Message from FictionWriter91: AG, this story has not been abandoned as you've suggested. Due to life circumstances, I haven't been able to write/co-write as often. I do my best, but I can't post as frequently as readers would like, and I apologize for that. Thank you for your continued interest in this story.

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Warning: This chapter is very emotional in the beginning.

Booth dreaded this conversation very much. He stood outside of Rebecca's parents' house, her photo and Angela's drawing in his hands. He felt his heart bouncing all over the place, and he wanted to throw up. He hadn't seen Janet or Michael in a long time, just the once after Rebecca had broken up with him. It had been at the grocery store, and they had been just as confused by the break up as he had been. He finally rang the bell, knowing this was going to be one of the hardest death notifications he would ever do in his career.

"Seeley?" Janet asked, opening the door. She was surprised to see him. She also looked sad. Booth recognized that look from other families of victims who had gone missing.

"Who is it?" Michael asked in the background.

"It's Seeley," she called back. "Come in, hon."

Booth went inside, and she closed the door behind them. He saw Michael standing in the entrance of the living room looking at him.

"What brings you to our neck of the woods?" Janet asked. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"No thanks," Booth replied. "I just wanted to ask you some questions about Rebecca."

"We've gone through this process already," Michael said gruffly. "We told you guys everything we know already."

"When was the last time you saw her?" Booth asked. He had to know.

"We haven't physically seen her since about six years ago," Janet answered while Michael pinched his nose and shuddered with emotion.

"So you talked on the phone?"

"A few times. She was always so busy with everything. She promised to visit just before she disappeared," Janet said. She sat down then, her legs starting to tremble.

"What have you found out, Seeley?" Michael cut in. "That's the only reason you're here, right? Just tell us."

"Oh my God," Janet whimpered, covering her mouth. Booth drew in a deep breath.

"I'm so sorry," he started.

"NOOOOO!" Janet screamed, collapsing to the floor. Michael rushed to pick her up into his arms, and he was crying too. Booth clenched his jaw tightly together to prevent himself from losing control of his emotions. He furiously pinched at the bridge of his nose.

"Honey, sweetheart, you gotta be strong," Michael said to Janet gently through his own tears. "Let him finish."

"I c-c-c-can't," Janet stuttered. "Oh GOD!"

"Seeley, what did you find out?" Michael asked, still holding her and looking up at him. Janet buried her face into Michael's neck, sobbing.

"She was murdered," Booth managed to say.

"I was hoping you wouldn't say that," Michael said. "But I guess if the FBI comes to tell us, then it is usually that way, right?"

"I'm so sorry," Booth said again.

"You're on the case?" Michael asked. Janet was wailing even harder now, her words garbled and lost into Michael's shirt.

"I am," Booth nodded. "I will find who did this, Michael. I swear to you."

Michael nodded curtly, fresh tears entering his eyes. Booth knew he had to tell them about the baby. He had to. It was his job.

"Did you know of anyone who would want to hurt Rebecca?" Booth asked, deciding to go this route first.

"No," Michael shook his head. "We told everything to the first agent who questioned us."

"I'll look at the file," Booth promised.

"W-w-when you f-f-find that bastard, bring h-h-him to me," Janet said choppily. "I'll k-k-kill him!"

"Now, Janet, Seeley can't do that," Michael told her. "I'd love to just as much as you do, but it's not the right way."

"So he j-j-just gets to go to j-jail," Janet went on. "T-that's not enough."

"I have to ask you another question," Booth said. They both looked at him.

"Go ahead, son," Michael prompted.

"Did either of you know that Rebecca had a baby?" Booth asked. His words landed on silence, and both Janet and Michael looked at each other in shock before looking back to him.

"No," Michael shook his head.

"Oh my God," Janet said. "That's why she wouldn't come around! She didn't want us to know! Oh my God!" She burst into tears again.

"How do you know this?" Michael asked Booth.

"Our team at the Jeffersonian could tell from her...body," Booth finished. Michael swallowed hard.

"She's a skeleton?!" Janet shrieked.

"Jan, it's been a long time," Michael said urgently. "You know that's how it works."

"My baby is not a skeleton!" Janet shouted.

"I think you need to lie down," Michael started.

"NO! You will NOT tell me what to do!" Janet screeched. She whipped her head at Booth. "Is the baby alive?"

"I don't know," Booth answered truthfully. "I have made that my priority."

Michael was looking at Booth carefully, and if Booth didn't know any better, he'd say that Michael knew the baby was his and that was why Rebecca went AWOL from their lives for so long.

"We trust you will find answers," Michael said after a moment.

"I will," Booth nodded.

"If it's okay with you, we'd like to be alone for a bit," Michael added.

"Of course," Booth said, getting up to leave. Janet got to her feet and pulled him into a tight embrace.
"She loved you," she said. "I know she did. This is just as much your loss as it is ours. Please come see us if you want to talk, okay?"

"Okay," Booth agreed. Janet gave one last squeeze before releasing him. She had anger in her eyes now along with sorrow.

"Thanks, Seeley," Michael said, shaking his hand. Booth walked out of the house and made it to his car before he started to cry himself. There was a child out there who needed a father, and he was going to find them.

...

Brennan had to look at Parker's file again. She couldn't escape the niggling feeling about Parker being connected to Rebecca somehow, and she had to clarify it once and for all. She sat down at her desk at home and started to read. Parker was still at school, and Brennan had excused herself from work early to do this. She reread the history that she had read before. About four years ago, Parker had been found in a car accident with a man and a woman, who were both deceased on scene. They were his parents, the file said, and his last name was Wallace. There were no photos of his birth parents for her to compare his features to. She sighed, closing the file again. Parker was not connected to Rebecca. He was not the boy Booth was looking for. Brennan gave a nod to nobody as she got up and put the file away again. She grabbed her keys to go pick up Parker.

...

"I'm telling you, Booth, I wouldn't know anything about the baby," Zack said irritably. He was trying to work, and Booth was hovering. He wished Brennan was still there as she could handle Booth better than any of them.

"Okay, so tell me about her," Booth said. "What else have you found?"

"Not much more than what we told you before," Zack answered. "Hodgins is the particulates guy."

"Fine," Booth said, moving away from Zack and going to find Hodgins. He found the bug boy hovered over a microscope.

"When I know, you'll know," Hodgins said, not looking up.

"Damn it, Hodgins," Booth growled. "I thought you were the best?"

"Hey," Hodgins said, looking up now. "That was uncalled for."

"You gotta give me something so I can find this guy," Booth went on.

"I'm going as fast as I can," Hodgins said. "Scout's honor." He held up his hand.

"Booth?" Cam asked, coming in. "What are you doing?"

"Putting pressure on your team to give me answers," Booth replied. Cam crossed her arms and gave him a look.

"Come on," she said.

"I'm working," Booth told her.

"Leave him alone. He will call you when he finds something."

Booth reluctantly started to walk away when Hodgins whipped around suddenly.

"I know where she was dumped!" he cried.

"See?" Booth said to Cam. "A little pressure goes a long way."

"Tell us more," Cam said, ignoring him. Hodgins went on about how he had discovered a certain type of bug on Rebecca that could only be in a certain type of water. He typed furiously on his computer and pulled up the location for Booth to see.

"So she wasn't dumped anywhere near where we found her," Booth confirmed.

"That's right. She traveled. Follow the river, and you'll find the spot," Hodgins nodded. Booth stared at the screen.

"Got it," he said, turning to leave.

"Thanks, Hodgins. You're the best, Hodgins. What would I do without you, Hodgins?" Hodgins muttered to himself as Cam left too.

...

"Will you color with me?" Parker asked. Brennan looked up from her work. Even though she knew she had to work on this case, she didn't want to disappoint him.

"Sure," she agreed. She got down onto the floor on her stomach beside Parker, and he handed her a book. It was Donald Duck.

"You can have any color you want," Parker said seriously.

"Okay," Brennan chuckled. She reached for blue. She remembered Donald wearing a blue jacket. She darkened the outline first before lightly coloring the inside.

"Whoa, that's cool," Parker said, watching her.

"Yea? My Dad showed me how to do this," Brennan said, smiling.

"I wanna try," Parker said, imitating her. He had Pluto the dog. Brennan had to admit he was doing a fine job even before she showed him her technique.

"Very good," she nodded at him. He beamed back at her. Brennan noticed that Parker was slowly warming up to her. He'd only been with her for two days, but he had his guard down in this moment more than he had before. She dreaded bath time because he had freaked out on her the first night he was here when she asked if he wanted to. She knew he had to as the school would ask her why his personal hygiene was failing. She had to figure this out and soon. She let them color for a bit before deciding to dive into it.

"Hey, Parker," she asked casually. "What about having a bath scares you?" She saw him stiffen. He colored a bit more before answering her.

"The water is too hot," he said slowly. Brennan bristled inside. Who would do that to a child?

"Did your foster parent make it too hot?" she questioned.

"Uh huh. He wouldn't cool it down either," Parker went on. "He made me get in and my skin burned so much."

"That was mean of him." Brennan wanted to punch this man in the throat for doing that to Parker.

"It was. Then he'd hold the hose over my head to wash my hair and not let me breathe," Parker finished. Brennan took in some breaths first before responding.

"Parker, I promise you that if you have a bath here, you have full control of the temperature, and I will not try to drown you."

Parker set down his crayon then and looked at her cautiously.

"You mean that?" he asked.

"Of course. I also have some bath toys you can play with," she added.

"Really?"

"Wanna see?"

"Okay," he agreed. They got up together to walk to the bathroom, and Brennan showed him the bin of toys.

"If you want," she said, "you can get into the tub without water first and see that it's not scary."

Parker stood warily, looking at it. He looked back to her. Then he got in carefully and sat, looking around.

"I can control the water?" he asked after a moment.

"Yes," she nodded.

"Can I wash myself? I know how."

"Of course. I'm only here for help if you need it."

"Okay," he said. Brennan pulled out a blue towel from the drawer as he pulled off his clothes and tossed them to the floor outside the tub.

"This is yours," she told him. She pulled out another mat and set it outside the tub on the floor. "This is so you won't slip when you get out."

"I can have the toys in here?" he asked her.

"Yes. All I ask is you wait until you clean yourself before you play for a bit," Brennan said. "Is that okay?"

"That's okay," Parker nodded. She set the bin within arms reach of him on a small stool.

"You want me to show you how to work the taps?" she asked.

"No, I got it," he said, plugging the drain and turning on the tap.

"Just make sure it's warm enough to clean yourself, but it doesn't have to be hot, okay?" she added.

"Got it," he nodded.

"I'll be right out here if you need me," she told him, starting to get up.

"Can you wash my hair?" he asked. She paused.

"I can," she nodded.

"I don't like the hose, though," he said.

"Okay. How about if I use a bowl and just pour water over your hair?" she asked. He pondered on it.

"I'll try it."

"Okay," Brennan said. She retrieved a bowl from the kitchen and went back to kneel beside the tub. By now, the water was in the tub. He sat patiently while she tilted his head back and wet his hair carefully with the bowl. Then she shampooed it.

"Keep your eyes closed," she instructed as she got ready to wash out the soap. "Tilt your head back again."

"Okay," he said, doing so. She rinsed his hair all out and let him know when she was done.

"That wasn't scary at all," he told her.

"I'm glad," she smiled. "Now, you can wash up everywhere else and play for about ten minutes okay?"

"Okay," he grinned. Brennan left him to it and went to sit on the edge of her bed for a moment. Caring for Parker just felt so natural. She could really see herself adopting him to be her son. She smiled. Russ was right after all. Being a foster parent definitely had its rewards.