Love, Lies, and the Pursuit of Happiness by BrennanBooth903
hi everybody!!! this is my first ever fanfiction, so i'm a little nervous about you all reading it =p Bones is my favoritest show everrrr and from the first epi i saw I knew Brennan and Booth had to be together. so i promise-- eventual BB!! I have tried to keep everyone in character but no one is perfect so they might go OOC on ya a bit..sorry! Also i dont catch all my spelling/grammar mistakes so please dont sue me for using a word wrong!! *puppydog eyes smiling at you* This chapter is really only PG but i rated the story T just in case i decide to go fluffy later on :) my friend, who is an expert on constructive (and sometimes not so constructive) criticism has already given me ideas so if you like this chappy plzzz review so i can deliver her ideas in later chappys!!!
*DISCLAIMER* I dont own Bones...*sob sob sob* maybe if i plead enough Hart Hanson will notice and give me the bestest ever prezzie!! please please pretty please with a nice shiny cocky belt buckle right on top!!! seriously though, i dont own anything :[ (yet....MUA HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!)
Dr. Temperance Brennan was awoken by the phone ringing. She blinked her eyes open and answered.
"Hello?" she said. The voice that replied was not at all what she expected.
"M-mom?" Brennan was immediately awake.
"Leila? Is everything ok?" thoughts raced through the forensic anthropologist's mind a mile a minute. Leila, her 14-year-old daughter, hadn't spoken to her for almost five years now, and none of Brennan's co-workers knew about her. Brennan didn't wasn't anyone- especially Ang- to know that she had a daughter with her former teacher Michael Stires.
"Yeah, mom, I'm fine, it's just…my friend Melissa, she just told me today…she knows something…about…a murder. And this really creepy guy followed us when we were walking to her house after school today…I'm sorry…I hope I'm not bothering you-"
"You're not, don't worry."
"Ok, well, I had to call you because…Mel says...that Terri and Paul are…the killers." Leila whispered the last word.
Brennan was stunned. Paul Mittan, her ex-boyfriend from high school, and his wife Terri had been so kind when she had asked them to take Leila five years ago.
"Well Lei, honey, it's not safe for you to stay there!" Brennan looked at the clock. It was 5:30 in the morning.
"I'm coming to get you. Are you at home?"
"Yeah, Terri and Paul have a breakfast meeting an hour away. They just left, and- oh my God. Mom, please come…please…just hurry!" Leila franticly said and hung up. Brennan jumped up and grabbed her coat. Before she left, she wrote a note for her partner, Seeley Booth, who was supposed to pick her up at 7.
Booth-
I had to go pick someone up. I will explain later. Please call the police and Michael Stires if I am not back by 8 am. Tell them to go to 1843 Queen Street in Alexandria- right across from the library. Sorry if I cause you to be late.
-Bones
Then she leapt into her car and sped off toward Virginia to pick up her secret daughter.
***
In about 15 minutes Brennan had arrived in Alexandria. Parking a block away, she put her cell phone on vibrate so it wouldn't alert anyone of her arrival. She walked up to the Mittan's front door. It opened before she knocked, and Leila burst out into her mother's arms.
"Leila, what happened? Why did you hang up?" Brennan stepped inside and closed and locked the door.
"A woman was just found-dead-a block away from the restaurant where Terri and Paul were going! I think Mel is right- they are the murderers" she threw herself into Brennan's arms again.
"Lei, sweetie, everything is going to be ok. You can come back and stay with me, and we can talk to the FBI. We will get protection for Melissa, and-"the door exploded off its hinges and a man dressed in black pointed a gun at Brennan and Leila. Brennan stepped in front of her daughter and, heart pounding; put her hands in the air.
"Temperance…how nice to see you…Leila actually cares enough to invite you for a visit when her parents aren't home…how sweet." He sneered at Brennan.
"You're not my dad, Paul! You're a murderer! I hate you! Im going with my real mom now!" Leila shouted.
Paul laughed, cold and unfriendly. Brennan glanced at the clock. It was only 7. Booth wouldn't be missing her for another hour. She should have called him…
"You aren't going with Tempie. Both of you are staying right here until Terri gets home and then we will decide what to do with you." Since he had a gun, neither of the girls felt like arguing.
***
Soon they were each tied to a chair in the basement of the Mittan's house. They sat there in silence. Brennan was trying to think of ways to escape when she heard a door open.
"Temperance Brennan came to try and break Leila out…Leila's friend Melissa knows. She saw us talking to Teddy before he killed that man. I tied them both to chairs in the basement"
"But Paul…won't that FBI friend of Tempie's come to try and rescue her?" Terri's sickly sweet voice deepened Brennan's newfound hatred of the couple.
"Terri, baby, he is just a special agent. They really only work with papers. Not a terribly demanding job and I highly doubt he is as good with a gun as you are, sugarplum." Paul's statement about Booth was only mildly reassuring, but at least they had the weakness of their assumption to deal with now.
Suddenly they heard a door open and two gunshots were fired. Terri's sickly sweet laugh sounded before another shot rang out. Brennan realized that with the two of the Mittans up there, hardly anyone stood a chance at all. The basement door opened and a huge figure began walking down the steps. Brennan concluded that she was about to die, in a cold dark basement, with her secret daughter, without ever saying goodbye to her friends and family…
"Bones!" a familiar voice rang through the basement. Brennan was weak with relief and she heard Leila begin cry quietly.
"Booth! How did you know we were in trouble? It's nowhere near 8 yet, why did you come so soon? And alone…you could have been killed!" Brennan said to her partner.
"Well your note said to call the police so I figured you were getting yourself into some kind of trouble, and I didn't bother to call the police or Stiles, I knew I could handle it, and I don't like Stiles anyway he always struck me as a goody-goody," Booth said as he pulled out a pocketknife to cut the ropes off of their wrists. Brennan had never been happier to see him, and she laughed slightly at the comment about Michael.
"It's Stires, Booth, and it was not very smart of you to assume that you could handle it. What if something had happened to you? Where would the FBI and Jeffersonian team be then? And what about Parker? He would be devastated if you were killed." Brennan chastised Booth in that tone of hers she used on him far too much, in his opinion. Booth laughed and brushed Brennan's auburn hair out of her eyes. She was immediately silent and he wondered if he had gone too far. He walked over to Leila and helped her up. He brushed away her tears and kissed her gently on the forehead.
"It's ok, you're safe now." Brennan found herself smiling at just how easygoing Booth was around children. "Who are you anyway?" Leila paused.
"I'm…ummmm….I'm…..uhhhh…..-"
Brennan interrupted Leila's suspicious babble.
"She's my daughter," she said heavily. Booth felt himself tense and it was all he could do to keep from falling. The basement rang with silence.
"You're…daughter?!" he was unable to keep the shock out of his voice.
"Yes. I never told you before because I knew you wouldn't take it well." Brennan sighed.
"Brennan, you should have trusted me…and I'm taking it fine, thank you," Booth said.
"Obviously you're not. I expected you to be surprised but why are you angry? And you've never called me Brennan before…" her voice trailed away. She realized that even though she was always telling him not to call her Bones, now she noticed that she sort of enjoyed him having a nickname for her.
"Well...i am surprised. I'm in shock. Sorry. You know, this almost falls into the category of life called 'death by shock,'" Booth told her. "Now let's get moving. There'll be Hell if someone finds us down here with two DB's upstairs. He strode away. Brennan felt horrible about deceiving him, even though it had been necessary.
"I don't know what categories of life you are talking about, but I don't think 'death by shock' is part of any of them," she called after him.
Leila's eyes followed Booth hungrily. "Mom is that your boyfriend? He is hot…is he a cop?" Brennan smiled weakly.
"No, he is only my work partner. And actually he is an FBI Special Agent, but he used to be a sniper." Brennan followed Booth out of the basement.
"Wow! That is hot!" Leila chirped and trotted up the stairs. Brennan rolled her eyes and bit her lip to keep from laughing.
***
Leila and her friend Melissa Greene were sitting on Paul and Terri's couch. A woman with blonde hair and a navy blue and yellow FBI jacket was questioning them. She wrote down everything they said in her little black notebook. Other agents were searching the house, and two coroners were stuffing the Mittans into body bags. Brennan was sitting on the other couch watching the scene. It was the first crime scene she was a witness at and not the investigator. Booth was talking to an agent too, about him shooting the Mittans, and from what Brennan was hearing he was ok, since they both had guns out when he shot them. She was sitting there quietly when Booth sat down next to her.
"So is Stiles the father?" Brennan didn't bother to correct the name; she just nodded her head without looking at Booth. "If you can't have her stay in your apartment she is welcome to come to my house. Parker is coming tomorrow and she could help watch him and she would be safe. You know, you could even stay with her if you wanted to…"he looked away, realizing he probably shouldn't have said that last bit.
"Thank you, Booth. I'm sure she will be a lot of help with Parker…but I can't take up your offer for myself. I have to get into the lab today and finish documenting the vertebrae from the Tyler Kingston case. Maybe we could all go out for dinner, though." She stood up and walked over to the Special Agent in Charge, Sam Wallace.
"Agent Wallace may Leila and I leave now? I have some work I need to do, and Agent Booth has been kind enough to offer to let Leila stay with him today so I believe everything is worked out."
"I don't see why not. You are capable of getting her back to Booth's home safely, and she is finished with questioning," Wallace said. "Go ahead, you can leave." Brennan and Leila got in Brennan's car and followed Booth's SUV to his place. The three were silent in the elevator, and when they got there Brennan was the first to speak.
"Leila, Booth's son Parker is coming in a little while and I want you to please help take care of him, ok?" Leila nodded and went into Booth's apartment.
"Thank you again, Booth…I will be done around 5 so you can bring Parker and Leila to the lab around four thirty…I want to introduce her to the rest of the staff. Then we can go up to Royal for dinner." Brennan told Booth.
"Ok, then I will see you around 4:30. Good luck breaking the news to the squint squad." Booth smiled his little half smile and waved goodbye to Brennan as she walked back to the elevator.
***
Brennan sighed as she thought about what to say to the staff. She could already hear their reactions. Her best friend, Angela Montenegro, who was their 'artist' of the lab, would say, "You have a daughter?! With Major Hottie Michael Stires?! Your ex- teacher-ex-boyfriend-ex-court enemy?! Honey, why did you wait so long to tell us? We could have helped you get child support checks from him, and she could be, like, an intern already…sweetie, you are so depriving her of a wonderful life." Then she would gasp with a sudden realization. "Once she meets Parker and they become so close they are like siblings then you and Booth will have no choice but to profess your love for each other and get married!" Ang was always saying crazy things about Brennan and Booth getting together.
Coroner Cam Saroyan would get that funny wide-eyed smile and say, "does Booth know its Stires'?" or "is Booth jealous?" Or worse, "does Stires know?" Then Cam would agree with Angela about Brennan and Booth. Brennan started to laugh just thinking about it. As she got in her car she thought about who would talk next.
It would be entomologist Jack Hodgins and assistant Zach Addy- the 'Kings of the Lab' as they called themselves. The two best friends would look at each other, then Hodgins would say, "So I bet now Booth wants to beat up on Stires," and Zach would add, "yeah, he will probably leave Leila to babysit Parker and go track him down," they would both laugh and Cam would look at Zach sternly and Ang would hit Hodgins. Then they would talk about how hot they think Leila is, thinking they are quiet but really everyone is able to hear them.
Next, and last, would be the psychologist Dr. Lance Sweets. He would start by analyzing Zach and Hodgins. "Zach, Hodgins, I think that you two are conforming to be the (air quotes) 'perfect male' (to which Hodgins would interject, "and I can tell you're not") by talking about the (air quotes again) 'hotness' of Dr. Brennan's daughter. Really, you should be more concerned about your first point. If Agent Booth is angry at Dr. Stires, he will be a very dangerous man and we will want to keep away from him. But at the same time, we will want to stop him, so-"at this point Booth would come in with Leila and Parker and say, "alright Sweets stop it with the Shrink Speak and listen to Bones. She wants to introduce Leila." And then, Brennan realized, she would be on her own.
***
Now she was pulling into the parking lot of the Jeffersonian Institution's Medico-Legal Lab. She grabbed her purse and walked through the doors without pausing. No sooner had she stepped over the threshold then a bundle of energy and black hair and beads and soft pink fabric wrapped its arms around her.
"Ang!"
"Bren honey are you ok? Booth said you left a note and he was going to help you…he was really worried about you," Angela said with a knowing smile on her face. "We all were."
"Thanks, Ang, but there's nothing going on between Booth and me. But I have to tell you all something." Brennan looked up at Zach and Hodgins. "Someone call Cam and Sweets."
***
They reacted just how she had imagined it. Angela and Cam fantasized about how this would bring her and Booth closer and closer until they finally cracked. Zach and Hodgins couldn't wait to meet Leila and they were already taking bets from anyone they saw in the lab about whether or not Booth would try to beat up Stires. And Sweets was just launching into his 'Booth Is a Very Disturbed Man Whom We Must Help' spiel when Booth showed up with Parker and Leila.
"Ok, Leila, this is Angela. She is my best friend, well besides Booth, and she is the artist of our lab. This is Cam, she is the coroner, and she is also a mother so you can talk to either one of them about anything. These two, not so much." Brennan smiled. "Leila, this is Jack. He is an entomologist and practical joker, like his friend Zach here. Zach is my assistant. Lastly, this is Dr. Sweets. You can talk to him too. Even though he is often too much like Jack and Zach, he is a psychologist so he is smart and trustworthy. And of course, you have me and Booth," Brennan told Leila with a smile. "Everyone, meet my daughter, Leila Mittan."
Well there we go. You lucky devil you...you just finished reading the first ever chapter of my first ever fanfic! i really hope you liked it...Brennan might be a lil OOC at the end there but hey i can say she is just nervous about introducing Leila to her team. ANYWHOOO...please please please review...its past christmas but presents are always welcome! also feel free to leave any *constructive* criticism...if i dont like it i will just ignore you :) but maybe, just maybe, i will take your advice. ONE MORE THING::::if i dont get any reviews, i might not continue...sooooo if you want the next chapter i already have it done....(in a sing-song voice) I KNOW WHAT HAPPENS, I KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!! and if you want to find out please review!! ok now i am rambling on and on and its getting kinda threatening...i will stop now, if you promise to reiview!! lol =] thanks again for reading!
lots and lots of love, BrennanBooth903 33