Author's Note: Thanks again to all those we are reading this story, it really has become something special to me and I hope you are enjoying reading this as much as I'm enjoying writing it. I appreciate each alert and review very much. Look for this story to be updated around the first of each week (hopefully each Monday, as my "real life" commitments allow). There are twenty chapters in total.

Booth hadn't been happy when Bones had told him about the conversation she had with his mother. They had made their dinner in silence. Booth rolled out the pasta dough while Brennan cut it into shape and put it on to boil. He made Hank's signature tomato sauce. She put the garlic bread in the oven.

Every time she started to talk about his mom, he changed the subject.

"We have to pick Parker up tomorrow after school. It's our Wednesday."

"I know. Booth-" before she could finish the timer sounded, signaling that the bread was finished.

"I'll get it, a proper pasta dinner is not complete without garlic bread," he said.

Christine wailed and Brennan noticed that she had dropped Monkey. She handed the stuffed toy back to her daughter. She couldn't believe her own progeny had such an attachment to a blue monkey. She feared it might take years to teach her daughter that monkeys were not supposed to be blue. Brennan foresaw many educational trips to the zoo in their future.

"Here you go." Booth filled Brennan's plate with spaghetti and bread before walking over to sit down in front of his own plate. He used a quick hand to keep Monkey from being slung across the room again.

"You need to talk to her, Booth."

"It's just a phase. She'll eventually stop slinging Monkey just to watch us pick him up again."

Brennan raised her eyebrows at his sarcasm. "You know what I meant."

"No," he said as he took another bite of his spaghetti.

"Yes, you do."

"Yes, I know what you meant but no, I'm not going to talk to her. Just forget it."

"I wish I could," Brennan said in the general direction of her plate of noodles.

"You did talk to her Bones."

"That's not what I meant." Brennan looked up from her food and made eye contact with him as she spoke louder. "I wish I could talk to my mom. I wish she could meet Christine. Meet you and Parker. I regret every day that I'll never get to see or talk to her again. You have that chance and you're passing it up. I find that it makes me angry at you."

Booth almost bought into the lost little girl look that she had on her face. But then his resolve returned. "The atheist cannot play the Catholic guilt card. Sorry, babe."

"I don't know what that means."

"It means I don't want to talk to her Bones, and I don't want to talk about her either."

"You wanted to know if she was your mother before."

"I just wanted to know why she was following us. That's not normal; she could've just told us who she was."

"She couldn't Booth. She was afraid to. I told you what she said; she thought you were dead. Just listen to her story. If you don't soon then George will take her back and you'll miss your chance. I know you and you will always regret not talking to your mom."

"Take her back where? And quit talking about this George like you know him."

"To the place, she doesn't know where it is, but it's where she lives."

"She lied Bones, she lied by never telling me the truth."

"Your father was the liar Booth. She was as much a victim in this as you and Jared were."

Booth laid his fork down as he found himself locked in Brennan's gaze. As much as he'd fought it, her pleading eyes had won. "I don't understand. Was she a hostage there? If she wasn't then why didn't she just leave?"

"I think she was a hostage Booth. She didn't think that she had any reason not to stay there. And I also think that she is very intimidated by The Leader."

"But earlier you said she was grateful to The Leader? So which is it Bones?"

"I'm not sure she knows. She's been brain washed Booth. But she knows that she wants a relationship with you now. Please, just talk to her. You will never forgive yourself if you let her leave without having a conversation with her."

Booth chewed his lower lip; this entire situation was confusing for him. "I want to know who George is. Did he kidnap her? Does she want us to rescue her?"

"I find him to be pleasant enough and your mother doesn't seem fearful of him. We were alone when I first spoke with her. And you saw her alone in the hotel as well. If she were trying to get away from him, she could have."

After dinner Booth and Brennan sat on their couch. He held a laptop, she held the baby. The baby held Monkey. They quickly learned that it was going to be harder than googling "mysterious, cult-like secret facility," to learn where his mother had been held. They exchanged glances as the search produced less than desirable results. Brennan spoke first. "We should have known that wasn't going to work."

"It was worth a shot. I'll access the Bureau's databases."

"Why didn't we do that first?"

Booth shrugged his shoulders. Truth was he had no idea where to start. As he entered his government ID and password he wished they had more information to enter into the search fields. They were both pleasantly surprised when their search turned up a list of seventeen different associations. Each was suspected of underground activities. After careful examination, none stood out as a candidate for The Facility.

"I'll print the list; we can look into these more tomorrow."

"Do you think you can get anyone at the Bureau to help?"

"I'd like to keep this quiet but I have a few people I can trust."

Brennan bounced Christine on her knee, the baby squealing with delight as her mother made silly noises at her. Booth smiled as he continued looking through the FBI databases. Searches for "The Leader" and George Santora came up empty. "It's obvious Santora isn't his real name and he hasn't used it for an alias before either. Or if he has then he didn't use it for any illegal activity that got the attention of officials."

"Having the name of The Leader would be beneficial."

The sincere look on her face while she stated the obvious would've made Booth laugh if he weren't so nervous. Finding himself at a loss for anything else to enter into his search he took a new direction. As the image of his mother's death certificate appeared on the screen Booth exclaimed, "Bingo baby."

Brennan looked from Booth to the screen and back again, puzzled as to what he thought was such an important clue. "It says your mother died of natural causes, I'm not sure what is making you this excited."

"Mom told you that a doctor gave her an injection? The night that she thought me and Jared were killed?"

"Oh, yes, she did. Do you think that it's the same doctor who helped forge the death certificate?"

Booth nodded as he trained his attention on the physician's name scrawled along the bottom of the certificate as a witness to her death, writing it down with plans to interview the man the next day. This victory was short lived though as a search of the man's name turned up that he had died himself just days after Hester's funeral.

"Do you think The Leader killed him?" Brennan asked with a frown.

"Or had him killed. Absolutely. What they hell are we dealing with here Bones?"

"Why do you think this man wanted your mom? How did he know her?"

"Maybe Dad offered her up."

"Is there a way to see if your father received a large sum of money around the time of your mother's disappearance?"

"Maybe. But not here, I'll have to call in a favor in the morning." Booth logged out of the FBI secure databases and shut the lid on the laptop, laying it on the coffee table as he pulled Brennan to his side. "This doesn't seem real."

"But it is real, Booth."

"I meant metaphorically, Bones. It isn't often that people return from the dead."

"But she didn't. She wasn't ever actually dead Booth." She caught him staring at her and realized what she was saying. "Oh, you're still being metaphorical."

He nodded, "I'm having a hard time accepting that she's here now."

Brennan rubbed his knee in an attempt to comfort him, "I suspect that those feelings are perfectly normal."

"There's nothing normal about any of this."

As Booth leaned in to kiss her he was rewarded by a smack in the face from Monkey. "Hey!" He made a show of acting injured which elicited laughter from both his girls. He mocked shock at their reactions, rubbing his nose before adding, "It's a good thing the two of you are so cute."

They agreed to meet on Thursday afternoon. Booth didn't want Parker involved so he waited until after he had gone back to Rebecca's. He had enlisted the help of a couple other agents but so far they hadn't made any progress in determining how his father had initially made contact with The Leader. Booth made plans to meet his mother at four pm at the Capital Grind. It had rained earlier in the day and Booth used a paper towel to dry seats for both of them. He had come to the coffee cart alone. He hoped that she would as well.

"Seeley."

"Hi." He chewed on the word mom but in the end couldn't bring himself to say it. "Sit down. I see you brought your friend."

"I don't like leaving the hotel alone. It makes me very uneasy. The outside world has changed tremendously since I left it. Besides, George wants to make sure that I don't say anything to you that isn't safe for you to hear."

"What isn't safe? I don't understand."

"The place I've been, it's very secretive. If they find out that we've told outsiders anything, they'll be upset. They go to great lengths to keep their secrets."

Booth recalled the hours he and Brennan had spent on Monday evening searching for information. Secret was a very good word for The Facility. "You think they'd hurt me or my family?"

"It's possible," George interjected.

"Then I don't think I want to talk to you."

"They don't know that we're talking Seeley. They only know what George tells them, and he promised not to tell them anything."

"We can trust him?"

"I have formed a bond with your mother. I will make sure that she isn't harmed. But we don't have forever. They will begin to doubt me and look into the situation themselves if we don't return soon."

"How long do we have?"

"That's hard to say. But you don't want to waste any time. I'm going to leave the two of you alone for a while. Remember Hester; be careful with what information you share." He walked away, still keeping them within viewing distance, while giving them some privacy.

Booth's natural instinct was to demand to know exactly what secrets George didn't want his mother to tell him. Instead he swallowed the bile that had risen in his throat while watching his mother take orders from this stranger. He realized that it was going to take a lot of work to earn her trust and the best way to start was to at least pretend to play by her rules.

"Let me go get you a coffee," Booth said breaking the tension and earning a smile from his mother.

"Are you still with 44?"

"Yes, we're having a cup of coffee." George had never lied to The Leader before and he silently cursed the man's sense of timing.

"She hasn't made contact with anyone from her old life, has she?"

"She had seen her son and grandchildren from a distance only. I told her of the importance of not speaking with them and she is compliant."

"I'm always fearful during these field trips. If she does make contact with her family she may became so focused on them that she may not want to return to us."

"The Inhabitants have always chosen to return with me in the past."

"Yes, I remember. But this one is wily, she may want to escape. You have the proper resources with you in case she tries to run, correct?"

George instinctively let his hand slide to the 38 magnum on his side, "Yes sir."