The love in the case
Chapter 1
The blinding sun poured in through the wooden blinds, indicating that it was another bright and sunny day in Washington. However Temperance Brennan was feeling anything but. She squinted and rolled away from the light, closed her eyes again and reached across the crumpled sheet, but disappointedly found the other side of the bed empty and cold, just like she did every morning for nearly 3 whole months. She sighed, rolled onto her back and slowly opened her eyes, staring straight ahead at the blank white ceiling. Day 84 waking up alone without her husband, in her best friends spare room. She turned to her side to see her daughter sleeping peacefully in the corner of the room on the toddler sized bed, wrapped in her princess duvet, dark blonde hair sticking up on end, her mouth slightly open in her peaceful state. Brennan smiled, though her eyes were still filled with sadness. No husband, no home. No hope? Well not quite. Brennan reached down into the duvet and lay her hand over her ever so slightly popped stomach, not noticeable to the naked eye, but she knew it was there. A fetus, gestation 11 weeks and 3 days. She smiled at the thought of Booth's reaction to her explanation of what was growing inside her, if only he knew. "Its not a foetus bones, its our baby! Stop calling it a foetus!" She couldn't help it though, facts and science were what kept her sane, kept her on track. The track that she was determined would end with booth being a free man.
Booth lay on his side, on the hard stale mattress of his prison cot. His appearance dishevelled and exhausted. He didn't get much sleep these days, he had to watch his back constantly here. Prison wasn't exactly the safest place for an FBI agent, let alone one with one of the most successful conviction rates in history. There were many prisoners in here who were here because of Booth. They didn't take too kindly to that. Grasped in Booth's hand he held his most prized possession whilst inside this dark and dangerous place. A picture of his wife and daughter, although he suspected Christine would have changed greatly in the 3 months since he'd seen her. She grew so fast these days, learning new things and surprising them every day. He signed and swallowed back the lump that was beginning to rise in his throat. He couldn't show any signs of emotion or weakness here. He'd be eaten alive. He tucked the picture between the mattress and wood of the bed frame out of sight as he heard doors beginning to open and the distance shouts of prison officers. At least today he had something to bring him a little joy. Today his wife would be visiting him.
"Sweetie you need to tell Booth today." said Angela as she passed Michael Vincent his bowl of cheerio's. "He deserves to know, and you know he'll be annoyed when he finds out you kept this from him."
"Kept what from him Mommy?" Christine looked towards her mother, her brow furrowed in confusion. Brennan glanced at Angela, her lips forming a straight line and held her stare for a few seconds before turning back to her daughter.
"Nothing Christine, eat your cereal" Christine threw her spoon into the bowl, milk splashing out onto the breakfast island.
"When's daddy coming home?! I want to see my daddy!" Brennan's eyes became glassy as she signed and tilted her head to the side as she smiled sadly at her daughter.
"We've been over this Christine. You cant see Daddy right now. Some bad people tried to stop Daddy doing his job and until we catch those bad men, daddy cant come home right now. But it doesn't mean he doesn't love you or think about you all the time, you know that right?" Brennan reached out for her nearly 3 year old daughter and stroked her arm, trying to comfort her. Christine pulled away from her mothers touch and got down from the table.
"I'm not hungry anymore." She ran into the living room where the sounds of cartoons filled the Hodgins house. Brennan ran a hand through her hair and wiped away a tear that escaped from her eye.
"Sweetie-" Brennan cut her off before Angela could finish her sentence.
"I'm fine Angela. The way Christine is behaving is only a natural expression of the absence of her father. Which is something I'm determined to fix for her. I will. Now if you don't mind watching Christine for a few minutes I need to go and get dressed to visit Booth. And before you say anything more, no I will not be telling Booth about my situation. It will only cause him to worry even more than he already is about the safety of me and the children. Its not fair to him." And with that Brennan left the kitchen before Angela had time to answer.
After the lengthy security checks and body pat downs searches she was subjected to Brennan was shown to the room where she would see her husband. One small mercy for this visit was that Caroline had managed to pull some strings on the inside and allow them an open visit in a room with 2 prison guards, instead of speaking behind thick glass. They'd both been advised that this was a one off. She sat behind the small wooden table, nervously picking at her finger nails, something she'd only started doing since Booth's imprisonment. She looked up at the jangle of keys and sprung from her chair. Behind the metal barred gate stood Booth. A deep cut ran across his eyebrow and old and new bruises mottled the parts of his body she could see. She dreaded to think what he looked like beneath his orange overalls. He saw the worry etched on her face as she frantically ran her eyes over his body, mentally scanning his body and stance for visible breaks and injuries. He smiled at her to try and ease her worry and stepped over the doors threshold.
"Hey, hey I'm fine." Tears filled her eyes as she went to rush towards him only to be held back by an officer. "Hey get your hands off her!" The officer smirked and gripped her arm tighter.
"Sit down, and remain seated. You know the rules Fed." Brennan glanced at the officer sideways and then back to Booth who indicated for her to take her seat as she was instructed. Booth took in her appearance and frowned. She looked exhausted, which she was obviously trying to hide from him with her mask of makeup. But he knew her, inside and out and he knew when she wasn't herself. "Are you getting enough sleep? You don't look well." Brennan smiled, licked her lips and swallowed to gain some moisture to her mouth.
"I'm fine Booth, its you I'm worried about. What are they doing to you in here?"
"I can take care of myself Bones, you know that. How's Christine?" Christine frowned and decided that lying to her husband would be no use, he'd see straight through her anyway. She was awful at it.
"Terrified she's never going to see her daddy again…. And so am I. I'm doing my best, I'm working night and day, I will find out who's behind this." Booth smiled gently.
"I know you will Bones. And when you do, they're gona pay for what they've done to us… So is everything else ok, with you? Parker." There was something different about her, he just couldn't put his finger on it.
"Parker is fine, he's obviously concerned about you. There's no hiding what's going on from him, its been all over the news. But he knows your innocent and sends his love." Booth swallowed the lump that was rising again, seeing this Brennan sighed and leant forward.
"Booth… they're counting on you dieing in here. To them that's the best outcome to get rid of you and all of this mess. You need to keep yourself to yourself. Stop rising to the bait. I need you in one piece when I solve this."
The office cleared his throat behind them, indicating that they should change their topic of conversation.
"2 minutes left" Booth stared angrily at the guard and leant close to Brennan. Knowing he couldn't touch her was killing him inside.
"I love you Bones, give Christine a hug and kiss from me. And promise me you'll take care of yourself." Brennan put a brave face on and smiled.
" I will Booth, I promise." The guards stepped forward and took Booth's arm.
"Times up Fed" Booth's eyes glassed over as he stared at Brennan lingeringly as he was escorted out the room before she was out of his sight. Brennan sat at the table and sank her head in her hands. She had to solve this.