Thank you for your continued support :) It means a lot. Here is another chapter for my lovely readers!

Brennan finally got to talk to Booth in the morning for check out. He had been sleeping every time she went into his room during the night.

"I heard you saved me," Booth said when she stopped in front of him while he pulled his shirt on. Sweets had come by with some extra clothing of his and store bought clothes for Cleo. Brennan felt very odd in Sweets's baggy sweatshirt.

"No one else was going to," Brennan said. Booth smiled in return. He had a bunch of painful bruising from his tumble down three flights of stairs, but otherwise he was all right. He wanted to talk to her about that kiss, but now just seemed like a bad time. It was always a bad time, it seemed, to talk about their relationship.

"Where do we go now?" Cleo asked, appearing at the door.

"We go to my place," Brennan answered.

"What if they find us there?"

"They won't. Even if they do, we'll have more FBI protection now," Brennan added. Booth would see to that.

"I'm going to figure this out," Booth promised.

"You're going home to rest," Brennan advised. "We'll get the others to help."

"I can't rest knowing that Cleo is still in danger."

"We'll be together and alert this time. We'll be safe. There's also a doorman at my place. It's more secure."

"Rub it in," Booth said, trying to make a joke.

"Come on," Brennan said. She took his hand, and he let her lead the way.

...

The day went by without them talking about her kiss. Cleo eventually fell asleep after being reassured dozens of times that she was safe. After saying awkward goodnights, Brennan went to her room, and Booth stayed in the living room. After over an hour of trying to sleep, Brennan couldn't take it anymore. She slid out of her room and padded to the couch. Booth was lying with one arm thrown over his head. His eyes were closed. She stood before him, hesitating for a second, but then she hardened her resolve. She wanted this. It was happening.

"Booth," she whispered, nudging him. He was instantly awake, one arm flying out in front of him in defense, which she dodged.

"It's me," she hissed. He visibly calmed.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Come with me," she urged. He was confused.

"Come where?"

"Just get up," she said. He obeyed, following her back to her bedroom.

"What is so urgent that you had to drag me..." he started, but he didn't get to finish. Once the door was shut, she closed the gap between them and locked her lips onto his. He was surprised by this and pulled back at first.

"What are you doing?" he asked. He understood the kiss during the fire was meant as a last desperate act, but this was unexpected.

"I care about you a lot," she answered. "Last night proved that to me even more when I thought I'd lost you. I should never have let fear control me. We lost so much time..."

"Shh okay stop," he said, putting a finger over her lips. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"Oh," he said, unsure of what else to say. It was everything he wanted. Now suddenly, he had no idea how to go forward. She helped him figure it out by kissing him again, sliding her hands under his t-shirt. Booth's mind was reeling. This was happening, really happening. He responded with fervor. It was what he had dreamed about for so long.

"Why now?" he asked, panting. He had her on her back on her bed. The question was burning, though.

"I've been wanting to tell you since I got home from Maluku. There just wasn't a good time," she said, kissing him thoroughly as she pulled him as close to her as he could physically get. Booth didn't ask any more questions. It just wasn't the right time.

...

Brennan awoke during the night and felt Booth behind her, his arm slung across her waist. His skin against hers felt incredible. She tried to shift without waking him, but he was already awake as well.

"Hey, you," he said, his voice tinged with sleep.

"Hi."

"You can't sleep either?"

"Not really. I keep thinking about this whole thing."

"Us or the case?"

"Well, both actually," she admitted.

"I can assure you that I'm not going anywhere," he said, kissing the spot just under her ear.

"So...what are we exactly?"

"Two people in a relationship?" he said, a hint of teasing in his voice.

"That answers the question of is this just a one night stand," Brennan chuckled.

"God, no, Bones. This is not a one night stand. I...I would never do that to you," Booth said, growing serious.

"Somehow I knew that," she replied.

"It's new and different, but I'd like to say we're a couple," Booth offered.

"Do you want everyone to know?" Brennan asked, hoping he wouldn't say yes. It was hard enough to get used to being with him without Angela or Sweets glomming all over it.

"We can keep it on the low key if you'd like," he answered, distracting her with his fingers. He smiled in the darkness when she arched against him.

"All right," she agreed. She turned so that she was facing him, finding his lips with hers. Booth realized after a while that they hadn't talked about the case, but he figured it would have killed the mood, so he let it go for now.

...

Booth padded to the kitchen the next morning to see Cleo sitting at the table already.

"Finally," she said, gesturing. Booth froze.

"Finally what?"

"Don't be coy. You got your anthropologist finally," Cleo smirked.

"W-what? No."

"Dude, I clearly saw you leave her bedroom just now," she said, pointing. Booth stared down at Brennan's bedroom door, knowing there was no way out of this one.

"Okay, so I did. Just be cool, all right?"

"All right," she shrugged. It didn't matter so much to her really. She was glad they finally did something about all that tension between them, though. It was almost suffocating at times. She picked at her cereal. She wished she had her real parents back. They were always so loving towards each other, making jokes and forever finding ways to touch each other. Her heart twisted and her throat tightened. She pushed away the bowl, leaving the rest untouched.

"You okay?" Booth asked, noticing her face.

"I'm fine. I should start on my lessons," she said, heading to her room. She was taking part in homeschooling for now since her future was uncertain regarding school. She was very self-taught and was able to do it with her instructors online without Booth's help much. Booth watched her go from the coffee maker. He'd give anything to take away all the heartache, pain, and misery from Cleo. He desperately wished he had that power.

...

Booth stood in the middle of his ruined apartment, staring at everything. His mind was spinning around and around. He'd almost died here. He'd almost lost Cleo and Brennan here. Why had Cleo's window been open? Why hadn't his smoke detectors worked? They were in shambles, so he couldn't tell from the surface, but Hodgins was going to be collecting them for evidence. Someone had deliberately started this fire to kill them all. Someone was watching them. He felt his skin prickle. It made him all the more determined to keep Cleo close and now Brennan. If they wanted to take a shot at him, let them. He wasn't going to let anyone harm his girls, and he would die protecting them if he had to.

The Next Day

When Cleo stopped talking, Angela showed her the picture, making her nod.

"That's right," Cleo said. Angela set the paper down and shuddered.

"Cleo, sweetie, I really think it's time we tell Booth," Angela said, putting the picture into the plastic sheath at the back of a binder. Cleo sighed.

"I know you're right, but he's so focused on this case. This will only distract him from it."

"Then explain to him that it can wait until this is over."

"He'll get upset."

"He will, but that's because he cares about you."

"He does?"

"Of course! Cleo, he wouldn't have brought you all the way here to live under his protection if he didn't care about you," Angela said.

"I've never had someone care about me like that since my real parents," Cleo said thoughtfully.

"I know. You've been hurt so much, but Booth never will. You can count on him," Angela added. She handed Cleo the binder of drawn faces, the recent one added to the back. Cleo closed her eyes briefly, feeling all the drawn eyes staring up at her through the cover. It was time.

"Thank you, Angela, for helping me with this," Cleo said, standing up.

"You're welcome. I'm always here, okay?"

"Okay."

Angela watched Cleo leave, and she collapsed back into her chair. She could only imagine what Booth's response to that binder was going to be.

...

Booth was twirling his pen in his fingers absently when Cleo entered his office with Brennan in tow.

"Hey," he said, brightening after seeing them. "What brings you here?"

"Any leads on the fire?" Brennan asked.

"I'm waiting for bug boy," Booth answered.

"I've been keeping an eye on the apartment through security cameras I had installed," Brennan went on. "There doesn't seem to be any strange activity yet."

"Good. I plan to keep it that way."

Booth and Brennan shared a smile, and Cleo knew they just couldn't wait to start macking on each other again. She cleared her throat, reminding them that she was there. She pulled out the binder from her bag and set it down on his desk. Booth stared at it.

"What's that?" he asked, finally looking up at her.

"Dr. Brennan, can we have a minute?" Cleo asked.

"Of course," Brennan nodded. She slipped out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

"Open it," Cleo said. Booth obeyed, sliding it closer to him and pulling the cover back. A man's face stared up at him. He frowned, flipping through the binder. All men's faces, and all hand drawn. He counted 13. He looked up at Cleo again.

"What is this?" he asked. Cleo worked hard to keep the tears from exploding from within her. She felt her legs shake, but she knew he had to know.

"Those are all the men who hurt me," she answered. "Every single one of them."

"Cleo," Booth said, shocked. He looked back down at them.

"I have this thing where I remember faces as you may recall."

"Were they all from the brothel?"

"No," Cleo shook her head. She fiddled with her fingers. Booth caught on to this.

"Where, Cleo?" he asked, feeling that rage coming back to him.

"In America," she whispered. She avoided his gaze.

"You're telling me that all these men hurt you here?"

"Yes."

"Okay. All right. I've got this," Booth said, gripping his desk to steady himself. "Can you tell me how this happened?"

"Frank had parties," she said quietly.

"What kind of parties?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"Bad ones. Sometimes he hosted, but mostly he took me to other homes. There were other children," she finished. She wished she could have described them to Angela too, but all that would have been drawn was terrified children. She didn't want to do that to Angela.

"Okay," Booth said, swallowing hard. "So you had Angela draw these men because they are a part of this ring?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever considered a career with the FBI?" he asked, trying to make her smile. She was incredibly brave for doing something like this. He could only imagine how much she relived by describing these bastards.

"I am now," she said, smiling finally. "I know this case has higher priority, but I thought perhaps after you could look into it."

"I most certainly will. Thank you, Cleo, for doing this. You're a very brave young woman, you know that?"

"I've been called many things, but brave has never been one of them," she said, holding his gaze.

"Well, get used to it," he said.

"All right, Files," she smirked. He gave a small laugh in return.

"Booth?" Brennan asked, knocking first before opening the door. "I just got a call. We have human remains to look at."

"Okay," Booth sighed. He turned to Cleo. "You okay to hang out here? Sweets is here too somewhere."

"I'm good," she nodded. "I'm getting very good at solitaire. I am this close to beating your top score." She gestured with her fingers.

"You can try," he snorted. "Right, I'll see you later." He put his hand on the small of Brennan's back as they walked out together. Cleo got comfortable in Booth's chair, reaching for the mouse to start the game.

...

Brennan was looking at the body in front of her, knowing that she had seen him before. Cam was bent over his side.

"What?" Booth asked, sensing she was thinking intensely about something.

"I know him," Brennan said, pointing.

"You do?"

"Yes," she nodded vigorously now. "He was the firefighter who wouldn't let me back in to save you." Booth froze, pen in hand. He looked at the dead man and back to Brennan.

"You're serious?"

"Yes! He wouldn't let me back in, but I outsmarted him."

"I bet you anything he's a part of Jimmy's team then, and the consequences of failing is death."

"I left Cleo alone," Brennan whispered. "Right in his reach." Thank goodness Cleo had hidden herself.

"Another reason for his death. He failed to get her," Booth noted.

"Okay, this is getting out of hand," Cam said. "Who else is on his team? Police officers? FBI agents? I don't know who to trust now." Brennan understood what she meant. She was finding herself skeptical of everyone now too.

"Take the remains back to the lab," she ordered the workers.

"I'll assist," Cam said, taking her gloves off. She wasn't going to let that body out of her sight.

"What do we do now?" Brennan asked Booth.

"I'm going to talk to his coworkers. You go to the lab and find cause of death."

"I'll call once I have it."

"See you later," Booth said, resisting the urge to kiss her then. They were sticking to the deal of keeping their newfound relationship quiet for now. She squeezed his hand instead and went after Cam.

...

"Can I come in?" Cleo asked Sweets, who looked up from his desk.

"Sure. It's not our scheduled session is it?" Sweets asked, immediately looking at his calendar.

"No, no. I was just hanging out here while they went to look at a body," Cleo answered. "I thought I'd come see you."

"Yea, okay. I've got some time," he nodded, setting aside his files. "Have a seat."

Cleo sat, hugging the binder to her chest. She had decided to show him this as well. She wanted to talk about each one, what they did, how it hurt her, but she needed to know if he could handle it first.

"What's that?" Sweets asked on cue.

"This is...this is a book with all the faces of my abusers," Cleo answered, handing it to them. If Sweets was shocked, he didn't show it. He flipped through them slowly.

"You remembered each one," he said as if it was the most common occurrence.

"I did."

"You want to talk about them to help process and work through your trauma," he said, getting it. He looked back up at her.

"Yes," she whispered. He nodded slowly.

"Which one do you want to start with?" he asked, setting the book down in front of her. The hard eyes looked back up at her.

"That one," she pointed.

"Okay," Sweets said. "Let's hear it."

...

Brennan and Cam got the body situated on the table. Hodgins set to work on the particulates. Angela wasn't needed since the face was still intact.

"Is it just me, or does he look terrified?" Hodgins asked.

"You're right," Cam agreed, looking.

"You think he saw his attacker?" Brennan asked.

"That's a possibility," Cam nodded. They searched the whole body, but no external wounds were found.

"I'm starting to think poison," Hodgins said. "There are no gunshot wounds or stab wounds, nothing to indicate a physical attack on the outside of his body."

"I'll start the tox screen," Cam told them. Brennan felt uneasy. There was just something about this body that didn't sit well with her.

"Hey," Hodgins said, remembering. "Tell Booth that his smoke detectors had no batteries in them."

"What?" Brennan asked.

"Yea. They were removed. I'd say arsonist," Hodgins concluded.

"Thank you, Hodgins. I will tell him," Brennan promised. It didn't make her feel any better.

And the plot thickens. I am so excited for you guys to keep reading!