A/N: For my sake, I'm going to say this happened after Hodgins and Angela got married but Booth and Brennan never left for a year. So I'm going to pretend they never left. I hate that they left. Okay, so I hate how they left things mostly. Ugh. I don't like it at all. Anyway, that's just for clarification.

Hadley was in Booth's office alone, waiting for Booth and Brennan to come back. She was wandering and looking at his commendations and decorations that adorned the walls of his office.

The partners sat in the bullpen just outside of his office, also waiting for someone. They were waiting for Caroline.

"It's all in order, Cher," Caroline said, as she approached them, "Hadley stays with you. A social worker will be by your place in the morning to sort things out."

"Thanks," Brennan said.

"I sure hope you know what you're doing. A teenage girl is hard work."

"I can handle it," Brennan told her, sounding offended.

"Bones can do it. And she's got me and the Squint Squad if she needs help. It's not like Hadley is a baby," Booth stuck up for his partner.

"Well, while you two are playing house, make sure you solve that case. That girl is going to want to know who killed her daddy."

Caroline walked away, leaving a befuddled Booth and contemplative Brennan in her wake.

"I'm going to take Hadley to pack up some of her clothes. We left in kind of a hurry and she doesn't have anything."

"Well, I'm coming with you," Booth announced.

"What? Why?"

"Bones, her home is a crime scene. I have to be there as an officer of the law."

"Fine."

Brennan walked into Booth's office, him following closely behind.

"Do I get to stay with you?"

Brennan smiled. "Yes. Do you want to go get some things from your house? Clothes, toiletries, things like that?"

"Right now?"

"If you want."

"It's going to be weird."

"What is?" Booth asked.

"Leaving. And knowing I never get to go back."

After what seemed like several long minutes of quiet, Brennan said, "You have to move on, Hadley. I know you don't want to, no one does. But it's the only way you'll ever get over this, it's the only way you'll ever grow as a human being and try to become the person your father wanted you to be."

Hadley nodded. "Okay. Let's go."

"Where'd that come from, Bones?" Booth whispered as they walked out of his office, a proud smile on his face.

"Where did what come from?"

"Never mind…"

"So I pulled the footprint from pictures and molds and I'm pretty sure it's a work boot," Angela said as she walked into the autopsy room where Cam was working on Thomas Kerr.

"Well, he was a construction worker. Maybe a co-worker?" Cam speculated.

Angela shrugged. "Could be. I'm searching for a brand now. It looks like a man's size twelve."

"Good. Does Hodgins have anything on the particulates from the impressions?"

"I know he said it was two different types of sand but that's all I know. You'll have to check with him if you want more."

"Alright. Thanks Ange."

Cam was alone again in the autopsy room once Angela left except for the corpse of Hadley's father. She was done with the autopsy. The only thing she had discovered except for the shoe impressions on his torso and the blunt force trauma on his skull was that Thomas Kerr was a healthy man. He could've lived to be a very old man had he not been murdered. He could've grown to see his daughter lead a full life.

Cam took her time and closed the body. When she was finally done, she covered him respectfully with a white sheet and washed up, planning to see if Angela had any luck with a shoe brand and if Hodgins had found the sand.

The boss approached Hodgins' work station noticing work was not happening. He had Angela in a lip lock worthy of a triple-X warning. Cam cleared her throat loudly enough to announce her presence and two split apart instantly.

"So Angie ID'd the boot brand," Hodgins said to keep it from getting awkward.

"Uh yeah, the impression matches the Chippewa Sportility eight inch steel toe work boot. It's what Thomas Kerr's construction company recommends for their workers. Anderson Construction, that's Kerr's company, has a deal with one of the wholesalers' downtown so all the workers get them pretty cheap."

"So, if all the workers have the same boots, we can at least narrow it down to whoever wears a size twelve?"

Angela nodded.

"Okay, Hodgins, did you find anything on the sand?"

"Yeah, one is your basic sandbox sand. You can find it pretty much at any home improvement or hardware store. The other type is used for sand pits like you'd see for sand volleyball or like a fake beach that people try to make in the middle of a landlocked state."

"You lost me," Angela said.

"Me too," Cam confessed.

"The first type, the sandbox sand comes in bags. You can load that stuff in your car trunk and take it home. The other…you'd need a dump truck. This is the kind of stuff you can only find at quarry."

"So more construction stuff?"Angela guessed.

"Maybe. I'll call Booth and let him know. I have talk to Brennan. See if they can get the girl to open up about anything. You two do know that Hadley Kerr is staying with Dr. Brennan, right?"

"Like…living with Dr. B. or maybe, I don't know…say, job-shadowing her?" Hodgins asked, shocked at the announcement.

"You're probably going to have to teach her the ways of girl talk, Angela," Cam told the artist and completely ignoring entomologist.

"Trust me, Sweetie, I've been trying for six years. It ain't gonna happen."

"Alright, Camille, thanks. I'll let you know if we find anything." Booth flipped his phone shut and shoved it back into his pocket.

"Aren't you going to tell me what they found?" Brennan asked.

"Later," was all he said.

"Why?"

"Bones…"

"Oh…" She had forgotten Hadley was sitting in the back seat of Booth's SUV. When they arrived to Hadley's house, it was a remarkably different scene than it was earlier that day. It was quiet and though the crime scene tape still surrounded the yard, it looked calm. They walked into the kitchen, Hadley's half-eaten breakfast still sitting on the table where she had abandoned it for her hiding spot. The fridge was covered with old paintings Hadley had done when she was younger and pictures covered the walls of a growing girl.

She darted up the stairs and Brennan slowly followed. She wanted to give Hadley her space to say goodbye, but she also wanted to be there in case she needed a shoulder. Hadley pushed opened the first door at the top of the stairs. It wasn't a child's room, but a plain room that had once been shared by two people. Hadley walked to the lone dresser in the room and on top stood a jewelry box. Hadley opened it and took out a necklace and ring.

She turned to look at Brennan. "I'm not really the sentimental type but there's this picture of me and my mom down in the living room from before she died. I don't remember taking it. I was too little. But she was wearing these in the picture. Dad told me I could have them when I went to college. Will you hang onto them for me while I go pack?"

"Uh, sure."

Hadley crossed the room and Brennan held out her hand.

"You don't need to rush. And you can bring whatever you want," Brennan told Hadley as she placed the valuables into her guardian's hand, "I have plenty of room."

Hadley only smiled a bit before she left the room. Brennan didn't follow this time. This time, she went back down stairs. Booth was looking around at the pictures of Hadley scattered around the living room.

"Whatcha got, Bones?" he asked when he saw she had her fist tightly clenched.

She held out her hand and began to explain. "Hadley said they were her mother's."

"Of course, Bones. It's just like yours." He grabbed her hand and took her mother's heirloom ring between two fingers as it perched on her hand.

"No, it's not, Booth. The rings don't look alike at all."

"That's not what meant, Bones. The idea behind it is the same."

"I suppose you're right. She said there's a picture of her wearing these."

Booth nodded. "Yeah, it's over here." He led Brennan to the fireplace mantle where picture frames were lined up. The picture of Hadley and her mother had been taken on a playground. Hadley looked about two years old and her mother couldn't have been a day over thirty. They were both sitting at the bottom of a slide, their grins taking over their faces. She looked like her mother: tall with bright blue eyes and long brown hair. Hadley was right; The necklace and ring Brennan now held in her hand were the same as in the picture. She took the picture off the mantle, handed it to Booth and scanned the room for one of Hadley and her father.

"He must've been the one behind the camera," Booth said, somehow knowing what she was thinking. There was no picture of father and daughter that they could find.

"I'm ready," Hadley said from the foot of the stairs. She only had two duffle bags and the partners were surprised that she didn't have more.

"Are you sure?" Brennan asked.

Hadley nodded. "If I stay here any longer, it's gonna get too hard to leave."

"We can take more of your things back to my apartment if you'd like."

"Bones, don't push it," Booth said.

She walked over to Hadley and gave her the necklace and ring. She looked up at Brennan gratefully, put the jewelry on and walked outside, struggling to carry both bags that looked stuffed.

"I should give her the frame," Brennan said, holding her hand out for Booth to give her the picture frame of Hadley's mother.

Booth shook his head. "Save it, Bones. Save it for when she needs some comfort that you can't give her."