Author's Note: This is something that's been rattling around in my head for a few days and won't let me go, so I had to write it down. Please read and review and let me know if you think this is something I should continue…

A/N #2—I own nothing, least of all Bones. (Though I would like to rent Booth for an evening or two if the opportunity ever presented itself. )

The Past in the Present

Chapter 1

"Dr. Brennan?"

"Yes. Can I help you?" Brennan asked the rather non-descript middle aged man standing in her doorway at 7 pm on a Tuesday evening. Even though she'd never seen him before, she wasn't overly concerned with this stranger appearing. If he'd made it through the Jeffersonian security, chances were good he wasn't an obsessed fan. Even so, she noticed that Booth had subtly shifted on her couch, ready to spring into action.

"I'm Kevin Johnson of the ICC, ma'am. I need to ask you a few questions if you have a minute."

"What on earth would the International Criminal Court need from me?" She asked in surprise, motioning the man to enter her office.

"Dr. Brennan, you were in Sierra Leone in 2000, were you not?"

"Yes." She replied tersely, causing Booth to sit up a bit straighter.

"And at that time, you and members of both your team and the nearby Doctors Without Borders team were taken hostage by members of the Revolutionary United Front, were you not?"

"Yes."

"Well Dr. Brennan, the leaders of that RUF sect have recently been apprehended and it is now the intention of the United Nations to prosecute them for crimes against humanity. The atrocities done to you and your team being our top priority."

What? Booth's brain was going into overdrive. What the h3ll happened back then? What did this guy mean by 'atrocities done to you and your team'? He knew that it was well before he met her, but he didn't like that he was just hearing about this part of her past now. And that whatever it was was bad enough for the UN to now take it this seriously made his stomach drop.

"And what do you need from me?" Brennan asked in a monotone, arranging the papers on her desk into different piles.

"We're going to need you to rerecord your official statement at our offices at your earliest convenience. This week if possible."

"That would be fine. Just leave me your card and I'll set up an appointment." She said dismissively, clearly waiting for the man to hand over his card and leave. When he didn't, she finally looked up at him and asked dryly, "was there anything else Mr. Johnson?"

"Yes ma'am. We've managed to get a hold of almost every member of your team but we're having a little difficulty finding one. Would you happen to know how we could contact Dr. Nathaniel Reynolds?"

Booth's eyes shot to Brennan the moment he heard her gasp. All the color had drained from her face and she looked like she'd just been sucker punched. Without conscious thought, he automatically left his position on the couch and moved to stand by her but his movement was halted when she simply raised her hand in a stop gesture. Her eyes locked with his and she sent him a silent message "I'll be okay, just give me a minute."

"I haven't spoken to Nate in years, Mr. Johnson. I'm afraid I can't help you there." She said calmly, once she'd regained her composure. No one who didn't know her would even suspect that anything was wrong, but Booth immediately noticed the light shake to her delicate hands.

"But Dr. Brennan, surely given your prior relationship with Dr. Reynolds, you must have some idea of where he might be or who might be able to get a hold of him for us?"

"Like I said Mr. Johnson, I haven't seen or spoken to Dr. Reynolds in years. I can't help you."

"I don't understand," the man said, pulling out a file from his briefcase and looking through it as though there was something obvious he must have missed. "Dr. Reynolds has left specific instructions, both in our official updates and with his own lawyers that the only person who is to always be given information about his whereabouts is you. How can you not know where he is?"

"I believe those instructions say something along the lines of 'if ever Dr. Brennan asks to contact me, I am to be reached no matter what'. Am I correct?"

"Yes.

"Well there's your answer then, Mr. Johnson. I have not inquired about Dr. Reynolds' whereabouts, so therefore I do not know."

"I see. Well, um, knowing that you are the only one for whom he is willing to be found, do you think you could do that for us?"

"Those directions were made a long time ago, Mr. Johnson. I don't exactly think he'd be as open to me tracking him down after all these years." She said softly, dismissing him and the conversation without saying a word by standing up and making a move to pass him out the door.

"I can't imagine that to be the case, Dr. Brennan. He apparently updated the directions with his lawyer every time he left the country. That doesn't sound like a man who didn't want to hear from his former fiancé."

Former fiancé?! Booth's brain started screaming as soon as the words left the man's mouth. Bones was engaged?

"Trust me Mr. Johnson, when you are in a hostage situation and have to watch said fiancé be brutally raped and beaten in front of you, hers is not a face you want to be seeing again anytime soon." She retorted before brushing past him and heading out the door, leaving two dumbstruck men behind in her office.