A/N: I'm immensely sorry about how long it's taken me to update this (about a month and a half!). At least three weeks of that time I was busy with late night dress rehearsals and performances of my school's production of Camelot. The rest can be blamed on a vicious bout of writer's block in between.

I had a bit of a dilemma trying to decide what to include in this fic, since I started writing it before The Man on the Fairway. For the most part, I've decided keep everything that happened from Two Bodies in the Lab onward out of it and maintain the fic in its own little bubble reality. I'm also going to go on with my own version of what became of Brennan's parents, the way I originally planned it.

Chapter 10

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As they drove to the location in Maryland, Brennan noticed that Booth was unusually quiet. It could have been because Dan was driving ahead of them, and Booth was concentrating on following him, but Brennan had noticed a darkly haunted look in his eyes ever since they had left Dan's. She wanted to talk to him about it, but she wasn't quite sure how to approach the topic.

Both Brennan and Booth were anticipating what they would find at the site. From what Dan had said, they would definitely find the bodies of Sidney and the Pearsons, but that's not what had butterflies fluttering in Brennan's stomach. Dan had said that Sidney had used the area before - meaning that it was probable that they would also find Brennan's parents. Brennan wasn't sure whether she should feel relieved that she might finally put her parents to rest, or to break down crying because she would know for sure they were dead. Before there had always been a the possibility that they hadn't been killed - that they were still alive and well somewhere. This debate was what made Brennan nauseous as they pulled over behind Dan.

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Booth watched Brennan closely as they came to a stop. She looked pale, and was absently picking at her fingernails. He didn't know what would be worse - if they found her parents or if they didn't. Whatever happened here, he hoped it would at least lead to the arrest of Furlong and a conclusion to the Pearson case. With Dan's testimony and any proof of murder at this site, he'd hopefully be able to get Cullen to officially reopen the case and send some agents to bring in Furlong from Manhattan.

Dan was waiting for them at the entrance to the woods. It's pretty far in," he called to them as they approached, "but we'll probably make it back by nightfall."

Booth and Brennan came to a halt beside him. "Probably?" Booth asked skeptically. "It's only 2:30." Dan shrugged and started walking, leading them into the woods.

It grew darker the further they got, as the sunlight filtered through increasingly dense treetops. Everything was silent, except for the snapping twigs beneath their feat. None of them spoke, each lost in their own thoughts.

After about 45 minutes, they reached a small clearing. Booth stopped Dan from going any further, giving Brennan room to look around. He wanted to be sure Dan had led them to the right spot. Brennan walked the perimeter of the clearing, stooping once and while to examine things.

"The leaves of the surrounding foliage are waxy from methane gas, and the soil is saturated with adipocere. There are definitely decaying remains here. I'd say most likely more than three bodies."

Booth turned to Dan, who was now crossing the clearing to a spot beneath two large overhanging branches. "This is where I - where I buried them." He looked down and began using his foot to push away some of the slightly heaped dirt and slowly uncovered what appeared to be the black plastic of a shallowly buried trash bag.

Booth looked over his shoulder at Brennan, to find that she had knelt down and was methodically scooping handfuls of earth aside with her hands. He walked over to her and knelt down beside her, though she didn't acknowledge his presence. "Bones..." She didn't look up, just kept scooping dirt. "Temperance?" That got her attention and she looked up slowly, meeting Booth's concerned gaze. "You don't need to do this," he said, glancing at her soiled hands. "Dan's showed us where the Pearsons are, which means - "

Brennan shook her head fiercely, cutting him off. "No. There's more than three bodies - I have to find them - " She began moving soil more frantically as she continued speaking, no longer looking at him. "I know they're here, they've been lost for so long - I have to find them - they'd want me to find them - "

"Temperance, stop - " Booth saw that she was losing control, as tears began to fall down her cheeks.

"That's what I do, that's my job - I find them and give them back their identities, I - " Brennan's eyes widened as pale bone became visible in the dirt.

Booth grabbed both her hands, stopping their frantic movements, and pulled her towards him. She gave in and collapsed against him, her body shaking as she cried, clutching at his shirt and leaving dirty hand prints. A few minutes later, Brennan seemed to have calmed down somewhat, though she hadn't made any move to get up.

"Is this enough to get him?" Dan asked from his side of the clearing, uncomfortable in the silence that had fallen.

Booth sighed, taking Brennan by the shoulders and holding her out in front of him. "Sit tight for a minute?" he asked, smoothing away a strand of hair that clung to her tearstained cheek, and waiting until she had nodded before getting up and crossing the clearing back over to Dan.

"Along with your testimony, yes. Hopefully we'll be able to charge him with conspiracy, but we can at least bring him in for questioning and try to get him to talk."

Dan looked thoughtful for a moment. "What if you had a hand written note from him, ordering a hit?"

Booth couldn't imagine that Furlong would be that stupid. "That would be great, we could easily confirm that it was him. Why? Do you happen to have one?"

Dan shook his head, looking down at his hands. Booth's spirits fell and he turned back to Brennan, only to find that she had moved to sit on a nearby log, her head in her hands.

He went over and sat on the log next to her, taking one of her now slightly shaky hands in his and rubbing his thumb across it in circular patterns. "Hey, we've got enough here - I just need to call Cullen and get him to send some people out here."

Brennan nodded slightly and gave Booth an encouraging half smile as he stood up, taking out his cell phone. Dan had come over while they were talking, and stood watching them. He looked torn, like he was trying to make up his mind about something. Booth dialed Cullen's number and was just about to hit SEND when Dan seemed to come to a conclusion and quickly pulled his gun on the pair.

Booth paused, slipping the cell phone back into his pocket. "Dan, what are you doing?"

"I'm sorry - I didn't want to do this."

"Then don't," Booth said, aiming to reason with him.

"I have to - it'll be a whole lot worse if I don't. It's the last thing he's gonna ask me to do - then it's over."

"Dan, we agreed to protect you. We're gonna get him - he's not going to hurt anyone else."

"No, he's got too many connections. Even locked up he can have me killed - not to mention you and everyone you care about. It's better this way."

"Dan, if you do this, he'll never be caught. He'll keep killing people. Think about all the innocent people he's killed. The victims, and their families who have to go on without them...And what's to say he won't force you to do something else anyway? You don't know that he'll keep his end of the deal. He might say that this is the last thing he'll ask you to do anything, and he might say that the next time too. You can't trust a guy like him."

Dan looked down, lowering his gun a fraction. It seemed as though he might have seen reason, until a new resolve made it's way into his eyes and his gun hand steadied. "After this I'll call the local police and give them an anonymous tip. I'll have done my job and Furlong won't suspect it was me who tipped them off. The handwritten order from Furlong is in Sidney's pocket. They'll find it when they dig up the bodies. They'll still get him."

As they had talked, Brennan had slowly edged her way around the clearing, sneaking up behind Dan. Dan nodded slowly, as if reassuring himself. He aimed the gun and put his finger on the trigger.

The next events happened so quickly, they seemed almost simultaneous. Brennan knocked his hand to the side, catching him off balance. Dan twisted as he fell into Brennan, a shot rang out, and they both fell to the ground.

Comments? Questions? Ideas?