Booth's patience was wearing thin. His hands had been balled into tight fists for the past several minutes, and he felt that it soon wouldn't be enough to hold him back from Rodney. The man wasn't saying anything, and nothing Sweets or he said could change that.

After several more moments of silence, the kidnapper spoke up, "Are we going to sit here all day, Agent Booth? Or can I go now?"

"Not until you tell us who your accomplice is." Booth nearly growled.

It had been a long day, and Booth was running on empty. All the pent up energy he had when Christine and Michael were missing had drained, and it was showing. Rodney had obviously noticed, and had been grinning madly almost the entire time they were in the interrogation room. Sweets had also noticed, and sat quietly, observing everything that had been said in the past half hour.

"Excuse us for a moment," Sweets said, breaking the new bubble of silence in the room.

With a firm grip on Booth's arm, he pulled him out of the room and to the side of the hallway. Booth stared incredulously at Sweets as if he were about to smack him. Sweets glanced back at the door before speaking quietly, as if he feared Rodney would overhear them.

"He's confident-"

Booth snickered sarcastically, "You think?"

"But that only gets someone so far," Sweets continued, ignoring the fact he had been cut off, "Whoever was with him must be intelligent. He's sure that we'll never find the second person. But somethings off... as if he's... admiring the other man."

"What do you mean?"

"Because Rodney is the leaderly type, it's strange that he would show so much emotion for another person. It's very protective. Now most of the time, people will throw each other under the bus in hopes they can walk away from their crimes unscathed. But Rodney is giving us no indication of who he was working with." Sweets explained, his gaze flickering between Booth and the door, "But why would he do that?"

Booth considered this for a moment, "A friend?"

Sweets pursed his lips with a shake of his head, "Too formal. We need someone who he would die for."

"The kids said it was another man..." Booth stopped short when his phone buzzed. He pulled it from his pocket and answered, "Booth-"

Sweets watched with interest as Booth's mouth seemed to open, his eyes widening only slightly at the information being given. It only took a few seconds before Booth hung up the phone and waltzed back into the room with Sweets still wondering what had been said.

"Take me to the Hoover," Christine demanded for a third time, her jaw jutting in defiance.

Brennan barely looked up from her desk files as she answered, "No, Christine. And that's final."

"I want to see dad," She argued, dropping onto the couch with a groan.

"You'll see him once we catch the second kidnapper." Brennan answered nonchalantly.

Christine rolled her eyes, "You guys don't even know who the second guy is! That could take hours."

"We do know who he is."

Booth slung himself down into the chair, a new confidence about him. Rodney cocked his head to the side at this, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion; wondering what had happened in the hallway. Sweets continued to stare confusedly at Booth, his eyebrows raised, hands shoved deeply into his pockets. Booth ignored him for the most part and watched Rodney carefully.

Booth cleared his throat, feeling a surge of pleasure rush through him when Rodney jumped at the sound. "Rodney... how's your brother?"

Christine's jaw dropped, "You do?" She stared at her mother in shock. "Why didn't you tell me? I have a right to know!"

Brennan shrugged, "I didn't think it was necessary. I thought it would be enough for you to know that your captors were being taken care of."

The younger huffed a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Mom, look at it this way... If you were in my shoes-"

"I wouldn't fit into your shoes," Brennan cut in abruptly.

There was a short pause. "Figure of speech, mom." Christine continued when she saw her mother nod. "If you were in my situation, wouldn't you want to know the identities of your kidnappers?"

Brennan nodded after a thoughtful moment. "Yes I would."

Christine collapsed onto the sofa, "Thank you!"

"So do you want to know?"

"Yes!"

Sweets made a silent "oh!" as Rodney squirmed in his seat. Booth felt the corner of his mouth twitch up into a smirk. Gotcha, pal. Composing himself once again, Booth stood from his seat and rounded the table to stand next to Rodney. He leaned down so his mouth was inches from Rodney's ear, and rested his hands against the table. He glanced towards Sweets who seemed to still be getting over who the second kidnapper was.

"Rodney? Where is your little brother?" Booth's voice was soft yet intimidating.

"Y-you don't know what you're talking about." Rodney's eyes flickered between the table and Sweets.

Sweets sat down smoothly, his eyes now locked with Rodney's. "Your little brother is out there right now, running from the police. It would be safer for him if you told us where he is."

Rodney bit his lip in concentration. Booth's mouth flattened into a thin line, "C'mon Rodney. Where's Timothy?"

This seemed to trigger something deep within Rodney as he fought against his restraints to grab at Booth. Sweets flinched at the sudden movement, but Booth grabbed a hold of his arms, and slammed them against the table. Louder this time, Booth asked again. "Where's Timothy?"

"I-I don't know!" The captor looked at Booth and spoke with all the honesty in the world. "I don't know."

Christine held her head in her hand, "His brother?"

"Yes."

"Does Michael know?"

As if he had heard his name from across the lab, Michael charged into Brennan's office. His eyes were wide and his jaw unhinged. Christine stood at the door's slam. This answered her question, at least.

His eyes locked on Christine's. "Did she tell you about...?"

She nodded her head. "Does anyone know where he could be?"

Michael shrugged his shoulders, "All I know is the same as you. Your dad and Sweets are questioning Rodney."

His name made Christine shutter slightly. That name had been tainted for, probably, the rest of her life. And sadly, there were several Rodneys' at her school, which would make it even harder for both her and Michael to recover.

Christine looked at her mother, almost frantically asking, "Do you guys know anything?"

Brennan raised an eyebrow at her daughter. "About Rodney's brother? Nothing."

The thought of his brother running rampant through the DC area tied knots in Christine's stomach. Though he was the weaker one of the two brothers as he had...

"Mom!"

This startled both Brennan and Micheal.

Christine continued, her mouth moving almost too quickly for the other two to understand. "Check the database for their family's medical history!"

After getting nothing out of Rodney, Booth was about to give up when his phone rang a second time. He flipped it open with an irritable grumble before listening carefully to what was said. Again, Sweets could only watch as the faint murmur of the voice on the other end spoke. Booth's eyes widened a fraction of an inch before he snapped his phone shut with a satisfying click.

He darted towards the door. "Got 'em."

Sweets gave a tight smile and a wave before looking back down at Rodney with a heavy sigh.

It didn't take long to get to the medical center, and Booth, along with several other agents, stormed the place with extreme caution. Booth felt a strong sense of pride at the thought that his daughter helped figure out the possible location of Timothy. After making a few calls, they were able to find out that a man fitting Timothy's description went to visit the kidnappers' mother, Abigale Fredrick.

And even though Booth doubted that Timothy was carrying a weapon on his person, he didn't want to risk it. With his gun drawn, he crept toward Abigale Fredrick's room. With two agents at his heels, they moved to cover both ends of the door. Booth pushed the door open and took a quick step inside the room, observing his surroundings with a quick sweep.

Timothy's mother lay in a bed, tubes ran along her wrists and down her throat and nose. Her eyes were, thankfully, closed as if she were sleeping. Booth new that she was in a comatose state, and it was extremely unlikely she would witness any of this. Sitting across from Booth was Timothy, his back hunched, and hands raised in defeat. His bottom lip quivered as he took a few week steps out from behind the bed.

"I-I just wanted to say goodbye... We didn't want anyone to get hurt."

Booth lowered his weapon as the two agents came out from behind and cuffed Timothy. He watched the younger brother carefully as the FBI agents took great care in not harming the man.

"Then why'd you do it?" Booth asked.

Timothy looked up at Booth, his eyes watering. "We were gonna use the money to help our mother. We could've gotten a house out in a nice quiet area and kept her safe... I didn't want anyone to get hurt!"

"So you threatened my kid's life? Yeah, that really sounds like you didn't want anyone hurt." Booth snapped.

"It was Rodney's idea!" He protested. "I swear it was Rodney. I-I-I-" He broke down sobbing.

Booth waved him off and watched as the agents dragged Timothy out of the room.

Christine and Micheal sat in the backyard of the Booth house. They stared warily into the forest, watching each individual branch and leaf move. Every sound that was made caused the two to jump or stand from their place.

"You think we'll ever be able to go back in there?" Micheal asked, pushing his taped glasses up his nose.

Christine shrugged densely. "Probably. It would be unlikely that we would never go back into the forest. Besides, my tree house is back there and I'm not abandoning it."

Micheal smirked with a shake of his head. "What do you think the kids at school'll do?"

She gave him a sly smile, "All the girls will fawn over you. I can see it now 'Oh, Michael. You escaped from your kidnappers? You big hunksicle!"

"'Hunksicle?' Are you kidding?" Michael laughed. "You have nothing to worry about. Besides, the guys'll be all over you. 'Christine, can I sign your cast?'"

Christine shoved him good naturedly, "Shut up, Staccato. And why are you so worried about what the guys will be doing at the school?"

Michael shrugged, turning the question back around on her. "Why are you so worried about what the girls at school will do?"

She sat with her lips quirked to the side. "Because we're partners."

"Lab partners." Michael corrected.

"No. Partners. And when we go back to school, we're gonna stick together. No hierarchy of males-"

"Or females," Michael added.

"Or females," Christine agreed with a smile, "will tear us apart. Deal?" She stuck her hand out for a shake.

Michael took her hand and gave it a firm shake. "Deal."

Thank you all for reading this. And YES, THIS IS THE END! No more chapters for this fic! Thank you for all the support and comments and fans and reads and everything! You guys rock my socks!