Chapter 5.

"Dammit kid answer the damn phone." Booth said under his breath for the third time after having tried to call Sweets, who after three tries, had not answered. This left Booth driving too fast for the comfort of drivers around him, speeding off to Sweets apartment. With the news he had, he was more than a little concerned where Sweets was.

After three loud knocks and one angry glance from a neighbor down the hall Booth opted to pick the lock. The door popped open and Booth entered, calling Sweets again but was not comforted by the fact that he was nowhere to be found.

"Agent Booth?" A voice asked hoarse and surprised. Booth spun around to see Sweets standing in the doorway. Booth let out a heavy sigh of relief. As he looked down he saw Sweets phone on the table, where Booth had left it the night before. He picked it up and held it out to Sweets ready to give a lecture.

"I forgot it okay?" Sweets said eying the couch with great anticipation, he looked completely drained.

"Where were you?" Booth said trying to hide a note of concern in his voice.

Sweets sat on the couch and looked about to fall asleep. Booth was bothered that Sweets looked awful but it seemed to bother anyone but Sweets.

"A walk. I just went on a walk."

"A walk?" Booth asked as though he were asking if he were serious. Booth then realized Sweets had just about fallen asleep. "Hey, Sweets!" He said waking him up, his concern wasn't lessening.

"Yeah?" Sweets asked as though he weren't sure where their conversation left off.

"Aren't you supposed to rest or something?"

"I thought I was but someone woke me up." Sweets added sarcastically.

"I mean to be out walk…" Booth sighed at the return of sarcastic Sweets.

"Look Booth, it's a little uninteresting around here." Sweets said motioning around his apartment that had the feeling of home about as much as corporate waiting room.

"You know what, never mind, the reason I came by…" Booth paused so he could tap Sweets knee to get him to focus and stay awake again. "The reason I came by Sweets…" He paused as he wasn't sure how he was going to react to the news. "Derringer's body showed up at the lab."

Booth saw he now had Sweets attention, wide awake now.

"They found the body, it came to the lab for identification. Bones called me as soon as Angela made the match."

Booth waited for Sweets to say something, anything.

"Interesting." Sweets said nodding at the information.

"Interesting? Are you kidding me Sweets? The man who kidnapped, tortured and tired to kill you just over a week ago was found dead. And that's interesting?"

"What do you think I did it?" Sweets asked defensive.

"What?" Booth asked at the question that came out of left field. "No, Derringer's been dead for 6 days Bones said. I'm pretty sure I know you whereabouts around that time." Booth said playing the sarcastic game as well. "And I'm pretty sure even more that you weren't in condition to kill someone."

Sweets looked away from Booth at the floor. He didn't want to think about his recent hospital stay, the stiff, soreness that wouldn't relent from his hands, the stinging cuts and broken ribs on his body. But he did remember them, every time he moved, forcing him back in that room with Derringer.

"Maybe I was hoping to kill him myself." Sweets said offering Booth a thought above "interesting."

"No you don't want that." Booth said knowing the days Sweets took someone's life was going to be a serious one. Though he wasn't a trained psychologist, he knew that wasn't on Sweets mind. "Look, I just wanted you to know, he's not out there anymore."

"How did you say he died?" Sweets asked confused.

"Look, that's not important…"

"I think it kind of is. That seems pretty random. Did he kill anyone else before he was killed?"

"It doesn't look like it. He would have been killed just after he left, after he left where you were." Booth said stumbling over the last part. "He was in his car, went off the road over some rugged terrain. It was smashed up badly, took a few days before they found it. Then it was at the Jeffersonian, etc."

Sweets still seemed puzzled and calculated the odds of a killer being killed on his way to his next kill. Something didn't seem right and Sweets suspected that Booth felt the same, he was trying to act like they were going to put Derringer behind them, for Sweets sake.

"Look, you still look really tired, so I'm going to get out of your hair." Booth said getting up and heading to the door. "How about Bones and I stop by later?"

Sweets nodded his head automatically but his mind was far elsewhere.

Booth left before nine a.m. and Sweets spent the next hour flipping thru 104 channels thirteen times. He quickly realized that daytime TV was not his thing. He looked at the stacks of books that littered the mantle on his fake fire place. He wasn't interested in reading either. Now that he knew about Derringer he couldn't get his mind off it.

Sweets hated being alone in his apartment, which is why he preferred being at work, busy, occupied. Work, he thought over to himself. He figured he could get ready, catch the subway since he had no car, maybe go into work for a couple of hours. He liked the idea as he headed off to the bedroom to find some more business like clothes.

He opened his closet and made some selections. He shed his tee shirt and instead preferred the comfort of a button down shirt, one that had a collar to cover the new scar on his neck. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He quickly pushed the door shut preferring not to see the many bandages holding new scars under them.

If it weren't hard enough to explain the old ones, what now? He thought in a defeated manner. Daisy understood with the little he had told her. He had kept it from people, so few knew and he wanted it that way. It was one of the many things in his mind that kept him from wanting to meet new people, new women. It was hard to keep it a secret in intimate moments for long.

He thought then about his friends as he pulled on his dress pants. He wondered how he felt about his friends as the word didn't come easily to him. He wasn't part of the Jeffersonian, he was part of whoever needed him a moment at a time at the bureau. Just where do I belong, he asked himself standing to tuck in his shirt. Sweets noticed, but choose to ignore, how big his clothes were.

Sweets arrived at the FBI building near the lunch hour and was glad a lot of people would be gone for lunch. He didn't feel like stopping to chat with people about as unappealing as the thought of lunch. It took him a while longer to get to his office since it wasn't where he left it.

After being provided his new office number Sweets wondered where he had been shoved to now. He was pleased when he saw the quality of offices improving as he grew closer and soon realized he was on the same floor as Booth and the other agents. He wasn't sure though if that was good or just meant more interruptions. He neared what would be the correct number when he saw a pretty and young brunette pinning up her hair in what looked to be a long day even this early.

"No, I didn't tell you to delete!" She yelled at the screen and quickly put her head in her hands clearly frustrated.

"It would be easier if the computers were voice activated." Sweets said trying not to smile at her frustration.

Emma looked up and smiled back, "no it would be easier if I were smarter than the machine." She said and added a laugh.

"Well, sorry to bother you, but I'm looking for office…"

"This is your office Dr. Sweets." Emma said standing to motion to the door behind her.

"Oh, you knew it was me?" Sweets asked surprised. "Have we met before?"

"Uh, no." Emma said not wanting to mention her visit to the hospital. She didn't want to bring it up since Sweets had slept thru it all. "I've been working on your calendar, files and such." She said and noticed the young doctor was swaying some while she talked. "Would you like to see the office?" She asked opening the door giving him a good excuse to go and sit down.

Sweets walked in and tried to casually walk to his desk and sit down. He was frustrated that mere walks and outings left him so exhausted. The rational part of his mind told him it was all part of healing but the rest of him was telling that rational part to shut up and not fuss about it.

Sweets looked up and smiled at Emma. He knew he had been short and sarcastic to everyone. He hadn't known what to think of them – did they care about him past using him for cases and advice? He didn't know. Emma however, he didn't know her and he couldn't pass the same harsh judgment. Instead he smiled a genuine smile at her girl next door attitude. She was obviously tired but she wasn't going to complain.

"I'll let you get settled and come back later." Emma said noticing he needed a moment to catch his breath.

Sweets nodded and looked around his office. Whoever moved him had everything back in just the right spot. He felt at home, more than his own home, and immediately fired up his computer. He quickly relaxed after seeing hundreds of emails were not waiting for him. He realized Emma must be to thank for that. His calendar appeared to be cleared for another week and the appointments after that were sprinkled in at a slow pace. He breathed as this wasn't going to be as bad as he thought, plus now he could get to what he wanted to faster, the details of Derringer's death.

Sweets research was slowed by the lack of dexterity in his hands and fingers but eventually enough laborious clicks led him to the case. He couldn't get past a particular fact, how was Derringer's body so quickly shipped to the Jeffersonian. Generally a body would be found and the team called to the site, why was this one signed sealed and delivered?