Hello, this is Dr Temperance Brennan, well actually it is… just my voicemail. Please leave a concise message and I will return your call. If it's pertinent.

'Dammit.' Booth hung up. This was the eighth time he'd called her, only to have her phone ring out. After the first missed call last night he hadn't worried- it had been a draining case, and she was probably just having a quiet night in, relaxing and ignoring her phone. But it was now 4pm on a Wednesday, and he just had a bad feeling.

'Bones!' Booth strode through the lab and opened the door to Brennan's office. 'Huh.' It looked exactly as it had the previous afternoon- perfectly clean and ordered, except for a few files spread out over the desk and one empty coffee cup beside the couch.

'She's not here,' Angela said from behind him.

'Yeah, I got that.'

'I tried her phone thismorning, no answer. I mean, she's never away from work, but if she is she always calls.'

'Yeah.' Booth scrubbed a hand over his face. 'I was just in the area, thought I'd try my luck. I need her half of the paperwork to close this case up…'

Angela looked at him pointedly, not buying that sorry excuse of a reason for wanting to see Brennan. 'I called her home phone, she wasn't picking up. Look, maybe she just, you know, wanted some space? After the case, I mean, an abused teenage girl, that's gotta hit close to home. I'd be pulling the BFF card right now, if this baby wasn't kicking me like a soccer ball.'

'Yeah, I know, thanks Ange. Uh…while I'm here is Cam around?'

'Sure, up on the platform.'

Booth nodded his thanks and took off up the stairs two at a time, swiping himself in with the Jeffersonian pass Bones had given him, one quiet night years ago at Wong Fu's. Cam was herding a group of prospective interns, and not very calmly.

'There are no internships available in our lab at the moment, everyone goes onto a shortlist and then a waiting list for positions. There's no jumping the queue. Yes?'

A stocky kid, probably 19 was having a hard time hearing 'no'. 'I'm top of my class! I don't understand why I'm not on the shortlist, my results speak for themselves—'

'Dr Brennan makes all the decisions about who to take on. If you're unhappy, it's too bad, there's a system and you're in it. Booth,' she said, looking rather grateful for the interruption. 'Have you seen Brennan? She was supposed to be er, handling this…' She waved her hand at the disgruntled grad students.

'You haven't heard from her?'

Cam frowned and moved over to talk to Booth more privately. 'What do you mean you haven't heard from her? You two left for the diner yesterday, did she have plans she forgot to tell everyone about?'

'Uh, I sort of hoped you could tell me.'

Cam raised her eyebrows. 'Whoa, you're on your own there, you're the one who's supposed to know what she's up to and whether she… ate lunch, or whatever.'

'Well usually I do-'

'Not so much recently,' Cam muttered.

'Sorry?'

Cam released a breath and slumped her shoulders a bit. 'I'm sorry, that was low. I mean… well you've been, you know, Booth and Brennan a bit more the last few months.'

Booth glanced away. 'Hannah was a mistake. I've moved on, Cam. I was just trying to, I guess, do the right thing by her, back then…'

'Well at least you did the right thing by one of them.'

'Look Cam, I know it was a mess, but we're getting back to being… us. I screwed up, but now it's over. I would never give up on Bones.'

Cam looked like she forgave him. 'Okay, big man. I know you'd never hurt her intentionally. You're the lion heart guy.'

'Huh. Thanks, I think.'

'Just don't mess it up this time. I know you've waited for her a long time, but she's waited for you too. Don't let her down.'

'I'm more than happy to move forward with Bones, when the time is right, but it's not much use if I can't even find her.'

Cam shrugged. 'It's only been a day, you know how she sometimes gets after cases. Maybe check Limbo? She wasn't there when I looked but you never know…'

'Yeah okay.'

Cam turned back to Brennan's students and continued trying to explain the selection process. Booth hurried down the stairs and jogged across the lab and down to Limbo.

Technically Cam was right, it had been less than 24 hours. Maybe the way he'd shut Bones out of his life during those awful months of being with the wrong woman… well, he wouldn't blame her if she was less than open and trusting. But Bones wasn't like other women. She wasn't like anyone, and she didn't play games. He knew her, and she was always up front. And the last few months, especially the last few weeks- Bones had stuck close, loyal and faithful a friend as ever, in spite of her crushed heart. And they'd talked, actually talked about moving to the next level. They were on the same page, Booth was sure of it. Bones would never just shut him out, not in the 6th year of their partnership, unless there was an extremely good reason, and she wouldn't do it out of spite. If she was upset with him, he would have picked up on it. But she wasn't- she was hopeful, and a bit timid, but brave too. And whenever they were together she was always right there at his side.

Booth called out for her and did a quick sweep of Limbo, finding it completely empty, and no sign of any half-finished work. He decided to swing by her apartment. She was probably there, maybe sick or, he smiled at the thought, so engrossed in the work she'd taken home she'd forgotten she was meant to be at the lab.

Booth didn't really need to go up, he could tell from the darkened windows that no one was home. Every other apartment was lit up thisevening, the scents of what various people were having for dinner wafting down to the street. He forewent the elevator in favour of stairs, wanting to burn up some restless energy. He felt pretty good about himself that he wasn't out of breath when he reached her door.

'Bones! Wakey wakey, open up Bones!'

After knocking and waiting for… far longer than it would take to open the door, Booth dug his hand into his pocket and found the spare key she'd had cut for emergencies. Imagining her face, a cute mix of annoyance and adoration, coming to the door in a bath robe or something, he turned the lock, swung the door open and fumbled for the light switch. As the down-lights flickered to life, Booth's sniper sense kicked into overdrive. Something was wrong. He could feel it.

The first thing he noticed was her coat. The stylish beige coat she had worn yesterday, draped over the back of her couch. And next to it… her handbag. He slid open the zipper and glanced inside—sure enough, there was her phone. It beeped at him and the message '11 missed calls' flashed on the screen. His heart in his mouth, Booth moved through the apartment, checking the rooms in case, somehow, she was there. Every room was dark. He wandered into her bedroom, feeling irrationally guilty about being there without her express permission. The bed was made, and one, two high heels had been kicked off and lay on the floor, heading towards her ensuite. Booth re-enacted her movements—so far she'd obviously come home, dumped what she was carrying and headed straight for the shower. Pushing open the door, he switched on the light.