A/N: Well hello there stranger. Bit of a long one for you here. Afraid I can't guarantee when the next chapter's going to be up seeing as things are stupidly busy at the mo. The joy of christmas for you. Anyway, am having a slight crisis of confidence (and when I say slight, I mean I'm now bald from tearing my hair out and the xmas decorations have been trashed by me climbing the walls in frustration... It's not a good look) so please let me know if I've gone horribly OOC or if it's all wrong. I can promise that Booth gets a kick up the arse from a certain someone all too soon... So anyway, people who review get a beautifully iced gingerbread house and the keys to my boyfriend's convertible. I should probably tell him about that...

Angela sat on the couch in her office, cradling her wounded arm to her chest as she stared at the mess around her through a haze of tears. Tightening the now blood-stained scarf twisted round her hand, she didn't dare look up at the sound of the door opening. She didn't need to look anyway. She knew exactly who it was.

Out of the corner of her eye, Angela watched Hodgins gingerly pick his way through the debris covering the office before stopping right in front of her.

"Hey."

Angela just kept staring down at the scarf wrapped around her hand.

If I look at him, I'll lose it completely. If I look at him and I start crying, I don't think I'll ever be able to stop.

He crouched down in front of her, taking her good hand in his own.

"Angela, are you alright?"

She turned away but didn't withdraw her hand. Hodgins tucked his forefinger under her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes with hers.

"Please Angela, just look at me."

She sighed heavily as she blinked back the tears. Hodgins let his hand trail up, using the back of his fingers to delicately stroke her cheek, tears brimming against his lashes.

"Just tell me you're ok, Ange. Are you?"

She nodded slowly, loving the warmth of his touch against her skin.

"Jack…"

He laid a finger against her lips, a broad smile erupting through his beard.

"Shh, it's alright. You're back now, that's all that matters. You're home."

Angela felt a smile part her own lips as she stared in to his eyes.

He looks so relieved. Was he really that worried about me?

She suddenly realised just how close they were to one another, his breath hot against her cheek and ruffling her hair. Her heart seemed to skip a beat as she was pulled in to the deep blue of his eyes, the pain in her hand now long forgotten.

There was just something about the scientist in front of her, something she couldn't explain, something that pulled at her no matter how much she tried to resist.

She felt herself leaning forward, her eyes drifting closed as she waited for him to cross the distance too.

As soon as his lips brushed against hers, his beard tickling her chin, Angela felt safe again. Lights seemed to dance across the back of her eyelids as the kiss deepened, all the things they hadn't dared to say to one another being spoken clearly without a single word.

Eventually, they pulled apart and Angela didn't even bother to hide the way her fingers trembled in his grasp. Instead she grinned, her cheeks dimpling as she stared into his eyes.

He's right. I'm home…

Suddenly, the door burst open and Angela jumped to her feet, leaving Hodgins to scurry to the couch.

Brennan stood there, her eyes wide as she stared at her best friend like she was trying to convince herself it was all real. Angela just smiled and nodded, crossing the office to pull the anthropologist in to a long embrace.

Finally, Brennan pulled away and Angela was surprised to find that there was no look of awkwardness on her face at their physical contact and emotional moment. Instead, she just looked happy to see her. After a long moment of the two women just staring at each other, Brennan let out a long sigh.

"Oh Ange, I thought something had happened to you."

The artist swallowed hard before she responded, her voice filled with emotion.

"It did."

She turned, pulling her bag off the couch and retrieving the padded envelope that had started all of this. Crossing the room, Angela emptied the contents of the jiffy bag on to her desk, laying out the contents to show to her best friend.

Brennan marched to her side, staring down at the photos in front of her. In every single one, Angela was smiling as she posed along side her former boyfriend.

Angela had to blink back the tears that threatened to assault her cheeks.

Kirk… I loved him. I actually loved him. But I could only be with him for a few weeks a year. He tried to make it longer, he tried to make it permanent. He tried to be with me. All he got for his troubles was a gruesome death in the desert…

Angela glanced at Jack. He was watching the pair from the sofa, seeming to examine the photographs from a discreet distance. But the fact that the images had disturbed the artist so much obviously upset him.

I might have loved Kirk but he's gone now. He died and… Hodgins was there for me. He was always there for me. I guess I never realised that before. But I have now. I know who I want, I know who I need… I just don't how to tell him that.

Brennan caught Angela's eye, a frown of confusion clouding her features.

"I don't understand. These photographs date back for years. What does this have to do with you disappearing?"

Angela cleared her throat, doing her best to avoid Temperance's gaze.

"I know. That's the problem. These aren't my photos, Tempe. Someone sent them to me. It caught me off guard, I guess. It was a shock, especially when I saw the letter which I guess you've already read. Not to mention this…"

She pulled something from her pocket with a look that Brennan had never seen before. Angela passed the bundle to her, letting the anthropologist to unwrap the blood-soaked fabric.

Knowing what was coming and not really wanting to see it again, Angela felt her nerves tighten as Temperance carefully laid out the contents on the desk beside the other images. Biting her lip, the artist just watched as her best friend reassembled the photograph.

It's me. At Quantico. Stood amongst all those trees in what should be a beautiful scene. Instead, it's just me from a distance trying not to throw up as I look at a burnt body. Lovely…

Angela met Brennan's eyes with a slight shrug.

"Yeah, I was the one who tore it up."

"Why?"

Leaning across the desk, she reassembled the last few pieces. Before them lay the photograph, Angela's face almost all but scratched out, what was left of her eyes seeming to weep blood. Across the bottom was scrawled a message in the same unfamiliar handwriting as the note that came with the images. Brennan read it out loud.

"Traitors pay in blood…"

Angela raised her hand, still wrapped in the stained scarf.

"I guess I already have."

Temperance took a brisk step forward, grabbing her friend's hand.

"Let me look at it."

Angela obeyed, knowing all too well that there was no point in arguing. Sighing heavily, she tried to explain as the anthropologist unwrapped the deep wound.

"I ripped up the photo, Bren. I know I shouldn't have, I know it's evidence and all of that, but I just couldn't look at it. Then I guess my artistic temperament kicked in and I threw my favourite vase against the wall. When I tried to pick up the pieces that were left, well, I just cut my hand wide open as you can see… And then… Well, I just had to get out of here. Seeing those photos, reading that message, I just couldn't hack it. So I turned off my phone and I just ran. I know it was stupid and I know I should have just talked to someone but… I guess I was just scared."

She looked around her at the ruins of her office before turning back to her friend and colleague.

"But I didn't do this, Bren. I swear to you, all I did was break the vase. You know me, I would never mess my own place up like this. At least, not intentionally anyway…"

A strange look filled Temperance's eyes, her mouth forming a tight line.

"So, you're saying that someone else did this?"

Angela just nodded as Hodgins shared a look with his boss. The artist immediately felt her stomach sink.

"What? What is it? What's going on?"

Brennan appeared to choose her words carefully as she answered.

"After you went missing, we examined footage from the security cameras. On it… Well, we saw Nathaniel Rouse wandering around the labs."

Angela felt her eyes widen to the size of saucers.

"Nate?! Nate was here? You mean, you think he might have done this to my office?"

Hodgins spoke for the first time since Brennan's arrival.

"Well, to be honest, we thought he'd taken you till you turned up again so anything's possible."

"But Nate? I mean, I know that man is seriously twisted and probably totally insane, but why would he think I'm a traitor?"

Angela looked at the two people in front of her, the pair she trusted more than anyone else in the world, but she just found blank expressions greeting her. Eventually, Brennan stepped forward.

"Ange, if someone else did this to your office, do you know why? Has anything been taken?"

She looked around as she shook her head slowly.

"I don't know. God, I just don't know! I mean, it's all such a mess so I just can't tell. But never mind all of this. What could I have ever done to make me a traitor?"

She felt her eyes begin to swim with tears again, causing her vision to blur as Hodgins grasped her hand. Neither of them answered her though and she knew neither of them could.

But instead she had the support of a great friend and a man who obviously cared about her. Right then - even with the chaos that surrounded her and the pain in her injured hand - that was all she needed to know.

oo00oo

Cam ignored the echoes of her heels clicking against the polished floors of the Jeffersonian as she marched through the lab. After Temperance's announcement about Angela's reappearance, she had wanted to check that her artist was alright.

Approaching the office, she could see Angela talking to both Brennan and Hodgins inside. But it was the man stood watching from the outside that caused her heart to skip a beat.

Not bothering to hide the smile of relief on her face, Cam stopped beside Booth and resisted the urge to reach for his hand.

Even though Doctor Brennan knows about us dating now, we're still at work. We have to be discreet.

She glanced in the direction of the man she had fallen head over heels for yet again.

"Thank God she's safe."

Booth just nodded slowly, his eyes locked on the scene unfolding on the other side of the glass. At his lack of response, Cam moved a little closer to him, concern obvious in her features.

"And what about you? Are you alright?"

Still, he didn't look at her.

"Me? I'm fine. Why?"

Cam tried to make sure that the exasperation she felt did not spill over in to her voice.

"Because you've been acting weird with me all day, not to mention how you bit my head off earlier. And now that Doctor Brennan knows about us…"

She tailed off as he visibly tensed up beside her. On the brink of getting seriously angry with him, Cam forced herself into Booth's eyeline.

"Now that people know - or more precisely, now that she knows - you actually want to end this, don't you?"

Booth barely glanced at her, his brow furrowed to match the gruff tone to his voice.

"Don't be stupid, Camille."

Cam had to use every ounce of her strength to stop herself from screaming at him, her nerves clawing up her throat as she spoke in a hushed voice.

"And what else am I supposed to think? I'm not blind, Seeley. I see the connection you have with her. And don't think I haven't noticed that amount of times you've blown me off to be with her because she needs you. You know what? Sometimes I need you too."

For the first time since she had appeared beside him, Booth turned the full weight of his gaze on to his girlfriend.

"She's my partner, Cam. That's what partners do. I never took you for a green eyed monster."

She held his gaze, though inside her brain was screaming at her to just run away and buy an enormous tub of the fattiest ice cream she could find to numb the pain.

"Booth, if you want to end it just say so. I'm a big girl, I can take it."

He blinked rapidly as his features seemed to soften in front of Cam's very eyes.

Something's really bothering him, it's so obvious. But why won't he tell me? We've been dating for months now. If he's happy to share his bed with me, why won't he share his thoughts too?

Eventually, he spoke, his voice full of an emotion Cam could not quite figure out.

"Look, I don't want to end it and especially not like this, but there's just so much going on right now and… Look, I'm just having a bad day. What with Nate and Angela, my head's a little messed up, that's all."

Cam was unconvinced.

He's still hiding something from me, I know it. Why won't he be honest with me? Has something happened between him and his precious partner?

Her stomach a turbulent tangle of nerves, Cam jutted out her chin in a posture of defiance.

"Well, why don't you actually try talking to me about it when you've got things straight? She might be your partner at work, Booth, but we're supposed to be partners all the time."

She stormed off through the labs, all too aware that the man she loved hadn't even bothered to watch her go.

oo00oo

Brennan perched on the edge of Angela's desk with a broad smile, watching Hodgins wrap his arm around the artist's waist. As he guided her over to the sofa, sitting her down to carefully examine the wound to her hand, Brennan turned her attention back to the reassembled photograph beside her.

Someone thinks that Angela's a traitor. What could she have ever done to deserve this? Angela's the most loyal person I know. Well, with the possible exception of Booth anyway...

Temperance began to assess the evidence she had been presented with.

Could Nate have sent the pictures? How would he have got hold of the old photos of Angela and Kirk together? Not to mention the fact that his handwriting doesn't match the scrawl about traitors. So if Nate has nothing to do with Angela, what was he doing at the Jeffersonian?

Her stomach began to tighten as she realised that she had no idea what Nate was up to. The flood of possibilities and scenarios that swarmed her mind sent a shiver down her spine.

Looking up at the pair in front of her, Brennan watched the gentle touches and soothing words exchanged between Angela and Hodgins with a wistful smile. Right in front of her was the evidence of a blossoming romance, a relationship that had been brewing under her nose for months.

She moved to the door, intending to give the pair some privacy. Grasping the handle, she stared through the glass at her partner and her boss. They were standing barely inches apart, their relationship now all too obvious to her.

Suddenly, Brennan realised just how alone she really was.

Angela's my best friend but she has Hodgins to help her through this. Booth's my partner but he didn't even trust me enough to tell me he was with Cam. I guess I'm just not meant to have a family and people around me. I'm just one of those people who has to do it on my own.

Slipping quietly through the door, she managed to pass Booth and Cam without either of them noticing. Climbing the stairs to the forensic platform, she snapped on some latex gloves and prepared the examination table to get back to work.

Staring down at the bodies from the park, she ran a gloved finger across the wedding ring on the first victim. Biting back a loneliness she could never truly admit to herself or anyone, Brennan got to work.

A/N: Little note for all the Cam haters out there. No, I'm certainly not her biggest fan and I can't say that I'm particularly keen that she's getting it on with everyone's favourite federal agent. However, they are in a relationship in the show and so it's something I'm going to deal with. Like it or not, Booth & Brenn aren't gonna get it on while he's with Cam (cos he's a good little Catholic boy, bless his heart) and he's not gonna dump his lady to run off with someone else just like that. The boy's got class, so please bear with me on this one. Cam's just an obstacle that'll make the eventual relationship with Bones all the sweeter. She's not bloody Hitler for God's sake! Sorry, rant done with...