RobinAngelena, Lauwy, kareneb, mendenbar, GalaxieGurl (the calvary might be just barely on the way), FaithinBones (thanks. Jake might know that but he might not want to give them any water just yet), Vmf447 (separating them might happen, not letting any spoilers out), regbride12, jsboneslover (yup, Aubrey is pretty awesome), aadams00

Booth and Brennan spent an uncomfortable night on the thin mattress on the cold floor. The blankets were helpful but it was still cold nonetheless. Booth had given his jacket to Brennan and managed what seemed like only a couple of hours of sleep.

"I'm cold." Booth complained, his eyes still closed.

"Sex could help us keep warm."

"Really?" Booth opened his eyes, turning his head to look into Brennan's blue eyes.

"I'm just being practical."

"Yeah, under any other circumstances I'd say yes but… I don't think that's a good idea."

"Yes our bodies would be expanding energy for a futile endeavour. If our kidnappers are intent on starving us we should conserve energy as far as possible."

"Yeah, so let's just lie here and not move."

Brennan was in no mood to laugh. She was starting to feel very thirsty and she knew Booth had to be too.

"The human body can survive for approximately three weeks without food but without water…"

"I know Bones. I was a Ranger remember? But hey, they're not gonna let us die. If they'd wanted us dead, they could've have killed us a long time ago. But they didn't."

"What could they possibly want?" Brennan turned her head to stare at the cold, grey ceiling.

"I don't know." Booth blew out a frustrated breath. "I keep trying to remember if I had arrested one of "em before but nothing."

"They kidnapped the both of us, so perhaps it has something to do with me."

"What another crazy fan? Doesn't seem like it. Seems like they have something in mind. Crazy, stalker fan doesn't fit what they've been doing so far."

"My brain is trying to make sense of this all but I just can't quite make the connections yet. Perhaps the answer lies somewhere in a part of my subconscious brain which I'm unable to access at the moment."

"Give yourself some time, we're both short on sleep and food."

The sound of the door opening made Booth push himself up to sit. His body protested in the form of pain. Beside him, Brennan groaned softly as she too sat up. The night on the cold hard floor had taken it's toll on her too.

It was Logan again. He stood at the foot of the stairs, a gun trained on them. "Come to check if you guys were still alive."

The open door allowed light to stream in. Booth figured it was morning again. "What time is it?"

"I can't tell you." Logan replied.

"Why? Cause Jake says so?"

Logan remained silent.

"You said you came to check if we were still alive. That means you need us alive for something. What say you just cut to the chase and tell us huh?"

Again Booth was met with silence.

"You know who I am. You know I'm FBI. Kidnapping an FBI Agent is a federal offense."

More silence.

"You know what? You don't wanna tell us, that's okay. We'll figure it out. See my wife here is the smartest person in the world."

Logan glared angrily at Brennan, before turning to leave. They watched as he silently trudged up the stairs. The sound of the door slamming shut followed.

"You know the next time he comes down here, I could try to take him down, doesn't matter if he has a gun."

"He's careful to keep his distance."

"I could take him, but let's give it a little more time. Just in case Jake is waiting outside each time Logan comes in. I can't risk him coming in here and shooting you."

"Or you." Brennan was quick to add. "So we just wait?"

"For now, I guess that's all we can do."

It was early in the afternoon in the newly rebuilt Jeffersonian Medico-legal lab and concerned friends had gathered in Angela's office.

"I've tried to pull up images from traffic cameras." Angela said as she flashed a grainy video playback on the large screen. "We can see that Brennan and Booth drove past at eight fifteen. They then made a left turn up ahead."

"That's not too far from where Booth's truck was found." Aubrey pointed out. "Any images of them being taken?"

"Unfortunately not. There were no traffic cameras close enough. Although I did notice Booth slowing down as they passed this lady walking her dog." Angela played back the short video of Booth and Brennan driving past. "Perhaps she was part of the kidnapping, or perhaps she's a neighbour. Whoever she is, she might have seen something."

"I'll put her face out on the news, see if anyone knows who she is." Aubrey offered.

"Hey maybe we can try asking Christine?" Hodgins who had been silent till now spoke up. Angela and Aubrey turned to look at him. "I'm just saying if she's a neighbour or friend, Christine might know her. It'll be faster than waiting on someone to come forward."

"That's a brilliant idea." Aubrey said, "But I thought we weren't gonna tell the kids their parents were missing."

"We can make something up right?"

"Yeah but she'll see Booth's car in the video. And she's pretty smart, she'll figure out something's up."

"Maybe we should just tell her the truth?" Hodgins shrugged.

"Whoa. Booth and Brennan always say we should shield their children from the horrors of what we do." Aubrey pointed out. "They don't want them to worry."

"What if Booth or Bren is hurt? What if we need to find them as soon as we can?" Angela said. "Bren told Christine the truth when Booth was in jail and she was only three then. When Booth was stuck in the basement after Jared died, she told Christine that her father was missing. I think Bren would be okay with this, especially if it turns out that Christine can help us find her parents."

"It's worth a shot." Aubrey conceded. "You should go get her, bring her here."

"What are you gonna do?" Hodgins asked.

"I'm gonna head back to the office. Caroline's got a team of Agents looking into Booth and Brennan's old cases, anyone who might have it out for them. I'm gonna check in on their progress, see if there're any leads to follow. Call me when you have Christine here. I wanna be here when she sees that video."

"You got it." Angela replied, a look of renewed determination on her face.

The lack of sleep, water and food was beginning to take it's toll on Brennan and Booth.

"I can't just sit here and wait. We need to find a way out of here." Booth grumbled.

"What happened to just waiting? That was what you said earlier."

"We wait any longer, we might die."

"If your theory is correct, they won't let us die. They know when to bring us water at the very least."

Booth sighed. "Sorry. I'm just being inpatient."

"Someone would have figured out we're missing by now. They're working on finding us."

"Yeah, they probably are." Booth leaned back against the cold hard wall hoping she was right. The couple had gotten used to just sitting in the silence of the dimly lit room. Brennan sat, next to Booth, frustrated that they could currently do nothing to improve their situation. In the tiny room where they were currently trapped, days could have passed and there was no way they would know. A minute felt like an hour and an hour could have gone by in what felt like a minute.

Christine Booth sat on the high swivel chair in her Aunty Angela's office. She didn't get to come to her mother's place of work very often so this felt like a novelty to her. She had been waiting for what seemed like a long time and she was getting bored. She wasn't sure what they were waiting for. She watched as Aunty Angela typed away at her computer, occasionally giving her a reassuring smile.

And then Uncle Aubrey walked in. She was disappointed. She had been hoping it would be her mother. She missed her parents.

"Hey Christine."

""Hi Uncle Aubrey. Where's my Mom and Dad?"

Aubrey glanced over to Angela who shook her head as she walked towards Christine and Aubrey.

"Um what exactly did Aunty Angela tell you?"

"She said Mommy and Daddy need my help for work."

Angela had figured out a way for Christine not to know the entire truth. He could work with that.

"Yeah, yeah. We'd like you to watch a video. Maybe you'd be able to help us with something and your Mommy and Daddy can come home soon after their work is done. Would you like to help?"

"Yes of course."

"Great." Angela replied, pulling up the video image onto the large screen. "I'm just gonna start the video and you tell us what you see. I may ask you some questions. Don't worry if you don't know the answers okay?"

"Okay." Christine replied eagerly.

The video played and Christine watched intently, focusing on the video. She was a good helper. Her parents had told her so many times before. She knew she would be of help to them now. A familiar car appeared on the screen. The image resolution was terrible, nothing like the cartoons she watched with her Dad but she recognized it despite the poor quality.

"Hey that's my Daddy's car!"

"That is?" Angela exclaimed. "We wouldn't have been sure without you. Good job Christine. Tell us anything else you see okay?"

Christine beamed, happy to be praised for a job well done. She watched as Mrs Duncan who was out walking her dog like she always did passed on the sidewalk. When she helped with her Mom in the garden or mowed the lawn with her Dad, they would occasionally wave and say hi to Mrs Duncan who lived in their neighbourhood. Christine liked her big, black dog. She hoped her parents would let her have a puppy some day.

"That's Mrs Duncan, walking by my Daddy's car."

The video was paused. Angela and Aubrey exchanged knowing glances. Christine had recognized the woman in the video.

"Do you know Mrs Duncan, Christine? Aubrey asked.

"She lives in our neighborhood. We wave to say hi when she passes by our house."

"Do you know which house she lives in?"

Christine shook her head, afraid that she had disappointed her Uncle Aubrey and Aunty Angela.

"That's okay, you've helped a lot. Sweetheart." Angela said.

"Yeah, we now know she lives in your neighborhood. We'll find her in no time."

"Is Mrs Duncan in trouble?" Christine asked, worried. She knew her parents helped people in trouble.

"Oh no she isn't." Aubrey was quick to reply.

"Are my Mommy and Daddy in trouble?" Christine asked, suddenly worried as to why they weren't there in her mother's office.

"They're not." Aubrey again was the one to answer.

"Then can I see them? For a little while, I won't be any trouble, I just want a hug." Christine suddenly missed her parents a lot. She tried hard not to cry. It had felt like a very long time ago since she had seen them.

"You know what? They're really busy." Angela said, but Christine didn't quite believe what she was saying. She knew something was wrong.

"Something's wrong. I just know it. You're not telling me. Are my Mommy and Daddy okay?"

Quickly noticing that Christine was tearing up, Aubrey took the little girl into his arms, offering her a hug. He mused that Christine might have inherited her father's famous gut instincts.

"You need to tell me if something's wrong. Mommy always says we need to the truth."

"Your Mom and Dad are… we don't know where they are. But we're working on finding them." Angela said.

"Are they okay? They didn't go away like Grandpa did they?"

"Oh no, they definitely didn't." Aubrey quickly assured her. "You did a great job telling us about Mrs Duncan. Maybe she knows where they went. Maybe she could help us. I promise, I'm gonna do everything I can and I'll make sure your Mom and Dad come home to you and Hank okay? Now how about I take you to the Royal Diner and we get some fries to go? We can share them with Hank."

Christine nodded, still holding back her tears. Her Dad had always told her she needed to be brave. She trusted her Uncle Aubrey, she knew he would keep his promise.