(Season 6)

I don't own Bones.

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The fact that a young boy was missing and no one had found him yet, left most of those working in law enforcement fearing the worst. The kidnapping case wasn't Booth's but when a child's body had been found buried on the bank of the Potomac, he assumed they might have found the body of Logan Bartlett. Standing next to the grave, he watched Cam and Brennan examine the remains and he had to ask. "Is it Logan Bartlett?"

Brennan was sure it wasn't. "I don't believe so. After a cursory examination, I can say that the child looks to be of Asian descent. I will need to study the child's bones once the rest of the flesh has been removed, but I am fairly certain that this isn't Logan."

Disappointed, Booth nodded his head. "Alright . . . the press is having a field day because we can't seem to find Logan, so I was hoping we'd found him. Dead or alive, the press wants results and we can't give them any. Of course, I'd like to find him alive . . . Well, we need to find out who this child is and I am going to find out who put him here." He was angry. A dead child buried on a riverbank, with twine tied around his feet and hands. It looked like the child had been murdered and he wanted justice for the child.

Cam understood his disappointment. "I'm not sure the boy is dead. It's possible that Logan is still alive."

"Yeah, but it's not my case, so let's work on this one." He hadn't meant to be short with his friend. "Sorry . . . I hate it when the victim is a child and this one . . . he looks like a toddler. I just . . ." Since he was having trouble controlling his emotions, Booth walked up the bank of the river and over to his car. Leaning against it, he made a call.

Agent Harris.

"The child isn't Logan Bartlett, so he may still be alive." Booth stared at Cam while she prepared the body to be transported to the Lab.

It's good it's not Logan, but it's bad it's someone else's kid . . . I'll let everyone here know Logan hasn't been found. Bishop called down here a few minutes ago to see what I knew about the body . . . I'll let him know what you said.

"I'm going to be at the Lab this afternoon, while Bones and Cam do an autopsy. I'll be back as soon as that's done." Booth watched his partner stand up and remove her gloves and place them in a plastic bag. That done, she closed her kit, picked it up and walked up the bank towards him. "I got to go . . . they're getting ready to transport the body."

The call ended, Booth walked around the back of his SUV and opened it for Brennan. "I let Harris know it's not Logan and he's going to let Bishop know."

"I know you're disappointed. I think the child that was buried here is over three years old. I should be able to verify that after I've x-rayed the child's teeth. Round eye orbits tell me he's of Asian descent." Brennan placed her kit in the back of the SUV and walked over to the passenger side of the truck. Once she was inside, she sighed. "I know you hate to work on cases when it involves a child . . . we will find out what happened to the boy, Booth."

"I'm counting on that, Bones." Booth started his truck and glanced at the FBI van while Cam watched the body loaded into it. "Everyone hates cases like this."

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"One boy dead because he swallowed a wooden screw and his mother couldn't save him and another boy kidnapped by his father because he'd lost custody and he wanted his ex-wife to suffer." Booth sipped some of his beer and leaned back against his couch. "At least Logan is back with his mother."

Brennan heard the sadness in Booth's voice and knew he was upset about both cases. "Myung Dae is going to be buried in a cemetery, so at least he will be in a proper burial site . . . sometimes that is the best outcome we can hope for."

"Yeah." Booth placed his arm around her shoulders. "Bishop congratulated me for finding Logan . . . No one saw what I saw . . . Trevor Bartlett bought a car a few days after his son was kidnapped? That didn't make any sense at all. Who can buy a car when their child has just been kidnapped? It was just too obvious once I'd seen the report."

"That's because you're good at your job." Brennan was proud of her mate's skills as an investigator.

Surprised, Booth smiled. "Thanks . . . we did good. Logan is back with his mother and Trevor and his brother are going to prison. He can rot there as far as I'm concerned."

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In need of a friend, Sweets entered Booth's office and stared at the agent until Booth noticed him.

"What?" Irritated, Booth was working on his budget and he wasn't in the mood to hear Sweets complain about Daisy again.

"I wrote Daisy and she didn't write back." Sighing, the younger man felt it was unfair that Daisy was treating him like this. "I wrote her and told her that I understood why she joined the dig, but it's a bust and I don't understand why she won't come home."

Resigned to listen to his friend, Booth turned to face the younger man. "Dr. Bashear called Bones and told her that he's giving up on the dig and he's closing it down. They didn't find anything and it was a huge waste of money."

"So, Daisy should be home soon." Sweets shook his head. "She could have written me and told me that."

"Sweets . . . you need to talk to Daisy when she gets back so you can settle this thing you have between you . . . Bones and me do better when we talk to each other." Booth shook his head. "Find out what she wants and see if that lines up with what you want. If the stuff you guys want don't line up, then break up with her."

Annoyed, Sweets crossed his arms against his chest. "You're just partners with Dr. Brennan. Daisy and I were engaged to be married . . . It's not the same thing."

"Whatever . . . I have work to do." Booth glared at the younger man and felt he was losing his patience. "Talk to her or don't talk to her. I don't care. I told you what I think. You don't want to take my advice then do what the hell you want but leave me out of it from now on."

Sweets knew that Booth was angry. "Look, I'm not trying to make you mad . . . you're just partners with Dr. Brennan. You both have made that quite clear. Daisy left me behind and she was my fiancé . . . She is my fiancé . . . oh, I don't know what she is . . . Dr. Brennan came back early and Daisy didn't and . . ." He stopped talking and stood up. He could see the anger building up in Booth and he knew the agent was angry enough to throw him out of the office. "I'm leaving."

Once he was alone, Booth called Brennan. "Hey . . . um, Bones. Want to meet me for lunch? My budget is giving me a headache and Sweets was in here complaining about Daisy again . . . I need a break."

Of course. Dr. Bashear is shutting down the dig, so Daisy will be back soon. That might make Sweets happy.

"I wouldn't count on that." Booth was certain that Sweets wasn't going to forgive Daisy for abandoning him. "The kid doesn't want to see Daisy's side of things. He has a lot of growing up to do."

Yes, he and Daisy don't communicate very well.

"Yeah, well . . . we've had our issues about that problem in the past, but I think we've worked it out." Booth stared at the picture he had of Parker on his desk. "You know you can tell me anything."

And you can tell me anything.

Booth watched Harris enter his office. "I got to go. I'll see you at lunch." The call ended Booth placed his phone down on his desk. "Agent Stewart is going to be released from the hospital tomorrow. Don't count on him coming back for a while. Bones told me it can take up to four weeks to recover before he can come back to work. He ruptured his appendix and he has a drain to deal with."

"Yeah, I figured that out . . . It's a good thing Agent Howard was with him and got him to the hospital . . . Lester needs a new partner until Stewart comes back. I thought I'd partner him up with me." Harris sighed. "We're a man short until Stewart comes back."

Since there wasn't anything they could do about that, Booth shrugged his shoulders. "You need to work on the Landry case with Lester. Maybe you can close that one before Stewart comes back . . . It's the one that Bishop is worried about. If you need help, let me know and I'll see if I can find the time to help you."

Harris knew that Booth was working on the budget and the accounting department was pressuring him to finish it soon. "Give me a chance to look over the case and do some interviews . . . I may be able to find out what was slowing down Agent Stewart and Lester. I was going to talk to him before he got sick, so I'll just try to figure it out and see what the problem is."

"Sounds good." Since Harris had a handle on what needed to be done, Booth returned his attention back to his budget. "I'm going to lunch around noon at the Diner. I promised to meet Bones there . . . I'll be there for about an hour."

Moving over to the door, Harris turned to face his supervisor. "Susan wants me to tell you that she's got a friend that would like to meet you . . . Maybe you can go on a date since you haven't dated anyone since you broke up with Martha."

"I'll find my own dates, thank you." Booth shook his head. "I don't want anyone setting me up on dates."

"I'll tell Susan, but you know she's probably going to call you and try to set you up anyway. She doesn't like that you're alone. She's also thinks her cousin Nathan would be a good match for Dr. Brennan." Harris left the room leaving an exasperated Booth behind.

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