CHAPTER 1- BOOTH'S FEARS

Season 9 2014

I smile over at Booth. He was feeding our daughter Christine her dinner. Booth scoops the mash potato into her mouth.

"Hey sweetie do you like my mash potato?" he asks.

Christine just nods and smiles at her father "Yes daddy" she says as she cuddles up to her father.

We were just having a perfectly normal dinner; well at least that's what I thought until Booth's mobile rung. "Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring" it went. Booth leans over and picked it up. I get Christine out of her high chair and look over at Booth curiously.

"Yes Parker, you're talking too fast restart buddy," Booth says into the phone.

Parker was Booth's twelve-year-old son from a past relationship. I wondered why he was ringing Booth at 7:00pm at night. Booth suddenly looks stressed and mutters a reply into the phone before hanging up.

He turns to face Christine and I, a worried glint in his dark eyes. "Brennan grab Christine, put her in the baby seat in the back of the car and meet me there" he says quickly and hurries out to the car before I can even ask about what was going on.

"Mommy why is daddy all scared?" my little daughter asks me as I do up her baby seat in the back of Booth's black SUV.

I had absolutely no idea about what had happened so I just put on a smile and make some childish noises to amuse Christine. I didn't think it was right to absolutely horrify a three-year-old. Booth then runs over and flings open the door of the drivers seat and gets in.

"Bones get into the car I got a very important call" Booth demands.

I feel a bit taken back as I do up my seat belt and Booth reverses the car out of the driveway.

As we speed down the streets of DC I glance over worriedly at Booth who still hadn't told me what happened or what his call was all about.

"Booth what happened?" I ask him.

Booth glances at me and I hear the worry in his voice "Bones something happened to Parker, he said something about his mother not having arrived home" he continues "And I swear that I could hear my twelve year old crying"

I lean over the console in the centre of the car and lay my hand on Booth's shoulder.

"Booth nothing has probably happened" I begin "Rebecca might just have gone to a boyfriends house and forgot to tell Parker"

Booth gives me an irritated look "You expect that having knowledge of my ex going out with men and leaving her twelve year old at home will be reassuring Bones?"

I look confused "Booth it could have been an accident…" I begin but Booth cuts me off.

"Accidents like that just don't happen, she doesn't deserve to have custody!" he cries as he pulls into Rebecca's driveway and slams the break on with such force that I fly back against my seat.

"Wahhhhhhhh!" Christine starts to cry.

"Booth take more care while you are driving" I cry as I get out the car and rock Christine about in my arms.

Booth looks irritated but sighs as he walks over to the door and rings the bell. It opens to reveal a very sleep deprived Parker with a tear streaked face.

He embraces his father really tightly "I thought you'd never come," cries the little boy in a very muffled way.

"Of course I came buddy," says Booth stroking his son's hair "What happened Parks"

Parker pulls away from his father and looks over at me and Christine his eyes still puffy from crying "Come in Dr Bones, Dad, Christine" he says beckoning us in.

We all sit down on Rebecca's red leather sofas and look at Parker; we were all anticipated to hear his story.

Parker looks at us "So let me start from the very beginning" he says.

Parker then commences to tell us his whole story. It started when he arrived home from school to find his mother not home. Parker waited and waited but when it began to get dark he began to get worried. So then he decided to ring his dad. By the end of the story Parker was crying and huddled up between Booth and I.

Booth smiles at his son "Buddy we'll find your mom tomorrow let's go home and you can sleep at our house" I tell Parker.

He nods and grabs Christine "Come on sis let's go grab some toys for me to bring home," Parker tells his sister.

She nods happily and they run off into the other room.

We were just loading Parker's personal belongings into the car when my phone began to ring.

I click the answer button "Brennan" I say into the receiver.

I hear Cam's voice on the other end of the phone. Cam was Forensic Pathologist and my boss at the Jeffersonian Institution, where I work. "Brennan I know it's late but there's a body find down about five meters from an office block in central DC" she tells me.

I glance over at Booth and mouth the word body find.

He nods knowingly.

"We'll be there as soon as we can" I reply.

I can just see Cam smile "I'll text you the address, see you there"

I hang the phone up and turn to Booth. "Body find five meters from an office block in central DC" I tell him.

"We'll get Sweets to babysit and then we'll join the team of Squints down at the office," he replies.

I nod approvingly and we all get into the car.

About a good forty-five minutes later Booth and I are driving down the streets of DC in the dark.

"Bones why do you think that this body is so important that it can't wait for the morning?" asks Booth.

I shake my head "I suppose that the sooner the body is examined the sooner that the victims family can receive some closure" I reply as Booth pulls over into a street full of offices and we already see some Jeffersonian and some FBI vans.

Booth and I get out of the car to be greeted by Cam. She passes me some gloves and points in the direction of the body.

"It's over there Dr Brennan" she says.

I smile "Thank you Dr Saroyan" I reply as I walk over to examine the remains.

When I get to the sight f the body dump I see Hodgins already bent over.

"Hey Dr B, you made it" he cries enthusiastically.

I look slightly irritated, what did he think I would just turn down a murder investigation?

"Of course I made it Dr Hodgins" I reply irritably "And considering that you have been here so much longer than me what else have you found out about the body?" I ask.

Hodgins smiles "I have already found out time of death" he begins "Considering the growth rate of the fly larvae on the remains I would place time of death only about six hours prior to the discovery of the corpse" he replies very matter-o-factly.

I nod and lean over to get a better view of the body. The skull had some serious fractures to the left frontal lobe and the skin was in a very early state of decomp.

I look over at the other to present them with my findings "I can already tell that the victim has a large of amount of damage, I suspect post mortem to the frontal region of the skull" I begin.

Booth then looks over at me "Gee this guy must have really taken a hard beating"

I glance at him in an exasperated way "I have also discovered that the victim isn't a guy," I begin "Considering the size of the jawline to the left temple it shows that this victim was a female, I'd say mid thirties"

Hodgins nods "Anything on cause of death yet?" asks Cam.

I shake my head "None of the injuries that I can see appear to be fatal" I reply "But we'll have these remains returned to the Jeffersonian, I'll look more into the cause of death tomorrow"

They nod. I glance at Booth, he really appeared to be acting strangely about this body find and I just couldn't quite pin down why.

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