MstgSzy wanted a sequel to chapter 195. I hope this is what you were looking for.

I don't own Bones.

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When he had heard that Booth had turned down Brennan's marriage proposal, Hodgins had tried to understand what was happening. He had known Booth for years and this didn't make sense. Something was wrong and it worried him. Booth loved Brennan with every fiber of his being and he had wanted to marry her ever since they had started a personal relationship, so when he was on the verge of getting what he wanted, it didn't make sense for Booth to back away.

Determined to find out what was going on, he had dropped in on Booth at the Hoover. "Hey, can I talk to you?"

Wary, Booth leaned back against his chair and waited for his friend to enter the room. Once Hodgins was seated, he decided to remain silent and see what the man was going to say.

Aware that the ball was in his court, Hodgins decided to be as careful as possible. He didn't want Booth to kick him out of his office before he'd had a chance to talk to him. "I'm here as a friend, your friend . . . You know, a few years ago, Angie and I were on the verge of a great thing when we broke up. I still don't know how I let that happen, but I did . . . One minute we were a couple and the next we started questioning things. I was jealous of her ex-husband, I admit that and that made her think I didn't trust her. That made her not trust me . . . It didn't have to happen that way but because it did we lost over a year not being together. That's 20 months I'll never get back."

He knew what Hodgins was trying to say to him and Booth actually appreciated it, but he couldn't talk to him about what was going on. Not when there was a computer sitting on his desk and there were three phones in the room. Pelant had found a way to stalk him through electronic equipment and he couldn't have an open honest conversation with Hodgins no matter how much he wanted to. "What is happening between me and Bones is private, Hodgins . . . I will say this. You know me, you know how I feel about Bones. What's happening between us is temporary. I'm going to fix it as soon as I can, but it's going to take time."

The wording seemed to be precise and Hodgins knew he was being given a message, he just didn't know what the message was. "I trust you, Booth." It was all he could say. Whatever was happening, Booth either didn't want to talk about it or he couldn't and that made him think that something or someone was influencing the agent. This was a bad situation. "If I can help you, let me know."

"Unfortunately, you can't help me." Booth desperately needed an ally in this situation, but Pelant had made sure he was isolated and he couldn't ask for help. He was on his own and he'd have to find Pelant on his own to end this. When he found the computer hacker he planned to kill the man. Right or wrong, Pelant was going to die.

"I see." Standing, Hodgins stared at Booth for a moment, then nodded his head. "I think I understand . . . Like I said, I trust you Booth. You'll do the right thing, but keep in mind that there is a time limit here. Dr. B is hurting, I can see that and I know you can too. If you don't find a solution to your problem soon, there will be nothing left to fix. Dr. B won't be there . . . I hope you see that."

Leaning forward on his desk, Booth clasped his hands together to try to maintain some control. "I do see it, but this has to be between Bones and me."

"Got it." Leaving Booth's office, Hodgins knew that Booth was in trouble and for whatever reason, he couldn't ask for help. He just hoped that the agent fixed this mess as soon as possible or there wouldn't be anything to fix.

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Hodgins had stood back and watched everyone that should have been on Booth's side become angry and upset with the agent. He had tried to get his co-workers and friends to see that something was wrong and Booth wasn't behaving normally, but no one seemed to be interested in his caution.

They couldn't see that Booth was under duress, they all assumed that he was treating Brennan badly on purpose and he couldn't understand why they were so blind to the situation.

Several times he tried to get Booth to confide in him, but the agent refused to talk to him. The last time he tried, Booth became angry and stormed out of the Lab leaving Hodgins feeling terrible. He was the only one on Booth's side and he couldn't help the man though his trouble.

"Babe, I think you need to stay out of Booth and Dr. B's business." Once more Hodgins tried to get Angela to see that she was jumping to conclusions, but he failed.

"Why? He's breaking Brennan's heart and he doesn't care." Angry, Angela turned to stare at her husband. "She should leave him, but I know she won't. At least not yet."

Sighing, Hodgins shook his head and tried to accept that Angela was too invested in her friendship with Brennan. "He cares, Angela. I'm telling you something is going on that we don't know about. This doesn't make sense."

"Brennan doesn't deserve this." Moving over to the fridge, she removed a bottle of water and cracked open the cap. "She's your friend, Jack. You should be on her side."

"I'm on both of their sides." Since he couldn't do anything to change Angela's mind, he decided to drop the subject. "I'm going to order dinner tonight. Let me know what you want before I order."

Unable to get her husband to budge in his beliefs, Angela gave up. She wasn't going to destroy their relationship because Booth and Brennan were having relationship problems. "I will."

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It was over. Pelant was dead and Booth and Brennan were engaged. Everyone was relieved, but Hodgins just felt embarrassed. He had known that something was wrong with Booth, but he hadn't guessed that the problem was Pelant blackmailing him. He felt mortified that he hadn't put all the clues together and he had let Booth down when he needed help from his friends.

Two days after Pelant had been killed, Cam did the autopsy on the serial killer's body and closed the last chapter of Pelant's story. Booth had attended the autopsy just to make sure that everything was done by the book and deep down, because he needed Cam to identify the body to make sure Pelant hadn't escaped justice again.

"It's him, Booth." Booth pacing up and down the room near the door was annoying, but she understood his nervousness. "This isn't a trick. You shot the right man. Christopher Pelant is dead and he's not coming back."

That assurance had been what he needed and he felt his body relax for the first time in months. "I know . . . okay, yes, I needed you to make sure . . . He's dead and he can't hurt Bones anymore."

"Or you." Cam still couldn't believe that she hadn't figured out why Booth had turned down Brennan's proposal. It was so obvious now, but a few weeks ago, not so much. "I'm sorry, Booth. I should have known that when you turned down Brennan's proposal that you were doing it under duress . . . I just thought you had got cold feet, but I should have known better."

"Don't worry about it." Unable to hold a grudge against one of his oldest friends, Booth placed his hands in his pants pockets. Though Cam hadn't trusted his motives, she had mostly stayed out of his business for which he was grateful. "You thought you knew what was going on . . . I couldn't tell you because I couldn't risk Pelant finding out I told anyone. It was a no win situation until I found the fucker and put a bullet in his brain."

After she removed the liver from the cadaver, Cam placed it on the scales. "I'm glad he's dead. He killed so many people and he tried to kill more until he was stopped. I have no tears to waste for a monster."

"Yeah." Pelant was dead, his wedding was on and his friends now understood that he hadn't being cruel to Brennan on purpose. Maybe now, his life would go back to normal, whatever normal meant.

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The autopsy done, Booth left the autopsy room and spied Hodgins standing in front of his office looking at him. Before he could say anything, the entomologist turned and walked back into his office. What's his problem?

Walking over to his friend's office, Booth looked through the doorway and spotted Hodgins sitting on a chair near his spider case staring at the floor. "You got a minute?"

Startled, Hodgins stood up and faced Booth. "Yeah, sure." Waving the agent in, Hodgins wondered if Booth was going to give him a hard time for being so dense. Now that they knew it had been Pelant behind Booth's bizarre behavior it seemed so obvious.

Standing inside the doorway, Booth studied Hodgins for a few moments. "You know, after my brain tumor was removed, I was a little messed up. You helped me with that. You came to see me and you were honest with me about what was happening to me and to Bones. I don't know if I thanked you for that or not."

Slowly nodding his head, Hodgins sighed. "But when you needed me this time, I couldn't help you."

Shrugging his shoulders, Booth stepped further into the room and leaned on the counter that held a glass case filled with beetles. "I couldn't tell anyone. Pelant was using electronic devices to keep track of me and probably everyone else I knew. He was going to kill innocent people if I said something . . . I didn't expect you or anyone else to know what was going on . . . I had hoped that everyone who knew me, knew me well enough to know that something bad was happening and they should trust me, but that didn't happen, except for you and after a while, Bones. This was a matter of blind trust and the only ones that tried to do that during this mess was you and Bones and I want to thank you for that. It helped, believe me."

"Yeah, Dr. B seemed to catch on after that case where the victim was thrown out of a window and landed in the A/C fan. Angela was mad that Dr. B forgave you for turning down her marriage proposal, but I figured it wasn't our business." Hodgins sat back down. "You know Angela loves Dr. B like a sister and she'd do anything for her . . . you get that right?"

Though he was still angry with Angela for how she had treated him, for putting doubts in Brennan's mind, Booth understood why she had done what she had done. "I know. Angela was Bones' first real friend since she was a little girl and I know she loves Angela. That's why I don't try to come between them. What they have is special and I don't want Bones to lose that relationship."

"Thanks for that, Booth." He knew that friendships were strained right now, but he hoped they were a tight knit group soon. "I think Angela knows she was wrong, but she has a hard time apologizing. It's just who she is . . . anyway, I'm glad that Pelant is dead. He wiped me out financially, but I'm not poor. Not by a long shot. I make pretty good money and so does Angela . . . It was a lot of money though and it sure made life a lot easier. I didn't lose my house so there's that. I just have to get used to a middle class lifestyle." He chuckled. "Some of my friends disappeared after I lost my money, but that's okay. That just showed me they weren't really my friends after all. I can live with that."

"You saved those little girls, Jack . . . you're a hero even if no one knows that but me and a few others. Thank you for saving them . . . I don't think anyone told you that and they should have." Booth had not been surprised when Hodgins had made the choice to save a school full of kids instead of saving his money. Pelant had done a monstrous thing, but Hodgins had shown him that not everyone was as evil as he was. "And middle class isn't so bad. You'll get used to it. Take that from a boy born on the wrong side of the tracks. It's nice to have money for the important things and working for what you have builds character."

Amused, Hodgins chuckled. "Yeah, I'm definitely building character."

After glancing at his watch, Booth knew he had to leave. "I have a meeting with the Deputy Director in 45 minutes . . . See you around."

"Yeah, see you around, Booth."

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