AN: Sorry for the long update. I had to finish up school. Guh, Finals. Well, now I'm out for the summer, so updates should be more frequent. And thanks so much to everyone who reviewed. I'm sorry I couldn't get around to replying to all of them. Enjoy chapter 4.

Disclaimer: I asked for it – very nicely – for both my birthday and for Christmas, but the rights to Bones has yet to become mine.

Without You – Chapter 4

Booth came into the Jeffersonian with a determined look on his face. He didn't look at a single person he passed; he just kept his eyes straight ahead, straight towards Brennan's office.

Although he had a very strong impulse to kick the door down and demand that she tell him where his son was, he decided not to piss her off. She was going to tell him eventually, and kicking doors down was not going to speed up the process.

When he reached the door to her office, he hesitated, then gently knocked three times.

She saw him standing there and waved him in. She sat at her desk, and she had just turned off the monitor of her computer. "Agent Booth," she greeted. Both her face and her voice were emotionless. He had expected something more.

Of course, on the way over there he had dared to think that she had something to do with his son's disappearance, and that she had broken off their partner and friendship because of it. Then he told himself that no, not Bones – or, Dr. Brennan, rather. Not her. Although there had been people in his past who had surprised him. He remembered people from the Army and from the FBI that he had thought that same thing about, like Kenton, yet they proceeded to turn against everything they knew.

But no, not Bones – Dr. Brennan. God!

So he guessed it was good she wasn't shifty-eyed or nervous-sounding. But her calm in the midst of his inner panic was just unnerving. So he chose to ignore it.

"You said you had some information."

She nodded, standing up. "I do." Brennan walked around her desk to lean against the front of it. Booth took a step back. This was really not like her. Of course, what had been recently?

"Well, here I am, in person just like you requested."

Temperance took a post-it note off of her desk and held it out to him. "I think this might help you."

Booth took the small piece of paper with a name and number written in his former partner's handwriting.

Mattia, 555-0706

He gave her a confused look. "What is this?"

"It's in the Washington DC area. There's a…high probability that they have something to do with the disappearance of your son. You should start your search with that number."

Booth just stared at the paper for a little bit. "You had contact with this person? How did you get their number?"

"They called me."

"What did they say?" he prodded.

Brennan finally broke their held eye contact and circled around her desk again. She wouldn't look at him. Again. "I…that's not important."

Feeling his cheeks begin to burn with anger, Booth tried to remain calm. "What led you to believe that this number has anything to do with my son?"

"It's just a theory."

"Temperance, I need to know. You're not telling me something, and this is an official investigation, so you need to tell me what's going on."

"Why can't you just take the number and leave?" she pleaded quietly, looking to some other corner of the room.

Booth looked at the paper once more, and put it in his pocket. His presence obviously made her uncomfortable, and he figured he could get someone else to interrogate her, so he turned and left the office. But as he walked farther and farther away from her, he regretted not even thanking her for her efforts to help.

But in an instant the regret was gone.

-

Temperance watched as Booth didn't look back. No thank you, not even an acknowledgement of her efforts. At first she was filled with sadness by the fact that he was so unkind to her, but it was shortly replaced with regret of ever breaking off the partnership, and telling him that she wanted nothing to do with him. That last part had been a mistake. And now she had to pay the consequences.

But then the regret was gone, replaced now by anger towards the FBI agent but even more towards the bastards who took his son. She just hoped the number she had given Booth would lead them somewhere. It was all she could think of to do to help.

-

As Booth got out of his car where a few other Agents were standing around, he waved one of them over. "Don! I have a job for you."

A younger man, who looked older by his already receding hairline, with and thin frame and a caveman brow jogged his way over to Booth. "Yeah, Booth?"

Booth handed Don the post-it from Brennan. "I want you and your boys to work on that name and that number. I want everything. Address, first names, tax records, I want to know whether or not they drool when they sleep, what time of day they take a shit, and I want it in three hours. Am I clear?"

"Yeah, Booth. You got it." Don began to walk away when he stopped himself and turned back to Booth. "Do you think this will help us find your kid?"

"I sure as hell hope so," Booth replied before turning back to the other few Agents. "Come on, people, let's move!"

-

"…and when they do talk, it's like when they first met. Except without the flirting," Angela finished.

"But flirting was all they did," Hodgins said with a confused face.

"Exactly."

"Maybe they'd just had enough of each other," he offered.

"Improbable," Zack chimed in.

"Why?" Hodgins asked indignantly.

"Angela said that shortly before Dr. Brennan ended her partnership with Booth, she spoke to her about him. And Dr. Brennan was completely fine with it. It's highly improbable that Dr. Brennan grew tired of Booth in less than a work day. Besides, if she was going to have enough of him, if would have happened a long time ago," Zack explained. "And," he added, "it was purely one-sided."

"This is insane," Angela said, shaking her head. "It just doesn't fit together. Brenn could never have enough of him, and she knows it. And Zack's right."

"Which part?" Zack sounded encouraged at the fact that he got something right.

"If Brenn was to gave enough of him, it would've happened week one. He's a guy you either love or hate. And I know Brenn, and I know they have the former going on."

"Then how do you explain it?" Hodgins still believed that he was right. "What could have possibly happened that would make Brennan's skin turn inside out like that?"

"Ew," Zack said from the sideline, taking Hodgins' words literally. His comment went unnoticed.

"That's what we're talking about, Jack!" Angela rolled her eyes and continued to think about what Brennan's reason had been. The others followed suit.

After many minutes of silence, Jack snapped his fingers and slammed his palm onto the table. "I got it."

"What?" Angela asked, hoping he was being serious.

"Brennan and Booth have been dating for a while behind our backs. Their relationship goes a little farther than planned. Booth likes it, and he thinks they should continue, he possibly even wants to tell us about it. But Brennan's rational side gets the better of her, and she realizes after talking to Angela that she can't have a relationship with Booth."

The other two just kind of stared at him for a minute.

Angela broke the silence. "If Brenn and Booth were doing things that I should've known about, I would've known about it. No way can she keep stuff like that from me."

"She's keeping all of this from you, isn't she, Angela?" Zack asked honestly.

"Well you think of something better, then."

"Blackmail," Zack answered.

That got Angela interested. "Blackmail? Well, who's the blackmailee and the blackmailer? And why?" she asked.

"Brennan's being blackmailed by whoever has Booth's son."

"What does that have to do with their partnership?" Hodgins challenged.

Zack paused. "I…I'm still working on that."

"It's a ridiculous theory anyway. Well, Angela. What's your theory?" Jack asked.

"Well, at first I thought Booth might have said something to her and triggered an epiphany of sorts. Maybe it was the fact that he hadn't been to the lab for so long. Maybe it was about something we don't know about. But I don't think Booth knows why either, because he looked pretty confused right after the fact."

The three squints were quiet for a minute, each saying "damn" in their own turn. It sounded a bit odd out of Zack's mouth.

"Dammit!" Angela finished with a second time, much louder. "None of it makes sense! And why won't she tell me?" Angela stood up determinedly. "I'm going to go talk to her."

Jack grabbed her arm. "Didn't you already try that?"

"Not this way, I haven't."

"It won't work," Zack predicted to Jack once Angela had gone.

"You know, Zack, Angela is an amazing woman. I think you might be surprised as to what she can do."

The young genius just kind of stared at him.

-

Angela walked into an empty office. Temperance was gone.

"Damn," she said again.

-

AN: Alright, so I'm very curious about what your suspicions are as to Brennan's actions. We now know what the squints think, but what about the readers? Reviews would really help me get a grasp on where you all want this to go. So…please and thank you!