A/N: This chapter has been written for like a month and I just couldn't wait to post it. Hope you like it. And yes, this is the January promised "Booth family" story (just probably not what you all expected).

Disclaimer: I own' none of the original characters of Bones, the others are MINE!

Isabella Joyce checked, for the last time that night, every room on the first floor. Not finding anything weird or abnormal, she flicked off the light in the living room and quietly moved towards the staircase. She hated these evenings where her husband worked the graveyard shift. She didn't really like being alone with her children in a large and very old house which cracked under her every step. Each noise, each cracking startled her. Even though they had been living in their house for now six years, Isabella Joyce never became accustomed to the calmness and the still silent of the neighborhood.

She climbed the stairs quietly, trying hard to not wake her children. Their sleep had been somewhat light since they had moved in the house, especially Laura's, her youngest daughter. There was just something about that house that scared her, Laura often told her mother.

"She got that from you." Isabella told herself as a noise coming from the basement startled her, making her miss a step.

She stood still in the middle of the staircase for a few seconds, trying desperately to calm her racing heart. She listened. Nothing. If there was nothing, why was her heart still pounding? Why couldn't she shake the nagging anxiety rushing through her veins?

"Calm down, Isa."

There was just something about tonight. Noise. Too much noise. The one in the basement only seconds ago. Another one in the kitchen she had heard while watching television earlier that evening. Noise. Too much noise. She felt like the house was slowly coming alive with each ticking second.

"Don't be ridiculous." Isabella thought to herself.

At the top of the stairs, Isabella walked towards her bedroom, the smallest bedroom in the house, turning off the light as she went. Why her husband and her had chosen the smallest bedroom in the house, Isabella would never truly admit it. They could have taken David's room, their oldest child, which was much more bigger. But Isabella knew, deep down, the reason why they had chosen that particular room. She felt safe in her room. She didn't like big, large rooms. She preferred small ones, cozy ones as she liked to call them. Her fear of open spaces had been the reason why they had left their large house in the country to move into a new house, smaller but still pretty big, in a small city in Virginia.

Winchester just seemed perfect for their family of five. Michael could always work as a paramedic here and Isabella wouldn't be afraid of staying home alone the nights Michael went to work. It had been the plan from the beginning but things hadn't changed. Her fear of open spaces and of the dark hadn't disappeared. Instead, they had grown with time.

In her bedroom, Isabella slipped on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts before climbing into the bed. Turning off the light on her bedside table, she sunk comfortably in her mattress. She closed her eyes and sighed in relief. She finally felt safe in her warm and soft blankets. Nothing could get to her while she laid in bed. Not even the branch lightly scratching at her bedroom window could scare her. Soon, she felt herself being pulled into the sweet realm of unconsciousness.

Her eyes shot wide open and her heart beat wildly in her chest. Something had woke her up but what? Isabella listened intently. Not a sound in the house could be heard. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she slipped in her fluffy slippers and stood up. Her maternal instinct was sending her a strong signal, telling her to go check on her children. Something was wrong. Really wrong.

Her legs felt wobbly and Isabella was pretty sure she was going to collapse on the floor with each step. Not bothering with turning on the light, she made her way to the door. As she laid her hand on the doorknob, she immediately understood what had woken her.

Under her feet, the floor trembled so lightly that Isabella thought she had imagined it. She looked out the window. Moonlight bathed half of the room in an eery, white glow. Outside, not even a hint that something was happening. Everything was still. Too still.

Isabella slowly opened the door. As if it had been waiting for her to open the door, the earth underneath her feet shook more vigorously. Standing under the threshold, she held both sides of the door, trying her best to steady herself. In the kitchen, dishes clung together in the cupboards.

Her vision blurred and the rumble of the earth echoed in her ears. She saw a first door, then a second one, open on the other side of the hallway. Two frightened heads popped out of the room.

"Mom! What's going on?" Jane cried to her mother, her eyes full of fear.

But before Isabella had the chance to reply, a scream pierced the air and reached her ears through the chaotic earthquake.

"MOMMY!"

"Laura!" Isabella immediately cried.

The mother tried to take a step but the earth shook too much.

"I'm coming, Laura!"

Another attempt to take another step. She failed again. Isabella felt helpless. She couldn't do anything. Something really wrong was going on in her daughter's bedroom but she was powerless to help.

From her room, Laura cried out in fear once more.

"I'm coming Laura!" Isabella shouted again.

But the intensive buzzing of the earthquake drowned her cry. A third, then a fourth scream eminated from Isabella Joyce's youngest daughter's room. Yet again, Isabella stayed nailed to the floor.

A window shattered in one of the bedrooms. David, Jane and Isabella, still clutching the walls, tried their best to keep their balance. In her bedroom, Laura cried once again then nothing. The earth stopped shaking and silence fell once again upon the house.

Her heart racing in her chest, Isabella sprinted towards her daughter's bedroom. Swinging the door open, she stopped dead in her tracks. She looked about the room. Tiny pieces of glass laid in a pile in front of the window, sparkling in the moonlight. The yellow curtain blew in the wind. Isabella's eyes then fell on her daughter's bed. She gasped. Her daughter's bed was empty.

How was it possible? How could Laura's bed be empty?

Dashing into the room, she went straight for the bed. Crouching down, she looked under it, only to be greeted by darkness. Slightly panicking, Isabella frantically searched her daughter's room. She looked inside the closet and under her desk. Still no sign of her little princess. She went to the window and looked outside. People were already starting to gather around on the sidewalk, each of them still shaking from the earthquake they had just experienced.

A voice behind her made Isabella turn around.

"Mom? What's going on?"

Jane stood at the door, looking worriedly at her mother.

Isabella stared at her middle child.

"Laura's gone."