(Season 12)

Aadams00 wanted me to check in on Javier Alvarado who we met in the episode 'El Carnicero en el Coche'.

I don't own Bones.

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Three and half years since he'd seen his mother and he still couldn't believe his good fortune. After he had betrayed his mother he had expected the Estrellas to hunt him down and kill him, but they hadn't which Javier found a little shocking when he thought about it. Agent Booth and the Prosecutor Ms. Julian had promised him a new home and a new school and that had come true. He was given to a new family and that family had treated him like a son from the very beginning. Jan and Robert Rodrigues treated him kindness and every day he thanked God that Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan, Ms. Julian and Dr. Sweets had come into his life. Every Sunday's he lit a candle for them at church and asked God to protect them all from harm. It had been sad when Dr. Sweets had been murdered the year after Javier had found his new family, but the boy included him in his prayers anyway. These people and the Rodrigues meant more to him than anyone else in the world and he wanted God to keep his protective hands over all of them.

Javier loved his birth mother and he always would, but he knew that she didn't love him. He had killed her boyfriend in self-defense, but it had been clear when he confessed that to her that she would rather that he had died at the hands of Jaime Delcampo than what had really happened. His mother was a hard woman raised in violent gangs and she felt little compassion for anyone. Javier had never known who his father was, but that hadn't mattered when he'd lived with his mother. It mattered even less now that he was living a new life with a new family that actually loved him and wanted him.

The Rodrigues had formally adopted him and that had surprised him even more. He had thought he would never have a family after his mother threw him away and he had been proven wrong. Ms. Julian had found him more than a foster family. She had found a childless couple who longed for a child of their own. They were an older couple and they had been turned down at the adoption agencies because Mrs. Rodrigues had epilepsy and they were in their 50's. The agencies had felt that Jan wasn't fit enough to raise a child, but Ms. Julian was a friend of the family and she had arranged for Javier's adoption. The couple hadn't cared that they were taking in an eleven year old boy. They had shown him love the minute they had him in their care and Javier had been stunned at the difference between living in the home of his biological mother and the Rodrigues.

His birthday was coming up and he was going to turn fifteen years old. Life wasn't what he had expected it to be and because of the kindness of strangers he was no longer under the influence of the gangs and he would never go back.

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A knock on the door and Javier called out to his mother. "Mom, someone's at the door. I'll get it."

Jan Rodrigues was in the kitchen decorating her son's birthday cake while her husband Robert was in the backyard checking on the barbeque pit. He'd put on a few slab of ribs and pork steaks earlier and he was now adding vegetable kabobs to the grill. "Okay Sweetheart, invite them into the kitchen."

Javier opened the door in anticipation and grinned at the sight of his guests. "Agent Booth . . . Dr. Brennan, please come in. Mom is in the kitchen and Dad is out back messing around with the barbeque."

Pleased to see Javier, Brennan stepped forward and hugged the gangling lad. Javier had shot up at least five inches since she had last seen him. "My, you've grown much taller Javier. We're the same height now."

Proud that he was still growing, Javier grinned. "I guess I'm not going to be the runt I thought I was going to be."

"Oh no, I told you last year that you were probably going to reach a height of at least five feet ten." Brennan stepped past the boy while Booth shook his hand and followed his wife into the house.

"Javier, you're looking good kid." Booth handed him a wrapped gift and smiled. "You'll be shaving before you know it and what a pain in the butt that is."

Amused, the teenager laughed and hugged the wrapped box against his chest. "Dad says the same thing. He said that if they would invent something to wipe on his face and he'd never had to shave again he'd buy it."

Rubbing his cheek, Booth nodded his head. "I might be tempted myself." Booth followed Javier and Brennan into the kitchen. "Caroline is on the way. She should be here in about a ten minutes or so."

Excited that his guests were coming, Javier placed his gift on the kitchen table. "I'm glad she could come. Mom made a small pot of chicken and sausage gumbo for her."

"It's not as good as Caroline's, but I think it's edible." Jan stirred the pot of gumbo and then checked on her baked beans in the oven. "Javier is having a skating party tomorrow with his friends, so we didn't invite them to this party. We didn't think you and Caroline could stand ten teenagers around here. They can be quite noisy."

"I wouldn't have minded." Brennan moved around the counter and pointed at the stove. "Is there anything I can to do help?"

Jan shook her head and wiped he hands on a dish towel. "Not at all. Everything is either done or almost done . . . You should have brought your children. There is more than enough food."

Booth shook his head and sat down at the kitchen table. "The kids are with their grandfather. Max promised them a trip to the Kid Museum in Bethesda. They're going to stay with him overnight."

Javier picked up the plate of deviled eggs from the counter and carried it over to Booth. "Dad made these this morning. He remembered you liked them the last time you were here. We have some stuffed celery for you Dr. Brennan." Javier placed the plate down in front of Booth and retrieved the celery from the fridge. Placing it on the counter in front of Brennan, the boy smiled at her. "We used vegan cheese and vegan mayonnaise. I made them a little while ago."

Pleased at how considerate the Rodrigues were of her diet, Brennan picked one up and bit into it. "This is quite good. Thank you."

A knock on the door and Javier raced to the front door and opened it. "Aunt Caroline." The boy hugged her and then kissed her cheek. "You're just in time."

Before she entered the house, Caroline picked up a gift bag at her feet and handed it to the teenager. "Here you go Cher'."

His excitement building, Javier took the bag and tried to peek under the paper in the bag only to have the bag taken from him by Caroline. "No you don't. You have to wait until everyone is here. Dr. Saroyan will be along in a few minutes with that fiancé of hers."

A grin on his face, Javier placed his arm around Caroline's shoulders. "Well you knew I had to try."

Amused, Caroline nodded her head. "Well you are fifteen years old, so yes, I knew you'd have to try." Moving towards the kitchen, the prosecutor noticed how tall the boy was and how happy too. She remembered the small frightened boy from three and a half years ago and how devastated he'd been when his mother had treated him so badly in the interrogation room at the Hoover. The boy had loved his mother and had tried to protect her from that killer boyfriend of hers and the woman had actually declared that she didn't want him anymore. She had stated that she had rather that he had died than her boyfriend and that she could always make more children. That whole scene had made Caroline both sad and very angry. Once she had Javier away from his mother and safely into Child Protective services she had had a conference with Booth. They had agreed that Maria Alvarado was a very dangerous woman and she had decided to prosecute Ms. Alvarado for her connections to Anna and the rest of the Estrellas that had been picked up for gun and drug possession. Javier's mother was in prison and she would be there long enough for the boy to reach adulthood. It was the Rodrigues plan to send him out of state to a good university and once he graduated they would all move to Massachusetts where they would begin new lives away from the Estrellas. Jan's family lived in Massachusetts and she thought it would be nice for their family to live near her family.

"Javier, Jan told me you got almost all A's on your report card." Caroline stopped and pulled away from the boy so she could see his face. "A 'B' in history and a 'C' in zoology? The 'B' is acceptable, but a 'C'?"

The boy looked at the toes of his shoes and frowned. "I hate cutting up frogs and when they told me I was going to have to cut up a fetal pig I got sick. A fetal pig Aunt Caroline. I told Mom that was disgusting and she agreed with me, so did Dad. I want to be a meteorologist when I graduate from university. I don't see why I have to cut up dead baby pigs."

Caroline nodded her head, agreeing that the boy was right. "Well, I guess a 'C' is okay then."

Grateful that she wasn't disappointed with him, Javier kissed her cheek. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Caroline heard voices in the other room and walked into the kitchen. "Hello Cher'. Here is Javier's present. He tried to look inside the bag."

"Mom!" Javier shook his head. "I was just joking, I swear."

Jan chuckled and pointed at the living room when she heard a knock on the door. "Go let Dr. Saroyan in." Once the boy was out of the room, Jan laughed. "He's so excited. Don't you just love it? He's such a good boy."

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