I'm absolutly thrilled to see so many people reviewing, especially people I've never heard from before, so THANKS! As for the million dollar question :Who is April?...lol, wouldn't you like to know?

He looks different...but in a lot of ways, he looks the same. A little older, probably wiser, but still the same Seeley I knew. Still strong and handsome and he's got that playful twinkle in his eyes.

"Am I missing something?" Brennan asked when another moment of silence had passed between them. She was partly irritated and partly concerned when she didn't get a response.

Shifting, she removed her hands from her pockets, trying to ignore the feeling of being more out of place by the moment. Booth had now reached up and removed his sunglasses, and was studying the teenage girl intently.

She looks different. He thought. Well that's the understatement of the year.

Looks different would have been a different hair color, which she had. But April Ross didn't just look different…she felt different. The last time Booth saw her, aside from the funeral which didn't really count in his book, she had a head of light brown hair. It was pulled back so those dark green eyes showed and she wore a wide smile that brightened the whole room. She'd been twelve, wearing a yellow sundress and chasing lighting bugs on a warm summer night with a bunch of other kids at a picnic.

This April Ross wasn't the carefree girl he'd known four years ago. She looked like she knew too much, had seen too much, her innocence long since lost.

"What are you doing here?" Booth asked smoothly, momentarily forgetting why he himself was there.

April cocked her head to the side.

"I live here Seeley. What are you doing here?" Locks of black hair fell into her eyes, but the openness in her voice made up for it.

"I'm…um…" Booth frowned, he didn't want to remember why he was there.

"We're investigating a murder." Brennan interjected, when she felt Booth had stalled long enough.

April's eyes snapped over to Brennan for the first time and disappointment flashed in her eyes before it was quickly covered by a mask of apathy. A mask both Brennan and Booth recognized. A thin but hard mask of emotionless neutrality.

"Murder?" April paused and let her pale lips part in momentary shock. "Oh God...Courtney?"

"How did you know?" Brennan asked quickly, glancing at Booth, who for some reason was giving her a strange look.

April crossed her arms over her chest shifted her weight to her right foot.

"It's not much of a leap. You're investigating a murder, Courtney's been missing for almost nine months and everyone else is accounted for. Unless the FBI is investigating run away dogs now."

Booth cleared his throat before Brennan could respond, a mixture of disbelief and irritation in her eyes. She was right, he was there investigating a murder, his past with April would just have to wait.

"April do Rodger and Layla Dickens live here?"

The girl looked back at Booth and nodded quickly, turning to lead the way inside, her clunky boots thudding with each step. She'd only gone a few feet when a man appeared at the end of the hallway wiping his hands on a dishtowel.

"Who was at the door April?" He asked, approaching the trio but never taking his eyes of Booth.

This time he didn't hesitate, pulling his badge immediately from his waistband.

"My name is Special Agent Seeley Booth this is my partner Dr. Temperance Brennan." He glanced into the living room and saw a woman in her mid thirties sitting on the couch, brushing the hair of a girl, who looked to be about ten, on the floor between her legs.

"Is there somewhere we could talk to you and your wife privately?"

Rodger looked between Booth and Brennan a few times before nodding.

"Sure, we can do it in here." He turned toward the living room, "Jessica, you and April go upstairs to your room."

The little girl complied almost instantly, shooting up from the floor and blowing past Booth and Brennan to go to the stairs. April shot one more look at Booth before following up the stairs. Jessica immediatly went to the bedroom, but April, satisfied that the adults thought she was in her room, stopped on the top step and sat down where she was out of sight, but could hear every word.

"Mr. and Mrs. Dickens, do you know a Courtney Wilcox?" Booth asked as Brennan sat in a chair in the living room beside him.

Layla Dickens was first to react. "You've found her? She disappeared almost a year ago. Is she alright?"

"I'm afraid not Mrs. Dickens, Layla's body was found yesterday on a beach about fifty miles from here." Brennan answered quickly.

The woman's hand flew up to her mouth and Brennan narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

"Is she…was she…" Rodger Dickens began, a sad frown on his features.

"We believe she was murdered." Brennan stated. Booth looked over at her, her tone was cold and tactless, even more so than usual.

Oh sure, she's fine. He mentally rolled his eyes at his partner's stubbornness.

"How?" Layla asked quietly, tears reddening her eyes and rolling down her cheeks.

"A blow to the head." Brennan responded, again, before Booth could stop her.

"Bones…" He whispered. He didn't finish his reprimand though because a sob escaped from somewhere behind them and the four adults turned in time to see a blob of black dash down the stairs and out the front door.

The partners looked back at Mr. and Mrs. Dickens. The latter seemed extremely shook up, she kept staring at the floor shaking her head. Mr. Dickens on the other hand had stood and was reaching into his pocket, fumbling with a lighter for the cigarette that had suddenly appeared in his mouth.

"Do you know who did this?" Layla asked quietly. Booth shook his head.

"We were hoping you could help us with that. Can you think of anyone who would want to hurt Courtney? Did she have any enemies? Any new friends you didn't know very well?"

Layla shook her head emphatically. "No no, nothing like that. She was a sweet child. Smart, funny…we just…we thought she ran away…" She said quietly, her voice breaking. "She had a boyfriend though."

"Oh? And what was his name?" Booth asked, pulling out his small notebook and taking down the boy's name and address. Brennan ignored their whole exchange, still staring at Rodger. He puffed on his cig and closing his eyes, letting the nicotine calm wash over him.

"Mr. Dickens, you do know that smoking causes, among many other things, lung cancer."

Rodger looked over at her, a barely perceptible glint of anger in his eyes.

"Yes, I am aware…Dr. Brennan."

"Not just to you. Second hand smoke can be extremely detrimental to health, especially to that of children, of which you have at least two in the home. Does child services know you smoke in the house?" She stood and took on a defensive posture, her arms crossed over her chest, all her weight on her right foot.

Rodger took a long drag on his cigarette. "Look Dr. Brennan, Layla and I don't take in young kids. We think the older ones are overlooked. But unfortunately by the time we get them a lot are like April out there. Angry and difficult, irreparably damaged. Smoking is the only thing that keeps me going." He turned to Booth, who had a steadying hand on Brennan's forearm, which she promptly ignored.

"Irreparbly damaged?" Her eyes trained on Rodger, daring him to do something that would give her an excuse to hit him, "Did you ever stop to think these kids just need someone to care about them unconditionally? Did it ever occur to you not to think the worst of them before you even know whats going on? How scary it is to be in someone else's house in someone else's bed and believe you're never going to see your family again?" She felt Booth's hand tighten on her arm and finally shut her mouth, eyes wide at how much she'd just revealed.

Booth smiled apologetically at the couple, Layla now balling her eyes out, Rodger's fists drawn to his sides in anger.

"Thank you for your time. If you think of anything else, here's my card. Please call." He quickly handed off the card and dragged Brennan to the door.

Brennan didn't protest. She knew she'd gone overboard and would pay for it later. On impulse she glanced over her shoulder and up the stairs. Two big brown eyes stared down at her before disappearing back down the hall.

Halfway to the SUV, he stopped her.

"Bones go to the car, we'll talk later. First…I've gotta go do something."

Brennan followed his gaze across the yard to a spot on the grass where April was sitting cross-legged on a rusty metal bench, hunched far over something in her lap. She nodded and went to the SUV while Booth made his way over to the girl.

"Hey April."

Her back was facing him and she stiffened at the sound of his voice but then almost immediately relaxed.

"Hi." She resumed dragging a piece of soft charcoal across the large page of her sketchbook without looking up.

Booth frowned for a second before sitting down on the bench beside her.

"Been a while." He said awkwardly. He'd never had difficulty talking to people, but for some reason the prospect of talking to this girl was taking more out of him than even talking to Bones did most of the time.

"Since the funeral." She stated plainly, still refusing to look at him.

"Yeah…about that…"

"It's fine Seeley. You had Parker. It's not like I'm you're daughter or anything." She said, almost bitterly. Booth winced.

"April." No response. "Hey, April will you look at me please?"

She paused in her drawing and after a few seconds, looked over at him through strands of black hair.

Hesitantly, Booth reached up and pushed the hair behind her ear, revealing a vulnerable, almost angelic face.

"There you are." He said quietly, eliciting a ghost of a smile to don the girls' lips.

"What…happened to her?" April's eyes had suddenly gone misty and Booth drew his lips into a hard line.

"She died Sweetheart."

April hung her head. "I knew that." She nodded. "I mean…I heard your friend say it…and she's been missing for eight almost nine months. I knew she was dead." She resumed drawing and a few pieces of hair fell from behind her ear and were drug along the paper with each movement.

"I'd just hoped I was wrong. Stupid of me." She berated herself quietly.

Booth frowned and stayed her fingers with his hand. She looked up at him.

"Don't call yourself stupid April. Not now. Not ever. Your dad would never have allowed that." He told her firmly.

"Same old Seeley." April's face remained neutral but her eyes were smiling. "How have you been anyway?" She relaxed slightly and unfolded her legs from beneath her.

Booth sighed. "Good. Real good. Life's hectic as usual but okay. I work with a bunch of squints, but they're not so bad. Parker's really good too. He's starting school this year."

April nodded while blending her drawing carefully. When she didn't respond Booth tried to peer over her shoulder.

"What are you drawing?"

April's hand froze but slowly moved back so he could see. She revealed a very dark, striking charcoal drawing of a skull laying abandoned in a sea of diamonds and coins.

"Treasure?" He queried.

April nodded.

"Bones would love this." He said quietly, admiring the obvious talent April possessed.

"Bones?"

"Oh, my partner." He waved vaguely toward the SUV where Brennan was reading something and not facing them. "She works with bones. They're kind of her thing."

"She lets you call her Bones?" Amusement tinged her voice and April didn't need to look at him to sense his embarrassment. "That's kind of cute. I'll draw her one if you think she'd want it. This one's for Tommy though."

Booth raised his eyebrows. "Who's Tommy?"

A faint blush colored up April's pale cheeks and she flicked her dark green eyes over at him.

"Don't get mad." Booth narrowed his eyes and waited, "My boyfriend."

Booth groaned and let his head drop into his hands. "I was afraid of that."

That ghost smile returned to April's lips and she shrugged. "I couldn't help it Seeley. And it's not just 'cause he's cute either. And…he is cute." She flipped back in her sketchbook a few pages.

"Well…what else is it then?" Booth looked carefully at the sketch April was showing him of a dark haired, dark eyed boy with a strongly featured face. His eyes seemingly smiling while his mouth scowled.

"It's…everything." She stared at the picture and Booth wondered if she was even aware of his presence anymore. "It's the way he stares at me when he thinks I don't know. It's his charm, his intelligence. The way he holds my hand, how he pushes me but never too hard…It's the way he…" She glanced at Booth and her cheeks got red. "It's the way he kisses me." She finished quietly, shutting one eye and waiting for an outburst that never came.

"Well…that sounds really, really great April…as long as kissing is all your doing." He added.

"It is. Don't worry Seeley." She paused hating that she was already lying to him, "His friends like me too."

Booth nodded and April returned to her original drawing, getting black charcoal all over her fingers and smudging her white t-shirt.

"How about your friends? Do they like Tommy?" He asked innocently, dreading the moment he'd have to leave her here. The area they were in was pretty secluded and rather dreary. He hated having to leave her here now that he'd found her again.

"Well…" She began quietly, tapping one foot slightly causing her silver chain to bang against the bench. "Courtney liked him. She was like a sister to me so that mattered a lot. Other than her, I don't really have any friends. I move a lot and…I don't need them anyway. Needing things only gets you hurt."

Booth stared at her, but behind a thick black curtain her face wasn't visible. Just as he was about to refute her statement a blue Sedan pulled up to the house behind Booth's SUV. A dark haired boy in a hooded sweatshirt and a jean jacket got out and headed toward them. A boy who looked surprisingly similar to the picture April had just shown him.

Booth looked over at April who was packing away her drawing things and standing, she wore the first real smile he'd seen on her since she opened the door.

"Hey baby." The boy said and April practically ran to him. His arms easily encircling her slight waist as he pulled her closer.

The kiss that ensued was enough to make Booth avert his eyes and blush ever so slightly. He looked over at his SUV and could see Brennan leaning out the window her eyebrows raised at him. Finally he stood, clearing his throat loudly.

April and Tommy sprang apart, wiping their mouths and blushing.

"Sorry Seeley. Baby, this is Seeley Booth. Seeley, this is Tommy Hopkins." April introduced the two men proudly and Booth reached out to take the younger man's hand, shaking it firmly.

"Seeley."

"Mr. Hopkins."

I can't believe after all these years he's here. Standing in my front yard. Talking to me. I mean really talking. God…I've missed that.

We'll there you go...Who April is specifically will be revieled in the next chap I'm pretty sure.