Without access to true chaos we'll never have true peace. ~Chuck Palahniuk (Survivor)

Chapter Fifteen: Memory Motel

"Oh God...it can't be. I-It's Tucker. Tucker is the stalker."

Booth narrowed his eyes on Charlotte and asked, "How do you know it's Tucker?"

Charlotte stared at the letter, stunned, "You called me Charlie…"

"What are you talking about?"

"You all called me Charlie." She stood up from the kitchen table and without a word went into the living room. Brennan, Sweets and Booth followed. Charlotte sat down on the living room floor and picked up her field diary, muttering, "You all called me Charlie."

"You've gotta give me more than that to work with." Booth told her as he watched her frantically flipping through the pages.

Charlotte looked up briefly and then back down to her notes, "When did I start doing ride-alongs with the night patrols?"

Brennan and Sweets moved to the couch and waited for Charlotte to put her thoughts together while Booth stood in the middle of the room, looming over her, "You didn't start coming out with us right away. It was at least a week."

"I know, I'm looking for the date."

He glanced at the white board covered in the dates of the letters and then crouched down in front of her, "Check June 10th."

She nodded quickly and flipped to the date, "That's it."

"What's what?" Sweets asked from the couch.

Charlotte stood with the book still in her hands, "Ok, I was going on my first night patrol with…" She looked back down at her notes, "Crosby, Bowers and Booth. And that night before I went out I talked with Tucker in the mess tent about the bad job they did of fixing his nose."

"What happened to his nose?" Brennan asked.

"Uh, he had fallen during a training exercise, they set it on the fly and that left it crooked." Booth explained.

"So, what? He thought you were making fun of him?" Sweets asked as he leaned forward off the couch.

"No, I remember he was trying to tell me something but kept getting tangled up with his own words." As if narrating a silent movie she continued, "Just as he was about to finally say something, anything, you…" She pointed at Booth, "ducked your head in to remind me we were headed out…" She trailed off and then sighed, "And you called me Charlie…"

"I'm still not following. How do you know it's Tucker?" Booth silently hoped her reasoning had nothing to do with him.

"You all called me Charlie. Every single person I had daily contact with over there did." She closed the book and looked at Booth, "Except for Tucker, who called me 'Ms. Charlotte'… In that creepy, Texan drawl of his."

Booth looked at Sweets, "You got that one right. He's from the South."

Sweets nodded and watched as Charlotte started to pace and then stopped to face him, "Didn't you say that levying an unwanted moniker on someone is often done by stalkers?"

"Yes, it creates a depraved intimacy that forces the victim to remember who gave it to them whenever they hear it. It's a form of mind control, really."

"But him doing that didn't stick out or make me think of him because it is my name. He didn't give me a nickname…" She ran her hands through her hair, trying to remember all she could about the man in question.

Booth scoffed, "Giving someone a nickname is not the same as stalking them. You guys need to simmer down."

Brennan internally smiled, knowing exactly what her husband was thinking about and why he was so defensive about it.

Ignoring Booth's little outburst, Charlotte continued."Tucker walked me out to where you and the other guys were gearing up and I remember Sambo calling out something about girls having cooties and he didn't want me in the humvee with you guys and I'm pretty sure he called me Charlie too. Or Sorry Charlie or Charlie Chan one of those names he called me by." Charlotte paused, "God, that kid was great."

"He was a good one." Booth shared her odd mixture of a smile and a frown for a beat.

"And then, Tucker told me how disrespectful it was for the other men to call me anything other than the name I was given. And how he would never call me something so plain and low class as Charlie…." She paused to catch her thoughts, "And I told him I preferred Charlie because, to me, Charlotte always sounded like a fat girls name." She paused trying to remember an event that seemed so inconsequential at the time it happened, "I'm almost positive after that I said something about not hearing people when they use Charlotte to address me? I think, but I'm not sure."

Sweets walked over to the dry erase board and scribbled a few words before he turned around, tapping the marker against his forehead, "So, he was determined to treat you with the utmost respect and chivalry by using only your proper name. Essentially you told him that when he addresses you as he believes you should be, you are deaf to the world. So, that night, June 10th-"

Charlie cut Sweets off as she perched on the arm of the couch, "He started writing me-"

Then Booth cut her off, "So you would hear him."

B&B

Cam led Gus into her office to wait for Hodgins to read and analyze the evidence results that had been collected from Clay's Town Car, offering him the seat across from her desk as she sat down and booted up her computer.

"It shouldn't take Hodgins long to go through the reports. But until then, we can wait here. Would you like something to drink?" She gestured to the small refrigerator she kept in the room.

"No, thanks. I did want to ask, though…why, exactly, are you here?" Cam's sharp look caused him to explain. "I mean, this is all Jack's thing."

Cam raised her eyebrows. "This is my lab. These are my people. It's my job to supervise, even when there's nothing I can add to the investigative procedures."

"Ah. A dedicated woman."

"Indeed."

"I find that…an admirable quality." Gus smiled. "Dedicated, intelligent, classy, beautiful, confident…there aren't many women like that anymore. It's refreshing to see."

Cam blushed furiously. "Th-thank you….uh, do I call you Gus? Augustus?"

"You can call me Augustus. Please."

"Augustus." Cam tried it out on her tongue, smiling at the way it sounded. "Thank you for the compliment, Augustus."

"Oh, you're quite welcome, Dr. Saroyan."

"Camille. Please, call me Camille."

"Camille. A lovely name for an even lovelier woman."

"Thank you again." Cam could feel her face flushing. Trying to move the conversation to more neutral territory, she pointed to the cooler again. "Are you sure there isn't anything I can get you while we wait?"

"Oh, no." Gus replied, soft smile playing across his face. "I think I have everything I need right here."

B&B

While Booth and Charlotte were in the living room trying to remember all they could about Tucker, Brennan and Sweets sat in the kitchen reading over Tucker's file.

"Bradley Winston Tucker, date of birth December 18, 1977, wife Eloise, daughter Amanda." Brennan looked over at Sweets, "He was married and had a child and still did all of this?"

Sweets tightened his jaw and considered this new information while staring at the picture that accompanied the file, "I know that looks are deceiving and all of that but this guy doesn't look menacing at all." He held the picture up for Brennan to see.

She took it from his hand, studied it, and said more to herself than to Sweets, "Poorly healed fracture to the nasal bone…"

"Yeah, Booth and Charlie already told us about that. Why is that worth mentioning?"

Sweets watched as Brennan quickly stood and headed into the living room with the picture still in her hand. He followed quickly behind her.

"I've seen this man before." She announced to Booth and Charlotte while holding up the picture.

Booth looked up from the note cards he was using to list the things he knew about Tucker, "Where?"

"I-I'm not sure but I remember, Booth. I remember seeing him and thinking that there was a simple surgical procedure to correct his nose."

Charlie turned around from the white board where she had been making her own list and pointed out, "If you read my article that was in Time, there was a picture of him in there."

Knowing she had read it, Booth agreed, "That's probably where you saw him, Bones."

Brennan bit her lip and continued staring at the picture, "I suppose."

Sweets dropped to the couch, "You know what I can't figure out is how did he afford to do this? Did he take odd jobs? Did he sleep in his car?"

"Well, Tucker had money. It's the whole reason he was in the army to begin with." Charlotte explained.

"How does one become wealthy by being in the army?" Brennan asked, still holding the picture of Tucker as she took a seat next to Sweets.

"His father wouldn't let him have his inheritance unless he went into the army after college and gave at least 12 years."

"And he had been stop-lossed about a month before I got there and he was not too happy about it." Booth looked over at Sweets and Brennan and saw a look of confusion, "Stop-lossed is when officers are involuntarily re-enlisted."

"But that wasn't his tipping point. That has nothing to do with Charlie." Sweets sighed and ran his hands through his hair, becoming more and more annoyed.

"What's wrong, Sweetness?" Charlotte asked, feeling Booth's glare at her using the nickname he'd asked her not to.

"This guy doesn't fit any standard stalker profile. I mean, he was married with a family, he was wealthy, he was college educated, he knows you and yet follows the pattern of behavior for an individual who has never met the object of their obsession. It's very frustrating."

"Ok, but why do you look scared?"

Booth stood, dropping his note cards on the coffee table, "Because if he's not following a pattern, we can't predict what he's going to do next and that makes him all the more dangerous."

B&B

When Hodgins, Cam and Gus returned from the lab, Hodgins immediately pulled Booth and Brennan, along with Gus, into the den to discuss the findings from the Town Car. Booth spent a few minutes explaining to Gus that Charlie had identified her stalker, and while it gave the team some actual focus, knowing who didn't explain how and why. Hodgins was about to clear up at least one of those questions with the particulates report.

Hodgins handed copies of the report to Booth and Brennan as he spoke. "We didn't find anything else unusual in the front of the car, but on the back of the front seat and in trace amounts on the back we identified graphite, NaCl and strangely enough, semi-powdered silver. It was in a straight line, coming from the front to the back seats, almost like a stream…"

"NaCl is sodium chloride, right?" Booth asked.

Brennan beamed with pride at her husband. "Yes, common table salt."

Booth sighed and rubbed a hand across his face. "I know how he subdued Clay. Liquid charge stun gun."

"Yes!" Hodgins bounced in his seat. "That makes perfect sense! But…how did you know that, Booth?"

"I investigated them for use with the Bureau." He nodded at Gus, who returned the gesture.

"I've heard of them, sure. But I didn't get a chance to see how they work."

Booth settled back in his chair and got comfortable. He wasn't used to being the one who explained technical information to the squints so he was going to try and relish the tiny moment of superiority while he could. "Basically, it's like a squirt gun. Some of them are even loaded the same way, with a pump action like a super soaker. It shoots a stream of electrically conducive liquid, typically water, NaCl and other elements, and when you pull the trigger the electrical charge travels through the stream from the gun to the attacker."

"Sounds much more efficient than a regular stun gun." Brennan commented.

Booth shook his head. "Not really. You have to carry a small water tank in a pack on your back. I decided that it wasn't feasible for the Bureau to use on the fly, too bulky."

"So…what? Tucker had the tank sitting on the front seat while he fired? And how did he get his hands on one of them, anyway? They're not commercially available." Hodgins grabbed his laptop and flipped it open. "I'll check online…"

Booth rolled his eyes. "You're not going to find one on eBay, Bug Man."

"Doesn't hurt to try, Booth."

B&B

Hodgins tried again to close his eyes and sleep, but Angela kept tossing and turning, causing him to finally sit up and switch the bedside light on.

"Ang? What is the problem? You're killin' me here."

Huffing in frustration, Angela sat up and pushed her tousled hair out of her face. "I don't know! I mean, I do know…but there's nothing I can do about it." She flopped back down on her pillow and threw her arm over her eyes. "I'm sorry, Jack. I'll be still, go back to sleep."

Chuckling, Hodgins pulled her arm away from her face. "Haven't even gotten there yet, Ang. Now c'mon…tell me what's going through that head of yours."

"Booth and Brennan."

"Ang…"

"I know! I can't help it! This case is…it's just…I know, in my head, that Brennan is not the type of woman to be jealous. But c'mon…an attractive woman who used to bump beautiful uglies with your husband, right there in front of you 24/7? Even Bren has to be having some feelings about the situation!"

"Yeah, and they're all good." At her answering scowl, he continued quickly. "Look, there is no more dedicated, loyal man on the planet than Booth. Well, and me." He grinned at her snort. "Anyway…Booth loves Brennan crazy, you know that. I mean, come on…did you see the way he was mooning over her at dinner? It's like when they first met, it's disgusting. He barely looked at Charlie, except when she spoke directly to him."

"Yeah, he does love her hardcore."

"Tell me about it, I know how he feels." Jack wiggled his eyebrows and grinned.

"Ugh, you're so goofy." With that, Angela turned over and pulled the comforter to her shoulders. "Goodnight, Jack. Love you."

With a resigned sigh, Hodgins turned the light back off and lay down. "Yeah, good night baby. Love you, too."

B&B

"Booth…"

"Just….give me a sec, Bones….I need to-"

"Catch your breath?" She chuckled.

"Mmmmhmmm…"

Brennan leaned back on the pillow, smile in place. "I still got it."

Booth jerked his head up, eyes wide. "Where did you hear that?"

"I don't remember. Didn't I use it right?"

"Oh yeah, baby…you definitely used it right." It was Booth's turn to laugh.

Brennan's smile faded slightly. "I miss Alexandra and Parker."

Booth pulled himself up to lay on her pillow with her. "Yeah. I do, too. But they're in good hands with your dad."

"I know, I just…we were in Ireland for two weeks without them, home for three days, then…this. We know who the stalker is; can't we bring them home now?" She rolled to face him on the pillow, eyes wide.

"Not yet, remember what Sweets said? Tucker is more unpredictable than we thought. It's best the kids stay out of sight right now. I'd rather be overprotective than careless."

"I understand." She sighed. "Could we call them tomorrow, at least?"

"Sure, I have a number for your dad. First thing in the morning, I promise."

"Thank you, Booth." She snuggled up next to him, smiling again at his contented sigh.

"I have to say, Bones…this is the most relaxed I've been in days."

She smirked. "You should be. That was some of my best work."

"Temperance Brennan-Booth!" Booth's face was one of shocked amusement. "You are very, very naughty!"

"Are you complaining?"

"Hell no." He pulled himself up and lay next to her on her pillow. "Why, are you?"

"Of course not. I think the whole house knows that."

"Oh, God…d'you think anyone heard us?"

B&B

Cam flipped the domino she was holding into the air. "Well, sounds like things have settled down back there."

Gus shook his head. "I thought this house was more soundproof than that. I'm sorry."

"Don't be!" She laughed. "It's not your fault my colleagues can't keep their private moments more…private."

"Well, I'm not so puritan that it bothers me, but it'll be a day or two before I can look Dr. Brennan in the eye."

Cam rolled her eyes. "Trust me; you don't know the half of it. A few years ago, before Alex was born, the whole team went camping together….you know what? Never mind. I don't want to relive that experience." She glanced towards the bedrooms. "Again."

Wanting to change the subject, Gus turned to Cam next to him on the sofa and tapped her shoulder. "I know this sounds trite and first-datish, but tell me a little about yourself, Camille."

"Oh, that's sweet. We're pretending that you didn't read my complete dossier when you took over my lab four years ago?" She smiled.

"Okay, okay…I suppose I might know a little more than the average…hm." He looked confused. "What is this, exactly? It's not a date, because I would have treated you to a little better meal than popcorn and iced tea."

"Well, I've always thought dates were more about the company than the activity. Give me stimulating conversation, and I'll take a hot dog vender and a long walk. I'm easy to please."

Gus grinned. "Thank goodness."

"But that doesn't excuse you from the third degree, Augustus."

"Damn."

"Come on…" she prodded. "Tell me a little about yourself."

Sighing, he sat back. "Not very exciting, actually. Born and raised in Cleveland, oldest of seven boys, passed on college for the Marines. Worked my way up to Gunnery Sergeant, then left to join the Secret Service. You know the rest."

"Wow. Okay, I have to ask…never married?"

"No. I never seemed to have time to meet the right woman, since I was always moving around…and then, working for President Bush, I just didn't have the opportunity. And now…"

Cam smiled, leaning forward slightly. "You have the opportunity."

"I sure as hell hope so." He returned her smile and moved to meet her halfway, their lips touching tentatively at first, then with more purpose. She slid into his arms, and pulled him closer, sighing at the contact. They pulled apart slowly, both looking slightly shell-shocked.

"Perfect."

"Yeah. Wow."

B&B

"Lance, you need to let it go for the night." Penelope laid a hand across the file Sweets was reading for what she knew had to be the tenth time since he had come to bed.

"I can't." Sweets leaned his head back on the pillow and screwed his eyes shut, "It's just…There's no indication of why. Nothing makes sense."

"Why? The woman is highly stalkable – that's why."

He opened his eyes and looked over at her with a crooked smile, "Stalkable isn't a word, Pen"

She slowly pulled the file from his hands and placed it on the nightstand, "Well, it should be."

"Maybe I'm too inexperienced for this one. Maybe Booth should call in another profiler ."

Penelope rolled her eyes dramatically, "How many years have you been working with this team?"

"Almost seven."

She moved closer to him, resting a hand in the middle of his chest, "And in those seven years, how many cases have you assisted with?"

Sweets rubbed his forehead, "Roughly 150."

Her hand started to slowly travel up toward his face, "And what kind of cases does this team handle? The really easy, normal, run of the mill type or the hardest, weirdest, most brain draining type, hmm?"

"The latter."

She gently swatted him against the cheek, "Get my point?"

He offered her a goofy grin, "Yeah."

"Good." She reached over him and turned off the light and then snuggled close to him, resting her head on his chest, "I get that this is huge and you're scared that you can't do it but I know that you can because…because you're you and quite simply, you're amazing."

He kissed the top of her head, "I love you too, Pen."

B&B

For the first time since she was a child, Charlotte kneeled at the foot of her bed and folded her hands in prayer. She whispered her message, "I know I don't do this as often as I should but I can't not do it now. I need him to be ok, even if he never comes back to me, I need him to survive this. He's a good man and the world is a better place with him in it and I won't be able to…Just let him be ok, let him walk away from this whole and I'll be ok." She dropped her head onto the bed and wiped the few stray tears on her cheeks on the comforter before pulling on one of Clay's blue dress shirts that still smelled like him and crawled into bed – on his side.