Thanks for the positive reviews for SIG. I have several more chapter written ahead and more planned. There may be delays in posting new chapters in the coming weeks. My fiance's grandmother died this weekend, my cousin was in hit and run also this weekend (he's okay, thankfully) and I am getting married next month. I do promise I will update and post as much as possible.

Keep the reviews up...and thanks to the new readers who are following my story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bones, but sometimes think I should

By 5:00 am, Booth was asleep in bed but Brennan was wide awake staring at the ceiling. Resigned to her fate, she got out of bed, being careful not to wake up Booth or the children in the next room and slipped downstairs. Moving carefully to the man cave, she silently closed the door so not to wake her father, noting the fact the door would not completely latch. 'Will have to let Booth know about that' she thought.

Walking to her anthropologist's cave down the hall, she shut the door for privacy. She went to her computer on her desk and booted up. She noted to turn off her wireless settings to off and turned off her router. Even then, she was aware of Pelant and how he could manipulate computers. She would be damned if he would get to hers the way he got to Sweets'.

Opening a drawer, she looked until she found a flash drive with MALUKU ISLANDS written on the side. Taking it and inserting it into the USB port, she waited a moment before looking for the document she needed and opened it. She sat for a moment, and then gathered her thoughts as she began to type.

Lister was taken by the doctor for tests. Feeling the silence in the room made her thoughts wander to places she didn't want them to go. She didn't want to think about her best friend a few cubicles down, fighting for her life. Suffocating from that worry along with everything going on with her mate, she felt her fight fading her. She was determined to hold her emotions in check, but knew it was a losing battle. Needing some fresh air, Kathy walked out of the room.

As she walked down the halls, the events of the last several months flew back at her…..being charged with a murder she didn't commit, her friends at the lab being terrorized for assisting in her case, and her on and off struggles with Lister after getting back from being on the run. All came back to the same thing…..Anton.

This genius was the smartest person she ever met and it seemed that no matter what they did….Anton found a way to circumvent their efforts. To say that it was frustrating was the tip of the lake. Kathy was feeling something she hadn't felt in a long time….defeated and alone.

Before she knew it, she found herself at the hospital gardens. All of a sudden, she felt a peace in the air that she instantly craved. Seeing the bush of daffodils, she made her way over. She bent down and sniffed, loving the aroma it gave off. She then sat on the nearby bench. Looking to her right, she was confronted with a cherub staring down at her. Spooked, she scooted down until she was in the middle of the bench.

Sitting among the flowers, she enjoyed the peace and quiet, finally able to shut her eyes and mind off if only for a few minutes. After about five minutes, she suddenly opened her eyes as an epiphany came to her. When it washed over her, she broke down into sobs as she felt a wave of relief. However the initial wave of relief changed into anger and frustration when she realized what Lister did.

"I'm his partner! Booth's supposed to trust me!" she moaned as another wave of fresh tears came out as all the feelings she had been bottling up came out in a wave. She hugged herself tightly as if she did this the feelings would go back inside, but it was too late for that. When she was finally spent, Kathy took another look around, wiped her eyes, and got up to go back. What she needed to do could come later….when she knew what that was.

Booth reached over to Brennan in sleep and only found coolness. Waking up, he noticed she was gone. Needing to know where she was, he got out of bed and grabbed his notebook from the nightstand drawer. He needed to write down the events of the last twenty four hours. He looked to her night stand and saw her phone. He felt his anxiety go down a bit knowing she must be in the house somewhere.

He quietly walked down the hall to Christine's room. Seeing her sleep peacefully, he kissed her head. He looked over to Michael in the spare bed kept for him and did the same. Comforted by the fact the two children were okay, he walked out without a sound. He walked to the steps and stopped for a moment as he thought about the last several hours.

Angela getting sick from botulism could only come from Pelant. He knew Angela Montenegro-Hodgins long enough to know that she was very careful when she canned food, especially when she knew her family and friends were going to eat what she had. He used the tomatoes for dinner a few days ago and suffered no ill effects.

Angela and her family were targeted, simple as that. Yes, it could be someone with an ax to grind towards Hodgins and the now defunct Cantilever group, but his gut said no. Hodgins had been able to recover some of his money back but hundreds of millions were still missing. He knew that Jack didn't care about the money so much as keeping his family safe, so obviously it can't be for extortion.

Angela's art and computer skills rival Pelant's. Hodgins holds three doctorates in science that can trap him. Michael Vincent was their Achilles Heel, a weakness to be exploited. Taking these three out of the picture could make it very difficult, if not impossible to take him down once and for all.

Then his thoughts went to Bones. He knew their coupling in the Sequoia earlier was born more out of sadness and disconnect as opposed to missing him. He didn't care. He saw her eyes throughout, the eyes that can hook him and make him forget reason. Her eyes were in pain, but there was love there. It gave him something to hold on to….something to give him hope that when Pelant was gone from their lives, he and Bones could put the pieces back together, get married, and have their happily ever after….the one they so richly deserve.

Coming out of his thoughts, Booth walked down to find his partner. He walked by the man cave and saw it was not totally latched. 'Bones didn't want to wake Max' Booth thought as he went to close the door. 'Not closing tightly again….project for the weekend'

Brennan stopped typing as she collected her thoughts. Suddenly hearing footsteps, she saved her file, not noticing that it went to her hard drive instead of her USB. She quickly removed her flash drive, and threw it in the drawer. She turned on the wireless router before she got up and opened the door to Booth with his right hand up to knock.

"Bones, are you all right?"

"I am fine Booth. I just couldn't sleep, so I decided to work on my novel. Did you need anything?"

Booth was still fatigued to the core, but he sensed a thaw in the air. He still felt her anger, but she actually was open to doing something for him now. "No, Bones I woke up and you weren't there and I got worried"

For Brennan, looking at Booth she saw in his eyes less of the stress and pain that she saw the last few weeks, the same pain she had now. However, she had a new set of emotions she was trying to process and it was not something that could be resolved overnight. How to resolve this….thing…between them? She had no idea, but decided each had been through enough for one day. Suddenly, she saw the composition notebook in his hand.

"I'm going to check on Christine and Michael before heading back to bed, Booth. Why do you have a composition notebook?"

On the spot, Booth sputtered for a moment, hesitant to even tell Bones about the one place he could confess his feelings and strategize against Pelant. Knowing that there was no way he could tell her about Pelant yet, he made a decision. "Oh, just some notes I made on a cold case I was given today."

Brennan knew it was a lie. She recalled a few sarcastic comments he made over the years in regard to school and those types of notebooks. She also knew that he used the standard FBI legal pads and his colored index cards. On one hand, being angry with him was unreasonable and she knew it, but the other hand she felt shut out as lingering feelings of abandonment invaded her thoughts.

Booth saw the thaw in her eyes freeze over again. What did I say? He thought. Remembering their making love a few hours earlier, he suddenly he got a moment of courage. He wasn't sure where it came from, but he didn't care. "Bones, there's something I have to tell you"

Before he could continue, the house phone rang from the laundry room. Both looking puzzled, Booth and Brennan walked to the phone. Booth got to the Bakelite phone first. "This is Booth"

Suddenly, he heard a guitar followed by a chorus of singers. When he heard the words, his blood froze.

Silence is golden
But my eyes' still see
Silence is golden, golden
But my eyes still see

Brennan saw the look on Booth's face and knew something was wrong when he lost almost all the color to his face. She watched as he suddenly hung up the phone and hit the wall in frustration, followed by something she didn't expect. A tear falling from his eyes.

"Booth?" When he didn't answer, she tried again. "Booth? What happened? Who was that?"

Hearing that song made him realize that he had to find a way to defeat Pelant. Unfortunately, Pelant had eyes and ears in his own home also, which meant he had to lie to Bones again. "Prank call"

She knew it was a lie and knew it. Anger gave way to devastation as she realized she was being shut out again. Is it Pelant? Why would he lie to me if it wasn't Pelant? Maybe he doesn't want to marry me? No, Booth has never intentionally hurt me. Cam's right, but he is lying to me. The anger came back with a vengeance. "Fine, Booth, I am going back to bed"

Once again, Booth watched her walk away in defeat and felt himself die a little more. It took him years to get her to tear her walls down. Now he knows they are starting to build back up again, and he was the cause. Feeling himself about to burst emotionally, he quickly walked to Brennan's desk. Opening the drawer, he noted a USB drive. Realizing that it must be her latest novel she was working on, he grabbed a pen and walked to the living room couch. Opening the book, he began to write in a frenzy.

When the coast was clear, Max tip toed out of the man cave. He heard everything and was very worried. He heard what sounded like drawers opening and closing so he skulked to his daughter's office and quietly searched her drawers noting items of interest. When he was done, he looked up and saw the computer. His antenna went up and he filed his idea away for later.

He moved quietly to the living room where he saw Booth writing frantically. Then he saw who he felt was the strongest man he knew stop writing, put his head in his hands, and unmistakably start crying. Not wanting to invade his privacy, Max snuck back into the man cave, got back into his makeshift bed, and laid there in thought.

This had to be Pelant….no one else. His enemies were mostly dead now. The few left had no metaphoric fangs left to sink into him so he knew his children were safe. He had known Seeley Booth for almost eight years. They may not have always agreed on things, but he was one of the few people he respected. What you saw was what you got and he knew how much he loved his daughter.

He was damned if he was going to let this little pissant ruin the life his daughter and Booth built. Max may not always be on the up and up, but he had a code of ethics. Pelant killed people not for justification, but for sport, and Max Keenan couldn't live by that.

Would he kill him? Max thought. Only if justified. He made a promise to his daughter to stay straight and he was determined to keep that promise. There was one person who could help him defeat Pelant once and for all and when she was able, the two of them would go after the murderous troll. No one, but no one would hurt his Tempe and get away with it.

* Song: Silence is Golden by the Tremeloes