(The Crack in the Code)

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I don't own Bones.

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The first few days in Booth and Brennan's home set the pattern for the rest of Jared's stay. He was given the guest bedroom at the end of the hallway. The bed was comfortable, the bathroom was set up for someone who was handicapped and there was a television on the top of the dresser. Brennan bought and had placed a lift chair next to the bed which meant Jared could get in and out of the chair with no help required. He used that piece of furniture more than his bed.

A physical trainer was hired and Jared began therapy the day after he moved in. Both Jared and Micky Cooper would move out to the garage where Booth's home gym was and they would do two hours of therapy then Jared would get a massage.

Brennan was still home with her baby, but she had made arrangements for Day Care and planned to go back to work in a few weeks. She hired a house cleaner to come and help straighten out the house twice a week. Booth hadn't been thrilled with the idea of having a stranger in the house cleaning up after them, but Brennan had pointed out that they didn't have time to keep the house as spotless as it should be, at least for a new born child. Reluctantly, Booth had agreed and decided that he could put up with it for a few months until they could get their act together. Having a baby in the house was more time consuming than he had thought possible. When Parker had been a baby, he'd only had to take care of him eight days a month and he'd always straightened up his apartment once the boy was back with his mother. Christine was a 24 hour a day, seven day a week responsibility and some concessions had to be made.

To help Brennan adjust to a new life style, Max stayed in the guest bedroom downstairs until it was time for her to go back to work. He wanted to help take care of the baby so his daughter could rest and recover from her pregnancy. Also, he had a lot of fun being around his granddaughter. She was a happy baby and easily entertained.

Two days before Brennan was to return to work, she and Booth sat down and talked with Jared. "Look, Bones and I have been talking it over and we think it would be a good idea to hire someone to come in and help you during the day when we aren't here. Whoever we get could cook you breakfast and lunch, help you get a bath after your therapy and be company for you. Right now, that cast is really limiting what you can do and I think it would only be until you get a shorter cast." Booth was trying to organize the household, so that he didn't have to worry about his brother while he was at work.

"I don't need a babysitter." It was embarrassing and Jared didn't like the feeling. "I can get my own breakfast and lunch and you can help me with a bath when you come home."

Annoyed, Brennan tried to control her response. "Jared, you can barely move with crutches. If you wish to live on cereal and sandwiches, I suppose I could make sure those items are abundant in the house, but under no circumstance will you be allowed to cook anything. Hank set off a small fire on our stove when he was staying with us after recovering from his heart attack. It only takes moments for an accident to happen. Also, if you were to fall, you would be unable to get up and there would be no one here to get you help . . . Put aside your pride and let us help you. The purpose of you being here is make sure you get help and therapy while you recover."

His cheeks a dark rose color, Jared stared straight ahead and fumed about how out of control his life was.

"Look, Jared, you have a court date next Tuesday. You have to answer for the accident and the fact that you were driving drunk. This isn't going to go away." Booth leaned forward on his chair and tried to make sure Jared knew that the worse was yet to come. "I can't stop this. I hired a lawyer that Caroline recommended to take your case. We're hoping that the judge will show you some mercy and keep you out of jail, but jail is a real possibility. Do you understand?"

Afraid, Jared turned his head to look at his brother. "If they put me in jail I'll be screwed. No therapy, I don't know if I can get around. Any wise ass that wants to come after me could do it."

"I know." Booth sighed. He was afraid that Jared was going to pay a big price for what he had done. "I'd like to take you to an AA meeting this week. We can tell the judge that you're making sure you don't repeat what you did, but that's up to you . . . I think this is going to be your one shot to get this right, Jared . . . I'll help you if you want me to, but this is up to you. It has to be your decision, not mine."

With visions of his father running around in his head, Jared placed his right hand over his eyes and exhaled deeply. "I'm not our father, Seeley. I don't want to be like this." He removed his hand and stared at his brother. "I love to drink, I really do, but I don't want to end up like Dad. Alone, no friends, no family except for Pops. I don't want to live that life. Padme won't even take my phone calls. I have to get my act together or I'm going to lose her too, hell I may have already lost her. She knows I was hurt and she won't talk to me . . . I'll go with you to the AA meeting Seeley. I'll do what it takes to get this shit under control. What choice do I have?"

Relieved, Booth sighed. "Good. I'll find you a meeting that you can attend. Obviously, basements in churches are out. I'll contact a friend of mine and see what I can find. I'll take you to court next week and we'll see what happens from there. We can't really make a lot of plans until we know what's going to happen to you. In the meantime, take your therapy seriously this week, do what you can. We'll get that sitter we talked about and that will start on Thursday. Bones is going back to work on that day."

"If you don't want us to hire a sitter, I can ask Max to stay for a few weeks." Brennan stared at her almost brother-in-law and wondered how the man would react.

Surprisingly, Jared nodded his head. "That would be great. If you can get your father to stay that would be better. I know he can't help me if I fall, but he can call for an EMT to come and pick me up and I know him. Well a little and it would be better than a stranger messing with me . . . I can get in the tub and Max can wrap my cast with trash bags and I can give myself a bath. He can take the bags off when I'm done and help me dress. Yeah, I'd rather have Max here instead of a stranger."

"I'll talk to him when he gets back from the store." Brennan glanced at Booth and nodded her head. "If he agrees, I think it would be better than relying upon someone we don't really know."

Oooooooooooooooooo

Her first case back to work was truly bizarre and eventually Brennan realized that the case had been set up specially for her and Booth to solve. All the clues pointed to a hacktiavist by the name of Christopher Pelant. He was responsible for the deaths of a foreign national and a reporter and because the man was wearing a monitoring device on his ankle during the times of the murders, no one could prove he had killed them. He was a computer genius, but he didn't own a computer or a any electronic device more sophisticated that a television and an old computer that didn't work. He had been convicted of endangering American soldiers because of his computer activism and part of his parole was that he was forbidden to own or use any computer equipment.

"He found a way to remove his monitoring device without setting it off." Brennan was incensed. "He committed murder and we can't prove it."

Disgusted, Booth bit back his anger and kept his voice calm. They had a baby in the car with them and he didn't want to make her cry. "Look, Angela and Hodgins and some of my FBI techs are working on this one. Pelant may be a computer genius, but so is Angela. We're going to find out how he did what he did. He's not going to get away with murder. Not if I can help it."

She wished she had Booth's confidence. She thought about it for a few minutes and finally spoke. "He is a genius, but I'm smarter than he is. Sooner or later his arrogance will betray him and we will arrest him for the murder of Inger Johannsen and Ezra Krane."

Pulling into the driveway, Booth hoped that the arrest was soon. "You are smarter than Pelant. We're going to get him."

Once they were in the house and Christine was carried into the bathroom so Brennan could give her a bath, Booth wandered into the kitchen and found Max cooking. "How'd it go today?"

Checking on his spaghetti sauce, Max gave it a quick stir and replaced the lid on the pot. "Not bad. Jared had his therapy and I helped him take a bath . . . Your brother . . . just to let you know, I moved the beer from the fridge and put them in your little fridge in your man cave . . . I caught Jared holding a bottle this afternoon. I was out collecting the mail and when I came back in . . . well, he put it back on the shelf, but I think that beer was tempting him."

"Okay, thanks." Booth didn't know what to say. He hoped that Jared was serious about stopping drinking, but no one knew for sure except for Jared. "I guess I won't buy anymore until he's out of the house . . . thanks for letting me know."

"Not a problem. This is a family thing and we need to stick together." Max broke some pasta in the boiling water and stirred it. "Dinner is going to be ready in about twenty minutes if you want to set the table."

The sauce smelled delicious and Booth realized that he was hungry. "You know you don't have to cook. I appreciate it, but Bones and I can cook when we come home."

Shrugging his shoulders, Max placed some garlic bread in the oven. "It's not like I'm busy. Jared mostly stays in his room and watches television and I like cooking. I don't know how to cook a lot of different things, but what I do cook is pretty good even if I do have to say so myself."

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