Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from them, but like all of you, I enjoy taking them to places that so far the show hasn't.
Author's Note: Thanks to GreyIsTheCatsPajamas for her input on my midnight ramblings, otherwise known as my writing. I hope to provide regular updates, however, with that said, working with scientists and engineers all day can sometimes put the writing Mojo to sleep. But since today is my birthday (I won't say which one except that I'm old enough to know better and young enough to have fun anyway), I thought I'd share this first chapter with you to celebrate.
It had been seven weeks since eight-year old Emma Woods had seemingly vanished without a trace from a school science fair in a small suburban town outside of Seattle. Search teams had combed the heavily wooded area near the school for days afterwards and still they hadn't found so much as a shoelace. The case had garnered national headlines, but so far no trace of red-headed Emma had been found. Understandably, people in the community were watching their own children more closely, walking then to their classrooms instead of just dropping them off, and people were wondering how a child as vivacious as Emma had disappeared at school and no one had even noticed.
The last person who had seen her before she'd disappeared was her stepmother. Katie Woods had reportedly taken Emma to school that day just like she did most days. Photographs that she'd taken of Emma at the science fair showed the smiling girl wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with 'DNA is my life' standing next to her double helix replica. The pictures had been flashed all over the news and it supported Katie's account that she had at least stayed long enough to help carry in Emma's science project and snap a few photos. It was only when Emma didn't arrive home on the bus later that day like she did without fail that she'd been reported missing by Katie.
The community had rallied behind the Woods family, offering sympathy and support, but as the weeks had gone by, Katie Woods' story seemed to shift and change and while the authorities had yet to even call her a person of interest, shocking details had begun to emerge that cast doubt on the innocence of Emma Woods' stepmother.
Special Agent Seeley Booth wasn't the sort of man that anyone would call a coward. If you asked nearly any suspect that had experienced the misfortune of sitting across an interrogation room table from him, the man was downright intimidating, and that was with a simple quirk of his eyebrow before he'd even said a word. He was charming and good looking - plenty of women had told him so - he was very popular with the ladies. Despite all his bravado and charm, at the moment, he felt more like a bumbling schmuck as he approached his partner's office and he was nervous. Seeley Booth did not get nervous - except apparently right now.
Before he'd left for Afghanistan, things were tense between he and Bones - he was in love with her and she had rejected him. Nothing like unrequited love to make things uncomfortable. He thought that when he brought Hannah back with him and showed Bones that he'd really moved on that things would get better. They didn't. He apparently hadn't moved on as far as he thought he had and the promising relationship that had started in a battle zone ended in a whimper.
Things between them were finally getting back to some sense of normalcy, but he wasn't sure if that was because things were actually normal or if it was because of his recent break up with Hannah. Either way, there seemed to be far less uncomfortable tension between them, well at least there would be until he told her why he was there.
"Bones." Booth tapped softly on the door to his partner's office and then stepped inside as she glanced up.
"Hey, Booth." Dr. Temperance Brennan saved the file she'd been working on and closed her laptop - glancing over at him and smiling. "Do we have a case?" It was completely irrational, but she found that she had a fluttering sensation in her abdominal region at the sight of him standing in the doorway to her office with that charm smile of his that seemed to start at the corners of his mouth as they tugged upwards and going all the way to his eyes and ending with a sparkle. If it were possible to send sparkles to your eyes that is. Yes, it was completely irrational.
"Yeah, we do." He eased himself into her office and gave her one of those looks that made it obvious that this wasn't just a jaunt across town for the afternoon. "You're going to want to pack a bag, we've got to fly to Seattle." As for him, he'd already stopped by his place and packed a bag so they could catch the first non-stop flight out, which left in a few hours.
"What's in Seattle?" Her face pinched together as she considered that this meant she was probably going to have to ship remains across the country if they didn't wrap things up rather quickly. She had full confidence in the team at the Jeffersonian, but she preferred to be the one who had control of the remains until she was satisfied that she'd discovered as much about the bones as there was to be discovered.
"Emma Woods." He knew that even she was familiar with the case. They'd talked about it a few times as bits and pieces of information came through the media - he couldn't help but think about what he'd do if something happened to Parker.
"They found remains?" It wasn't really a question, but a foregone conclusion. Statistically it hadn't looked promising after Emma had been missing for more than forty-eight hours, so it didn't surprise Brennan, but it did disappoint her that there hadn't been a happier ending to a little girl who loved science.
"No, they haven't." Booth let out a breath he didn't realize that he'd been holding and offered her a smile that he hoped was warm and disarming without being overly charming.
"My expertise is forensic anthropology, if they haven't found remains, I'm not sure why we're flying to Seattle." She hadn't traveled with Booth for an investigation since before she'd left for Maluku and for some reason she was feeling a bit unsettled by it. She was glad she was sitting down.
"Hacker made the request himself." Not that this was going to be enough for her, but it bought him a few seconds as he smoothed down his tie and settled himself in the chair just across from her desk. "The case has sort of hit a dead end and they want us to go undercover and work our magic." He flashed her another smile.
"We don't perform magic tricks, we solve crimes." Brennan was perfectly serious until realized that he was just using a figure of speech.
He picked up that she'd caught on and continued. "Hey, we're the best crime fighting team there is, to everyone else what we do is magic."
"Technically, we're the best crime solving team." She reasoned that if they had to fly to Seattle, she ought to pack up a few things and make a couple of phone calls. She assumed that Booth was expecting that they were leaving as soon as possible. "What are we going undercover as? Unless there is suspicion that Emma has run off to join the circus, I would expect that we aren't going as Buck and Wanda."
He shook his head. "Nope, definitely not Buck and Wanda. The stepmother belonged to a yard share group that promoted organic gardening. They want us to figure out a way to join the group and see if we can get a little inside information that might lead us to Emma."
"I've read about those, a yard share is a great opportunity for people who don't own any land to grow their own food. Organic food really is better for you." She made a slight gesture that immediately brought to mind another conversation about the effects of not eating organic food.
"Hey, we are not going there right now, okay." He glanced down briefly, swallowed hard, smoothed out his tie again and then, satisfied she wasn't going to bring up his special agent, at least in conversation, he got back to talking about the case. "You would be able to tell if a body had been buried in soil, there would be indicators."
"Adipocere." She was beginning to see exactly why they were going undercover. "If a body has been buried in soil, there would be adipocere."
"Right, so that's why Hacker requested that you and I do this." If anyone could find the truth, find any trace of Emma, he knew that he and Bones could. He only hoped that they found her alive and not underneath someone neat little rows of lettuce.
"So what's our cover?" Brennan had enjoyed undercover operations they'd done in the past, and so far they had been very successful. Despite her slightly unsettled feeling of nervousness, she was also excited that perhaps this would help them get back to the Booth and Brennan they used to be.
Booth's grin widened and he leaned forward, showing a measure of excitement for the first time since he'd walked in the doors of the Jeffersonian. "I'm Andy. You're Kathy."