AN- I am soooo sorry about how long this took me, the next one will not be nearly as long. My Boes muse completely deserted me for a while.
Booth and Brennan were the last passengers to board their flight. They sat down and began sifting through the case file, getting a head start on some of the paperwork. But Booth seemed distracted, distant, worried. Brennan reached over and took his hand in hers.
"He'll be fine," she whispered.
"Strangely, Bones, its not Parker I'm worried about. Did you see the fear on those mother's faces when they thought they were going to lose their kids? It hurts, Temperance, to watch them. To know that what they fear is really going to happen. These children are in families. But they have fathers who have waited and wondered where they were. Who keeps these kids?"
"Booth, we need to concentrate on catching the guy. Let DCFS handle the kids. Rebecca is still out there. We need to focus on finding Marcus so we can find her."
Booth accepted this and focused on the case file in front of him.
"I guess the first step would be to call this number, see if the guy picks up. Then we go from there." He rubbed her shoulder and turned her toward him, kissing her soundly on the lips. The kiss deepened and grew, each feeling the stress of the weekend lift off of their shoulders. They pulled apart, sat back and used what they knew could be their last moment of peace for a long time.
Immediately upon debarking they were set upon by Parker. Booth swung him up and around.
"Miss me?" he asked Parker bobbed his head violently.
"You know that I will never leave you, right?" Booth whispered into his son's hair as he held the boy close.
"I know, Daddy," Parker said.
The group moved toward the cars. Parker begged Booth to let him ride in Hodgins' "baby car." After a bit of teasing, Booth granted his request, strapping the boy into the car and threatening Hodgins on pain of death to drive safely. He helped Brennan into their SUV and led the way to the lab.
Once they made it to the lab, Parker immediately jumped into his lab coat. He proudly clipped on his Jeffersonian identification and slipped his access card into his pocket.
"How can I assist you Dr. Brennan?" he asked, failing to sound official because of the gap where his front tooth belonged.
"Well, Dr. Booth, I can't think of any way for you to help me, but I bet Angela could use your assistance in her lab." Parker grinned and headed off to find the forensic artist. Brennan turned to Booth, who swooped in for a quick kiss before heading to her office to make some phone calls.
Brennan hobbled into her office thirty minutes later to find Booth deep in conversation with somebody. He had a look on his face which told her that he was all business at the moment.
"I understand," he said, "Five-thirty works well for us," he looked up, mouthed the word him then turned back to the phone.
"The Royal Diner on Franklin?" he asked, "We will be there. Thank you so much, you've given us great hope." Booth hung up the phone. He smiled up at Brennan.
"Number is the same. We're meeting with him tonight to 'talk about adoption.'"
"But he knows your face," Brennan said, "If he sees you he can follow us to Parker. If the guy hasn't changed his MO then there's still a chance that Rebecca is alive."
"So," Booth thought for a moment, "We'll send Hodgins and Angela. He doesn't know their faces."
"Why not get a couple of trained FBI guys?" she asked, slightly concerned for her friends' safety.
"Because, Bones, the FBI will take three days putting together an operation which might or might not work. This killer is already acting off of the plan, so what's to say that Rebecca will still be alive in three days?" Brennan nodded, then hobbled over and tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder. He reached up and covered it with his own. She felt his fingers shaking ever so slightly.
"Booth," she whispered, "You're the one who always says we should think the best so we have something to look forward to. It's illogical for that not to apply in this situation."
Booth managed a weak smile.
"Thanks Bones, I needed that," he chuckled softly.
Brennan and Booth waited anxiously in a corner booth of the diner. Jack and Angela sat by the window, sipping coffee and waiting for their guy to show up. It was nearly 5:45 and there was still no sign of the man. Booth was about to call it off when their suspect walked in the door. He scanned the patrons and, spotting Jack and Angela, approached them. He introduced himself then sat down at the table. The trio chatted amiably, the suspect rifled through the file Brennan and Booth had prepared.
"Why aren't you arresting him, Booth?" Brennan asked.
"We have no physical evidence that he's connected. And we don't know for sure that he's working alone. We need to be patient, Bones." He leaned in and kissed her softly, "I know how hard that is for you, but it's what we have to do." She mock-glared at him across the table, taking advantage of his distraction to snag a few of his fries.
The suspect rose and shook hands with both Angela and Jack before striding toward the door. Booth signaled Angela who thought up a few more questions to distract the man while Booth slipped out to Brennan's car which he had parked at the curb. Rebecca's boyfriend pulled away from Angela moments later, left the restaurant, climbed into a turquoise Mustang, and drove away, Booth following at a discreet distance. Brennan sighed a little, internally railing against her brother for putting her in a cast and effectively sidelining her from her first big case as Booth's wife. She got a ride back to the Jeffersonian with Jack and Angela.
She walked in the front doors of the museum and saw Parker sitting on the steps of the platform, looking a bit dejected.
"Hey, Parker," Brennan said. She scanned her card then maneuvered herself so she was sitting next to him on the stairs.
"Hi," he said in a small voice.
"What's wrong?" she asked. The boy shrugged.
"I miss Mommy, but I want to stay with you and Daddy forever," he admitted, snuggling up to her.
"Why?" she asked him.
"Cause you make me feel special. Mommy's always worried 'bout her boyfriends more than me." Temperance felt her heart break a little for the little blonde beside her.
"You know your mother loves you. Sometimes adults get their priorities mixed up a little, or even a lot. An I hope you know that your daddy and I think you're the best boy in the world." she ruffled his hair like she remembered Russ doing for her and earned a smile for her trouble. They sat for a time and then Parker lowered his head to her lap and fell asleep right there on the steps to the platform. She could have stayed there for hours, cradling her husband's son, but she began to worry about Booth. The police scanner wasn't in her car, it was in his SUV. If she knew Booth, he'd try to save Rebecca by himself if he felt there was immediate danger. Always the alpha-male, she silently sighed.
An hour passed, and then two. Parker woke after a half-hour nap, but he stuck to Brennan like glue, never leaving her side, as though he sensed her anxiety. She half wondered if there was a scientific explanation behind the boy's actions, but somehow knew Booth would take it as intuition and gut feeling.
When the third hour approached and Booth still wasn't back Brennan began to get worried. She went to her office and tried calling his cell phone. She felt her chest tighten when it went straight to voicemail. As much as she hated to do it, she began calling the local hospital, asking if anyone matching Booth's description had been brought in. She even asked about women matching Rebecca's physique, what little she could remember of it. Finally she called Director Cullen.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Hello, Director Cullen, this is Dr. Brennan calling, have you heard anything from Agent Booth?"
"No," the director said slowly, "Why?"
"I didn't have a set reason," she said, unconvincingly.
"Does this have any relevance to the case you two are working on?" Cullen asked, his wariness apparent in his voice. Brennan decided to come clean.
"Booth is tailing a suspect at the moment. He's using my car so he won't be very obvious. He's been gone for nearly three hours and he's not answering his cell phone."
"Dr. Brennan, why wasn't the FBI informed of this venture?" Cullen asked.
"Agent Booth is a bit focused right now," she said, trying to hide her worry as Parker had just waltzed into the room.
"I'll see what I can do to locate agent Booth," Cullen said, almost as though he could sense the change in Brennan's surroundings.
"Thank you, Director Cullen." Brennan hung up the phone and turned to her visitor.
"How can I be of assistance, Dr. Booth?" she asked, acting extremely professional. Parker giggled then handed her a stack of phone messages he'd picked up at the reception area. She flipped through them, ignoring the offers to teach seminars and stopping at a message from Sid. Roxie, I'm fine. Need you. Come as soon as you can. Love you, Tony. Brennan leapt to her feet, almost forgetting her cast. She grabbed her crutches and raced out into the lab.
"Jack!" she called out, "I need a ride!" The entomologist looked up from his work, and, seeing her distress, ran to join her.
"Sure thing Dr. B? Where to?" he asked. She tossed him the keys to Booth's SUV.
"Wong Fu's," she declared.
There you are. Thanks for waiting!