A/N: Thanks everyone who stopped and clicked on the story to read. I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Kat - thank you for your feedback


Chapter 2 – Taken


Booth


Present Day…

I stood in the middle of her apartment, looking around for anything. Any clue, any indication of where Bones could be. Praying—something Bones could never understand why I did it, the comfort it brought me—to help find her. I had to find her. I couldn't lose her.

I checked my watch again, even though I had just checked it moments before. Six hours. It had been six hours since she had been taken, and I was nowhere near finding anything that could bring Bones back to me safely.

I closed my eyes, running through every moment leading up to standing here in this moment in her apartment. Slowing my breathing, focusing on the events as if I was hypnotized—it had worked on cases we worked before on other witnesses—hoping I might uncover something I may have missed before.

"Hodgins, where is Bones?" I barked, walking into the lab.

I had just come from her office, her jacket missing from the hook, her bag and keys not in the usual place she keeps them when she is here and working at the lab.

Hodgins looked up from his computer at whatever sample he was working on and shrugged. "I don't know. Last I knew, her and Zack were still examining Vega's remains with Cam."

I swore as I moved away from the lab and towards Cam's autopsy room. "I gave her one order. Not to go anywhere without me. Is that so hard," I grumbled, as I quickened my pace. "Cam!"

Cam looked up from working on the body, her brows raised as she watched me walk into her room. Cam was one of my best friends, and also one that could read me easily. Next to Bones, she was the only other one that could succeed in helping to calm me down or make me see reason.

"Who pissed in your cheerios this morning?"

My hands were on my hips, as I stared her down. "Funny."

Her joking demeanor faded, her hands lifting from the body to hold slightly in the air. "What's going on Seeley?"

I hated when she called me by my first name, but right now, I would let it slide. I needed to find Bones, so I could make sure she is safe and then ream her ass out good for doing the one thing I forbid her to do.

"Where's Bones?"

There was a slight relief in Cam's response as she let out an exhale, her head dipping so she could look back at the body. "There was a little mishap with one of Hodgins and Zack's experiments. She didn't have a set of clean clothes here, so she went home to change."

I closed my eyes, my thumb and forefinger squeezing the bridge of my nose. "Why didn't you call me, Cam?"

She pursed her lips together, looking back up at me, this time her jaw tight. "I am not a babysitter, Booth. She needed to change. She's free to come and go as she pleases. What has gotten into you?"

I was trying to hold my anger at bay. Mostly, because that anger was out of fear. Fear that without me there to protect Bones, something bad could happen. It was what happened last time the Grave Digger took her. Took Bones and Hodgins, and I didn't—couldn't— do anything to stop it from happening.

The day still haunts me now and then. Bones and I have had quite a few close calls together in our partnership over the years, but the Grave Digger kidnapping her—it coming down to the very last minute to save her—still consumed me. It had only been seconds that it could have gone the other way.

It didn't help matters, that since the F.B.I. felt therapy would be good, I have Sweets breathing down my neck to dissect my feelings around my partnership with Bones. A fascination for him. Just like it had for Dr. Gordon-Gordon. As much as I like to give Sweets a hard time, make fun of his profession, and rile him up, he was good at his job. He was good at understanding and reading me and my partnership with Bones. Something I would never admit out loud to him.

"You still haven't come to terms with the day Bones was kidnapped and buried alive, have you?" Sweets asked, after cornering me for a one-on-one session about a book he wanted to write regarding my partnership with Bones. There were times he wanted to meet with us separately to ask questions without the other inserting their opinion or feelings on the matter. This was one of those sessions.

I gripped my tie, my hand sliding down the material as I cleared my throat. "Um, what?"

Sweets did that irritating thing he always does, by staring me down before nodding and sitting back in his chair. As if he was relaxed and knew something all at once. It was downright annoying.

"Your fierce need to control every situation. To want to know where Bones is at every minute of every day when you are on a case. Your fierce need to protect her," he explained.

"Well, yeah, she's, my partner. She's a squint. She belongs in the lab. I'm the trained agent. I'm the man. I'm the one with the gun. It's my job to protect her," I retorted, my voice taking a serious note.

"I think Dr. Brennen has proven herself very capable of handling herself in the field. But yet, still, you don't trust that she can."

I rolled my eyes. "It's not about trust. Did you not just hear a word that I said."

Sweets crossed his leg over his other, still seeming to be unaffected at all by my outburst. "Oh, I did. I think your word choice was interesting. When you mentioned partner, you followed up with "man" and "protect"."

"No, those are facts," I interjected, my tone haughty.

"On their own, I would have to agree. But you and I both know it's more than that. You don't see this partnership—" —he paused to use his hands to make quotations at the word partnership before continuing— "—as just a professional one. To you, it's something more. Deeper."

I stood from the couch, no longer interested in this conversation or being in the same room with Sweets when I couldn't be certain that I didn't want to punch him in his smug face.

"And…we're done," I announced.

"Booth."

I stopped. I let out a breath turning halfway to face him. He was up from his chair, his notebook abandoned on the table in front of him, but his pen still in his hand.

I leveled him with a look, my tone even. "She is my professional partner. Nothing more. Do we understand?"

"Fine. I will concede for now."

I turn fully to face him, walking a few steps towards him, because I know it will easily intimidate Sweets and bring this conversation to a close, which is exactly what I want to happen. He knows that too, and just as I predicted, he takes a step back.

"No. We are done on this topic. Now."

I stare him down until he looks away first, licking his lips before he responds, taking another step back. It's a dick move on my part, I know that, but it's what I do when I need to control the situation, and Sweets was getting to close for comfort.

I turn to walk out of the room, when Sweets voice reaches me again. "Just think about this…almost losing Dr. Brennan, that feeling you had…no way to control when, how, or why it happened to her…it affected you profoundly. Because it was the first time from the trauma you had as a boy, you could have lost something you cared more about than anything else in the world. It shook you all the way to your core, and instead of dealing with it, you smash it down in hopes it will go away, or until you can lock it back up in a neat box and feel like you can control as you did before the incident."

I'm grateful my back is to him, so he can't see my face. He can't see the range of emotions I am feeling from rage, fear, and uncertainty. I close my eyes for a brief second, before throwing open the door and storming out without any other response.

Standing in Cam's autopsy room, not being able to find Bones, not hearing from her was bringing me right back to that space. That fear. It was driving me mad.

Cam was still looking at me, expecting an answer to her question. She wanted to know what had gotten into me. Why I was so mad. Of all people, she should know.

"If the dead body in front of you, the fact that the Grave Digger—who kidnapped and almost killed Bones last time—is still out there and could be targeting her as their next victim, isn't enough…I don't know what is," I answer.

Cam sighs. "I understand your need to want to protect her. We all do." She shot me a knowing look when I was about to rebut her statement, and continued, "she was just going home to change, and then she will be right back. She will be perfectly safe. I made sure security walked her to her car and get out safely."

I grit my teeth. "Yeah, because that worked out so well the last time." I grab the phone from my pocket, already hitting her saved contact on my speed dial. I place the phone to my ear but look back at Cam. "No one else leaves here unless they check in with me. Not until this case is over. Got it?"

She looked like she wanted to argue. This was her place, and she was in charge, but they were my people before they were hers. Whatever she must've seen across my face is enough as she closes her mouth and nods instead.

I start walking from the room as the phone continues to ring on the other end.

"Pick up, Bones. Pick up," I mutter.

"Hello?"

"Bones!"

I hear a sigh on the other end. "Booth. Okay, listen. I know I wasn't supposed to go anywhere—"

"Your damn right…"

"But…it was just to come home and do a quick change, and I am headed back now."

I could hear her walking around her apartment and grabbing her keys from the bowl she usually throws them in. "No. Stay there and I will come and get you and pick you up."

I was walking past the lab, shaking my head at whatever Hodgins newest contraption he was working on.

"Booth, I'll be fine. It will take less than twenty minutes to get back. You'll see. Nothing to worry about," she reassured over the phone.

While I could reason that might be true, I would still rather pick her up. At least then, her car would be confined in parking, and then she would be more inclined to remember she is supposed to wait for me to go anywhere until this case is solved. More importantly, she would be safe.

"Stay there. I'll come get you," I ordered.

"Boot—"

Her voice was cut off by a grunt. "Bones?"

Her phone was still on, but this time, I could hear shuffling and grunting at the same time. The same kind of grunting I have heard

Bones do in the past when she was engaged in fighting.

My heart leaped in my chest. "Bones!"

My yell was louder this time, that a few of the workers at the Jeffersonian looked in my direction—including Hodgins. I looked up at him, my phone pressed tightly to my ear as whatever was happening at Bones apartment was getting more intense.

"Call the office. Tell them I need backup at Bones apartment," I hollered to Hodgins.

His face froze. He looked almost paralyzed with fear. My demand and worry that I was unable to keep from my own voice was instantly transporting him back to a year ago, when he too had been captured and buried alive by the Grave Digger.

He snapped out of his trance a second before I was about to holler again, my feet already moving me to a jog throughout the lab. I could hear him fumble with the phone as he quickly followed through on my orders.

On the phone, there was still more wrestling before I heard a gasp, followed by a scream.

"Temperance!"

Everything went quiet. The phone was still connected, but the scream, the wrestling, all of it was quiet.

I already ran through the parking lot, ripping my SUV door open, and peeling out of the parking lot.

"Bones, answer me!" I demanded.

I got no verbal response. I could hear the shuffle of the phone. The sound of it picking up. It should have given me a moment of potential hope, but something deep in my gut—something Bones could never understand because it wasn't scientific—told me I wasn't going to like the outcome.

"Whoever you are…Leave now. Leave her and get out. You don't want me to come after you. I will kill you. That is a promise."

My voice was seething, my hands gripping the wheel as my sirens blared weaving in and out of traffic to get to Bones place as quickly as I could.

The phone clicked off.

I threw the phone to the side, pushing the gas pedal all the way to the bottom. Was she dead? Was she alive? Was she clinging to her last moments, and I failed her? I wasn't there to protect her—again.


10 minutes later….

I kicked open the door to Bones apartment, forcing my way through. My gun drawn; I shouted for Bones as I made my way through to clear the apartment. There were no signs of blood, but there were visible signs that an altercation took place here.

I moved through each room, clearing it one by one until I confirmed that no one was left in the apartment. I placed my gun back in my holster, the backup I had called for arriving seconds later.

"It's a crime scene," I confirmed, letting them know to start the necessary process to swab for prints and collect any other evidence that can point out the identity of the bastard who did this. Whoever it was that took Bones, I would find out their identity. They just made it my personal mission.

I turned my attention back to Bones apartment to look around. Anything that would give me a clue or sign.

"Booth!"

I turned back to the front door of Bones apartment where Cam and Hodgins were pushing their way through. I signaled to the agent to let them pass. They both looked at me, the apartment, and back at me.

Cam's face turned white. "Dr. Brennan?"

I frowned. "They took her."

"It's all my fault. I shouldn't have let her leave," she cried.

I didn't have time to ease Cam's guilt or fear. It wasn't her fault that some bastard wanted her. My entire focus now needed to be finding who took Bones and what happened here.

"Cam, what was the last thing Bones was working on or did before she left?" I asked.

Cam nodded, slowly working to get her emotions back under control. On both of Cam and Hodgins faces, I could see that both of them were transported back to last year. To the race against the clock to save Bones and Hodgins when they had been buried alive. To the moments that everyone had lost hope, because time had run out. If it had been anyone other than Bones and Hodgins, maybe they would have perished. Not them. Not then. Not today.

"Um, she was waiting around for me to finish my autopsy, so she could fully piece together what happened. We had all preliminary agreed that Vega died of a heart attack due to the voltage from a taser."

"She stopped by my lab when Zack and I were working on an experiment. We didn't know she was there, and some got on her. She left to go and change," Hodgins offered up.

"They were waiting," I noted. I looked around and sighed. "They were waiting for an opportunity until she would be alone to strike. Just like last time."

Cam and Hodgins expressions were morphing from not only concern now, but to anger instead. Hodgins was the only other person that could really understand what it felt like, and I knew he spent a good portion of his downtime and time at work in between cases trying everything he could to find a clue as to the identity of the Grave Digger.

I understood Hodgins need for vengeance and justice. I had experienced that many times myself as a sniper in the war. Losing a brother in arms and wanting to make sure that him giving up his life hadn't been in vain. Hodgins wanted the same for all those that the Grave Digger had killed before him, and for the trauma he endured as well.

My phone buzzed in my pants that I had an incoming call. "Booth," I said flipping open the phone. I closed my eyes, squeezing them shut. "Yeah, I got it. I'll be right there," I said.

I had a meeting with the State Attorney today on the case. I had been on my way to the Jeffersonian to pick up Bones for the meeting when I had learned that she had left without me.

"I have to go," I announced to Cam and Hodgins.

It was the last thing I wanted or needed to be doing when Bones was out there. I didn't need evidence or clues to tell me that the Grave Digger was behind this. What I knew was coming next would be the inevitable phone call the Grave Digger would make, starting the counter and giving us twenty-four hours to attempt to find Bones, or she would be dead.

That was if the Grave Digger followed the same M.O. My current concern was more that Grave Digger upped their game… Vega was dead. Bones is now missing. I had to hope that if they wanted her dead now, they would have left her here for me to find. The fact that she wasn't here was enough hope to keep going for me to make sure I brought her back safely.

"I have to meet with the State Attorney," I said, looking back up to Cam and Hodgins. My voice carried enough now to make sure that the other agents on scene could hear me too. "Make sure everything gets packed up and back to the Jeffersonian and call me—" —I looked at Cam first and then Hodgins directly in the eye, so they knew this was not up for discussion— "—if you find out anything, or if you hear anything."

"We will," they said in unison.


Thirty minutes later (F.B.I, DC Headquarters…)

I stormed into the office. "Let's get this over with," I said bluntly.

"Well, hello to you too," Judge Williams scolds.

"Forgive me if my manners aren't to your liking, but my partner has just been kidnapped, and I am not sure if she is alive at this point, so the last thing I am worried about is this meeting," I rebut, my tone equally annoyed.

Judge Williams stares at me for a moment longer, before relenting and turning his head towards the woman standing in the room. "Agent Booth, this is State Attorney, Heather Taffet. She took over the Grave Digger case from our previous State Attorney, the late Kim Kurland," he said, his face falling a bit at having mentioned his former colleague and friend.

"It's nice to meet you, Agent Booth. I look forward to working with you on this case," Heather said, all formal, her tone polite, eager, and nice.

"Yeah, great. What do you need from me?" I asked.

"I can answer that," Heather said. "In reviewing my former colleagues case notes, it appears one crucial piece of evidence that we collected from the case last year, when doctor's Brennan and Hodgins were kidnapped, has gone missing."

My brows furrowed together. "Missing?"

Heather pushed a file in front of my face, showing me a picture of the piece of evidence in question that was missing. A small orange piece of paper that had a series of numbers etched on the side. I remember the evidence, as this had been recovered directly from being embedded in Hodgin's leg.

"We thought Mr. Vega could have had the opportunity to steal the evidence. He did have access to the information last year when he was a consultant on your case. Plus, he seemed more than immersed in the mind and world of the Grave Digger," Heather supplied.

I was pacing back in forth in the conference room. "You believe this was the motive for his murder?"

"It's no small coincidence that he was murdered only two days after the evidence has gone missing," Judge Williams adds.

"Searches of Vega's car and residence have not turned up with the evidence," Heather informed. "And now your partner has seemed to gone missing," she pointed out, raising her brow.

I stop, turning my full weight of my cold stare on her. "What are you saying?"

Heather schools her expression, but I can see a twinge of amusement and the crinkle in the corner of her eyes. "I am sure an agent of your caliber can connect the dots."

I stopped at the conference table, leaning forward. "My partner is missing. God knows what may be happening to her, and you want to sit here and accuse her of theft?"

"Agent Booth, no one is accusing anyone of theft," Judge Williams intervened.

"That's exactly what it sounds like," I reply, my voice sounding bitter. "I mean, you know, connecting the dots."

"We just want our evidence back," said Heather.

"We don't have it," I confirm.

She arches a single brow. "And what about the rest of the team at the Jeffersonian?"

"They don't either," I answer with a finality. I won't stand for anyone coming after my people. Accusing my people. I work with the best. They are the best. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have my partner that I need to find."

"If you hear anything, Agent Booth," Heather speaks up from behind me.

I stop in the doorway, looking over my shoulder at them. "Nobody wants the Grave Digger to pay more than those at the Jeffersonian. Myself included. Now, leave me alone."

"I'm sure we will be seeing each other again," Heather said as a promise.

I looked at her one more time, before I walked out of the conference room.


A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter.