Hi everybody again,

This is the fourth chapter of my story. I hope you like it. Definitely, something will happen…

Disclaimer: as always, Bones is not mine…

NEW CASE

Booth woke up in the middle of the night on his couch, the tv was still on, and he noticed that his head was resting on something that was as well resting on his left shoulder. And in that exact moment he was aware that that was Bones. She fell asleep as well, her head on his shoulder and her left hand on his chest. Again, he had to fight against his dreamed feelings for her, even stronger than before, watching her peaceful face so close to his own. Surely she's going to have a bad stiff neck if she sleeps in that position, he thought. He was thinking that he should take her to her bed, well, in fact, he was really thinking to take her to his own bed, but he rejected that idea instantly. He was preparing to pick her up, but she woke up in that moment too.

"What time is it?" She asked.

"Half past three in the morning." He answered. "We should go to bed, don't you think?" And he thought that that had not sounded very good. "I mean… you go to your bed, and I go to mine."

"I've understood you the first time, Booth." He was smiling with relief but she asked something that made him feel uneasy. "By the way, what were you doing?"

"What are you talking about?" He asked, trying to sound the most indifferent he could.

"When I woke up, what were you doing? I was asleep, but you moved and woke me up."

"Well, I woke up a minute before you, and I was trying to decide the best way to wake you up too. The couch is not very comfortable for two, I was sure you'd be a lot better in your bed."

"Yes, you're right."They were still sitting on the couch, and she thought that it had felt good to be the way they were moments before. But this thought passed through her mind just a second and then she got up and walked sleepy toward her bedroom. "Good night, Booth." She said looking at him from the door.

"Good night, Bones." He went to his bedroom too, and watched her door closing. He remained a few seconds staring at the door, thinking about her, and beginning to understand that this situation was going to be a lot more difficult to bear than any other he had had in his life.

When everyone was sleeping her cell phone rang insistently, making her jump in her bed.

"Brennan." She answered the phone. It was Cam that told her that the FBI had called her and was in her way to a house where a body had been found.

"They have asked me to call you. I think we have a new case in hands."

"Ok, Cam, I'll be there in twenty minutes. See you there." She hung up the phone and saw that it was 5:30 in the morning. She was used to get up early but she was deeply asleep two minutes before. She dressed in record time and washed her face with cold water. She thought that maybe she should wake Booth up, but he was fully asleep, and it wasn't necessary to disturb him. He need to rest well after the surgery, she finally thought. She closed the door as quietly as she could.

She arrived at the address Cam had told her and found her talking to an agent outside the building, which was surrounded by yellow seal and a lot of police officers and FBI, and police cars with their lights on.

"Good morning, Brennan."

"What do we have?"

"Straight to the point." Cam said.

"Well, it's almost six in the morning and I was having pleasant dreams, so, what have happened here?"

"Me too, and look where I am. Well, this is what the FBI forensics told me: white female in her 30's murdered in the bedroom. They supposed she was raped too, because she is completely naked and she had several marks on the whole body as if she has been hold on tightly. She was also stabbed in her neck with something thin, like a pencil. They haven't found anything that could be the murder weapon, therefore all this are just suppositions. The murderer drained all the blood from her body by the hole in her neck, so she was probably alive when he stabbed her, but they don't know whether she was conscious or not."

"Drained? The murderer took all the blood from the victim? Why?"

"I have no idea. Charlie, the FBI agent I was talking to hasn't told me." They went inside the building walking toward the apartment where the crime was committed.

"So the murdered is recent?" Bones asked.

"Yes, just a few hours ago, I supposed, but I haven't seen anything. I've just arrived here five minutes before you. I just know what Charlie has told me."

"Well, and why exactly am I here? This seems to be your type of scenario, not mine. I can't do anything until you've finished the autopsy."

"I don't know. I've told you I've arrived here five minutes before you, and I haven't seen anything yet. They have told me to call you, and so I've done. Maybe Charlie could enlighten us." Cam said turning to the same agent she was talking to when Brennan arrived, who had came in the apartment a moment before them.

"Oh, good morning Dr. Brennan. I have to apologize for waking you up so early, but here is something you should take a look. Please, follow me." Cam gave her a pair of gloves while following the agent toward a bathroom next to the bedroom where the body was. In that exact moment Bones' cell phone rang. Booth was calling her.

"Brennan."

"Bones, where are you?"

"Hi Booth, I'm sorry, Cam called me and asked me to come to a crime scene and I've had to leave early."

"Why didn't you wake me up?" He asked her impatiently.

"Because you were full asleep, and I didn't want to disturb you. You need to rest after the surgery. In fact, you should be sleeping right now. Why are you awake?"

"Bones, you must tell me that you were leaving. I was going to the kitchen and your door was opened but you weren't in. I was worried."

"Booth, I've told you, I didn't want to disturb your sleep. And you have nothing to worry about, I'm an adult, and as an adult I have work to…" In that very moment she was aware that Charlie had turned on the light of the bathroom and what she saw there paralyzed her completely. She didn't know how to react to what she was seeing. It seemed taken from a horror film. The walls and the floor of the bathroom were full of blood, but not as if the crime has been committed there. The blood was distributed forming letters composing a macabre message. On the right wall was her name written in blood "Dr. Brennan,", on the front wall was written "Do you want", on the left wall "to play?", and on the floor was written "LET'S PLAY" in capital letters. The whole bloody message was very clear:

"Dr. Brennan, do you want to play? LET'S PLAY"

She was so petrified that didn't notice the dozen of light bulbs hanging from the ceiling of the bathroom until Cam told her to look up. They were all turned off except the only one connected to the switch. A shiver of fear ran from her big toes to the top of her head.

"Oh, my God!" Cam was stunned.

"Bones, are you still there? What's going on?" Booth was still on the phone, but Brennan had lowered her arm and she wasn't listening to him.

"Brennan, are you ok?" Cam asked turning to her, but she could just look at the light bulbs with fear in her eyes. "Let's get out of here, the FBI will do the first work here." Cam said, grabbing Brennan's elbow to guide her outside the apartment. "Brennan?" Cam insisted, but she didn't say a word. Cam took the phone of her hand and talk to Booth, while guiding her outside the building, still without a word for her part. "Booth, we'll call you later."

"Cam, wait!!" But Cam hung up on him. He was calling again the next second, but she silenced the phone and paid attention to Brennan again.

"Brennan, listen to me." Cam said firmly to Bones. She was paying attention now. "We are going to the lab together with an escort, and then we are going to call Booth and tell him what has happened here. And this is not negotiable. If there's a madman going after you, you'll be safer at the lab."

"It's ok, Cam, I'm ok." Said Bones, talking lower.

"No, you're not ok. You can't be ok with that bloody message! Nobody could be ok with something like that!"

"Really, I'm fine!"

"Ok, as you want, but we are heading to the Jeffersonian right now." Cam said firmly. "Charlie!" Cam called the FBI agent to come where they both were. "Charlie, we need an escort for Dr. Brennan to go to the Jeffersonian right now. The officers and your people could do the first job here and send everything there once they have ended. I need you to make sure that every clue, photographs, and the body are sent to the Jeffersonian when your people finish the field work. Could you do that?"

"Yes, of course, no problem. We have seen your team work so many times, we know how you want the job be done, so don't worry about it."

"Ok, one more thing, we'll need high resolution photographs from the bathroom, so we can examine the traces properly." Cam demanded.

"We are already taking HQ pictures of the scene, they will be sent to you as soon as possible. Let me talk to Agent Sorensen to escort you two to the Jeffersonian." Charlie said, and went to talk to an agent that was interviewing a neighbor. Charlie would finish the questions to her, but he must go with Dr. Saroyan and Dr. Brennan right now.

"Come on, Brennan, let's go." Cam said, guiding her to the agent Sorensen SUV. But Brennan didn't want to leave her car there.

"I've come with my car, and I don't want to leave it here. I'll drive to the lab."

"Ok, my car is here as well. I'll drive too, right behind you." Cam said. Agent Sorensen spoke to the two women.

"I'll drive in front of you, Dr. Brennan, and we'll head the Jeffersonian together."

"I think all this is absolutely unnecessary. I'm perfectly capable of driving myself to the Jeffersonian without getting lost!" She was getting upset.

"Me too, but we are doing as Agent Sorensen says, so let's go, please." Cam said firmly again.

"Ok, let's go, me and my babysitters." And with that Bones headed to her car and drove to the lab behind Agent Sorensen's truck. She was thinking all the way about the bulbs, and the coincidence with the package she had received yesterday. She was very sure that this wasn't a coincidence. This was unquestionable with the message in the walls of the bathroom.

The delegation arrived to the Jeffersonian at 6:30 in the morning. Brennan headed to her office as soon as she had parked her car, without waiting for Cam and Agent Sorensen. She sat heavily in her chair and thought that she should call Booth, he would be worried. Cam had hung up on him, and he had been trying to contact with Bones again, but she wasn't answering. She hated to disturb him with this, but she also knew that Cam would call him in a minute. She called him from her office, just before Cam appeared in her door.

"Bones? I'm on my way to the Jeffersonian. Are you ok?" Booth sounded worried.

"What? Wait, are you coming here? Why the hell have you got off your bed? You should be resting, Booth!"

"Cam has called me 15 minutes ago, and has told me what has happened while she drove to the lab. Don't argue with me. This is really serious. I suppose you are NOT alone, aren't you?" He asked impatiently. But before she could reply Cam spoke to Booth.

"Hi Booth, it's Cam. No, she's not alone. I've asked Charlie to give her a temporal escort while we decide what to do. Agent Sorensen will be here with us all the time." Cam answered, and saw the anger on Brennan's face. "Don't look at me that way, Brennan. I've done exactly what I have to do. If I detect something that threats any member of the team I have to do everything I can to assure his/her protection. And that's exactly what I have done."

"I completely agree with her." Booth told her by the phone. A wave of rage invaded her and stood up from her chair. She exploded.

"Hey, you two, that's enough. I'm here, don't talk between you like I wasn't listening, or like I was a little child that need to be protected. I'm a grown woman and I can take good care of myself, thank you! I'm still free to decide whatever I want about my own safety by myself, and I don't care if you two or anyone else agrees with that!" And with that she hung up on him again. She was breathing fast, and her face was full of anger.

"Brennan…" Cam begun, but Brennan was begging to be left alone.

"Close the door when you leave." She told her, leaning both hands on her desk, lowering her head and closing her eyes.

"Ok, but you know that if you need…" She couldn't finish.

"Yes, I know." Cam nodded at the short statement and went out her office. Agent Sorensen was on her door and Cam told him not to leave this door on any account.

Bones sat on her couch trying to relax her neck. She was extremely pissed off. Besides, she couldn't stop thinking about the light bulbs. She didn't understand why the murderer wanted to leave a message like that to her. He was getting angry with herself for letting the situation scare her. But she couldn't help it. She was scared to death, like any human being would be if anything like that happened to him/her.

No more than five minutes since Cam has gone from her office had passed, when Booth burst into looking for her.

"Bones, are you ok?"

"Booth, what the hell are you doing here?" She said with resignation. "You should be in your bed."

"I couldn't stay at home with all this going on."

"But you couldn't do anything. You're recovering yourself, please, go home now."

"I'm not going any way, Bones, you like it or not." He said, sitting beside her on the couch. A few seconds passed in silence, but Booth could see that she had something in her mind. "Can you tell me what are you thinking? You're head is working so fast that I can almost hear it" He said softly. But Brennan wasn't in the mood for softness.

"And what do you suppose I have to tell you? That I'm scared that a maniac could come over me in the middle of the night and make me the same things that he has done to that poor woman? No, thanks, that's not going to happen, and do you want to know why? Because I can bear the fear, and I can face that son of a bitch if he comes here or wherever he wants, and I will fight him, her, or what the hell it could be! I'm very capable of kicking his ass and send him to fly!"

"Bones, calm down, I'm here just to help and protect you!"

"And why exactly do you think you have the right to decide over myself, whether I need any kind of protection or not? As I said to you earlier I'm an adult, I can take really good care of myself, I don't need a babysitter 24h! And by the way, how do you exactly plan to protect me? You are under treatment. You have been operated five days ago. Do you want me to remember you what the doctor has said to you before leave the hospital, YESTERDAY?, you are the one who needs someone taking care of you, not me."

"Don't yell at me! Do you think I like that you have gone out of your home to take care of me? Have I to remember you that you didn't let me decide anything about that? Don't tell me I have no right to decide over your safety because we are partners, and that is exactly what partners do, they take care of each other!" He said trying not to yell at her. He stood up too. "Bones, please, I understand you, I really do, because I know you, and I know you hate to need any kind of protection, but you are my partner, and I must do everything I can to protect you, exactly the same that you are doing for me. I need to be sure you're ok, and when something like this happens, you shouldn't bear it alone, because you're not alone." He had been approaching to her, but she was too annoyed to notice it, and turned and took a few steps going round the couch. She stopped behind it with her hands leaning on it, trying to relax a little. She thought that the only thing that could make her feel better was concentrate in the job and try to catch the murderer as soon as they can, before he could do something against her or against someone else.

"I have work to do, Booth. Please, go home and do what the doctor has said to you." She said walking to the door. But Booth was faster and caught her arm before she could leave.

"Stop! Now!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" She yelled at him again releasing her arm from his hand.

"Haven't you listened to all I've been saying to you? Bones, please, wait a second!" He said when he noticed she was trying to open the door to leave. He took a step forward and blocked the door to not allow her to go. He knew she was really upset, but he doesn't care right now. He had the feeling that there was something more that she wasn't saying, and he wanted to know what it was.

"Let me go, Booth! I'm not in the mood for this right now!" She said lower, but with a warning in her voice.

"What is really bothering you so much, Bones? There's something you are not telling me."

"Let me go now!" The warning in her voice was more intense this time, but Booth knew she wouldn't do anything to him. So, he insisted.

"Bones, please, I just want to know what the hell is bothering you sooo much. I've already told you, but I'll repeat it again: you are NOT alone." He noticed that shy was trying to relax a little and went on. "Please, let me help you. I'm here because I care for you. You know that. Please," he was looking her at her eyes "please, tell me what is really happening here. You don't have to face this alone, I will be here with you. We can face it together, as we always do." He waited a few seconds for her to react, but she didn't do anything. Then he tried to took her by her hand, and surprisingly, she let him do it, and he guided her to her couch again. He waited for her to calm down a little more.

"Booth, don't you realize, that what has happened to that woman is my fault?" She said with a mix of sadness and anger in her voice.

"Don't do that, Bones. Don't blame yourself for what has happened to her, because that's definitely not your fault. The bastard that made her that has the entire fault, not you. You hadn't any way to know this was going to happen. In fact, and this is going to sound selfishly, I'm sure you are ok because you were at my place this night. I think, and I'm pretty sure I'm not mistaken, that the first objective were you, and since he couldn't get you, he went to search for another victim." She closed her eyes when he said that. "Yes, I know, that's the very reason you are so angry, because you think that she has died because of you, and that's not true."

"How can that not be true? That's exactly what has happened!" The tears were trying to fall from her eyes, but she didn't let them.

"No, that's not true. The true is that that bastard had the idea of murder someone in mind, and ok, I admit that possibly you were his first option, but what could you do? You didn't know anything about. This man, if I can call him a man, has done something inhuman, and unless you have taken part in what he has done to that woman, you are not responsible of nothing here. Do you understand me?" He said, raising softly her chin, making her to look at him too. She didn't tell anything. "Bones, it's ok to feel what you are feeling now. You are not a robot without feelings, no matter how much you try to hide them in the bottom of your heart."

"Booth… " She said very low and turning her eyes to the couch again. "Could you…" It wasn't necessary to continue because he knew exactly what she was asking for.

"Come here." And he took her in his arms and held her. He felt her whole body shaking lightly and knew for sure that she was really scared. He held her tighter.

To be continued...

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