Quite a bit darker than the fluffiness this fic has been so far, but don't worry, the fluff will be back soon!


Chapter 6—Haunted

Seeley Booth was a haunted man. No matter how hard he tried to do the right thing, to move on from the things he had done years before, he was haunted by his demons. They found their way into his life in one way or another, threatening the people he loved, or even just recalling his nightmares. He had a good life for the most part, but every once in a while, out of the blue, his demons would rear their ugly faces.

It was just a regular Tuesday at work, Booth was at the Jeffersonian with the squints waiting for them to give him an ID on a victim who had been killed execution-style. While they worked, he paced, annoyed that Sully had tried to drag Brennan out to lunch in the middle of a case, which she blatantly refused. He hated that Sully tried to take his role of forcing her to eat during the day. He continued pacing, his mind wandering because he didn't have anything to do until they had an ID.

Finally, Brennan looked up at him. "We know who he is…" she trailed off, knowing this case was going to strike a little too close to home for him.

Seeing Brennan's hesitation, he stopped pacing, wondering what made her hesitate. "What's his name, Bones?"

Gesturing toward her office, she walked in the direction of her door, knowing he wouldn't want to hear who it was in front of the squints. Standing in her office, she looked up at him, holding his gaze, trying to make sure he knew she was there for him. "His name is Jack Langlois."

As the name registered in his mind, he swayed gently on his feet, trying to stay upright. She took three steps towards him, taking him by the arm and helping him sit down, kneeling in front of him trying to make eye-contact. "Booth, Seeley, I need to you look at me," she placed her hand on his cheek, turning his head so he was forced to look at her.

What she saw startled her. His usually warm, expressionate eyes were empty and cold. She knew she was looking at the soldier Booth; it nearly broke her heart to tell him that his spotter from the Army was dead. "Seeley," she said again, softer this time as she tried to reach him.

He blinked, staring at her but not seeing her. He had withdrawn completely as his demons overtook him, bring back flashes from Kosovo, him killing people, and his friends being killed around him. He and Jack had been lucky. They had made a perfect pair, both looking out for the other as if they were brothers.

"He…" Booth mumbled, hardly aware he was even talking, "he can't be dead. If he's dead, I should be dead."

"Seeley," she said again, trying as hard as she could to get through to him, "Seeley, I need you to listen to me. Please, Seeley…"

Her voice was pleading, begging him to come back to her, and it seemed to break him out of the trance he was currently in. "Bones," he whispered, blinking hard as tears filled his eyes.

Wrapping her arms tightly around his shoulders, she drew him against her, holding onto him as he broke down. His face was buried against her neck, his shoulders shaking violently from the sobs that wracked through his body, his tears staining her silk blouse. She didn't care, as she just held him, trying to protect him from the world.

She knew his world was coming down around him, and she knew she could never leave him in this state. She held him until his sobs subsided and he fell asleep against her out of pure exhaustion. Gently pushing him back until he was lying on the couch, she covered him with a blanket and stepped out of her office, knowing she needed to call Cullen.

She dialed Cullen's number, quickly explaining the situation as vaguely as possible. She was relieved when he agreed to give Booth some time off, but let her and the squints stay on the case. She would get to the bottom of this case if it killed her, because she couldn't stand to see him so broken.

With the door open enough so that she could still see his sleeping form, she motioned for Angela, Zach, Hodgins and Cam to come up to talk to her. Once they all assembled, she looked at them, not sure where to start. "Booth is going to take a couple of days off. In the meantime, this case needs to be done with as quickly as possible. I don't want any of you to mention anything about it to Booth, no matter how much he begs, bribes, or threatens you, got it?" she said, knowing she was invading on Cam's authority, but not caring when it came to Booth.

Everyone nodded in acknowledgement, not knowing exactly what was going on, but all determined to close this case as soon as possible. They scattered quickly, silently going back to their individual stations. It was going to be a long couple of days spent in the lab trying to find the killer.

True to his word, Cullen had found the file on Jack Langlois and faxed it over immediately. By the time she was done talking to her colleagues, it was nearly done being printed out, and she eagerly reached for it, reading quickly as she sat in the chair next to Booth's sleeping body.

Meanwhile, Zach was running the bullet through the ballistics database, praying he would find a gun to match the bullet. He was in luck, as the bullet matched a .380 ACP that had just been found buried about a mile down river from where their victim's body had been discovered. Waving at Dr Brennan from his station, he printed out his report and took it up to her, knowing she would want to see it immediately.

Once again standing outside her office, keeping one eye on Booth's sleeping form, she scanned the report, pulling out her cell to call Cullen to have him send the gun to the lab. It was there within the hour, with the excuse that the FBI forensics lab was backlogged and hadn't gotten around to analyzing it. Zach set about dusting for finger prints and running them against the FBI database, which quickly narrowed down the results.

Taking the printed report to Brennan's office, he handed it to her, hearing her gasp when she saw the name on the report: Nemanja Radic. Her hands were shaking as she called Cullen, telling him to get a team out to pick up Radic. If she was right, he would be coming after Booth next.

There was nothing left to do but wait, so Brennan sat in her office with Booth, who woke up just as she was getting off the phone. When he asked, she had told him what they had found. His face paled when she told him the name of the killer, as she knew it would. She held him tightly against her as he cried anew, regret and guilt overflowing through his body.

For the next few hours he alternated between exhaustion-induced sleep, silent sobs, and getting the violent shakes as memories from the war ran through his mind. She was with him the whole time, holding him tightly when he cried, when he shook, and when he slept. At one point she had fallen into a restless sleep, her body halfway underneath his on the couch, their arms wrapped around the other's sleeping body and their legs entangled.

She was startled awake by something, or rather someone, in her office gasping loudly. Opening her eyes and blinking against the light, it barely registered that Sully was standing in her doorway with his mouth hanging open, no sound coming out. As she started to say something to him, her phone rang, which she grabbed quickly, hoping it was Cullen telling her they had caught the bastard.

Sully left while she was on the phone with Cullen, who told her that they had cornered the suspect, but he had chosen to kill himself rather than be arrested. She let out a deep sigh of relief, knowing it would be a while before Booth was okay again, but knowing he would eventually be himself again.

Waking him gently, she led him to the SUV and drove him home, crawling into bed with him and holding him when he asked her to stay. She could deal with Sully another time, but right now, her partner and best friend needed her.

His nightmares and demons had come back in full force, but he knew that she would be there to help him through them. As long as she was by his side, he would be okay again.