AN: I'm sorry about the delay. Writer's block decided to pay me a little visit half way through this chapter. I pulled it up on my computer every single day for the last week, and didn't get very far. So I'm sorry if it's a little choppy. It didn't come to me all in one sitting like some of the other chapters did.

Enjoy.

-

Without You – Chapter 10

-

"Booth, sweetie, this is Angela. Listen, you're not going to believe who showed up at the lab. Well, I've got Parker here with me, and since I can't get a hold of you or Brenn, and I don't know Rebecca's number, I'm going to take Parker to my apartment. Come by and pick him up whenever you want. I'll be up. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"Temperance, darling, you left your cell phone in your office. No matter, I know that you're going to get this message anyway. Now, I thought we had an agreement. You weren't supposed to tell Agent Booth about our calls. But you did. And you see, I told you that if you did what I told you, everything would be alright for you. But you didn't do what I said, see, and now you're forcing me to do things the hard way again. Now you've forced me to take another person, and it hurts me to do so. And I want you to know that I am not above doing unspeakable things to her. But I warned you. Now things are going to get complicated because you ruined my plan. I'll be seeing you soon, Tempe. Sooner than you think."

Brennan stared forward as Booth set his phone in his lap. "What are you thinking?" she asked, having finally calmed down a bit, now wondering why she had reacted like she had. She couldn't figure out why she had been crying.

"I'm thinking that there's no doubt in the world that your phone buddy has Parker. And I think he has Angela." Booth checked something on his phone. "And the second call was from the Mattia home number."

"He has Angela," she repeated, mostly to herself to let that sink in.

"And he said 'take another person', so my guess is the other was Parker. Because he obviously wants you to know about it, so I don't think he has anyone else," Booth reasoned.

Brennan was quiet for a minute. "Why is this happening?"

"I don't know," Booth admitted. "I really just don't know."

"There seems to be a lot of that going around recently," Brennan said, sighing and leaning back in her seat. "How long until someone gets here?"

"About and hour and a half."

"That's a long time," she stated the obvious.

"We're in the middle of nowhere. Of course it's going to be a long time. It took us an hour to get out here," he snapped.

"I didn't mean it like that."

Yet another moment of silence went by and Booth kept his mouth clamped shut. Temperance tried again. "I guessed what I meant to ask was what are we going to do until then?"

Booth looked out the window. "Well, it's dark."

"Yes, Booth, I can see that."

"The address Jonathan Mattia gave me is at least another 30 minute drive, it's not worth the walk there, because if it is him, he's not at his house. It would only make sense for him to be at his house if he's not your phone buddy. So we're just gonna wait, and when we get a ride back into the city, we'll go to the lab and see if Angela left us anything we can work off of. Okay?"

"Alright, that seems logical. But…what about until then? Until we get a ride back into the city."

"Well, I guess until then you're just gonna have to deal with my company," he said, giving her the smallest of smiles.

And of course, she didn't catch it. Instead, she took it seriously. "I have to deal with your company? I have no problem with your company!" she exploded. "It's you! You, even though I've already explained to you why I did what I did! I had to."

"Since when did you become so weak-minded, Brennan?" Booth retorted, equally as loud. "How could you let someone like that little weasel twist your mind to the point where you thought that you had to do what he said?" He looked at her, but she wasn't looking. "For as long as I've known you, you've been the most strong-minded and stubborn pain in the ass I've ever known."

"I'll take that as a complement."

"It's just hard for me to believe your story. I used to worry about you, that you'd do something stupid because you didn't care what criminals threatened to do to you. And now you say that the reason you went with his plans was that he threatened you? It just doesn't fit, it doesn't make sense. Not with you."

"It wasn't the fact that he threatened me, Booth. I've been threatened before, and it was different. Were you even listening when I was telling you what he said to me? Did you hear me when I said that he threatened to do something to you? I don't care about whether or not someone threatens me because I have control over that. But when he threatened the people I care about…it just really made me feel like I had no other choice because I couldn't always be there to ensure that nothing happened."

"God, you're starting to sound like me," Booth sighed. "But why couldn't you tell me? I'm a member of the FBI, for Christ's sake! What made you think I couldn't handle it?"

"I…" Brennan faltered and looked down at her hands, and when she met Booth's eyes again, there was something there that neither of the knew what was. "I was scared, Booth. I didn't want anything to happen to you. I knew that if you were hurt again because of me, I wouldn't be able to take it anymore."

"What are you talking about?"

"The bomb in my fridge. It was meant for me," she answered, her eyes fixed on her hands so he might not notice the tears. "It was meant to kill me and it almost killed you. It would've killed you. Do you realize what a burden that is? You try to protect me and die. It just seems like that the only way it works."

"Where are you going with this?" Booth asked in his hardest voice, or at least it seemed so because Brennan's was so soft and shaky. "What are you trying to say? That you'd rather have this guy kill you than me get hurt?"

She shook her head. "I don't know."

"Because that behavior is…stupid. It's stupid, and it's going to get you killed," he continued, getting angry.

"Why are you so angry with me about this?" Temperance whispered. "You did the same for me…"

"I did it because I cared about you, Temperance."

"And you think my reason is any different? Can you not contemplate the fact that I might actually have human feelings? That I might actually care about you too?" Without waiting for an answer, Temperance opened her door and got out.

A moment later, Booth's voice came from behind her. "Where are you going?"

"Away."

He caught up to her and grabbed a hold of her arm, stopping her from going any further. "No, Brennan. No way. You can be mad at me, that's fine. But do you remember that we have some kidnapping maniac sending you love messages on my phone because he knew you'd be with me?"

Brennan rolled her eyes. Booth continued. "I get that I'm probably the last person in the world right now that you want to spend time in a car with, and I'm sorry for that, I really am. But you can't be walking around out here alone, and I have to wait with the car. I know you want to take care of yourself, Brennan, but this isn't about you. It's about Parker and Angela and anyone else this psycho might take from us. And I can't have you going and getting yourself kidnapped to make this even harder. I need your help, Brennan. I really do."

Temperance crossed her arms and let out an angry sigh. "You wait in the car. I'm not sitting in that car with you for another hour, but I'll stay where you can see me. Happy?"

-

Angela knew that she wouldn't be able to see anything before she even attempted to open her eyes. She could feel the pressure of the blindfold around the back of her head. And the pressure of something binding her wrists and ankles to a chair. She couldn't move, couldn't see.

And it scared the crap out of her. She was going to beat whoever did this to her into the ground.

Or at least, she knew that's what Brenn would be thinking. She was the one who had been in this situation before. Angela, however, had just been the one to worry about her best friend. She never thought it'd happen to her.

Angela knew, though, that it had been stupid of her to just waltz out of the Jeffersonian with Parker in tow without any kind of caution. And she knew that she should've known that something was wrong the second Parker showed up in the lab. They had used him as bait to get her out where there was no security.

And now she was here. Alone.

"Angela."

Or maybe not as alone as she thought. She froze at the sound of the voice that didn't sound either male or female, the same voice she imagined from Brenn's description to Booth. She waited for what seemed like an eternity before saying something. "What…what do you want from me?" Think like Brenn. Do what Brenn would do, she told herself. You are Brenn.

"Oh, don't worry. You can just keep your little care free artist attitude, because I'm not going to hurt you." Whoever was talking to her was walking in circles around her. From the authority the voice held, Angela assumed it was a man.

"Then…what are you doing?" She tried to no avail to hide the quiver of fear in her voice.

He went on as if she hadn't spoken. "Well, I won't do anything to you unless our dear Doctor Brennan decides to do something heroic and stupid."

"Where's Parker?"

"You need not worry about him. He's fine. What kind of person do you think I am? I wouldn't hurt an innocent child."

"You…you kidnapped him and used him as…as bait to get to me." Angela hoped she sounded braver than she felt. "That's what kind of person I think you are."

"You know?" The voice softened a bit, it sounded almost affectionate. "You're a brave little firecracker. I was expecting this kind of back talk from Miss Temperance, but not from you. I expected you to be afraid of me. I'll admit, you've surprised me."

Angela felt an unexpected strong hand collide with her face as he slapped her. Hard. Behind her eyelids she saw stars. The slap confirmed her guess that it was a man. Or one very manly woman.

The voice was now angrier than ever. "And do you have any idea how much I hate being surprised?" He back handed her other cheek. "You little bitch," he said, resuming his circling of Angela's chair. Then he began a throaty laugh.

"I have done so much for this. I have worked so hard. And now you come in and just…completely mess everything up. But not…not nearly as much as 'Brenn'," he used her nickname in a mocking voice. "She told me she'd do what I said. And I believed she would. I thought she'd stick with it."

"You obviously don't know her," Angela said to the blackness in front of her.

"Shut up," he ordered before continuing his monologue. "I think she's got feelings for Agent Booth."

"We share the same opinion." Oh my god. Did I…? I did. I'm being a smart-ass with someone who could kill me any time he wanted. Oh my god.

This time the blow came from the side again, but it was his fist instead of his palm. Angela felt a ring on his finger tear the flesh of her cheek and let out a shout of pain. She felt her cheek grow warm and begin to bleed. "Didn't I tell you to shut up? You're not supposed to be doing this! You are afraid of what you cannot see. You are the artist. You've never been in this situation before. This isn't something you know how to deal with." He took a deep breath, and when he began to speak again, he was yelling. "Now will you just stop being such a bitch, sit there quietly and be scared?"

Angela shut up like he asked. Now she was afraid. He had major anger issues and sounded like he was about to throw something at her. For a second she wondered why she hadn't been afraid a moment before. She had every reason to fear for her life.

Seeing that she wasn't going to say anything else for a while, he calmed down. "There," he said softly, his hand making soft contact with her jaw. Angela pulled back, but he grabbed her chin in one hand. "Now be a good little girl while I take care of some business. Some friends of yours had some car trouble and I have to make sure everything goes as planned. Okay, sweetie?"

Angela wanted to puke, but managed to nod.

-

Booth watched his ex-partner cross and re-cross the dark street to his left. He knew she wasn't a pacer, but not doing something productive was obviously taking a toll on her. He also knew that the way he was watching her wasn't entirely in the protective, bored-out-of-my-mind way, but that there was the attraction factor in there. He reasoned with himself that he was a man with nothing better to do. Even though he didn't believe it.

Finally, two pairs of headlights approached them, and Brennan returned to the car. The first set was another black FBI-issued SUV like Booth's, and the second was a tow truck. Booth got out as the SUV stopped on the opposite shoulder. An agent climbed out and shook Booth's hand.

"Hello, Agent Booth, I'm Agent Halton."

Brennan had come to stand beside Booth, and her and Halton shook hands. "Doctor Brennan, the Bone Lady, right?" Halton asked. Brennan shot Booth a glare that could kill before nodding.

Halton got right down to business. "My orders were to let you and Doctor Brennan take other SUV and I'll take care of the towing and everything else. You'll have access to that vehicle until yours is fixed."

Brennan went to sit in the back-up SUV while final arrangements were made and Booth got a few things out of his car. He then came up and opened her passenger's door. She gave him a confused look.

Booth handed her the single key. "You're driving."

She didn't argue the point and got into the driver's seat.

Booth got into the car and they rode the hour back to the Jeffersonian in silence, aside from Booth calling and informing people about where they now stood on the case. When they arrived at the lab, security had already opened everything up for them.

"We should probably start in Angela's office," Temperance said. Booth mumbled an agreement and they got to work.

Reaching Angela's office, Booth scanned the room and immediately opened the closet door. "She took her purse…and any jacket she might've had," he observed aloud.

"She must've closed things up. All her art materials are put away," Brennan noted, looking over the desk. The flipped over piece of sketch paper caught her eye and she flipped it back over, momentarily distracted by curiosity.

Dear god. It was gorgeous. He was gorgeous.

"Booth, look," she said, waving him over before she could stop herself.

He came over to stand beside her. "Well, would you look at that. That girl's got some talent. It exactly right," Booth said, then thought for a second. "You'd think she drew people's faces for a living or something."

The two of them stared at the picture for a minute, and for the first time since their whole ordeal began, they were both smiling at the same time.

Brennan began to set the picture back down, but before they got back to work, Booth had to add one last thing:

"Hot damn, we're gorgeous."

-

AN: What? What's this? It's not a complete cliffy? I'm such a failure. But I thought it was a good place to stop, and I knew a few people who could use a break from my dramatic chapter endings. So…there.

Please review! I'm in desperate need to know what you think, and they keep me going. Thanks!