Author's Notes: I keep neglecting this fiction and I really, really shouldn't :P I just thought I'd say that I'm sorry but can't promise it won't happen again but that I will definitely (one day…!) finish it :) Any inaccuracies (i.e. where they are) are because I can't remember from the show and with everything else that's changed with this fiction it being an AU and all, it's not worth trailing through DVDs to find out… sorry. :P

Chapter 11: Irrefutable

The girl wore pigtails and kept her head down as she walked through the maze of desks to the front of the classroom, handing the folded piece of paper to the teacher and dashing out of the room, jacket sleeves pulled down over her fingers and her hands clamped into fists.

"Angela Montenegro?" Mr. Bell said, unfolding the slip of paper "you need to go the Principal's office,"

Angela frowned but smiled sweetly at her classmates when the oh-so-clichéd murmur of 'ooo' flitted across the room "now sir?"

"Yes please," Mr. Bell said, flicking his fringe from his eyes and picking up his poetry book again "now as I was saying, Shakespeare writes frequently using sonnets," he nodded in acknowledgement as Angela gathered her things and moved to the door "can anyone tell me what a sonnet is?"

The door shut softly behind her, drowning out the noise of the classroom.

"Ange!" Jack's voice echoed down the hall as he jogged to catch up with her, "You get called out too?"

"Yeah," she said, falling into step beside him, and playing idly with her long beaded necklace "any idea why?"

"No," he said, as they went down the stairs and turned right, then left, coming to a stop outside the big red door that said 'Principal's Office' in big letters "bet it's got something to do with Booth and Brennan though," it had been nearly two days since the duo had last been in school, two days in which James and Diana were beside themselves with worry, vicious and completely insane rumours had begun to fly.

Angela rolled her eyes and knocked on the door swiftly, a second later a voice called "come in," and she and Jack stepped into the room.

"Miss Montenegro," Principal Greyson smiled at two of them "Mr Hodgins; how are you today?"

"Fine thank you sir," Angela replied almost stiffly as she discreetly stood on Jack's toes to stop him saying something witty and potentially inappropriate "is there something we can do for you?"

Greyson went to say something but there was another knock and a timid glance around the door as Mack and Mattie came into the room as well. The Principal gestured them in with an encouraging smile "Mr Winters, Miss Armstrong," he beckoned the four teenagers closer to his desk "do you want to take a seat?" he smiled as they took him up on the offer.

"Sir…" Angela started, being the most forward of the group "if you don't mind-"

Greyson smiled again "there's nothing to be worried about Angela," he said gently "there's simply someone here to see you about the disappearance of your friends,"

As if on cue, Agent Quinn strolled into the room, he seemed slightly breathless as picked up the only remaining spare seat and put it next to the Principal's desk "hi guys," he said, trying to be friendly but not lose his FBI bravado at the same time.

"Agent Quinn," Mack said, frowning a little "what's going on?"

"I just need to ask you some questions about your friends… Seeley Booth and Temperance Brennan-"

"Why're the FBI involved?" Jack said, attempting to sound much more confident than he had the right to be "so they haven't turned up for school in a couple of days-"

Greyson's eyes narrowed "as far as I am aware Mr Hodgins, you and your friends happened upon a rather gruesome murder scene not to long ago. The FBI were called into that case and-"

Quinn cut him off. He didn't have time for explanations; the first twenty-four hours after a kidnapping were most important and they'd already wasted that time because the conclusion had been that it hadn't been a kidnapping, that they'd just run away but he wasn't taking any chances. "James and Diana Booth left for work at a quarter past eight Thursday morning, Temperance was to stay home sick and Seeley was to go to school. When the parents got home that night neither of them was there, further more there has been no contact, no note and no sight of either Seeley or Temperance since."

"So what do you need to know?" Mack asked, leaning forward in his seat, glancing at Jack pointedly as the other boy opened his mouth to say something that was more than likely crass or inappropriate.

"Have any of you been in contact with them since Thursday morning? Text messages, emails, phone calls…?"

Mack shook his head "I've had nothin'," he settled back in his seat "Mattie you had anything?"

Mattie shook her head "no sir," she addressed the FBI agent with a kind of meek duck of her head.

Jack folded his arms and shook his head "nope,"

There was a moment's silence "Miss Montenegro?" Principal Greyson prompted "what about you?"

Angela jumped out of her reverie, remembering the text she had gotten from Seeley two days ago 'we're fine, we'll be back soon. Don't worry. S. x' She should tell Agent Quinn and Principal Greyson that she had, she should tell them about the message but that could land her friends in a whole lot of trouble and as much as she knew what she should do, she couldn't. She may have only known Brennan a short while, but she'd known Seeley since Kindergarten and somehow she knew that neither one of them would have left without good reason. "I haven't either,"

"Are you sure?" Quinn pressed "because if you have… no one's going to get in trouble, but if something has happened to either of them then we need to know so we can make sure that their safe,"

Angela swallowed "I'm sure," she replied; she could lie, definitely, she was an artist, she was good at bending the truth. They were safe, she knew that, because if they weren't she'd know that too… she just had to hope that her phone wouldn't be taken away to be examined because it hadn't occurred to her to delete the messages yet.

"Yer've been here two days," Jeffrey announced over breakfast.

Seeley glanced at Temperance nervously, she sipped her glass of water and studied the woodland man with careful blue eyes.

"And?" she said, swallowing.

Jeffrey shrugged "don't get many visitors 'round 'ere,"

Temperance nodded and silence reigned for several long minutes until a chime notified them all that Seeley's phone had gone off.

"Sorry," he mumbled, pulling it out of his pocket and flicking it open.

'Where are you?! Quinn's been asking questions and I had to lie and say I hadn't had any messages!! When are you coming home?? Angela. x'

Tapping in the reply as quickly as possible as he caught sight of the flashing symbol in the corner of the screen Seeley replied; 'We're fine, thnx 4 covering 4 us. Be back asap – battery's dying, cant txt bk, don't hav charger. S. x' he hit send, muttering a mantra under his breath that the phone had enough power to send the text, sure enough the sign 'message delivered to Angela M. at 10.27AM' flickered on the display not two seconds before the screen went black.

"I'm out of charge," he told his foster-sister.

"Got a socket out back," Jeffrey said "ye can use it if yer want,"

Seeley shook his head "forgot my charger,"

Jeffrey shook his head and Temperance nodded dolefully, glancing over at her bag in the corner of the room where her own phone was stashed.

"So what're a couple high school kids like you doing all the way out here?"

Neither one of them answered.

"C'mon," the man almost wheedled "I've given yer food, water, a bed to sleep in the least ye can do is tell a man why yer ain't tucked up warm in yer own little houses worrying over finals and who to take to prom,"

Temperance and Seeley shared a look.

"I'm looking for my parents," she said suddenly.

"Well yer ain't gonna find 'em all the way out here love," Jeffrey chortled, pulling a cigar from his pocket and lighting it "yer better of goin' to them pretty boys in DC for that,"

Her eyes narrowed and the expression they forged must have been ominous because he back pedalled.

"Lookie little girl, I ain't meanin' no disrespect, alls I'm sayin' is maybes the FBI's got a better chance of finding 'em than you two do,"

"The FBI isn't trying hard enough," she countered.

She knew that sounded almost petulant but it was true; if they'd been trying then her parents would have been found by now but they weren't and so it was up to her to act out of character and do something rash because then maybe 'the pretty boys in DC' might just listen and do something about the fact two people had just disappeared into thin air, leaving her and her brother to fend for themselves.

Russ had gone west looking for work and that left her to be thrust into the cold hands of the American foster system and she'd be damned if she was jut going to sit back and play house with a family she knew nothing about and who knew nothing about her in return.

"So why out here then?" Jeffrey asked, pondering the thought, he was a rough man; he lived in the woods because society rejected him and he rejected society because of various refusals to conform to the norm and perform ridiculous niceties just to make the neighbours smile and pretend to give two shits whether you live or died.

He lived out here because it was quiet and he could do what he wanted when he wanted and there was no one around to turn up their nose or call the police because he had a shotgun in his woodshed, and another in his living room, one in the bedroom and a pistol in the bathroom cabinet. He was armed because everyone else was as well, he just had the decency to let everyone know that he had the weapon rather than pull it on some poor, unsuspecting old lady in the checkout line in the grocery store because she had a hundred dollars in her purse.

"The bodies that were found…" Temperance started, cutting Seeley off because he would either lie or say something stupid and even in the two days they'd been staying there, Jeffrey and Seeley had already come to loggerheads more than once "they could be my parents,"

Jeffrey nodded, taking a long puff of his cigar and absently blowing a hoop from pursed lips as he contemplated the thought "if there dead love, it ain't gonna do no good you staying out here,"

"I know that," she replied honestly "but if it's them I need to know,"

"Surely ye can just wait for the forensic report from the boys in black?"

She could but that would take too long, she needed to be proactive, to do something, maybe she could find Russ, let him know her suspicions, or maybe she could follow the trail and find out what happened to the couple, because if they weren't her parents it would be one hell of a coincidence, not to mention the person who had attacked them in the woods… it was all too big of a fluke for all these events to have some relation to one another.

"I need to try," she defended her reasoning, she hoped he didn't ask 'try what' and perhaps she'd said that out loud because Jeffrey said nothing more for a few minutes before he got to his feet, chair scraping on the floorboards as he gathered the plates and glasses together, heading off into the crook of a room he referred to as his kitchen.

"We need to get out of here," Seeley whispered sharply as soon as Jeffrey was out of earshot.

"Why?"

"Because sooner or later he's going to call the police and we'll be taken straight back home,"

She nearly pointed out that she didn't have a home but wisely came to the conclusion it wasn't worth the argument it would cause if she said it so she remained quiet.

"Look, he's a nice guy but we have to leave," he glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the 'kitchen' "is your stuff together?"

Temperance nodded.

"Okay," Seeley slipped from his seat and gestured for Temperance to follow, she picked up her bag as Seeley slung his over his shoulder and gently slid the bolt from the door, opening the creaking panel with as much finesse as possible, it made no noise and for that they were both grateful.

"Why can't we just tell him?"

Seeley didn't justify her question with an answer but couldn't help from exclaiming in an outraged whisper "what're you doing?" as she pulled a few notes from her pocket and dropped them on the table.

"He helped us," she replied hotly "we can't just leave without giving him something in return.

"I get the feeling he's not the kind of guy who pops down the store on a Saturday morning to get the groceries, now come on!" the earnest in his voice had Temperance hurrying to follow.

Seeley ushered her out of the door and visibly grimaced as the door thudded back into it's frame once they were both outside, he gestured down the path and she started, stumbling only once when twigs cracked and leaves rustled beneath their feet.

"Oi!"

They both jumped when they heard Jeffrey's gruff voice exclaim his surprise.

"Move!" Seeley grabbed hold of Temperance's bag and hauled her off the path, pushing through the bracken and underbrush as they moved as quickly as they could off the track; neither had any idea where they were headed but it was a safe bet from the inky black depths in front of them they were heading deeper into the forest.

Temperance yelped as her ankle twisted and she was sent careening down another embankment, the feeling of vague déjà vu washed over her before she rationalised that this wasn't the same bank as before and she managed to seize hold of a thick tree root as the embankment turned into a steep drop.

"Bones!" Seeley cried out, turning back and sliding down the bank with much more control than she had managed to muster.

The sound of something hitting rocks had Temperance turning her head to catch a glance of what was at the bottom of the precipice she was currently dangling over. She just caught sight of a metallic red object smashing into another rock before landing in the gurgling brook below; it didn't take a genius to figure out that her cell phone was now in multiple pieces, not to mention lost for good.

"Bones," Seeley hissed and she looked around, he was now lying on his stomach amongst the under growth, his arm straining as he reached for her "take my hand,"

The drop wasn't too severe but it was high enough that knew she would be lucky to survive the fall if she did let go, her feet were struggling to find purchase on the face of the crag she was pressed against. In a burst of trust she wasn't sure where came from she caught his fingers and nearly slipped when the moss and soil that had stuck to her palm when she had caught the tree root acted as a kind of lubricant and made it nigh on impossible to get a secure hold. Nevertheless Seeley caught her sleeve and somehow they managed to get her back onto the bank again.

"You okay?" he asked a little breathlessly from the exertion the 'rescue' had taken.

She nodded "thanks," she replied casually.

"What're you doing?" he murmured as she leant back over the edge, he through his hand across her chest to pull her back "are you insane?"

"My phone," she answered somewhat dejectedly.

"Shit," Seeley cursed, then "we need to go home,"

Temperance's eyes narrowed and she stood up "no," and with that she started climbing the bank again.

Seeley groaned, following her "are you insane? We've got no cell phone, barely any money, the cops are gonna be after us – if those remains did belong to your parents the FBI will tell us, there's no need for us to go running across town looking for something we're never gonna find,"

"Who said anything about town?" she said, heaving herself back onto even ground, and brushing herself off.

His eyes widened as he followed her example "do you have some sort of secret money stash I don't know about or something Bones? After what you left that Neanderthal we'll be lucky to get to Crossmore Avenue, never mind to the next city,"

"No one said you had to come," she snapped "you're welcome to go back to your parents if you want,"

The way she said 'your parents' was both a little patronizing and it made him feel guilty because he had that option and she didn't. She couldn't go to her parents because chances were they were dead and if they weren't they would be monumentally difficult to find.

"I go where you go Bones," he found himself sighing and it gave him an absurd burst of joy in his chest when she smiled a little at him "where too next?"

"I need a payphone," she said, labouring down the path with heavy feet.

"Who're you gonna call?" and well, if Ghostbusters came to his mind then, it wasn't his fault.

"My brother,"

His legs ached and his chest was burning by the time they emerged from the thicket of trees and the fact they had, had to both scale a fence and get off the Jones' land without being shot for trespassing did not help the pain that was gradually seeping through every vertebrae in his back.

"What change have you got?" Temperance asked as they stood outside the payphone, she was already digging through her pockets for her money and produced a few coins that amounted in total to about two dollars.

It didn't take much effort to sound put upon as he reached into his own pocket and produced an even smaller amount; he raised his eyebrows at her as she helped herself to the money and began slotting it into the machine as she dialled the number.

"Hello…"

"Russ!" the excitement on her face was impossible to miss "it's me, Temperance-"

"… You've reached Russ Brennan. I can't get to the phone right now so leave me a message and I'll get back to you,"

"Russ, it's Temperance, I'm in Philadelphia… that's not the point… some human remains have been found and…" she slotted more money in as the little display started flashing at her "they could be mom and dad, give me a call when you get this message on-" she covered the mouth piece "Booth, what's your number?"

"What's the point, the battery's dead?"

"We'll get a new phone and put your SIM in it – what's the number?"

"With what?" he exclaimed "thirty-four dollars and a stick of gum isn't gonna get us a new phone!"

"Booth!"

He sighed, pausing to think a moment , taking the handset from her and reciting the number into the mouth piece as Temperance slid the last of the change into the slot.

"That's my friend's cell phone number, call me when you get this message…" she trailed off, unsure of what to say next and she watched the display flicker down to 'three cents remaining', she quickly gabbled "bye," into the set before replacing it on the hook.

"What now?" Seeley said after a moment of silence.

Temperance just looked at him; because she had about as much idea as he did.

Author's Notes: As short – if not shorter – than last time, sorry but I hope this is okay :P please review if you liked it, don't if you didn't! :)