(Before the pilot and during Season 9)

I don't own Bones.

Ooooooooooooooooo

It was a hot summer day and sweat was dripping down the face of his grandson as well as himself. They were playing dominoes on the front porch hoping a breeze would cool them off. "Seeley, why don't you take that shirt off? You can just wear your t-shirt like me. No one will care."

Clutching the front of his shirt, the boy shook his head and kept his gaze on the dominoes laid out before him on the small table. "No, I'm good."

Not sure why his grandson was being so stubborn, Hank reached out to touch his grandson's shoulder only to see the boy turn pale and pull away. "Son, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing Pops. It's . . . me and Jared were playing and he kinda threw a toy truck at me and I didn't duck fast enough." The boy glanced at his grandfather to see if he believed that story. "He didn't mean anything, he's just a little kid and it doesn't really hurt."

Not sure he believed the boy, Hank decided to let the story go for now. "Okay, but you can still remove your shirt. It's hot out here. You're going to get heat stroke."

"No, I'm good." Standing, Booth moved over to the front door. "I've got to go to the bathroom."

Once the boy was out of sight, Hank leaned back against his chair and thought about what his grandson had said. He didn't want to call the child a liar, but he knew he'd have to keep an eye on him. Something was wrong. He didn't know what it was, but he didn't want to ignore it.

Ooooooooooooooooo

It was a week later and Seeley and Jared were at the house of their grandparents while their father had to work late that night. Marie had run a bath for the boys and wanted them to take a bath before they went to bed. Seeley volunteered to take his bath first and closed the bathroom door behind him. Marie knew older boys didn't like to be seen naked by their grandmothers, it was just a fact, so she waited in the hallway. She was going to give Jared a bath afterward and she wanted to clean the bathtub before it was used again.

The phone ringing, she entered her bedroom to answer the phone. Once the call was over, she walked back into the hallway and over to the bathroom. Assuming her grandson was done with his bath, she opened the door and was surprised to see Seeley drying off. Shocked she noticed the large bruises on his shoulder, chest and left thigh. "Seeley! Seeley, what happened?"

His cheeks burning, the boy wrapped the towel around his body and faced the bathtub. "Jared threw a truck at me and I didn't duck fast enough."

Careful not to make the situation worse, Marie entered the room and closed the door behind her. "Seeley, you know that's not true. Jared didn't hurt you, not by throwing a toy truck at you. That wouldn't have caused all of these bruises."

Swallowing, the child turned around to face his grandmother. "Please Grandma, don't talk to my Dad. Okay? It was all my fault. Really, he didn't hurt me. I did something stupid."

With tears escaping her lashes, Marie knelt next to her grandson and placed her arms around him. "Oh, baby boy . . . my sweet baby boy." Her tears flowing, she held the boy against her body and tried to decide what to do about this situation. "Seeley . . . Seeley, you have to tell me what happened."

Determined to protect himself, Seeley sighed and knew if he told his grandmother what was going on at home, his father would beat him again. "I fell down the stairs to the basement. Dad . . . Dad put some ice on the bruises and said the bruises will go away in a week or two. He didn't do anything, Grandma. He didn't do anything. I just fell. It was stupid."

Releasing the boy, Marie stood up and placed her hands on the sides of the boy's face. The bruises were dark and showed no signs of yellowing which told her they were new. "Seeley, you know I love you and I'll protect you if you need me to."

"I don't need any protection Grandma. Really." He hoped she'd believe him for both his and his brother's sake.

Reluctantly, she nodded her head and wiped the tears from her face using the hand towel hanging from the rail near the sink. "Seeley . . . get dressed in your pajamas and once I've bathed Jared, we can all have lemonade and a cookie. How about that?"

"Okay." Once his grandmother was gone, the child dressed in his night clothes and prayed his grandmother wouldn't say anything to Pops or his father.

Oooooooooooooooo

Marie had prayed for guidance and decided that she couldn't keep silent. She wanted to believe Seeley, but she was afraid he had lied to her. When her son arrived at the house the next morning, she had tried to persuade him to leave the boys with her for the week. "It's summer, Edwin. I'd like the company."

"No, Mom. They have chores to take care of." Edwin had ushered his sons into his car and left leaving behind a woman shaking with fright.

Standing on the porch, Hank noticed his wife was crying and that worried him. Stepping down on to the sidewalk he moved closer to her. "Marie, what's going on? You've been a bundle of nerves since last night."

Hoping she was doing the right thing, Marie turned to face her husband. "Hank, something is wrong. I . . . I saw Seeley last night right after he had taken a bath and he's covered in bruises. He said he fell down the stairs at home, but I don't believe him. Hank, I need you to go to Edwin's house and bring our boys back. I think . . . I think Edwin is harming the boys like we think he did to Marianne . . . Oh Hank, we should have questioned Marianne more about her injuries . . . I mean we were going to confront her, but she ran away right after she got out of the hospital and we never really did find out if she was being beaten by Edwin . . . I feel like Edwin is beating the kids. He's out of control, Hank. You have to save them."

His worst fears confirmed, Hank kissed his wife on the cheek and hurried over to his car. "I'll bring them back, Marie. I'm not coming back without them."

Ooooooooooooooooo

Hank heard shouting once he was on the porch of his son's house. He couldn't make out the words, but the screams pushed him to enter the house in a run. Rushing into the kitchen, he found his son beating Seeley with a belt. Both Seeley and Jared were screaming in terror and that was too much for Hank to bear.

Grabbing his son's arm, he forced him to back away from Seeley and forced Edwin to face his father. "What are you doing? Are you crazy? Are you insane?"

Angry, Edwin pushed his father away and stood between him and his sons. "How dare you interfere with this? Seeley is a smart ass and I'm tired of it. First his mother now him. No respect. He shows me no respect at all. Well, I'm going to beat some respect into him."

Furious, Hank knocked his son down by punching him in the jaw. As Edwin lay on the floor looking up at him, Hank knew what he had to do. "You're a monster. The boy is nine years old . . . I didn't want to believe you'd been abusing Marianne, but somehow I knew it was true. I could never get her to admit it, but this . . . this proves it. Get out. I'm taking the boys back home and if you ever come near them again . . . I'll kill you. Do you believe me? Do you? I'm serious, Edwin. Dead serious."

Suddenly afraid, Edwin stood up, glanced at his sons then back at his father. "Take them. They're worthless pieces of shit. Their mother was useless and so are they." The look of fury on his father's face made him stop talking. Moving cautiously away from the older man, he knew he had to leave the house. He might be younger than his father, but Hank Booth was strong and not someone that he could beat like his wife and children. "Take them."

Once Edwin was out of the house, Hank walked over to where his grandsons were standing, knelt down and hugged them both. "No more. This isn't going to happen anymore. We're going to go upstairs and pack your clothes and toys. Whatever you want, we'll take it all back to the house. You're not coming back here so don't leave anything behind."

That afternoon changed the lives of Seely and Jared Booth for the better and they never forgot that they owed their grandparents more than they could ever repay.

Oooooooooooooooo

Seeley, something's wrong.

Jared had called him at an awkward time, but Booth could hear the fear in his brother's voice and he listened. "What's wrong?"

Seeley, I went over to the retirement home to visit Pops and he's got a nasty bruise on his arm. He said he hit his arm on the doorway, but Seeley, come on, that bruise is really big. I'm afraid someone is hurting Pops. He won't talk to me about the bruise, but maybe he'll talk to you . . . I can drive back to the retirement home with you. We can't let this go, Seeley. We have to do something.

"Yeah, we do." Seeley stood up and grabbed his jacket. "I'm going to drive over to the home and see for myself. I'll call you and let you know what I find out." Ending the call, he called the deputy director to let him know he had a family emergency involving his grandfather and he'd be gone for the rest of the day and it was possible he would be gone for the next day too. That done, he called Brennan, let her know what was going on then left the Hoover.

Ooooooooooooooo

He found his grandfather sitting in his room, reading. Knocking on the doorframe, he smiled at the old man and entered the room. "Hey, I thought I'd come and see you." Holding out a baker's box, he placed it on the coffee table. "I brought you some cookies and some cupcakes. There's some cannoli in there too."

Surprised to see his grandson in the middle of the week, Hank closed his book and placed it on the coffee table. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

"I'm playing hooky." Once he was seated on the chair across from the couch, Booth leaned forward and cleared his throat. "I got a call from Jared . . ."

"For God's sake, I knew he'd do that." Angry, Hank lifted the sleeve of his shirt to expose the bruise. "I hit my arm walking out the door because I was busy talking to Irene instead of watching where I was going. He's acting like I'm being abused or something. You should know by now that I'd never let that happen. I can still beat anyone's ass with my cane if I need to."

Holding up his hands, Booth leaned back against his chair. "Pops . . . okay, I just needed to make sure." Crossing his legs, Booth gripped the arms of the chair. "Look, remember when I was a kid and Edwin was beating the shit out of me? I never said anything. Not to you, not to anyone. Grandma discovered the bruises after one of Edwin's beatings and you came to rescue me and Jared . . . Mom was abused and . . . well, she didn't want us to say anything about that either . . . I guess we were just too afraid of Edwin and how he'd react. We should have said something and we didn't. I just want to make sure you're not having some issues with the nurses or aides here. I need to make sure you're okay and so does Jared."

"Okay . . . okay, I get it." Hank sighed. "You have experience being abused. You and Jared see a bruise and you suspect the worst. It's understandable. Really, I understand, but I'm not being abused by anyone. If anything, I have a tendency to abuse the aides around here. I can be mean when I shouldn't be. I've had to apologize more than a few times because I was rude. You remember that time I hit Bill because he said I couldn't smoke my cigar . . . I'm sorry I did that, I haven't hit anyone since . . . Seeley, I'm fine. I'm clumsy in my old age and blood thinners aren't helping with that situation either. Sometimes I look like I've been in a fight because of the bruises, but it's just carelessness and thin skin."

He believed his grandfather. He accepted that Pops would never let anyone hurt him and not say anything. "Okay . . . I worry about you and so does Jared. We're not in the same city as you and we can't be here in a flash like we'd like to be . . . Jared was right to call me. You didn't want to talk about the bruise and it made him suspicious."

"I understand and maybe I should have explained what was going on, but I don't like anyone meddling in my business especially my grandsons." Hank shook his head and laughed. "Aren't we something? I was too dense to see what was happening with you and your brother and your Mom and you're too eager to see trouble where it doesn't exist. We're a mess."

"Yeah, I guess so." Booth sighed. "Pops, I don't blame you for my beatings. Hell, you saved my life and Jared's life. You came through when we needed it and that's what matters. You raised us and took care of us and you never laid a hand on either of us. Even when we deserved it, you didn't hit us. That was big, Pops. That was what we needed . . . Thank you."

His family had been abused by Edwin, but Hank and his wife had tried to fix it. They blamed themselves for what had happened, but he was grateful his grandsons didn't blame him. He'd tried to be the father they needed and he thought he had done a good job, all things considered. "You're welcome." Reaching over to the box, he lifted the lid open. "I'm glad you bought some cannoli. I sure miss Marie's cannoli, but I'll take what I can get."

"Sure, Pops. Anything for you. The next time I'll bring a whole box of them for you."

Ooooooooooooooooo

Let me know what you think of my story. Thank you.