BONES: Next Generation

Chapter Two

The lights inside the house were still on, a yellow glow filtering out from the windows as Booth and Brennan pulled up. Angela and Hodgins pulled up next to the curb, waiting to pick up Michael. Booth smirked at the sight of all the lights, it had gotten considerably dark since they left the Jeffersonian, but he figured the lights had been on even when the sun was shining. No matter how many times Brennan lectured Christine on conserving electricity, it never seemed to get through to her.

He bounded up the steps, hearing nothing as he stepped closer to the door. No voices, no music, no TV. Maybe they had fallen asleep? It had happened more than once, both kids had been studying for a test the next day, and had fallen asleep on the couch with their books still in their laps. He had taken a picture of that, he still had it, even though Christine had asked him to delete it from his phone.

As he opened the door, a chill ran down his spine, the hairs on the back of his neck standing. Booth frowned slightly, feeling a draft that seemed to come from the kitchen. An open window? The thought didn't calm his nerves, but bundled them tighter. He took a tentative step further inside the house, before moving towards the living room. The couch was empty, only small wrinkles in the fabric as evidence that Christine and Michael had been there.

Brennan had looked around the kitchen, finding their backpacks and textbooks lying on the table along with a half empty yogurt container. She glanced almost nervously towards Booth before looking towards the staircase. She stepped towards the base of the stairs, and called for their names.

"Michael? Christine?" She asked, not necessarily yelling, but loud enough to hear through the house. She counted to three, waiting for a reply, but got none.

Booth shoved his hands in his pocket, following the source of the draft to find the back door was wide open, "Bones."

Brennan looked towards him, "You think they could be out in the forest?"

"The door's open," He answered simply, "Get me a flashlight."

She rushed towards one of the kitchen drawers and pulled out a heavy duty flashlight and extra batteries. Booth had always insisted on carrying extra batteries ever since the first time a flashlight had failed him. He had been so embarrassed by loosing a suspect in the dark because his light died and swore that it would never happen again. Brennan found that this was unnecessary, the batteries took up more space than needed.

Booth took the light and batteries gratefully, flicking it on and traveled down the patio and towards the back gate that led into the dense trees. He ran the light across the trunks, to see if he could catch a glimpse of anything shiny or human-like. He found nothing. Booth gave a heavy sigh, he was definitely going to talk to Christine about staying

out in the woods after dark. Brennan followed from behind, carrying her own, smaller, flashlight.

It was easy to find where they had gone, Booth could tell that Christine and Michael hadn't even tried to hide their being there. What Booth couldn't understand was the less noticeable trail, almost invisible in the dark, and compared to the tracks that Christine and Michael had left, it looked like a small animal's. But when the paths merged almost perfectly, the one disappearing completely, Booth's pace quickened. He prayed Christine had been practicing "treading lightly" as she would put it.

"Booth?" Brennan's voice grabbed his attention, stopping him in his tracks.

"Yeah, Bones?" He called back, flashing his light over in her direction.

She held up a pair of broken glasses with the tip of a pen, "Are these Michael's?"

Something caught in his throat but he forced it down, "They look a lot like the ones he wears."