The Girl in the Trunk

Takes place during season two. Brennan is faced with a forty year-old skeleton found in a trunk in the basement of a local elementary school; was it just a terrible accident or a shocking homicide?

I don't own Bones or its characters.

Chapter 1

Temperance Brennan was sitting at her desk. It was late; everyone else had already gone home for the night. They had just gotten through a case so she wasn't working over time or anything like that. She was just filing some papers and reviewing the information on her parents. The question she had asked at her mother's grave was still reeling through her head. All she wanted was to find her father, to get the answers to so many questions she had. Ever since she had found out about everything, she felt like half of her was missing. So she was sitting there asking pictures and files what she had felt silly asking her mother's grave. Was her father a good guy? Could she ever believe he was a good guy knowing he had the man who murdered her mother killed? Would she ever get the chance to see her father again and assimilate her opinion of him?

Part of her said that she was an investigator; she would figure this out and get her answers. Another part of her doubted everything and feared for the worst. She pulled out the dolphin she had found by her mother's tombstone, smiling despite the fact that it made her sad. This and a phone call were proof that her father was alive, and yet he might as well be dead because she was sure to never see him again. Maybe if he knew how she was tormented by this he would forget about trying to protect her and just come and see her. She could take care of herself; she didn't need to be protected. She wanted the truth.

Hours passed by as she pondered and questioned. Eventually the tick-tocking of the clock and the on again off again hum of the air-conditioning system made her drowsy. She was looking at some old family pictures she had with her; on the backs were descriptions that her parents had written. The one she was looking at now was titled "Ferris wheel." She and Russ were at a carnival in the picture, sitting at the very top of the Ferris wheel. She remembered being terrified of carnival rides, but nevertheless it looked like she and Russ were having a fun time. Another picture she picked up was one of her and her mother at the beach. They were sitting in the sand, building a sand castle. It saddened her that she didn't remember either of these events, but then again, it looked like she was only five or six in the photographs. In a couple of minutes, she found it harder and harder to focus on the pictures. She finally drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Brennan awoke to a click, a warm and inviting aroma, and a bright light shining through her eyelids. The click was the turning on of her desk lamp, which was the source of light shining directly at her face. The person who had turned on the light turned out to be Booth, who was holding a cup of coffee, which, in turn was the source of the pleasant aroma that she had noticed.

"Good morning, Bones," Booth smiled, "Sleep well?"

"What time is it? Is that coffee for me? Nobody else saw me sleeping in here did they?" She asked in a rush.

"Whoa, take it easy Bones," he said, "Its only seven; I just got here."

Brennan let out a sigh of relief, "Wait, its seven in the morning? Why are you here so early?"

"I had to pick up some papers; I have to be at court today at nine. I wanted to be well prepared," replied Booth as he handed her the coffee. "You know I did get this for me, but you can have it."

"Oh, uh, thanks," She took the coffee and took a sip from the cup.

"When did you get here? You haven't been here all night, have you?" Booth then asked.

She nodded, "I was doing some paper work and looking at some pictures and lost track of time. I'm glad you arrived before Dr. Saroyan."

"Yeah, I could care less if you feel asleep, but I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be too happy about it."

"I'm not particularly happy that I slept in here either; desks aren't comfortable at all."

Booth grinned and picked up one of the photographs from the desk. "Is that you and Russ?"

"Yeah, we took a day trip to New York City; I wanted to see The Phantom of the Opera and Russ wanted to visit the Empire State Building." She replied with a smile.

"Aww, look its Bones age five," Booth said, taking up the picture of Bones and her mother at the beach.

Brennan blushed and then put the photos back into one of the desk drawers.

"You kept all of these pictures even though your brother abandoned you?" he asked her.

She shrugged, "I never took them out until recently. They were in one of my drawers with other stuff I took with me after Russ left. Up until now, they were things I wanted to forget."

"See, aren't you glad I called Russ and got him to come down here?"

"Oh, I'm still mad at you for that," she rolled her eyes, "But I guess your intentions were good."

He looked at his watch and realised he should probably get going, "At least I know I'm not all bad. Well, I have to get going; I've got a long day ahead of me. See you later, Bones."

She was about to say something about the "I've got a long day ahead of me" part, but decided against it. She simply said good luck and waved goodbye. Still, how can a person have a long day? All days are twenty-four hours long, give or take a second. How come nobody ever says they had a short day? This is exactly why she became a scientist; some things people said just didn't make sense to her.

Sighing, she looked at the clock across the room; nobody would be showing up for at least half an hour. Maybe she should call Angela and ask her to come to work earlier. Maybe she still had enough time to go home and freshen up.

Somehow she decided not to do either of those two choices. She turned on the TV to watch the news instead and then decided against that as well. The only thing on there was news of more soldiers who had been killed in Iraq and gas prices soaring even higher. The former brought back memories of being gagged and restrained, about to be killed. The latter was a reason for her to stay there instead of going home. She clicked the television off after hearing that the next segment was about how diet sodas may cause cancer. In other words, the next segment was another pointless thing that she didn't care to hear about. She knew that plenty of other things caused cancer and that soda was the least of her worries.

So she sat there patiently, hoping that the clock would go faster and someone would show up so they could get started on something. Though when Dr. Saroyan showed up in the doorway, she suddenly wished that it were earlier in the morning again and she were at home sleeping.

"Dr. Brennan," Dr Saroyan greeted, "A skeleton was found in the basement of a local elementary school. I'm heading over there now if you want a ride."

Despite the fact that getting a ride meant having to spend the time with Dr. Saroyan, at least it meant not using her own car and wasting her own gas. That was at least one plus about it. She stood up, "Sure, let me get my things and I'll be right there."

Author's Note: This is my first Bones fanfic, so I hope you like it. I've been working on it for some time now and it's still not complete. I've been insanely busy lately with schoolwork and such so I write whenever I can. Please review and let me know what you think of it so far. By the end of the fanfic I hope to… have the squints solve the case and somehow the case will connect to Brennan's father or there will be a side plot/second plot with Brennan's father. My original idea was to have it be about Bones and finding her father, but I came up with the idea for the skeleton in the trunk and that sort of took over. Well, guess that's it. I have the second chapter written in my notebook and will type it up soon. I'll try to have that up by next week. Well, thanks for reading! )