Title: The Young Man on the Mountain
Rating: K+, because there's a dead body. Don't worry, nothing graphic whatsoever. It's Bones, how often are the bodies gory (ignore 'The Truth in the Lye' and 'The Conman in the Meth Lab', and basically everything past the third season)?
Warning: Dead body, No gore whatsoever. Mentions of violence, none seen.
Pairings: Maybe a little B/B (Booth and Brennan) if you look at it that way (which I do).
This was originally a one-shot, that reviews convinced me to make a case!fic. Since then I've realized I hate case!fics so I'm editing this to re-make it into a one-shot. The other chapters in this may become one-shots in their own rights, we'll see how bored I get in the near future.
To be very clear, since I wavered last time, I will not this time. This is a one-shot! Do not story alert this!
[*]
"Bones, wait up!" Booth shouted to the rapidly disappearing figure some forty feet ahead of him. "Your assistant's stuck!"
"I am not stuck, Agent Booth," Zach replied testily. "Stuck implies a lack of the ability to move, I am merely encountering difficulty in maneuvering the equipment bags."
Zach was hauling four large bags of equipment up a steep rockslide following his supervisor, Dr. Brennan, and Agent Booth. One of the bags was, in fact, stuck on a fern which jutted from between two boulders.
Booth inspected Zach's predicament, then looked up the slope to catch a last glimpse of a blue jumpsuit before it vanished around a bend in the trail.
"Okay, then, you just run up ahead, but don't be yelling to me when a bear gets you!" Booth called to the forensic anthropologist. Then only response was the sounds of the small stream Booth was standing over and the groans of exertion from the grad assistant a few feet away.
Booth sighed and jumped down behind the equipment bags. "Let me give you a hand with these," he grunted as he lifted the bags free of the rocks. The sudden absence of the weight he was tugging against sent Zach tumbling into the stream with a large splash and a yelp.
"Are you both alright down there?" Booth looked up to see Dr. Brennan's head peering down from an overhang twenty feet above his position.
"Just great. The kid decided to go for a swim, that's all!" Dr. Brennan looked at Zach, who was trying to stand. He slipped on the soft sand of the stream and fell back into the water.
"There are some towels in the dark green bag, Zach." She pointed to one of the bags Booth had caught. Booth started to fumble with the large packs, then looked up when she continued. "And Booth? I found the remains. You'll want to see this!" She grinned and her head pulled back from the edge.
"Sure," said Booth sarcastically. "I'll just pull out the magic carpet and fly up there immediately." He tossed the bags next to the stream, where Zach was struggling to get out again. "You're on your own, kid.
A few minutes later Booth cleared the last few trees and came into few of the… body. Bones were strewn around the clearing, some caught in the low hanging branches of trees, others on bushes or ferns. He looked around the clearing, but didn't see the forensic anthropologist whom he'd followed. "Bones?"
"Up here!" Booth jumped away as Dr. Brennan's jumpsuit-clad figure fell a few feet away from him. He caught her elbow to steady her, but she shook his arm off and pointed upwards. "Look at that!"
Booth did so, nervously, then in shock. A skull was wedged into a fork in the tree several feet above his head. "Woah!" He exclaimed. "How did that get up there? And," he continued, gesturing around the clearing, "what's with the bones?"
"It appears as though a wolf or another creature with similar teeth found the carcass and dragged it around for a while." As she talked Dr. Brennan inspected a rib she'd found on the ground. Booth followed behind her, looking around to make sure he wasn't about to crush any evidence. "The victim appears to be a male of African descent between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-six."
"That sounds like Steve Thomas, the missing Senator's aide from D.C." Booth remarked, consulting his notebook. He looked back at Dr. Brennan. "You said victim, it's definitely a murder?"
"This nick in the seventh rib suggests impalement with a sharp instrument at a downward angle. It appears to have travels almost directly through the intercostal space, possibly damaging the heart." She looked back at Booth, catching his attention. "I can get Zach to make an impression back at the Jeffersonian."
"That is, if he ever gets out of that stream!" Booth joked.
Dr. Brennan looked back at Booth strangely. "Of course he will," she said as though it were obvious.
"I know, Bones, it was a joke," Booth shook his head.
"Well, you were being unreasonable, suggesting that Zach couldn't get out of a small body of water!" She turned back to Booth.
"I've known the kid for a year now, it wouldn't surprise me!" Booth responded to his partner's argumentative tone.
"If it makes any difference, I'm here." The two looked over at the small trail. Zach, still dripping, was standing at the entrance to the clearing, lugging the four equipment bags in a fireman's carry.
"Oh, Zach," Dr. Brennan shoved the rib at Booth, who held it awkwardly away from himself, and trotted over to the wet grad student. She quickly took the packs from him and put them on a flat rock. "I hope none of the equipment is wet."
"No, Dr. Brennan I was very careful with all of our imaging equipment and the evidence sampling kits." Zach attempted to dry his thick hair with a towel, succeeding in making it frizz more.
"All right." Dr. Brennan pulled a camera from a blue bag and handed it to the young man. "Start taking pictures of the remains." She pointed directly above Zach's head, at the hanging skull. "Make sure you get that." Zach nodded and started fiddling with the camera. She walked back to Booth, who was turning the rib over in his hands.
"So this person was stabbed?" he inquired. Booth could barely see the small notch that Dr. Brennan had indicated.
"Possibly by the knife found in the survival kits sold at the bottom of the mountain. We should-"
"So we've got our work cut out for us, huh?" Booth joked, grinning at his partner.
Dr. Brennan struggled, but a smile broke through. "I suppose that idiom would befit the situation," she admitted. "As I was saying, we should interview the owner of the convenience store at the bottom of the mountain while Zach finishes up with the scene."
Booth looked back at the grad student, who had just tripped over a protruding tree root. "You're gonna trust him with the scene of the crime?" Booth asked in a low voice. "He can't even walk!"
"He isn't handicapped, Booth," Dr. Brennan gave him that strange look again, the one that indicated he had come to an odd conclusion. "And he's very capable of processing a scene and collecting evidence."
Booth gave up. If she trusted the bumbling young man, who was he to disagree? "My lady," he said, grinning, as he put out his arm.
Dr. Brennan ignored his arm and walked toward the trail, leaving Booth behind. She started spouting instructions to Zach while Booth walked over to the overhang where his partner had perched a few minutes before. He looked down the mountain. He could barely see the roof of the convenience store between the trees and through the mist that cloaked this peak in the Blue Ridge mountain range.
"Who gets killed half a mile up in the air?" Booth said aloud, have a joke, half a serious question. He looked back at the bones thrown carelessly across the clearing and wondered if he'd ever know.
"Booth?" He shook himself out of his thoughts and looked at the forensic anthropologist who was following his gaze.
"Yeah, Bones, ready to go." He stood up and dusted off the knees of his black pants. He stopped when he felt her hand, still wearing the rubber glove, on his elbow. He looked down at her face, which was staring at him seriously.
"We're going to find who did this," Dr. Brennan said quietly. "I promise."
She always knows, Booth thought. He smiled at his partner, who responded with a smile of her own. "I know," Booth replied. He held out his elbow and grinning pleadingly.
This time, Dr. Brennan rolled her eyes and took his arm. "Lead the way, Agent Booth!" Booth laughed, and they started on their journey back down the mountain.
[*]
Okay, that wasn't as short as I thought it would be. Well, writing it down and typing it up took a good hour and a half out of the three hours wait I had, so it's all good!
You spent all that time reading the story, surely you can spare a few more moments on a quick review? As always, even a 'Good story,' or a 'Wow, that was crap' are much appreciated!
Thanks for reading!