Caroline had been right. George had left the prison and taken a cab to Booth and Brennan's home. And he had collided with Max's fist when he tried to walk through the front door. When he returned home Booth found his mom sitting on the front porch steps holding a bag of ice against George's face.
Booth didn't waste time being friendly. "You need to go back, you leave my mother here."
"That decision is up to her, Seeley."
"Really? All this time I thought the problem was that the decision was up to you. If it was really up to her you could've gone back weeks ago, saved all of us a lot of trouble."
"Seeley, please, it isn't that simple." His mother pleaded.
"It seems pretty simply from where I stand, Mom. The two of you have been making this out to be my choice. A choice between my mom and my wife. But it's not. It's your choice, isn't it? If George is saying that it's up to you, then it's your choice. You have to choose between me and him."
"Seeley." His mother stood, handing the ice pack to George and followed him toward the front door.
Booth didn't even look back at her. "It's up to you. You're welcome to stay here as long as you want, Mom. But if I ever see your face again," he said, turning suddenly to speak to George, "you're a dead man."
Hester slumped down on the steps and George laid a hand on her back as he sat down to join her.
"We've outstayed our welcome, Hester. We have to go back."
"I cannot return if things remain the way that they were.
"What do you mean? What have they said to you?"
"They have evidence, George. The Leader paid my husband so that he could take me. Then he helped him fake my death and he lied to me. He has been lying to me the entire time. Who else has he lied to?"
George was staring at her with a skeptical look on his face. He simply refused to believe that The Leader was a liar.
"I'm going back George. But I'm not going back to be a sheep of The Leader."
"What do you mean Hester? What are you trying to say?" His shock was evident as he subconsciously distanced himself from her on the porch.
"Tell me about the evacuation plan."
George audibly gasped, "How did you know?"
"Apparently I am very naïve, but I am not a fool."
"We can't do something like that without the permission of The Leader."
"We're going to take him out of the equation."
George was fiercely shaking his head, unable to form words.
"I have made my decision. And I would like for you to help me. I want to return to my life; to my friends. To the way you and I were before we came here. Before I learned the truth. But I will not return to letting this man hurt people that I love."
"Hester they seem to have convinced you but I'm not sure you have convinced me."
"Receipts, George. Computer files, money transfers…they have too much evidence for me to not believe them."
George sat silently on the steps, thinking about what she had told him. He slowly began to admit to himself that he had seen things at The Facility that supported Seeley's evidence. He had always dismissed it before but now the case was stronger, and impossible to ignore.
"What you're asking Hester. It's, it's too much."
She nodded and took a deep breath before she continued, "If you don't want to help me then I suppose you can tell The Leader my plans. But we are both well aware that if you choose to inform him of my intentions, that they will end my life before they let me interfere with theirs."
"Here, have some pasta," Max slid a plate of spaghetti toward his son-in-law.
"I'm not really hungry."
"You've barely eaten since Tempe left."
"It's not been a priority Max."
"You're talking to a man who had to walk away from his children to save their lives. I get difficult decisions Booth."
"How the hell do our lives end up so complicated?"
"I don't know. They just do."
"That's insightful," Booth laughed, bitterly.
Christine's cries filled the room, coming from over the baby monitor that sat on the table between her father and grandfather.
Booth spotted Monkey sitting on the counter beside the refrigerator. "Aw Max, you put her to bed without Monkey? No wonder she's awake."
"She was out like a light; I didn't think she'd notice. You know that child's attachment to that stuffed monkey is not normal."
"Yeah, well, she has to fit into this family somehow, right?" Booth grabbed Monkey and walked into his daughter's room.
She had stopped crying and was sitting up in her crib as Booth walked in. "Hey there, little one. I brought Monkey."
Christine reached out for the stuffed animal but began to cry again as her dad picked her up. "I know, you want Mom. Soon, okay? I promise."
Booth swayed softly, rocking the baby side to side as he walked toward his room. He laid her and Monkey on the center of the bed as he undressed and pulled his pajamas out of the dresser drawers. He hummed as he dressed in his sleep pants and FBI t-shirt, the noise had always soothed the baby and she was content to lay there and wait on him.
As he closed the drawers he found himself staring at a picture of him and Brennan that was stuck into the side of the dresser mirror. It was taken at a Jeffersonian picnic while she was pregnant with Christine. They were standing on the National Mall and Booth had his arm wrapped around her shoulders, and his hand rested on her swollen belly. They both had huge smiles on their faces and Booth remembered that Hacker had just walked by and made a joke about their current relationship status, which had caused everyone to laugh. It was a moment of pure happiness that Angela had captured on film. Bones hadn't had too many of those moments in her life and Booth had thought that once they had gotten together that he would save her from her all that pain. He shook his head at himself as he realized that instead of saving her he had given her a whole new set of painful problems.
Booth heard a thump following by a cry from his daughter. Without looking he knew the thump was Monkey hitting the closet doors. It had been Christine's favorite game for weeks now, since she had learned that she was capable of slinging the small stuffed animal. It amused him that she always cried once she realized that she couldn't get him back. Sweets would probably say that this was a metaphor for Booth's current situation with his own mother. He had pushed her memory out of his mind for so long, happy that it was gone, but now that he realized he might lose it forever, he was devastated.
He picked Monkey up from the floor and crawled into bed with his daughter. He propped himself up on the pillows and placed Christine on his chest. Her eyes were beginning to dry as she used one hand to clutch Monkey and the other to grip his shirt. "We'll both sleep better once Mommy comes home, won't we little one?"
Christine snuggled even closer to him and he tried in vain to stop the tears from flowing down his face. He had never felt so helpless. Bones was in the hands of a madman and he had no idea how to get her back.
Snuggling with his daughter Booth fell into an exhausted, dreamless sleep. When the phone rang he bolted out of the bed, his heart pounding with being waken suddenly. Christine began to cry, wailing when her safe haven was distributed by her father's movement.
"Booth," he said into the phone angrily as he pulled his daughter into his lap to try and comfort her.
"Temperance Brennan is in Terminal 34A at Dulles National Airport." The voice on the other line was mechanical, as if it were a recording and the line disconnected before Booth could attempt to ask any questions.
He looked at the clock, it was three am. Wrapping Christine in a blanket to protect her from the cold night air, he sprung from the bed to tell his mom. He couldn't keep the smile off of his face as he raced to the guest room. Booth had no idea why The Leader had decided to return Bones before he got Hester and George back, but it didn't matter. He was going to get his wife and his mother in his life. It was perfect.
Booth knocked on the door to the guest room.
"Mom," he called several times before realizing that she wasn't going to answer. He slowly pushed the door open to discover that the bed was made, as if it had never been slept in. He checked the closet and found that their suitcases were also gone.
He should have known that it was too good to be true.
But he didn't have time to be upset now.
He had to go get his wife back.