Here is chapter 12, I don't think it is exactly what I wanted but I had half of it written and then the power just went out, so I lost most of it!! Doh! Anyhoo, let me know what ya thought!!

Disclaimer: still nuthin!!

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Booth stood and watched over Brennan and her aunt. He knew that no one was close behind them on the trail but that didn't mean, they weren't following. He stood and watched the strongest woman he knew plead for answers from an aunt she never knew she had.

Cathy took the chain and ring in her hand and examined it closely.

"It looks like a ring that used to be in my family but when my sister dissapeared so did the ring. Why? How did you get this ring? Who are you?" She started spouting questions with fury at Brennan.

"Cathy, please, calm down." Brennan paused and waited for her aunt to collect her thoughts. "Cathy, I am Christine's daughter."

"What?" Cathy was completely flabbergasted. "No, no, you aren't. My sister dissapeared and so did her entire family! They dissapeared over 25 years ago! Who are you?"

"Cathy, I am Joy." Brennan's eyes had filled with tears as she pleaded with her aunt. "Please, Cathy, look at me, really look at me. I am Joy." The tears started streaming down Brennan's cheeks and Booth was at her side instantly.

Cathy sat dumbfounded and searched Brennan's face. Brennan lifted her sunglasses and took her hat off to give her aunt an unobstructed view.

"Joy? Is it really you? Where are the rest of them? What are you doing here? Why is your name Molly? Please tell me something."

Brennan took a calming breath, she looked at Booth for the courage to tell her story.

"Bones." He whispered in her ear. "Just be careful, I am still not sure if we were followed. Okay?"

She nodded her understanding. She took her aunt by the hand and guided her to a set of boulders.

"Please sit down. I know this is a hard thing to understand and I am not too good with subtlety, but please bear with me. My name was Joy Keenan, do you recognize that?"

Cathy quickly nodded. "Yes, I do. Your Father was Max, you Mother was Ruth and your brother was Kyle. What happened to them?" It was now Cathy's turn to cry.

"Cathy, let me just tell you what I know because I need some answers from you too. Kyle and Max, are now Matthew and Russ, and as far as we know they are okay. Mom was injured in 1991 and she died in '93 from a small subdural hematoma. I am sorry to lay all of this on you so suddenly, but I was always told that I didn't have any family and now I come to find that I have two aunts. I need to know about you. I want to know about you."

"Well, where do I begin. Okay, well I guess hi, I am your aunt." She pulled Bones into a tight embrace. "I am the middle daughter, I have never been married and I have no kids. I got a call from Ruth in about 1981 and she told me to pull up roots and get out of town. She said that she would tell me what was going on in a few weeks but I was to get out of Ohio and lay low for a while. She wouldn't tell me why, but Charlie was still only 16 so I had to leave her behind. Our parents died within six months of each other not two years later and Charlie came to stay with me in North Dakota. I worked odd jobs in the trailer park we lived, and I kind of became a 'Jane' of all trades you could say. I heard from Ruthie again in '85 but it was just a Christmas card and then nothing. I searched for you for years, but I kind of gave up. I thought she would give me some kind of sign." Cathy started to choke back sobs. "She's dead?"

Brennan nodded as she tried not to join her aunt in tears. "Yes, I identified her myself. We found her last year and well, yes she's gone."

"Okay, I am still confused though. I don't understand. How are you Molly Carter if you are my niece Joy, and who is he and why did he call you 'Bones'?"

Booth took this time to sit down with the pair and try to fill Cathy in as quickly as possible.

"My name is Special Agent Seeley Booth and I work for the FBI. Bones, or your niece, Temperance Brennan is my partner. She is a forensic anthropologist and she helps us identify bodies that are so badly decomposed the usual methods don't work. I just arrested her father Max for crimes that he and Ruth had commited with a gang of criminals throughout the midwest in the late 70's early 80's. Before he went into prison he gave Bones the ring and told her about you two and she wanted to find you. Max warned us that the gang may be watching you two without your knowledge, trying to set a trap for us. That is why we went undercover as Mike and Molly Carter. That is still a story that we will have to keep up when we get back to the campsite by the way, so please let's just stick with Mike and Molly."

"Thanks Booth, I could have told her that."

"You could have, but then we would never have gotten down the mountain in time for bed. I am your cliff's notes!"

"I don't know what that means."

Cathy stared at the pair completely stunned. "So you are telling me that one of my favorite authors of all time is actually my niece but I can't tell anyone, for fear that a gang that my sister used to be involved in may or may not harm me. And when we go back to the campsite tonight you are still The Carters from Portland."

"Yup, exactly." They responded in unison.

"Okay, I am still so confused and we are definitely going to have to talk about this. I can't fathom all this information, I just don't get it. How did you find me?"

"Well, Max gave us your names and Booth does work for the FBI so it wasn't really that hard."

Just then, Booth spotted two shadows in the trees. "We have company." He stated softly.

Brennan and Cathy went instantly stiff.

"Just relax and take in the scenery. They just showed up and I don't think they overheard us. We will just keep on like we were and we will head back down the trail in two minutes, we don't want to be too obvious. If anything goes wrong, get down and hide as well as you can."

Both woman just nodded and made small talk about the views.

"Well I guess if we are going to get back before dark we should head back down the trail. I am glad that I was able to show you guys this beautiful area. What did you think?" Cathy tried to stay as relaxed as possible.

"It is so beautiful here Cathy, thank you. What do you say Mikey, are we ready to go home?"

Booth took Brennan's hand in his. "You bet Doll. Let's go. Do you have your stuff?"

"I sure do, let's go, I am getting hungry." Brennan smiled sweetly at him.

Cathy leaned into the duo. "Are you guys together in real life?"

The duo shook their heads. "No we are just partners."

"Really? You could have fooled me."

Cathy chuckled and took off in front to lead them back down the mountain. They were not so closely followed by the pair of bumbling shadows.

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So let me know what ya thought and thanks to everyone who has reviewed, or put me on their alerts list!!