Ch. 2

Dr. Camille Saroyan sat in her office at the Jeffersonian Institution in Washington, D.C. It was 9:00 in the morning and Dr. Brennan still hadn't made it to the lab. This was completely unlike her. She also hadn't heard from Booth since he called looking for her 2 hours ago. It was then that the phone rang. The voice on the phone was disguised, but unmistakable. It was the Gravedigger. "Dr. Temperance Brennan and Special Agent Seeley Booth have been buried alive. Release Heather Taffet from the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center and you will be given the GPS coordinates of their location. You have 12hrs….this will be my only communication." Cam froze and the color drained from her face. The Gravedigger had a partner….they never knew. She'd been so shocked that she didn't even notice when Dr. Jack Hodgins came in holding a file. "Hey, Dr. Saroyan I got those results….wow, what's wrong with you….you look like you've been hit with a ton of bricks."

"What…..Hodgins, sorry I didn't see you there"

"Ok….what's going on?"

Cam played back the call for Hodgins. His face went blank. He held a deep animosity toward the Gravedigger ever since he'd been buried alive with Dr. Brennan. That's the kind of thing a person doesn't forget.

"The Gravedigger has both of them…what are we going to do?" Hodgins' voice was barley a whisper.

"We need to remain calm….we can't let him get to us." Cam was saying this to mostly try and calm herself down.

"I thought this was over….now he's got Booth and Brennan!" Hodgins crystal blue eyes were wild with anger.

"Jack….I need you to be reasonable. If we want to get Booth and Brennan back we are going to have to work together."

"Reasonable! There is nothing reasonable about the Gravedigger!"

"Which is exactly why we need to be. I need you to get the interns together…we need and they are as close as we have"

"Okay…Fischer is already here. I'll try to get as many of the others here that I can."

"No, I'll do that. I need you and Fischer to do something else." Cam called for Fischer.

"I don't like the sound of that."

"You rang, Dr. Saroyan"

"Fischer, I see you're your usual cheerful self this morning"

"And by cheerful I'm sure you mean macabre, which I find depressing"

"Right. Ok…You and Dr. Hodgins are going to Maryland."

"What's in Maryland?" Fischer was clueless as to what was going on.

"Wait…you can't be serious." Cam didn't have to tell Hodgins what, or rather who, was in Maryland. He knew she meant they were going to see Taffet. She had buried him alive….how was he supposed to reason with someone like that?

"I am serious…you have a history with her and I need keep things under control here…you need to do this for Booth and Brennan"

"Fine!" Hodgins stormed out of the room leaving behind a mystified Fischer.

"Wait…what's in Maryland….what are we doing for Booth and Dr. Brennan"

"Go, Hodgins will fill you in on the way."

"Oh, my head…" Brennan awoke from a deep unconsciousness to find herself surrounded by darkness, but she wasn't alone. She could feel the presence of someone else, but this was a calming presence. She wasn't afraid….she felt safe. It took a minute for her eyes to adjust to the darkness and she noticed Booth.

"Booth…are you ok? Booth can you hear me?"

Booth began to sir and she knew everything, if only for a moment, was going to be okay.

"I'm fine, aside from the splitting pain in my neck."

"Its from the stun gun…I have a burn on my neck to." Brennan lightly touched the burn on Booth's neck before touching her own. "I'm surprised you don't have a headache."

"Why?"

"There is a gash on your left supraorbital process."

"Where?"

Brennan touched his face just above his left eyebrow. "Here. I need to try and stop the bleeding" She tore a sleeve from her shirt and touched it to his face. "There. That should so for now." They held each other's gaze for a moment until Booth broke the silence.

"So, what happened….where are we?" Booth reached up and touched Brennan's check. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm not sure what happened…the shock from the stun gun screwed with our short term memory...the last thing I remember is being tied to a chair."

"I don't think that was a very scientific explanation" Booth said with a sheepish grin.

She gave a half smile back. "I thought you might like that. What's the last thing you remember?'

"I remember standing outside your door…who would tie you to a chair?"

"Obviously the same person who would put us here…wherever we are"

"Right." Booth had almost forgotten how literal she could be sometimes.

Booth stood and began to dust off his clothes when he felt a piece of paper in his pocket. He didn't remember putting it there. He pulled it out and began to unfold it.

"What's that?" Brennan stood and moved closer to Booth had found and being closer to him gave her comfort.

"It's some sort of note"

Brennan took another step closer. "What does it say?"

Booth smoothed the paper and began to read, "Unless Heather Taffet is released considered this your grave—Signed Your Friend, The Gravedigger."

"They'll never do that….we not going to get out of here, Booth"

Booth hadn't noticed how close Brennan had gotten. "Hey…" He said putting his arm around her to pull her closer. "…it's going to be okay…"

This action scared Brennan, which surprised her. She had been tied to a chair, shocked with a stun gun, and was now locked in an unknown location and Booth's actions scared her. She slipped out of his arm and took a step back.

"You can't know that for sure."

He was trying. He knew she was fragile and she wasn't ready to admit that. She wasn't ready to admit anything.

"We have to have faith, Bren…faith that Cam, Angela, and the rest of the squint squad will find us."

Faith. That was the answer she expected. She didn't expect him to call her Bren. She found that she kind of liked it. Maybe he was right. Maybe they would be found.