Universe 1 (October 2007)
Booth and Bones pulled up to the scene of the bombing of a minivan in a parking lot next to a soccer field. As they walked from the SUV, the FBI techs observed their usual bickering. He was chastising her for not being properly grateful that Caroline got her special access to visit her father in prison. Booth reminded her that this meant there would be no 2 inches of glass separating them, and gave her a playful hug from behind as he told her she would be able to give her old man a hug. Bones was unimpressed and didn't seem all that excited about visiting her father. Booth had eventually arrested him after several months of Max popping into and out of his daughter's life. Bones didn't hold it against Booth, because letting her father go would have been at odds with what the partners fought for every day: justice and accountability. During the investigation of the bombing, Bones visited her father several times, and she was very standoffish toward him. But Booth kept pushing her to reconnect with her father despite the knowledge that he was a con man. He reminded her that he was still her father.
Booth's prodding eventually softened her feelings toward her father and she paid him another visit. He had been asking her to play a card game they often played when she was a child. Once they started playing the chaotic game that involved grabbing cards from each other, she got into the spirit of the game and found herself giggling like she had as a child when she played with her father. This was the start of her reconnection with him. He was still facing trial for his crimes, but he knew that, even if he was convicted and had to serve a long term, he would be close enough to maintain a relationship with his daughter. Max had stopped running because he decided that he had deserted her one too many times. Even though neither of them said it out loud, they both appreciated the role that Booth played in the thawing of their relationship.
The Jeffersonian crew were able to determine the identity of the woman from the minivan, but they also discovered that she was a fugitive who had disappeared over 30 years ago. She was part of a radical group that was wanted for a series of bombings and the murder of a policeman. She had changed her name, started a new life, and now had a daughter in college. Booth ended up with several suspects, including Huntzinger, the victim's attorney, Neil, the victim's partner from 30 years ago, Danny, the son of the policeman they had killed, and even Sam, the FBI investigator, one of Booth's mentors, who had been working the case for 30 years. The scientists discovered that their victim had not been the one who shot the policeman all those years ago. When they tried to question Neil, they discovered him shot to death. The Jeffersonian crew eventually found that it was the victim's husband, who had discovered her radical past, who had killed both his wife and Neil.
They had found a burned letter in the bomb wreckage, but it was unreadable. Angela was able to work her magic and discover the contents of the letter - it was to her daughter. The victim was planning to turn herself in and wrote a letter of apology to her daughter. Booth and Bones arrived at the family home as they were headed to the funeral, and Booth arrested the father. After loading him into a squad car, he stood and watched Bones comforting the daughter while she cried over her father's arrest and read the letter from her mother. Booth was visibly moved by the compassion Bones was showing as she wrapped her arms around the sobbing girl. This was what he had been trying to tell her, that she did have that compassionate side and could connect with people. If Bones could have heard his thoughts, she would have told him that this was just one of the things he had taught her over the last two years. His influence on her had come in very small moments and conversations, and, day by day, he continued to add puzzle pieces to help her become more of a complete human, and not just a scientist.
After leaving the family's home, Booth and Bones went in different directions. She went to the prison to see her dad, and with the feelings of compassion still running through her after comforting the grieving daughter, decided to acquiesce to her dad's request to play the card game. It really became a turning point in their father-daughter relationship. Booth went back to his office to finish up his paperwork. His mentor, Sam, walked in with a 30 year old bottle of scotch he had been saving for the conclusion of the case. They toasted each other and the older agent admitted he would have had him down as a suspect were he in Booth's shoes.
After sharing several glasses of scotch with Sam, Booth was a little loopy and called Bones to see if she was nearby and could drive him home. After getting in her car, he cajoled her into going to the Lincoln Memorial because it was such a beautiful night, and it was one of his favorite places to sit and gaze across the city he loved. So, for the next hour or so, they sat near the top of the steps, and had a quiet conversation on all sorts of topics. Booth was feeling very mellow from the scotch and Bones was teasing him over exactly how tipsy he was. She pointed out that his goofy smile was a dead giveaway. She told him about visiting her father again and playing cards with him and Booth told her he was proud of her. In his loopy state, his head eventually gravitated toward her and landed on her shoulder. They sat that way in companionable silence for some minutes, enjoying the mild night air, the sparkling city, and the affection that had developed between them over the last two years.
Universe 2 (October 2007)
Booth was called to a case where a minivan had blown up while sitting in the parking lot of a soccer field. The FBI techs found that the vehicle had one female occupant and were able to find most of the remains for removal to the FBI lab. They were able to salvage the VIN number and traced the car to a family in nearby Virginia. When Booth visited the husband, he mentioned that the car contained a lot of clothes and photos and wondered if there was trouble in the couple's marriage. The husband's distress at the news of his wife's death turned to anger at Booth for his question. He informed Booth that his wife was driving to their daughter's college to help set up her dorm room.
Although the FBI techs recovered everything possible from the wreckage, they were never able to identify the source of the bomb. The husband and daughter were eventually able to have a funeral for their loved one and lay her remains to rest. But what Booth, the FBI techs, and the daughter never knew, was what the husband would take to his grave. He had discovered that his wife had another identity that she had left behind 30 years ago. She had been a student radical in the 1970s and was a wanted woman who had changed her identity and transformed into a suburban wife and mother. A few months before her death, she confessed the details of her double life to her husband. He got wind that she was visiting with her old boyfriend from her days as a radical, and it was her husband who planted the bomb in her van.
Booth had fallen into his old "friends with benefits" relationship with Cam the previous year. They were both single and both very focused on their careers, so they didn't have the time or inclination to look for anything more permanent. Several months ago, they made a mutual decision to strike the "benefits" and just remain good friends. They both hoped to someday find a long term partner and just knew after all this time that they weren't that for each other. Throughout that time, and continuing after they reestablished their friendship, Booth would share some of his most frustrating cases with her. As a coroner, she was familiar with the investigative process, and she would give whatever advice she could. She occasionally reminded him that she had a forensic anthropologist who could be of assistance, but he wouldn't hear of it. He always insisted that the FBI techs were about as "squinty" as he could stand, and a scientist with a doctorate would make him crazy. He would always laugh and tell her that he only put up with her "squintiness" because they had been friends for so long. Cam would always walk away shaking her head and chuckling over his intransigence.