Title: The Twin and Her Sister
Rating: M
Characters: Bones, Booth, Angela, Zach, Hodgins, Cam, OCs
Summary: Bones and Booth are called in to investigate when the Tomlins find their missing daughter Maya's remains in her sister Lindsey's bed after discovering Lindsey had attempted suicide. Warnings inside.
Warnings: Frequent mention, description and discussion of depression, suicide and self-harm, talk of bullying, inaccurate science.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognisable characters in this story.
A/N: This is set some time in the earlier seasons before Zach leaves. Trying something new :) And I apologise in advance for the inaccurate and unsophisticated science in this fic – it's about time I admitted science is just not my thing hahaha Enjoy!
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THE TWIN AND HER SISTER – CHAPTER 1:
Lindsey Tomlin couldn't stop crying. She felt sick and her eyes stung from her salty tears as she paced back and forth around her bedroom. Harrison wasn't answering his phone and her parents were out with the Lawrences. She tangled her hands in her blonde hair as she sat down on her mattress and tugged gently as she tried to figure out what to do.
Maya was gone but she didn't feel any better. Harrison loved her but not enough to answer the phone. Her parents didn't care enough to see she was hurting. Lindsey sniffled as she looked up to her bookshelf.
There was only one solution.
Lindsey shrugged out of her hoodie, ignoring the array of red scars across her forearms as she reached up to the top shelf. From atop the books, she plucked the orange bottle of pills and the small jewellery box that held her favourite blade.
Sitting on her bed, Lindsey plucked the blade from the box and began drawing it across her skin. The pain was soothing but Lindsey was crying and her hitching breaths made the wounds deeper and longer.
Pulling her arm tight against her stomach, Lindsey exchanged the blade for the bottle of pills. She pulled the cap off with her teeth before counting to "three" and swallowing its contents. They were surprisingly smooth to take and Lindsey felt a quiet buzz thrum through her as the bottle slipped through her fingers and she lay down.
Everything was going to be okay now so long as no one found her…
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The house was quiet the next morning when Lucy Tomlin woke up and got dressed. She mixed up a batch of pancake batter, stirring in some chocolate chips before handing it over to her husband, Warren, to cook while she woke up their daughter, Lindsey.
Lucy knocked on the door. "Lindsey, breakfast's ready! I've made choc-chip pancakes." There was no response – even in her daughter's darkest moments, she always jumped at the offer of choc-chip pancakes. Lucy slowly opened her daughter's bedroom door, feeling her heart-rate rise as she saw Lindsey wrapped up in bloody bed sheets.
"Warren! Call an ambulance!" Lucy yelled before she rushed forward. She pulled the blankets away from her daughter, crying out when she saw the mess of cuts in Lindsey's arm. She glanced around the room, eyeing the blade and the orange pill bottle.
Warren ran into the room, his eyes blowing wide at the site of his daughter. "Oh god…" He was fumbling with his phone, glancing up and down as he tried to make sense of what was happening before he spied something under the other side of the blankets.
"Lucy, what's under the sheet? On the other side?" Warren asked slowly.
Lucy looked over to the sheet covering the other side of the bed. It had snagged on something when she had pulled the blankets away from Lindsey. Tugging it down, Lucy screamed and Warren swore.
Lying on the bed beside their unconscious daughter was a body.
Or at least, what looked like a body…
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Booth sighed heavily as he watched the paramedics load Lindsey Tomlin into the back of an ambulance, Lucy Tomlin climbing in behind her. He watched as the ambulance drove away before he headed inside. It was early on a Saturday morning and he was still frustrated that he'd had to take Parker back to Rebecca's.
The hallway was full of people but he found himself pushing them all aside when he heard Bones yelling.
"Hey! Hey! What the hell's going on?" Booth asked as he stepped into the girl's bedroom. The smell of a rotting corpse filled his nose and he stalled momentarily before his eyes found Bones confronting Warren Tomlin.
"They compromised my crime scene, Booth! They shouldn't have removed their daughter; she might have had particulates all over her!" Bones exclaimed.
"My daughter had tried to kill herself! If we hadn't gotten her out of here she might have died!" Warren yelled back.
Booth held up a hand to Warren. "Okay, let's all just calm down. Mr Tomlin, how about you head downstairs, have a drink or something." Booth zeroed in on Bones, sighing again. "Bones, they had to take Lindsey or she was going to die. Let's just get to work, alright? What can you tell me about the victim?"
Bones sighed in frustration before she turned to the pile of human remains on the bed. "Female, between sixteen and eighteen years old… It seems cause of death was exsanguination."
"Okay, so back to the lab for an identification?" Booth asked.
"No need," Bones gestured to a silver chain around the body's neck. "Mr Tomlin identified the necklace as one that he and his wife gave to their daughter, Maya, who he said went missing three months ago. I'll need DNA to confirm."
"Okay, anything else you need for the squints?"
"The bed sheets and anything under the body. We'll make sure that all the blood is Lindsey's."
"Okay then, let's go," Booth said as he turned to leave. A photo on the bookshelf caught his eye and he stepped forward to get a closer look.
"What is it?" Bones asked as she joined him.
Booth swallowed harshly. "Lindsey and Maya… They were twins."
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A/N: So I'm not sure what possessed me to start writing a Bones fic but this idea popped into my head and I couldn't get rid of it. It's probably going to be mostly case-based but I'll see what I can do otherwise. I should also have a new Glee fic up some time tomorrow after I've seen the episode but I'll be working on this until then. Thanks for reading, let me know what you think :) –Frankie xoxo