A/N: So sorry everyone! Holidays are crazy right now, plus I agreed to alter my work schedule to accommodate vacations. Also had to get a new flash drive since mine with my stories took a crap. Luckily I saved my stories on my hard drive but not the latest chapters. That won't happen again!

Thanks for being patient. Only a couple more chapters to go in this tale. I have a few more things in the fire, but if someone has an idea they want me to explore, always open to suggestions.

Keep those awesome reviews coming! I very much appreciate my brain candy as I weave this tale.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bones but being the middle of a DB and TJT sandwich could be fun...

July 2nd was a typical Washington summer day. At their desks, Agents Perotta and Shaw were hitting dead ends going through the voluminous records of Reynolds and Pelant. In his office, Booth's thoughts were circling each other as he always came back to the same question. 'Where the hell was Pelant and what did he, Bones, and their family have to do with his endgame?'

He grabbed his Nerf ball and threw it towards his basketball hoop….and missed. "Of course I missed it, like I am missing something that I know is in front of me. What the hell is it!?"

Restless, he got up and walked for a cup of coffee from the break room. Seeing the empty pot, he wasn't in the mood to brew a fresh pot, so he walked back towards the bullpen for an update from the agents but stopped short as he got there. 'I've already talked to Perotta this morning and Shaw is at the Jeffersonian with the squints studying the evidence. Nagging them isn't going to do anyone any good.'

"Maybe I just need to get the hell out of here for a while." he muttered. Heading back to his office, he grabbed his phone, keys, and suit jacket before stopping at Perotta's desk. "Agent Perotta, I'm heading out. I probably won't be back in unless something develops, but contact me on my phone if you get any updates or Bones if you can't reach me."

"Yes, Sir." Perotta played with her nails. "Sorry we haven't found anything yet."

Booth was frustrated, but didn't want to pass that on to his junior agent. "We'll find something. He already tripped himself up with that piece of fabric. Too bad Hodgins was only able to get traces of coal besides the sweat. Just keep me posted."

He snapped out of his funk when he saw the quick flash of pain in his agent's eyes. Nodding, he walked away. Hopefully he could find a way to blow off steam before going home this afternoon. His favorite way was forbidden until his wife was at ten to twelve weeks.

Almost an hour later, Booth was at Paradise Lost. Starting a fresh pot of coffee, he proceeded to pound on the door heading upstairs. Not getting any response, he pounded harder. "Aldo, get up!"

A moment later, Aldo emerged in his pajamas with a serious case of bed head as Booth was pouring two cups of coffee. "Booth! What the hell! Do you know what time it is?"

Booth held out one of the cups of coffee. "Yeah I do. For normal people, it's mid-morning."

"Yeah, but for me it's the middle of the night since I didn't get to bed until almost six this morning." Aldo walked over and accepted the beverage, noting as his friend drank from his cup. "Now, why did you let yourself in and wake me up? Surely you didn't just come to mooch free coffee."

Booth smiled a fake grin. "Sure I did. This key you gave me for emergencies came in handy."

"Cut the crap, Booth. I'm not your priest anymore. Spill it!"

Booth sipped his coffee. "Pelant. The pissant is hiding out there and I can't find him. How does this little piece of crap hide as well as he does? He is a massive computer dork who always finds a way to stay off the grid while on the grid. It's bullshit!"

Aldo added cream to his coffee and drank deep. "Aaahhh, nectar of the gods….especially when someone wakes me up at almost eleven in the morning and steals my coffee!"

"Aldo! I'm sorry. I will leave money next time, all right?"

"Good, because I'm not a priest who gives free advice and absolution anymore"

"Fine" Booth grumbled. "What the hell should I do?"

Aldo drained his cup. "Nothing."

Thinking his friend lost his mind, Booth lost his temper. "What the hell, Aldo! Do nothing? That's—"

"Geez, are you always this wired with Temperance?" Aldo saw Booth's face redden. "I didn't think so. Give a guy a chance to speak, capisce?" When he saw he had the other man's attention. "I meant do nothing for a while…a few hours….twenty-four hours, whatever. Take that time and concentrate on something unrelated to the case. Your brain is fried, Agent Booth. It needs rest."

"So no work for a day? That's not possible right now. That's nuts."

"No it's sound. It's not like you don't have anything else going on. Let your minions worry for a few hours. Take a walk, read one of those Marvel comic books I know you still have, have some morning delight with the wife..." Aldo saw Booth's face. "Sorry…..forgot. Just do something that clears your mind. When you least expect it, the solution will come to you."

Booth finished his coffee. "Okay, Thanks for the coffee, Aldo."

Aldo finished his drink and poured another cup. "You're welcome….but next time don't be so damn early!"

"Okay" Booth said with a laugh.

"Lock up on your way out." When Booth left, Aldo stood for a second in thought. "Shit, now I'm awake."

A short time later, Booth was walking through the National Mall and arrived at the Lincoln Memorial. He walked to the steps, stripped his jacket to compensate for the July heat, and sat down on the side as tourists were all over the monument. Clearing his mind was not the easiest thing to do, but was desperate for anything. He made himself relax and once he got started it got easier as he people watched.

On the lawn, he saw a man with a very pregnant woman on a blanket. He could see himself with Bones doing that. Of course with them, she would grouse about leaving work to her interns, but he could get her to relax and enjoy.

He heard the notes to Hot Blooded play. He read the message and laughed.

Can you bring me the vegetable soup, a veggie burger, large order of fries with the garlic mayo, chocolate shake, and a fruit salad for dessert? The baby and I are getting hungry.

He texted back. Sure. C u soon

Booth had another laugh and smile as he got up to leave. 'My wife! I will never get used to that'

An hour later, Booth and Brennan were in the dining room eating their lunch. There was conversation, but Brennan saw that Booth absentmindedly grabbed her veggie burger and took a bite with no reaction. As a test, she ripped a small piece off his bacon cheeseburger. He was looking in her direction, so she went to put it in her mouth. As the bacon hit her lips and he didn't make one remark, she knew he was occupied. "Booth….what's wrong?"

"Nothing Bones, why?"

"Because you just ate my veggie burger and I almost ate this disgusting piece of bacon and you didn't say anything." Seeing her spouse's guilty face, she continued. "Once again, Booth…..what's wrong?"

"Sorry, Bones." Booth gave the burger back to his wife. He chuckled as she tossed the bacon piece back onto his plate as if it was contaminated. "It's Pelant. I feel like we're missing something and it's right in our faces."

"Can I do anything?"

"You have your web link to the lab. Is there a way for you to re-evaluate the bones from the cases? Maybe Hodgins and Cam can do the same?"

"Dr. Hodgins and Saroyan feel very strongly about Pelant and going through their evidence again should not be an issue. This way, I can also check in with my interns"

"Great. Thanks, Bones." He moved his hand and took hers in his as the web link buzzed on the laptop sitting on the table. "Hello Shaw."

"Hi Agent Booth. Good afternoon, Dr. Brennan. How are you feeling?"

"Very well, thank you. Did you need to speak to Agent Booth?"

When Shaw answered with an affirmative, Booth piped in as Brennan was moving the computer camera his way. "What do you have?"

"Okay, sir. Angela and I have been brainstorming about how to find Pelant and she suggested that we may be able to track Pelant down through his cell phone with the cell tower app you have on your phone. She's upgraded the app so it has a bigger search span."

"It's worth a shot. Good thinking, ladies. Call Agent Perotta to get her phone number and then have Angela send it to all of us."

"Sir, I'm busy here. Surely she can come tomorrow to get it or call Angela herself." As soon as she finished, she realized how childish she sounded to her supervisor.

Knowing Booth doesn't like other people around when he was going to chastise one of his agents, Brennan quietly moved out of the way of the screen and grabbed her phone. "I'm going to check in with Angela."

Shaw began to sweat under Booth's stare when she heard Angela's phone buzz. She turned and saw Angela try to reach her phone with her impaired right arm since she held the Angelatron's controls with the other. When unsuccessful, she switched hands, grabbed it with her left, answered, and read.

"Brennan needs to ask me something in private. Just hit 'end' when you are done talking." Angela then moved out of her office where she ran into her husband who was outside. "Come on, Honey."

Hodgins felt his wife pulling on his arm. "What?"

Angela made sure she was out of earshot and whispered. "Brennan texted me. Booth is going to rip Shaw a new one and didn't want an audience."

"Right on. Let's visit our son."

The couple left for the daycare not noticing Wendell coming from the opposite direction. He didn't notice them either as he was engrossed in reading what looked to be results. When he heard Booth's voice, he stopped suddenly.

"Agent Shaw…..I will only say this once because the next time I do it will be when I put either a discipline notice in your record and/or put you on suspension."

Shaw's blood grew cold. "Yes, sir?"

"I know you are still grieving from losing Agent Sparling. I give my agents a lot of leeway as long as they do their job to the best of their abilities. I will not accept anything less than that. I don't care why two agents are having difficulties with each other. I do care, and expect, the two of them to behave professional and check their issues at the door when you arrive at the Hoover. For the record, Agent Shaw, Christopher Pelant is the reason we lost Agent Olivia Sparling. If it wasn't for Agents Sparling and Perotta, and you for that matter, my wife and unborn child would probably be dead right now. Either go talk to one of our shrinks, a friend, or find a way to make peace with this. I will NOT tolerate an agent letting her personal feelings dictate how she proceeds with a case. Agents like that will NOT be part of my team. Do I make myself clear?"

Shaw was swimming in humiliation for being chastised by Agent Booth, but knew she deserved it. "Y-Yes sir."

"Do I need to start documentation on this?"

Shaw merely nodded. "No sir, I apologize. I will call Agent Perotta for her cell phone number in a few minutes."

"Good." Booth's image disappeared from the monitor.

Genny stood there, holding back tears. She had never been lectured like that by a supervisor before, especially one she admired and emulated like Agent Booth. She couldn't believe she let herself do something stupid like refuse to talk to Agent Perotta today. Her embarrassment was guiding her as she felt a need to get the hell out of the Jeffersonian before she broke down in front of others.

Wendell moved back so she wouldn't know he heard the conversation. Shaw didn't see him as she walked out the opposite direction towards the exit. "Genny…..Genny wait!"

'Oh God….he's the last person I want to see me now!' Genny thought to herself. "I'm busy Wendell." They got outside the exit and were walking down the silent hallway. "Leave me alone, Wendell. I have to get back to work on the Pelant case."

Wendell caught up with her. "Too bad. I'm not letting you leave this upset."

Having Wendell see her that way for some reason made her embarrassment tenfold. All she wanted to do was call Perotta and just hide. "Go away, Wendell….I don't need a damn babysitter!"

He knew she was too upset to drive. He would rather her hate him than her possibly cause an accident. Moving quickly, he grabbed her and gave her a wide berth as he pushed her into a nearby storage closet.

"Damn it, Wendell Bray! If you don't get out of my way in ten seconds I'm going to kick your ass."

A quick flash of that thought followed by ripping off each other's clothes in the closet started to stiffen him and it shamed him enough to block it out. "Then do it, Genny. I will follow you home, but you need to talk to someone."

Suddenly Wendell saw as Genny calmed down. Slowly, she walked until she was standing face to face with him. Her wide smile made him relax. He didn't realize that was a mistake until he felt a sharp pain in his groin area. "Umph!"

Genny moved and took off but all Wendell could do was moan as he doubled over in pain and held the wall with one hand.

Twenty minutes later, Angela entered her office and walked over to Wendell, who was lying on her couch. "Here you go Lover Boy. I got this from Cam."

Wendell took it and put it on his groin area. "AAAAAAHHHHH…..aahhh….aaahhhhhhhhhh. Oooohhh, thank you."

Just then, Hodgins entered the office and saw his friend's distress. "Dude….she really nailed you in the jewels."

"Bite me, Hodgins. This sucks"

"Yeah, Cam said when you feel better to go over the bones again for Dr. Brennan and report any findings." Angela said. She began walking to her husband, but then quickly turned back to Wendell. "If you care about Agent Shaw like I think you do, bring her something you know she can't resist and offer only friendship. I think she could use it today."

"I tried Angela..."

"Yeah, Sweetie…ambushing a woman after getting her ass handed to her is not the right way to go about it. Friendship always gets the ball rolling. Just ask Hodgins." She replied before joining her spouse.

"She's right, dude. Hope you feel better." Hodgins said before the couple left the room.

Wendell leaned back with the ice pack and moaned. "Ah man, she took the money shot."

Brennan and Booth were snuggled on the couch watching Casablanca as they enjoyed their quiet house thanks to Max taking the kids to Alexandria for the day. Sneaking a look at Booth, she noted that while his eyes were on the screen, but he wasn't watching the movie. "I'm sorry you had to reprimand an agent. Agent Shaw is an excellent federal agent….almost as good as you."

"She is Bones….one of the best I've ever supervised, but Sparling's death has effected her more than I'd realized. She blames Perotta for it."

"Perotta didn't build the bomb, it was Pelant."

"I know that, Bones and deep down, she knows that, but right now she needs a place to put her anger. Perotta is there and available since Pelant is not. My agents don't have to like each other but they damn well will do their jobs and keep their personal issues out of the Hoover."

Booth heard only silence. "Bones?"

He turned his head, saw that she fell asleep on his shoulder and smiled. "Aldo did say I needed a distraction. Might as well try it."

He snuggled his wife closer and proceeded to nap with her.

Ginny was driving down the street, by now calmed down. When she finished crying, she called Perotta to send her phone number to Angela. Pulling into her driveway, she groaned as she saw Wendell sitting on the steps with his back against the side wall. Inhaling and exhaling, she got out of the car and walked up. "I don't want to talk Wendell. I just want to be left alone."

"Okay, but I brought Season Seven Boy Meets World and Season One Man from UNCLE…..hmmm….hmmmm..." he replied as he waved them in his hands. Seeing her skeptical face, he fought dirty. "Come on, Genny. I promise I won't ask about how your day went. I can't watch these at home. Fisher's mom is there and it's really annoying listening to them bicker."

Genny laughed for the first time today. She didn't want to encourage him, but she couldn't resist Boy Meets World. Danny was staying over at a friend's house tonight anyways. "Okay, Wendell. I can't make you suffer with Fisher and his mother."

She saw he had difficulty getting up and felt guilty. "I'm so sorry, Wendell. How about I make dinner? Dr. Brennan gave me a recipe a while back for macaroni and cheese."

Wendell's ears perked up. Booth had told their hockey team about Dr. B's Mac and Cheese and he would practically drool when discussing it. "Oh…I'm so there."

At his location, Pelant was sitting and working on a project with a gleam in his eyes. "Soon, Agent Booth….very soon you will be nothing more than a memory to my father."