Re: Do Really Squinty Squints Fall in Love? Posted by Squinty Eye on 22/03/2008

by kiki Thu Jun 05, 2008 8:54 am

Posted 12/04/2008 10:01:44 PM by Squinty Eye

Chapter 18 :

Zack awoke with a start. The room was awash in darkness. Sitting up to look around, his head throbbed. He rubbed his temples and tried to form coherent thoughts. How did he get in bed? Why was he still half dressed? What time was it? Lightning momentarily lit his room a split second before thunder shook the windowpanes. Ah. It was storming outside. The electricity must be out. He lay back against his pillow and listened to the sleet pinging off the windows.

He’d been having quite a dream. He’d dreamt that Brynn had been straddling him on the sofa, kissing him, but then she’d stopped, saying he was drunk, which was silly. He rarely drank and certainly never until he was intoxicated. Only, now that he thought about it, he’d had wine at Hodgins’ last night. And he could vaguely remember standing in his bathroom and telling Brynn at one point that he WAS drunk.

“Hodgins!” he grumbled as the memories flooded back. He was probably going to kill his proprietor come morning. Another tremendous crack of thunder accompanied a blinding flash of lightning. Despite his headache, he smiled.

“Brynn?” he called out as he swung his legs over out of his bed. His vision swam and he winced.

“Yeah?” came the muffled reply.

Zack crept to the doorway of his bedroom and squinted into the darkness of the living room. Another flash of lightening revealed a blanket-covered lump on the couch. “Still afraid of thunder?” he chuckled.

“I’m not AFRAID of it. I just don’t like it too much,” the lump replied.

He waited for another flash of light and stepped closer to Brynn, pulling the blanket from her face. “I’m gonna take some more aspirin. My head is killing me. Do you want me to stay out here with you? Or do you want to come to bed with me?”

“Neither. I’m fine. Really.” Zack couldn’t see in the gloom, but he could tell from her voice that she was still disconcerted by thunder. She’d been downright terrified of thunderstorms when they were younger. Disconcertment was a vast improvement.

He shrugged, choosing not to press the subject, but instead slid his feet along the floor until he got to the kitchen. Pulling a mini-flashlight out of the junk drawer he located the aspirin and took it with a swig of milk from the carton. After returning the medicine bottle to the cabinet, he rooted through the drawer for some matches. Retrieving a book of them, he played the beam of the flashlight over Brynn. She was curled up on one end of the sofa with a throw pillow covering her face.

“Are you certain you don’t wanna come in here with me? It would be much more comfortable for the both of us…” he trailed off as another window shaking crack of thunder joined the strobe effect of the lightning.

“Do you think the storm’s gonna last much longer?” Brynn asked, peering at him from under the pillow

“I have no idea, honestly. I’m more likely to know the weather in Michigan than I am to know what the forecast is here.” Picking up a small scented candle from the end table, Zack lit it with a match. “C’mon. I’ll be on my best behavior. Cross my heart.”

“I’m that easy to resist, huh?” she cracked, extricating herself from the blanket and standing up to join him as more thunder rumbled around them.

He looked at her blankly for a beat and then complained, “You KNOW that’s not what I meant! Is that a girl thing? Twisting around everything I say?”

Brynn giggled as she made to slip in between Zack and the doorframe to his room, “Yeah, I think it might be. I was just picking, though. I know you didn’t mean anything of the sort.”

She was so close to him that he couldn’t help himself. He slipped his hands onto her hips, pulling her body up against his own. Then, he dipped his head and grazed his lips over her bare shoulder.

“I’m not drunk,” he said, sotto voice, willing her to follow his meaning.

“I thought your head was throbbing?” Brynn asked, turning to search his boyish candlelit face.

Zack spoke without thinking, “I think the majority of my blood flow has stalled out a couple of feet below my head. No blood flow, no throbbing.” Without even waiting for a response from Brynn, he grimaced, “I can’t believe I just actually said that aloud. I really am a complete--”

Brynn just laughed and reached her arms up around his neck, cutting his self-deprecation off with a kiss.

Zack pulled back suddenly. “You’re not gonna change your mind again, are you? Because I really think that I’ll have to spend the rest of the night out in the sleet if you do.”

“I didn’t MEAN to do that, Zack. I just felt like I would be taking advantage of you or something. I really am sorry.” Brynn was on her tiptoes, looking into his eyes earnestly.

Zack smiled down at her, “If I remember correctly, I DID say I was OK with that.”

She rolled her eyes and Zack seized the moment, picking her up and depositing her on the bed. As their lips met, the storm outside raged on, all but forgotten.
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Outside of Brennan’s apartment, the thunder continued to roll. Ever since the Christmas kiss, she and Booth hadn’t really been able to dismiss their feelings for one another. Of course, they wouldn’t acknowledge the mutual attraction with words, but their actions spoke volumes.

Now, as the sleet rained down from the sky, the partners were lying on a large blanket in front of the fireplace, her head lying against his chest, his arm around her.

It had all started innocently enough. Booth drove her home and then, when they got there, she invited him up for a drink. He accepted and then, when the fire had been stoked, he asked her if she had ever made s’mores over the fire. Of course, she never had. Nor did she have the accoutrements to make the sticky treats. But, Booth, being, well… Booth… He had the makings out in his SUV. He planned to make them with Parker the following weekend, but he knew there was plenty of time to replenish his supplies.

Booth showed the lovely scientist how to toast the marshmallow just so (on a kabob skewer supplied by her) and then to sandwich it in with the graham cracker and chocolate. He was delighted by her childlike wonderment with the campfire food.

“I can’t believe you’ve never had these things, Bones! They’re an American institution!” he teased.

“When on earth would I have ever eaten these?” she laughed in her sultry way and set about making yet another.

Booth grinned his most charming smile at her as he dabbed some marshmallow fluff from the corner of her mouth. He wasn’t too sure because of the flickering of the firelight, but he thought she might have blushed.

They’d eaten quite a few s’mores when Booth said, “Well, I guess I should get going. It’s really getting late.”

“Yeah,” Brennan agreed, not moving from where she was sitting near the hearth.

Booth started to stand when he’d felt her hand on his leg. “Booth, don’t go. You could… Stay…”

So, he did. He reached his hand down to Bones and pulled her to her feet. “Do you like to dance, Bones?” he asked, pulling her into his body.

“There’s no music,” the slender scientist murmured, leaning her head into his chest.

“Ah, c’mon, Bones… The rain has a certain rhythm, don’t you think?” Booth gently locked his arms around the woman he loved and began slowly, rhythmically, swaying her.

She fell into step with him, their bodies pressed close to one another as they danced to the cadence of the storm. The close dancing eventually melded into kissing, the kissing into caressing in the firelight… No words were spoken, yet their lips spoke volumes of their love for one another.

The sleet and the thunder rolled on outside of the apartment, unnoticed.

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by kiki Thu Jun 05, 2008 8:55 am

Posted 13/04/2008 07:34:19 AM by ToZiKa

I don't know what to say......I'm still in the awwwwe-phase......
After this night Brynn might no longer be afraid of thunderstorms.....or at least she's got a few good memories what could also happen during thunderstorms.....

And Bones and Booth finally realized it too.....

Can't wait to read more!

by kiki Thu Jun 05, 2008 8:55 am

Posted 13/04/2008 11:06:14 PM by Squinty Eye

Chapter 19 :

“I don’t know why you’re so resistant to the idea of a maid,” Hodgins grumbled at his lover, throwing a handful of crumpled white socks into a pile.

“A maid?” Angela looked at him in disgust. “Who are you, Daddy Warbucks?”

“Fine! A ‘housekeeper’ if we’re playing the semantics game. Why should we be down here sorting dirty clothes when I could easily pay someone else to do it and we could be…” Hodgins paused and leered, “Otherwise occupied!”

“Jack, you’ve lived here for years without a housekeeper. Why would you want one now?” Angela asked, looking carefully at the label of the burnt orange blouse she was holding.

“Because I’ve never had the urge to spend ALL of my time in bed until now!” he countered with a lascivious grin.

Chuckling, Angela shook her head and tossed the blouse into another pile. “And I thought the rumors about you being such a horn-dog were exaggerated.”

“What can I say, baby? You do something special to my libido!” The bug guy grinned, pulling Angela in close for a kiss. “You know, we haven’t christened this table yet …” he trailed feather-light kisses up the side of her neck.

“Wow… I thought we’d managed to get every room of the house,” she giggled, pushing herself up so that she was sitting on the work table, her legs wrapped around his waist. “How about w—“ Angela stopped suddenly upon hearing footsteps nearing the room.

“Dude, I will be forced to kill you if you interrupt this,” Hodgins called out.

Zack’s head popped around the doorframe. “I don’t really want to die, but you promised Brynn she could borrow a vehicle. She has to leave in about 15 minutes. Uhhh, hi, Angela.” The boyish scientist looked embarrassed to see Angela’s legs wrapped around Hodgins.

“Hi, Sweetie!” Angela couldn’t help but giggle as Hodgins buried his face into her neck and groaned. “Jack’ll go get the keys now. Won’t you, honey?”

“As soon as I kill Zack, sure,” he grumbled. He shot Zack an annoyed look and kissed Angela hard and deep, just to make Zack squirm. Cutting his eyes to the side to see if Zack was still standing there, he hissed his displeasure when he saw that his boarder hadn’t budged. Hodgins released Angela and stalked towards the doorway. He pulled up short next to Zack and eyed him suspiciously. Because of Zack’s awe for Agent Booth and his prowess with women, the entomologist knew Zack would do his best to keep mum as to his and Brynn’s relationship status. Hodgins decided he’d just have to play dirty to get the gossip.

Zack’s brow furrowed and he looked warily at Hodgins, who was still surveying him with a wicked grin. “What?”

“Some storm last night, huh?”

“Uhhhh, yeah?” Zack shifted uncomfortably, fighting to keep his face blank.

“Great weather for getting it on, dude,” Hodgins needled with a sly grin.

“I wouldn’t know. I was completely intoxicated,” Zack replied pointedly.

Angela covered her mouth, and shook with silent laughter as Hodgins’ smile broadened, “So? Drunken sex is still sex. The less inhibitions the better, man!”

“If I were prone to violence, I would quite likely punch you,” the taller man commented blandly.

“Dude. Don’t even give me that puppy dog look. I know you got some, finally,” Hodgins chuckled.

“Why would you think that?” Zack asked. “I certainly have done nothing to imply that Brynn and I—“

Hodgins snickered. He knew Zack well enough to know that this ploy would work perfectly. “Don’t play all innocent, Uriah. You REEK of sex,” Hodgins said smugly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Zack blanched, “ I do not! I took a shower!”

Reaching out to ruffle Zack’s hair, he exclaimed, “Dude! That was just too easy.”

Angela hopped down from the table and walked over to them. “Sweetie, really… I can’t believe you fell for that.”

Feeling the heat rise in his cheeks, Zack shrugged helplessly. “I have no clue how to even respond to the two of you because I know that this isn’t something that I should be openly discussing, so if you please, Brynn really does need to borrow a car and I think that she’s probably out of the shower by now so could you please just get the keys to whatever car she’s going to use?” he said all in a rush to cover his embarrassment.

“Wow… That was double-time even for you, dude.”

Narrowed brown eyes shot the dirtiest look in Hodgins’ direction.

“I’m going, I’m going!” Hodgins laughed as he started down the hallway. “In gratitude, YOU can sort my laundry, though,” he quipped over his shoulder.
Zack looked at the mound of clothing and then at the Cheshire grin on Angela’s lovely face. “I am NOT touching his socks or underwear.”

Angela shooed the laundry pile with her hands. “Honey, if you give me the scoop, I assure you that you won’t have to touch ANY of it!”

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Bright morning light was streaming in through the blinds in the living room. Dr. Brennan yawned and rolled away from the bands of sunshine, snuggling into Booth’s chest. Wait, what? She pushed up on one elbow and gazed around her living room and then back to the hunky FBI agent lying on the floor next to her.

“Mornin’, Temperance,” he drawled. His hair was tousled and he still looked pretty sleepy, despite the late morning hour.

“You’re still here,” she said, stating the obvious.

Booth looked hurt. “Of course, I’m still here. Why wouldn’t I be? You think I’m just gonna walk out on you in the middle of the night?” He reached up and pulled her back down against him, dropping a kiss on her hair.

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, huh?” she smiled into his chest. “You’re always here for me, Booth.” She ran her hand down his muscle-hardened abs and fingered the button to his jeans. “I…” she paused, unsure how to continue. She could feel Booth’s breathing stop, his lungs fully inflated.

“Yeah?” he said breathlessly.

She hated herself for not saying what she really wanted to. She could… She could just tell him that she loved him. She knew he wouldn’t disappear on her. Closing her eyes, she murmured, “I… really appreciate everything, Booth.”

Booth’s breath came out in a whoosh. Then there was a moment of silence.

“Don’t mention it, Bones,” he responded and even she could hear the sadness in his voice.

Standing up quickly, smoothing her wrinkled shirt and running her fingers through her auburn hair, Brennan stammered, “ I could… Umm… I could make breakfast. Do you like waffles?”

Booth sat up and surveyed his partner wordlessly. She was so lovely, yet so wounded. Although it broke his heart, he understood. Her psyche—although she would never admit it-- was still raw from all of the times she’d been left in her life. He needed her to know that he would remain true to his word. He would ALWAYS be there for her, even if it meant risking his own heart while she learned to trust in him.

He flashed her his most charming, boyish grin as he stood. “Who doesn’t like waffles? If there’s bacon, of course. Everything’s better with pork products, I think.”

She rolled her eyes and laughed huskily as his smile had its usual affect on her. "Bacon is bad for you. I might be able to find some turkey sausage."

Booth groaned. "Turkey sausage? You're determined to suck all the enjoyment out of my breakfast, aren't you?"

"I'm just looking out for your health," she argued

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by kiki Thu Jun 05, 2008 8:56 am

Posted 14/04/2008 04:38:34 AM by ToZiKa

Zack didn't even realize what Jack was doing.....I can't believe how someone with an IQ this high can sometimes be so dumb.....

And Bones couldn't say the words......it's a little sad, that what her parents did to her still affects her live so much......but Booth will wait until she's ready to say "I love you".

PPS

by kiki Thu Jun 05, 2008 8:57 am

Posted 17/04/2008 00:32:37 AM by DBAngelfan

LOL at Zach....is this story posted somewhere else? It sounds so famliar...

by kiki Thu Jun 05, 2008 8:58 am

Posted 17/04/2008 11:57:30 AM by Squinty Eye

yeah, it's posted at FF.net and at the BY.

by kiki Thu Jun 05, 2008 8:59 am

Posted 17/04/2008 11:59:38 AM by Squinty Eye

Chapter 20 :

“Are all of us really necessary for this case? It’s Saturday. Will the body not be available on Monday?” Zack asked plaintively. It was early afternoon and he’d just sent Brynn a text message that he and the others would have to be at the Jeffersonian for the rest of the afternoon.

“Because they found the body today, you tool. And we are ‘the best of the best of the best, Sir! With honors!’” Hodgins replied, lightly shaking a jar of beetles and listening to them hiss.

Zack frowned and reached for the jar, “They don’t like that.”

“What movie was that quote from, Zack-o?” Jack pulled the captive bugs closer to his torso and uncapped the jar to drop in a chunk of dry dog food.

“What quote?” Zack looked perplexed, crossing his arms over his chest.

“It was Men in Black, sweetie,” Angela offered from her perch on the stainless steel autopsy table where she was filing her nails. “Will Smith? Tommy Lee Jones? Aliens?” She glanced up and rolled her eyes at his befuddled stare. “Never mind, honey.” She turned her attention to her best friend who was just walking out of her office. “So, Bren, what’d you do last night during that storm?”

Brennan glanced up from the file she was carrying and stammered, “Oh. Uhh, nothing, really. Just… Stayed in.”

Angela eyed the other woman and then shrugged. “OoooooooooK.”

Hodgins grinned, “ And we all know what ZACK did last night…”

The electronic beep of a keycard being slid through the platform’s security system sounded and Booth sauntered onto the platform, saving Zack from having to respond.

Dr. Brennan was amused by her protégé’s embarrassment, but covered for him nonetheless. “Zack, this case from Limbo… Number 7-0093… This man died of natural causes, do you concur?”

“Yes, Dr. Brennan,” he replied, sagging slightly in relief. “And his pelvic girdle and femur put him at 60 – 75 years of age, making that supposition all the more likely.”

Hodgins sniggered as he leaned into Angela and nuzzled her neck.

Zack averted his eyes from the couple, cleared his throat and studied the ceiling. A beep-beep sounded from his pants pocket and he snatched out his cell phone and looked at the display, a faint smile playing at his lips.

“Aww,” Angela cooed to Hodgins with a sly grin. “That might be the cutest thing ever.”

Zack blushed a little as he tapped the keypad rapidly. Without looking up, he mumbled, “Brynn said the housing market here is horrid and she might have to take me up on Hodgins’ offer.”

“To which you said…” Angela prodded.

“That she’s welcome to stay at my place as long as she likes, of course,” he replied, pocketing his cell phone.

Booth patted Zack on the back, “See, kid? It’s not THAT hard pretending you’re normal.”

Hodgins nudged the FBI agent and flashed a huge grin, “Booth, we’ve gotta get a move on, Zack has other people, err… Things to be doing.”

“That is disgusting. I don’t want to think about Zack doing anything to anybody.” Booth grimaced dramatically and Zack, in an uncharacteristically bold move, made a face at his back. “What’s up, Bones?” He leaned cockily against the banister, discreetly eyeing his partner’s figure. He glanced over at Angela and Hodgins and, noting their keen interest in his interest, turned business-like. “I hear we have a case for the Squint Squad.”

“Let’s hope so, man, seeing as how it’s Saturday afternoon and we were alerted that we had to be here or else.” Hodgins leaned his head back lazily as Angela ran her nails through his hair.

“I didn’t say ‘or else,’” Cam said, walking into the room. “I just told you to come. The body doesn’t have nearly enough soft tissue for me to be of much good. Hence the phone calls I made to the rest of you.”

“Why wasn’t I called to the site?” Brennan asked sharply. “With all due respect, Dr. Saroyan, I’m supposed to handle all of the skeletal remains, not you.”

“I agree,” Cam said easily. “And the remains have not been compromised, I assure you.” She turned and looked at Booth, “Your cell phone and home phone numbers were both unanswered for quite some time. So, this case was initially given to Agent Rousseau. I met him at 7:45 this morning to oversee the removal of the body from the lake. Apparently,” she turned back to Dr. Brennan with a smirk, “I’m the actual contact according to the FBI. Seeley just chooses to skip over me in favor of your… Expertise.”

Booth looked mildly uncomfortable as he said, “Yeah, yeah. Rousseau signed off on the case. It’s mine, now. I have no idea why I never heard my phone ring in my apartment, but my cell phone battery ran out of juice. I’m guessing, with the FBI involvement and all, this is a murder investigation?”

“It looks to be. The body appears to be that of a pre-adolescent… Or a short adult… Or maybe a tall child. This really isn’t my thing,” Cam didn’t look apologetic--instead she was watching Booth with bright-eyed interest.

“Why would that look like a murder? It could just as easily be an accidental drowning… A body washed from a grave… There are many things that it could be other than murder,” Brennan argued, still miffed she hasn’t been included.

“Most accidental drowning victims don’t have their hands and feet bound. But, I suppose I could be wrong.”

“Where’s the body? Is that it?” Brennan was in complete scientist-mode. She pulled her auburn hair up into a bun as she strode across the room to the shrouded corpse on the far autopsy table. “Zack, assist me, please.”

Zack hurried over and helped her to carefully raise the tarp that covered the heap of skeletal remains without displacing anything. For the most part, the skeleton was intact, but the spine had been twisted and bent into a most unnatural fashion, while the wrist and anklebones bound with what looked to be nylon straps.

“Since the body was found in a lake, I’m sure there’s a plethora of insect and plant activity. Not to mention particulates to examine. Hodgins, you can go ahead and collect samples from the body. Ange, the skull is in excellent condition… We’ll be able to have tissue markers done shortly. Any impressions now?”

With a look of extreme distaste, Angela grumbled, “Yeah, I’m under the impression that I SO need a new job.” She stepped closer, though, to examine what had at one time been a face. “Young. I don’t think this was an adult, Bren.”

Dr. Brennan nodded thoughtfully as she turned to Zack. “The bones won’t require much maceration. The flesh that’s there is already pulled away from the bone in most places. You can clean the bones so that we can do a full examination as soon as Hodgins is done. Please do the skull first so that I can get the tissue markers in place for Angela to start on.”

“Yes, Dr. Brennan,” Zack replied, stifling a yawn.

“Cam? Did the body come with paperwork?” Booth looked around for the folder that should have accompanied the corpse. He figured that going over the paperwork would give him an excuse to stay in the lab and keep an eye on his partner.

“It did. Along with photographs from the scene,” she responded. Lowering her voice, she asked, “Were you where I suspect you were last night?”

“I was at home, Camille.”

“No you weren’t, Seeley. Your car was nowhere in sight AND I beat on your door for at least a quarter of an hour.”

Booth grumbled, “Don’t call me Seeley.”

“Don’t call me Camille,” she responded. “I was just curious. Don’t worry. I’ll go along with your story if it makes you…” Dr. Saroyan’s eyes slid over to the table where Dr. Brennan was directing Dr. Addy’s work. “Or her… Happy.”

Booth didn’t respond and Cam simply patted him on the shoulder and walked away.

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“These bones are in bad shape, Dr. Brennan. Angela might have been wrong about it being a young person. The bones all show signs of osteoporosis as well as repeated stress fractures AND arthritic lipping.” Zack furrowed his brow as he reexamined his findings.

“Well, we’ve determined that the bones are from a female who’s never had a child. Probably between 4’8 and 5’2… There’s really not much to go on,” the anthropologist looked stumped.

Hodgins poked his head around the wall and announced, “The nylon that bound the wrists and ankles is fairly common. It’s used in various activities including, but not limited to, parachuting, rock climbing, and white water rafting. The only thing I can’t figure out is why it’s sewn into such a small loop. Even if the nylon were laid flat, it’s less than thirty inches long. What on earth could you use that for? There would be considerably more to a rock climbing tether or a parachute harness.” Hodgins held up the pair of offending fabric loops. When no one gave him offered a suggestion he tossed them onto the stainless steel table with the skeleton. “I’m at a loss.”

“Hey, y’all!” Brynn was standing at the base of the forensics platform, still bundled up from outside. “Can someone buzz me up, pretty please?”

Booth was closest to the entrance so he swiped his keycard and made a sweeping gesture across the room, “Welcome to Castle Greyskull. Home of Skeletor… There was this cartoon character called He-Man… Never mind. I bet it was before your time.”

“Nah, I know who He-Man is, although I preferred She-Ra. My cousins used to try to sneak their plastic Castle Greyskull into my bedroom to scare me when I was really young,” Brynn flashed a dimpled grin at Booth who smiled back.

“What I want to know is, why are you wearing Oscar the Grouch on your head?” Hodgins poked her fuzzy green knit cap with amusement.

“Cute, ain’t it?” she drawled. “I have a matching scarf and gloves.” She fished in her pocket and triumphantly produced gloves in the same virulent shade of green.

Hodgins chuckled, “So, no luck on the real estate market?”

Pulling off her cap and black leather jacket she shrugged. “I saw a couple of cottages that were cute, I guess, but they were either much further away from work than I would like or they were in areas of the city that are a bit iffy, crime-wise.”

“Guess you’ll just have to stay with Zack for a while, huh?” Angela beamed as she and Dr. Saroyan walked onto the platform, large bags of Thai carryout in hand.

“Guess so,” she agreed, grabbing one of the heavier bags from each of them. “Speakin’ of… I think your cell battery died, Zack. I got your text, and then, when I tried to call you and tell you I was done but only got your voice mail. I took a chance came here first since you said y’all had a case.”

Zack looked up, surprised. “Oh… Yeah… I don’t use my cell phone very often. I think I forgot to charge it at all this week.” He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the display and then back up at Brynn. “Sorry.”

“No big deal,” she said with a shrug as she set the bags down on the table with the rest of the food. Twisting her long red hair into a bun, the tiny woman glanced at the autopsy table. She frowned as she looked at the body. “Man, I hate working on kids. It always depresses me.”

“Well, we THINK this is the body of an elderly adult female. The bones are incredibly damaged,” Brennan explained. “Look at the MRI scans and X-rays we took.”

Zack dutifully tapped away on the keyboard and the big screen display came alight with the images. “See the healed fractures here? And here? And here? Plus the bones have been weakened by osteoporosis, which caused multiple stress fractures in the back, tibia, and femur. Also, we think that…” Zack trailed off as Brynn circled the table to the nylon straps. Seeing her interest in the non human debris, he explained, “Those were what her ankles and wrists were bound with before her body was thrown into the water.”

Brynn looked a little queasy. “I’ll bet you anything that the body you’re looking at is that of a high level gymnast.”

“What? How on earth could you come to that conclusion?” The senior anthropologist looked skeptical. “With all due respect, we don’t typically work on conjecture here, Brynn.”

Green eyes flashed angrily as they collided with the scientist’s blue ones. “With all due respect, it’s not conjecture. Have you ever heard of the female athlete triad?” she asked, dropping her gaze to the fabric loops on the table by the skeleton.

“Vaguely. It’s a condition common among college athletes, yes? Characterized by eating disorders and amenorrhea, if my memory serves me correctly.”

The diminutive redhead nodded. “It’s also characterized by osteoporosis. It’s disturbingly common among elite gymnasts. The disordered eating causes the loss of estrogen, which causes the amenorrhea, which leads to a decrease in calcium, which, in turn, causes osteoporosis at an early age. That would explain the decimation of the bone as well as the stature of the…” Her eyes darted to the skeleton. “Victim. Wouldn’t it?”

“It could…” Dr. Brennan still seemed doubtful. “But the osteoporosis and short stature could also be indicative of a short elderly woman just as easily.”

Brynn shook her head. “These loops. Do you know what they are?”

“Nope,” Hodgins responded around a bite of curry. “I looked everywhere I could think of, but they remain a mystery to me. Do you know what they are?” He swallowed quickly and sauntered over, his hunger overcome by curiosity.

“Yup. They’re straps.”

“Well, we knew that,” Brennan responded with a roll of her eyes.

“No, Dr. Brennan. They’re called ’straps.’ Gymnasts use them to learn certain skills on the bars. May I?” she picked up a couple of rubber gloves and held them up inquisitively.

“Go ahead.”

Slipping her small hands into the gloves, she picked up a strap and turned it over in her hand, before she looped her hand into it, securing herself to the rail of the table. “You have what’s called a strap bar, it’s usually a bit of plastic piping covered in tape placed over a regular men’s bar. Then the gymnast loops her hand into the straps like this and is essentially tied to the bar. It makes learning some skills much easier because there’s no fear of falling.”

“Sounds like abuse to me,” Angela scowled, looking at the strap twisted around the small wrist.

“But that’s how it works in high level gymnastics,” Brynn explained, removing the strap from her wrist. She looked up at Dr. Brennan. “See? It wasn’t conjecture. I’ve seen this stuff before.”

Zack looked nervously from his girlfriend to his mentor.

Dr. Brennan looked at Brynn and then smiled and nodded. “Excellent.” She turned to look at Booth. “Does that give us enough to go on until we get a face?”

“More than enough,” Booth responded. He was already keying in the gymnastics angle to the missing and exploited children’s database.

“Looks like we have a hit,” Booth stated grimly. “Abigail Reynolds. Went missing in late June from near State College, Pennsylvania. She was attending a gymnastics camp at the time.”

^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v

by kiki Thu Jun 05, 2008 9:00 am

Posted 18/04/2008 05:42:33 AM by ToZiKa

Wow Brynn is good at solving cases....
And Cam already figuered out where Booth was....but it was so obvious anyway.....

Now Brynn will have to stay with Zach and Bones and Booth are finally making progress....

I really can't wait to read more soon....

by kiki Thu Jun 05, 2008 9:01 am

Posted 21/04/2008 00:08:56 AM by DBAngelfan

What's this called at the other place? I'm sure now that it's there too

by kiki Thu Jun 05, 2008 9:01 am

Posted 21/04/2008 11:32:37 AM by Squinty Eye

It's "And So It Begins" but since it was so much a continuation of "Really Squinty Squints" I just kept one titled and let it run longer here.

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