lived on opposite sides of town while Raven and Nova lived on the same side of Berlin and went to the same school."
"The victims should all share some common attribute or relationship. Right now all we know is that all were women or girls who went through horrible torture including severe beating and repeated raping before being burned alive from the feet up."
Booth cringed at her blunt statement. No one deserved to go through all of what Bones had described.
Brennan continued with out noticing Booth's facial state. "They were found in pairs that were approximately the same age, but as far as evidence has shown so far that is their only connection."
"Well, we know that the pairs were reported missing around the same time, often only a day apart at most."
Brennan nodded as if soaking in information, silently urging him to continue.
"Jenifer and Isabelle both were reported missing March 6th and 7th of 2006 respectively. Holly and Niki were reported missing April 12th 2006. Nova and Raven were reported missing May 6th and 8th 2006 resectively."
"Approximately a month apart and so recent. The bones must have been stripped chemically in order for them to be in the condition they are in now, probably to hide evidence." Bones rambled off logically.
"Well they really weren't counting on you being on this case, were they Bones?" He grinned at her and she couldn't help but smile weakly in return.
They pulled into the drive way of cookie cutter white house with two cars in the drive way of decent quality and worth. It looked every bit the average American home just short of toddlers running around the front yard with a yapping dog in tow.
Booth knocked on the plain white door and waited with Brennan slightly behind him and off to his right. A woman with chocolate brown hair that was tied back into a sloppy short pony tail, while her eyes looked deep blue but filled with a hidden sorrow opened the door with out hesitation. She was wearing an apron and her pale arms were dusted lightly with a bit of cooking flour.
"Can I help you?" She asked politely.
"Yes, I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth with the FBI," he flashed her his badge and turned to his partner, "and this is my partner Dr. Temperance Brennan from the Jeffersonian in Washington DC. We have some information pertaining to your daughter, Jenifer, and we'd also like to ask you a few questions if you don't mind." Booth was the spitting image of a kind gentlemen and it was times like these that made Brennan respect him even more.
The woman swallowed a lump in her throat and opened the door and led them to the living room where two little boys with blonde curly hair played with building blocks all the while squealing and waving their arms in the air.
"How old are they, Mrs. Hoover?" Brennan asked kindly, which earned her a warm smile from her partner.
"They are both four," Mrs. Hoover smiled sadly at her two boys before ushering them up the stairs to continue playing in their room. "Should I bring my husband in too?"
"That would be nice, thank you." Booth said, taking a seat on the longer couch and waited for Brennan to do the same but she was too fascinated looking at all of the happy family photos of vacations and Christmas' past.
Brennan frowned at one particular photo that was of Jenifer holding her two baby brothers who could barely hold their own heads up. They were sitting under a tree decorated with more ornaments and lights then the tree could probably hold but some how managed.
"This girl will never know another Christmas and her family will never remember one with out her memory," Brennan sighed quietly.
Booth had at some point moved to behind her and rested his hand on her shoulder. "We'll bring her and the other's justice and stop this sicko from harming anyone else, I promise."
She turned to look into his eyes, needing to believe him, needing to believe that they were making a difference. Nodding, she turned away and went to the couch Booth had been previously sitting on. Just as he sat beside her the parents came into the room again and took a seat across from the partners.
"I'm afraid we've found your daughter, Jenifer, she was buried at the New Jersey State Park." Booth said gently, his voice filled with understanding.
"You mean – she-she's dead?" The father choked out.
"Our little girl?" The mother added in a sob.
Booth nodded solemly. "We just had a few questions."
They nodded through tears.
"Did anyone strongly dislike Jenifer?" Booth asked.
The father shook his head, 'no'. "She wasn't a very popular girl, but she wasn't an outcast either. Besides the normal girl teenage drama, she never told us about anyone."
"Was she acting strange just before her disappearance?"
"No, nothing out of the ordinary. She left for her dance class then came home, only to leave soon after to her friend Belle's house a few blocks away. They usually just went to the mall or to the park from there as far as we know."
"Wait – Isabelle Rodriguez?" Brennan asked.
"Yes..."
"We found her body with your daughter's. When was the last time you saw your daughter Mr. and Mrs. Hoover?" Brennan asked again, taking over for Booth who was looking a little put out.
"March 5th 2006. I had to wake her up on my way out the door to work for her dance class." Her mother sighed.
"She never came home that night so we called around to her friends, including Isabelle who said that Jenny had left for home four hours earlier from her place. We immediately called the police, but they couldn't do anything until 24 hours after a person's disappearance." He rested his head into his hands. "We searched the neighborhood for hours with anyone who was willing to help, but we never found her or any clue as to where she was taken."
"Did your daughter ski at all?" Booth asked out of curiosity and in hopes of catching Bones wrong on something.
"Yes, actually, she and her father would travel to Colorado for a couple weeks every year to bond and ski." Mrs. Hoover said.
"She skied during other times, but its always more exhilarating on the mountains than on hills." Her father added.
Brennan smiled, knowing that she had won some battle and they excused themselves and made there way to the SUV.
"Told you so." Brennan smirked not even bothering to give Booth the knowing look.
"Told me what, Bones? The skiing could be related to the case."
She gave him a pointed look before he sighed and moved in behind the wheel.
A/N: So I've made this almost three times longer than normal because it's a lot of plot and very light on the fluff for now. The next chapter should be very eventful, I promise. There will be a twist that I hope none of you can foresee, otherwise I wouldn't be doing my job very well.
So because I wrote soooooo much, shouldn't I get even more reviews? The more reviews I get the faster I can update, maybe even by tomorrow night? Oh hell, I suck at bribery. I'll give anyone who reviews a virtual cookie, with extra chocolate chips.
