Chapter 5

Brennan was sitting alone in the room that would be Alana's, in the house that she was now living in with Booth. She looked at the room, happy to see that he tried to get it as close to what Alana's room looked like in her apartment. Brennan looked at the new toys and things that were sitting there, waiting for their little girl to come and play with. She saw the princess bunny that was sitting there, this special bunny that Alana had been begging for but Brennan had never been able to find it, so she had been really shocked when Booth had walked into the house earlier holding it, asking if it was something Alana would like since he had heard it was popular and had been sold out so often. Brennan had actually jumped up and kissed him, she hadn't been able to stop herself and explained that Alana had been begging for it and had been so disappointed when she hadn't gotten it at the holidays and on her birthday, but nothing she did had been helpful in tracking one down.

"Baby, mommy is so sorry that she didn't tell your daddy sooner, I know you never would have been taken if I had told him about you. I love you and I miss you." Brennan said, knowing it was stupid to talk to an empty room, especially one Alana had never even been in, but the mother inside of her was demanding she try to do something to connect to her missing little girl, the daughter that meant the world to her.

"Hey." Booth said, leaning against the doorjamb.

Brennan set aside what she was holding and slowly got off the bed that was sitting in the room. She wiped at her eyes, thinking he was going to make a comment about her being dumb or make fun of her. That was probably why she was so shocked when he didn't do that, instead he walked over and pulled her into his arms and kissed her temple, rubbing her back in a reassuring way. "I miss her so much. Why does it hurt so much that she isn't here? It makes no sense why there should be pain in my chest, physical pain when I was not injured in anyway when she was taken from me, from us." Brennan said, genuinely confused by the awful pain in her heart.

"Honey, that's the pain in your heart, the emotional pain of a mother that misses her child." Booth said, with a small smile but a look that clearly said he could tell she was trying desperately to hold onto the logical and somewhat rational side of her that would keep her level headed and make it easier for her to not give in to the emotions raging through her body and her mind at that moment in time.

"Booth, I just, I feel like as her mother I should have been more of a protector and I should have told everyone about her sooner, if I had, maybe, just maybe, she would be here, safe and happy and secure and I would not be feeling like the worst person, the worst mother, the worst friend, in the world." Brennan said as she suddenly dropped to her knees, sobs racking her body.

Booth had never really seen her fall apart this bad, he had seen her cry, he had seen her panic, and everything but this, this was a full out meltdown, and he had to admit it was somewhat nice to see that she was a normal person and he could see how much she loved their daughter, that meant Alana had been in a wonderful and loving environment, and he knew it would only get so much better when he got her home, safe and sound.


Alana was scared as she stared at the mean lady. She was ranting and raving, yelling as she walked back and forth in the room. Alana was dirty, and she wanted to take a bubble bath with her favorite mermaid toy and her favorite shampoo and soap. Alana was so scared that the mean lady would decide to just hurt her and do something to her, but there was nothing she could say to the woman to get her to let her go home, and there was nothing she could say to calm her down. She was hungry and she was thirsty and she was tired and all she wanted was her mommy to be there to read her a bedtime story. She looked down and held a scream in, she didn't want to make the mean lady any madder, but there was a bug crawling across the dirty, nasty floor. Alana felt the tears falling down her cheeks and she knew it was because she was terrified that she would never see her mommy again.

"I miss you mommy." She whispered as soft as she could so the mean lady didn't hear what she had to say and get even madder at her.


Brennan was sitting with Booth in their room. They had both gone into the room after he had picked her up and carried her out of Alana's room and into their bedroom. They were technically lying down, and Brennan had her head on his chest as he was rubbing her back and trying to calm her down. All Brennan could think about was that her innocent and helpless little girl was in the hands of a monster that buried little kids alive, that tried to collect a ransom, this was a bit out of character, but then again she had murdered before and attempted to murder before without trying to collect a ransom. Brennan looked up when someone knocked on their bedroom door.

"Come in." Booth shouted out.

Jared walked into the room and smiled at Brennan softly before looking at his older brother. "Can we talk for a few minutes bro? I am going to head to a hotel in a bit, but I just got into town and wanted to check in with you."

"Please, stay here with us." Brennan spoke up, wiping at her swollen eyes. "You're family Jared and when we get her back she will need to get to know her uncle and we are hoping to get Parker then, you would have both your niece and your nephew and it would be good for Alana, when we get her back, because we have to get her back, we have to." Brennan said, as she lost it again.

"Shhh…" Booth pulled her close and was surprised when Jared rushed to the bed and also helped to calm her down.

"I know my brother Tempe, and I know that he won't let anything happen to his little girl. He will bring Alana home, and we will all help him do that a lot quicker. You should lay down and get some rest and I will send my brother back in here soon." Jared said as he leaned in and kissed her temple.

"I hope you're right." Brennan whispered as the two brothers left the room and she felt the tears continue to fall from her eyes.