Chapter 2

Within half an hour, Booth had an FBI forensics team combing through the entire house for any evidence that Earl might have left. "Victim is definitely female," Brennan announced from her crouched position in front of the charred remains. The wood had all been removed and tagged as evidence, leaving the complete skeleton exposed for Brennan to examine. "The facial features indicate Caucasian. Likely mid-fifties. I'd estimate height at approximately 165 centimeters."

"So, is it Lauren Earl or not?" Booth inquired, knowing even as he asked the question that he would not receive a yes or no answer.

"I can't say anything definitively until I've run dental records. But my preliminary results are consistent with Lauren Earl."

"Okay, so now this guy is looking at at least double homicide."

"We don't know for sure that Brett Earl killed this woman," Brennan pointed out.

"My gut's saying he did it." Booth looked down at the burned corpse in front of him. "I mean, it all fits. She was his wife; she probably knew too much, and now he's cleaning up loose ends. Besides, burning seems to be his preferred method of killing." Booth made a face of disgust, and Brennan knew this one was hitting him hard, too. She stood, placing a comforting hand on his bicep.

"Get her back to the lab. We'll figure out who did this." Booth smiled at her and nodded before turning to the agents to begin giving orders.

A short time later, Brennan stood next to the examination table, her hair pulled back, her lab coat over her shoulders but not buttoned. "What do we have, Mr. Fisher?" she questioned, bending over the body.

"Multiple fractures to the left metacarpals as if her hand were crushed."

"They're all fairly localized," Brennan remarked, pointing to the small fractures on the bones. "From the shape of the pattern, I'd say her hand was crushed by the heel of a shoe." Brennan swallowed. She had felt Earl's hand on her foot before, and it was not a pleasant experience.

"The right wrist was broken, and the right shoulder was dislocated."

Brennan nodded. "Indications that her arm was twisted violently behind her back."

"Other than that, I found no recent injuries on the bones. She has a number of healed injuries, however. Ribs five, six, and nine show breaks that have healed. Actually, nine appears to have broken in two places. There are also indications that the left ulna and right radius have been fractured, and the right tibia shows evidence of a previous fracture." He pointed to each injury as he named it.

"Any indication of cause of death?"

"Nothing that I can find. The skull shows no fracture, and there is no indication of pooling blood from a subdural hematoma. There is, however, a small dimple on the back of the skull. But the force needed to cause such an injury would not be nearly enough to kill her."

"So she was burned alive," Brennan reasoned. "He knocked her out with a blow to the head and then burned her."

"It would seem that way, yes. I've only finished the skull; I still need to finish cleaning the rest of the bones, but so far, I have found no other cause of death."

"I've got a face for Brett Earl," Angela announced, waving a folder of papers as she joined Brennan and Fisher on the platform. She showed a picture of a scowling man in his late fifties. "Not exactly easy on the eyes," Angela added.

"He's a murderer, Ange," Brennan reminded her friend.

"I know that. I just didn't expect him to be so. . . murderer-like."

"I heard you got a face for me, Ange," Booth said, swiping his way onto the platform, placing his phone back in his pocket. He had been pacing around the lab talking to someone on it for the past ten minutes. Brennan raised her eyebrows when he approached. "Cullen," he said, answering her unspoken question. "I got an earful for not bringing agents in last night when you first found the lighter. I told him that it wouldn't have helped us at all and that it wasn't really the right time, but you know Cullen. He doesn't like to listen to much of anything. He told me he had half a mind to pull me off of this one. Thinks I'm too close."

"You are too close."

"Doesn't matter. I'm not leaving your side."

"What if Cullen forces you to leave?"

"He can't."

"He's your boss."

"If he tries, I'll quit. Then we don't have to worry about that problem."

"Booth, you can't quit."

"Bones, the most important thing to me is your safety. And if I have to quit to ensure it, then I'll quit. Fortunately, I'm not going to have to stoop to that level. Cullen agreed that I was probably the best agent to watch your back especially since you tend to frighten away most of the other agents." He grinned.

"Aww, you two are too cute," Angela remarked, reminding them both that she was still on the platform watching them. Booth quickly turned to her.

"Didn't you have a face for me, Angela?"

"Yeah, right here."

"Good. Fax it to the FBI. I'll tell them to expect it." He flipped open his phone again. As he started to dial, he noticed Brennan leaving the platform.

"Bones, where are you going?" he called to her.

"Back to my office. I was unaware that I needed your permission to walk around in my own lab," she said icily.

"Just trying to keep you safe, Bones," he told her, jogging to reach her side. She sighed as they walked together into her office.

An hour later, Booth was bored. He had finished all the paperwork he needed to finish and had even done part of Brennan's—at least, he had completed as much as he could. He had left the more sciencey parts to her. Brennan had been typing something for the entire hour-long period; when he tried to read what it was over her shoulder, she minimized the window and scolded him for being nosy.

"Come on, Bones, I'm your boyfriend. I'm allowed to see these things," he told her, flashing her his charm smile.

"I didn't realize that our being in a relationship gave you a right to pry into my private life," she snapped at him. "Besides, I thought we agreed not to use the terms boyfriend and girlfriend. They're too juvenile."

"What would you prefer, Bones? Significant other?"

"That is acceptable, yes. Or partner works, too."

"Partner confuses people, Bones. We were partners before."

"And we're still partners, too. Just in a different way."

"Well, partners should share things, too. So can I see what you're writing?"

"No."

"What is it?"

"My next book."

"You've started already? You just gave your last one to the editor. I thought it was still going through drafts and stuff."

"It is. But my editor has been pestering me to increase the frequency of my books, so I decided to get a head start on this one. Besides, I had an idea for the plot."

"Why can't I read it?"

"You can read it when it comes out like everyone else."

"You let David read it when you two were dating."

"The answer is still no, Booth."

"But, Bones," he whined.

"Look, Booth, my relationship with you is completely different than my relationship with David," she told him without thinking. As soon as she realized what she had said, she abruptly closed her mouth. She did not mean to say that. Sure, it was the truth, but she did not want Booth to know that. She could barely explain to herself what was different about her relationship with Booth. There was no way she would be able to explain it to him.

"Oh?" Booth suddenly lost interest in the book. "And how is that?"

Brennan bit her lip. "I don't really know," she told him.

"Oh, I think you do." His eyes were dark now, his voice soft as he approached her. "I think you know exactly how it's different. It's different because you go to bed every night and wake up every morning thinking of me. It's different because you realize that you really aren't complete unless I'm around. It's different because even something as simple as a casual brush of my hand against yours makes you shiver. It's different because for the first time in your life, you've considered settling down. For the first time in your life, you want monogamy. You want to go to bed with me every night and wake up with me in the morning. And that realization scares the hell out of you." He was close now, so close that she could feel his breath washing over her face with each word that he spoke. She knew that they were in the lab and that they should not be standing this close. If anyone were to walk in, that person would immediately know about the relationship they had tried so hard to keep secret. But she could not move away from him. She was mesmerized by his eyes, the eyes that could always strip her bare, see her innermost thoughts and feelings. "You wanna know how I know this?" he questioned, his voice still not above a whisper. She nodded weakly, not trusting herself to speak. "I know it because I feel the same way about you. I want you so bad it hurts sometimes, Temperance. You mean the world to me, and I can't imagine my life without you. So you're absolutely right when you say our relationship is different. Our relationship is different than any relationship I've ever had before. And that's how I know it's going to last."

Brennan did not know what compelled her to utter the words she did after Booth's impassioned speech, but before she could stop herself, they were tumbling out of her mouth. "I want to have a baby. With you."