Gravel crunched under his feet as Booth climbed out of his SUV and slowly made his way to the crime scene. In the distance, voices were barking orders. In front of him, standing by their car, red and blue lights still twirling, two Maryland State police officers were talking to a shaken-looking woman. The woman seemed to be shaking under the grey woollen blanket around her shoulders. Her expression froze as her eyes fell on Booth. Ignoring her, he walked straight past the trio and headed for the yellow tape a few steps ahead.

The skeletal remains had been found by hikers, floating in the edge of the Potomac River. Cam had called him earlier to inform him she would meet him there, but Booth wasn't sure how much help she would be able to offer. She had made it clear several times that bones were out of her expertise, which was why he was surprised to find her standing there. His initial astonishment was immediately doubled when his gaze fell on the two young men also present. Finn and Wendell stood around the remains, both looking rather uncomfortable by their sudden thrust into a real crime scene.

"Agent Booth!" Wendell exclaimed, looking up from the remains. "Dr. Saroyan asked us to come out to the crime scene to assist her with the identification."

Booth looked over at his former girlfriend, whose smile twitched on her lips.

"So, what can you two tell me?" Booth asked, straightforwardly.

Wendell shifted nervously. Glancing at Finn, he seemed unsure what to tell Booth.

"Just relax, Mr. Bray," Cam told him, soothingly. "We understand it's your first time out on the field. Take your time and examine the remains completely. We are not in any rush here."

The two interns nodded before crouching down beside the bones. As they began to mutter between themselves, Booth looked over at his friend, eyebrows quirked. Cam chuckled.

"Would you have preferred Daisy?" she asked, another smile twitching at her lips. "I know this is weird, but I had no other choice. With Dr. Brennan gone-"

Booth swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat at the sound of his girlfriend's name.

"I understand, Cam," he replied, interrupting her.

"It's a woman," Finn announced. "Approximately 40 years old. Caucasian. She's given birth. Her pelvis…"

Booth let out a sigh of irritation.

"Just what we needed: another kid losing its mom."

Silence fell above the crime scene. Wendell and Finn resumed their examination as Cam subtly looked over at her friend. Though Booth openly told anyone who asked he had forgiven his girlfriend for running away, Cam still suspected the hurt lingered. Knowing Booth, the loss of his daughter would haunt him until he was reunited with his family. She kept that thought to herself, not wanting to cause more frustration than there already was inside her friend's heart.

"We can't say anything more until we clean the bones," Wendell said, minutes later. "The cause of death isn't apparent. We'll need to bring her to the Jeffersonian."

"Of course," Cam replied. "We'll wrap the body up. Good job, guys."

The interns exchanged looks and let out a sigh of relief.

"How are things going?"

Startled, Cam spun around on her chair to find Booth standing in her doorway.

"Finn is still cleaning the bones. As soon he's done, Wendell will be able to start working on the tissue markers. We should have identification by tomorrow afternoon."

Booth frowned.

"Why not today?"

"Angela took the day off, and since she's the only one who knows how to use the Angelator, we're kind of stuck."

Burying her head in her hands, she ran them up and down her face.

"Hodgins told me she hasn't slept in days. She's been trying to figure what the codes mean."

Stepping further into the office, Booth examined his friend. For the first time in weeks, Cam was letting her cool and strong appearance she has had since her colleague's disappearance and showing the strain the events had left in her mind.

"Has she had any luck?"

The symbols left at the crime scenes had held the team's attention. Even though Booth doubted they would find another useful once they would be translated in something comprehensible, he knew the squints would never give up.

Cam shook her head.

"I can hardly believe that she will ever crack them. Pelant is very intelligent, maybe more than us."

"Don't say that, Cam. Your team is very smart and so are you. Bones is counting on us to prove her innocence."

Cam let out a sigh.

"You do know what you're asking of me, right Seeley? You're asking me to go against my bosses, to investigate something I am not legally allowed to, in order to prove that someone with a national arrest warrant that she did not commit murder. All the evidences pointed to her, Seeley. I tried, but I couldn't find anything that proved otherwise."

"I already know all of that," Booth replied, jaw clenched. "You told me, you told us, you told everybody! But that doesn't mean that you have to believe it. You know Bones; you know she wouldn't murder anyone."

"Have you heard from her?" Cam asked, hoping to drop the subject.

"No, and it would be very dangerous for her if I did."

Before Cam could answer, Wendell knocked on her door and came in. His beaming expression informed them there had been a breakthrough in their recent case.

"I found a match!" he announced as he handed over a file to his boss. "Not many 40-year-old women have disappeared in the past year. Helena Moscovitch, 39, disappeared from Baltimore six months ago. Her husband reported her missing when she failed to show up at their 12-year-old twins' school to pick them up."

Cam flipped through the folder.

"But didn't you say state of decomp stated the victim had died within the last two months?"

"It seems like she had disappeared before she was killed. Maybe she ran away from her failed marriage or something."

"That's speculation, Mr. Bray," Cam warned. "Stick to the facts, please."

"I'm sorry, Dr. Saroyan."

"Helena Moscovitch... Her name seems familiar."

"Really?" Cam replied, surprised. "The file says she is originally from Latvia. She immigrated in Philadelphia in 1980."

"She was seven," Booth murmured.

Suddenly, wavy blonde hair flashed before his eyes. Intense blue eyes were staring back at him and giggles echoed in his mind. He remembered the 7-year-old girl who had arrived in his grade 2 classroom, only speaking Latvian. She had immediately become the class pet. Kids had treated her like an animal in a zoo the first few weeks: asking her questions, but getting annoyed when she couldn't answer them in English. She had spent most of her elementary school years alone, despite having learned the language within months of her arrival. Booth had never taken the time to know her, even after they had graduated to high school. She had spent her days reading or talking to her "weird" friends; he had been busy playing jock all over school. Their paths had just never really crossed.

"I knew her. We went to elementary and high school together. We weren't friends, but we had almost all the same classes."

"So, you know the victim?" Wendell asked, unsure.

Booth glared at him.

"What are you implying?"

"I am not implying anything, Agent Booth," Wendell immediately replied. "I'm mainly stating a fact. But after what Pelant has done to Dr. Brennan, the idea simply crossed my mind that-"

"That's enough, Mr. Bray!" Cam intervened. "You are speculating once again. Nothing at the crime scene or in the cause of death has pointed to Pelant, and Finn hasn't barged in my office to tell me he has found encryptions on the bones. I would appreciate if we could keep an objective mind about our cases."

Wendell sighed and nodded.

"Get back to work. We still need to be 100% sure that remains really do belong to Helena Moscovitch. Let me know when the ID is official."

As Wendell walked out of the office, Cam turned to Booth.

"Don't let his comment cloud your judgment, Seeley," she warned her friend. "Like I just said, we have no proof Pelant killed that woman, just like we have no proof that he f-..."

"You know me better than this, Cam," Booth interrupted her. "Listen, if you need me, I'll be at my office. I'll start making some calls to arrange interviews with Helena's husband. If she ran away from him, I'll find out."

The ride back to his office was spent in deep reflection. Booth still couldn't understand why Cam hadn't joined their fight against Pelant. She seemed to be the only one who believed Bones to be guilty. She had told him, prior to Bones' disappearance, that she had had to believe in the evidence. Booth didn't understand why she couldn't also believe in Bones' innocence.

The elevator shaft was empty when the doors opened in front of him. Stepping inside, he shifted his focus to the recent case. He remembered Helena as a weird, yet sweet child and teenager. Teachers easily trusted her. Who would want her dead? Had she changed so much after high school? It was possible she had landed herself in trouble. He hadn't known her that well and hadn't seen her in more than 20 years.

The elevator doors chimed as they opened. For once, no one stared at him as he made his way to his office. His relief was short-lived as he spotted Flynn staring out his office window.

Booth loudly cleared his throat. Flint, who had his back to him, turned around.

"Seeley! I'm surprised to see you back to work so quickly."

Booth scoffed as he walked to his desk and sat down. Turning his gaze to his computer screen, he hoped would take the hint that he was in no mood to talk to him and leave.

"I guess you are now single. I'm sure a few female FBI agents will be happy to hear that."

Booth felt the anger rise inside of him. Clenching his fist together, he remained calm. He wouldn't give Flint satisfaction by showing him how he felt. His fingers typed nothing in particular on his keyboard.

"Though I did hear that you prefer blondes, which makes the fact that you had a baby with a brunette all the more interesting."

"I love Bones," Booth replied, his eyes transfixed on his computer screen. "You probably don't even know what love is, Flynn."

Flynn chuckled.

"You still love her after what she's done?"

Booth's fingers froze above the keys as his jaw clenched. An evil smile stretched across Flynn's face.

"It's funny how you call your girlfriend. 'Bones' is such a horrible nickname."

Unable to contain himself any longer, Booth shot to his feet making his colleague chuckle.

"That temper of yours is really going to get you in trouble one day, Seeley," Flynn sneered, shaking his head slightly.

"What do you want, Flynn?" Booth asked, glaring at his arrogant colleague.

"I heard you found a body in the Potomac River. How are you going to solve that one without your girlfriend? You really think her little team will be able to crack this one?"

"That's really none of your business."

A small smile flashed across Flynn's lips.

"Right… It's none of my business."

The two men stared at each other, Flynn still wearing that sadistic smile.

"Well, I better leave you to your job. You probably have some suspects to interrogate."

At the door, Flynn paused.

"You can't hide anything from me, Seeley. I'm aware of everything that goes on in this building. Remember that."

On that statement, Flynn walked out of the office and disappeared from Booth's sight.