Thank you to all those who left a review. adorkablesalad, Lauwy, ZinaR (it'll be slow going in the initial few chapters), 554Laura (yeah hopefully they will), Vmf447 (thanks for waiting), GalaxieGurl (thanks for your continued support), RobinAngelena, FaithinBones (you're not wrong there), Victoria (not gonna leave much spoilers here but read on to find out), regbride12 (agree Booth would gladly die for Brennan, as you mentioned), mendenbar (thanks, hopefully you'll get an update for this chapter), jsboneslover (thanks, hope I didn't cause you too much discomfort), mphs95, aadams00 (me too!)
It was almost dinner time and Brennan still hadn't called. She had promised to come by before dinner. Angela, cradling her two-month old baby daughter in her arms waited till her phone went to Brennan's voicemail for the second time.
"Dr Brennan's not picking up?" Hodgins asked, rolling himself in his wheelchair towards her. Angela gently handed the baby to her father.
"No." She glanced over to Christine, Hank and Michael-Vincent who were playing happily in the family room. "Booth isn't picking up either. Maybe they're too busy having sexy hot tub sex."
Hodgins laughed. "I guess Hank and Christine can stay for dinner."
"Yeah, I left a message. Brennan will call back soon."
…
The mood in the tiny underground room was now sombre. Hours might have passed since their kidnappers left but there was no way to be certain how much time had passed. Booth's side was hurting badly but he didn't want to complain lest he worried Brennan. His stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn't eaten since breakfast. Beside him, he heard Brennan chuckle.
"You're hungry."
"Yeah. It must be hours since breakfast."
"How's your head?"
"Hurts but not too bad." He brought his fingers to the bump on the back of his head, checking to make sure the beating he got earlier hadn't re-opened the wound. He was pleased to find it hadn't.
The sound of the door opening made both of them tense up. A pair of legs descended and they soon realized it was Logan, the man whom Booth had attacked earlier. He was now sporting a bruise under his left eye. In one hand he held a gun and in the other a metal bucket, filled with what appeared to be fabric. Logan dropped the bucket onto the ground, the loud clang reverberating through the tiny room. "To take a leak in."
He nodded towards the bucket. "Blankets. It gets cold at night."
"So it's night now?" Booth asked, trying to get a sense of the time. Logan didn't reply, simply stared back at Booth.
"We would need food and water," Brennan said, "if you intend to keep us alive. I'm assuming you do, since you've not killed us yet and are yet to reveal the purpose of our capture."
"You'll get somethin' to eat and drink when Jake says so." And with that, Logan ascended the stairs leaving the couple alone again.
Booth waited for the sound of the metal door being slammed shut before speaking. The sound of a padlock and chain could be heard as he spoke. "So it would seem that our friend Jake is in-charge of this operation."
"It would appear so," Brennan agreed.
"Every chance we get, we get on Logan' good side. But be careful of Jake."
"Why?"
"If Logan's taking orders, it mean he's the submissive in this partnership. He'll be easier to talk to. Also, I kinda beat him up just now, but he doesn't seem to hold a grudge. It was Jake who was kicking me just now. Logan convinced him to stop, so he probably has some sense of compassion right? If Logan's the submissive one of the pair, maybe Jake's doing something he doesn't really agree with, but had no choice but to go along with it. Maybe we could turn them against each other."
"Makes sense."
"Hey I'm smarter than I look." Booth joked, trying to make light of the situation.
"I know how smart you are." Brennan smiled at him, she got up, retrieving the blankets.
"They need us alive… and probably healthy for now." Booth said. "Otherwise, they wouldn't have bothered with the these." He pointed to the bucket and the blankets.
"But they're not giving us food or water."
"They wanna weaken us. Especially me." Booth said matter-of-factly.
"Booth…"
"I'm the bigger threat to them." He noted Brennan's worried look and was quick to add, "Hey, it's gonna be okay."
"You know there's no way for you to be absolutely certain about that."
"And yet I know for sure we're gonna get our fifty years together."
Brennan wanted to believe him despite the lack of evidence. She again took in their surroundings and considered their dire situation. She chose to believe him. She had faith in him.
"We should try to get some rest." She said.
"Yeah I'm gonna take a leak in the bucket. You don't mind do you?" Booth teased.
"No. Why should I be offended by your body performing it's basic functions? I'd also like to point out that I would need to go after you."
Booth laughed. His first since they had been kidnapped. After allowing their bodies to perform their basic bodily functions, as Brennan had put it, Booth lay down on the thin mattress, turning onto his side that wasn't injured. Brennan snuggled up next to him, careful to gently press her back into his frame. He wrapped an arm round her, ignoring the pain in his ribs.
"I miss Hank and Christine." Brennan said, her voice echoing through the room.
Booth kissed the top of her head. "I miss them too. But I'm sure they're okay. They're with Angela. I'm sure we have nothing to worry about… except maybe face paints that won't come off."
His attempt to lighten her mood didn't seem to work. "Angela should have figured out by now that we're missing."
"Yeah," Booth knew how important it was to keep their hopes up. "We'll be outta here in no time."
…
"Okay. I'm officially worrying." Angela said to Hodgins in a hushed tone, careful not to let the children overhear.
"Yeah, something's not right. It's way past bedtime and Dr B never forgets Hank and Christine, no matter how much fun she's having with Booth."
"Call Aubrey. Maybe he knows something we don't. He has the keys to their house." Angela glanced over to the two sleepy Booth children. "I'm gonna tell them Mom and Dad are busy at work and they're having a sleepover with Michael-Vincent."
Hodgins nodded, making the call to Aubrey.
…
By the time Aubrey got to the Hodgins residence, it was two in the morning. The children were sound asleep in bed. Angela was busy changing a cranky baby Katherine Temperance's diaper as Hodgins opened the door, letting the FBI Agent in.
"Well?" Hodgins asked.
"I checked their house. No sign of a break in or anything out of place. The doors were locked. It looks like Booth and Dr Brennan left the house quite some time ago."
"Well at least we know they aren't victims of a home invasion or something." Angela said as she picked up the baby, gently cradling her in her arms.
"I found Booth's truck, a couple of streets from their place." Aubrey shook his head. "Doesn't look good."
"Whaddya mean doesn't look good?" Hodgins asked, his voice reflecting his concern.
"It was just parked there at the side of the road. I found Dr Brennan's purse and phone inside the passenger seat. Money still inside. That means we can rule out a robbery. There was a picnic basket in the back seat that was packed with food. From the smell of the food inside, the truck had been parked there for a long time. It's like they just got out of the car and vanished."
"Any sign that something went wrong? Maybe a carjacking?"
"Booth could've stopped any potential carjackers." Angela stated.
"It's his day off, I don't think he would have had his gun with him." Aubrey replied.
"Yeah but he was a badass Army Ranger, he can kill someone if he wanted to with his bare hands right?"
"Were there signs of a struggle?" Hodgins asked.
"I know what you're thinking. I couldn't find any blood, not any visible to the naked eye anyway. Besides, if it was a carjacking, why take them and leave the car?"
"So you're saying they were kidnapped?" Angela asked, barely daring to believe what she was hearing herself say.
"Looks like it." Aubrey replied. "I can't think of any other reason why they'd just abandon the car and disappear."
"Why didn't Booth stop whoever it was?" Hodgins wondered out loud.
"It could've been more than one person. Or maybe Dr Brennan's life was being threatened." Aubrey reasoned.
"So what do we do?" Angela asked.
"I've already called FBI forensics. Sweep Booth's truck, maybe they'd find something, trace I couldn't see. And the tech team are gonna try to track down Booth's phone. It wasn't in his car, so maybe it's with him."
"It's a long shot but worth trying. I'm gonna help. No better guy to look in Booth's truck than me. If there's any trace evidence I'll find it. Hopefully it'll lead us to Booth and Dr B." Hodgins said, already wheeling himself to the bedroom to get dressed for work.
"I'm going to the lab and try locating Booth's phone." Angela said. She pointed at Aubrey. "Tell the techs to bring me Bren's phone too. Maybe there's something in there that could be useful. In the meantime, you're on babysitting duty. Michael-Vincent, Hank and Christine. I'll take baby Katherine with me."
"Right." Aubrey agreed. "I'll drop the kids off with Cam and Arastoo in the morning and I'll come by the lab."
"If the children ask, their parents are busy at work. That's what I told them."
"Got it." Aubrey nodded.
"So we're agreeing? It's a kidnapping then?" Hodgins asked.
"I can't think of any other reason they'd just disappear and leave their children behind. In the morning, I'm going to look up files of people Booth has put away. Maybe someone out for revenge got them."
"We should go." Angela said to her husband. "We need to find them and get them back safe."
"I couldn't agree more." Hodgins replied.
