The Triad of the Trial

A/N: So I posted this over at ff.net but figured I'd put it up here too. This is what I think should happen in the Grave Digger trial. Enjoy!

The Triad of the Trial

Prologue

April 24, 2010
Location Unknown
10:07 am EST

Whenever Dr. Temperance Brennan woke up disoriented, she knew that it was not a good sign. It usually meant one of two things: one; her liver was currently failing to metabolize the massive amounts of alcohol that she had unwisely consumed the night before resulting in an unproductive morning filled with headaches and nausea or two; she had involuntarily consumed some sort of drug or hallucinogen that was causing her the disorientation. Neither of these were good outcomes as far as Brennan was concerned. As she slowly came back to consciousness, she resisted the urge to shake her head to clear the fog from her brain, knowing that would result in more pain than it was worth. She laid as still as possible as she gathered information about her surroundings. The first thing she realized was that she was laying flat on a cold surface and judging by the tingling sensation in her left arm, she was lying right on top of it. The second was that besides the solitary light bulb shining weakly from the ceiling, there was no other source of light in the room. Deciding it was safe to try sitting up, she quickly turned to rest her back against the wall, momentarily closing her eyes to try and stop the room from spinning. She thought she heard a muffled voice, but the sound of the blood rushing through her head drowned out any other noise. She lifted her hand to her hairline to steady herself when she felt a warm, sticky substance, which she automatically knew, was blood. Definitely have a concussion, she thought, adding the presence of the cut on her forehead and her dizziness together to come up with that conclusion. Opening her eyes again, she glanced at her surroundings, trying to figure out where exactly she was. The room was only about 12 feet by 12 feet and that the roof could not have been more than 7 feet high. Looking around the room, she noticed some bricks, a rake, and a rusty bucket, confirming her suspicions that she was in an old tool shed of some kind. Turning her head slightly to her right, she noticed two lumps in the other corner of the room. And one of the lumps looked very familiar.

“Booth?”

April 24. 2010
Superior Court of the District of Columbia
10:15 am EST

“You honor, I know the testimony was supposed to start fifteen minutes ago, but it is not my fault that my witnesses are not here. I’m sure there is a perfectly good explanation as to their tardiness to the court today.”

“Your honor, if Ms. Julian cannot produce her witnesses, then I move for an immediate mistrial,” the defense attorney said as Caroline Julian turned and glared at him for all she was worth.

The judge sighed. He knew from the minute he was assigned to oversee this trial that it was going to be an absolute circus and so far, he wasn’t disappointed. As he was thinking about his decisions and trying to rub away the inevitable migraine, he heard the shrill ring of a phone coming from the gallery. He saw one of the women in the gallery blush and quickly divert her phone to voicemail while saying, “Sorry.” Sighing again, he said, “Ms. Julian, Mr. Andrews is correct. Without the testimony of those three witnesses, you do not have a case. I will give you twenty-four hours to produce your witnesses or else I will have to declare mistrial. Understood?”

Caroline was not happy, but nodded.

“All right, then,” the judge said. “We will resume at 10 am tomorrow morning. That’s all.” He banged his gavel and the courtroom bustled as people were gathering their things to leave. Caroline whipped around to face Cam and Angela, the latter of which was checking her voicemail to see who called her. Caroline hoped it was one of her absent witnesses.

Turning to Cam, she said, “Do you know anything about this, Cherie? Because if this is some sort of practical joke, I’m not laughing.”

“Ms. Julian, I am as surprised as you are. Dr. Hodgins and Dr. Brennan were both in the lab yesterday and I talked to Booth on the phone. They all were planning on being here,” Cam said, as she looked over at Angela, who had turned as pale as a ghost, her cell phone still to her ear. Cam had seen that exact same look on another person’s face only once before and was starting to feel like something was very wrong. “Angela? Are you okay?”

Angela looked at Caroline and Cam, not saying a word. She put her phone on speaker and played them the voicemail, the mechanical tone of the voice striking fear into all their hearts.

“I have taken Seeley Booth, Jack Hodgins, and Temperance Brennan. You have twenty-five hours to keep quiet and let the Grave Digger trial end in a mistrial. After that time, I will give you GPS coordinates to their location. If you make any attempt to contact the FBI or police, I will know and Seeley Booth, Jack Hodgins, and Temperance Brennan will die. This is my final communication.”

As the message ended, all three women looked over to where the police were leading the defendant out of the room. Right before the police closed the door, taking their charge back to the county jail to await the next hearing, Heather Taffet turned around and gave them a smirk.

Chapter 1

April 21, 2010
Jeffersonian Medico-Legal Lab
11:33 am EST

The tension in the lab was so thick that even Brennan knew it was there. Ever since the trial date had been set for Heather Taffet AKA the Grave Digger, the lab had been a tense environment. Brennan was just waiting for the trial to begin and end so that they could all get back to what they did the best: catch people like Taffet and put them in prison. Everyone’s work had suffered because of the tension but especially Hodgins. Brennan wanted to help him but she knew that her lack of social skills would probably make the situation worse than it already was. She had consulted Booth about the situation and even though Booth told her that he trusted her to say the right thing to Hodgins, she still wasn’t sure. A crash in the lab startled her out of her thoughts. She looked around, realizing she was on the forensic platform and had been staring at the same sternum for the last five minutes. This was another reason why Brennan wanted the trial to be over. She was usually not prone to fits of introspective thinking but lately, she has been completely unproductive and it has been driving her crazy. She made a mental note to talk to Booth about this; to see if he was experiencing the same thing that she was. He had been in a mood recently as well. Even though Brennan was not very good at reading people, she knew him and she knew that he was trying to mask his feelings to protect her. It was classic alpha-male behavior and if Booth was anything, he was an alpha-male.

“Bones!” Speak of the devil, she thought as she heard his shout in the lab. She looked over at him as he jogged up the steps to the forensic platform after swiping his card through so the alarms did not go off. Even in times like this, when everything seemed like it was upside down, she was always comforted by his presence. They had been spending more and more time together recently and the weekly dinners at each other’s apartment had become nightly dinners and ended in late night movies and talks. She found that as much as she was comforted by Booth’s presence, he seemed to be equally comforted by hers, which gave her a feeling of contentment that she had never gotten from her work. And while this feeling frightened her, it was like a drug; she constantly wanted more.

“Booth, what are you doing here? Please don’t tell me we have another case. I am already working on the identification of two other sets of bones and we have the trial in three days. Even with the help of the multiple interns here at the Jeffersonian, there is no way that I can handle another case right now,” Brennan told him.

“Whoa, Bones, easy. We don’t have another case. Hacker has taken us off the active duty rotation until the case is over. So instead of doing the mountain of paperwork that is sitting on my desk, I decided to come over here and see if you were ready for lunch,” Booth told her as he joined her on the forensic platform, giving her his classic charm smile, but giving her the special ‘Bones variety’ that was only for her. He knew that she had been stressed out the last couple of weeks, ever since they had gone over the evidence for the trial and Booth had seen the note that she had written him when she was in the car with Hodgins.

*********

April 2, 2010
J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building
1:30 pm EST

“Ms. Julian, I think that is all of the evidence for the trial right? Because if it is, I really need to get back to the lab. I realize that even though Ms. Wick is a very capable intern, I am nervous about how the other members of the team-“

“Dr. Brennan,” Caroline Julian interrupted. “We have more one piece of evidence to go over and your input on this one is essential, Cherie.”

Booth could feel the tension rolling off of her in waves. He knew that the trial was stressful; hell, he was feeling the stress more than any other case had affected him. He would wake up at night and think that he was still in that yellow submarine, still in that ship that was set to blow up. He hoped it hadn’t affected his Bones in that same way but he could see it in her face and in her mannerisms. Now, she looked like she was ready to bolt. He looked over at Hodgins, trying to read why Bones wanted to leave so bad. Hodgins was leaned back in his chair, staring at his hands that were underneath the ledge of the conference table they were sitting at. If Hodgins knew what this evidence was, he wasn’t reacting. But then again, Hodgins had really withdrawn into himself since this process began. Booth had a feeling he still had a lot of guilt over his kidnapping by the Grave Digger but Booth didn’t think it was his place to talk about it with him.

“Dr. Hodgins, Dr. Brennan, the last piece of evidence that we have to go over is the notes that the both of you wrote in the car while you were both kidnapped. Now we are using this evidence to prove your mental state during the kidnapping and to show the trauma of being buried alive. In my opinion, this will help the jury get a picture of exactly what Taffet did to you,” Caroline told them. Booth was immediately intrigued. He had no idea that they had written notes during their ordeal. Sitting up more in his seat, he leaned toward Brennan just a little bit, ready to give her any support that she needed.

“Dr. Hodgins, first is your note to Ms. Montenegro,” Caroline said as she pulled the note out of her file and placed it on the table.

“I know what it says, Ms. Julian. All I ask is that Angela not be in the courtroom when it is read at trial. She knows my feelings. She doesn’t need to hear them read to everyone like that,” Hodgins said, breaking his self-imposed silence and speaking for the first time that day. Booth automatically felt for the guy. He flashed back to three years ago and remembered how in love with Angela he was. He knew now that Hodgins not only was reliving his experience in the ground; he was also thinking about his failed engagement.

“And secondly, we have Dr. Brennan’s note to Agent Booth.” With that statement, Booth felt Bones instantly tense beside him and he became conflicted. While he really wanted to know what was in the note, he didn’t want Bones to be uncomfortable or in pain because he knew. He would do anything to keep her from being in pain.

“Dr. Brennan, are you okay with having Agent Booth know the contents of your note to him? Because if you are not, then we can make the same arrangements for you and ask Agent Booth to leave the courtroom when it is read,” Caroline asked her in an uncharacteristically soft manner.

Booth turned his head to look at her, trying to get a sense of what was going on in that genius brain of hers. She turned toward him and looked him right in the eyes. He saw fear and pain in those bright blue orbs and it felt like a fist squeezed his heart in his chest. He was happily surprised when he felt her discreetly put her hand on his leg right above his knee and gave it a squeeze as she nodded to Caroline to read the note. As Caroline held the note, encased in its plastic evidence bag, up to read, he recognized the type on the page as a page from one of her books. The writing on the edge of the paper outside the text was definitely hers, but not the careful script that he was used to seeing from her. Instead, it looked hurried and he saw the blood spots on the paper along with her handwriting. It broke his heart.

“To my partner Special Agent Seeley Booth: At this point, I am unsure if anybody will ever find Hodgins and I and I know that you will blame yourself for not finding me in time. Please do not do that to yourself. I want to you know that I knew that you would never give up. You have helped me grow and find other aspects of life that I did not know previously existed and I will be forever grateful to you for that. Thank you for being a great partner and an even better friend. Sincerely, Bones.”

As Caroline read the letter, he felt Bones’ hand squeeze his leg harder and put his hand over hers and linked their fingers together. He was in a state of shock. He was honored that she would write a note like that to him but was really surprised that even just a little over a year into their partnership that she would feel that way. He turned his head to try and catch her eyes but she studiously avoided his gaze; the only indication of her pain was the pressure on his hand that was currently holding her own. He needed some time to sort through his feelings about that note but his first priority was Bones; his first priority was always Bones no matter what the situation. Distantly, he heard Caroline say something about the meeting being over and he heard her and Hodgins get up and leave the room. His hand still gripped her own and he was content to sit here as long as it took for her to be okay with what just happened. Finally, she turned her head and met his questioning gaze. There were barely restrained tears in her eyes and Booth could tell that it had cost her a lot for him to be able to hear the letter. It just made him fall in love with her a little more.

“You okay, Bones?” he said to her softly, still holding her hand underneath the table. She gave him a soft smile.

“Yeah, Booth. I will be. I just want her to be in prison and for this whole thing to be over,” she told him as she released his hand and got up from her seat. “Can you give me a ride back to the Jeffersonian?” she asked, clearly ready to drop this line of conversation and get back to the place of order and discipline, the place where she knows what is going on and her place in the world. Booth had always been the one to tell everyone never to push her and right now, he was going to take his own advice.

“Okay, Bones. Let’s go.”

*******

April 21, 2010
Jeffersonian Medico-Legal Lab
11:45 am EST

“Booth? Are you okay?” Brennan said. She thought that he looked a million miles away, even though that was physically impossible. He seemed to snap out of his trance and look at her again, with a gentle look in his eyes that he sometimes got when he looked at her, more frequently over the last several months, especially since he woke up from the coma. He broke eye contact and began shifting from foot to foot.

“Sorry, Bones. Kind of spaced out there for a minute. So, whatcha say, huh? Lunch time?” he asked, giving her that special smile that Brennan was convinced he only gave to her. The kind of smile that gave her a warm, tingling sensation throughout her body. It was a completely irrational feeling but she liked it, just like she liked the feeling it gave her when he was comforted by her presence. Deciding that she really wasn’t getting any work done anyway, she decided that lunch was a good idea.

“Sure, Booth. Let me get cleaned up and then we will go,” she told him, chuckling at the happy expression on his face as he followed her to her office to wait for her.

In his office across from the forensic platform, Dr. Jack Hodgins heard Brennan and Booth’s playful conversation but instead of lifting his spirits, it only made him feel more detached from his friends.

He had not given up the theory that Taffet has an accomplice and he was angry that nobody believed him. This was not one of his conspiracy theories! This was a serious matter and one he truly believed was happening. He was worried about an accomplice coming back and mucking things up even more than they already were. He woke up thinking he was back in that car, only this time, he was stuck in the car with the dead bodies of Brennan and Booth and the knowledge that it was his fault that they were both dead. Hodgins knew that Booth’s kidnapping was his fault; it was his fault that he took the evidence from the FBI and that action lead to Booth being taken and electrocuted and drugged. He had always considered Booth a friend (even if Booth had not felt the same way) and it sickened him that he was the reason that Booth had to go through that.

Not only did Hodgins feel the guilt from Booth’s kidnapping but all of the feelings he had regarding his own kidnapping were all being brought to the surface as well, and while that involved terrible memories from being stuck inside that car, it also involved thinking about his feelings for the one person that got him through that experience: Angela. But of course he had messed that up as well. He knew he was in a dark place right now but if he could just get through the trial intact, he felt that things would begin to look up again. He worked tirelessly, pouring over the evidence again and again, looking to see if he had missed something that would point out the accomplice’s identity. But so far, he had nothing.

“Hey Hodgins, you there man?” he heard Booth call out to him. Hodgins looked up to see Booth poking his head into his office.

“Yeah Booth, what’s up?” he answered.

“Caroline called. She needs to see you, me, and Bones right away. I’m here to give you a ride. Let’s go,” Booth told him.

Hodgins felt the hair prickle at the back of his neck. “Did she say what about?” Hodgins asked, trying not to let his anxiety slip into his voice.

“Nope,” Booth told him. “But she said it was urgent so let’s go. The last thing I want is an angry Caroline.”

Chapter 2

April 21, 2010
J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building
12:14 pm EST

“What do you mean all the evidence from the storage locker has been thrown out?” Booth exclaimed, breaking up the stunned silence that had previously filled the room since Caroline’s announcement.

“You heard me the first time, Cherie,” Caroline said, obviously not pleased with the situation. “Apparently, ‘spring cleaning’ is not within the spirit of the Constitution and so the judge threw it out. Useless liberal judges,” Caroline finished under her breath.

“But what about all the evidence we recovered within the storage locker? All the evidence that clearly showed the Ms. Taffet had taken Booth?” Brennan asked her, looking bewildered at this turn of events.

“Fruit from the poisonous tree. Anything we learned from the ‘spring cleaning’ is considered inadmissible in a court of law,” Caroline explained to them.

Booth sat back, trying to absorb this information. After the stress of the last couple of weeks, is this exactly what they DIDN’T need. He looked over at the other two occupants in the room; the only other two people in the world that knew what it was like to escape from the Grave Digger without giving into her demands. He looked over at Hodgins, who was standing by the table and looking like he was ready to just rage on something. Booth knew that look well. Hodgins was clenching his fists and grinding his jaw and Booth had no doubt that if Hodgins decided to punch the wall that the wall would lose. He had been watching Hodgins closely over the last several weeks and at this point, Booth was seriously concerned for the normally easy-going bug and slime guy. It hadn’t helped at all that about a week ago, the news came out that Angela and Wendall had hooked up. To be honest, even though it was none of Booth’s business what the rest of the squints and squinterns did outside the lab, he was disappointed in both of them. He knew Hodgins felt betrayed and he did not blame him for feeling that way.

Next he turned his attention to Brennan, his Bones. She had a look of determination on her face, the same look she gets when she is ready to take on a set of bones and stay on the forensic platform until she identified that person beyond a shadow of a doubt. He was glad to see that look. He wasn’t sure how he would respond if she broke down right now. She’d had that ‘sad little girl’ look on her face a lot since the reading of the letter Brennan had written him when she was kidnapped. Normally, Booth would go into protective mode when he saw that look and be ready to shield her from the world, but after sleeping less than 4 hours in the last 72 hours, he wasn’t sure if he could help her without breaking down himself. And right now, that was unacceptable. He needed to be strong for the team. They had to get through this together. Booth took a deep breath, collecting his wayward thoughts and calming himself down before responding further.

“Okay, Caroline, so all of that evidence is out, we can’t use it. So where does that put the case? Do we even still have a shot at this anymore?” Booth asked her.

Caroline also took a deep breath before responding. “Well, it’s not a total disaster, but it’s close. We still have the evidence that was not blown up from Dr. Brennan and Dr. Hodgin’s kidnapping and the minute evidence we found in Booth’s apartment. But to be honest, the key to this trial was always the three of you and your testimony. I believe that we can still win if we emphasize the human cost of Ms. Taffet’s actions. Juries love the human side of the trial.”

“There is something else, too,” Hodgins said, looking back and forth between the three of them with a wild look in his eyes.

“Well, I’m all ears, Dr. Hodgins,” Caroline told him, motioning for him to continue.

“Actually, Ms. Julian, that is not true. You are comprised of bone, vascular tissue, nerves, blood vessels; a lot more than the cartilage that is present in the human ear. In fact, I am not sure it would be biologically sustainable-“

“Bones. It’s just an expression. It means that she is ready to listen to what Hodgins has to say,” Booth told her as he interrupted her gently.

Understanding dawned on Brennan’s face. “Oh. That makes more sense. Please, continue.”

“We could delay the trial a little bit and find the accomplice,” Hodgins stated, looking ready for a fight.

“Not again,” Caroline said.

“No, hear me out. I have been pouring over the evidence and I have found some anomalies. There is a tiny bit of human sweat on Booth’s windowsill that we managed to save and it does not match Heather Taffet. This has to be the accomplice,” Hodgins finished by banging his hand on the table.

“Have you tested it against Agent Booth yet? If it is on Booth’s windowsill then it is probably Booth’s sweat,” Caroline asked him, looking at him pointedly.

Hodgins straightened up and seemed to falter. It was obvious to Booth that Hodgins didn’t know who the sweat belonged to and didn’t have anyway to test it.

“No, but I can, I mean, I haven’t…but that’s not the point! I just need another week, one week, and I can tell you who the accomplice is and then we can nail both of those bastards!” Hodgins said, his eyes looking wild and his body language screamed pain. Booth felt sorry for the guy. It was obvious that Hodgins truly believed that he could find this mystery accomplice that nobody really knew existed. Booth sent Caroline a look telling her to go with him on this one, stood up, and made his way over to where Hodgins was standing, intent on placating the man.

“Hodgins, you know we don’t have a week, man. And even if you could find out whom the sweat belonged to there is no other evidence tying that person to the crime. Let’s just focus on getting through this trial and then we can worry about figuring out the accomplice, okay?” Both told him as he came around the table to stand next to him. When Booth tried to approach him, he was instantly thrown back. Literally. Looking back, he can’t remember why he didn’t see him coming; he must be getting old if he let a squint jump him. Booth’s jaw smarted where Hodgin’s fist had connected with it. Booth stumbled back a couple of steps, raised his hand to his lip to check for blood, and heard Brennan shout “Hodgins!”

“Don’t you patronize me, Booth! For all I know, it is the stupid FBI that is causing all the delays in the trial and all the screw-ups that have happened so far. I knew I never should have trusted any of you!” With that, Hodgins stormed out of the conference room, leaving his three co-workers and friends in the room stunned by his outburst.

Brennan was the first to recover and hurriedly made her way over to her partner, who had sat down in one of the chairs after confirming that his lip was indeed split and bleeding. Booth was staring down at the floor, trying not to let Caroline and Bones see the embarrassment of letting Hodgins get him. Unfortunately, Bones had another idea. She placed her hands on his cheeks and directed him to look at her. He studied her face while she studied him. Sometimes, when she was this close to him, he could still pretend that he was in that other place, where him and Bones shared a life together. It had been almost a year since his brain tumor and subsequent coma-dream thing but he still couldn’t get it out of his head. In those rare moments when she touched him or when she got that soft look in her eyes when she thought he didn’t know she was looking at him, he could almost convince himself that she was as in love with him as he was with her. She was looking intently at his jaw, examining him for any other damage besides the split lip. Booth didn’t care how long it took her; he was enjoying the feeling and didn’t want it to stop. But all good things must come to an end. Apparently satisfied, she took her hands off his face and gave him a half smile, which he tried to return before remembering his lip, which gave him a painful reminder of it’s presence.

“I’m sorry he did that, Booth. It’s not your fault. I just wish he could see that too,” she told him, still standing very close and bending so that their eyes were level.

“You don’t need to apologize for him, Bones. I’m fine. We all have been under a lot of stress the past couple of weeks and if I said that I didn’t feel the need to punch something during that time, I’d be lying,” Booth told her. Wanting to get past the whole incident, he stood up and said, “Caroline, is there anything else you need from us? If not, I still owe Bones here a trip to the diner for lunch.”

Caroline correctly interpreted the look in Booth’s eyes telling her to let this one go and nodded. “Go ahead, Cherie. I’ll want to see all three of you back here the day after tomorrow to go over your testimony one final time before the trial starts. We need to make sure that we have everything nailed down.” Caroline looked at them both before turning and leaving the conference room, briefcase in hand and scowl firmly in place, letting anyone who tried to talk to her know that she was not in the mood.

This time, it was Booth that was ready to get out of there. “Well, Bones, I’m starving. Can we go eat now?” he asked her while trying to give her the puppy dog eyes that he learned from Parker. He was hoping that it worked as well on Bones as it did on him.

She smiled at him. “Okay, Booth. Let’s go.”

*********

April 23, 2010
FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth’s apartment
9:23 pm EST

They were exhausted. Booth looked over at his partner, who had nodded off, her head leaning against his shoulder and in Booth’s opinion, looking completely adorable. They had come back to his place with some Thai take out after they had spent the whole afternoon with Caroline going over their testimony for the trial. Hodgins had been absent from the session. They had not seen him since he punched Booth two days ago. They hadn’t talked about it even though anyone who looked at Booth could see the evidence on his face that something had happened. And while Angela really looked like she wanted to ask him about it, she used her excellent perceptions skills and wisely kept her mouth shut.

After they had gotten back to his place and ate a little, Bones plopped down on his couch and had been there ever since. When he joined her, he sat down leaving about a foot of space between them, leaving the decision up to her if she wanted to be closer to him. He was just about giddy with happiness when he felt her shift over to him and lean her head on his shoulder, nuzzling into him and closing her eyes. He was going to savor this moment for as long as he could, knowing that when the trial started tomorrow, they would rarely get a minute of peace until it was over.

So when he heard the knock on his door, he was not happy and really considered letting the person think that he was not home. But when the knock persisted, he was worried that it would wale up Bones, who obviously needed to get some sleep. He gently moved her head so that it was laying on the back of the couch and when he noticed he didn’t wake her, he got up to answer the door. But he never expected to see the person that was on the other side.

“Hodgins. What are you doing here?”