Disclaimer: I own only the character I invented (villian, victims) and the story line...
I'm hoping to finish this soon, just a couple more chapters...
"I ran the sketch through all kinds of databases, nothing." Angela strode in and plopped down on Brennan's couch. The anthropologist looked up from the file on her desk, but didn't say anything.
"Wait, where are Booth and Parker?"
"Home," Brennan answered.
"And you're still here. Working. And since you are trying to oh-so-subtly switch the file on the desk with the one underneath it, I'd say you were looking at a case file you don't want Booth knowing that you have. Am I right?" Brennan admitted that Angela was right. The artist rose from her chair and grabbed the file before her friend could react.
"Jorge Valdez, super creepy White House skeleton guy?" Angela asked.
"Yes, I want that back, Ange," Brennan said, reaching for the file. Angela pulled it out of her reach.
"Bren, you have an entire evening free to spend with your amazingly attractive husband and his adorable son and you sit here studying the case file of a guy who wanted to kill you?"
"Something just doesn't seem logical. The president wasn't a threat to me. Why kidnap the President?" Angela frowned.
"Sometimes, people act on instinct, Sweetie. Your father thought he was protecting you, accept it."
"I just don't think he did it," Brennan sighed, "It just doesn't make sense." She scrutinized the photograph of the hand.
"This amputation was professional. No way my father does anything that well. Russ neither. I don't know about Uncle Mike, but there isn't any way that they could have performed that kind of operation at the house. Someone being that careful wouldn't have risked hygiene. Dad kills people who get in the way, he doesn't mess with torture."
Brennan moved out to the platform and sat down in a corner chair and studied the hand, which had been relegated to lower priority as the perpetrator had been caught.
"Sweetie, you can't do this to yourself, or to Booth. Go home, rest, sleep." Brennan felt tears in her eyes.
"I can't, Ange," she said, "I can't sleep. I go home, and I see Parker and I know that somewhere out there someone has his mother. I sleep and I'm in the back seat of that car again, and Booth isn't coming. I've never reacted like this. Even the Gravedigger couldn't shake me up like this."
"You're in physical pain, your mobility is hampered, your brother stuck you in a cast. He tore you away from Booth and dragged you somewhere you did not want to go. Sweetie, get angry at him, let this out. If you keep it all inside you will only hurt yourself more. Come here," Angela opened her arms, and Brennan gave in, letting herself be weak for the first time since this whole thing started. Tears soaked through both lab coats as the women absorbed the comfort of just letting go.
"Sweetie, you need to go home. Let Booth see you like this."
"I can't, Ange, for me to be emotional, that would just be one more burden for Seeley, I mean, he's already dealing with a scared five year-old, I can't add my own problems. I have to be strong Ange, for my guys." Angela smiled widely.
"Yeah, I guess you do."
"Angela, time to go!" Hodgins' voice echoed through the lab. Angela sighed, hugged Brennan and started to walk off.
"Don't work too late," she called back.
"I wont. Hey, Angela?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
Booth rolled over in his sleep and promptly fell off of the sofa. He woke with a start and looked up at the clock on the VCR. 2:30. She should be home by now, no way Angela, Hodgins and Zach worked this late on a case. Booth jumped up to check on Parker, then grabbed his phone.
Brennan didn't answer her phone. Worried, Booth bundled a sleeping Parker into his car seat and took off toward the museum. He pulled out his cell phone to call Angela.
"Booth, is something wrong?" Angela asked.
"Did Bones ask you for a ride home?" he asked.
"No, she said she wanted to keep working. I figured-"
"You figured she get home by herself, with her leg in a cast?" Booth asked, trying not to raise his voice.
"Booth, I'm sorry. She didn't ask for help and I was too blind to see she needed it. But you should know something. This whole thing is shaking her up. She'd never admit it, but she's scared."
"Okay, first I have to find her." Booth pulled up in front of the Jeffersonian and parked the car. He flagged down the nearest security guard.
"Can you watch him for a minute, please?" Booth asked. The guard seemed reluctant but Booth did some name dropping. He raced inside and found Brennan sleeping on the couch in her office. She had clearly been crying, the tears had left trails down her cheeks as they fell. He kissed her softly and she woke, throwing her arms around him and returning the kiss wholeheartedly.
"Bones, why didn't you get a ride home with Angela?" he asked, "You scared me."
"I wasn't thinking properly, I was emotional." she stuttered, "I'm sorry." Booth kissed her.
"Come on," he whispered, helping her to her feet then handing her the crutches she'd left on the floor. They walked out to the car together and Booth annoyed Brennan by opening her door for her again. She caught sight of Parker sleeping soundly in the back seat and smiled. Booth reached out, grabbed her hand and held it for the remainder of the journey.
They reached the house and Booth carried Parker back inside. After tucking him back into bed Booth walked into the master bedroom, only to find it empty. He headed down to the living room and found her as curled up as she could be on the couch, sitting in the darkness, with tears streaming down her face.
"Bones, what's wrong?" he asked, shifting her over to hold her, when she didn't answer, he asked again.
"I just keep seeing those kids, scared crying, angry, stabbing and I just can't help it, I get… angry."
"Me too, Bones," Booth admitted, pulling her closer. He carried her to their bedroom and they both crawled into bed. Neither slept much that night and even though the next day was Saturday, they left for the lab as soon as breakfast was over.
A weekend's work produced nothing new and it was a very frustrated Booth who dropped Parker off for his first day at day camp, or Squint School as the child had taken to calling it.
Booth strode into the Medico-Legal lab and onto the platform.
"Please tell me you have something for me?" he almost pleaded. All the squint shook their heads. Then a phone rang.
"Bugs, slime and particulates. What's your poison?" Hodgins said, answering his ringing cell phone.
"Really? Could you give me that address again? Thank you."
"The ring design traces back to a jeweler in Great View, Maine. He says the piece was made for a Jamie Duncan thirteen years ago."
"Wait, I have all kinds of agents working the ring angle, how did you?"
"Great Rock Jewelers get their supplies through a distribution company run by the Cantilever Group. I made a few calls and checked around." There were times when Hodgins' position as a multibillionaire really came in handy.
"Bones!" Booth called out. Brennan looked up from her post across the platform.
"Yes, Booth?"
"How long will it take us to get to Maine?"
"Longer then we have," she said, "If we flew, maybe we could make it there and back before camp ends, but we couldn't get a feel for the place." Booth bit the corner of his bottom lip as he thought.
"Angela," he called, his voice sugar sweet.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Could you pick Parker up from day camp this afternoon? Bones and I have to go interrogate a jeweler in Maine."
"Sure, but don't you guys have to authorize me to pick him up?" she asked.
"That should be easy. Bones, you get Angela's authorization, I'll go get us a flight."
They sat hand in hand as the plane descended. Brennan stood and made her way down the aisle, Booth following close behind her with their stuff.
They rented a black SUV and set off through town to find the jeweler.
"Bones, what's wrong? You've been awfully quiet this trip."
"Why does everyone assume that something is wrong because I chose to be silent?"
"Whoa, Bones, I was just asking. You know, the concerned husband who doesn't want his wife to be hurting," he said, defensively.
"That's sweet of you, Booth, but truly, I'm fine."
"You know, you seem kinda snappy recently," Booth said, just happy to see the old Brennan resurface.
"Booth!" she yelled, "I'm fine. Please, can we talk about something else?" Booth ruffled her hair.
"Nice to have you back, Bones." Brennan rolled her eyes and stared out the window. Suddenly she started and sat bolt upright.
"Booth!" she exclaimed, "Slow down!"
"Bones, I'm doing the speed limit," he whined, but she fixed him with a look.
"Circle that park again."
"Bones, we do have to get home tonight. I mean, we can't have Parker thinking we abandoned him too-"
"Booth, pull over." He did, continuing to grumble.
"Look there," she said, pointing to a girl playing on the jungle gym.
"Is that?" Booth asked.
"She seems to be the right age. There's only one way to really know."
Brennan opened her door.
"River!" she called. The little girl looked up from where she was playing, but so did her mother.
"Bones, now we look like kidnappers," Booth grumbled, pulling out his federal badge.
"Hey, I found us one of the missing kids," she defended, "You can go get all Federal and question that woman sitting there." Brennan pointed to the woman now approaching them.
"Who are you and what do you want with my little girl?" asked the irate mother.
"Ma'am, I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth with the FBI and this is my partner, Dr. Temperance Brennan with the Jeffersonian." they flashed their ID's at her, "May we ask you a few questions?"
Booth and Brennan settled into two living room chairs in the living room of a comfortably large home. The presence of a little girl was obvious in the dolls which lay in cradles and the tea set strewn across one half of the floor.
"Now, Agent Booth, what is this all about?" Gina Reynolds asked, fidgeting a bit.
"We need to talk about your daughter."
"River is the greatest thing ever to happen to me and Terry. She's adopted. We were so certain we would never have children, and then God blessed us with Riv."
"If you don't mind me asking, what organization helped with your adoption?"
"Hope Hearts," she replied. Brennan flinched visibly. Booth looked at her but she shook her head and reached down to rub her leg.
"Could you give us the name of the social worker who helped you with the adoption?"
"Certainly. He's a local hero, he's helped three families adopt already and he's in the process of paperwork with another."
"Doesn't it seem a bit odd for a social worker to focus on a single family at a time?" Brennan asked.
"Oh, he had lots of other cases, its just that all of us here were harder. The agency initially said that we couldn't adopt for various reasons. So we started a support group and that's how Marcus found us. We're meeting tonight if you want to come." Booth shook his head.
"We can't make it tonight." He slid the sketch of Rebecca's boyfriend across the table.
"That's Marcus!" she exclaimed before Booth even asked her to identify the man.
"This is the man who helped you adopt your daughter?" Booth asked. Gina nodded, stunned.
"Mrs. Reynolds, this man is a suspect in three murders, a kidnapping and four suspected kidnappings. Are you sure that this is Marcus?"
"Yes, I'd remember the scar. His little brother hit him with a stick when he was seven."
"Do you have a number where I can reach him?" Booth asked.
"He's switched offices since we worked extensively with him. I can give you the number of the couple he's working with right now, I know they're in the final stages before they bring their boy home." Gina scribbled out a number and handed Booth the paper with a trembling hand. He took it silently then rose and gave Brennan a hand up.
"Agent Booth?" Gina asked, "Are we going to lose River?" Booth didn't know what to say. He and Brennan shared a look before Brennan spoke.
"I'm afraid we can't comment on ongoing investigations, Mrs. Reynolds."
"Well, Bones, we have forty minutes before we have to leave for home. My vote is that we go see this family," Booth said.
"Booth, Seeley, you do know that these people most likely think Parker is going to be theirs soon, right?" Brennan asked, reaching over to take his hand in hers.
"Yeah, I try not to think about that too much, Bones," he admitted. They drove to the address they'd been given.
Brennan and Booth pulled up to a modest two story house with a wonderfully manicured lawn. Red flowers bordered the white house and bright blue shutters framed its window panes. Booth walked around the car and helped Brennan out. They walked to the door, him half a step behind to allow her freedom of movement. He reached aroud her to ring the doorbell, planting a kiss on the back of her neck as he did. She smiled up at him and it took his breath away. He was seriously considering doing it again when the door swung open, turning his thoughts back to the case.
"Mrs. Walker?" he asked the middle-aged woman who answered the door. She seemed taken aback.
"Yes," she finally stuttered.
"I'm Agent Seeley Booth with the FBI and this is my partner, Dr. Temperance Brennan with the Jeffersonian, I was wondering if we could talk to you."
"Certainly, come in. Make yourselves comfortable. Can I get you anything?" she ushered them into the living room. Brennan and Booth chose seats within arms' reach of each other.
"Mrs. Walker, we talked to Gina Reynolds today and she told us that you might be able to give us a phone number for this man." Booth slid the sketch across the table and watched as the woman's face contorted with horror.
"That's Marcus! What's going on? Is Parker alright?" she asked.
"Please, Mrs. Walker, we cannot comment on ongoing investigations. We need to get in touch with this man," Brennan had taken over the conversation. Booth grabbed her hand and gave it an appreciative squeeze.
"I need to know if Parker is alright," the woman insisted.
"Parker is… he's scared, he's hurting, but he's fine." Brennan looked over at the hard set of Booth's jaw line and hr heart hurt for him.
"Marcus' number is 555-4672. Does this affect Parker's adoption at all?" the woman looked about ready to cry. Brennan bit her lower lip, trying to form the right words in her head.
"I can't comment on ongoing investigations." was all she could come up with. Booth was the one who usually handled these type of questions. The pained look on Karissa Walker's face made Brennan instantly regret her words. Booth's phone rang, startling the group.
"Hey Bubba," he said, "Really? Tell Angela yes you can go out to dinner with the squints. We'll be home very soon. We're still looking, but we're very close. What did you do in Squint School today? Very cool. I love you too bub, have fun. Bye Bye." Booth looked up at Mrs. Walker's confused gaze.
"My five year-old just started day camp. A friend picked him up for us, but he's having a bit of separation anxiety." Karissa smiled at him.
"We'll be in touch," Booth said, giving Brennan the cue that he was ready to go. They stood and began to walk to the door.
"Please, I have to know, I don't want you to sugar coat it for me. Is Parker going to come home with us?" Something in the woman's voice was tired, defeated. Brennan and Booth shared a long look. Brennan sighed and turned around.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Walker, another relative has taken custody of Parker Booth." The woman crumpled to the floor, anguished sobs racking her body.
I'm anxious to know what you think... I don't want to be one of those writers who begs for reviews, but just leave a note if you wouldn't mind.