Glad everyone enjoyed the fluff from last chapter, I certainly did. lol.
"Booth! Stop arguing." Brennan hid her smile by bending over and collecting his bag of pictures and clothes.
Booth sat cradling one arm protectively over his sore ribs, legs swinging over the edge of the hospital bed.
"But I always drive!" He whined, the nurse poking and prodding him as she made her final exam.
"Sorry Mr. Booth, but you're not fit to drive so recent after a head injury. Not to mention all the pain killers you're on." She muttered while concentrating on taking his blood pressure.
Booth just rolled his eyes and chose to ignore the smug smile on Brennan's face.
The nurse finished up and soon found that trying to convince the headstrong FBI agent to take a seat in a wheelchair was a long walk up a down-ward escalator and she let it go. Shaking her head as he sauntered out of the hospital room after his girlfriend.
Booth's right hand sought out Brennan's left in the elevator and he saw her smile in his peripheral vision. He also found his self control considerably depleted after his extended stay in the hospital and without thinking, Booth tugged her toward him as they passed the sixth floor.
She was caught off guard and fell clumsily into his arms. Fifth floor.
"What are you laughing at?" He grinned. Fourth floor.
"Nothing." Her face was inches from his. Third floor.
"Oh really?" He smiled and pressed his lips to hers gently, surges of electricity emanating from his lips coursed through his body. Second floor.
Brennen responded immediately, dropping his bag and wrapping her arms around his neck.
First floor. The doors dinged and opened, revealing a mostly empty hallway, except for a blonde woman, clutching the hand of an equally blonde, grimacing four-year-old who stood next to a bouncing brunette.
"Brennan!!" Angela squealed and clapped her hands, the grin on her face painfully big.
Booth and Brennean jumped apart, blushing deeply.
"Daddy, cooties!" Parker covered his face with his hands and shook his head disapprovingly.
Booth looked at his son for a second before leaving the elevator in as close to a run as he could manage with his sore muscles.
Parker looked up and jumped into his father's arms, who bit back a cry of pain as his child unknowingly kicked him in his damaged ribs.
Brennan noticed this and quickly grabbed Parker from Booth and set him on a nearby countertop.
Booth glanced at her thankfully and turned to his son, who was wearing an uncharacteristically worried expression.
"What is it buddy?" Booth touched his son's hair and tilted his head to the side to meet Parker's gaze.
They brimmed with tears.
"I thought you're memory got losted." He looked up at his father, trust and faith personified in his face.
Booth's eyes flickered with pain and he pulled his son into a hug.
"Oh, Parker." He closed his eyes and felt Brennan's reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Buddy, I'm fine. Okay? Daddy's all better now."
Booth rocked him slowly and Parker held togiht to his father's neck.
"Promise?"
Booth pulled back and looked at him. "Parker. I'm sorry I scared you, but I promise I could never forget you."
It was true, Parker's face had been one of the most prominent figures in Booth's hazy, yet consistent dreams.
Parker nodded and Booth kissed him on the forehead.
"I love you Daddy."
"Love you too son."
Rebecca smiled warmly at Booth as she pulled Parker off the counter.
"C'mon Buddy, you have a haircut appointment." Parker nodded, but wiggled out of his mother's grip long enough to wrap himself tightly around Brennan's legs.
"I love you too Elmo. Take care of Daddy okay?"
Brennan knelt down and hugged him. "I'll take good care of him Parker, I promise."
--------------------------------------
Brennan dashed into Wong Fu's and found that, somehow, Sid already had food boxed up and waiting for her.
"How'd you know?" She asked as she gathered the bags into her arms.
Sid just smiled knowingly and waved her goodbye returning to the kitchen.
Brennan shook her head as she climbed back into Booth's SUV. He looked at her with tired eyes, exhaustion taking it's toll.
"What are you smiling at?"
She shrugged, "Sid's just weird. That's all." Then, glancing at Booth, concern took away her brightness.
"Are you okay?" She reached for his hand and he squeezed it.
"I'm fine. Just tired." He half lied. He was tired, but he was also dreading getting to his mail when he got back to his apartment. Regaining his memory meant a lot of things, being able to recognize the faces of friends and family first and foremost. But with that he got back the memory of a certain General and an unwelcome heaviness was felt again in his heart.
Three weeks had passed, surly he'd gotten a new assignment since then.
But maybe not. Maybe the General somehow knows about my accident…
"Booth?" Brennan pulled him from his thoughts and he blinked at her, "I said we're here."
He nodded and fumbled with his door handle. The pain meds were really kicking in as he slowly made his way up the steps to his apartment, feeling groggier by the moment.
Brennan noticed his drowsiness as he leaned against the wall in the hallway and she searched her key ring for her spare key.
"They said those meds might make you go to sleep." She pushed the door open and flicked on the light.
"Yeah." Booth agreed, immediately going to the pile of mail behind the door that had been slipped through his mail slot over the past three weeks.
All he found were bills and junk mail, and Booth breathed a sigh of relief.
"Why don't you head to bed? I'll cook something for when you wake up later." Brennan started to walk past him into the kitchen but he caught her elbow, pulling her toward him.
"Booth…"
She shut up when Booth's mouth crashed into hers. She melted in his arms, Booth's relief at not finding the dreaded envelope gave him a second wind, all traces of drowsiness forgotten for the moment. All he could think, feel, were her lips against his.
The two pulled back and gasped for air. Brennan was the first to speak as Booth relazed his grrip on her waist.
"Why did you do that?" She wiped the corners of her mouth, the wide smile making that action slightly difficult.
Booth just smiled dreamily.
"Because I can."
Brennan smiled in return, then her eyes widened.
"I just got an idea for my book." She patted her pockets and pulled out a receipt. "I need a pen."
Booth got a cocky grin on his face as he reached for a pen on the table, "My kissing you reminds you of your book? I told you Andy was based on me."
Brennan glared at him, then jotted a quick note on the back of the receipt.
Booth studied her in admiration, taking in the focused crease on her forehead as she concentrated, the nearly unreadable scrawl of her handwriting and the way a small clump of hair never stayed behind her ear no matter how often she pushed it back.
He'd reached out to correct the rebellious lock when Brennan suddenly stood straight and handed him back the pen.
"Thanks Booth I…" She stopped, he was staring at the pen with a confused look on his face.
"Booth?"
Fulton Creek Bank…That's not right.
He furrowed his brow, unaware of Brennen calling his name.
Mills Inn. That's what this pen should say, I took it from that crummy motel. I remember…I dropped it here when I got back from Oregon…then I…
"Booth?" Brennan said again, confused by his sudden change in mood. He looked up at her, as if seeing her for the first time, opened his mouth to say something and then shut it.
He turned and walked quickly down the hall.
"Booth what's going on? Are you alright?" She followed him to his office and found him hunting through some drawers in his desk. Producing a key from the top left one, he walked over to the filing cabinet in the corner, still ignoring her calling his name.
Booth's hands shook as he placed the key in the lock.
Stop it Seeley! You're getting excited over nothing. You probably misplaced the other pen.
He wanted to believe that, but somehow couldn't bring himself to do so. He didn't often misplace things.
Brennan felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and answered it, keeping a watchful eye on Booth as he rummaged frantically through the filing cabinet.
"Brennan."
"Dr. Brennen, this is Zack. Umm…I needed to ask you…" Zack fumbled.
"What is it Zack?"
"Well…you remember the remains of Isaiah Patrickson?"
Brennan frowned. "Not specifically Zack, I don't use their names."
"Sorry, the remains that were sent to us from Crater Lake National Park? The ones from the day…"
"Yes Zack, I know which remains you're talking about." Brennan cut him off, not wanting to remember the actual circumstances of her last examination of those remains. She glanced again at Booth.
"Well…did you…move them?"
Brennen blinked.
"No Zack. Why would I move them?"
"Well…it's just that…they're not…well, what I mean is that…there are different remains in the box assigned to those bones." Zack winced, waiting for his former boss and mentor to blow up in his ear.
Booth slammed the heavy file drawer shut, the exertion causing his sore ribs to protest, and he resisted the urge to throw a nearby bookend through the window.
They were gone. The files. All his papers, photos and records from his classified missions in the last two months. Gone.
Booth closed his eyes to try and clear his mind a little and think, but Brennan's voice was making it difficult. He took note of the hint of annoyance and alarm in it and turned toward her.
"What do you mean they're not the same bones Zack?"
"I was going to take another look at the remains for my report, Dr. Brennan but when I pulled them out, I realized they weren't the right bones. The remains of Isaiah Patrickson were killed by a gunshot wound to the parietal bone, these remains have no discernable cause of death, no identifying markers. It's not the same body." Zack said in one breath.
Booth stood directly in front of Brennan now, she looked up at him, anger and confusion warring in her eyes.
"Alright Zack, listen to me. Talk to the other lab techs, see if anyone had any reason to move those bones. If not, get Angela to help you look at the security footage and call me if you find anything." She shut her phone and returned it to her pocket before the urge to throw it became unbearable.
"What happened?"
"Someone stole my bones!" She pursed her lips and crossed her arms. "That was Zack. He said a set of bones was taken and replaced with a different set. Someone stole my bones."
Booth narrowed his eyes, his stomach filling with the old familiar knot often accompanied by one of his famous 'gut instincts'.
"The bones from Oregon?"
This time Brennen's eyes narrowed.
"How'd you know that?"
Booth licked his dry lips and looked at his filing cabinet, then at the pen, clutched tightly in his fist. He closed his eyes.
This is not happening. This is definitely not happening.
Oh boy...now the trouble starts...