Thank you all who reviewed. MickeyBoggs, dovepage, boothandbones4ever, Cheri Goodman, DoctorSweets, NatesMama thank you.

Sorry life's been busy, if I could have it my way I'd be home writing fics, watching Bones and playing with my kids all day, rather than being at work.

Anyways here's back to the story.

"So why haven't you caught the guy who attacked Tempe?" Max asked as Booth slid into a chair opposite him.

Booth signaled the waitress for a coffee. He rubbed his face, sighing.

"It's not that simple. Metro police aren't telling me anything. My own boss shut me out of the case."

"Excuses Booth."

"Look it's not like I didn't try alright? There's this one guy, I've been watching him… I just need to make sure I've got the right guy."

Max's toned changed, seemingly satisfied that Booth was doing something. "How's Tempe?"

"You can ask her yourself."

"You know how she is."

"Right Max. You know how she is. She doesn't want to talk to me. She's shutting me out. Burying herself in work. I keep telling her not to go off without me. She wouldn't listen. She's stubborn sometimes."

Booth shook his head, frustrated.

"Sometimes?" Max shook his head chuckling. "Just like her mother."

Max's dipped his head, looking at the table.. "Stubborn, that's what got her killed."

"That's not an option. I'm never gonna let anything happen to Bones."

"I know Booth."

The waitress arrived with Booth's coffee.

Max waited till she was out of earshot. "This might help you make up your mind about Richard McFee."

He handed Booth a brown paper bag.

"How did you – "

"I did some digging around of my own. Found this in his trash."

"Max whatever this is, it isn't gonna hold up in court."

"Are we worried about evidence holding up in court or evidence to help you make up your mind about who attacked my baby girl?"

Booth didn't reply. He was almost afraid of his answer.

"Take a look at what's inside, and then make up your mind."

With that Max left. Booth threw a couple of bills on the table, exiting the diner. He climbed into his SUV. Opening the brown paper bag, Booth pulled out a black ski mask.

He grit his teeth. He knew what he had to do, but did he have the balls to do it? He had killed but he never murdered. No, he would do anything for his Bones.

His cellphone rang, jarring him out of his thoughts. He hurriedly stuffed the mask back into the bag. There was a case for him and Bones. Their first together since the rape.

Booth drove to the Jeffersonian, picking Brennan. Cam followed in her car, there was some flesh left of one of the bodies.

The crime scene was in a wooded area. The place was buzzing with crime scene techs by the time the trio pulled up. A rather shaken looking police officer, looking fresh out of the academy showed them to the bodies.

It didn't take an expert in forensic anthropology, or an ME to figure out the remains were that of mother and child.

Brennan bent over the smaller skeleton. A pain indescribable stabbed at her heart. She thought of the baby they had lost. She blinked. She tried to get herself to focus. This was just a human skeleton, like so many others she'd handled.

She crouched down to the ground, picking up the small pelvic bones. It was a harder to distinguish gender at this young age.

"We're looking at a child, not more than - " She bit her lip.

She remembered when she told Booth of her pregnancy.

"You got a present for me? Wow? What's the occasion?"

"Nothing, just felt like celebrating."

"And what exactly are we celebrating?"

"Just open the present Booth!"

"Ok, ok."

Booth had tore open the present his face in mock annoyance.

"What a shoe box? You got me a pair of sneakers?"

Brennan just smiled. Booth smiled even wider when he removed the cover to the box and picked up the little white stick that had been hidden in old newspapers that had been crushed up inside.

"Am I reading this right?"

"Why would I give you a pregnancy test that was negative?"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Come here."

He pulled her to him, squeezing her in a tight hug.

"I'm the luckiest guy in the world."

" – not more than four years old – "

Brennan choked back a sob. She quickly composed herself, placing the tiny bone back on the ground and rising to her feet.

"I… I'm sorry , I have to…." She gestured at the SUV. She didn't want the entire world seeing her being weak. She took off for the car.

"Bones!"

Booth turned to look apologetically at Cam. "I'm sorry, maybe you better…"

"Sure. Go to her. I'll get one of the interns."

"Thanks Cam."

Brennan literally ran to the SUV. She could hear Booth coming after her, but she kept running. She got in the passenger side and started to cry. With her eyes closed and through her sobs, she heard the driver's side door open and slam shut. Booth didn't say a word, simply drew her to him. He held her as she cried.

"He took our baby, he raped me, he took our baby. It isn't fair."

"Shhh…. I know Bones, I know."

He rocked her gently, and waited till her crying stopped. He handed her his handkerchief. She dried her tears, extracting herself form his arms.

"I'm sorry Booth, I wasn't being professional." Brennan took a breath, looking outside the SUV. Thankfully, nobody was nearby.

She had resolved not to let this hold her back or slow her down. She had resolved to be strong.

"I'd… we'd better get back to work."

"Bones wait." Booth reached over and closed a hand round her wrist.

"We gotta talk Bones."

"Booth, I – "

"Bones no. I'm not letting you run from this. We need to talk. And you gotta stop shutting me out. He took our baby. He hurt you. And he will pay. When he hurt you, he hurt me too. You're hurting inside, I know it. And so am I. You may be able to live with yourself, burying it deep inside, pretending like it never happened, trying to carry on. But I can't, cos I hurt so bad inside everyday Bones. And it isn't fair. It never was."

It never occurred that to Brennan that Booth was hurting too.

"You've been so distant."

"So have you Booth."

"I'm sorry. You were shutting me out, pushing me away, and I let you. I'm not letting you do that anymore. I shouldn't have let you do that in the first place."

"I'm such a bad mother. I let him hurt me. It cost us our child. All my years of karate class and I couldn't fight him off."

"It's not your fault Bones, alright?"

"Remember when you told me I'm yours and yours alone? For a time it felt real, felt like I really was something."

"You are Bones, you're still mine, my alone. Whatever he did, it doesn't change that. You're still special to me, always will be. I let you down. I took a vow to protect you."

"It would be naive of you to think so. It's humanly impossible to protect me 24 hours a day."

"And it isn't right to think you're a bad mother because you had a miscarriage."

"It hurts Booth, still does." Brennan pointed a finger towards her chest. Se had thought she would be strong, that she would be able to get over this. Her physical scars had healed but he emotional ones still ate at her everyday.

"I know Bones, cos I feel the same."

Brennan allowed him to pull her to him.

"Why can't it go away? I just wanna stop hurting."

"I'm sorry Bones, I wish there was something I could do. It'll get better with time."

She let him hold her, just feeling the rise and fall of his chest.

"It's like everything fell apart when I woke up in the hospital. Everything changed. I became the victim."

"We, Bones, we became the victims."

"Can we ever be the same?"

"I don't know Bones. I just know I will never leave, you, I'll never stop loving you."

"Me too Booth."

That night, their conversation in the SUV replayed itself in Booth's head as he stared down the scope of his sniper rifle. He drew on it for the strength he needed. He had it in him afterall. The man who hurt his wife, who made her hurt everyday, who took his child, would pay. All he had to do was squeeze the trigger.

He had ADA McFee's head in his sight. He would do anything for her, he would die for her and kill for her. He let out a slow breath, his trigger finger squeezing gently in a well-rehearsed motion.

"Step away from the gun Booth."

Booth hesitated, unmoving, his trigger finger frozen. He recognized the voice.

"I'm not gonna repeat myself Agent Booth, step away from the gun, or I'll shoot. Get up nice and slow. Keep your hands where I can see them."

Booth slowly rose to his feet, keeping his hands up.

"Nice and slow, turn around."

Booth turned.

"Detective Burke. Finally decided to do something huh?"

"I told you we're watching McFee."

"You're coming with us Agent Booth." Burke's younger partner, Det Sumner walked round Booth, Burke's gun still trained on him.

Booth allowed Sumner to yank his arms behind his back, and felt the slap of cold metal on his wrists.

Darn bad guy gota away again. Will Booth ever get the guy who raped Brennan? Is she going to recover from all this? I don't know there're still different scenarios running round my head.

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