Brennan leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes for a moment. Glancing at the clock on the dashboard, she sighed. She had ten minutes to make it down town to meet Lynette and Eli's aunt and she was still in her driveway. She managed to get Eli buckled in the car seat without much incident, but the second she started to back up, he started screaming. She unbuckled herself and got out of the car. She opened the side door and crawled partly into the backseat. She adjusted Eli's car seat harness and picked up 'Patch' off the floor, handing the stuffed dog to Eli.

Eli hugged the dog closer to him and stared at her, tears lingering on his reddened cheeks.

She smiled at him and brushed his hair to one side. "I know you're scared, Eli, but we have to leave now if we're going to make it to Lynette's office on time. Your aunt is excited to see you and she is looking forward to taking you home with her." She stood up and pushed the button to lower the window before shutting the door and getting back into the driver's seat. She put on her seatbelt and looked at Eli through the rearview mirror. To keep her occupied on long car rides when she was younger, her father often had her count as high as she could. She just thought it was a fun game, never knowing his ulterior motive until years later. She wondered if the 'game' would help distract Eli. There was only one way to find out. "Eli, sweetheart, can you do me a favor?" She paused. "Can you count to fifty for me?" He had barely spoken since she picked him up at the hospital, so she wasn't confident he would speak now; however, she didn't know what else to do. Getting silence from the little boy, she sighed. "What's your favorite color?"

Surprisingly, he answered. "Lello."

She smiled. "What's your favorite animal?" she asked, putting the car in reverse.

"Moooo!"

"Despite popular belief, cows don't have more than one stomach, but they do have four different digestive compartments." She paused. "And no two cows have the same pattern of black and white spots. There is a farm not too far from here and whenever we pass by it, Christine makes us slow down so she can watch the cows and point out the differences in their pelt patterns." She smiled as she slowly inched down the driveway. When she stopped at the end of the street, she sensed a change in Eli. He was getting restless and she feared he'd start screaming again. "Hey, Eli, can you tell me about Patch?"

Eli held up the stuffed dog. "Patch is mine."

She swallowed. "Did you name him?"

He nodded. "'Cause of this." He pointed to the swatch of fabric over the dog's eye.

She turned onto the main road and relaxed a bit. She kept asking questions the entire way and he kept answering her. "Who gave you Patch?" The DNA tests were still pending and Booth's guys didn't have any luck yet with the phone number, so at this point, perhaps Eli was her best chance of finding out some of the answers to the questions she had been having.

Eli kicked his legs and tugged on the dog's remaining ear. "Mr. Max."

She shook her head as she pulled into the parking lot to Lynette's office. She didn't have time to think about his answer, but she was sure she misheard him. She had just unbuckled Eli from the car seat and set him on the ground when she heard the revving of an engine and the screech of tires on pavement. She turned her head and only had time to put Eli in the car before she was thrown against the driver's side door, the handle digging into her back. As she slid to the pavement, she heard mumbled voices. She tried to follow the conversation, but couldn't make out any distinct words due to the ringing in her ears. She forced her eyes open and looked up, watching as a heavily muscled man with dark curly hair and an overgrown beard reached into the back of the car. She tried to speak, but all that escaped her cracked lips was a gasp. Her vision blurred and her head felt heavy. Her eyes slowly closed and she slumped sideways. Eli, she said, but no actual sounds came out. Before everything went silent, she heard Eli scream. "Mommy!"

"Ma'am?"

Brennan moaned.

"An ambulance is on the way."

"Eli?" Brennan mumbled. She opened her eyes to see the blurry image of a man kneeling beside her. She blinked, but her vision was still fuzzy. She shivered and tried to sit up, but the man held her down.

"Whoa."

"I—Eli, I have to—." Her voice trailed off. She coughed and suddenly became aware of the metallic taste of blood in her mouth. The man's face appeared in her line of vision, but she couldn't focus on him.

"It's going to be alright, ma'am. Just hang on a bit."

She tried to move again, but he was quicker, gripping her shoulder tighter.

"Listen, lady, just sit still."

In the distance, she heard the wailing of sirens, but the sound seemed to get farther away, not closer.

"Ma'am? Ma'am?"

She closed her eyes, but opened them quickly. The man's face appeared in front of her again and bobbed. She sputtered and gasped for air. She felt her head lull to one side and she could no longer feel the rest of her body. She just barely heard the man shouting at her, his voice mostly a buzzing noise. Exhausted, she finally allowed her eyes to fall shut again.

Short chapter and cliffhanger? Sorry :| Please forgive me...