A/N: Sorry for the delay! Here it is! Thank you so much to all who have read and reviewed, I really appreciate it!

She had barely slept all night, her body throbbing from the impact when she had hit the ground. She had taken several Tylenol but they weren't working, which was why she was wide awake at 5:15 am.

After her crying incident in the bathroom, Booth had lifted her up and carried her into bed, tucking her in and kissing her on her forehead. He then headed back to his own room.

She clutched the covers around her as she thought about how he had held her when she cried. It was worse, she had decided, to have that one moment with him, while he held her in his arms and then have to go on and pretend to just be 'partners.' She had made a mistake and she had admitted it, but when he had told her that he couldn't deal with their relationship problems right now, she began to fear that she lost him forever.

It was last night when she realized how much she took him for granted, not only as a boyfriend but as a friend and partner as well. Nobody else would be here, in Fairfax searching for answers for her parent's case. Or hold her when she broke down, something she had been doing an awful lot of lately.

She felt completely inadequate. He did this for her all the time and she had nothing to give him back. She could barely deal with them being in a relationship. Perhaps this break between them was for the best. Maybe he would come to realize that he deserved more. Tears soaked her pillow as she thought about what would happen if that day ever came.

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"So I thought we would go to the police station and talk to the Chief to see if they know anything." Booth said, navigating down the road in their rental SUV.

"Sounds good." She replied.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking over at her concernedly.

"Yeah I'm fine, why?"

"You just seem a little off this morning, that's all." He noted.

"Booth, we almost got blown up yesterday." She said pointedly.

"I know that, I just…" he started.

"I'm fine." She said huffily.

He nodded and they continued the rest of the way in silence. He pulled into the parking lot of the police station and started to get out of the vehicle. She grabbed his arm to stop him and he turned and looked at her.

"Listen Booth, about last night…" she said hesitantly.

"It's okay, really." He replied.

"I just wanted to say thank you." she said. "For everything. I couldn't have dealt with this without you."

"Thank you Temperance." He replied solemnly. "We will find out what happened you know that right?"

She nodded in agreement. "And you know that everything will turn out fine with Parker, right?"

He just shrugged, unable to voice how unsure he felt about the situation. They got out of the car and made there way inside to the police station, where a bustle of activity was occurring.

Booth walked up to the woman at the front desk. "Hi, my name is Special Agent Seeley Booth, this is my partner, Dr. Temperance Brennan. We am here to see Sean Pullman."

"Right." The woman said, getting up from behind the desk and leading them through a maze of desks to an office. Through the glass doors, they could see a tall, heavyset man gesturing wildly while on the phone. The woman knocked on the door and then let Booth and Brennan in.

"Yeah, well it's not every day we get a body like that, Mick so if you wouldn't mind getting your forensics team up there, that would be great. Thanks." He hung up the phone and looked at the two visitors. "You must be the two from the FBI." He noted.

Booth nodded and they made their introductions. After spending twenty minutes questioning Pullman, it was clear that there was no useful information to be found.

"Do you mind wrapping this up?" Pullman said brusquely. "We've got a pretty brutal murder on our hands. Doesn't usually happen too often in these parts."

"Who's the victim?" Brennan asked curiously.

"Not that its any of your business, but we haven't ID'd the guy yet. Apparently he is too decomposed to make an identification."

"Can I help?" she asked, ignoring the curious look from her partner.

"Well…" Pullman said warily, concerned about letting the FBI on his turf.

"I can probably give you cause of death right away." She added, hoping to convince him.

Pullman sighed. "Well, since you are here….I will get Jimmy to drive you to the crime scene."

"Thank you." she replied.

"By the way, I haven't heard back from our boys in the lab about the explosives used on your car, but they are fairly confident that it was remote detonated." Pullman said.

"Meaning that the bomber could still be in Fairfax." Booth said.

"Possibly." Pullman replied, rising from his chair. "I will go get Jimmy for you too."

As soon as he left the office, Booth turned to Brennan.

"What is that all about?" he asked.

"Booth, don't you find it strange that we get almost blown up and then a day later they find a body? It could be connected somehow." She noted.

"Possibly, although none of the players in our scenario should be turning up dead." He replied. "I mean they are all working together against us."

"Ready to go?" Pullman asked, appearing in the doorway. They nodded and followed him out.

They arrived at the crime scene, a small wooden area next to a children's park just outside of Fairfax.

"Thanks Jimmy." Booth said, as they got out of the car.

"No problem, Agent Booth." Jimmy replied.

"Can I help you?" a tall, blonde woman said, coming up to them.

"I am Special Agent Seeley Booth, this is my partner, Dr. Temperance Brennan." Booth repeated.

"You are here to look at the body." She noted. "Right this way."

They walked through some trees until they reached a clearing. There was a swarm of people, taking pictures, swabbing things. Brennan turned to Booth with a horrific look on her face.

He understood immediately.

"Okay, all these people need to back away." He said to the woman.

"But…I…"

"If you want Dr. Brennan here to do her job, everyone needs to back up."

She nodded and moved the forensics team away.

Brennan approached the body carefully, Booth following close behind.

"Male, 50's to 60's, shot twice in the chest at point blank range and it appears once in the head for good measure." She said, gesturing to the bits of skull that lay scattered on the ground. "Dead approximately three to five days, you can see the bugs have already made short work of his brains."

"Ugh, Bones, enough with the graphic detail. " he replied. "I can see it right in front of me."

"Booth, this man has had several gunshot wounds before that have healed. Also several bones have been broken and healed as well."

"Meaning?" he asked.

"Meaning that this man was probably in a lot of fights all of his life, a dangerous job, possibly a criminal…" she stated.

"Wait, Bones are you suggesting that this may be Willie Franklin?"

"I can't speculate, you know that Booth." She replied. "But if he is, then we may have lost our last link to the case."

"Don't worry, Bones." He said, placing his hands on her shoulders. "We will figure it out."