A/N: Sorry this is up late folks but I finally have all my broadband issues sorted out and I'm properly back online, woohooo!! That means your next delightful chapter of this tale will be up wednesday night/thursday morning. Lucky you. In the meantime, here's a pretty long one for you to mull over. I promise plenty of answers & a mysterious stranger are on their way seeing as we're almost at the final stretch now (hard to believe I know). So, as usual, the people that let me know what they think - good or bad - get my undying devotion and a basket of freshly baked cookies. Mmmm, still warm from the oven... Oh, and an enormous thank you to Ava, Miss Poisonous, LucieDucie, Laurellau, Trinigyal, Rocks&Glass, Muppet Madness and everyone else that's reviewed for all their wonderful support. You guys are my Gods and I really appreciate it soooooo much. And also, a massive thanks to you right now for reading. I just hope you like it.

Doctor Camille Saroyan stared at the phone in her trembling hand with a growing sense of dread.

Everything's going wrong. Nathaniel Rouse appearing in the lab, Angela being upset, Doctor Brennan disappearing, Booth… Everything's going wrong.

Replacing the handset, she took a steadying breath and silently prayed that the worst was over, especially now she had lost the one person in the world she had relied on for support.

Booth…

Hodgins and Zach burst through the door to Brennan's office, making Cam jump at least ten foot in the air. A hand fluttering to her chest as she tried to slow her heart back down to a normal rate, the geeky pair in front of her just shared a sheepish grin in her direction.

Zach took a brisk step forward, handing over the file he'd brought with him.

"Doctor Saroyan, we've found something on the transgender victim from the park and due to the amount of remaining tissue, I think we need your expertise to confirm our findings. Also, I think we should consult Doctor Brennan."

Cam swallowed hard as she looked the grad assistant in the eye.

"Doctor Brennan is…"

What do I say? Everyone here looks up to Temperance like she's some kind of second coming. Just because Booth's worried about where she's got to, it doesn't automatically mean that something bad has happened to her.

I shouldn't unduly worry them but I can't lie. What do I do? Everything's going wrong…

She sighed and tried again.

"Doctor Brennan has gone to see Booth, so why don't you show me what you've got and we can run it past her when she gets back, whenever she gets back."

Zach led Doctor Saroyan out of the office as Hodgins watched them pass with a frown.

He knows something's not right, which means he'll talk to Angela who'll try to reach Brennan… But what's the point in upsetting everyone if I don't even know what's happening yet?

Not hearing Zach's frenzied commentary as they marched through the lab, Cam felt the knot in her stomach tighten.

Just because Booth said it was Nate that took Doctor Brennan, it doesn't mean he actually did it. It doesn't mean anything's really happened to her, it doesn't even mean she's gone missing.

Mind you, with her track record, she does have a tendency to get kidnapped…

Oh God, everything's going wrong…

Blinking rapidly, Cam realised they were standing beside the body and Zach was looking at her expectantly. Snapping on the latex gloves, she turned to examine what was in front of her.

Squinting at the chest area, she began to see what all the fuss was about.

"Is that what I think it is?"

Hodgins just nodded as Cam turned more light on to the flesh, highlighting the rudimentary tattoo scrawled just above the augmented breasts. Swallowing hard, she carefully traced the letters.

"It reads… It says 'Freak'."

Zach nodded, carefully peeling back the layers of skin to reveal the damage beneath.

"Whoever did this, they managed to cut the letters all the way to the bone. They've left lasting indentations across the ribs which reveal the tool used was most likely a standard pen knife dipped in ink."

Cam shook her head in disbelief as Hodgins took a step forward.

"Did she do this to herself? I mean, she went through all that surgery and everything to make herself a woman, it had to put a lot of pressure on her."

Doctor Saroyan examined the wounds carefully, doing her best not to see the flesh and bones on the table in front of her for the person they really were. After a few moments, she straightened up and sighed heavily.

"The force and the direction of this, well 'tattoo' for lack of a better word, indicates that this was not a self-inflicted injury."

Cam just stared down at the victim in front of her as Hodgins barely disguised the disgust in his voice.

"Someone did this to her? Who the hell could carve the word 'freak' in to another human being?"

Feeling her stomach flip, Cam felt completely overwhelmed.

Everything's gone wrong…

oo00oo

Doctor Temperance Brennan was not a woman who was easily intimidated or scared. But then, it wasn't often that she had a gun pressed to her temple.

Everything's gone wrong…

Attempting to keep her breathing steady so she might be able to take advantage of any opportunity to get away, she nodded to herself slowly.

"Ok, ok, I'm not going to do anything so why don't you just move the gun away from my head?"

The cold metal of the gun barrel pressed harder against her temple for a second before pulling away slightly.

The deep voice behind her reverberated around the parking lot as the figure moved around to face her, the gun pointed directly between her eyes only inches away.

"Fine, Temperance, but you try any of those wildcat moves of yours and I won't hesitate to shoot you."

Swallowing hard, she just nodded as former FBI agent Nathaniel Rouse narrowed his eyes at her. They just stood there in the middle of the deserted parking lot, staring at each other, both of them wondering how they ever got to this point.

Everything's going wrong…

The silence making her uncomfortable, Brennan was the first to break it.

"Nate, what's going on? Why are you doing this? Why were you at the Jeffersonian earlier?"

The gun inched closer to her face but Brennan held her ground.

"I gave Angela a message, that's why I was there."

The anthropologist began to feel her blood boil at the fact he had gone after her best friend.

"You're the one who wrote that note and sent those photographs? I take it you also trashed her office."

Nate blinked rapidly, conflicting emotions that Brennan couldn't quite identify raging in his eyes.

"I never hurt her."

Despite the fact that she was basically staring down the barrel of a gun, Brennan couldn't hold her tongue.

"You called her a traitor and threatened her life, you sent her photos of her dead boyfriend! Of course you hurt her."

Nate shook his head frantically, muttering under his breath as Temperance just stared at him.

I used to be attracted to this man. When I met him at Quantico he was so… different. I don't even know who this man is. It's not the Nathaniel Rouse I remember. Everything's going wrong here.

"I wasn't the one who hurt her, I tried to warn her. I was warning her off and I told her to keep you away as well, all of you! Obviously it didn't work. You're still sniffing around like pigs searching for truffles in the dirt. Well, there's no truffles here little lady, there's nothing but death and destruction and disappointment, so you'd better just stop right now before someone else gets hurt."

Brennan stared at him and realised why she didn't recognise the man she had met at Quantico. He wasn't the same man, nowhere near in fact. The creep pointing the gun at her was just a shadow of the great FBI agent he'd once been.

I never saw him in action but I've seen his file and the incredible amount of commendations he received. Not to mention the fact that he was Booth's mentor. That fact alone tells me he must have been a good man to earn the respect of someone as honourable as Seeley.

Thinking of her partner, Brennan cast a quick glance around the parking structure.

I'm in the J Edgar Hoover building, this is government property and Booth's upstairs. There must be security guards and CCTV cameras everywhere. Someone must have noticed I'm missing by now, they'll be looking.

Nate flashed her a manic grin as he noticed her gaze darting about around them.

"Oh Doctor Brennan, I've been unforgivably rude. I suppose I should have mentioned the fact that the guards aren't due to make their rounds for at least another half an hour and the CCTV cameras are in the process of an upgrade so they'll be offline for over an hour. Sorry little lady but good old Seeley ain't charging in on his great white steed to rescue you, not this time."

Trying to remain detached, Temperance hid her disappointment and growing fear behind a neutral mask she adopted day after day in the lab, burying her emotions as deep as they would go as she willed her heart to stop beating quite so fast.

Clearing her throat, she nodded.

"Nate, before you said that you weren't the one threatening Angela. What did you mean by that?"

He looked at her with an incredulous expression, like he couldn't quite believe that she didn't know what he was talking about. Narrowing his eyes, he shook his head and jabbed the gun in her direction repeatedly.

"I know what you're doing, Doctor Brennan, I see your little plan. You go all clinical and detached, start analysing the situation and all that academic clap trap, just so you can find a way out of all of this. Well, I'll tell you straight, there's only one way out Temperance. You have to stop. If you don't, you're all going to pay. All of you."

"I don't know what that means, Nate."

He was becoming increasingly agitated, switching his weight from foot to foot so much that he looked like he was practically skipping on the oil-stained spot in front of her.

"It's all so simple, Doctor Brennan, how can your big brainy brain not see that, huh? See, it's people like you that are the freaks, you know? With your abnormally huge intellect, you and all those little scientists that swarm around you like flies, you make everyone else feel like idiots. We spend our whole lives working hard and making money to support our families just to be walked all over by brainiacs like you…"

"I don't try to walk all over people."

"No, that's just it though isn't it? You don't try to do it, you just do. People like you that think you're so much better than the rest of us, you don't realise what you do to everyone else, how you bad you make them feel. You grind people down and make them feel unworthy of even existing in this stupid world."

Temperance Brennan felt completely lost and utterly alone.

Booth is the one that's good with people, he's the one who knows how to deal with situations like this. This is one of the reasons I need him. I can't do this on my own.

Attempting to regain control of both the situation and her own emotions, she took a tentative step forwards.

"Nate, who are you talking about?"

He blinked rapidly, keeping the gun pointed straight between her eyes.

"What?"

Swallowing hard, Brennan kept her voice calm and level as much as she could.

Just remember the things you read in those books and all that Booth's taught you. You can do this. You can connect with him, you can make him see reason.

"I know that my social skills are somewhat limited but even I can tell that what you're saying is based on something personal. The way that you're talking, it seems to be quite obvious that you're referring to someone in particular."

Nate burst out laughing, the gun shaking in his hand

"Of course I'm talking about someone in particular! I thought you had a big brain, little miss PhD! I tried to talk to Angela and I'm trying to talk to you because I know what I have to do. Protect them, protect him, that's my job, that's what I have to do."

"But it's not your job anymore, Nate, you don't have to protect anyone because you're not an FBI agent now. So why don't you just tell me what's going on and we can go upstairs and talk to Booth and he can sort all of this out for us."

Nate's laughter left Brennan feeling hollow.

"Booth? You want me to walk upstairs to a building full of traitors and just stroll in to the office of the man I treated like a son, the man who just left me hanging out to dry? I don't think so, Temperance. I had nothing to do with what Katie was doing at Quantico, nothing, but none of you believed me and now what have I got to show for a lifetime of service? Huh, what have I got? Nothing, that's what, because he took it from me. With a little help from you too, I know."

Nate had begun pacing up and down, the gun hanging limp by his side as he began tapping his temple while he spoke.

"That man took my life. I had everything and he had nothing. Now he has everything I had and I'm the one who's nothing. He's got the great job, he's got the badge, he's got the partner who loves him, he's got the cute little son, he's got the car. Why'd they have to take the damn car away, huh? They took my damn wheels like taking the badge and my gun wasn't bad enough… He got everything. He was nothing and now…"

Seeing how distracted he was, Brennan kept listening but started to back away slowly.

The way he's talking about Booth, I've got to warn him. The way that he's acting implies he's had some kind of mental break and needs psychiatric evaluation, probably due to some kind of trauma, possibly even just the fact that he lost his job. But the way he's talking, it sounds like he wants to hurt Booth. I have to warn him, I have to help Booth.

I just don't know how.

Nate was still talking.

"Seeley Booth stole my life, and now I have nothing. He took away my life so I couldn't protect him, I couldn't protect any of them, I couldn't stop them. But now I have to try, now I have to make things right. I have to. I have to sort this out, I have to stop it from happening again. These freaks, these people, it can't happen again, I won't let it."

Deciding to take a risk, Brennan made a run for it, trying to get as many parked cars between her and Nate as possible to offer her some kind of safety.

The minute she started running, she heard his footsteps running behind her, the sound of them thundering around the parking lot along with the echo of his voice.

"I told you not to run, bitch! Don't try and get away from me!"

Darting behind an SUV, Brennan tried to stay as low as possible as she quickly but quietly weaved between vehicles. All the while, she tried to keep up with where Nate might be in relation to her.

Realising she couldn't hear the sound of his footsteps anymore, Brennan stopped dead. Unconsciously holding her breath, she strained her ears for the slightest hint of where he might be.

The sharp click of a gun being cocked was almost deafening. Turning slowly, Brennan's wide eyes stared straight up in to the sad eyes of a desperate man.

"I was trying to protect you, Doctor Brennan. I was trying to save you. I hope one day you can forgive me."

The last thing Temperance Brennan heard was the explosion of gun fire before everything turned to black.

A/N: Almost forgot, friday is the deadline for your top 5 Bones moments from season one so if you've not voted, please get it to me as soon as possible. So far I've had 49 votes so thank you so much for all your help. Right now, there's a pretty clear winner but I won't reveal which just yet... Thanks again guys. See ya thursday!