AAALLL ABOARD!!!
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How do I explain to him that Tommy makes me feel safe?
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Brennan watched Booth trying to keep his already worn-through temper in check while talking to April on the phone.
"April you should have asked me." He said again, his fingers tight on the steering wheel, fighting for his control. He didn't want to yell at her.
April sat with her feet drawn to her chest on the couch in Booth's living room, chewing her bottom lip nervously.
"I'm sorry Seeley. I was just…I wanted...with Parker…" She struggled for the words to tell him she wasn't ready to be alone. Not with Parker, not at all.
Tommy looked up from where he was helping the little boy with a puzzle on the floor and questioned her with light brown eyes.
"What about Parker?" Booth's voice came out sharper than he meant it to and Brennan gently laid a hand on his arm.
On the other end Tommy had left Parker to his puzzle and went to sit beside April, she let herself lean against his shoulder.
"I'm sorry Uncle Seeley. I…I just needed him here…with me. I didn't think to call you. I'm sorry." She hated that she'd upset Booth; she never meant to do that.
It was just that every time the apartment fell silent the hairs on the back of her neck would prick up and she started to glance over her shoulder, convinced he was watching. When she couldn't take it anymore she called Tommy, hoping the paranoia would subside with him around.
She'd been right, if only she'd thought to tell Booth that.
Booth heard the tears in April's voice and cursed himself, feeling like a tool for being melodramatic. He knew April would never put Parker in danger.
He glanced at Brennan who was giving him the same strange look of mixed determination and concern she'd been giving him when they left the Hoover building.
"I'm sorry April. I didn't mean to yell. Just…Tommy can stay all right? Just remember to ask me next time, okay?"
April nodded and took a deep breath, throwing a reassuring smile to Tommy who was gently stroking his thumb across her hair.
"Okay. I will. Bye Uncle Seeley."
Booth hung up and parked in front of the Jeffersonian.
"I overreacted." He told the steering wheel.
"Yes. You did."
Booth looked over at Brennan and she smiled at his incredulous expression.
"Gee, I feel better now Bones." He said, sarcastically.
She reached over and touched his knee, preventing him from jumping out of the car right away.
"You overreacted, but she'll get over it Booth. She's tough."
Booth smiled and kissed her quickly before they headed inside to see what urgent news Angela had for them.
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Seeley would have used a key. That should have been my first clue.
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Angela tapped her pen rapidly against her teeth and stared blankly out into space while she waited for Booth and Brennan to arrive. Zack was already standing on one side of he Angelator, reading their copy of the file for the fourth time.
Finally she heard Brennan's heels along with the soft thump of Booth's shoes slapping the concrete out in the lab.
"So Angela what's the emergency?" Booth questioned, barely in the room.
Angela stood and turned on the Angelator. "Have you arrested Rodger Dickens for the murder?" She asked, getting right down to it.
"Yeah."
"He didn't do it." Zack chimed in with his usual bluntness.
"What are you talking about?" "What's your evidence?"
Both Booth and Brennan crossed their arms and waited expectantly, taking spots with Angela and Zack at the Angelator.
"This is a schematic of Courtney Alamang's bones." She pulled up a small see-through holograph of a skeleton. "These highlighted breaks were old and definitely inflicted by someone of Rodger's approximate height and weight." Small bright green lines were illuminated on the legs, arms and finger bones.
"But the recent break to the third right phalanges," Zack nodded at Angela who lit up pink fracture lines where he was pointing, "the dislocation of the right scapula and the cause of death, the fractured frontal plate in the skull, were inflicted by someone considerably smaller and weaker than Dickens."
Brennan watched in horror as she realized what Zack and Angela had discovered.
"So…who killed her?" Booth asked, upset that Rodger wasn't the killer, since he was already in custody and Booht had a pretty good excuse to beat the man unrecognizable, but he was willing to ook elsewhere if that's where the evidence took them.
Brennan was having a bit harder time with it.
"Maybe Rodger just didn't hit her as hard when he killed her."
Zack stared at her. Did Dr. Brennan just make a guess and ignore the evidence?
Angela gave her friend a sympathetic look. "No Bren. In order for Rodger to inflict to this kind of damage he would have used a sustained hold of a lesser strength, using pressure instead of blunt force." Angela leaned on the top of the table to demonstrate.
"Yes Dr. Brennan, and considering that her other injuries show a pattern of full force attacks, it is unlikely that he would suddenly change his tactics. Plus the bone fractures would have been a different pattern."
Brennan nodded and looked to the side, away from them. She knew that.
I knew that. Why did I ask such an irrational question? She folded her arms and looked back at the skeleton of Courtney Alamang, because there was no one to blame.
But she spoke too soon, just then Hodgins came rushing into Angela's office.
"Oh! Booth, Dr. Brennan, I'm glad you're here. I found some trace substances on Courtney's clothes." He glanced down at his paper before continuing, "Among other things, Ammonia, Benzene, Cadmium, Carbon Monoxide, Hydrazine and Formaldehyde. Basically, cigarettes."
Brennan's eyes flashed. "Cigarettes. That's Rodger."
She looked at Booth who had a thoughtful expression while absently rolling around a set of dice in his right hand.
"What is it Booth? Rodger smokes. That's a fact." She told him desperately. Hodgins moved to stand with stood with Zack and Angela while they watched Booth and Brennan interact.
"I know Bones but there's something else. There has to be, you heard what Angela and Zack said."
Brennan frowned deeper. "I know but…"
Booth uddnely looked up and squeezed her shoulder, a smile spreading on his lips.
"What?"
"Hand me the file."
Brennan did and she waited while he scanned the words quickly. He suppressed a grin and turned to Hodgins, determined to be sure he was right before he let the others in on what he was thinking.
"Hodgins can you tell me anything specific about the cigs? The brand or type?"
Hodgins thought for a moment, his eyes glancing between his paper and the space out spot about a foot and a half in front of his chest.
"Yeah, I guess, levels of nicotine indicate. They were what the DA considers a less potent type. Lites."
Booth grinned fully and turned to Brennan, meeting her puzzled look for the first time. He could see she was getting frustrated with him being so vague and he quickly pointed to a name on the paper.
"Chris Pike was the vics boyfriend."
"Yeah…"
"You remember that kid you ran into on the way inside HQ?"
"You mean the kid that ran into me? Yes I remember that." She pointed to a red spot on the back of her left hand.
"He was smoking a lite cigarette. He told me his name was Chris Pike." Booth said slowly.
Brennan frowned for a moment and then her eyes widened, glancing back at the floating image of Courtney Alamang's bones.
Booth saw that she understood, her face darkening, no doubt wishing she'd kicked the boy in the head when she had the chance.
"It makes sense," She said quietly, "They said they thought she ran away. She probably did, to be with her boyfriend. Only her escape turned out to be what killed her."
Angela turned to Jack, a wide mischievous grin on her lips.
"I love when I'm around when they finally figure it out. The sparks that fly are practically flammable."
Hodgins couldn't help himself and slipped his hand around her waist. He loved it when she was musing about her second favorite couple, she looked so playful. Playful he liked.
Booth hooked a hand behind Brennans' neck and, forgetting himself and where he was, pressed a quick kiss to her forehead.
"That's it Bones, positing a scenario. I'll make an investigator out of you yet." Brennan glared at him for the innuendo that she wasn't already an investigator, Zack looked on, eyes wide with shock, and Hodgins clapped his hand over Angela's mouth to prevent a squeal that would crack glass.
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How did he find me? Air won't enter my lungs. I have tunnel vision. I can't tell where Tommy and Parker are, I can't think. I wish I could run, but I can't feel either.
I can't believe he found me. Oh God. No no no no no…
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Pulling out his cell phone, Booth speed dialed Cullen.
Brennan went to congratulate the squints on their good work. Caught up in Zack's wordy explanation of how he'd come to discover the difference in power behind the blows, it took a moment before the squints' attention to be drawn back to Booth as his tone turned from confident to frantic.
"What do you mean?…No sir no one's called me….How…Does anyone know what happened, where he went?" Booth was turning red now, throwing ever more frequent glances at Brennan while he paced. "No…okay. Please make sure the other agents know to keep me informed sir."
Booth shut his phone and turned to the squints.
"Rodger escaped from custody."
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A ringing phone caught Holly's attention as she searched the unfamiliar apartment for signs of trouble.
"Hello?" She said hesitantly into the receiver.
"Hello?" Booth pulled his phone away from his ear to check and be sure he'd called the right number, "Who is this? What are you doing in my apartment?"
Brennan turned to him, wondering who he was talking to.
"Mr. Booth? This is Holly Green in apartment 4C, across the hall. I heard some commotion and came to make sure everything was all right. The door was open."
Booth's heart seized in his chest and shivers erupted on his neck and spine.
"What do you mean commotion? Where are Parker and April?"
Holly glanced around her. A few papers were strewn about, crayon drawings and a wet candle and coasters were on the coffee table, but no children.
"There's no one here Agent Booth."
Booth felt himself starting to panic. After swerving to avoid the second pedestrian at a crosswalk he knew he should pull over while his nerves were on edge, but all he wanted to do was get home. Get home to Parker and April.
"Are you sure?" He kept his voice as even as possible. "Maybe they're there and hiding."
Please God…please let them be ok.
He waited while Holly called out into the apartment.
"Parker? April? It's Ms. Green from across the hall. Is anyone here?"
She waited and was only met with silence. A sinking feeling in her stomach made her grimace as she turned back to the phone.
"I'm sorry Mr. Booth, there's no…wait. I think I hear something."
Booth held his breath and Holly peered around the corner to the hallway where a small figure had his back pressed to the wall.
"Parker? It's all right sweetheart. C'mere." She crouched down, and she held out the phone. "Come talk to your daddy."
Parker's heart jumped at mention of his father and he took off down the hall into Holly's waiting hug. She handed him the phone.
"Daddy?"
Brennan watched as Booth took his first deep breath in quite a few minutes and instinctually reached for the steering wheel when he accidentally swerved into oncoming traffic.
"Parker! Buddy are you alright?"
The little boy immediately burst into tears, doing nothing for the knot of worry in his father's stomach.
"Daddy he took her, the bad man hit Tommy and he took her." He sobbed.
Booth swallowed, his voice threatening to fail.
"Parker, where is April." He said as calmly as possible. "Is she there? Are you alright?"
"No. The bad man took her Daddy! She's gone." Parker wailed.
Brennan heard the boy's loud voice and looked at Booth again, worry now painted just as thick on her own features.
"Okay Parker. Everything's gonna be fine, Bones and I will be there in a few minutes okay? Just stay with Ms. Green and I'll see you soon."
Parker agreed and hung up.
Booth shut his phone and without asking Brennan flipped on the siren. Without hesitating Booth floored it.
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I shouldn't have let Tommy open the door.
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Dun dun duuuuunnnnnn!!!