AN: Well, Monday is Bonesday Eve, and I for one can't wait. In celebration, I am posting this chapter for you to peruse. I hope you enjoy.
Booth woke up feeling like someone was looking at him. He tightened his grip on Brennan and tried to get comfortable again, willing the feeling away. Currently they were curled up on the couch, a blanket thrown around them and very much didn't want to leave the warm cocoon he found himself engulfed in. The feeling of eyes on him did not go away however, so he cracked his eyes open to look around. He sat upright, disturbing Brennan as he found Max staring at him and sipping a cup of coffee.
"Comfortable Booth?"
"Jesus Max, you scared the hell out of me." Booth scrubbed a hand over his face as Temperance blinked herself awake sleepily.
"Morning Dad," she yawned and stood up from the couch. Both were still clothed from the night before, and Temperance winced as the waistband of her jeans rubbed in the wrong spot.
"Well, you two seem to be on much better speaking terms. There's coffee on in the kitchen if you're interested." Brennan gave a small nod before she yawned and headed off in that direction. Max continued to look at Booth, making the FBI agent a little uncomfortable.
"We'll be going to the FBI office in Flint today in regards to the attack yesterday. Did you actually see what the guy looked like?" Max took a sip of his coffee, deciding to let the subject he wanted to discuss slide for a moment.
"It was dark, but I have a pretty good idea, yeah."
"Okay then, I'm going to sit you down with a sketch artist while I look up reports for gunshot wounds in the local area, and we'll see if we can't find our man." Booth stood and moved past Max so he could shower and change for the day. As he passed, Max placed his arm on the agent's shoulder.
"Booth, later I'd like to discuss a few things with you." Booth looked from Max to Temperance, and nodded in understanding. He continued back to his room as Temperance sat down at the kitchen table. Max joined his daughter and both sat quietly for a minute.
"Honey, look… I know that I can be a bit of a disappointment, but that was all in the past."
"I know that dad, it's just that I keep finding out more about your life and it keeps coming back to haunt me. I'd like to reach a point where I know that there are no other surprises to be sprung on me. I don't have anymore hidden family, do I?"
"No, I've told you about your family."
"Then why couldn't I have stayed with them? Surely Gayle would have taken me in."
"I'm sure she would have too baby, but she was family. You could have been tracked back to her and it would have put everyone in danger. I did what I felt I had to do."
"Is grandpa still alive? I know you have an answer to that."
"I don't think it would be wise for him to get involved in all of this."
"So he is still alive?"
"Yes."
"Well then get a hold of him and tell him to leave us alone."
"No."
"Why not?"
"Honey, your grandfather belongs to a crime family that's trying to kill Booth and apparently me. How do I know if the order came from him or not?"
"Ugh, you know what? Never mind. I'll let the two of you battle your way through this, and if there are anymore injuries because of it, don't come crying to me about it." With that, Temperance stood, leaving her coffee on the table and left for her room. She didn't need anymore pigheadedness this morning. On her way to her room, she passed by Booth, who was emerging from the shower, a towel wrapped around his waist.
"Whoa, Bones, watch it."
"Maybe you can talk him into calling my grandfather." Without waiting for a response, she passed him and slammed her door shut. Booth looked at her rather perplexed before turning toward the kitchen.
"He's still alive?"
XxXxX
Gavin sat in the office to his shooting range seething. He couldn't believe what had happened yesterday, and that Temperance's morals were low enough to be sleeping with a married man. He tossed the crumpled paper that had stuck to him back and forth as he grumbled. To think, he'd thought they had a good thing going on, and instead, she was just biding her time until her lover showed up to town. What was he doing away from his wife anyway?
Sulkily, he turned to his trashcan and was about to throw away the crumpled piece of paper, then paused. What was on it? It was probably just a child's list of toys for Santa. As Gavin straightened the paper, he frowned. It certainly was a list, but not of toys. On the list were fifty names, and several of the names were crossed off. Curious, Gavin turned to his computer and booted it up. It couldn't hurt to google the names now could it? His eyes shifted over the page, looking for the perfect name, finally settling one about halfway down, Mohammed Ahmed Farraq. Several hits came up, all news articles in Arabic.
"Damn it, is any of this in English?" He scrolled down the list and finally hit upon the information he was looking for. Scanning over the stats on the guy, he came up short at the end of the article. The man had been taken out by a single shot to the heart. Gavin glanced at the list once more. This was a kill list. A killer was staying with Temperance. He grabbed the list and left the building. This was something he had to bring to her attention before she got hurt.
XxXxX
Booth wiped a hand down his face in frustration. He sat with Max in an office at the Flint field office along with a sketch artist and their liaison, Peter Talbert.
"Do you mean to tell me that the man you had pose as Bones' grandfather is now the head of the Costello crime family?"
"Why do you think I can't contact him?" Max sat back in his seat, slightly uncomfortable as all eyes were settled on him.
"Salvatore Costello took care of Temperance for two years?"
"Look, back then he wasn't even in line to take over the family. It's not like I knew he'd be in his position now. Besides, how do I know the order to off me didn't come from him? And what about you Booth? You've been trying to bring down the family for a while now. He could have ordered your death as well."
"I don't know, something doesn't sit right about that. If he knows anything about me, then he knows I'm partners with Bones. If he took care of her, there's no way he didn't grow to care about her. I find it impossible to believe that he wouldn't have grown to love her."
"You really do care about her don't you Agent Booth?" Booth looked at Max and gave a small nod. Max held his gaze for a long moment before sighing in acquiescence.
"Fine, you win. I'll contact him under one condition."
"And what would that be?"
"If anything goes down regarding the family, he's not taken down with it. I haven't given them a reason to want me gone, and I'm not going to do it now." Booth looked at Agent Talbert, waiting for an agreement from the liaison.
"Let me see what we can do. In the meantime, I'll have agents out looking for Antonio and Vincenzo." Talbert left the room and Booth sat down across from Max.
"Agent Booth I hope you know what you're doing with all of this."
"So do I Max."
XxXxX
Temperance sat on the front porch swing with a blanket wrapped around her and a hot cup of chocolate warming her hands. She watched the neighborhood kids chasing each other around with snowballs and building snowmen in their front yards. It was such a tranquil scene, and she laughed as Haley and Emma ran by giggling and throwing snow around and dragging a toboggan with them.
As she took another sip of hot chocolate, she noticed Gavin walking down the road toward her. With a frown, she set the mug down on the table.
"What do you want Gavin?"
"I have to talk to you about something."
"I think you said quite enough yesterday, don't you?" Gavin continued on his path toward her holding a piece of paper in his hand.
"Do you know what this is Temperance? Well, do you?" He reached the porch and practically shoved the piece of paper in her face. Annoyed, she took it from him a looked at it. Her face drained of color slightly when she saw what it was.
"Where did you get this?"
"So you know what this is about? You know that man is a killer."
"Gavin, there is more to this than you realize, and I would appreciate you not calling Booth that."
"Why, it's what he is. I don't know how you can be so supportive of someone knowing they've killed someone." The look she shot him was deadly.
"That is it. You do not get to speak about him or me that way. I might have overlooked you accusing me of basically being a prostitute, but just so you know, that was way off base. Booth is a good man, and he's here, not to see me behind Annie's back, but to protect my family. I allowed him to have a satellite link-up with his son so they could see each other on Christmas, that's why he kissed me. Get out of here Gavin." She crossed her arms and lifted her chin petulantly. Gavin opened his mouth to speak, then closed it and turned around. As he headed down the stairs he paused. A car came barreling down the road toward the house. Something seemed off about the approach and with his heart in his throat he realized what it was.
"Temperance, get down," he yelled as he flew up, knocking her to the ground as a hail of bullets hit the house.