Disclaimer: I do not own bones.
P.S : The time line of the story does not specifically correspond to the timeline of the series, it is approximately 1-1 and half years after Zach is sent to the "loony bin" but the characters personal lives and the murder cases may be different from the original plot line of the TV series.
Chapter One: A Pensive Glare
A girl stood in front of the building, staring at it, ignoring the people staring at her as they passed in and out of doors, up and down the white steps.
Most would have considered their staring justified, she was quite a sight, her hair was frizzy and unkempt, she was wearing large,clunky combat boots which had large silver buckles that extended all the way up to her knees,and dark lipstick that complemented the rest of her disheveled dark clothing.
well go on then.
The words of some unidentified source echoed through her mind, pressuring her to take a few steps, to enter the building, to do what she had come here to do.
She took a deep breath before walking though the doors of the large building, and after a brief conversation with the receptionist she was on her way to were she could find a well-known forensic anthropologist.
This particular well-known forensic anthropologist went by the name of Dr. Temperance Brennan, she was brilliant, and the best in her field, and with that reputation what graduate student wouldn't want to work with her? learn from her?
The girl looked back and remembered a time when she too had aspired to work with her, she had even requested to be her intern but was rejected by means of something as impersonal as a letter.
There is no need to get upset of this, I'm sure she had her reasons.
That is what she had told herself, and truthfully she hadn't been about to let herself get upset over something a simple as a rejection letter, no, she was much too logical to let her emotions rule her life, especially when interests change, just as they had for her, and soon she had altered the course of her life by pursing different degrees, she worked hard, hard enough to earn three degrees, one in mineralogy, and in inorganic chemistry, and another in applied mathematics.
It could been seen as ironic that after all of that she was now on her way to see the very same woman who had rejected her and basically changed her life, but you see she did not have any time to mull over the irony, she had more important things to think about, and today her visit was strictly business.
She came to a pair of sliding glass doors, she had nearly attempted to walked strait through them, but she had caught herself at the last minute.
Once inside she stopped and looked around, if it had been any other time she might have wanted to fully examine the place in which she stood, and take in all of its beauty, but not today.
The girl started walking again, trying to get a closer look into the clear walls of each office, she knew what Dr. Brennan looked like, she had seen her once on TV, in an interview about her books.
The girl looked towards the platforms, though she did not see Dr. Brennan she did see two people leaning against the bars of the platform, there was a man and a woman, The girl noticed that they stood rather close to each other, the were both laughing at something the man had said, the girl guessed that they were a couple.T
The woman was very beautiful she had long shiny dark hair, warm brown eyes, and a friendly smile, the man had curly hair, bright blue eyes and was slightly shorter than the woman.
"But that can't be him..." the girl mumbled to herself, she titled her head to one side, squinting she tried to get a better look at him, but to no avail "curse you sightly but still irritatingly blurry eyesight" she mumbled as she made her way towards them, she might have said "hello" or any other type of greeting to announced her arrival if it hadn't been for the loud thuds that her boots made with every step she took, the jingling the buckles made alone would have been enough to make anyone look up in surprise, just as the couple had, the man with the bright blue eyes had looked slightly more surprised than the woman.
"Do you know where I could find a Dr. Brennan?" She asked them
"In there" The man said pointing to the office across from them.
"Thank you" The girl said before turning and heading towards the office, she knocked on the door and heard someone say "come in", she turned the door handle and walked in to the office, she then saw a woman sitting at a desk, she appeared to have been reviewing a set of X-rays prior to the girls interruption.
"I'm looking for a Dr. Brennan?" The girl asked as the woman turned her steely gaze towards the doorway, she had a firm jaw, pale green-blue eyes, and shoulder length chestnut colored hair.
"This is she, how may I help you?" Dr. Brennan eyed her carefully, anyone else might have shied away from her scrutinizing gaze, but the girl did not avert her eyes, she simply stared right back into Dr. Brennan's light eyes.
The girl heard a rustling of fabric, causing her to glance through the glass wall to her left, she caught sight of the edge of a dark blue lab coat, and became aware of the fact that she had an audience, she wondered if had also become aware of that, because when she turned back to face her Dr. Brennan's facial expression had changed very slightly into one that the girl could not quite put a name too, knowing, possibly? or was it irritation?
"I believe I have some information that you would find very interesting"
"And what has led you to that conclusion?"
"The information is regarding a former colleague of yours, one who is believed to be the apprentice of a serial killer you have come to know as the Gormagon... It seems that a great mistake has been made..."
Meanwhile:
"Who do think she was?" The curly haired man asked the dark haired woman next to him, he was still staring at the girl, his head was tilted to one side and his eyes were narrowed as though he were trying to remember something.
"I don't know.." The woman said, she too was staring after the girl as she walked away, listening to her loud footsteps echoing through the lab.
"Lets go find out" The man said, an mischievous grin tugging at the edges of his lips.
The two of them walked over to Dr. Brennan's office, making sure to steer clear of the glass walls, they the hid around the corner of the office near the door.
They heard a squeak, they assumed the sound was that of Dr. Brennan's chair as it turned to face her new visitor.
"Dr. Brennan?" they heard the girl asked
"This is she, how may I help you?"
The dark hair woman, who was the closest to the door and had been balancing on one foot in the cramped area, leaned forward very slightly and suddenly lost her balance, she would have fallen face first into the floor if the curly haired man hadn't grabbed her around the waist first,but it had not been soon enough, the edge of her lab coat had flashed briefly in front of the glass wall, the dark haired woman prayed silently that nobody inside the room had noticed.
They breathed a sigh of relief as they heard the voice of the girl once more.
"I believe I have some information that you would find very interesting"
"And what has led you to that conclusion?" asked the voice of Brennan.
"The information is regarding a former colleague of yours, one who is believed to be the apprentice of a serial killer you have come to know as the Gormagon... It seems that a great mistake has been made..."
The dark haired woman's face paled "Oh my God... Zach..."
"Okay, now let me get this strait, you called me down here to tell me that the kid has enough evidence to prove your little squints innocence, but you cant use it?" Said the FBI agent everyone seemed to call Booth with a look of skeptisim present on his face.
"The kid has a name, you know" the girl retorted "And I believe that I already informed you that it is October Caldwell" she was now glaring at booth as she continued "And just to let you know, I am not a kid, I am nineteen old years old"
"For all we know this is just some sick prank" Booth said, his eyes narrowed slightly as he spoke.
"Give her a break Booth" It had been the dark haired woman she had met earlier who was defending her, she had learned that the woman's name is Angela, Angela had been very nice to October sense she had arrived, so she couldn't help but smile slightly as Angela moved closer to her in a very protective manner.
"Yeah, I mean, if she convinced Brennan that she must be legit" This time it had been the short, curly haired man who spoke, she had learned that his name is Hodgins.
"Thank you" October said turning towards Angela and Hodgins for a brief moment before turning back to Booth and saying "And I am most definitely "Legit" she used her fingers to make quotation marks at the word "Legit".
Booth stared at her for a few more seconds before saying " Alright, start at the beginning and be quick about it, me and bones have a dead body waiting for us" He then sat down on the couch muttering "this outta be good" under his breath"
October gave Booth an angry glare before she reached into her bag, she pulled out what appeared to be a very colorful picture, the colors were lined in different sequences, forming an abstract image.
"Were did you get that?" Angela said sounding as though all of the wind had been knocked out of her.
"A package... I received a package with this painting in it about a week ago" October said in a matter-of-fact voice "There hadn't been a return address but I'm positive that Zach was the one who sent it"
"But... So it was you who-" Angela began, but October raised a hand to silence her.
"Let me explain... you see, about a year and a half ago I met Zach at a seminar, our meeting had been very brief, only enough to find out each others names, but I suppose he must have been able to use that information to find my address, I am not entirely sure why he would send the package to me but I think it might be because of how little we knew about each other... Anyways, back to the point, the package... It had only taken me a few moments to realize that the painting was a riddle, each color represents either a piece of a numerical code or a partial sentence, and after few hours I had found a pattern among the numerical code pieces, they had been made up entirely of zeros and ones, which prompted me to come to the conclusion that is was a computer encryption, the code led to a series of photos and documents, the photos were of one man, the man who I presume is the apprentice"
"And how does this prove squinty's innocence?" Booth asked leaning forwards from his current position on the couch, it seems that she had gotten his attention.
"I'm getting to that... Originally, the Gormagon killed his apprentice to recruit Zach, but he soon realized that Zach was too close to the investigation and the people who were investigating ... Zach meant it when he said that he was expendable, he was very much expendable, the Gormagon had recruited yet another apprentice, this one truly a windows son, and he had been about to kill Zach, but he decided that Zach could work as a distraction from the real apprentice, a decoy, if you will. Zach did not eat anyone or kill anyone, the only thing that he actually did was cause the explosion; the Gormagon had blackmailed him into-"
"Wait- he blackmailed him? how?" Hodgins suddenly asked, interrupting Octobers rambling.
"Well... Zach wasn't about to give in unless the Gormagon had given him a very good reason too.. The Gormagon had found the one thing that Zach would respond too besides logic... He had threatened to kill his friends... "
There was a moment of silence before Bone's finally said "If Zach had only caused the explosion, then who stole the canine teeth to make the dentures for the Gormagon?"
"The other apprentice, he must have gained access to LIMBO somehow... Anyways, as I was saying Zach caused the explosion, he had to have something that would lead the evidence back to him, the explosion had allowed for the Gormagon to sneak in a steal the silver skeleton, therefore giving the illusion that Zach had been helping him all along."
"So in short, Zach really wasn't the apprentice?" Asked a woman that October didn't recognize, she must have been standing near the edges of the room because it was only now that October realized that she had been listening this whole time, the woman looked very professional, and from where October stood she could see that her identification card read " Dr. Camille Saroyan"
"No, he was not"
The others turned to face the woman, apparently October hadn't been the only one who hadn't heard her entrance.
The woman looked at the others with a mildly surprised expression on her face "Oh, I didn't mean to intrude on your little discussion , you can continue, next time though you could tell me when you decide to not to come to a crime scene"
"You were supposed to call her" Angela scolded Hodgins.
"Sorry, I forgot, I just got caught up in all the excitement ..." his voice trailed off as Angela glared at him, he turned to face Dr. Saroyan with a sheepish grin on his face "sorry... "
"Just don't let if happen again" she said with a sigh before turning back to October saying "sorry to interrupt, please continue"
October glanced between them, confused by there conversation , but she decided to leave it alone, she had been about to continue when Booth asked "Look, its great that we all know that Zach isn't the apprentice, but knowing wont do us any good, we need proof"
"Which I have, but-" October was cut off by Booth "we cant use it" he sighed and collapsed into the couch, in sunk inward under his weight.
"Technically we could use it, but as soon as the apprentice knows that we are looking for him he is going to assume that Zach told us, considering that originally Zach had been the only one that knew about him, and then he is going to kill him"
"And you after he finds out about the painting" Bones said
"So what are we supposed to do?" Hodgins asked.
October had been about to answer him but Bones cut in and asked "Where does Angela fit in to all of this?"
October turned to Angela, who in turn sighed and faced the group before saying "a coupe of weeks after Zach was put into the hospital he gave me this... This ...Graph, and told me that he wanted me to use it to draw some soft of picture... Anyways, every week he would send me more and more coordinates and what I was supposed to draw in each coordinate, when the painting was finished he gave an address to send it too, which now I know was actually October's address... I swear I didn't know what it was about, every time I asked him he would just start rambling about how "it wasn't time yet" or something like that..."
"I think I know what he meant by that..." October said sounding as though she were deep in thought "There were a few pieces of sentences that I couldn't make sense of in the painting, things like 'nine days' and 'coming'...but that could have meant..." She trailed off and the others stared at her in bafflement, waiting for her to continue her explanation.
But a man appeared at the doorway, temporarily distracting them, he had a package for Dr. Brennan, she sighed for it then brought it over to her desk and began opening it, October didn't pay her any mind, she simply continued thinking.
"Booth" Brennan said suddenly, she had a slight urgency in her voice, this time October did pay attention to her. "This is now a crime scene" she said in a dark voice.
The group walked over to the desk, Angela gasped, covering her eyes she said "Why is it that we are the ones who always gets sent body parts in packages?"
October came to a sudden realization, she didn't have to look in the box to know what it was, she approached the table and glanced down into the cardboard box, inside of it there was a human skull " Was the victim Male, Caucasian, between the ages of twenty five and thirty?" she asked averting her eyes form the box , it wasn't the fact that it was human remains that bothered her, she had worked with human remains before, it was that she might know who it was.
Brennan looked up at her "You don't think..." her sentence trailed off as October nodded.
"Angela" Brennan called out her name a bit too sharply "I'm going to need dental records"
"You know who it is?" Angela asked, she was now five feet away from them, still averting her eyes from the desk.
"I am not going to jump to conclusions" Brennan said simply
"Whose dental records do you need, Brennan?" Angela asked
"I need... " Dr. Brennan took a deep breath before continuing, her face was set in a rigid expression of determination "Dr. Addy's dental records..."
Authors note: If you want me to update the story then please review, (my goal is at least one review per chapter).