The afternoon took most everyone into the conference room, though Booth left with Ace to pick up lunch for everyone at the Diner, and to debrief Ace on what had happened with the interrogation that morning. Temperance was standing at the side of the conference table beside Aiden, who had put his pain aside to hold Melody to him, as she refused to let him out of her sight, and she his arms.
"I can take her." Antonia said from where she was sitting looking over the notes, but he shook his head and put his hand gently on Melody's head as she suckled at her thumb and comforted herself with the gentle thrum of his voice as he spoke. Antonia smiled up at him, and he placed his hand on her shoulder, to which her fingertips caressed them gently. "Okay, so tell me what we have so far." She said, looking up at her mother.
Temperance watched her daughter for a moment before bringing their attention to the layout on the table. Nichols sat across from them, trying to pay attention, his eyes, however kept moving back to Antonia as she listened diligently to her mother, asked her questions, and took her own notes, and occasionally played with the ring on her finger, sliding it on and off as she spoke, twisting it anxiously without thinking about it.
"So, we have to be very careful about which person we approach first, we don't want one to tip off the other." Aiden said, watching Antonia nod her head.
"We have the kid, couldn't we just..." Nichols shrugged.
"Agent Nichols, she is a child, not a baby goat, and her name is Melody. I'd appreciate it if you gave her the respect she deserves." Temperance said with a stern bite to her voice, he nodded apologetically.
"Can't we just set up a meeting between DSS and Melody?" He asked, looking to Temperance for assurance. "Lure them out that way?"
Antonia lifted her eyes very slowly to the agent, her brow furrowed as she looked across the table at him, trying to determine if he was joking or not. "Are you saying that you want to use a traumatized child as bait?" She asked, her voice dripping with disgust as she spoke the words.
"We don't actually need Melody in order to do a visit." Aiden said, hoping he understood what Nichols was trying to say. "We can set up a welfare appointment with DSS, at a dummy house. We can make it look like we live there, have them do their inspection and home visit. They may even use that as an opportunity to identify entry points into the house. We can then set up covert surveillance on the house, and wait." Aiden shrugged.
"Or we could haul all of their asses in to jail on the word of our witness." Antonia said, pointing at the journal.
"Not enough evidence." Aiden said, shaking his head. "If we have them in the house, we have them dead to rights. Sure, we could haul the lawyer in, but he'd clam up. The doctor, probably the same, but the man who killed the Cameron's? We need to catch him while he's doing the job. If he's caught with his hand in a snare, then he might talk and we can get the other two." Aiden said, his eyes moving between Nichols, Temperance and Antonia.
"So, you're saying use you as bait?" Antonia asked. "You think that's a good idea." She said, her voice showing her displeasure at the idea.
"Well, yeah. I mean, for the inspection portion. It's not really baiting them, but setting them up. Besides, I have a weapon, Antonia. I do know how to defend myself." He said, his tone becoming indignant.
Temperance could see that their conversation was becoming a bit heated, and that they probably needed their privacy as it seemed that the conversation was swaying more from the case at hand, and into a personal realm. She glanced to Nichols who was watching the entire exchange closely, and back to the couple as they struggled to remain calm with their growing fears and frustrations.
"Agent Nichols, will you please assist me with something in my office?" She said, watching the agent look up at her suddenly, as if she had shaken him from a train of thought. "My office, please?"
"Uh, yeah." He nodded. "Sure, Doctor Brennan." He said, standing up. "I'll be right back." He said, though he could see that Antonia and Aiden were locked in a silent heated battle with their eyes. He then followed Temperance out of the conference room.
Antonia turned in her chair, looking up at Aiden as she tugged on his hand. "Aiden." She said, watching him as he sat down in the chair beside her, settling Melody on his lap, he turned her toward a piece of paper on the table, and handed her a pen. "Aiden, this visit will it be you alone? No backup. Just you?" She asked. He leaned toward her slightly, resting his forehead against hers, holding her hands in his.
"Hey, we're just talking about this right now." He said softly. "No decisions have been made." He shook his head.
"But once planning starts, it happens quickly." She whispered back. "I just want to make sure you know that I don't approve of you putting yourself in danger."
"It's part of my job, Tex." He said softly. "A lot of what I do is dangerous. You know that."
"I know, but you cannot take any more unnecessary risks." She said, shaking her head. "This?" She said, indicating his ribs and the bruising on his face. "This can't happen, Aiden. I need you, Melody needs you, this baby needs you." She said softly. "We need you alive, and well."
"And I need to make sure that all three of you remain safe, and I cannot do that if even one of these men are not put away. I promise that I will not take any more unnecessary risks. I promise that I will be safe. I promise." He said, kissing her gently. He sat up slightly, and saw that Melody was watching him with a slight smile.
"I love you." She signed to him, waiting for the smile she knew would come, she was not disappointed.
"I love you, Shadow." Aiden signed back, pulling her close in a hug, he kissed her head and she smiled and turned back toward her paper to continue drawing. He watched Antonia for a moment, lifting his hand to gently run his hand across her cheek before grasping her hands tightly in his. "We are going to do this right, and by the book to make sure that these men are never able to hurt us again. We need to do this right." He whispered, watching as she nodded gently. "You look tired."
"I'm tired and hungry." She said. "Growing a human being is exhausting." She said making a face.
"Yeah, about that. I'm not sure Nichols realized how deep we are into this." He said, watching her reaction carefully. He ran his finger over her hand, letting his fingertip graze her skin, up and down across her fingers, across the ring and back again. "He's not really a nice guy." Aiden whispered watching as her eyes darted to the left, avoiding his bright, inquiring green eyes. "Did he hurt you when you were together?" He whispered.
"No." She said, flicking her eyes back to him intensely, she shook her head. "No. Not physically." She said, closing her eyes tightly.
"Tex, you said things ended amicably. Was that a lie?" He asked her softly, trying very hard not to sound hurt.
"No, not a lie. I mean we did end things amicably, but it was more than just him wanting more." She whispered. "Do you remember that panic attack I had in the stairwell at the hospital? When Grace was shot. Do you remember that?" She asked.
"Of course." He said, trying to get her to look at him, but her eyes kept drifting away from his gaze.
"Well, I had a panic attack in an elevator once, with Sam. He was taking me out to dinner, trying to show me what a nice guy he was or something, and this restaurant was in a high rise. I asked if we could take the stairs, and he said I would be fine. I was wearing heels and he didn't want me to take the stairs, and he told me that it was nothing to worry about. So, I got into the elevator, and I tried to remain calm, and I couldn't do it. I started to sweat, and hyperventilate, and completely lose it. Do you remember what you did when you found me panicking?" She asked, tipping her head as she locked her eyes with him. "Do you remember what you did when you found me, and I told you to leave me alone?" She asked.
"I got in front of you and looked into your eyes, and I told you to breathe."
"And what did I do?"
"You yelled at me." He smiled.
"And then what did you do?" She asked, her eyes completely locked on his, her face so serious that his smile dropped from his lips.
"I told you to breathe, to focus on me and breathe…" He said tenderly.
"Yes." She said softly. "And then?"
"I told you to close your eyes, take deep breaths and close your eyes, and then you yelled at me again." He said, his eyes sparkling as she finally gave in and her lip curved to her sardonic smile.
"And then you yelled at me." She said. "But I closed my eyes, and I breathed deeply, and you held me there, breathing with me, talking to me." She said, feeling the same sense of calm wash over her as in that moment. "When I opened my eyes, you were staring directly at me, into me, through me." She said, swallowing hard. "I haven't been able to get your eyes out of my mind since." She whispered. "I might have fallen for you right there in that moment." She said so softly, she wasn't sure he had even heard her. She closed her eyes tightly, sitting up a bit, she took a deep breath and let it out in a frustrated sigh.
"That's not what happened with Nichols." He said, watching her shake her head and let out a sarcastic chuckle.
"No." She said. "Not even close. The incident with Sam was much, much worse. When I was at the peak of the panic attack, I was sobbing, inconsolable, and just a wreck." She shook her head, "Then all of a sudden, Sam started yelling at me. He wasn't yelling to tell people to get back, or to give me some air. He wasn't telling me to breathe or focus. He was literally yelling in my face for me to stop. He just kept telling me to stop being a baby, to deal with it, to stop embarrassing him. Maybe he was panicking because he had no idea what was happening, but I had given him ample warning before we stepped into that elevator. But here I am, in the middle of a massive panic attack and when the elevator door opened, he just grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the elevator forcefully, and…."
"Please tell me you kicked his ass." Aiden said softly, watching the unshed tears in her eyes as she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Please, please tell me you kicked his ass." He whispered sincerely.
"Uh, well… I slammed my three-inch heel into his foot as hard as I could. I punctured his shoe and broke two of his toes." She cringed.
"Tex, the violence." Aiden cringed, turning his head as he let out a light laugh. He tried to hide his smile and looked back at her. "Was your shoe okay?"
"Aiden, you think it's funny?" She said, a disbelieving tone to her voice, though she could see that he was feeling bad for her. "Did something happen between you two today?"
"Let's just say that he had some not so nice words to say to me today, and he is extremely lucky that Ace walked in when he did, because broken toes were going to be the least of his problems." Aiden replied, dropping a kiss on her lips.
"You were going to defend my honor?" She asked, playfully.
"No. I was going to defend my own honor. You clearly can defend yours." He said, watching her jaw drop, he let out a laugh. "I missed you so much, Tex. I feel like my days have been missing its sunlight."
"You're a certifiable sap, Aiden Fitzgerald." Antonia laughed into his eyes as she ran her fingers through his hair and watched him smile back at her.
There was movement in the doorway and Aiden looked up to see Booth and Ace coming toward the room with lunch. "Oh great, time to eat." He said with a grin. He bounced Melody a little and she turned to look at Aiden, immediately noticing the bags of food coming in their direction. She grinned brightly and turned in his lap, licking her lips as she watched the two men come into the room as they chatted. She shimmied from Aiden's lap and went directly to Ace, tugging herself into his lap as he laughed with Booth about how when food was in the room, they were best friends.
"Aiden?" Antonia said, getting his attention, he looked to see that she was pointing to the paper in front of them, the one that Melody had been drawing on. He looked down at what she had written on the paper and his eyes widened as he looked to Antonia. On the sheet of paper along with some small doodles, was the number that she had written on her coloring book, 005542690, followed by a drawing of a flower, six buttons, and a crude drawing of what looked to be a coin. "Is that…?"
"That's the contents of the box, Aiden." Antonia whispered. "She has seen the box before. This number means something."
"We haven't gotten any hits on the number yet." He shook his head. "We're pretty sure it's a bank account, or something like that, but there's nothing in her mother's name." He said softly.
"What are you two whispering about over there?" Booth asked, sliding over a bag of burgers for them.
"Nothing." Aiden shrugged. "Just a little bit of homework." He said, glancing to Antonia with a smile, she smiled back.
"It's good to have you back, kid." Booth said, watching his daughter's smile, he looked up as Temperance and Nichols walked back into the room. "There you are, Bones." He said, kicking at the chair beside him out for her, he slid her the salad he had gotten for her and grinned, as she sat down and shook her head at him, and they all settled in for lunch.