Chapter Three

Black and Blue

Thanks to caroldpb, Splendid31, squillyfer, Sarali1983, Gemrosa, daine, TV Angel 711, BonesAddiction, shrimps1995, jade254, Mockingbird84, krazegirl, Scuddyrific, xX Melissa Xx, rae, Lisa, Aria-wolfstar, KristieM, YouAndMe Kelly, and katiedid531 for their reviews.

Disclaimer: All things pertaining to Bones belong to Hart Hanson, Kathy Reichs, FOX, and respective owners. I own nothing. I do not make any money.

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Booth had no idea what strings Cam had pulled to get the two of them off the missing child case. Apparently there had been a lot of deal making and some arguing. He cared deeply for the missing child and the dead mother, but he cared more about his partner. If someone had asked him to make such a choice five years ago, he would have never been able to choose, but now, now it was different. Now it concerned Bones. It concerned someone he saw as more than a partner, at times more than a friend, and he couldn't let that go no matter how much guilt he would feel about bailing out of the case he was supposed to be working.

Cam was back in his office. "I got us out of the case for maybe one or two days. But they want us working the deceased mother's. The child will be the responsibility of another agent."

"Thanks." Booth replied gratefully. "I keep thinking what if there's something we've missed, something that holds the answer."

"We can't do this Seeley." She started.

Booth's head jerked up and she saw his jaw clench, the way it did when he was suppressing angry and a blow out.

"I meant not alone." She quickly added. "You're an FBI agent, I'm a pathologist. There are gaps in Brennan's case that we can't fill simply because we don't have the experience."

"We have to try."

"No we don't." She cut him off. "I've called Angela, Hodgins, and Zach. They're flying in tonight. All three of them."

He was surprised, completely caught off guard. He remembered when Angela and Hodgins had quit. He had yelled at them for being cowards, for not caring enough to even try. He had roared at Zach for abandonment, told him that him leaving was a sign that he had learned nothing from Brennan. "How?" He forced out.

"Told them I was reopening the case, putting it on top. I needed help." Cam said. "Angela's still angry at you, but the other two aren't."

Booth nodded. He hadn't expected with Zach or Hodgins to forgive him, but he was sure Angela would not. He hadn't forgotten the look on Angela's face when he had raged at her, burned her with his own anger and pain, completely disregarding the fact that she was feeling the same. He had exploded on Brennan's people and Angela had been caught in the cross fire. She would not forgive him so easily.

Cam placed a stack of files on his desk. "I pulled the cases that Brennan worked with convicts that weren't in jail in the time of her disappearance. I also got the file that you and Brennan were working when she disappeared. The guy that you guys were chasing was likely the guy that took her."

Booth nodded. "I'll see if I can find the guy. I mean I've tried for the past six months, but he's just disappeared. Nothing on his credit cards. No one's seen him. He just vanished."

Cam's eyebrows narrowed with slight frustration. This case was just hitting dead end after dead end with no room to make a U-turn. "Make him unvanish." She retorted.

That got a smile out of Booth and Cam would never understand why. "I intend to." He smirked and with that ran down the hall toward his car to look at every single hideout the suspect had ever used.

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Brennan was relieved to find that Kyra was able to behave like a normal child as they drove back to the two story quaint home that had become Brennan's unknown prison. She had no idea what it was, or how the illusion peacefulness covered up something much more disturbing and sinister. The child was laughing, talking about things from ponies to clouds, an inverse of the too quiet, too mature child that she had gotten to know. It was adorable and Brennan felt herself relax in her company.

That calm, however, dissipated the moment she turned into the asphalt driveway and found Mark standing by his car with a look of dark uncontained anger on his face. She stepped out gingerly and prepared herself for being yelled at or something. It didn't seem right that such a small little thing would anger him.

"Get in the house." He told them both, grabbing her arm and pushing her forward.

Kyra whimpered and stuck herself onto Brennan's leg, trembling. Brennan felt rage build in her chest as she felt the girls' fear convey into her own emotions. It wasn't right that Mark could make her so scared. She hoisted Kyra onto her hip and let herself in with Mark following close behind, almost guarding her movements. She ignored him.

"Go to your room sweetheart." She murmured, setting the five year old on the floor.

Kyra hesitated, took a look at Brennan filled with concern, then another at Mark with pure fright. Brennan gave her a little push in the back. She bolted.

She spun to face Mark.

"You are never to leave this house." Mark roared, finally losing the control he had. "You are never to leave this house without my presence or my permission!"

Brennan followed him quickly over the edge. "I went out because I felt like Kyra needed it. This house is suffocating and I can't spend all my time here! And you are not the boss of me!"

He took a menacing step toward her and she turned up her chin and met him with a fierce gaze of her own. "This is my house. I am in control here." He growled at her. "I decide what you can and cannot do."

"Just because you are a man does not mean you can order me around." She challenged, then stepped back at the expression on his face, contorted almost demon-like.

"You are going to regret saying that! You think you're so important and the queen of the world when you're nothing but a whore I took off the street. You are nothing. I am your husband and you will listen to me, unless you want to answer to another authority." He paused at those words and his expression changed again. This time with vivid jealousy.

"You were probably with another man, you whore!" He shouted, grabbing her wrists and pinning her against the white wall behind her. "You were probably not even watching Kyra and sucking face with some hotshot idiot who you think is gonna make you a lady."

She kicked him in the stomach without a conscious thought of what she was doing. His hateful words falling onto deaf ears. He lost it even more. He roared in anger as he got up and grabbed her again. He threw her across the room, an easy feat for a man his size to a woman Brennan's size. Her head smashed again the coffee table and she saw nothing but blackness.

He stood there for a moment, breathing hard with anger, hands clenched into fists. He wanted to hit her again and again for making him worry, for making him suspicious and she deserved it all. He, however, could not kill her. Not yet. Not until he found someone else to take her place. He placed a finger on her neck, satisfied that he got a pulse. With one arm, he slung her over his shoulder and carried her into the bedroom. He placed her gently on the bed, kissed her forehead, and pulled the covers over her. He locked the door when he left the room and pulled out of the driveway, racing toward someplace like his life depended on it.

As soon as the garage closed, Kyra creaked open the door to her room and slipped into Brennan's, unseen and unheard. There she sat down by Brennan and waited for her to wake up, shaking at the information she was about to divulge, knowing that Mark would kill her if she did.

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"Have you seen this man?" Booth demanded, holding up a photo of the suspect that he and Brennan were chasing the night he had lost her.

The junkie shook his head listlessly and Booth knew not to prod him farther. A nearby woman looked up. She was dressed in fishnet tights with clothes that left nothing to the imagination. It wasn't hard to figure out what kind of work she did.

"I saw him, maybe a few months ago. Out here you know, buying." She said.

"Where's he now?" Booth asked.

She smiled seductively, reaching a hand out to play with his tie. "Well, a fine man like yourself can't expect answers for nothing can he? I mean some of us girls gotta work for a living and well I'm willing to work tonight."

He cleared his throat and took a step back, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a twenty. "Will this do?" he asked.

She snatched it out of his hands and stuck it into her bra. Her ruby red lips curled up into another smile. "Just name the address." She said, her voice low and husky.

He shook his head. "I just want an answer. Nothing else."

She pouted, but then shrugged. "Alright sugar. Man you're looking for don't hang around here anymore. He ran off with a lot of cash from a robbery he did near here. His mama came around here, tried to get him clean. Think she's dead. Last I heard, he's in the suburbs, maybe a few blocks from here. I mean scenery changes fast."

Booth gratefully thanked her and then strode toward his car, pace fast full of purpose. He gunned the engine forward and toward the suburbs, calling Cam on the way, asking her to send him the address of any criminal activity in the area. It was likely that a guy that had screwed up in the past would do it again no matter how nice the neighborhood. As Cam told him the addresses with police calls in the past six months, he punched them into his GPS system. Two locations. He pressed harder on the pedal.

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Author's Note:

Sorry about the cliffie. I'm churning over some ideas I have. I hope all the clues fit together. Hehehe. Thanks for reading!