The Daughter in the Dangerous Case

By: DemonClowSorceress

Disclaimer: I don't own Bones, but God I wish I did. But that right belongs to Twentieth Century Fox, the creator Hart Hanson, and of course, Kathy Reichs.

Summery: Booth and Bones head out on a case, leaving their daughter behind with the Jeffersonian crew. But this case has far-reaching consequences....

Pairings: BrennanxBooth, and a surprise!

%%%%%%%%%%%%%~~~~~~~~%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan rolled her eyes as she picked a necklace that matched her blouse. "Of course not. We've discussed this repeatedly and my judgement still stands. You won't be coming with us."

"But Mom, you said I could come with you and Dad on your next case if I didn't have school." The fifteen-year-old girl stood with her thumbs hooking on her belt, adapting her father's stance. "I'm out for the next four days on Spring Break. You and Dad are heading to investigate a double homicide at Dulles International. If we're being logical, which I assume we are, then that means I am allowed to go with you based on your earlier promise."

Rather than contest the teenager's argument, the forensic anthropologist utilized another tactic that she found quite useful in such situations. She brought her husband into the fray. "Booth!"

"What, Bones?" he called, coming into the room. FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth glanced at his wife, then his daughter, and sighed. "Really, Temperance? You can't handle her by yourself so you bring me into the mix?"

His daughter whirled around. Booth faltered visibly when pale blue eyes - Bones's eyes - were unleashed on him. "Dad, you promised!" the girl begged, losing the logical tone she had taken with her mother. "You both did. Can't I come along? I'm bored out of my skull here!"

"Technically, you can't be bored out of - " Bones began before stopping herself. Booth took up the slack.

"Look kid, why don't you hang with Parker? I'm sure he'd love to hang out with you." The FBI agent grinned his charm smile. "And Jared's back with Padme; they haven't seen you in a while. Besides, you can go to the Jeffersonian and help us out with Cam and Angela and Hodgins and Sweets and - who's your intern of the week now?" he asked his wife. "Daisy? Wendell?"

But the teenager just groaned. "But you promised that I could come," she said again.

Booth now hooked his thumbs on his belt. Bones, watching the standoff, again noted how much of Booth was present in their daughter. While she had Temperance's blue eyes and build, her hair was her father's as was much of her face's bone structure. Many of Booth's mannerisms and instincts had also been passed onto the girl, while she had most definitely inherited her mother's intelligence.

"Joy Christine Booth," said her father sternly. "Your mother has already said you are not coming this time. I stand by her on this. You're staying home." His tone would allow no argument.

Joy dropped her arms to her sides, knowing a lost cause when she heard one. "Ok, Dad."

Seeley ruffled her hair. "Don't worry, Joy-Joy," he said, affectionately using the childish nickname. "You'll get your chance. Besides, fifteen-year-old girls should not see decaying corpses before their prom."

"Don't call me Joy-Joy!" Joy snapped, much like her mother had rejected the use of 'Bones' in the early stages of the partnership. "And why should I go to prom? It's an oppressive cultural aspect of society that forces teenagers to dress-up and dance in a public gathering in an attempt to conform."

Booth rolled his eyes. And this is why you're your mother's daughter. "Well, I'm sorry. But tough luck. You're not going with us."

Outside, Bones turned and hugged her daughter tightly. "Now remember to eat and go to bed on time," she said. "If you get lonely, you can bike over to the Jeffersonian and see Auntie Angela and Uncle Jack and Sweets and - "

"Be sure to have your phone on you at all times," Booth added, joining in the hug of mother and daughter to make it a family group hug. "We'll call a lot, okay?"

Joy sighed in her parents' embraces. She knew why they were being so clingy. Her mom's childhood had ended at Joy's age, and her dad had missed some of Parker's childhood and didn't want to miss hers. She understood - but it was still stuffy.

"I'll amuse myself," she announced. "After all, there's always something to do at the Jeffersonian, right?"

%%%%%%%%%%%%%~~~~~~~~%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Joy exhaled angrily when she arrived at the Jeffersonian Medico-Legal Lab, still annoyed at being left behind. Spying the face of the team's forensic artist, she waved. "Hey, Auntie Angela."

"Hey, little girl!" Angela Montenegro came over and hugged her goddaughter tightly. "How are you? I haven't seen you here in a while."

"Been busy," Joy shrugged. "Mom and Dad balked on taking me with them to the scene. I'm pissed."

"Hey, kiddo!" called Jack Hodgins from his station by the forensic platform. "What brings you around here?"

Joy walked over with Angela to her godfather. "Just visiting, Uncle Jack. Did my parents get to send anything from the scene yet?"

"Yeah," Hodgins said, typing on his computer. "Two bodies, decomposed and stuffed in suitcases in the lost baggage claim. Pretty horrific. They're bringing the bodies and what trace they retrieve back to the Jeffersonian."

"Speaking of which, I've gotta I.D. the gruesome piles of bones," Angela said, kissing Joy on the forehead. "Run along, little girl. Go wait in your mom's office and I'll come get you for lunch, okay?"

Joy nodded, and headed towards Bones's office. She slumped into the swiveling desk chair and boredly started poking through her mother's computer. It's not snooping, it's searching for alternative means of amusement, she rationalized in her head.

Her cell phone suddenly rang, the chorus of Foreigner's 'Hot-Blooded' that signaled her father was calling. Joy flipped the phone open to answer, "Booth."

"Hey kid, how you doing?"

"Bored out of my skull," she replied, finding the latest draft of the book that Temperance was writing. "How's the double coming along? Any suspects?"

"You little - you're at the Jeffersonian, aren't you?"

"Maybe." Exercising her right as beta reader, Joy began to read the newest adventures of her mother's alter-ego, Kathy Reichs. "Parker's got classes now, and Uncle Jared and Aunt Padme aren't at home."

"Well, what about that pal of yours? Kent?"

Joy glared at the screen. "Tyler Kent is not my friend, Dad. He's an annoyance that happens to live next door to us." A beep in her ear announced another call. "Got another call, Dad."

"I got it. We love you, kid."

"Love you too, Dad." She switched over. "Booth."

"Hey."

"Speak of the devil. What do you want, Kent?"

The voice sighed, a rush of static-y noise. "Jeez, a little sarcasm there, Squint?"

"Don't call me Squint!" she retorted hotly.

"But that's what you do. You lean in close and squint at everything."

She quickly opened her eyes as wide as she could, pulling back from the computer screen. "What do you want, Kent?"

"Thought you'd want to know, there are some people asking about you at the restaurant. Better not come in today."

"But my shift is today. And I was gonna bring Auntie Angela over for lunch." Now that she was paying attention, Joy could tell that Kent was keeping his voice low. "Kent, what's wrong?"

"Hang on." A sound like the mouthpiece of the phone was being covered was followed by a muffled shout. Then he came back. "Hey Squint, they're heading over to your house. They don't sound like they're selling something you want. Where are you?"

"The Jeffersonian Medico-Legal Lab." Joy wasn't new to the prospect of people trying to hurt her in an effort to get to her parents. Their work put criminals in prison. True, this was the first time anybody ever tried to do that kind of thing, but it wasn't as much as a shock it would have been to a normal teenager.

"I'll come pick you up. Be ready."

Joy hung up and quickly went into the lab area. Spying Dr. Sweets loafing around the platform and trying to engage Hodgins in conversation, she made her way over to the two men and said, "Hey, Kent's picking me up in a few minutes. Can you tell Auntie Angela that we're gonna have to reschedule lunch?"

Sweets frowned at her, obviously seeing something through his psychology-wired eyes, but Hodgins shrugged. "Sure kiddo, will do." He then turned back to his microscope, which was feeding a pretty wild picture onto his computer. "By the way, your mom called. She wants you to call them at this number before you go to bed tonight." He handed Joy a piece of paper with a phone number scrawled on it. Joy scanned the numbers: 3-236-665-6838

Joy didn't recognize the number, but she knew something was wrong right away. The number wasn't the hotel number she had for her parents.

She heard the pneumatic doors open again. A quick glance back showed that the arrivals were five men in black suits. They walked like Feds, but something about them was wrong. One was a burly bald guy, while another man had what looked like a gang tattoo on his beefy neck. They practically radiated trouble.

And the center man quickly zeroed on Joy.

Joy slipped into the coroner's office, interrupting Dr. Cam Saroyan while she was examining a brain in a pan. "Joy?"

"Auntie Cam, I can't talk right now," Joy quickly said, heading towards the back door. "You've got people out front who you should distract now. I gotta go out the back."

The former New York cop stripped off her gloves and quickly moved to intercept the suits. Joy continued towards the back door. She slipped out just as she heard Cam's voice cry out, "Excuse me, who the hell are you?"

Joy heard gunshots, people screaming, and Hodgins' yelling at Angela to duck. Yanking the door open, she poured all her considerable ability at sprinting into racing across the Jeffersonian's lawn. She heard words in an unfamiliar language being yelled behind her, which only increased her pace.

Kent's dark blue Corvette C6 Z51 pulled up to the curb as she hit the sidewalk. The passenger door opened barely before he pulled to a complete halt, letting Joy jump inside. "Go, go, go!" she yelled, seeing a black SUV screech around the corner. Kent floored the accelerator and peeled out as the SUV picked up the men chasing Joy and pursued them.

To his credit, Kent didn't question the sudden high-speed chase through D.C.'s streets until they lost their tail. Then he pulled into the auto repair shop owned by his older brother and killed the engine. "Okay Squint, spill it. What the hell was that?"

She shrugged, surprised how her rush of adrenaline was making her calmer rather than hysterical. "Um, probably has something to do with my parents' new case. A group of suits paid a visit to the Jeffersonian just now. Uncle Jack gave me a number to contact my mom, but it's not the number of either of their cell numbers."

The teenage boy rolled his eyes. "Oh, c'mon. That's what you think?" He stretched his arms to rest on the steering wheel, revealing the edge of the Chinese dragon tattoo that curled around his wrist under his long-sleeved shirt. "Get real, Squint. You've been reading your mom's books too much."

"Don't call me Squint! This is serious!" Joy snapped at him. "You saw the gorillas chasing me, and we were just in an action movie-esque car chase. Look, call me crazy, but I think Mom and Dad are in trouble."

Kent sighed. "And you got this from a pack of suited gorillas and a wrong number? It's a long shot, Booth."

"They didn't call when they reached the scene," Joy said suddenly, staring at the dashboard. "They always call, Kent. No matter where they are, no matter what. They always call so I'll know they're okay." Her hands made fists on the black upholstery. There was a peculiar prickling sensation in her eyes, like hot wet needles. Oh jeez, I'm gonna cry, she realized. But this is Kent's car. I can't cry, I'll ruin the upholstery and he'll make fun of me and -

"Hey, hey, hey," Kent said, leaning forward to put his hands on her shoulders. "Squint, get a hold of yourself. I'm sorry, okay? I didn't think - hey, it'll be okay, I promise." He tipped her head up to meet his eyes. "Keep your head. We're gonna need it to find out what's happened."

He's right, Joy thought. She blinked several times to dry her tears as Kent's older brother George came over, wiping oil off his hands with a rag. "Hey, Joy. What's my midget brother done wrong now?"

Kent quickly took his hands off Joy and slanted a glare at his brother. "Hey, a little trust please? You make me sound like a cheating boyfriend." He spied the small TV on the worktable. "Hey, what's that about?"

George turned around. "That? Wild thing. There's this group of wackjobs holding a bunch of people hostage at Dulles International. They want a plane out of the country before noon tomorrow. They've already shot a hostage to show that they're serious."

"Kent," Joy whispered, sounding horrified by what the screen was showing. He turned and saw her pale blue eyes wide in terror. "My parents are at Dulles."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%~~~~~~~~%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Booth had to admit, his Temperance was one cool cucumber. Even though they were being held hostage, along with an Air Marshal and the passengers of International Flight 2389, she was studiously trying to determine cause of death for the two gooey piles of human remains from the baggage claim. Even with men aiming guns at everyone and anything that hiccuped, she continued to do what she did best - learn the identity of the unknown dead.

The FBI agent flicked his eyes back over to the head honcho. Edward Fallo, CEO of one of the most powerful corporations in the world, also allegedly tied to several criminal syndicates, was conversing to a mercenary known to Booth only as, "The Negotiator." He was familiar with the man's track record - skillful hostage negotiation for what he wanted. Interpol had placed him in Turkey, but apparently they needed to update their dossier.

"Booth." Hearing Bones' call, he casually sauntered over to his partner. "Look here." She pointed to the hole in the skull of the first John Doe. "Sharp force trauma. He was killed by some kind of instrument that punctured his skull through the parietal bone."

"Look Bones, I don't want these guys knowing that we're married," Booth murmured to her. "They could use that against us."

"That's why I brought my old identification that has my maiden name on it," Temperance replied, not taking her gaze from the skull in her hands. "This isn't my first time being held against my will." Her voice dropped even lower so that the passing goons wouldn't hear her. "Did they let you call Joy?"

He shook his head. "Yeah. She's at the Jeffersonian." Then his eyes widened. "Oh, God. That call was on speaker. They know where she is."

A tremor rattled through Bones. Her breathing grew hitched and panicky. "Seeley, they're going to - "

"Is something the matter?" Husband and wife looked up to see Edward Fallo staring down on them, his cold steel eyes bearing on them smugly. His gaze was mostly centered on Bones, giving Booth a very uncomfortable feeling in his gut. "I thought this was a simple matter of identification. What seems to be hampering your progress?"

"Perhaps the fact that you won't let us leave," Bones said bluntly, concealing her emotions the only way she knew how - by hyper-rationally doing her job. "I need the equipment at the Jeffersonian, not to mention the expertise of my associates to even begin identifying - "

"Sir?" The Negotiator drew Fallo away from Brennan with some difficulty. Before they pulled away completely, Booth managed to hear him mutter, "They're at the lab. One girl got out the back way and escaped into a navy Corvette....."

Joy got out, he sighed, relieved. Nothing scared Seeley Booth more than the thought of his daughter in the clutches of these types of men. That nightmare ranked right up there with someone threatening his wife (which had happened too many times to count) and his son.

Then Booth noticed that the passengers were being ushered into another room along with the Air Marshal. For one horrible moment he thought they were going to be slaughtered, but the thugs merely locked the door and left four guys as guards. The other six took positions around Booth, Brennan, and the two suitcases.

Fallo cleared his throat to get the pair's attention. "It appears that we will be relocating," he said, taking out a cigarette. "Dr. Brennan, would you please step away from the remains while my men carry them to our cars."

"What's going on?" Booth asked, subtly putting himself between Bones and any guns pointed at her.

Their captor smiled patiently. "She said so herself, Agent Booth. She needs her associates and equipment at the Jeffersonian. So off we shall go."

Is there no end to this man's insanity? Temperance thought, watching her remains being zipped again and transported gingerly towards the garage. "This place is surrounded by the FBI. There's no way you're getting out of here," she said, pointing in the direction of the blockade and whatever units of cavalry were undoubtedly waiting outside.

The Negotiator now spoke. "We will be leaving here. You and Agent Booth will clear us." Booth's sidearm made a reappearance in the Negotiator's hand, pointing right at Brennan's forehead. "Unless you want to find and train another forensic anthropologist, Agent Booth."

Dammit, Booth cursed, knowing when he couldn't win. "All right. Tell me what you want me to do."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%~~~~~~~~%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Joy drank another glass of ginger ale, trying to calm her twisting stomach. Kent watched her carefully, his bright green eyes darting from her to the television to his brother. "Greg, are you sure?" he asked.

The elder Kent nodded. "Would I lie to you? Dulles is on lock-down. No way are you getting anywhere near there until they clear the area. Best stick around here, especially if there are shady folk looking for Joy."

Joy put the glass back down again. The events of the day were beginning to rush over her again, making her light-headed and dizzy. In an effort to balance herself, she stretched out on the battered couch. But she had to sit up again when her cell phone jabbed her side uncomfortably. "Crap," she muttered angrily, pulling the offensive object out.

Then she saw the piece of paper given to her by Hodgins earlier that day. The paper which had an unfamiliar number on it, along with a message from her mother to call before she went to sleep. She stared at the number, her mind working quickly as the numbers cycled through her brain in a series of combinations.

"What is it?" Kent asked, sitting beside her. "A phone number?"

"We need to go to my uncle," she said suddenly, jumping up. "Kent, we need to go now."

Greg watched his little brother jump up and run to start his car. "Your uncle can help you? Who is he?"

Joy refolded the paper and tucked it into her pocket. "Dr. Zackary Addy, my mother's former assistant. Serving his sentance at a mental asylum, judged non compos mentis in his involvement in a serial murder case."

When they reached the institution, Joy requested an immediate visit with Zack. In record time she was sitting across from the King of the Loony-Bin, holding out the phone number after having explained the situation.

"I don't know why you are coming to me with something like this, Joy," he said. He looked back and forth from Joy, sitting across from him and leaning foward with her hands folded in front of her, to Kent leaning against the wall behind her with his arms crossed over his chest. The former graduate student couldn't help but see the resemblance between these two and the pair of Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth.

"Uncle Zack, you're really good with numbers," Joy said plainly. "Maybe you can figure something out that I can't see."

Kent watched as the man took the phone number from Joy with gloved hands. Of course he'd heard of Gormogon, the cannibalistic serial killer who had murdered people to create a skeleton and cooked his victims' flesh. He also knew that Dr. Addy was the apprentice who allowed the FBI to catch the aforementioned serial killer. Kent felt that he could get a firm read on people from his first impression of them, and his first impression of Dr. Addy was that he was not a killer, but a duped accomplice.

His musings were interrupted by Zack's voice. "This number is a sequence that is irregularly spaced. There was a case we had where the number found on the victim was not a phone number - " He stopped himself. "Sorry, rambling. Anyways, this number - 3-236-665-6838 - is not a phone number. It could be a combination for a lock, or maybe a series of locations you must go in order to end up somewhere."

Joy touched her lips in thought. "Mom left me this number. She knows I'm not very good with numbers......all the memory tests she taught me failed when I tried applying numbers to them......"

Kent peered over her shoulder. "Um, not to be rude, but we really ought to think more about getting you someplace safe, Squint."

"Kent, my mom got this number to me for a reason!" Joy snapped hotly.

"Yeah, well, it looks like nonsense to me!" He yanked out his cell phone, making the touch screen keypad glow. He was about to call his brother when Joy's hand clamped on his wrist. "Whoa Squint, personal space much?"

"Kent, your phone!" she exclaimed. "Texting! Numbers correspond to letters when you text! Mom must've left me this number to tell me something."

Zack then spoke up. "Actually, this number is the backup key code that will allow you access into any section of the Jeffersonian."

Joy made a fist around the paper, crumpling it. "Okay then. We're going back to the Jeffersonian. Thanks, Uncle Zack." Giving Zack a hug, she went to the door and slid her visitor's badge into the card slot. The guard came to escort her and Kent outside, where they got back into Kent's car and hit the streets again.

With a pencil and her cell phone's keypad, Joy managed to decipher the numerical sequence into a series of letters. Then she spaced them and changed letters to form a coherent sentance: Mom-Dad-Love-U. Puzzled, she read it aloud. "Mom Dad Love U?"

"Make any sense?" Kent asked, checking his mirrors in case more black SUVs decided to Tokyo Drift in around them.

Joy shook her head. "No. Mom's not one for sentimentality. That's Dad's thing. Mom is all about facts."

"Well, it's a fact that they love you, right?" Her next door neighbor shrugged. "I mean, it is, right?"

"I think I was overthinking about the literal meaning and Uncle Zack was right - it's the backup key code to get back into the Jeffersonian." Joy slumped and rested her forehead against the cool glass of the window, letting the scenery blur past her eyes. She was almost lulled into a light sleep when Kent suddenly grabbed her shoulder and shoved her down towards the floor. "OW! Kent!"

"Get down!" he growled, eyes staring out her window. "Stay down."

"What is it?"

Both his hands went back on the steering wheel, relaxed to the casual observer. But Joy could see the tension. "It's your dad. He's giving me the death glare of don't-you-dare."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%~~~~~~~~%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Booth drove as casually as possible, trying to ignore the fact that the Negotiator had a gun to Temperance's head. "By now the FBI knows you're no longer in Dulles," he growled over his shoulder. "They'll realize that you snuck out in the Jeffersonian truck."

"By then we'll be within the Jeffersonian Medico-Legal Lab," Fallo said leisurely, stretching his arms. "Which, by the way, has already been taken over by my men. Remember, Agent Booth, that I have at my disposal the best small band of mercenaries that money can hire. Not to mention a lab full of hostages." He waved dismissively. "Now drive. Obey the laws of traffic and courtesy. If my associate should see you signalling to any law enforcement we encounter, he will put a metal slug inside your partner's pretty brainpan."

A quick look at the Negotiator's unchanging expression cemented these words, so Booth continued to drive. His heart was pounding against his ribcage like an alligator in a too-small cage. Behind them was the coronor's van, loaded with the remains and evidence, and commandeered by Fallo's goon squad. Nobody had argued when they had left as the SWAT teams moved in to secure Dulles International; on the contrary, the SUV and van had been cleared at all checkpoints with just a wave. Nobody had any inkling that Edward Fallow had just slipped out from under their noses.

A car horn blared from Booth's left. His head whipped around to glare at the offending driver. What he saw was shocking - Tyler Kent's navy Corvette keeping abreast of the black SUV, its teenaged owner staring at Booth in what seemed to be disbelief. Booth tried to be very casual and gave the boy his patented death glare. Kent's frown grew more pronounced, his eyes flicking from Booth to Kent's empty passenger seat. The FBI agent saw Kent's mouth move, lip-reading to see him say, "It's your dad. He's giving me the death glare of don't-you-dare."

Oh my god, Joy's with him. Booth wasn't sure whether to be relieved or pissed off. He didn't like the teenage boy very much, but then again, he didn't like many of the teenage boys that came anywhere near his baby girl.

"Agent Booth? Would you please make the turn?" Fallo's patient drawl drew Booth's attention back to the road. Tearing his eyes from Kent's car, he made the turn that would take them to the Jeffersonian.

Temperance noted her husband's sudden relaxed state. From that she could infer only two options - one, he had come up with a plan, or two, something had just happened that was making his plan easier. Either one was very good, since Booth being tense had the unfortunate side effect of making her tense as well. Looking out the window, Brennan tried to put the thought of the gun barrel resting at the base of her skull out of her mind and focused on something else.

Her daughter.......she hoped that Hodgins had gotten the number to Joy. Not only was it the key code access override to the Jeffersonian, but it was also the sequence needed to activate the biohazard alarms remotely. If Joy was anything like her mother (and Bones prided herself on thinking that she was) then she'd quickly identify the signifigance of the numbers.

They pulled into the Jeffersonian Medico-Legal Lab's loading dock, where Fallo's men unloaded the bodies and evidence bags. Fallo led the procession of men and hostages into the lab, where Temperance saw her friends and coworkers being held in a huddled mass in the lounge above the forensics platform. Angela stared helplessly at her best friend, looking like an abused girlfriend with a black eye and a puffy lower lip. Hodgins held her close, his face swollen and cut up in numerous places.

"I thought I said no damaging the help," Fallo said in a deceptively calm voice to the one in charge.

The big man shrugged. "They tried to escape. The man wouldn't let anything happen to the woman."

Chivalry is not dead, Temperance thought. Thank you, Jack.

An almost inaudible beep caught the edge of the anthropologist's hearing range. She didn't turn towards the sound, recognizing it almost immediately. It was the sound of an override code being accepted by the Jeffersonian mainframe.

"Sir!" squawked a walkie-talkie attached to one of the men's belts. "Sir! I'm spotting someone sneaking around the storage area. Looks like two intruders."

The Negotiator took the walkie and pressed the 'talk' button. "Locate and contain," he ordered. "If they're teches, bring them back here. If not......" A small grin came to his swarthy face. "Well, use your imagination."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%~~~~~~~~%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Kent whispered, following Joy as she led the way through a press of half-unpacked cartons and rows of Egyptian sarcophagi. "You said it wasn't far past the statue of Anubis."

"Do you know how many statues of Anubis the Jeffersonian has in storage?" Joy hissed, squeezing past a reconstructed chariot with some difficulty. "Kent, we need to get to Limbo." At his puzzled expression she explained, "Bone storage. There's no cameras in there so we can hide out and make more plans."

"What plans?" he said, following her lead through the bowels of the Jeffersonian. "Calling the cops sounds like a good plan to me."

Joy drew up short, making Kent run into her. "Because, if the cops show up, that Fallo guy will start shooting people," she said, turning to glare up at Kent. "I'm not going to risk my parents and my godparents and innocent people just because you think we need law enforcement."

"Okay then, what's your - " The sound of an opening door made both teens drop behind the chariot. Kent peeked around the side and saw three beefy men in black split up from the stairway. He turned to warn Joy, but she had already crawled off someplace. Silently cursing the headstrong girl, Kent looked around for something to use as a weapon.

Joy crept towards the row of ceremonial swords, ducking behind crates of artifacts to avoid detection. Her goal was to get to the stairs, but unfortunately one man was blocking them. She tried to backtrack, but her foot caught on the edge of a bracket of spears and sent the whole thing falling, alerting the men to her location.

Dammit! Joy quickly grabbed a spear and faced off with one man, using the handle as a staff to attack from a distance; thankfully her mother had insisted on Joy learning at least two forms of martial arts and self-defense. In minutes she managed to subdue and incapacitate her opponent, knocking him unconscious for good measure. Borrowing some twine, Joy tied the man's hands and ankles behind his back. She heard a couple shouts and bellows from a little ways off and hoped that Kent was doing all right.

Just as she thought that, the boy came around the crate, holding a gun holster in his hands. "Well, looks like you're doing okay," he noted, checking the mercenary's firearm with a methodical eye. "Pull that guy's gun, Squint."

"I'm not an idiot, Kent," Joy replied, pulling out her captive's weapon. A revolver, and once she checked the barrel, with two spent casings out of six shots. She patted down his pockets and found more bullets. Pocketing them, she got up and brushed off her pants of sawdust.

"Okay, so where's this place you need to get to?" Kent asked, taking her weapon.

Joy tried to remember something her godfather had told her a while back. "There's a way from here up to the lab without getting on any security cameras. Something about a ladder in storage........I got it!" Being extremely careful not to be seen by the third goon, Joy and Kent headed towards the secret passage where, years ago, Joy's father and Sweets had snuck down to retrieve the replica rifle to test the theory of the Kennedy assassination.*

Of course, getting to the passage was half the problem solved. They then had to creep along at a very slow pace in cramped quarters (i.e. ventilation shafts) until they reached Limbo. Inputing her all-access key code, Joy pulled Kent into the stark and cold place housing all the unidentified skeletal remains that the Jeffersonian had. He visibly shuddered at all the John and Jane Does in transclucent plastic cubbies lining the shelves. "Creepy."

"My grandmother's remains were in here until Mom identified them," Joy said, pulling up a chair for herself and Kent. "I used to pretend that they talked."

"Your grandma's remains?"

"No.......the rest of them." Joy blushed as she shared this private childhood fantasy of hers. "Mom used to tell me how she used to find truth in bones, how she could look and listen and they would tell her things - where they lived, how they died, and sometimes even who killed them. So I'd come down here when she was super-busy and pretend that the bones talked to me. I'd pretend I was a bone-gatherer, which is Mom's best career description."**

Kent grinned. "Well then, Bone-Gatherer Squint, what's the plan?"

Joy pulled herself over to a desk and accessed the Jeffersonian blueprints. "We're here in bone storage," she said, pointing. "We need to somehow get to the security office here, in the lab area." She pointed to another place. "Between us and that is a bunch of guys with guns holding my parents and friends hostage."

"Oh, is that it?"

Joy opened her cell phone and selected a number from her speed-dial. "Get ready to ninja," she said as the ringing began.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%~~~~~~~~%%%%%%%%%%%%%

The phone ringing on the forensics platform startled everybody. Fallo jumped a bit before composing himself. "Dr. Brennan, please answer it."

Temperance considered refusing, but she didn't want to risk it. So she reached over and picked up the phone. "Brennan."

"Mom, before he goes on speaker listen to me. I'm in Limbo and Kent's with me. Don't worry, we're okay."

"On speaker, if you please," Fallo demanded, pushing the button. Temperance put the phone back on the cradle, her heart pounding with equal parts relief and disbelief. Joy was in the Jeffersonian, but not captured? Kent was here as well? Clearly Booth had not been telling her something.

"May I ask who this is?" Fallo asked.

Temperance almost didn't recognize her daughter's voice when it rang authoritatively from the speaker. "This is Special Agent Keenan with the FBI."The adults who knew Joy blinked; the usage of Temperance's old name got all their attentions. "I'm to negotiate the release of Doctors Brennan, Saroyan, Hodgins, and Sweets as well as Miss Montenegro and Special Agent Seeley Booth. To whom am I speaking?"

"My name is Edward Fallo," the man responded. "And there is no negotiation. I've already made my demands."

"That was at Dulles International, Mister Fallo. You've changed locations, so we have to re-negotiate according to FBI protocols." She sounded almost like Caroline, Temperance realized. Clearly the prosecuter had been rubbing off on Joy. "Now, what can I do to make sure you don't harm those squints?"

"Squints?" Fallo repeated.

Joy's rigid tone loosened just a tad. "Yeah, you know, squints - they squint at things." Her crack at levity was met with sniggers from the mercenaries. Even the Negotiator's lips twitched in a half-smile that quickly disappeared. "So, your requests, gentlemen?"

The Negotiator took over. "Our demands remain the same - a plane and pilot ready to depart by noon tomorrow. We'll release the hostages once we're sure we are not being followed by any law enforcement. We'll reopen communication lines at dawn." With that, he cut the line.

Booth was listening to the line - he knew Joy's voice anywhere - when his sniper-trained eyes saw a slight movement in the security office. It wasn't either of the two guys the Negotiator had been stationed there. No, this person was smaller, leaner - and had dark auburn hair.

Kent, Booth thought, catching a glimpse of the teenager's face as he turned to face the security monitors. Meaning Joy has to be here. But where? He quickly looked away from the security booth so the mercenaries wouldn't catch him staring, instead watching Bones and her squints hard at work on the human remains.

"Victim number one is male, between twenty-five to thirty years of age, Caucasian," the forensic anthropologist rattled off, staring at the mass of bones, clothes, and decomposed goo like they were the most fascinating things in the room. "He was shot execution-style in the forehead."

"X-rays confirm that the bullet was a 9mm," Cam said calmly. Her eyes, like Brennan's, were glued to the remains.

"The second victim showed signs of being poisoned," Hodgins said. Unlike his two associates, his eyes kept flicking from gun to gun, clearly scared. "Long-term. Arsenic would've made the fingernails develop horizontal lines, not that they're visible now."

Sweets stood beside Booth, likewise useless in the field of forensic discovery. "Booth, I have an observation," he murmured in a low voice.

"What is it, Sweets?"

The psychologist rolled his neck casually. "Well, I saw Joy before the men in suits came to the Jeffersonian. She was - impatient. Like she knew something was about to happen."

Booth blinked. "When was this?"

"About.......I dunno, eleven, twelve this afternoon?"

Just after I called her, Booth thought. When Kent called her. Which meant..... "They know."

Sweets looked confused. "What?"

"They know about Joy. They know Bones and I are married." It all made sense. The only reason Joy would book it out of the Jeffersonian that fast after talking to Kent was if the mercenaries had checked the restaraunt where Joy worked. Which meant this had been planned in advance. Which meant..... "This is a set-up."

"What do you mean?"

"The hostages at Dulles were a diversion," Booth said. "We're the real hostages. They're ransoming the Jeffersonian."

Sweets swallowed, hard. "What do we do?"

"Nothing." The FBI ex-sniper smirked a little when he saw Kent slipping back into the hallway, undoubtedly heading back to his base of operations. "Bones got a number to Joy. That girl practically grew up in this place. I'd bet anything that they've already got a plan of attack. So....we wait."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%~~~~~~~~%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Joy smiled when the security feed came online in Limbo. "Sweetness. Two down, a dozen to go." She touched her headset. "Kent, comeback?"

"Yeah Squint, what's up?"

"Where are you?"

"Heading back to Limbo. Why?"

She grimaced. "I need another favor."

"What?" Thankfully he didn't question it.

"An honest guess. What do you think of pulling tricks on them at night?"

Silence. Then came his sigh. "You're an evil and devious little Squint, aren't you?"

Joy smiled sweetly even though he couldn't see her. "Oh, you have no idea. All right, now take a left down to the Archeology Department......."

As the sun set, Joy directed her partner through the myraid passages of the Jeffersonian Institute. Keeping an eye on Fallo's men and on her parents, she made Kent set up machinery, cross wires and redirect power relays, and input codes into the servers that ultimately let every aspect of the Institute's technology unite under her keyboard. Thankfully Cam had kept many of the experiments that Hodgins and Zack had created over the course of several cases in storage. Joy knew that Kent had been a former chop-shop boy, so she trusted his mechanic-savvy ways in manipulating the machines.

It was late when he whispered through the mike, "Okay, Booth. Give 'em hell."

Joy typed in the master override code and smirked. One by one the breakers tripped, turning off lights in the lab in succession. She made sure, however, to leave power on the forensic platform to allow her mother and associates to continue their work.

As planned, the mercenaries jumped at the sudden loss of light. Fallo even swore loudly before regaining his composure and demanding the area swept for intruders.

"You're the intruders here," she whispered, watching a couple mercenaries heading out and down towards Paleontology. "You invaded my home and took my family hostage. So now, you're gonna pay." Her eyes flicked to the Paleontology cameras, watching the group of four men enter the area cautiously. An angry smirk brought the corner of her mouth twitching up. "Kent, Paleontology area. Four of them."

"Roger," he breathed.

She saw a shadow - just a shadow - before the pneumatic doors hissed shut, sealing the mercenaries in. They quickly brought their weapons to bear, retreating back to the door to try and bust out. But Joy knew they would ultimately fail. Not only because the doors were made of bulletproof glass and reinforced, but because their retreat caused a tripwire to be activated, dropping the load of dinosaur bones atop the mercenaries. They couldn't get away before being trapped beneath the bones.

"Threat neutralized," Kent said in a very dark, very serious voice. For some reason, Joy could imagine him grinning like a Cheshire Cat. "What's next?"

Joy saw more men poking around the vault. She also saw Kent walking down that hallway. "Lock the vault door. The third door on your left."

In two minutes the bank vault door was swinging shut, trapping the men inside. The smile on Joy's face grew even larger. "Excellent. That makes six gone. I believe that there are only three left guarding my parents and the rest of the team."

"Five guys, plus that Negotiator head guy, and Fallo. All toting guns," Kent clarified. "Okay then. No problem."

Then there came a sharp snap at the doors of Limbo. Joy whirled around and saw shadowy forms squirming behind the frosted glass. "Dammit!"

"Booth, what is it?" Kent yelled in the headset. "Booth, answer me!"

"Someone's at the door!" Joy said, hurriedly shutting off the computer and grabbing her cell phone. She ripped off the headset and held her phone to her ear as she dove under the shelves of bones. "Shut up and stay hidden. Don't come to help."

"Are you crazy? Your dad would kill me five ways from yesterday, and your mom would reassemble my bones. Then they'd lock my remains away in Limbo."

Joy sighed. "You're over-exaggerating, Kent. Get a grip." The doors were forced open and her voice dropped to whisper volume. "Shh. They're in the room."

"Stay where you are. I'm coming to get you." Joy rolled her eyes. "Don't roll your eyes, moron. I'm not leaving you alone with those jackasses, Joy."

The young Booth froze, her eyes wide. She could count on one hand how many times Kent had called her by her first name. He must've been really concerned.

The thud-thud-thud of combat boots on linoleum jarred her from her thoughts. Shrinking under the shelving, Joy held her breath. Two pairs of boots stomped past her hiding place towards the console. There was some hushed words, then the boots split to check the rest of bone storage. Joy could hear Kent's labored breathing over his running steps, and she sent a silent prayer that he'd be safe and not get caught -

"Hello, dearie."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%~~~~~~~~%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Booth felt his heart stop in his chest when the Negotiator came back dragging Joy by her hair. Then the muscle began beating overtime when the ex-sniper began contemplating how to murder Tyler Kent for daring to leave his baby girl.

The Negotiator threw Joy towards Booth with a smirk. "Your daughter's very hard to find, Agent Booth," he said. "You had better teach her how to behave during dangerous situations."

Booth quickly checked his daughter for injuries. Aside from a bruise on her cheek and tears from having her hair yanked, she was relatively unharmed. Her blue eyes were bright and relieved to see him. "Hey Dad, how's it going?" she quipped.

"What have you been up to?"

She shrugged, the picture of her mother. "Not much. This and that. Kicked a guy's ass."

"She's quite the little hellion when cornered," the Negotiator remarked. "She incapacitated my man."

Pride was predominant in Temperance's smile when she heard that, but she fought to control her expression when Fallo came over to observe her progress. "Well Dr. Brennan? What are your findings?"

She swallowed. "The second victim was definitely poisoned by arsenic. It was a lethal dose; her poisoning was gradual, but then someone must've gotten impatient."

Fallo wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "She was murdered?" Bones nodded, carefully watching his gun arm. "She was murdered........" Fallo repeated, swallowing hard. "Murdered........murdered......."

Then, without warning, he leveled his gun at Temperance. "No, that is unacceptable," he announced amid squeals from Anqela and shouts from Hodgins and Sweets. Booth quickly pushed Joy behind his wide back protectively. "Your findings must be incorrect, Dr. Brennan."

"I'm one of the best forensic anthropologists in the world," Temperance said, retaining her trademark calm even with the muzzle of a gun pressing against her temple.

"Then I'll just get a second opinion."

Her face unconsciously sported a smirk of 'Oh, yeah?' sarcasm. "The next nearest forensic anthropologist is in Montreal. Parlez-vous français?" She even threw the sarcasm into the French.***

The cold gun metal pressed even harder against her head. "I will shoot you," Fallo promised, tilting his head as his eyes darted around crazily. "Don't tempt me."

Booth attempted to calm the madman down. "Just point the gun away from the Doc, Fallo," he said, chancing a step forward. When no guns leveled at him, he took another and stopped. "She's the best. If she says murder, it was murder. Don't shoot the messanger."

"Calm down, Fallo," the Negotiator said as well, crossing his arms. "So what if the woman died?"

The corporate CEO cocked his weapon. "It means I no longer have any use for you." And he swung his weapon around to level at Booth. Reflex made Booth's arms cross in front of his heart and squeeze his eyes shut.

Two shots rang out. Angela screamed. But Booth felt no pain. When he opened his eyes, he only had a fraction of a second to catch the person falling into his arms. "Bones!?"

Temperance winced, clutching her shoulder tightly. A flower of red blossomed beneath her palm, staining the fabric of her blouse. "Seeley.......is Joy all right?"

"Of course she is Temperance, goddammit," he breathed, quickly sacrificing his tie to make a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. "What have I told you about taking hits meant for me?"

"To never do it again," Temperance recited, groaning in pain with a weak grin on her face. "Sorry, Seeley. Old habits, I guess."

Booth then remembered the second shot. A quick glance over his wife's body revealed no other injuries, so he looked around. The Negotiator lay on the floor, face-up, dead in a growing puddle of blood emanating from the hole through his heart.

"Fan-f*cking-tastic." Both parents looked back as their teenage daughter stalked in front of them. Joy had tied her dark hair up in a high ponytail and was giving Fallo an icy glare every bit as penetrating as Temperance's and just as menacing as Booth's. "Congratulations, jack-hole. You've successfully screwed yourself over."

Faster than thought Fallo brought his gun to bear on Joy. "Shut up, brat."

"Reality check - you've shot an FBI agent's partner," Joy said defiantly. "You really think you're still in control now?" She sidestepped, grapevine-walking to the left to draw his line of fire away from her parents and the others. "Get real. You're slipping and you know it."

"The FBI negotiator - "

Joy laughed loudly. "Did you not hear your dead friend? Communications won't be reopened until dawn. By then, you'll be finished." She put her hands on her hips in a very Seeley Booth-like stance. "Face it, Fallo. You're finished."

Fallo's eyes grew even more wild as he took a single step towards Joy. His gun came up again to aim straight at her stomach. "You know, being gut-shot is a horrible way to die, I've heard," he said. His thumb came up to cock the gun. "Very painful. And slow. You'll be able to see your parents' faces as you leave this world."

The young Booth tilted her head, gazing her piercing gaze at Fallo. "Like you wish your daughter could have seen you before she died?"

That threw everyone present. Fallo blinked, sanity edging back into his eyes. "What?"

"Your daughter," Joy repeated, pointing to the set of female remains. "That's her, right? It's the only explanation why you'd take the Jeffersonian hostage rather than remain at the airport. You wanted to be sure." She nodded. "You wanted to know if your daughter really died in that suitcase......if she was really dumped there and forgotten."

Those words had a drastic effect on Fallo. Giving a wordless roar of pain, he sank to his knees and collapsed next to the exam table, sobbing beside the remains of his daughter. Joy stared at him without expression as she took the handcuffs confiscated from her father out of the Negotiator's pocket, ready to cuff the man. She kicked the gun off the forensic platform, sending it skidding right to Kent's feet as he entered the lab. He scooped up the weapon as Joy handcuffed Fallo's hands behind his back.

"The FBI are on their way," Kent announced to everyone, handing the weapons he held over to Booth. "I called for an ambulance for you too, Doc. They should be here in minutes."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%~~~~~~~~%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Three days later, Spring Break ended. Kent went searching for Joy and found her in the nearby park, swinging absently on the swingset and staring at the children playing with their parents. He took the swing beside her and rocked back and forth in time with her.

It was another fifteen minutes before she spoke. "You heard?"

Kent nodded. "Yeah. Fallo committed suicide in lockup." His green eyes looked over to her. "Don't tell me you're feeling guilty about that, Squint."

"No. No, it's not that." She shook her head. "But, that night........Kent, I understood him. He was doing those terrible things to my parents and the others because he wanted to know how his daughter died. It made me wonder......if my parents would be that desperate to find out the truth of my death."

"How did you know all that? I mean, your mom didn't even ID the girl until after the FBI showed up."

Joy lifted and dropped her left shoulder. "Sweets taught me some psychoanalyzing techniques, and it was the only scenario that made sense. Fallo would've wanted to know what happened to his daughter." She stared at the children playing morosely. "I didn't know how Mom and Dad did what they did, but now.......now, I kinda understand why they didn't want to take me to the crime scene."

Kent lowered his grip and leaned back on his swing until his head nearly touched the ground. "So have you been talking to your parents at all? They're kinda worried about you."

"Yeah. I talk more to Dad then Mom, just cuz she's not very emotion-savvy." The corner of Joy's mouth lifted slightly. "I mean that with the greatest amount of love possible."

The boy laughed, straightening up in his swing. "So, now that I've been the attentive listener, I'm hungry." He stood up and held out his hand to Joy. "Let's grab something to eat. I'm starved."

Joy took his hand and let him lever her up. Her cell phone vibrated at her hip, then belted out the ringtone of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." The teenager smiled fondly as she flipped the phone open. "Hey, Mom. What's up?"

"Joy, did Kent find you all right? He was by the house earlier asking where you'd gone."

"Yeah, he's right here," Joy said, glancing over at the former chop-shop boy. He shrugged with his own grin.

"Well, your father and I are going over to Wong Fu's with the rest of the Jeffersonian team for dinner. Do you want to join us?"

"Yeah, sure Mom. Bye." Joy flipped her phone and said, "Wong Fu's?"

Kent's reply was short and concise. "Sweet." Together the best friends headed down the street towards the bus stop that would take them to the restaurant.

"Hey, Kent."

"What?"

"I think I know what I want to be when I get older. I'll be a detective."

"What, like your parents?"

"Yeah! Maybe a homicide detective."

"You're aiming too low. You should try for FBI."

"You think? It's not too weird?"

"Definitely not. Your parents would approve. It's in your blood, Squint."

"Don't call me Squint!"

Attempt at Bones fanfic - good? Bad? Meh? I kinda made it up as I went along.....

Review please! If good enough, I might make more! I really like Joy and Kent!

A.N.

* - see season 5 episode 12 "The Proof in the Pudding"

** - season 1 episode 4 "The Man in the Bear"

*** - season 1 episode 1 "Pilot"