A/N: And here it is... the end! I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who has read my story (well, stories since it's a sequel ;)), and thank you to those who have replied... You're all awesome and you get mountains of cookies :D

EPILOGUE - The girl in his heart

Tasha Morgan was exhumed the next morning, with her parents' consent. When the casket arrived, Brennan hadn't. She was outside, waiting, with Booth.

She looked up at the building, lost in thought. A few minutes later, she sensed someone approaching. She saw it was who she'd been waiting for - Angela and Zack. Much as she had, they looked up.

"Ready to go?" Angela let out a breath.

"I think... yes," Brennan nodded. They turned to Zack.

"Ready," he confirmed. He was still a little shaky on his feet, but they'd see him through.

As they went through the doors, it was hard not to think back... when they'd carried Zack out. Still, they pushed along.

When they arrived in the main area, they took pause. In fact, most everybody else in the vicinity did as well. Hodgins and Goodman, who'd been inside to receive the body, came up to them. They knew to get to the point, not insisting on the past.

"We're just about ready to get started," Hodgins explained, silently taking to Angela's side.

Brennan nodded as they moved to approach the remains laid out before them. "According to her file, Tasha Morgan was found in the alley behind the bakery where she worked. She'd been disfigured, throat cut... she bled out. Cuts on her hands suggested she fought back."

"Her mother gave me these..." Booth spoke up, holding up a couple of pictures. One was of Tasha standing behind the counter where she worked. The other was of her and Frank on what appeared to be her birthday. The way they looked at each other, it was plain to see the way they felt for one another.

Everyone got to tork, looking at what the body could tell them after two years in the ground. They looked at the file, seeing what they'd accomplished, finding where and how the case had gone cold. They all had the determination to see this case solved. It was something that needed to be done. It was their closure.

Hours passed, and it didn't seem as bad as they'd believed it anymore. There were still plenty of reminders... that couldn't be helped. But they had the greatest of assets - they had each other. They didn't have to go through it alone.

After a while, Hodgins discovered something, Zack did too. They got a track to start on, which gave Booth and Brennan some leads to follow. They headed out together, and Booth could tell how she was starting to look like she felt better. That eased his worries, the ones he tried to keep at bay even though they were never far behind where she was concerned.

They interrogated a few people, which served to further their leads. The search went on for a few days until at last, they caught a break. They always figured it was someone under Robert Grassi's employ, but finding which one it was took more time.

They found their culprit, of all places, working at Edie's Bakery, where Tasha worked. She confirmed she was asked to carry out the hit once presented with evidence.

They took the news to Tasha's parents, at the same time assuring them they could now truly rest their only child in peace. Before Booth and Brennan left, the Morgans expressed how much they wished Frank could have lived to see this.

In fact, Booth and Brennan had made sure of this.

KANSAS - IKE'S PUB, THAT NIGHT

"In national news, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, in Washington DC, after having crippled the organization once led by Robert Grassi, followed up by reopening the 2005 murder case of a DC student. The victim, twenty-year-old Natasha Morgan, was brutally slain just shy of her twenty-first birthday. However, the case was never solved. That all changed, following this new look at the case. The murderer was identified..."

"Hey, new guy, get your head out of the clouds. You alright, Mills?"

"Yeah..." he looked away from the television. "I'm alright."

THE END

BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THE THIRD INSTALLMENT IN THIS SERIES,
"THE AMENDS IN VAIN", LATER THIS SUMMER...