Dear kind readers, thank you again for you nice reviews.

I have rushed a bit this chapter because I do think it's really time for B&B to get together again and be a bit happy. They both deserve it! So I don't want to drag their separation for much longer.

Hope you enjoy it!

Grev

Ah.. as usual I own nothing, just my impatience for the next episode

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Chapter 7

November 25th Afghanistan

Nine days into her captivity, a month since she had come to Afghanistan, and Temperance Brennan was starting to feel discouraged.

After their seizure, she and nine other American marines had been obliged to hike for days into the mountains. They had not been treated particularly badly, but food and water were scarce and the long walk had completely exhausted them physically. Along the way they had also been loaded on a truck and they had been riding a whole day.

It was easy to assume for them they had been transferred out of Afghanistan and into Pakistan.

The morning after they had arrived at a huge camp, which was probably an Al Qaeda training place, and their hopes had dropped miserably: there was hardly any chance they were going to be let go after they had been there, seen the faces and recognised some of the leaders.

To their surprise they had let her, a woman, stay in the same prison cell with the other American marines.

It was a good thing they were together. They kept helping and support each other.

Since the disappearance of her parents, Brennan had been growing up alone and believing in self sufficiency. But right there, in such danger, she experienced on her own skin the importance of a community of people that were looking after each other. She did her best to medicate and help the wounded, they reassured her of the possible intentions and tactics of the terrorists: if they had not been killed straight away, there was still a chance the talibans wanted to use them somehow.

It was strange for her to be the one looking after those young men, all in their early twenties, proud and strong but not really experienced combatants.

In a way she was feeling like a mother: she was older, she had seen the world facing the worst aspects of human violence. Her capability of remaining rational and control her fears had gained the respect of these young marines who came to her to talk about their mothers, their girlfriends and the life they were dreaming to live, once at home and safe.

She let them come to her, and she listened. She didn't have magic words to offer but somehow those kids were finding her rational, anthropological answers soothing and reassuring.

Still there was only loneliness around her: if she was feeling that those kids could rely on her, she felt she had nobody to lean onto.

Her thoughts were constantly for Booth. Had he gotten the news about the attack and her captivity? Was he worried abut her?

She was thinking about her father and brother as well, but with only the regret she would not be able to be close to them again. They were the ones who deserted and abandoned her so she was just used to feeling scared and not having them around to help.

Being Booth-less, on the contrary, was a new, unpleasant and scary feeling. She didn't know when it had happened, that having him in her life had begun to be the normality and being alone the exception, but along the way and without her realising it, still it had happened.

A sudden wave of sorrow was then hitting her, for never thanking him, for never letting him know that she was happier and felt so much safer with him. No, as stubborn as she was, she had only kept insisting she was self sufficient and could take care of herself. She had kept assuring Booth she did not need him. But she did, and in that camp somewhere probably in Pakistan, more than ever.

The guys around her were always talking about what they were going to do once home. And her? What did she want to say to him? What did she want from him?

Her nights were spent thinking about it.

"I really want to tell him how special and wonderful he is, and thank him for all he had done for me."

"I can definitely buy a house in the countryside and make a multimedia room for Booth, the one he wanted from me when we were taking care of Andy. It would also be nice to make a room for Parker as well, he would love to spend time with his dad." Brennan was smiling, her gloomy surrounding had disappeared and she could see herself there, see Parker and Booth getting excited in front of the huge plasma screen.

And did she want something more to happen in that house? Were she and booth going to share the bedroom and be a real couple?

YES was the answer that came out of her guts, or heart, any place of her body. And her head, even her brain was not disagreeing. All the reserves, fears and convictions she always hung to, had been flooded away by the emptiness she felt without him. As frightened as she was at the idea of losing him if their relationship didn't work out, she felt that her life without being his woman, without Booth being her man, had lost all its sense.

And what if Booth didn't want that with her?

Her blood was strangely cooling inside her veins at the mere thought that maybe Booth had another woman and it was with her that he wanted to share his life and Parker.

Having spent a life being terrified of relationships and commitment, she thought it was really ironic that now she was suffering at the idea of not having one.

But that anxiety, the fear of not being enough for him, of facing a rejection that would break her heart, settled in her heart and kept her company every single night. And that was not going to change and it merged with the additional terror of never being able to get home and face the truth with him.

"I can't die here, I don't want to lose the future that I can have with you Booth".

A few days passed with no changes and spent in the cell all together, until one morning two men came and took her. The marines were immediately standing and trying to protect her, but she was not going to make things worse having one of those guys getting killed trying to protect her.

"Please guys, we don't even know what they want from me. Just stay here and remain calm. There is no need to get hurt now. Please".

They remained all worried behind the door and she was lead out in the open.

The strong sunshine hit her eyes, unused to daylight and she got pushed towards another building while covering her eyes with one arm.

Inside another man, probably pretty high in ranking, spoke to her in English. "We know who you are, and now you will be working for us. You have to wear this" he said indicating a chador lying on a chair. "I'll be back in 10 minutes and I'll take you to the lab".

Brennan was puzzled, but she did as asked. She even appreciated the possibility of changing clothes. Her mimetic trousers and shirt were dirty and stinky. The chador felt fresh and clean. She covered her hair as best as she could, and pretty soon the man returned.

He was not unfriendly with her, and seemed educated. He just spoke only to give her instructions though. They arrived to a larger room, pretty fresh. It was full of wooden boxes and she guessed there were human bones in them.

"These are remains we took from battlefields. Our men died in the name of God and we cannot give them proper burial. We have photos and descriptions. You identify them. And you can live. You don't, and you die".

Brennan knew that there was no way that she and the other men could escape to safety without help. For sure the American army was planning a rescue, and she had to buy time. This work was the perfect opportunity: she could stretch it for a while and she knew that in the meanwhile she and the guys were going to be kept alive.

She nodded to the man, who then showed her where the materials were, papers, instruments and other facilities available. He explained her how she was not supposed to get out of there during the day, and introduced her to a woman who was going to watch her all the time, accompany her to the toilet and provide for her food, drinks and water to clean herself.

The man left and once alone the woman said coldly "My name is Hina and I have a gun".

Brennan nodded again, turned to the boxes and opened one.

Bones. Skulls. She felt at ease, she was in her element again. She took a deep breath and she felt a fresh wave of hope , something she had been missing since the capture: they still had a chance to get out of that alive.

November 25th Washington D.C.

Booth was staring silently out if his window, the buzz of the airplane engines deafening his ears, the dark blue of the night outside blinding his eyes. He was not seeing anything, he was not hearing anything.

Perotta was sleeping by his side, since the take off from Dallas. But he didn't even notice her presence or her movements.

His thoughts, his heart, his soul were only connecting with his far away and lost love.

The undercover assignment had been difficult since the beginning. Booth had immediately felt uncomfortable with Perotta. She was an excellent agent and she was really working hard to get those drug dealers. But he could not help but notice of how enthusiastic she seemed about living with him and pretending to be his wife.

He had compared the current situation with his Tony and Roxy and Buck-Wanda assignments, and remembered the thrill for him to be able to look at Brennan under a new light, where she was changing clothes in front of him, or the divine sensation of just stretching his arm and pull her against him and touching her all over. Yeah, they were just pretending. But not only he had liked doing it, he had felt the loss once they had to go back being themselves. And, never once, never even the first time, he had been feeling uneasy and uncomfortable. He and Bones were just clicking, like two matching pieces of a puzzle. Undressing in front of her, sleeping tightly together in that small trailer, had always seemed like the most natural thing, like they had been doing it for years.

That morning he had woken up smelling her scent on his skin and he had realized how addict to her he had become. Their working together was always wonderful: never losing focus and successfully accomplish their task, while absolutely enjoying being together.

With Perotta he was having problems in keeping her a bit distant and he was smart enough to perfectly understand that she actually wanted and searched for opportunities to touch him.

Sharing a bed with her had been like sharing a bed with his brother: only wishing there could be more space between them and feeling annoyed by every movement on the other side.

After a couple of days, they had to attend a dinner with some of the suspects. Perotta had been all over him and Booth had to contain her in a couple of occasions.

Once back at home they had a fight. "Are we supposed to play the happy and in love couple or two people on the verge of divorce? Because, you know, the way you treat me can never sell them what we are claiming to be" Perotta said pretty petulantly.

"You think that we necessarily have to touch all the time and be improper in public to look like a happy couple? Can't I just play the part of the prude catholic man that prefers to touch his wife at home?" She crossed her arms against her chest and prepared to reply while Booth continued first "I don't like it, Perotta, I'm here to help to do a job, not to bond personally with you".

"You had said you and Doctor Brennan were just partners. I thought you kind of liked me".

"Me and Bones ARE just partners and very good friends. Of course I like you, Perotta, you are a fine agent and a great colleague. I'm not pursuing anything here, I came here just to help you and do my job. Nothing more, nothing less."

Booth hoped that Perotta got it and not pushed the interrogation. He knew that he could easily slip and say more than he wanted to share.

There was no way, in the entire world, that he was going to admit his love for Brennan before he had actually the opportunity to tell her directly. She had to be the first.

Thankfully Perotta smiled sadly. She had understood.

"Ok, there are no cameras here, so from tonight you sleep on the couch. In public occasions you will hold my arm, smile at me and compliment me. Guess that our show should be enough". She went to the bedroom and threw a pillow at him. "Goodnight".

Booth held his pillow tight and let himself drop onto the couch. He let a deep sigh, at least that part had been clarified.

The day after his nightmare had begun. An envelope arrived, as usual delivered in person by a marine, who requested his ID before handing it over to him and leave.

Perotta came out of the kitchen looking at him puzzled.

"It's sensitive information regarding another investigation. Can you give me fifteen minutes, alone?"

"Sure" She said but Booth was already closing the door of the bedroom behind him.

He impatiently opened the envelope, hoping to see more photos of a happy Bones, or the date of her coming back.

But what he found made his heart stop. There was only one photo, obviously from a satellite, showing a bombarded camp. Booth knew straight away that it was her camp, burned down.

A very short report indicated the date the attack had taken place, a few days before, an estimated number of casualties, a list of all the missing people including her name, a few lines explaining that number of corpses was less than the count of people present at the camp, assuming an estimated number of prisoners.

And that was it. She could have died during the attack and be still lying there, in the dust of that Afghan village. Or, maybe, hopefully, she could have been taken prisoner. And that meant she was in the hand of terrorists. She could have been already killed by them or being in terrible pain, right in that moment.

He felt a wave of nausea and deep pain in his stomach. His thoughts were not clear anymore, he was just too dizzy. His lungs seemed all of a sudden closed and he struggled to get air in.

But the moment Booth could finally breath deeply in, he let out his breath with a loud, long cry.

Perotta rushed into the room and found him still sitting on his bed, his fists against his eyes.

Booth was not even noticing her presence, he just moaned on and on with a "no, no, no..".

All of a sudden he stood and looking at her, with his bloody eyes, he just excused himself.

"I really need to go out. I'll be back as soon as I can".

He rushed out and she heard the car starting and leaving with a screech.

The photo was still lying on the floor, she picked it up and looked at it carefully. She read the report, and didn't really understand what it was all about until she read Brennan's name among the officially missing people.

Picking up the telephone, she called the people who were waiting for them for lunch "Hi, it's Mrs Coughlan. Mark is feeling really sick this morning, so it'll just be me. No, I hope it's nothing serious probably tomorrow he'll be as new, But today seems a pretty bad day, so he better stay at home and rest. See you later then".

She put the papers in the envelope again and closed the door when she left the room.

Booth was driving aimlessly. He was looking around surprised to see people walking, cars moving, to see life while his world had just stopped.

He continued until he saw a cross, hanging on top of a modern building.

He parked and entered the church. It was dark, empty and silent, exactly reflecting how he was feeling inside.

Kneeling on his knees, he tried to reach his medal with an old move, the one he made when he really needed to pray hard and relinquish all control to his merciful and loving God. He always did it holding his medal in his hands, it helped him feel his faith and the strength he was receiving in a concrete way.

But he found her ring instead, and at that moment he couldn't stop his tears any longer.

Perotta was typing on her notebook when Booth had come back. Obviously destroyed and drained. It was already late.

He just stood there and looked at her, not saying one single word.

"I'm sorry Booth. I really am. What do you intend to do now?"

He finally gave sign of life, as if her question had magically woken up a sleeping beauty. Perotta had indeed used a magic verb: do.

As much as he had cried for her loss that day, he still could do something, he had to do something. There were good chances she had already been killed, but she could as well still be alive. And she needed him. She needed his strength and cool blood.

"I need to make some phone calls, I.." He paused "I really need to check a few things out, and then I'll be able to tell you what I'm going to do".

When Perotta went to bed Booth was still busy talking on the telephone. She could not hear what was being said, but he seemed really angry and she guessed he was moving mountains and break plenty of rules to get access to the confidential information that apparently the people on the other side of the phone were trying to deny him.

The morning arrived with sunshine through the curtains and she found him sipping his coffee in the kitchen.

"So, how did it go? You seem more positive this morning".

He smiled at her, a sad and tired smile, but the desperation she had seen yesterday had disappeared from his eyes.

"They are almost sure she is not dead, together with a number of marines. They are already trying to locate the exact place where they are held. Lots of intelligence work involved. But there is no doubt we will be responding at the attack, and try to get our men, and her, back alive."

"Do you want to go back to DC and terminate this assignment?".

"No. I got their word that the moment they are starting the rescue I'm going to be informed. There is not much I can do from here, being in DC would not change the situation."

And then he added "Unless you want me out of this investigation".

"Booth, of course I don't want you out, but I really need your focus here. We are not playing, we are also dealing with risky situations. I need your commitment and full attention".

"And you have it, Peyton. I can make it. I can compartmentalize." He laughed "Bones taught me to do that. But I hope you approve that Mr Coughlan is a very religious man and needs to go to his church and prey every day". "Deal" Perotta answered with a smile.

He didn't hear anything from Annapolis for days and his investigation really made a turn. He could direct his anger and restlessness into his job and within a few days Booth and Perotta had collected enough evidence to arrest the two main suspects.

The very last day, while they were handing the investigation over to the local FBI office, Booth received another call.

"Target identified and located in Pakistan. We are finalising the preparation and moving in, probably the day after tomorrow. You will not receive any further communication from us on the subject until completion of the mission. I believe you understand how delicate and confidential this is."

"I do. And, thank you". The line fell and Booth held his breath. He was going home now and maybe, he prayed, also his Bones might come back as well.

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Liked it? A lot, a bit, not at all? Just let me know!

Happy Bonesweek, my dear fellow Bones addicts.

Grev