"The Object of My Affection" - Chapter 34
Title: Object of my Affection
Author: Shannon - shannyfish
Disclaimer: I do not own “Bones” or its characters, Fox does. This is merely for entertainment purposes only.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Booth and Brennan must struggle with not only the Grad Students trying to take Zack’s old position, but also help get through a tragic end.
Warning: Post Season Three - “Pain in the Heart”. Would take place during Season Four, probably mid to late. Warning! Do not start reading this unless you plan on reading all…like…one hundred chapters (it might be that many…might not…). This will be an epic/saga-type fic and shall include all kinds of fun plot twists. The rating of this story will most likely fluctuate, FYI.
Chapter 34 - “A Promise to Keep”
Author’s Note: Okay, so I need a slight break from NaNo for the week. I’m slowly, but surely making my word count towards the glorious goal of 50,000 words for the month of November.
Also! Please remember for Fanfic.net people, if you Message Me, then make sure you have yours enabled if you’d like a response.
The correct url this time!
Trailer #1: h t t p : // www . mediafire . com / ?20w12iod0dd
Hopefully this all shows us, just remove the spaces : )
*~*~*
Dr. Brennan’s Office
Brennan woke before her brother and wanted to make it out of the Jeffersonian without him knowing. She knew Russ; he would be concerned about her and would try to get her to stay. She couldn’t do that. Brennan pulled on her shoes and then her jacket before getting up off of her cot and walking to Parker’s. He was still asleep and she thought about leaving him, but she remembered the promise she’d made to both Booths. She picked up his shoes and put one in each of the pockets in her jacket before she scooped him up, sleeping bag and all. Carefully and quietly she made her way through her office and out into the lab.
Max was waiting, though he’d been waiting for some time. “Are you sure about bringing him along?” he asked his daughter when she emerged with Booth’s son still asleep in her arms.
“I promised,” Brennan told him and then jostled Parker slightly. “Parker,” she whispered. “Time to get up,” she said.
“Bones?” Parker mumbled a bit loudly.
“Shhh…” Brennan shushed. “You have to be quiet,” she said and set him down in the sleeping bag.
Max helped the boy out of the sleeping bag. “Now, you need to be very quiet, okay?” he asked the boy and when he nodded, he continued. “We are going to be on a secret mission.”
“To find my dad?” Parker asked quietly and took the offered shoes from Brennan. He sat down on the floor and started to pull them on.
“That’s exactly right,” he told Parker before turning to his daughter, “He’s going to need a jacket.”
“I’ll get it,” Brennan said. She’d remembered her jacket, but hadn’t picked up Parker’s.
Max crouched down and helped the boy with his shoes. He was starting to like being around small children again. He felt like he’d missed so much with Russ and Temperance, even though he and Christine had left them when they were nineteen and fifteen. These were the moments that he’d savored with his own children. “We’re going to need you to follow directions, can you do that?”
“Yes,” Parker said.
“You’re going to have to be quiet and keep your head down.”
“I can do that.”
“Good.” When his daughter returned with Parker’s jacket, he watched her help the boy with the jacket and then zipped it up. “We’re going to have to take the back way out of here,” Max said.
“What back way?” Brennan asked.
It wasn’t long until Max had them in the basement where Zack had entered earlier and he’d walked in on the interns. He held one of Parker’s hands as they walked through the dark towards the loading docks. The loading docks were still not secured. “Well, at least the F.B.I. is doing a great job keeping us safe in here,” Max muttered as he lifted one of the garage doors and held it while his daughter and Parker exited.
*~*~*
Jeffersonian
“Has anyone seen Parker and Tempe? Or my dad?” Russ asked as he, Amy, and the girls entered the eating area up above the Medico-Legal lab platform. He watched as Amy took the girls around to get breakfast as he waited for an answer. The interns were all huddled together on the couch eating, while the rest of his sister’s co-workers were at the table.
“I haven’t seen either of them all morning,” Cam reported.
He had been surprised to see that both sets of cots were empty. It wasn’t unusual for his father to just take off, he did that, but for his sister and Parker to be gone, he found that odd. “Well, they’re definitely still inside of the Jeffersonian, right? The F.B.I. is supposed to be keeping us locked in here safely, right?”
“Yes, we have standard Jeffersonian guards multiplied and we have the F.B.I. keeping us all safe here,” Cam told him.
“Then where’s Tempe?”
“She’s probably feeling caged in and took Parker for a walk,” Angela offered. “Your dad’s probably with them.”
“We’ve been out here for two hours,” Hodgins spoke up, talking to Angela. “We would have noticed if they’d left the office.”
“You’re right,” Angela said frowning. “But that would mean that they’ve either been out of the office and wandering the Jeffersonian for some time or-”
“They’re out looking for Agent Booth,” Zack spoke up. Since Angela and Hodgins had found him two hours earlier, they’d been up there talking nonstop.
“That’s not what I was going to say,” Angela told him.
“But that’s where they are,” he insisted.
“How do you know?” Hodgins asked.
“I overheard their plan,” Zack said. “They planned it loosely when I came in through the loading dock very early this morning.”
“You got in through the loading dock?” Russ questioned and then looked to Cam.
“I’ll have them check it out immediately,” she said quickly getting up from her chair and leaving them to call down to the main security station.
Angela turned to Zack with a frown and asked him the question that they were all wondering, but no one had said yet. “Why didn’t you say something earlier?” They had been sitting there for two hours and it didn’t occur to him that he should say something until now?
“You never asked about Doctor Brennan’s location,” Zack defended quickly.
“So you didn’t volunteer?” Angela asked upset.
“I didn’t think it was necessary. She is with her father. I thought that since she went with Max Keenan that she would be perfectly protected. I believe that she may have also taken her weapon with her,” Zack said.
“What about Parker?” Hodgins asked.
“She was supposed to take him as well,” Zack reported.
“They just left?” Russ asked.
“They went after Booth,” Angela said.
Russ shook his head, angry. “They expect us to stay here, but they go out without protection?”
“Doctor Brennan believes that Agent Booth and myself are the Gravedigger’s current main targets,” Zack explained. “She does not believe that she or Parker will be in danger at the current time. Also, I believe that she believes that your father will be able to take care of himself.”
“As Brennan probably believes the same about herself,” Angela added.
“You are most likely correct in that assumption.”
Russ sighed, “The F.B.I. will find them, though, right?” He sat down next to Amy and looked down towards Brennan’s co-workers.
“She won’t come in until they find Booth,” Angela told him. “Even if they manage it, she’ll go crazy being kept in here.”
“Booth and Brennan are a package deal,” Hodgins said. “They need each other.”
“Are they dating or something?” Russ asked confused.
“No,” Angela said. “Though, I’ve been dropping hints, but you know how your sister is. If it doesn’t have any anthropological pull and you don’t come right out and say it, then it’s going to go right over her head.”
*~*~*
Royal Crown Diner
Brennan just stared down at her coffee. They had no leads and her fatigue was starting to wear her down. When they’d gotten back into her car after checking around Hodgins’ house, she’d saw that there had been a phone call that had been missed. The voicemail was the Gravedigger, he wanted money. She knew that normally that everyone who paid the ransom was given the coordinates and that the victim was found alive. She wasn’t sure if it would be the same for Booth.
“Tempe, you should eat,” Max urged.
“I’m not hungry,” Brennan argued, but didn’t look up. She had told her father that she had the money, that she’d send the money to the account, but he insisted that it wouldn’t help…Booth would still be found one day…dead.
“Tempe?” Max asked when he saw the tears running down his daughter’s face after she checked her voicemail. They hadn’t even gotten into the car yet. He’d been helping Parker get into the back. The boy was already exhausted, and he’d tried to encourage him to sleep. When his daughter didn’t respond, he rounded the car towards her to check on her.
Brennan felt like she couldn’t breathe. He had Booth. It wasn’t just a logical assumption anymore. She wanted to cry, but couldn’t. She couldn’t cry because she couldn’t make her body do anything she wanted it to do. She couldn’t even think. All she could think about was the amount of money and how she was going to get it.
When Max got to his daughter’s side, there were tears streaming down her face and her eyes were already red. He could hear he trying to gasp for breath and he quickly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to his chest. He didn’t know exactly what was wrong, but he knew that he wouldn’t until she calmed down. “Breathe, Tempe.”
“Booth,” she cried and grabbed his jacket and held on. How was she going to save him? She needed to, she wouldn’t let him down. She couldn’t, she needed him…Parker needed him. Why couldn’t the Gravedigger have taken her instead? She thought it was more logical.
“The Gravedigger?” Max asked.
Brennan nodded into him and tried to continued, “He wants money… I can give him money,” she told him. “He’ll give me Booth’s location.”
“Will he?”
“He has a pattern, he’s always followed it.”
He could hear her calming down. Her voice seemed to be evening out as she spoke. “What if he doesn’t this time? To prove a point to you.”
“I’d rather try,” Brennan argued. “I can’t let Parker lose his father.”
“Can you stand to lose him?” Max asked his daughter directly.
Brennan looked down and pulled in breath. She didn’t want to think about it. “No.” It hurt to say it, to admit the truth. She felt her chest constricting again and she quickly sucked in a big breath to try to compensate for it. She looked back into the car at Parker, who had fallen asleep, and then self consciously wiped the tears away. She didn’t want to upset Parker or worry him. She looked back down at the ground. Was her father right? Would he keep Booth’s location away just to spite her? To punish her? If so, then why couldn’t it be here in his place? She’d give anything for it to be her.
“We’re going to find him, Tempe,” Max said. “You have to believe that.”
She looked up at him, tears once again taking up in her eyes. “I believe in Booth.”
“And Booth believes in you.”
“Why aren’t you hungry, Bones?” Parker asked.
“I’m just not,” Brennan said and then looked over at Parker who wasn’t eating his chicken strips or fries. She tried to put on a smile for him, but really felt like hiding in her office or at her apartment…anyone where she could alone and could just cry. “Keep eating.”
“You should eat, though,” Parker said. “Why don’t you just eat one of my chicken strips?” Parker said holding out a piece for her.
She didn’t know if she could handle that much food in her stomach right now. “How about if I eat one of your fries instead?” she offered and reached across to snag one before popping it into her mouth. She ate it, even though she didn’t want it. She kept her smile on. She wanted him to eat, and she was starting to regret bringing him along. They weren’t getting anywhere.
“It’s going to be okay,” Max urged as he smiled across at his daughter.
Brennan wished that she could believe that. She didn’t know that she could. Logically, she knew that she should just pay the Gravedigger’s ransom and hope that he followed his pattern and send her his location.
*~*~*
Gas Station
Maryland
“Dad,” Brennan spoke up as they refilled the vehicle. They were both standing outside of the vehicle while Parker drank a blue Powerade and eyed his candy bar. She was panicking, she knew she was. The clock was ticking and Booth was running out of time. “I need to send the money.”
“I told you, Tempe.” Max shook his head, he was still surprised that the F.B.I. hadn’t found them, but they really hadn’t been gone that long.
“I know,” she said quickly feeling tears trying to float up. “But Booth’s life is on the line and we don’t have any other option right now. There are no clues that we can follow, new evidence to examine that could possibly lead us somewhere. We have nothing to go on.”
“Then do it,” Max told her. “I guess at least it’ll give us some kind of answer.”
She nodded, “We should go back to the Jeffersonian.”
“Okay.”
*~*~*
Jeffersonian
“That was stupid, Tempe,” Russ said as he followed his sister into her office.
She’d sent Parker off with Cam and Hodgins. All she wanted was a few minutes for her to be by herself. She knew that Angela was following as well, but that was something that she expected. She didn’t want to be lectured. Not now, not yet. Brennan tripped over Parker’s cot, but caught herself and then managed to get all the way to her desk and chair. She sat down in the chair and tried to ignore Russ.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Russ kept on.
“Leave her alone,” Angela told him, her attitude in full display. She would protect her best friend even against Russ. He may have thought he knew what was best to say, but she was pretty sure that she knew better.
“Then you talk some sense into her,” Russ said angrily before leaving the office.
Angela sighed and then looked over at Brennan, who was now on her laptop. “What are you doing, Sweetie?”
“Sending the Gravedigger money, so that he’ll release Booth’s location and we can go save him,” she said as she continued to type on her laptop.
“You’re going to send him the ransom money?” Angela asked as she walked towards her friend. Brennan handing over money to save Booth wasn’t something that was a surprise, but rather that she had come to it. She had expected her to be on the platform trying to solve it from the bones and the other evidence. This wasn’t like her friend. There was something wrong.
“Yes,” she told Angela as she transferred the money.
“Sweetie,” Angela said as she sat across from Brennan. “What’s really wrong? I mean, I know that Hodgins is having nightmares and really doesn’t want to be left alone right now, but is that what’s going on with you too? After effects of your imprisonment at the hands of the Gravedigger?”
“What? No,” Brennan said briefly looking up from her computer screen.
“Then what?”
Brennan looked up at Angela again; her chest was feeling like it was in a vice again. It hurt and it was hard to breathe. “You know why, Angela…”
“Booth,” she said quietly.
“I can’t lose him, Ang,” Brennan said and let the tears fall again. Angela was one of the few people she didn’t feel bad about showing her true emotions in front of. She was safe with Angela.
“I know, Sweetie,” she said sincerely. She knew Brennan and she knew Booth enough to know that they needed each other to work.
“What if the Gravedigger does what my dad says?” she asked as tears continued to fall. “He thinks that the Gravedigger won’t give us Booth’s location to teach us a lesson.”
“Then we’ll find him without the Gravedigger’s help.”
“How? We’re running out of time. Booth is running out of time.”
“We’ll do it, Sweetie.”
“I don’t understand how.”
“A miracle,” Angela whispered. “You just have to believe that we’ll find him in time.”
*~*~*
TBC…