A/N No Copyright Infringement intended.
Chopped Up.
Booth.
It was a hot and sticky day and I was walking through some long grass to get to the Vic. I arrived at the crime scene to see a woman, I would guess that she was early to mid-thirties, leaning over the body.
"Whoa, hey, this is a crime scene. So, if you could put the nice ladies hand back where you found it and run along" I said, sarcasm dripping off of every word.
"You mean man's" she replied, curtly.
"What? What are you talking about?" this woman was trying my patience. I really didn't need this today.
"You told me to put the nice ladies hand down but this isn't the hand of a female it's a male hand" she turned to face me.
"And you would be?" My eyebrows raised as I asked the question.
"Dr. Temperance Brennan" She snapped the latex glove off and extended her hand to me, inviting me to shake it.
"Seeley Booth" I said, taking her hand. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm a forensic anthropologist"
"And what's that exactly?" she certainly didn't elaborate with her answers.
"I'm called in when the body can't be identified in the normal way. I look at the bones and can determine cause of death and identify the victim" she said proudly.
"So you're the 'bone lady'" I air quoted, a chuckle passing through my lips as I came to the end of the sentence.
"I suppose you could say that, yes. Zach I need you to come over here and start collecting some samples"
"Yes Dr. Brennan" a kid brushed past me, walking over to the body. He couldn't have been much older than twenty.
"Hey, show some respect pal" This was a new suit, damn it.
"Don't talk to him like that" bone lady retorted.
"Oooh sorry. Did I hurt the squints feelings?" I put my hands up, mock surrendering.
"Just ignore him Zach." she said, turning to supervise what he was doing. "Don't you have to go interview people or something?"
"Hey, bone lady, see this. Say's F.B.I" I extracted my badge and dragged my finger across the lettering. "That means I'm in charge and I'm the one who is running this?"
"I want the body packed up and shipped back to the Jeffersonian" she instructed her colleague.
"Hey, wait a minute. What's the Jeffersonian? And didn't I just explain to you that I'm the one in charge here?" What was with this woman, always overstepping the mark?
"The Jeffersonian is where my lab is. I need to take the remains there so that I can determine cause of death and identify the victim" she explained, stepping up to me.
"Okay, what she said. Ship the body off to the lab. If anyone needs me, I'll be over there interviewing people, see if anyone saw anything" I saw her smile at my words. It pained me that I was now doing exactly what she said.
I walked back across the grass to where a crowd had gathered to get statements and see if anyone knew anything. It was going to be a long afternoon!
Brennan.
I enjoyed working out in the field. Even if you did have to work with arrogant people like Agent Booth. When he introduced himself I took a moment to appreciate that he was a handsome man. His attitude needed some work though. How dare he talk to my grad-student the way that he had!
"Zach, you need to become more assertive. Stand up for yourself and don't let people like him talk to you like that." We were in the car on our way back to the lab.
"Yes, Dr. Brennan. It's just I'm intimidated by him" he replied, his head staring at the floor.
"How can you be intimidated by him. You're one of the smartest people I know" I said. He just shrugged and said no more on the subject.
It took approximately thirty minutes to get back to the lab. Having left the crime scene before us the body had already arrived. A member of my team, Hodgins was already examining the body. He was looking for any particulates that may help us to ascertain where the victim had been the day of the murder. This would give us a clue as to where the murder would have taken place, very rarely was the murder committed where the body was found.
"Hi Brennan" my friend and colleague Angela walked up to the table where the body was laid out. As per usual she wore a warm smile, I envied how she was able to stay so optimistic in a world where people were killing other people every day.
"I need you to look at the skull and do a facial reconstruction for me" I told her.
"I know" she smiled. "How long have we been working together sweetie? Still feel the need to boss me around" she rolled her eyes and flitted off to her office where she would sketch our victims face, then this could be run through a computer programme that would tell us who he was.
I turned my attention back to the bones laid out on the table. "Dr Brennan, look at the way the body has been dismembered. The cuts are exactly at the joints" Zach said, pointing out the cuts to me.
"Well done Zach" I patted him on the back. "I'm going to tell Agent Booth that we're looking for someone who has an understanding of anatomy. Going by the precision in these cuts the murderer is either an orthopaedic surgeon or a butcher" I shrugged out of my lab coat and picked up my car keys. Having inspected the bones myself I had determined that our victim was someone in his late to mid twenties, going by the wear and tear in his knees I would say that he had spent his youth playing soccer. Angela was still working on a facial reconstruction but I felt that the information we had already gathered was enough for Agent Booth to begin profiling a suspect.
Twenty minutes later I arrived at the J. Edgar Hoover Building and was being issued a visitors badge by security.
"Thanks" I said, taking the badge and clipping it to my jacket lapel. I took the elevator to the third floor and walked to the last office on the left. I rapped on the door three times.
"Come in" he called. I stepped through the door. "Ah, it's the bone lady" he smirked.
"Don't call me that" I retorted coldly.
"What should I call you?"
"Dr Brennan" I said, a smug smile on my face. That ought to put him in his place.
He brought his feet down from the desk, where they had been resting.
"Nope, that just isn't going to work for me. I'm gonna have to say that I'm sticking with bone lady until I can come up with something better."
"Ugh, fine" I was here about the case, this guy was so annoying. "I came here to tell you that I have identified the cause of death" I paused.
"And?" he was twiddling something round and black in his hand.
"And he was killed by a blow to the back of the head, then dismembered at the joints"
"Jeeze, why'd you have to tell me that?" he stood up.
"I thought you would want to know, in my opinion the killer would have to be somebody who knows a lot about anatomy. Maybe an orthopaedic surgeon or a butcher, my bet would be on the surgeon though"
"Have you got anything else for me?" he asked.
"The victim is a male in his mid to late twenties who would have been spent his formative years playing a lot of soccer"
"It's a good start bone lady but I really need an ID" he put the black object down on the desk and I recognized it as a puck.
"My team is working on that at the moment. Didn't the witnesses know anything?" I was intrigued to know what he may have found out.
"Um... no. Maybe you should go back to your lab and next time you could just pick up a phone rather than coming all the way over here" he said, shepherding me out of his office.
"Maybe I could help you interview people. I might be able to identify the killer, if you asked them to swing a shovel using full force" I didn't want to go back to my lab I wanted to be out there in the real world, solving crimes.
"I don't think that's such a good idea" he spoke softly.
"Why not?" I said, hurt.
"Look I have a pretty good read on people and I'm sorry to have to tell you this but you just aren't a people person"
"What. I'm very good with people" I said in disbelief. "I know people better than they know themselves"
"Yeah, dead people. Live people … not so much." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How dare he?
"I'll show you Agent Booth" I spat before walking down the corridor towards the elevator.
"Whoa, what do you mean by that?" he followed me.
"I'm going to conduct my own investigation" I said proudly. I would show him. I have people skills.
"Just wait, OK?" he turned, heading back towards his office.
"Why, what are you doing?" I shouted after him.
"Just wait there" he said in an exasperated manner.
I stayed where I was tapping my foot impatiently as I waited for Agent Booth's return.
"I'm driving" he said when he reached me.
"Fine" I rolled my eyes at him. Finally, I was getting a chance to work out in the field in a way I had never been able to before.
After pulling out of the FBI garage I turned my head to face him "So, where are we going?" I asked.
"To the hospital" he replied. "You said that the suspect was most likely to be a surgeon"
"Orthopaedic surgeon" I interjected.
"Do you mind not interrupting?" he said, annoyed. "I'm gonna ask some questions see if I can't scare some information up."
"That doesn't sound like a very good plan"
"OK that's it, from now on I don't want to hear another word from you, not a peep. Understand?"
"Yes I ..."
"No" he raised his hand, shushing me. "I said not a sound, understand?"
I didn't make a sound this time.
"Good, now we're getting somewhere" he said. I folded my arms and sat the remainder of the journey in silence.
Booth.
The last ten minutes had been spent in blissful silence. Now we were at the hospital and I whipped out my FBI badge. "FBI I need to speak with your orthopaedic surgeons" I said confidently.
"You just love getting that badge out don't you?" Bone lady questioned.
"Be quiet" I whispered turning my head to face her. "Haha" I chuckled as I turned back round to the receptionist. Pretending that her comment hadn't fazed me.
"Sir, I'm afraid that you won't be able to see all of our surgeons today as they are busy with elective surgery's."
"Maybe you didn't hear me earlier. I'm F.B.I" I dragged out the letters.
"I understand that sir but as I said I can't pull a surgeon out of surgery for some questions" she smiled sweetly. She was flirting with me.
"Why don't we just start with the ones who are available to interview now" Bone lady weighed in with an opinion.
"Shh, Bones" I faced her once more.
"Bones, whose Bones?" she asked.
"Not the time" I replied. "Let's just interview whose available today" I turned back round and smiled.
"Ah, that's Dr. Gale now he's one of our finest orthopaedic surgeons. Dr. Gale there's some people from the FBI who would like to ask you a few questions" she called down the corridor.
I saw the look in his eyes and knew that he was the killer. He turned and ran, I was hot on his tail. "Stay here" I instructed Bones.
"Pal wait up I just need to talk to you" I shouted after him. I chased him through the corridors of the hospital, the place was like a rabbit warren. I was just about to catch up with him when he fell to the floor, having run into someone's arm. "Ow" she shouted.
"Bones I told you to stay put" I said as I walked the remainder of the way and slapped a pair of handcuffs on our suspect.
"No thank you or are you OK?" she scoffed.
"Come on let's go interrogate him" I said, pulling him up roughly.
….........................................
"Why did you do it?" I asked not expecting him to confess so quickly.
"That bastard was having an affair with my wife" he explained.
"That's no reason to chop him up" Bones shouted.
"Maybe you should leave" I suggested to her.
She huffed out of the room.
"Are you confessing to the murder of Eddie Halen?" I asked quietly.
"Yes" he admitted.
I walked out of the room. "Have your people got the evidence to corroborate his story?" I asked as Bones put her cell phone down.
"Yes" she confirmed.
"We make a good team Bones" though she had been annoying things had worked out OK in the end.
"Don't call me Bones" she said.
A/N Hope you enjoyed this. It's my first time writing a Bones fic and I did struggle with it a bit so any comments you make will be greatly appreciated. Thanks :)