Forever Means Always -- Rated T

Posted 10/10/2007 13:37:55 (10/10/2007 04:37:55 AM)

My first fic. Hope you all enjoy.

Disclaimer: Don’t own Bones. Never will. Damn it.

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Chapter One: Elizabeth


Special Agent Seeley Booth sat on his couch in his darkened apartment stunned. This was not possible he thought to himself, but in his heart he knew that it was possible. Letting out a breath that he didn’t realise that he had been holding in he looked down at the letter in his hand for the thousandth time and read the lines that made his heart stop every time. You have a daughter. He had a daughter, a 12 year old daughter to be precise. He looked back down and read the letter in full…

Dear Seeley,

I know that you never thought you would hear from me again, but things have changed. Seeley, we were young in college, we had fun and I truly loved you, and I know that you loved me. That is why this is even harder, so I am just going to get straight to the point. You have a daughter; she is 12 years old today.

I know that it will hurt you to know that I never told you before now, but I thought that it was for the best. We were young and foolish, you had your whole life ahead of you and I had to go back home, I couldn’t tell you and end your life before it even began. I was scared. I barely knew anyone in America, and I wanted to go home, to my family, where I knew that I would be safe. I am sorry I kept this from you for so long; I truly thought I was doing the right thing, for you and for Elizabeth and, for me.

As I look back on it know, it was a selfish thing to do, no matter how scared I was, but Seeley, you must know this, Australia was my home, it was where my Family was and as much as I loved you, America was not my home and I didn’t want to marry you because of our child. I was foolish and selfish.

You may now wonder why I am telling you know. Elizabeth knows about you, I never hid from her that you were her father, I told her stories and showed her pictures and today she asked if you knew. I told her the truth and she asked for me to tell you. She is very bright for her age you know, she is already in her second year of high school, and she skipped two years. We talked about it and decided that it was fair for you to see your daughter growing up so enclosed are photos and videos of the first 12 years of your daughter’s life. We love you Seeley, never ever forget that. And I hope that one day you can forgive me from keeping this from you for so long.

Yours,

Anna and Elizabeth

Collecting his thoughts Booth put the letter down on the coffee table and picked up the package that had arrived with the letters. He ripped open the seal, took a deep breath and opened the lid. Reaching in, he picked up the first photo album and opened it. Sitting in the front cover was a lose photo, Seeley glanced at it before turning it over a reading what was scribbled on the back, Elizabeth Isabelle Cameron Booth, 12 years old. Booth felt his insides turn to jelly as he flipped the photograph back over and looked for the first time at his daughter.

She seemed tall, but then Anna was tall and so was he. She had long golden brown ringlets that were falling loosely about her shoulders, her eyes were sparkling in a smile but he could tell they were brown, like his, not blue like Anna’s. She was beautiful, so beautiful.

“Elizabeth” He whispered to himself as he held the photo in his shaky hand. It was a nice name, he had always like the name Elizabeth. He wondered absent-mindedly if she liked her name and what Anna called her. Lizzie maybe?

Booth put the photo down and picked the album back up looking at the first entry, it was of her as a baby, sitting on a couch a massive grin plastered over her small face. From the caption underneath he knew that it was of Elizabeth at 7 months old. Booth couldn’t help but smile as a small tear rolled down his cheek. He had a daughter. He had a daughter. She was his.

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Doctor Temperance Brennan walked along the silent hallway, the sound of her heels hitting the bare cement floor ringing off the walls. She stopped outside the door to Booth’s apartment and knocked softly.

Booth’s head snapped up as he heard a knock at his door. He quickly thrust the album back into the box and hastily shoved it under the couch. He wasn’t ready to share this with anyone just yet. He stood and walked over to the door, he looked through the peep hole and smiled to see the face of Brennan looking back at him, her eyebrows raised. He swung the door open.

“Bones!” He said cheerfully, “What’s up?” Bones frowned at him.

“Don’t you remember?” She asked incredulously. Booth frowned.

“Remember what?” He asked in confusion. Now it was Bones’ turn to frown.

“The Benefit?” She scoffed, gesturing to herself. Booth glanced down and for the first time noticed that she was wearing an evening dress. He looked back up at her face, still with a look of confusion in his eyes. Booth shook his head; finding out about his daughter had driven everything from his head.

“Oh…um…sorry Bones, I…um…I forgot. Give me a second to go and get changed.” He mumbled, running his hand through his hair. He turned from the door and was half way across the room before he turned.

“Sorry Bones come in.” He gestured to her to come inside before he again turned and disappeared down the corridor to his room.

Brennan stepped over the threshold and shut the door behind her. Something was up with Booth, he had been the one to remind her about this Benefit not 2 hours before, and now he forgot? He had seemed genuinely confused and Temperance wondered if something was going on and what had happened to make him forget something like this. Whatever it was she intended to question his about it the minuet he made his appearance.

Booth fumbled with his bow tie as his tried to clear his mind. After the 5th try his was satisfied that it didn’t look completely ridiculous. He moved slowly back down the corridor to the lounge room, Bones and most likely a lot of questions about his current state of mind.

When Booth entered the living room Bones was standing by the fireplace, looking at the photos that he had on his mantle. For the first time that night he took in what she was wearing. She had on a black halter-neck ankle length dress, which exposed her whole back, her auburn curls were twisted up in a clasp at the back of her head, with long tendrils falling down and framing her face. She looked gorgeous.

He smiled and she reached out one of her long fingers to trace the frame of his favourite photo, the one of Parker and Bones at the Jeffersonian Museum on his 5th birthday. He cleared his throat to alert her to the fact that he was in the room. She turned to him and opened her mouth, but Booth cut her off before she could even make a noise.

“Look Bones, I don’t want to talk about it, everything is fine, let’s just get to this benefit before Angela sends out the dog squad.”

“But Booth…” She interjected. Booth took a step towards her and looked into her brilliant blue eyes.

“Trust me Bones. Please.” He almost begged. Bones broke the gaze and looked at the floor; she mumbled something that Booth couldn’t quite make out.

“What was that Bones?” Booth questioned.

“Nothing, and don’t call me Bones!” She grumbled.

“Alrighty then, let’s get moving.” He grinned, clapping his hands together. Bones rolled her eyes and turned back to the door. Booth glanced back at the couch as he turned to close the door. Briefly wondering if he should have told her, he was glad that she had dropped it and not asked the many questions he knew that she was dying to spit out.

“Booth!” Bones sharp voice broke him from his thoughts. “Are you coming or are we going to spend the evening in your hallway?”

“Coming Bones, coming” He sighed and looking back into the apartment, closed the door, wondering what his daughter was doing at that moment.

--Last edited by SquirtandMilo on 2007-12-02 21:07:57 --

Posted 10/10/2007 14:51:06 (10/10/2007 05:51:06 AM) bones206

more more more please?

Chapter Two: Distracted

The drive to the benefit was noiseless. Booth drove in silence, his mind still reeling from the information that he had a daughter. He kept repeating the phrase over and over in his mind, trying to make it sink in, to sound normal. But it wasn’t normal, he had a daughter who lived half way around the world and wanted him to know her. The enormity of it was just too much.

He thought about Parker and how much he had missed of his childhood and it saddened him to know that he had missed almost all of Elizabeth’s. Then his thoughts settled in Anna. They had dated in College. She had been an exchange student from a small country town in Victoria, Australia who had won a scholarship to come out and study law at a college in America.

They had met on their first day and he had quickly fallen for her. Anna was tall with gorgeous long blond hair and brilliant blue eyes, not unlike Bones’ he mused to himself steeling a quick glance at the forensic anthropologist sitting across from him.

She had also had a somewhat wild spirit. She had been extremely outgoing and a lot of fun to be with, always being positive and seeing the good in everyone. She had also been amazingly bright, graduating top of her class. Thinking back to the letter and Anna’s comments about Elizabeth she must have inherited her brains. He smiled to himself and wondered if she had also inherited her knack for getting into trouble; Anna had always been in trouble, getting told off for one thing or another.

Bones sat huddled in the passenger side seat of Booth’s black SUV as he drove them both to the benefit. He hadn’t said a word to her since she had told him to hurry up in the hallway and had spent the entire car trip so far in seemingly deep thought, concentrating on the road ahead of him.

Temperance, who had decided against trying to initiate any conversation for the time being, wondered what he was thinking and hoped that he wasn’t angry with her about something.

She glanced across at him and saw a soft smile playing across his lips and she fought the urge to question him about what he was finding so amusing, because as far as she could see, there was nothing that had occurred of late that was anything to smile about, especially to do with work.

Their last case had been practically draining. A substitute teacher that had been teaching in the Washington area for over 20 years had been arrested and convicted for the kidnap and murder of over 40 middle school students over the years that he had been teaching after a neighbour reported a disturbance at his property and they had found his wall of death along with the remains of about 10 children. Bones cringed at the thought.

The man, Peterson, had given them a complete confession however the case itself had been for the most part hard, physically and emotionally draining on both her and Booth. So she knew that he wasn’t contemplating on anything that was even remotely allied to their work.

After a minuet or two she made a mental note to ask him about it later, seeing as he didn’t appear to be in the mood for talking at the present time. Settling back into the seat she focused her attention on the dark streets outside the window, trying to ignore the growing silence that filled at car.

Booth pulled into the car park of the hotel that was hosting the benefit and pulled on the handbrake, realising for the first time that he had completely ignored Bones for the whole trip. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it when he couldn’t think of anything of any particular weight to say to her. Well what was he supposed to tell her? Hey Bones, look sorry I ignored you but I’m just a tad preoccupied with the daughter I just found out I had? He didn’t think so, and, for some reason, he wasn’t ready to tell everyone about her yet.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he had only just found out about her and he wanted a little time to get used to the idea of having a daughter and get to know her a bit before he announced it to everyone. As they made there way up the steps towards the reception hall he told himself that he would tell Bones and the squints when he’d had some time to get used to the idea. His thoughts were broken then by the squeal of Angela Montenegro.

“Oh my god sweetie, you look gorgeous!” She gushed at Bones. Temperance pulled back from her friends grip and holding her at arms length smiled.

“Thank you Angela, you look stunning too.” Angela grinned and turned to Booth.

“Hi Booth” she smiled at him, raising an eyebrow.

“Hello to you too Angela” He replied rolling his eyes as she took Brennan’s arm in hers and led her across the room to their table.

“Hey man!” Booth felt a slap on his shoulder as the voice of Dr Jack Hodgins met his ears. He turned to face him, greeting him in a somewhat distracted manner.

“What’s with the face?” Hodgins questioned. Booth took a moment in responding.

“Oh…what? Nothing, just…a little tired.” He finished lamely. He knew that it was a bad excuse but he hoped that Hodgins would take the hint and leave him alone.

“Whatever man, you think we should go over and join the ladies? Zach looks a little overwhelmed.”

Booth let out a bark of laughter at the sight of Dr Zach Addie sitting alone at their table, glancing around at the people surrounding him, all females who were talking animatedly to each other. As one lent over and asked him a question Booth saw his face turn a deep crimson colour as he stammered out a response to whatever question had been asked of him. If it was even possible he flushed a deeper shade of red as the girl moved back to what Booth presumed was her table and began to whisper to her friends.

“Yup, I think that kid needs saving.” Booth laughed at the look that was still plastered over the young doctor’s face. Hodgins laughed too and they made their way across the room.

“So, what did Booth do when he saw you in that dress?” Angela asked Brennan excitedly as they seated themselves at the table.

“Nothing, he didn’t even notice that I was wearing it until I pointed it out to him. He seemed to have forgotten all about the Benefit. He wasn’t even dressed, that is why we were late.” Angela’s face turned from shock to confusion as Brennan spoke.

“What? He didn’t even notice? Well what did he say when he finally got ready?” She probed, the eagerness in her voice rising again.

“Nothing, he barely said two words to me all evening, he didn’t say anything at all in the car, and he appeared to be thinking about something.”

“Did you ask him about it?”

“No, he seemed…distracted.”

“Distracted? How? ” Angela asked, in obvious shock. She knew that Booth and Temperance had the hots for each other.

“I don’t know, distracted? How many forms of distracted are there?” Temperance shot huffily, she was beginning to get annoyed by all of Angela’s questioning. She didn’t know any more than Angela did about what was going on with Booth.

“Well, did he seem upset, angry, annoyed?” Angela pushed.
“No, he just seemed distracted. He barely noticed that I was there. It is probably just something to do with Rebecca and Parker.”

“Sure-sure” Angela muttered sarcastically under her breath, finally giving up.

“I heard that Angela” Temperance laughed raising her eyebrows. Angela rolled her eyes and shook her head. It was at that moment that Hodgins and Booth arrived at the table.

“Finally decided to join us?” Angela enquired, laughter playing across her face.

“We decided to come over and rescue Zachie here. He seemed a little lost.” Hodgins responded gesturing carelessly to Zach who was still sitting at the table, glancing around him at the goings on around him.

“I’m not lost!” Zach interjected in a defensive tone.

“Sure you’re not Addie” Hodgins laughed. Zach puffed out his chest and pouted. Angela and Brennan both broke out in laughter; Booth was the only one not laughing as his mind once again drifted to the letter and his new daughter. He just couldn’t get it out of his head. He had a daughter. The words formed in his mind again, they were beginning to sound more and more natural each time he said them. He was so lost in thought it took him a moment to realise that Bones was talking to him. He snapped back to reality and looked at his partner.

“What sorry Bones, wasn’t concentrating” He admitted. Bones frowned, her forehead scrunching up as she pushed a wisp of hair out of her eyes.

“I asked you what you wanted to drink Booth. Are you sure you are okay? You have been a little…inattentive all evening.”

“I’m fine Bones; it is none of your business.” He snapped at her harshly. The moment he spoke he knew that he didn’t have any right to speak to her like that, no matter how preoccupied he was. She was only worried about him. He opened his mouth to apologise but she turned away from him and faced the stage as the lights in the room dimmed and a short man in a suit made his way to the podium. Booth sighed and settled back into his seat, this was going to be a long evening.

Posted 15/10/2007 02:14:21 (14/10/2007 05:14:21 PM) ToZiKa

Sounds interesting. I will definitely wait for another chapter.
Booth shouldn't be this harsh when she only worries about him.
pps

Posted 15/10/2007 10:24:33 (15/10/2007 01:24:33 AM) DBAngelfan

he should just tell her

more more!

Thanks for the support guys. I aim to please.

Chapter Three: Late Night Letters and Early Morning Phone Calls.

Booth clapped along with the rest as the lights in the room dimmed again and the speakers left the stage. The soft sound of music washed over him as the last plates were cleared from the tables and people got up, heading to the dance floor. He glanced surreptitiously at his watch. It read 10:27.

Booth let out a frustrated sigh; he just wanted to get home. He hadn’t listened to a word of the speeches, instead occupying himself with memories of Anna and college, remembering all of her little quirks and wondering how many of them Elizabeth had inherited. Now he thought about it he wondered why he hadn’t thought about her in so long. He liked the remembering.

That had led him onto a new train of thought as the speakers swapped for the first time, the light smattering of applause momentarily jerking him from his thoughts. Receding back into his thoughts he knew that it was because his life was so different now. He had been, dare he say wild? In college, and now he had a steady job, Parker, and Bones to worry about and look after. And now Elizabeth, a small voice in the back of his mind added the name to his list.

He knew that it was mad that he should feel so attached to her after what was it? 5 hours of even knowing about her? But he just couldn’t help it. She was his, he had helped make her and she was just…his. Like Parker was his. He looked at his watch again, 10:32.

"Bored Booth?" Angela’s playful voice cut through his thoughts like a sharp knife, bringing him quickly crashing back to full reality. He felt like a school boy who had just been caught napping by the teacher, as a slight flush began to creep up his cheeks he looked at her slightly bewildered.

"No, I um, I think I am going to get moving." He hurried. Everyone at the table frowned, bar Zach who was busy drawing something frantically on his napkin. Booth stood and in his haste lost his balance and fell forward into the table, sending his empty glass flying across the white expanse of the table. Not noticing the looks everyone was shooting his way.

"Are you sure you are okay Booth?" Bones asked again, a slight waiver in her voice. Booths eyes locked onto hers.

"I told you Bones, I am fine. Do I need to spell it out to you? Just drop it would you? It is none of your business!" He ground out callously before turning from the group of stunned squints and hurrying for the doors of the hall, tripping over the edge of the dance floor on his way.

Once the cool air hit him he immediately felt better. He was sorry for what he had said to Bones, but he just wanted her to leave him alone. Why did she always have to pry so much? Because that is your Bones that small voice in his head told him. He told that voice to shut-up and leave him alone. He didn’t need to feel guilty about her at the moment. No sooner than the thought had left his mind then he heard the sound of footsteps ringing out across the car-park.

"Booth?" Bones’ voice called out to him. Booth couldn’t tell the tone of her voice.

"What?" He practically spat at her as she slowed down. She seemed caught of guard and for a moment she just stood there, seemingly rooted to the spot the bottom of her dress whipping softly about her in the gentle breeze that was flowing through the garage.

"Booth, I want you to tell me what is going on. Is there something wrong because you have been edgy all night and just now you took it out on me? Is it something I did Booth, can’t you tell me? We’re partners." Bones voice was gentle, coaxing and calming but Booth replied without a split seconds hesitation and absolutely no thought as to what he was doing.

"Not everything is about you Bones. For fucks sake I told you to drop it, to leave me along but you just couldn’t do it could you? We are work partners, colleagues; we don’t have to share every intimate detail of our personal lives with each other Bones. You’re not my fucking shrink, you have no idea about what is going on, I can’t tell you about her, I just can’t so leave me alone!" He spat vehemently at her before turning back to his car.

Booth unlocked his SUV and yanked the driver’s side door open aggressively. He sucked in a deep breath as he tried to steady himself, placing his keys into the ignition. As the engine jumped into life Booth breathed out again and looking over his shoulder began to back out of the parking lot. He knew that he was being selfish but he just needed to get this out of his system. He would be fine tomorrow when he got to work. He would have had the whole night to process his news and get used to the idea. He would be able to tell her soon. Apologize, he hoped.

Pulling into the parking lot of his own apartment block Booth killed the engine, momentarily leaning back into his seat and closing his eyes. He marveled at how quickly his life could change. It had with Parker. In one split second he had become a father, and now it had happened again. A father to a daughter that he knew nothing about, except what she looked like and that she had inherited her mothers brains.

It was in that second, through that thought that he knew what he had to do at that moment to settle his mind. He needed to know more. Grabbing his keys he swung the door opened and threw himself out. Slamming the door he began to run across the underground garage to the stairwell. Remembering briefly to lock the car he jabbed the automatic locking key over his shoulder and hit the ‘lock’ button. He heard the slight kick of the locks and the dark car-park was momentarily washed in a soft orange glow as the blinkers flashed.

He took the stairs two at a time, heaving as he crashed through the swinging door as he reached his floor he slowed as he reached the door to his apartment and began to fumble with his keys. He took in a shuddering breath trying to calm himself down, why was he so worked up. Get a grip on yourself Booth. He scolded himself as he finally found the right key and slipped it into the lock, turning to hear a click. Booth mentally steadied himself again before pushing the door open and sliding into his dark apartment.

Moving in and closing the door Booth took off his jacket, dumping it on the couch as he moved further into the room. He flicked a light switched and bathed the room in a soft glow and moved back to the couch and sunk down to sit. After a pause Booth leaned down and pulled the package from Anna out from underneath the couch and hauled it onto the seat beside him. Standing up he stood, momentarily thinking before he moved down the hall to the study.

Booth turned on the light and moved to his desk. After shoving aside one of the many files that were strewn haphazardly over the desk he found a book of writing paper. Grabbing a pen Booth turned on his heel and left the room. He made his way back to the lounge via the kitchen, opening the fridge he grabbed himself a beer before heading back to settle of the couch, next to the box.

He flipped open the lid and pulled out the photo of Elizabeth that had been taken on her birthday that year, not 4 days before. Sighing he placed the photo at the top of the pad and began to write a letter to his daughter.

Elizabeth,

I don’t really know what to say, you are my daughter. Mine. I don’t think that it has really sunk it yet. I had this whole letter planned out but now as I sit here I just can’t put my thoughts down onto paper.

I saw the photo of you on your Birthday, Elizabeth, you are beautiful, just like your mother, though don’t tell her I told you that, she used to hate it when I told other people she was beautiful.

I don’t know how much you know about me, not much about what I have done since school I guess. I work for the FBI now, homicide; it’s not a very nice job but very satisfying.

I’m also partners with a forensic anthropologist, someone who looks at skeletons and tells us things about them, like their age. She is pretty cool. You’ll like her. Not unlike your mom in many ways.

Then there are the squints, they are great, it took me a while to see it, but now they are like my family, so I guess that makes them you family too.

Mostly they help us with forensics stuff on cases but often they have to identify bones that are thousands of years old. I won’t go on about it because I’m not sure how interested in it you are. I’m not sure what you are interested in at all.

Well, it is late and I think I am rambling, send me a letter soon Elizabeth.

Lots of love,

Seeley

He signed it off after a bit of hesitation, he wasn’t sure whether to put ‘dad’ or not. He had desperately wanted too but he just wasn’t sure yet. So he had decided to go with ‘Seeley’ for now and see how she responded. That is if she responds that little nagging voice crept back up on him but he tried to shove the disconcerting thoughts away as he placed the letter into its envelope. He flipped it over and addressed it,

Elizabeth Booth,
RMB 4503
Violet Town, Victoria
Australia

Booth likes writing his name after hers. He smiled when he realised what it meant. Anna had put him on her birth certificate.

Licking the back he sealed it, before setting it down on the coffee table and lent back into the soft comfort of the lounge. He flipped through some of the photos that Anna had sent him. Elizabeth as a baby, then as a waddling toddler, he smiled when he reached a photo of her first day at school, the grin on her face was incredible. She was so beautiful, she had that carefree look in her eyes that Anna always had. The ache he felt somewhere in the bottom of his chest that he had been feeling all evening intensified and he closed his eyes, holding the picture to his chest.

"Agh" Booth groaned as he rolled over. He heard a crash and jumped up looking around him wildly. He blinked at the bright light that met his eyes and sank back down onto the couch. He tried to figure out what had woken him when the shrill ringing of his mobile met his ears. He groaned again and reached for the phone, flipping it open.

"‘Lo?" He asked groggily, his voice still thick with sleep.

"Booth" The sharp voice of Cullen, his boss, met his ears. Shit Both thought.

"Yeah, it’s me…" He answered lamely.

"Where the hell are you Booth? It’s after 10 and you have a case, I need you to get over here and pick up the file then head over to the Jeffersonian and pick up that Doctor. You are going to need her on this one." His voice was brisk and business like, but Booth could sense a cool underlying tone and hoped that he hadn’t talked to Bones already. Booth groaned again, but this time it was at the thought of having to face the squints after last night, particularly Bones. She would be pissed.

"What was that Booth? You have a problem?" There was a pause and when Booth didn’t say anything Cullen spoke again.

"That is was I thought. I expect you over here in 30 minutes Booth. Get your arse up and moving!" And with that the line went dead. Booth took his phone from his ear and glowered at it as though it was the phones fault; throwing it on the couch he staggered into the kitchen and switched the coffee machine on, it whirred into life, before heading to the bathroom for a quick shower.

Booth switched off the shower and stepped into the cool air reaching for his towel, he wrapped it around himself before moving into the bedroom and proceeding to get dressed quickly. If he wasn’t at work soon Cullen would skin him alive. Booth could already tell he was pissed about something.

Moving into the kitchen he poured coffee into a travel mug and screwed the lid on before rushing towards the door and out into the hall. As he settled into the front seat of his SUV he couldn’t help but dread the day before it had even begun. He had been a complete arse last night. He knew it and he was sure that the rest of the squints knew it too, but what he was more worried about was Bones’ reaction, he had really cut into her and he hoped that she would forgive him, and if not at least not break any of his bones. Although he knew that he probably deserved it.

But as he neared to Hoover building his thoughts moved to Cullen and he knew that it wasn’t Bones’ killing him he had to worry about, because in all likelihood, Cullen would do it for her. He gulped stepping out of the car and he moved to the lifts. He tapped his foot on the hard cement floor, the sound of his footfalls ringing out around him until it arrived and then moved slowly in punching the button for the 10th floor and leaning back against the hardwood backing. Yup, he thought, Cullen was going to shoot him. Definitely.

The lift stopped and a bell tinged before the doors slid open and Booth was face to face with a livid looking deputy director. Booth gulped before forcing a smile onto his face.

"Morning Cullen, where’s that case?"

Posted 17/10/2007 14:44:27 (17/10/2007 05:44:27 AM) ToZiKa

Early morning phone calls?
At 10 am?
I can't remember Booth being late.
I really thought he would be prompt all the time.
But his thoughts about Elizabeth seemed to distract him too much.
I hope Cullen let him live, because I want to know what Bones is going to do with him. smile/mdr250.gif
pps

Posted 18/10/2007 00:03:24 (17/10/2007 03:03:24 PM) BGWGscienceteacher

I hope Booth will just go ahead and tell Cullen what is going on. Cullen had Amy, and would probably understand Booths situation better than others.

Keep going.

Posted 19/10/2007 11:00:05 (19/10/2007 02:00:05 AM) DBAngelfan

more more!

Chapter Four: It’s Not Who I Am

Dread was beginning to settle in the pit of his stomach. After half-an-hour at the Hoover building, in which he had been yelled at by Cullen for being an hour late to work and missing an important case. He had escaped one snake pit fee of bites and he was now, willingly enough, heading straight for another, and this snake tended to be feisty. Booth was sure there was no way he could escape this one without a bite. Nope, he didn’t have a hope in hell.

As Booth drove along the busy DC streets his mind wondered to the new case. A set of skeletal remains had been found in a ravine outside of Clifton. The case had fallen to him and Bones. He gulped when he realised that the case would require a drive. A drive in which he would have to remain within two feet of Bones.

Booth let out a sigh. How had things gotten like this? Why on earth had he snapped at her like that? So he and Bones’ fought, but he had never yelled at her like that, never been so callous and harsh with her. He knew that he needed to apologise, and that he needed her to forgive him. He didn’t know how long he could stand an angry Bones, as much as he enjoyed aggravating her, she was so incredibly cute when she was mad.

Thinking about Bones’ made Booth wonder how he was going to break the news of the case to her. He knew that she hated it when he waltzed into her office and pulled her from whatever work she was doing for the Jeffesonian to come out in the field with him. He knew that she loved the field, just not the way he could barge in and expect her to follow him like a lost puppy. This was going to be another one of those times, and to top it all off she was already most likely extremely pissed off at him. And Booth new that she had every right to be. But it didn’t help his case at all. He still had to face her, and Angela.

Slipping out of his SUV Booth grabbed the file and strode across the parking lot to the Jeffesonian’s entrance, trying to calm his edgy nerves.

The glass doors to the lab slid open and Booth strode though, his stride somewhat lacking his usual dominating, confident air. He nodded to Zach who was working on the platform before heading down the side, towards Brennan’s office.

Her door was closed. That meant that she was probably working and didn’t want to be disturbed by anyone. Booth blew out though his teeth, causing a hissing whistle to follow and fill the silent air around him. He braced himself for what was about to come and swung open her door, mentally kicking himself for yet again forgetting to knock.

Bones’ looked up when the door opened and he winced visibly at the cool look she gave him. This was no going to be fun.

“Sweetie, what exactly did he say?” Angela probed her friend.

“Well, he was really narky, he definitely wasn’t thinking about what he was saying, and I think his exact words were ‘I can’t tell you about her, I just can’t’ or something like that. I don’t know Ange, there is definitely something going on, I just hope that it doesn’t have anything to do with me.” Brennan finished. Wishing she knew what had happened to Booth to make his so…irate.

“Sounds like it has something to do with another female, not you Hun. Maybe he is having trouble with his latest female friend” Angela replied raising her eyebrows suggestively at Brennan.

“Yeah, but why is he hiding it from me?” Either ignoring or not noticing Angela’s evocative tone. “We have always been inexplicably open about our relationships, otherwise our partnership suffers; it suffers when we hide things, as you can so blatantly see after the somewhat eccentric events of last night.” She finished candidly.

“Bren, you just have to let him figure it out, I know you have always been honest about your relationships to an almost creepy degree, but really, I think he just needs some time, he’ll tell you what it is when he is ready. You can’t expect him to be open and honest about everything all of the time; I sure as hell know that you haven’t been that honest with him.” Angela stated pointedly.

“Yes I am. I tell him everything.” Brennan replied a little annoyed.

“I don’t mean about your sex life sweetie.” Angela said almost teasingly.

“Just because I choose not to tell him about every miniscule detail of my childhood…” Brennan huffed.

“No sweetie, you hardly tell him anything. If he knew the whole truth…” It was at that moment that Booth chose to make his entrance. Angela stopped talking and looked from Brennan to Booth. Brennan had a look that could kill etched over her face and Booth looked less than confident about the situation in which he currently found himself.

Angela stood up and excused herself from the room, almost running for the door in her alacrity. Booth and Brennan never broke eye contact. It was Booth who spoke first, taking a tentative step forwards.

“Look Bones…” He began.

“Don’t call me Bones!” Brennan interpolated.

“Fine” Booth ground out before continuing. He thought that they were past this. That she didn’t mind his nickname for her anymore.

“Fine then Brennan” He stressed her last name testily “I’m sorry about last night, I snapped at you and I had no right, I’ve just got a lot on my mind right now.” Booth paused to think about what he could say next. When he saw the look on Brennan’s face he knew that he would just have to get it over with, so he opened his mouth and began.

“Some…things…err…came up, and these…um, these…things…are really important to me and I just need to…err…sort out what I am going to do about…um…them…” He knew that he had dug himself a hole, but he hoped that it would at least alert her to the fact that it wasn’t her fault.

Temperance looked at Booth as he stood there in her office, very patently hiding something from her, and furthermore using it as his excuse as to why he had blown up at her last night. It confirmed her suspicions that something was obviously up with him. And this little outburst definitely made her want to know more but she knew better that to push it now.

“Booth, you didn’t snap at me last night. You yelled at me. And you had no right; I didn’t do anything to you.” He voice was full of hurt and Booth winced, he was almost wishing now that she would just yell at him. He could handle her yelling and harsh words but couldn’t stand the hurt in her voice, her defeated tone. He felt his stomach drop and guilt was over him in force.

“If you can’t tell me what it is that has you so inextricably worked up then you can’t let it impede with our relationship, because you cannot continue using it as an excuse as to why you keep yelling at me, and if it is going to effect our relationship then you either need to tell me what it is or we need to stop working together until you sort it out.” Her voice was losing volume and gaining hurt. Booth could see tears well up in the corner of her eyes making him want to reach out and take her in his arms.

“I am not going to continue to be your verbal punching bag Booth, it is not who I am.” Her voice sounded distant even to her, it hurt her to have to be telling him this but she just couldn’t handle being his scapegoat. Booth dropped his head, breaking their gaze.

“I know Bones, and I am sorry, I truly am, I just can’t tell you yet, and it is all too new. I promise that I won’t let it interfere again.” His tone was full of defeat and he hoped that he could keep his temper in check from here on out, losing Bones was the last thing that he wanted to happen, he could not let this get the better of him again.

Glancing back up to meet Brennan’s gaze again he tried his luck with the case.

“I have a case.” He decided to go for the blunt track as he tossed the file onto her desk raising his eyebrows. He saw her internal battle as she stared blankly at the orange folder in front of her, blinking back the tears she had managed to hold back. And he smiled as her usual tirade began, her voice rising again and all the hurt gone from her tone.

“Booth, you can’t come waltzing in here and expect me to drop all my work for you to come out on cases. I am extremely busy, thanks to our last case I am almost a week behind on my paper work and I have bones from limbo that I need to look at, Goodman has been pressing me for them for almost a month.” She frowned as she looked up and saw him grinning stupidly at her.

“What? What is it Booth?” She asked agitatedly.

“Nothing, nothing Bones” he chuckled. “Come on and get your coat, the remains are a couple of hours drive away.”

Brennan’s face contorted as Booth grabbed her elbow and began to drag her towards the door of her office.

“Why do I always feel like you are abducting me Booth?” She questioned him as he dragged her from her office and out into the lab.

He grinned from ear-to-ear as she stalked along beside him, glad that she was back to her old self. But what she had said to him in her office was still lurking at the back of his mind, a dark cloud that was impeding on his happiness, the fact that if he couldn’t control his frustration, she would stop working with him. He shoved that thought aside as Bones’ glared at him when he slipped in front of her opening the car door for her.

“Booth, I am quite capable of opening a door, just because I am a woman doesn’t mean that I have some insatiable need for you to do everything for me.”

“I know, I know. Sorry Bones.” He chuckled as he walked around the front of the car and slipped into the drivers’ seat.

“It’s not funny Booth!” She huffed, pouting at him playfully.

“It is when you make faces like that though Bones” He said pointing her pout. She immediately stopped and opened the case file. Booth felt a warmth flood through him at the playfulness, and was disappointed when it ended so abruptly. He wished that she could just let go sometimes and live in the moment.

“Where exactly was the body found?” Brennan asked Booth after a few moments silence as she skimmed the case file hurriedly. She looked up at his face and tried to read his expression, but she couldn’t, he seemed closed off.

“In a ravine outside of Clifton, come on Bones it’s written in the file.” He scoffed her, his tone light. Booth glanced across at the woman sitting athwart from him just in time to catch her roll her eyes.

“I can read Booth, I meant, where is this ravine, as in where exactly is it situated? I’m assuming it is not in downtown Clifton…”

“Well Bones, you guessed right. The body was found in the Hemlock Overlook Regional Park.” When she didn’t respond he looked across at her again. He smiled to himself as he saw her once again buried in the file.

“Come on Bones, it can’t be that interesting, we don’t even know who it is yet!” He laughed at her. She looked up and caught his eyes. The look on her face was enough to make Booth shut up hurriedly, turn back to the road and continue driving; now smiling inwards. His Bones’ sure was a handful, but he knew that he wouldn’t have her any other way.

The rest of the drive was passed in what felt to Booth like a comfortable silence. What Bones had told him earlier kept playing at his thoughts though, would she really quit their partnership? Booth knew that she had commitment issues, but they fought all the time, why was this so different? What made her so susceptible to it this time? All Booth knew what that there was no way he could let it happen again, something was obviously wrong and the last thing he wanted to do was to hurt her.

As they stepped out of the car Bones looked around a look of slight confusion playing across her features. She turned to Booth.

“So where is this body?” She asked, her electric blue eyes burning into him. He swallowed.

“It’s just through here, some walkers found it.” He said gesturing vaguely to a path that disappeared into the bush of the national park surrounding them. He waited for her tirade to begin.

“Booth! You didn’t tell me that we would have to hike to this body; I am not dressed for a spot of leisurely early morning hiking! I am dressed for a day at the lab, which is where I should be now!”

“Whoa Bones” He quietened her by holding his hands up in the air, as if in surrender. “Don’t worry, there is a boardwalk, there is no bush basing, just a little walk. Now we better get moving the CSI guys have been here for over 3 hours already.” He knew that would get another reaction.

“I don’t know what that means” She faced him blankly, “Why on earth would I want to bash a bush?” Her face gave him an expression of pure Bones confusion, He loved the way she scrunched her nose and squinted at him as though she was trying to read him like her bones.

“It’s an expression Bones, it means to go wandering through the bush making your own trails. Now let’s get moving, who knows what out buddies in the CSI are doing?”

“They better not have touched my remains Booth, I can’t have them compromised. Let’s go!” She willed him impatiently, “I don’t want the remains alone with them any longer than is necessary!”

“Ay-Ay Bones” Booth grinned, smacking his heels together and saluting to her as if she were that captain of a navy vessel. She just gave him another one of her world famous eye rolls before picking up her gear and moving off towards the trail. Booth ran to catch her up before slipping comfortably into step beside her as they headed down the walk towards their waiting body.

Posted 04/11/2007 15:03:41 (04/11/2007 06:03:41 AM) ToZiKa

I'm so happy that you finally posted a new chapter!
First I thought Bones would really tell him to go look for another partner.
She was really really hurt and I could imagine how she must have looked at Booth at this moment.
Right now it looks as if everything could be back to normal in a few day's....but with Bones you never know.
I really hope he tells her about his daughter soon.
They always talk about every problem they have, so it would be just normal to ask her what to do.

Posted 05/11/2007 10:01:53 (05/11/2007 01:01:53 AM) DBAngelfan

yeah why not just tell her?

more more!

Chapter Five: The Girl in the Ravine


Booth stood behind Bones a slight hunch in his shoulders as he peered at the body lying in the mud before them, Brennan crouched over in front of him. He clapped his hands together and began.

“So Bones, what have we got?” The Policemen and CSI guys were all milling around but at a distance. Booth had made sure that they all knew to back off and ‘let the good doctor work’ but that didn’t stop him from standing right behind her as she made her primary examination on the body. Booth was just hoping that the person fell while walking on their own and that it wasn’t a murder.

“Well, it’s definitely a child; no widening of the pelvic bones and the sacrum is still small so I would say prepubescent, 10-12 years old. I’d estimate the body has been buried 1 to 2 months but Hodgins will be able to confirm.” She stopped talking and studied the bones thoroughly in silence. At her prolonged pause Booth looked up at her and saw a slight frown creasing her forehead.

“Gender..?” He prompted hoping to get her to reveal to him what had her so quiet and deep in thought. Booth heard her sigh and he looked back at the body.

“It’s hard to tell, in a prepubescent the factors that we use to determine gender, such as the widening of the pelvis in females has not occurred, I’ll have to wait until Zach has cleaned the bones and study the bones in detail.”

Booth nodded. “Anything else..?” He pushed her when she did not continue her observations immediately. He saw her frown again as if she was annoyed at him and when she opened her mouth he expected her to berate him about how you could not rush an examination however he was surprised when she just continued on.

“There is some distinct wearing of the tarsals, especially between the talus and the calcaneus and the patella also has some distinct wear.” She opened her mouth to continue on but Booth stopped her.

“Whoa Bones, hold up there and translate into English for me. The what-and-what have wear?”

Temperance sighed, smiling “The Tarsals, they are the bones of the ankle, the talus and the calcaneus are two of those bones, the calcaneus is better known as the heel. The Patella is the knee.” She looked up and was amused by the sight of Booth scribbling ferociously on his note pad.

“You got all that?” She laughed. Booth looked up and pouted.

“Yes thank you, we can’t all be geniuses! You have any idea what could have caused the wear?”

Temperance shook her head. “I can’t think of anything off the top of my head, but this child was only 12 years old at most, there would have had to have been a lot of activity to cause this visible wear at such an early age.”

“You think it had anything to do with the death?” He questioned still writing. Bones shook her head and spoke;

“No likely, this wear is the result of years of wear, not the effects of abuse or even bondage. There are multiple fractures along the radius and ulna however, that seem like defense wounds. And here…” Bones said shifting and pointing to the upper body, “These fractures on the scapula and clavicle as well a quite a few along the rib cage…” She rocked back onto her heels and squinted up at Booth “This child was beaten up pretty badly; most of these fractures have healed.” She paused as she turned back to the body and her eyes swept over the bones.

“Cause of death?” Booth asked tentatively.

“Well…” She muttered picking up the skull and turning it over to peer at the back. She pointed to a crack.

“This crack on the occipital appears congruent with blunt force trauma and if these fractures are in any way linked we could possibly be looking at abuse. However I cannot officially state that the blow to the cranium was fatal, I will have to do a more thorough exam back at the lab. There is also no evidence to facilitate to me that she fell however as most of these fractures have healed, it seems to me it’s more likely that her body was dumped here postmortem.” Brennan spoke in a hardened tone that she saved for bodies. Connecting was just too hard; she needed it to all be the same.

“So are you saying that this kid was murdered?” Booth tried to keep his tone free from any emotion. Brennan seemed to sense that something was wrong because she turned to look up at him.

“That is exactly what I am saying.” She stood and snapped of her gloves, turning to the forensics team and began to dispense out instructions to the few lingering agents, one hand on her hip and the other holding her latex gloves and pointing at the various members of the team and points around the site.

“I need these remains bagged and sent to the Jeffersonian along with soil samples from around the body and any organic materials that are in the soil. Also any living organisms should also be bagged and sent off to the lab.” She finished her tone business like. Booth glanced around, none of them looked very happy at being bossed around by the scientist.

Booth shifted his gaze to the victim and saw one of the younger looking members of the forensics team bring out a shovel. Booth winced as Bones saw.

“What the hell? Get rid of that shovel before you completely compromise my remains and cause any damage.” The young man jumped back as if she had brandished a whip at him. Booth smiled and moved forward resting his hand in the small of her back, leaning into her ear.

“Calm down Bones” He soothed. He felt her immediately tense under his touch as his voice startled her and then relax as she realised it was just him.

“You know how I hate people compromising my remains Booth.” She said matter-of-factly.

“I know Bones; I have been hammered by you on countless occasions.”

“I don’t know what that means” She said absent-mindedly as she scrutinized the team that was now lifting the remains into evidence bags, cocking her head slightly to the side.

Booth let out a soft chuckle that seemingly went unnoticed by the forensic anthropologist as she stood staring down at the forensics team as they gathered the victim and evidence while packing up the scene.

“Come on Bones lets get out of here, well head back to the Jeffersonian, we can’t get any reception out here and I need to get in contact Cullen and tell him about what we know of the victim and I am sure that you need to contact your team and let them know about the incoming body.” Booth spoke again as he saw the last of the bones being placed into bags and sealed. Bones turned to face him and nodded. Booth placed his hand back in the small of her back as they began to struggle their way back up the muddy embankment.

Booth heard Bones let out a grunt of disgust as they reached the boardwalk.

“Ugh Booth, I am covered in mud!” She grumbled gesturing to her shoes that were now, as she had told him, covered in mud.

“Don’t worry Bones, they are only shoes, just clean them.”

“Booth, they cost eight hundred dollars!” She said exasperatedly. Booth frowned and decided to play dumb; he loved it when she got riled up.

“Then why on earth were you wearing them at work?” She watched her face closely, trying to gauge the effect that his words had on her and how much of a reaction he was going to get from her.

“Well I wasn’t exactly planning on going trudging through the mud today. I was supposed to be at the lab identifying bones from Limbo and doing paper work, but you just had to come and drag me to your stupid scene!” She shot at him. Booth just rolled his eyes and placed his hand in the small of her back guiding her back in the direction of the waiting SUV.

Both of them fell silent as they walked through the park and back to the car, both lost in thought. Booth was thinking about their victim. The victim was a kid; no older than 12 that was too young to die. He hated cases that involved kids. He didn’t look forward to his phone call to Cullen; cases involving kids were always especially painful. Parents, siblings, friends, so many people effected, that and the thought of how an innocent child could have been brutally murdered. Murder involving children was almost always a crime committed out of malice, with the killer having no ‘reason’ at all as to why they ended the young life.

Brennan stopping beside him jolted Booth out of his réveille and he looked up and realised that they had reached the car park. Bones was waiting for him to get his keys out and unlock the SUV. He pulled them out of his pocket and clicked the key pad. There was a soft click as the doors unlocked and Booth made his way around to the opposite side of the car. Pulling the door open he slipped in sighing as he closed the door and reached into his jacket pocket to remove his mobile.

Flipping it open he glanced across at Bones and saw that she had her phone out too, but was waiting for him to make his call before she began to make hers as so not to disturb him. He smiled at her before punching Cullen’s number into the phone and lifting it to his ear the sound of the shrill dial tone flooding his mind. After a few moments the sound stopped and Cullen’s curt voice came through the phone instead.

“Cullen”

“It’s Booth.” He said simply.

“Ah Booth, you and Dr. Brennan examine the body yet?” Booth thought that he could sense a hit of apprehension in the directors’ voice.

“Yes sir, we did.” Booth paused, drawing in a breath, not entirely sure how to break the news to him. He pause must have been longer than he thought because Cullen’s harsh voice filled the line again.

“And..?” He prompted. Booth jumped slightly.

“After her preliminary examination Dr. Brennan believes that the victim was young, 10-12 years old at time of death. However because of the age it will take a more thorough examination before we can establish a definite gender.” Booth could almost hear Cullen wince on the other end of the line.

“Cause of death?”

“Inconclusive, but Dr. Brennan believes that it could possibly be blunt force trauma to the head.”

“So nothing to do with the fact that she was found at the bottom of a gully?”

“No sir, Brennan thinks that it is more likely that the victim was dumped there postmortem.”

Cullen grunted and then spoke again.

“Get the remains back to the lab ASAP and Dr. Brennan’s team onto it. Fax me across a full report of their finding once they are done.”

“Yes sir.” Then there was a click and the line went dead. Booth wasn’t surprised that Cullen wanted the report, however that didn’t mean that it was common for him to want to see reports as they came in, he normally waited until they had finished each case before he reviewed the files. Booth looked back across to Bones who was sitting there gazing at him thoughtfully.

“Cullen wants a copy of the report faxed across to him when you and the squints are done with the body.” Booth broke the silence absent-mindedly relaying the request that Cullen had made across to Bones. She nodded in response and began to dial a number on her mobile.

Booth turned back to look out of the windscreen as he slipped the key into the ignition and started the car, the engine jumping into life as Brennan spoke into her phone.

“Hey Ange, It’s Brennan, look, we have a case, I’ll need you to do an ID on the victim, but first can you tell Hodgins that we need soil analysis and an analysis of any organic materials the forensics team found at the scene.”

There was a pause and Booth assumed that Angela had managed to sneak a word in. Brennan nodded and began to talk once again.

“Get Zach to set the body out onto the table but tell him not to clean the bones yet, I want to have another look at the victim before he does that and possible send some samples across to Cam.”

Another pause

“Oh, and tell Hodgins that I will need his report as soon as he is done, Cullen wants me to fax him across a copy of the report once we are done.”

Silence filled the SUV again and all Booth could hear was the faint sound of tires on the road as they made their way back towards DC. Angela was obviously questioning Brennan because when she spoke next her tone was a little ruffled.

“I don’t know why Cullen wants the reports before we close the case, you’ll have to ask Booth when we get back.”

“…”

“I don’t know how long we will be” At this Bones looked across at Booth.

‘How long..?’ She mouthed at him as though he hadn’t been listening. Booth shrugged.

“About 3 hours I guess?” He mumbled.

“About three hours Ange, but it depends on the traffic.”

“…”

“Okay, I’ll see you soon.” And with that she hung up the phone sighing.

“What’s up Bones?” Booth asked a hint of amusement in his voice.

“What?” She looked over at him slightly confused.

“What is the matter Bones?” He laughed. This only made her huff more.

“Nothing, as if I am going to know what the traffic is like? Really” She shook her head and settled back into her seat, leaning her forehead on the glass of the window looking out at the passing scenery.

They settled into silence as they drove back towards DC. Both their drives today had been quiet. Booth had thought that their talk this morning had cleared things up but he couldn’t help but feel that there was still some level of…he couldn’t quite place what it was. Bones seemed the same, but there was a level of distance that seemed to be slowly coming between them, the silence on the drive over, then on the walk back to the car and now. It didn’t feel like an uncomfortable silence, it was just there, hanging over them both.

Brennan thought about what she had told Booth earlier. She knew that it was drastic and that he had only yelled at her once, but she just didn’t think that she could handle Booth yelling at her like that. Booth was her protector, even when she didn’t want him to be. He was her partner and her best friend. She didn’t want to lose that, didn’t want it to fall away, so she would do anything she could to protect it, including stop working with him, or at least confine herself to the lab and refuse to do any field work with him.

It was times like these that she realised why she liked the lab so much. The silence filling the car was something new. They normally bickered or discussed cases during their drives; she wondered even more what was on his mind and causing this…this silence. She didn’t like this new dynamic. Temperance decided that when they finished at the lab she would confront him about what was on his mind, try and get him to tell her what was going on inside his head. She had never liked psychology.

They entered the Jeffersonian almost two and a half hours later. The bones must have already arrived because as they entered the lab Booth saw the rest of the squints on the platform huddled around one of the examination tables. He felt Bones leave his side and her pace increased as she ran up the stairs swiping her pass card and hurried over to the table. Booth followed at a more leisurely pace.

As he came up to the band of squints he began to hear their conversation.

“Well I can take some of the particulates that are embedded on the cranium and see if she was moved. But I can’t promise you anything if she has been in the water.”

Brennan nodded as Hodgins finished talking.

“Okay, whatever you can get.”

“Do you want me to clean the bones now Dr. Brennan?” Zach asked as Hodgins took his samples and moved away to his work station.

“Not yet Zach, I want to do another examination to see if there are any other marks that Hodgins or Cam could get samples from.”

“Okay Dr. Brennan, call me when you are done.”

“Will do Zach” Bones called as she pulled on her lab coat. She drew her auburn hair into a messy pony tail and began to examine the remains on the table once again. Booth moved around so that he was standing behind her, just out of her personal space. He liked to watch her work.

Booth winced as she scraped some of the remaining hair from the child’s scalp. Cam came up not long after and took it from her along with some of what appeared to Booth to be rotting flesh. Amid his thoughts of the rotting Body he heard the soft click as Brennan pulled out her small hand held recorder and pressed the record button.

“After closer examination of the cranial structure I can safely state that the victim was female, between the ages of 10 to 12. You can see some remanet of her hair still attached to the scalp” She pointed them out no doubt for Booth. “The longer hair also suggests that the victim was female.”

“Okay Zach” She said to her young student as she snapped off her blue latex gloves “Clean the bones and arrange them again, catalogue any missing bones and call me when you are done, I’ll be in my office.”

Zach nodded and turned to the body. Bones turned to Booth. She noticed that he looked a little pale. She shook her head and moved past him towards her office. After a slight pause in which Booth studied Zach picking up the bones and placing them on a trolley he hurried after her retreating figure.

Booth clapped his hands together as he entered her office, Bones had situated herself at her desk and was busily working on the paperwork Booth assumed that she had been doing earlier that morning when he had interrupted her with the case. She glanced up at him distractedly when he located himself on one of her couches. After a few moments it was clear to Booth that unless he said something, she was going to completely ignore him.

“So Bones, how long is Zachy going to take cleaning those bones then before you can do your full examination and give me all those lovely details like cause of death and an ID?”

“It’s nearly 6 Booth; you may as well go home. They aren’t going to be ready tonight.” She muttered not looking up from her files.

“Nearly six..?” He frowned and looked at his watch. She was right, they day sure had gone quickly. As the realisation of the time washed over him so did the fact that he hadn’t eaten all day and his stomach suddenly gurgled. He looked down at Bones working steadily on all the files spread across her desk. He though for a second about making her come with him and get some food, and make sure that she went home at a reasonable hour. But things had been so…undefined between them all day that he didn’t really think that tonight was the best time to drag her away from her desk for a social meal. So he opted instead for telling her to go home instead.

“Righty’o Bones, I am going to get going then, make sure that you actually leave this lad tonight, go home and have some food, grab some sleep and I’ll meet you back hear tomorrow to see what we’ve got. Okay?”

He thought he heard her grumble something but he couldn’t make it out, he knew that there would be no use in trying to get a more coherent answer out of her while she was working so instead he made his way to the door of her office and let himself out.

Striding through the lab Booth again felt his stomach grumble. He picked up pace as he left the lab though the glass double doors and down to the car park. Settling himself into his SUV he began the drive back to his apartment, hoping that the unease between him and Bones would wear off soon. He hated himself for yelling at her, he kicked himself that he could have screwed everything they had up, he couldn’t lose her. Not now, not ever. She was too important. And it wasn’t only him that needed their relationship to hold together, the girl in the ravine needed them too.

Booth felt sick at the thought of the small girl who was dead and then it hit him, she was about the same age as Elizabeth. He had only known about his daughter for 2 days and he already didn’t know what he would do without her, what he would do of anything happened to her, and he hadn’t even met her yet. He couldn’t even imagine what this little girls parents were going though, not knowing what had happened to their little girl.

He smacked the steering wheel. This was absolutely ridiculous. He had known about his daughter for 2 days, he shouldn’t feel this connected yet. But he did and he knew that he needed to find out what had happened to this little girl and put the bastard who did this to her away. He hated cases that involved kids.

Posted 12/11/2007 19:49:53 (12/11/2007 10:49:53 AM) ToZiKa

I too hate cases with kids involved.
They are mostly good to read and thrilling but I still feel bad when I read them.
For Booth it is totally normal to feel connected to his daughter after only two days, he is very much a family type.
I hope he talks to Bones in the next chapter.
They are both not happy with the current situation and it would be better for them to talk to one another.

I really like the story, please post soon.

Posted 13/11/2007 09:33:42 (13/11/2007 00:33:42 AM) DBAngelfan

more more...yeah he should just tell her already.

Chapter Six: Emily Andrews

Booth tried not to think about the past couple of days as he walked into the Jeffersonian institute the next day. It was just after 8 and he wasn’t at all surprised to see Bones already working on the main platform. Swiping his pass card he took the stairs two at a time and strode over to the examination table where she was working.

“So Bones, what’ve we got?” He asked in a falsely cheery voice. Brennan looked up from where she was examining the victim’s skull.

“Well, as I said yesterday I am pretty sure that the victim is female. I am just finishing my examination here and then I have to get these tissue markers done for Ange so she can try to get an I.D. When she gets here…” She added the last part in a barely audible whisper. Booth grinned.

“Come on Bones, not everyone gets here at 6 o’clock in the morning. Just because Angela displays moderately human tendencies…” He gave her that lopsided grin and she rolled her eyes at him, a smiled spreading across her own face. It wasn’t quite the reaction that Booth was expecting. That was until he heard someone talk behind him, making him jump about a foot in the air.

“Only moderately human ‘ay Booth..?” Angela’s voice floated across the raised forensics platform. The bubbly artist grinned as a slight flush spread up Booth’s neck and across his cheeks. Angela raised her eyebrows at Brennan who smiled.

“I’ll have the skull for you in a couple of hours Ange; I have to show Booth what I found.”

“Sure thing sweetie. I’ll be in my office when you need me.” She turned to Booth, walking backwards towards her office.

“Oh and Booth, for future reference, find out why I’m late before your refer to me as even remotely human.” She raised her eyebrows at him. He nodded at her, easily following her innuendo. He glanced up at Bones and chuckled when he saw that she had already gone back to her work and missed the whole exchange.

“Anything else you have discovered in your early morning examination Bones?”

“Yes, along with the breaks to the Ulna, radii, clavicles, scapula and ribs I also found a number of fractures along the victims toes.”

Booth looked up at this. “Caused by what?” He asked curiously. Booth wondered if it was torture and decided to voice his thoughts. “Torture..?” He hoped to God that it wasn’t.

“I don’t think so. From the path of the fractures it appears as though they were caused by pressure to the top of the foot, a weight, as if she dropped something on them, not from beating as such. But of the 4 that I saw they are mostly healed however it appears that they were caused at different times.” Booth let out his breath as she finished talking, at least she hadn’t be tortured but if all her broken bones were anything to go by she had been beaten badly, and regularly. Booth shuddered, how could anyone do that to a little girl? He knew what he would do if anyone so much as even thought about touching Elizabeth, they would be dead. This train of thought caused him to stiffen and his anger levels to rise.

“What on earth happened to this girl?” Booth whispered under his breath, more to himself than Brennan. She seemed to hear him nevertheless and answered.

“Well, I confirmed that the blow to the occipital was the cause of death.” Booth watched as Bones moved and picked up the skull turning it over and pointing at the deep cracks along the back of the pale coloured bone.

“But because of the position of the crack on the cranium and the dispersion pattern of the fractures she must have been hit in a very awkward position.” She was stopped by Zach returning to the platform, he whispered something to Brennan who nodded; he then moved to stand a few paces behind the anthropologist.

“But there is more…” Brennan dropped off and Booth looked up hoping to gauge what kind of ‘more’ it was but her eyes were devoid of emotion.

“What..?” He asked apprehensively he didn’t like the sound of Brennan’s voice. Did he really want to know what this girl had been through?

“I also found more fractures on her cranium, along her Nasal bones and across her left Zygomatic bone.”

“And her what bone?” Booth gulped, she had fractures on her head, how had this kid been beaten? What kind of psycho beat a kid like that?

“Her left cheek bone” Brennan showed him on the girls skull, tracing her finger down around the outside of her eye socket and stopping just under where he nose would have ended. Booth saw the feint line of a crack diagonally across the bones, starting at the base of her nose and running up past her eye socket.

“What could that have been caused by?” Booth bristled.

“I don’t know Booth, maybe because she was struck, or because she fell. Whatever it was it had healed completely before her death.” Booth thought he caught almost a slight hint of resignation in her voice.

Brennan set the skull onto the examination table and looked over to Booth.

“What are you saying Bones? How was this little girl murdered?”

“Well, as I said, from the position of the blow, she would have had to have been hit from below.”

“What..?” Booth asked confused “Hit from below?”

“Well, the blow came up from the ground, not down onto her from above.” Brennan tried to summarise but she was cut off by Booth.

“But how would that have worked? You mean her killer was shorter than her?” It was Zach’s turn to step in and he answered Booth’s question.

“No, not smaller than her, the murderer would have had to have been considerably bigger and stronger to cause that sort of damage to her cranium.”

“What are you getting at Zach?” Booth spat tersely at him, the kid really got on his nerves. Bones frowned at him.

“Well…” He swung his arms as if he was playing golf however Booth had a sneaking suspicion that Zach hadn’t realised it himself. “It could have been like this…” And he swung at nothing. Booth nodded. Someone could definitely get enough power swinging like that to kill a small child.

“So like a golf swing?” He voiced Zach’s movement.

“Yes, exactly like that although I can’t confirm what she was hit with yet, but a golf club is a very likely possibility. A smaller club though.” Brennan nodded enthusiastically.

“However we would have to find one that matched the shape of the depression in the bone…” Booth nodded he knew this.

“Do we have any idea about who this little girl is yet?” He wanted to get the case moving, this was all taking far too long in his opinion. He needed to get the sick-o who did this behind bars.

“Not yet, I still have to put tissue markers on the skull and give it to Ange to put through the Angelator and see if we can get a hit on missing persons.”

“Well can we hurry up? I want to get this cause moving. Has Hodgins got anything yet?” Booth’s agitation was showing in his voice now and his temper was rising, he knew that he needed to stop making the case personal and that if he didn’t his temper was just going to get worse. He couldn’t afford any more accidents like the other day. But as he looked over at Brennan he knew that he had overstepped the line with his last words. There was a shadow of hurt playing in the depth of her blue eyes as she looked at him.

“Not much” The entomologist answered “Only that the body was not moved once she had been buried, however I don’t think that the body was killed in that ravine, there were trace elements of Methylbenzene, she was moved to the ravine and her body dumped there.”

“So she wasn’t moved after that initial dumping?” Booth clarified.

“No, I don’t believe so; however Methylbenzene, also known as Toluene is used in almost everything, from Auto paints to garden fertilizers and household cleaners it will be practically impossible to determine the exact sight of her murder.”

“Damn!” Booth yelled stamping his foot like an angry three year old. All three scientists looked shocked. Booth looked up at Temperance who spoke.

“Booth, I think that you should go and take a break, write up a report. I’ll get to work on the tissue markers for Angela and Hodgins can work on that chemical breakdown and I’ll call you after lunch.” The equanimity in her tone surprised him.

Booth knew that she was trying to get rid of him because of his out bursts and he wondered id she was worried that he would yell at her like he did the other night in the car park in front of her squints. He didn’t want to leave though. He wanted to be here the minuet anything came up.

“Don’t worry Bones, I don’t mind waiting. How about I hang out in your office?” He said making a conscious effort to soften his tone of voice. She looked apprehensive although she didn’t refuse him.

“Okay Booth, if you are sure, just as long as you don’t get in our way while we are working.” Booth smiled, relived that she didn’t kick him out.

“Cross my heart Bones” Brennan looked up at him.

“How would you cross you heart Booth? That is physically possible.”

Booth laughed at that despite his current mood. At least she was back to her old self.

“It is an expression Bones, it is just a way of saying ‘I promise’” He explained to her, the way he would explain something to Parker. She frowned, crinkling up her brow and scrunching her nose.

“Then why didn’t you just say ‘I promise’ Booth?” She asked quizzically

“Just because Bones…” He sighed and moved to her open office door. Sometimes her lack of knowledge of pop culture and colloquial language still surprised him. Brennan shook her head and turned back to the remains. She didn’t understand why people didn’t just say what they meant.

Booth settled himself onto Bones’ couch and lent back, pressing into the soft plush of the cushions. He knew that he was letting this case get to him. The process wasn’t taking any longer than usual so he knew that he had no right to jump the squints for information he knew that they would not normally have at this stage in the investigation. Sighing he let his thoughts drift yet again.

He thought about his son. Parker had always wanted a brother or sister and now he had one. Booth wondered if he should tell Rebecca and Parker about Elizabeth or if he should keep it from them, at least for now, like he was doing with everyone else. He knew that if he told either one or both of them that he would run the risk of the squints finding out from them and not from him.

He knew that Parker was fond of them, especially Hodgins and his bugs. He also knew for a fact that Rebecca and Bones had talked in the past. He wanted his son to know about his sister, he knew that he was going to tell Elizabeth about Parker. But he didn’t want anyone else to find out about her. However he also knew that it was unfair of him to keep this from Parker

This adamant feeling made him wonder why. Why didn’t he want Bones’ and the other Squints to know about Elizabeth? Was he worried about what they would say? What they would think of him because he had another child out of wedlock and her mother was afraid to tell him? Why would Bones’ care, she didn’t hold Parker against him so why should she care about Elizabeth. This made Booth worry, was it him who was ashamed of her? Was he the one who was ashamed of his daughter? The very thought made him feel sick and he felt the anger that had been bubbling just under the surface all day begin to rise and rear its ugly head once again.

“Booth” Bones voice cut through his thoughts and brought him back to the here and now.

“Yes?” He asked; possibly a little too harshly.

“I have finished the tissue markers and Angela is about to input the information into the Angelator if you would like to come.”

“Right, great, I’m coming Bones” Booth tried to lighten his tone but from the look on Brennan’s face he didn’t have much success. As he followed her out of her office and through the lab to Angela’s office Booth thought that this thinking, getting completely lost in his thoughts for hours at a time was becoming an increasing very bad habit. And he knew that sometime soon it was going to get him into a lot of trouble.

Angela looked up as they strode into her office.

“I have inputted the tissue depths that Brennan gave me into the programme and…” Angela drifted off as she plugged some information onto her hand held remote, she looked up when a holographic image came floating into view. “This is what we have got.” She finished.

A small skull floated momentarily in the now silent office before it was covered in flesh. The face of the small girl turned slowly in front of the three colleagues. The image made Booth feel slightly sick, the girl was pretty, her eyes closed he watched as her face rotate in the air before him. Brennan was the first one to speak.

“Ange, the testes on her hair follicles showed that she had brown hair, can you add that in for us?”

Silently Angela fiddled with her remote and brown wavy hair appeared on the image. They all stood there in silence for a few more moments. Booth studied the face, he was sure that he had seen this little girl somewhere before. He couldn’t shake the feeling of déja vu that was slowly settling over him the longer he studied the image of the girl.

“Okay, do we want to run the image through the missing person’s database and see if we get a hit? We might finally be able to put a name to this little girls face.” The sound of Bones’ soft voice startled him. Booth wondered why he was suddenly so jumpy.

Without a word he moved across to Angela’s computer and settled himself to her right, peering over her shoulder as she brought up there picture of the girl in the ravine and began to run it against the missing kids within their age range. Booth prayed that they would get a hit so that they could name this girl and get into contact with her parents and relatives. He didn’t want to think about how much agony they must be in with their daughter missing.

“I have one…” Angela said softly, pausing as she read the information that the file gave them in her head. Booth looked at the photo of the young girl; she had light brown wavy hair and bright blue eyes. She was smiling up at the camera with a carefree grin on her face, she shouldn’t be dead.

“Emily Andrews, 12 year’s old born in Virginia, disappeared 1 month ago while she was competing in a horse show…” Angela began to read aloud.

“Of course!” Brennan exclaimed as this last bit of information was read.

Booth frowned.

“What?” He questioned her.

“Horse riding, it would explain how she obtained the ware to her ankles and knees.” It was Angela’s turn to frown this time.

“But she was only 12, how much riding would she have had to do to get that much ware?”

“A lot” Brennan admitted nodding, “But it is fitting with the damage.”

“You got an address on that Angela?” Booth asked. He wanted to find her parents and give them the news about their daughter. He also wanted to see who had been bashing her around when she was alive, it was quite possible that they were the one who was murdered her and dumped her body so heartlessly in a ravine.

“Sure do, her home address is… 2005-2009 Sleepy Hollow Road, Lake Barcroft, Virginia” Booth looked up at her.

“She lived across 3 blocks? Are you sure?”

“All I can go on Booth is what is in the missing persons report; hang on while I bring up the case file.”

Booth glanced at Brennan who looked solemn while Angela pulled Emily’s case file onto her computer screen.

“Here we go…” Angela muttered as the case file filled her screen. She began to read the report aloud to the others.

“Emily Andrews disappeared a month ago while she was competing at the Emerson Three Day Event; initial suspect was her Uncle, Robert Andrews who had been arguing with her parents over her competing. He denied all the allegations and was later released when there was not enough evidence to hold him. Her parent’s never received a demand for ransom.”

“It looks like she just disappeared…” Brennan muttered.

“Until now…” Booth said icily “Bones, grab your coat. We are going to pay Emily’s parents a visit.” He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at the open door and then proceeded to drag her from the room despite her vehement protests that she was more use at the lab and that she had work to do.

“Why do I always feel like you are kidnapping me Booth?” Temperance asked him in a somewhat mordant tone.

“Come on Bones, I need you to help me explain to these people what happened to their daughter and catch them if they lie about how she sustained all those injuries when I question them.”

“Fine” She grumbled “but I’m driving!”

“Not a chance. Let’s go” He said firmly, placing his hand in the small of her back, leading her assertively towards the doors of the Jeffersonian Medico-legal lab and out into the car-park towards his waiting SUV. He didn’t push it by trying to open the door for her.

Posted 16/11/2007 11:17:13 (16/11/2007 02:17:13 AM) DBAngelfan

nice siggy

more more...Tell her already!

Thanks Anglefan. I like my siggie too

Chapter Seven: Still Smoking


It was another one of their new silent car trips up to Virginia. Booth stared at the road as they drove, occasionally glancing across to look at his partner. Bones was sitting there poring over Emily’s missing person’s case file.

He was frustrated at himself that he had let things come to this. He hated this sudden lack of…them. In a split second he had changed their entire dynamic. And he was kicking himself for it. Repeatedly.

It seemed the more he went on the further she pushed him away; detached herself from their friendship. They were going backwards and he hated it; hated himself for it ever coming to this. He could feel the void forming and he just hoped that he could fix it before it swallowed them and everything they had into its deep dark depths. He knew what he had to do; he just needed to find the right time he told himself, just needed to find the right way.

As Booth turned onto Sleepy Hollow road they began to fly past big old farmhouses set back from the road. Long winding drives and big tall fur trees. Booth began to slow the car down as he thought they were reaching the property.

When the car began to slow Bones looked up and began to take in her surroundings.

“Are we nearly there?” She questioned. Booth nodded.

“I think so; we should be coming up on it…” He trailed off as they came into view of the property. Bones looked at him as his voice dropped away.

“I guess we are here.” She said craning her head for a better look over the land.

“Thankyou for stating the obvious Bones” Booth started in a dry tone

“No need to get defensive Booth. I know that you have problems dealing with people who are socially and financially better off than you, but that is no need to get narky.”

“I’m not getting ‘narky’ Bones and I am not jealous” Booth said through gritted teeth.

“I never said you were I was just stating that…” But Booth cut her off before she had a chance to finish her sentence. He really didn’t need to be psycho analysed by Bones at the moment.

“Let’s just get this over with Bones” Booth finally managed as they turned through the massive metal gates. Booth saw a sign as they entered. Blackwood Park Performance horse Stud. He slowed down up the dive, there were other drives branching out off it and Booth had no idea how to reach the house. He looked over at Brennan when he felt her tap his arm softly.

“What?” He asked slightly agitated. Her eyes flickered for a moment before she pointed to a sign beside the drive telling them that the office was straight ahead.

“You think we should try the office?” He asked. Brennan looked around and Booth thought he saw her roll her eyes.

“I think that it is probably out best bet, I doubt that they would be home, this place looks pretty busy.”

Booth nodded and continued up the drive. A small house soon came into view. There was a sign next to the steps that led to the veranda. Office it read. Booth let out a low whistle and Brennan frowned at him quizzically.

“Nice office” He stressed.

“Come on Booth” Brennan laughed. “Let’s get this over with” And she began to move towards the office door. Booth followed coming up beside her and slipping his hand into the small of her back as they reached the steps and smiling slightly when she didn’t pull away from his touch.

“May I help you?”

Booth looked up at the woman who had spoken. She was a bit shorter than Brennan with soft blond hair and brilliant green eyes. Booth held out his hand to shake hers before he realised that it was sitting in a sling, comfortably tucked up onto the woman’s chest by a tight white cloth. He dropped his hand back to his side and shifted slightly uncomfortably.

“Yes you may. I am Special Agent Seeley Booth; FBI. And this is my partner Dr. Temperance Brennan of the Jeffersonian Institute. We are looking for Mr. and Mrs Andrews. It is in regards to their daughter, Emily Andrews and her missing person’s case.”

Booth watched as the woman before him sat down and looked up at him, tears glistening in her eyes.

“You found her?” The hope in the woman’s voice made Booth’s heart shatter.

“You’re Mrs. Andrews?” He asked.

“Yes, I am Emily’s mother. Did you find her?” She questioned again the hope evident on her voice.

“Yes we did” Booth stated gravely. Mrs. Andrews did not seem to have picked up on what his sever tone alluded to.

“Where? Is she alright? When can I see her?” The poor woman gushed craning her head to the side trying to see if they had brought her with them. Booth placed a hand on her good arm softly, looking into her eyes.

“I’m sorry Mrs. Andrews, but we found Emily’s body a few days ago, I am so sorry, but Emily is dead.”

Mrs. Andrews broke down completely at the news. Booth could only look on helplessly as this mother came to the realisation that her daughter was dead.

“No. No. NO!” She wailed. Booth moved to comfort her but she shrugged him of, composing herself slightly.

“Mrs. Andrews. I know this is hard but Dr. Brennan and I need to speak to you and your husband for a moment. Do you know where he is?”

“Yes, he’s out in the yards with the yearlings. I’ll take you out there now.” She muffled into her hands. Standing up she gestured for him and Bones to follow her out the back of the office and down another set of stairs, silent tears still slipping down her face. As they moved across an immaculately kept lawn Booth began to hear men’s shouts.

“Keep him calm Jeffery…”

“Hold still there!”

“Move you fools!” Came the last shout before the indisputable sound of a gunshot rung out across the lawn. He felt Bones jump slightly beside him and he placed his hand on her back again.

“Howard!” Mrs. Andrews yelled hurriedly wiping the tears from her face and eyes.

“What is it Honey?” The sound of the voice they had heard only moments before came floating towards them.

“We have some visitors.” She yelled as a tall dark haired man came running up to them holding a 22. Shotgun in his hand; it was still smoking slightly and Booth caught the unmistakable whiff of gunpowder on the air. “They are here about Emily” She added more softly as he stopped by her side.

“Howard. This is Special Agent Seeley Booth and his partner Dr. Temperance Brennan.” She motioned to each of them as she spoke their names. “This is my Husband Howard. Oh and I am Olivia.”

“Nice to meet you Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan.” Howard said shortly as he shook both their hands in a brief and curt handshake. He looked at his wife and saw at once the sadness in her eyes and her tearstained face.

“Let’s take this inside shall we.” Howard motioned to the office standing behind them. Brennan noted his rather resigned tone of voice. She was sure that he knew exactly what was coming and she wondered briefly if Booth had picked up on the vibe that was emanating from the man too.

“I think we better.” Booth said solemnly. Brennan noted how devoid of emotion his tone was and took it as a sign that he had registered the vibe from Howard and was going to question him about it later. It Brennan a moment to realise that the rest of the party had moved off in the direction of the office.

“Bones” Booth called over his shoulder, gesturing to Brennan who was still standing motionless in the middle of the immaculate lawn that led towards the barns. She jolted and then smiled at him. The smiled did not reach her eyes. She then quickly jogged to catch up to him, slipping easily into step beside him as they ascended the stairs back into the large office building.

Once inside Howard led them down a corridor and into a private room. He gestured to a small red lounge up against a wall.

“Please sit down.” As asked in a hard tone. Both Brennan and Booth complied with his request. Booth sank into the soft seat but resisted the urge to lean backwards into the back of the couch and instead sat upright, facing Olivia and Howard; both of who had placed themselves in seats opposite the couch.

Booth looked around the room, it was full of photos that hung on the walls and were placed on the desk and bookshelves. They were all, Booth noted, of a small brown haired girl riding different horses. Some of her jumping huge jumps, bareback on the farm or covered in ribbons and trophies. He knew at once that they were all of Emily.

“So” Howard was the first to break the silence that had descended over the room like a blanket. “You are here about Emily?” He ended rather lamely Brennan thought.

“Yes, we are Mr Andrews.”

“And..?” He pushed impatiently effectively cutting Booth off; Brennan thought that the man was insufferable and rude. Booth however was not pashed by Howard’s rudeness and he continued calmly as if he hadn’t been interrupted moments before.

“As I told your wife; we found Emily’s body two days ago.” His voice was full of sadness and Brennan turned to him. Booth never let his personal feelings show during an interrogation. She frowned as he continued in a very un-Booth-like way.

“At the bottom of a Ravine in Hemlock Overlook Regional Park, Clifton”

“Can we see her? Her body I mean. I just have to see her; I have to see for myself that it was Emily that you found. What if you are wrong?” Olivia spoke in a quiet tone full of emotion.

“Olivia, Dr. Brennan if a forensic anthropologist, she is called into cases when the victim’s body is too…too decomposed for a human identification.” He said before Brennan could open her mouth “I am so sorry.” He added softly.

“What do you mean?” Olivia asked, needing clarification. Brennan was beginning to get irritable, how thick was this woman? ‘Too decomposed’ sort of conveyed the information Booth was trying to get across to the woman. She opened her mouth to talk but she was yet again cut off by Booth answering before her.

“I mean, Mrs Andrews, that there is nothing recognisable about Emily’s remains, she is only a skeleton.” At these words Olivia broke down into tears. Howard put his arm around her and turned to Booth.

“How do you know it is her then?” He stated brusquely.

“Because Mr. Andrews we have the best forensics tea around. Dr. Brennan here puts tissue markers on your daughters skull and our Artist in residence Miss Angela Montenegro ran your daughters reconstruction though the database for missing and exploited youths.”

“Do you have any idea about what the hell happened to my daughter?” He asked gruffly, his voice thick with an emotion that Brennan couldn’t read. She wondered if Booth could.

“From Dr. Brennan’s examinations so far we believe that her death was caused by blunt force trauma to the head, caused by a single blow.”

“Oh” Mrs. Andrews gasped as the words left Booth mouth. Brennan turned to Booth a frown evident on her face.

“Was she killed where you found her Agent Booth?” Howard asked flatly. His arm tightening around his wife’s shoulders and his piercing gaze directed straight at Booth.

“No, once of our scientists Dr. Jack Hodgins, found a chemical in the wound. We believe that she was murdered somewhere else and then dumped in the ravine to try and make it seem as though she fell from the path.”

Brennan was confused now. Why on earth was he sharing so much evidence, confidential evidence might she add with one of their main suspects? Where was the Booth that she knew?

“We just have a few questions for you both while we are here though. I know this is a hard time but they will help speed our investigation into your daughter’s death.”

“Of course Agent Booth. Anything to help with the investigation.” Howard said in his gruff voice.

“Dr Brennan found a lot of breaks to Emily’s bones. She had multiple fractures along her arms as well as her toes and ribs. She also had breaks along her collarbone, shoulder blade and her cheek and eye socket. Do you know anything about how all these injuries were sustained?” Booth asked, his voice full of concern and curiosity, not the tone he normally used when questioning suspects.

Howard looked at Olivia and then at Booth, but it surprised both of them when Olivia was the one to talk.

“Agent Booth” She said in a calm voice “I know how you think those injuries were sustained. However you are wrong, Emily was not abused by either, me, my husband or anyone else who lives on this property. Emily was an Eventer. She has been riding horses since before she could walk and competing since she was 5. She was an incredible rider for her age and was competing against girls almost 7 years older than herself. She was incredibly mature but being a young child she had no fear. I’m not sure if either of you are sure about what Eventing is, but one component of it involves galloping around a course full of solid jumps. As well as Showjumps. Emily has fallen more times than anyone can count and that is how she broke her bones, not from physical abuse. From her incredible confidence in herself. If you had seen her ‘play’ you would have been horrified Agent Booth.”

“So she sustained all her broken bones via falls from horses?” Brennan finally spoke up in a harsh and blunt tone. It was obvious that she did not believe their story.

“That is what my wife just said Dr. Brennan” Howard said vehemently. Brennan turned a cool stare on the man.

“Mr Andrews, are you aware that all firearms that you posses must be registered with the National Firearms Association of America.” She raised her eyebrows.

“Yes Dr. Brennan I am. The firearm you saw me holding before is registered, along with my other guns and all the guns on this property. ” He replied just as coolly. Both Booth and Olivia watched this exchange unfold before them. Booth opened his mouth as he could see the look on Bones’ face but this time it was her turn to but him off before he could get any words out of his mouth.

“What were you doing with the gun before we interrupted then Mr. Andrews?” She stared him down, her icy blue gaze not wavering.

“I was shooting one of the yearlings” He grinned as a look of shock passed over her face.

“Why did you shoot it?” She asked in shock

“Because it broke its leg...” Howard replied indifferently. Olivia decided to butt in here and stop Howard and Brennan from leaping on each other. Booth was getting angry with Brennan, how could she be so insensitive to these people. They had just lost their daughter for god sakes.

“Dr. Brennan, you obviously haven’t spent much time around horses, they are very different from humans and even other animals, once a horse has broken it’s leg, especially a performance horse there is very little you can do and they will most probably always be in pain. Once a horse breaks its leg it is put down. We shoot our horses because it is more humane that way. It is never pleasant but it has to be done.” She tired to reason with the stubborn scientist but Booth could see that Brennan wasn’t convinced at all. But as she opened her mouth Booth cut her off.

“Thankyou so much for your time Mr and Mrs Andrews, here is my card...” He pulled his business card from the inside pocket of his jacket and handed it across to Olivia who took it and looked down at what was written on the small rectangle of card. She looked back up as Booth continued to speak, thumbing the edges of the card nervously.

“We should be going, but we will be in touch and if either of you have any questions about the case; feel free to give me a call or we can either set up a meeting or chat over the phone. We will need to have access to Emily’s room and any electronic devise that she owned or used such as a mobile phone or a computer. But I’ll call about all that tomorrow.”

“But Booth…” Temperance cut in, her tone a mixture of incredulity, confusion and anger. Why was he stopping now? Why were they giving the Andrews time to hide evidence? Why was he telling them where they were going to look for evidence? Why had he shared so much about the case with them? Why hadn’t they taken Mr. Andrews in for questioning? Why had he not asked his wife about her broken arm?

This was not how Booth usually handled cases. He never left gaps and gave suspects a chance to cover their tracks. He never told victims families about the intermit details of the case and body. She didn’t even think that he was aloud to share those things with the families, or anyone for that matter, off of record.

Whatever was going on with Booth was interfering with his work. She saw it now, it just wasn’t their partnership that was suffering because of his sudden change of mood and attitude, it was interfering with other aspects of his work and he couldn’t even see it. He was letting his personal feelings cloud his judgment. She was not going to let this one go, not this time. She needed to know what was going on.

“No, we are leaving” He growled quietly in her direction “Now” Brennan saw the fury smouldering behind his eyes and it only fuelled her growing irritation and antipathy towards Booth and his secret.

Both Booth and Brennan stood up as he finished both of them in somewhat irate moods. Olivia and Howard followed suit and they again made there way down the hall of the office and out into the fresh air. They all stopped on the veranda. Booth let out a long slow breath and turned once again to Emily’s grieving parents.

“Again, thank you so much for your time and we will be in touch with you both very soon. I am so very sorry for your loss and I…” he caught himself, but not before Brennan picked up on his slip. “We will do anything and everything we can to catch the person responsible for your little girls death.”

“Thank you very much Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan. It is a relief to finally know where our daughter is. Now all we need is to know what happened to her.” Howard spoke to Booth in the softest tone Brennan had heard out of his mouth all afternoon.

“I will find out, I promise you that. I need…want to find this perp as much as you do Mr and Mrs Andrews, mark my words on that.”

This time Howard only nodded. Brennan rolled her eyes and moved off towards the car without saying goodbye. She had only been allowed about two words the whole interrogation anyway, and they hadn’t gotten much. Why should she say goodbye? Booth could do it for her. She yanked open the passenger side door of the big black SUV and pulled herself in, slamming the door behind her, hoping to give Booth the hint that she wanted to get moving. She wanted to get home before midnight.

Booth looked over at the car when he heard the door slam. Agh, how could she be so rude and inconsiderate? Booth thought to himself viciously. He turned back to the Andrews.

“Excuse me” He said and then turned around making his way over to the car. He could feel his blood beginning to boil. How could she make him so mad?

Booth yanked the door open and climbed into the driver’s seat, pulling the door closed behind him he turned on Bones.

“What the hell was that about?” He whispered fiercely to her.

“What the hell was what about Booth?” She spat back at him, how on earth could he turn this against her?

“How could you have been so rude to these people, they jut lost their daughter for fucks sake!” the volume of his voice had risen a little and he was almost shouting at her.

“How could I be so what? I was not rude Booth!”

“Yes you were! You practically accused that man of murdering his child! Tell me how that is not rude?”

“Look Booth! I was just asking the questions that you were obviously not going too. I don’t know what has gotten into you Booth but you really need to get a grip because it is affecting your work.”

“How is it affecting my work?” He asked her. This had nothing to do with Elizabeth; it wasn’t affecting him that much. Was it?

“Booth, how could you not see it? You just told those people nearly everything we know about the case, you know that is not on! You also just gave them time to hide evidence, why aren’t we looking through her room today? Why are we just letting them cover things up Booth? Tell me that?” What happened next Brennan was not expecting, rather than realise what he had done he began to yell at her.

“Look Bones would you just get of my back?” He screamed at her “You don’t know what it is like to have a child! You don’t know what it is like to not know, to be just hanging there without any information. You couldn’t possibly have any idea why they needed to know all that information about there daughter, needed to know what had happened to their little girl.”

As he continued Brennan sank further into her seat but still listened to what he was yelling at her, she needed to know what he was thinking; what was going on in his mind that was stopping him from functioning like normal.

“You don’t know what it is like to not know every little detail that is happing in your child’s life, not to be able to make decisions regarding them and not be able to see them, talk to them, and touch them. To have a complete lack of control over your child, something that you love so much and just want to protect, to not have any knowledge of your child and what has happened, is happening to them is just something I could not bare. Something I can’t bare.” His voice was steadily loosing conviction and strength during the last part of his tirade. “They just needed to know…” He whispered.

Brennan sat there, glued to her seat as Booth started the car and pulled out of the long drive. She went over and over the words that Booth had just yelled at her, trying to filter through and pull up it’s true meaning.

She wasn’t convinced that by the end of that Booth was talking about Emily or even Parker for that matter. She went through the speech one more time and she found the sentence she was looking for, the one she thought she had heard. “To not have any knowledge of your child and what has happened, is happening to them is just something I could not bare.”

Brennan realised that what had happened back there, with Emily’s parents was not only about Booth’s personal feelings but also to some extent his wants. His want for that if it was him in this situation he would want to be told everything that had happened to his child, that he would want to be given time to process the loss of his child and time to recover.

But why had this suddenly changed? It had never been and issue before with Parker. Not even when they had a case that related to a little boy and this case did not relate to him in any specific way. So why now? Why this case? What had changed to make Booth forget all his professionalism, and how to deal with cases.

Why had he suddenly found the personal need to solve his case? He had said ‘I’ not ‘we’. I will do anything I can to find this guy. Brennan needed to call Angela and ask what to do. Should she go through with her threat and sop working with him?

Booth was fuming. How could she just go and accuse him like that? He had only told those people what they wanted to know. They had just lost their daughter, they needed time to recover. Booth glanced over at Bones and saw her leaning her head against the cool glass window, staring out at the fields passing by. She was obviously thinking about something and Booth wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that he had just blown up at her again when he had promised not to.

Why on earth was this affecting him so much? If he couldn’t shut it out he knew that he was going to lose his partner. And he wasn’t sure that he could handle that at the moment, on top of everything else that had happened in the past couple of days.

Chapter Eight: Letter Bomb

After dropping Bones back at the Jeffersonian following yet another silent car trip. Booth headed straight for home. It was well past six and he just wasn’t in the mood to sit around in his office pretending to do paperwork. No, he would rather be at home wallowing in his own self pity, drowning his sorrows over a couple of beers.

Locking his SUV Booth plodded through the car park and made his way slowly up the stairs and into the large airy foyer of his apartment building. He nodded to the doorman and headed over to his mailbox. Pulling out his keys he rifled through them until he found the small silver key that unlocked the box and slid it into the small keyhole.

Booth didn’t know why but he suddenly felt as though he had butterflies in his stomach. Why was her nervous about opening his letterbox? It’s not like he was expecting a letter bomb. It depends what you define as a letter bomb his small voice had returned.

He twisted the key until he heard a soft click as the lock opened. Pulling down the lid he held his breath. What the hell was wrong with him? Get a grip he scolded himself it’s just the mail for gods’ sake. But he really knew why he was so nervous, Elizabeth. He wanted a letter from her.

The breath he was holding slipped from him as he picked up the few letters that he had. He flipped them one over the other as he inspected where the letters had originated; 2 bills and a postcard from his parents who were on holiday in the Bahamas and…a letter addressed from Australia.

Letters in hand Booth flipped the lid of the mailbox closed and locked it hurriedly before putting his keys back into his jacket pocket and running across to the elevators, jabbing the up button hastily. Stepping back he shifted from one foot to the other, fidgeting with the letters in his hand while he peered up at the dial that told him that the elevator was on level 2 and slowly, very slowly in his opinion making its way down towards the ground floor.

The doors dinged open and Booth rushed inside simultaneously pressing the close door button and the button for level 9. He settled back against the wall of the lift and closed his eyes, concentrating on his breathing. He wondered about the letter. Was it a letter from Lizzie, answering the questions he had asked in his last letter or was it a letter from Anna telling him not to write to his daughter anymore. His stomach tightened painfully at the thought. The doors slid open and Booth pushed himself off the wall and out into his hallway.

At his door he again pulled his keys out this time searching for the house-key, finding it he fumbled with it as he tried to shove it unceremoniously into the lock. He grumbled in frustration when he couldn’t get the key into the lock. Taking a deep breath he paused for a moment before calming himself and trying again. The key slid easily into the lock.

Pushing the door open Booth dumped the letters onto the coffee table and shed his jacket, draping it carelessly over the back of the couch he headed for the kitchen to grab himself a beer. He threw his keys on the counter and yanked open the door of the fridge, reaching down to pull a bottle of cold beer out of the door. Straightening up he unscrewed the cap and flung it in the direction of the bin before making his way back into the lounge room.

Settling himself on the couch Booth took a swig of his beer before setting it down on the coffee table and picking up the letters flipped through them until he found the one postmarked Australia. He felt his breathing hitch and he thumbed the edges of the paper before turning it over and sliding his thumb under the seal. Pulling it across he ripped the envelope open and pulled out the thin lined paper that her letter was written on from within.

He unfolded the pages, held his breath and began to read.

Dear Dad,

You know you can call me Lizzie. Elizabeth is just so long, mum is the only one who calls me that. When she is mad she adds in my second name too, whenever I hear ‘Elizabeth Isabelle…’ I can just tell what is going to come next. What a double name to have huh? Elizabeth Isabelle. Sometimes I wish you were here to talk her out of it. I have no idea what possessed her to give me a name like that! But I guess you already know that mum can be pretty persistent and dreadfully persuasive. She always says that I got that from her.

I don’t know how much mum told you in her letter, her brilliance and intellect aside she doesn’t have a propensity to be particularly articulate on paper. I wanted you to know about me as much for me as for you. I hate not having a dad. Mum works a lot so I have a nanny, I often get jealous of the girls at school who are always doing things with their dad when mine didn’t even know that I existed. So I guess I wanted you to know, so that I could have you too, as well as you having me.

You work with an anthropologist? That is so cool. I always found that kind of thing so interesting. I tried to teach myself all the bones in the human body, but I think I need a little more practice, I can never remember all the bones in the wrist. Some lunchtime’s I sit in the Science building at eat with the display skeleton they have there. I practice on him. Wait till I tell the kids at school that my dad works for the FBI.

Mum may have told you that I am a little advanced for my age? Well that is just what happens when you have a genius for a mother, kind of makes it easy to be smart. I am by far the youngest in my year; did you know that I will be graduating high school in next year? I’ll only be 13! Everyone else will be 18. I hate that sometimes I am younger than some of the girls in year 7 when I am in year 11. It can be really hard, everyone treats me like a freak. I can’t wait to finish but I have no idea what I want to do when I leave school, maybe I will travel. I could come and stay with you? I have dreamt of meeting you my whole life.

I did a short course last summer in forensic anthropology at Melbourne Uni, mum drove me all the way down into the city for it. I had such a blast and I even made friends with this really nice girl from Sydney. She found out about it from one of her clients who’s son was at Uni there and she knew that I might like to go, I am always watching crime shows, I like Cold Case the most, or Law and Order. But I don’t really watch them much, mum isn’t a big fan of TV she says that it will rot my brain so I only get to watch them when I am sick or she is out and I have a baby sitter. But that is happening more and more nowadays.

Mum is working on some massively big case with some high profile clients so that keeps her out of the house a lot. She won’t even tell me what it is about. But I know that it involves some big drug ring that was supposedly busted, she thinks I can’t hear her when she is on the phone at night. I think she is really worried about the case though, see seems all jumpy and distracted. I mean more than usual. And all these weird guys keep showing up at the house, which has never happened before, mum usually never lets clients come to the house. She says that it is too dangerous for them to know where we live. I think I agree too because these guys look like they could be in the mafia.

And as for my interests, they are pretty broad. I love sports and play, Field Hockey, Football, but I guess you call that soccer, lacrosse and Aussie Rules. I also love science and things like that. My favourite is Chemistry, because of all the experiments but I also love physics and biology, genetics is the best. That is what we are doing in Biology at the moment and this holiday’s mum is letting me go around with the local vet and I’ll get to sit in on all the surgeries. I think it will be so much fun.

Grandpa got me this really nice chemistry kit for my birthday last year and I think mum is worried that I am going to blow the house up so she made me move it to the shed. That is sort of my hideout now. I also love reading. I think that I have nearly read the whole library, I love antique books and my grandma left me her whole collection when she died, she was the best and I really miss her, but at least I have all her books, heaps of them even have all these annotations in them. I do that now, annotate books when I read, it makes me think about them and the different messages that the author was trying to portray through the story. Okay so now it is me who is rambling.

Say hi to all the ‘family’ at the lab dad, can you tell me more about them, such as to why you call them ‘Squints’? It seems a rather humorous name for a group of scientists to me. I know that you live in DC, so where does she work? Your anthropologist friend I mean, there are some pretty prestigious institutes around there. Oh and you never told me her name. I think that must be where I get my forgetfulness from dad, you. I am so forgetful I have to write everything down it gets very annoying after a while, especially when I can’t remember where I put my list.

Anyway, I better end this here because I could go on forever and then I would never make it to Hockey or football practice. Write to me soon dad. I want to know all about you too. Are you married? Do I have any brothers or sisters? I always wanted a brother or sister but I don’t think that mum will ever have anymore kids, she says I am way too much of a handful for her to even consider having another child even remotely like me. But she is also a bit wild and I don’t think she has even really dated since college, but she is happy enough. I think. I just wish that there were more of us, you know? I hate being lonely. She is always so wrapt up in her work, some weeks I don’t see her once, she leaves the house before I get up and gets back after I have gone to bed, she may as well not even exist.

Sometimes I wish that she had told you and you had done the manly thing and followed her out here, or she had stayed with you in America. I hate having a broken family. But I know she loves me. I just don’t see it much, she doesn’t understand me. I wish she did, I just want someone to talk to really. I just want her to listen and try to understand. She doesn’t even do that anymore. We used to have so much fun together, before she got this case. Now everything is work, work, and work. There is no time for fun anymore.

Yours forever,

Lizzie

Posted 22/11/2007 16:21:38 (22/11/2007 07:21:38 AM)
CheeseBK

I read this over at ff.net already and I really like it...

Chapter Nine: Close to Home

Booth sat back and stared silently at the paper in front of him. Yours forever. He smiled, she was his, all his and there was nothing anyone could do about it. She had called him Dad, and told him to call her Lizzie. He liked that name. Lizzie, he thought it suited her.

He skimmed the letter again, picking up on some of the finer points she had written, she was smart, he gave her that much. There were words there that he was sure were well above the normal vocabulary standards of a 12 year old. Propensity? She sounded just like Bones, but then he thought about the environment in which she would have been brought up in and was not surprised, Anna was smart, it was more than obvious that Lizzie was smart and so it was only fitting that she would have been exposed to more vocabulary than your normal child.

Reading the letter further he found a small feeling of worry begin to nestle in and settle itself way down in the pit of his stomach. Booth was glad that he was finally, after almost 12 years finding out all these things about his daughter, like the fact that she was smart and loved sports made him want to know more about her childhood. Like when did she start speaking and what was her first word? When were her first steps? He got a slight ache in the pit of his stomach at this. These were things that every father should know about their children. Yet he didn’t and it made him feel hopelessly inadequate.

As he continued to read between the lines he got the feeling that she was a bit of an outsider and didn’t have that many friends. From what she had said about school it seemed that she felt out of place being so young and she didn’t really fit in. She seemed so exited about telling her peers that he was with the FBI. He chuckled softly as he thought how that might gain her some credit with the people at school. He felt cheated that he couldn’t be there himself to show them.

The more he thought about the letter though, the more that feeling of worry seemed to fill his insides and the light feeling that had filled him to the brink when he had first skimmed it over began to disappear, sucked out of his insides like the heavy steam in a hot bathroom once the exhaust fan is turned on. Booth felt his stomach do a flip.

She had more than once mentioned Anna’s decreasing time at home and the strain of her current case. But it was the mention of the people turning up at her house, people who obviously looked threatening to Lizzie or she wouldn’t have mentioned it too him, she was worried. The fact that she had mentioned that they looked like they could be members of the mafia, which had that worry make its presence really well known to him. He felt his anxiety level rise; he’d had fist hand experience with angry gang members. He remembered all too well when Ortez had put a hit out on his Bones, what if the same thing happened to his daughter?

Booth stood. He had half a mind to just get in his car, drive to Dulles and board the next flight to Melbourne, Australia. However after a second his logic returned to him, he just couldn’t run away to Australia like that, as much as he wanted too. He needed more information first, he of all people knew how eccentric the mind of a child could be, and his own son was a testament to that. Boot sunk back down into the couch and dropped his head to his hands. How could things have gotten so incredibly messed up in just 3 short days?

He sat there, mulling things over in his mind. He didn’t know if Lizzie was in any immediate danger, she had mentioned that her mother wouldn’t tell her anything about the case and that she seemed worried and stressed. Booth collected his thoughts and decided on a course of action. He resolved to call Anna, talk to her in person and find out about this case, what was happening with Lizzie and maybe even ask if she could come and stay with him. He began to feel slight butterflies in his stomach at the thought of speaking to both Anna and his daughter after all these years.

---------------

Brennan sat in her office still fuming about what Booth had said in the car. Only know as she began to calm down slightly did she go over it in her mind. The more she thought about it the more she realised that there was something very big going on with Booth that he was hiding from her, hiding from them all. She thought for a brief second if she should, or even could, call Rebecca and ask her if she knew what was so obviously messing Booth up inside. But she knew that she couldn’t do that. Instead she picked up her phone and dialed the one person who she thought might at least have some answers for her.

As she listen to the dull ringing tones that floated into her ear something Booth said in his last tirade stood out to her. Something I can’t bare. He had said it himself when referring to the little girl Emily. Not knowing was something he couldn’t bare. He had told them because it was what he would want to be told if it was his daughter. But Booth didn’t have a daughter, only Parker. Even so Temperance was pretty sure that Parker wasn’t the one to whom he was referring when he had been yelling at her inside the car. A sound, a voice on the other end of the phone line brought her back to where she was, seated in her office and her phone at her ear.

“Hello? Hello?” Angela’s voice came thorough the handset, echoing in her ears as Brennan’s thoughts came beak to what she had been intending to tell the person on the other end of the line.

“Angela. It’s me” She said rather bluntly, as if it were plainly obvious as to whom Angela was talking. There was a pause.

“Hello me, and how are we today?” Came her sarcastic reply.

“Sorry Ange, its Temperance.”

“I had deduced as much sweetie; you just can’t seem to remember that when you are talking on the phone, and you call me, I can’t actually tell who you are unless you say something.”

Brennan nodded.

“I can’t see you when you nod either.” Angela’s voice came floating down the line once again when Tempe gave no immediate reply.

“Oh sorry Ange, yes I know.” Tempe blushed on the other end of the line.

“So. Why the call Bren?” Ange questioned her best friend.

“It’s Booth, Ange” There was another slight pause and when Angela realised that Brennan was not going to elaborate she prompted the scientist once again.

“What about Booth sweetie?” Angela heard a sigh on the other end of the line that was closely followed by her friend’s voice.

“He yelled at me again.”

“When?” Angela demanded.

“Just now, in the car”

“Why?” Yet another demand came.

“Ange just let me finish! Stop cutting me off!” Temperance nearly yelled down the line. There was a slight pause and then Angela’s apology.

“Sorry Bren, go on.” Temperance nodded and continued on with her story.

“Well, we had just finished interviewing the Andrews’ and I asked him why he had told them so much about the case and he just blew up at me.”

“Bren, rewind a bit. What happened during the interview?”

“Well, he got all…I don’t even know exactly how to explain in Ange, he was just telling them everything, all my findings and where everything had been found. I’m sure if we’d had any suspects he would have added that to his list of things to tell them. But it’s just so not Booth, Angela. He never gives out anything more than the bare minimum, why should this case be any different. I mean at the moment they are both our prime suspects! Why would he be telling them all this? And then you know what he did?”

Angela finally managed to get a look in, even if it was only a word. She said what Brennan wanted to hear. “What?”

“He just got up and left! Left them to stash the evidence and come up with a story! It is unbelievable Ange. I mean, I have absolutely no idea what has gotten into him over the past few days. Something has drastically changed and I just wonder why he hasn’t told me. I mean we’re partners for crying out loud!”

“Calm down Bren. I know you are partners but he isn’t obliged to tell you everything you know. You have to expect him to have some things he wants to keep to himself.”

“Yes, but what about when it is affecting his work like this?”

“What did he actually say to you sweetie?”

“I think his exact word were…‘You don’t know what it is like to not know every little detail that is happing in your child’s life, not to be able to make decisions regarding them and not be able to see them, talk to them, and touch them. To have a complete lack of control over your child, something that you love so much and just want to protect, to not have any knowledge of your child and what has happened, is happening to them is just something I could not bare. Something I can’t bare.’ What kind of an excuse is that Ange?”

There was nothing but silence on the other end of the line for quite a long while.

“Ange?” Brennan finally asked tentatively, as if worried about what her friend’s answer would be.

“Bren, don’t you see? This case has hit close to home.”

“What? I don’t know what you mean? How has it hit close to home? She lives over 2 hours out of DC.”

“That is not what I meant Sweetie; I mean that he has related it to him personally. He has transferred the situation across into his own life.”

“But, Booth doesn’t have a daughter?”

---------------

Still sitting there Booth decided to write another quick letter to Lizzie. He like writing to her, it calmed him somewhat; to be able to write his emotions down.


Dear Lizzie,

How are you sweetheart? Are you alright?

I’m glad to know that you like sports, I love Soccer too and Hockey. I have so much that I want to say but I will keep this brief, I’ll talk to you properly later on, after I have discussed some things with your mother.

Agh, another Squint. You’ll love Bones, and Zach. They both work at the lab. My Anthropologist friend is Dr. Temperance Brennan or Bones and she works at the Jeffersonian Institute. Have you ever heard of that? When you come over I will have to take you to the museum, it is amazing. Parker loves it there.

Anyway, keep safe baby and call me if anything happens at all. Alright?

All the love in the world,

Dad

Booth groaned as he thought about keeping her safe. Now he didn’t only have one rather wild, untamed, incurably brilliant and somewhat blunt woman to look after, he had two. He knew that this was only just the beginning or his troubles where these to women were concerned.

Posted 24/11/2007 10:31:12 (24/11/2007 01:31:12 AM) DBAngelfan

I want him to just talk to Brennan already!