Title: The Princess in the Tower
Author: moonswirl
Pairings: Booth/Brennan, Jack/Angela
Rating: PG to PG-13
Spoilers: Not so much... mostly rests on season 1 info... Also means no Cam, and still some Goodman :D
Disclaimer: Wish it was mine, but it's not... honest :)
A/N: Tis my first Bones fic :) I already have it done through chapter 4, but I wanna be able to space things so... :)

PROLOGUE - Ellie & Meg

TWO YEARS AGO

"Wait, okay, give me the camera!" Ellie Montrose asked her little sister Meg. Ellie was sixteen years old. Meg was eleven and she idolized her big sister.

"Okay," Meg handed it off, giving the sky the spotlight before Ellie turned it over to be aimed at herself.

"Witness here the waning freedom of Eleanor Serena Montrose, now a slave to the demands of her overbearing yet supposedly well-meaning parents, and in five days' time a slave to the Carver School for Girls. My co-pilot, Miss Margaret..." she turned the camera around and Meg waved with two hands, "will help chronicle this time. Okay..." she handed the camera back.

"What do we do now?" Meg asked, working to keep the camera steady. Ellie pondered this a moment, then took off running in the opposite direction. "Ellie, wait!" Meg called, taking off running, giving the camera a good jostle.

"Come on!" Ellie would be heard laughing somewhere out of the shaky shot of grass and bare feet running. When the shot finally caught Ellie again, she was peeking through a gate scattered with shrubbery.

"Is he there?" Meg asked, stopping next to her sister.

"Hello Margaret," a voice spoke as a hand pierced through the shrub and waved. Meg squealed and gasped at once. Ellie laughed.

"Are you busy? We need your help on something."

"What kind of something?"

"Highly secretive, the best kind," Ellie went on laughing. "Please Mr. Hodgins?"

"Well if you put it that way..." There was a pause, the sisters waiting anxiously. "Give me five minutes, I'll be right over."

"Thank you!" Ellie called.

"And they say flattery gets you nowhere," they heard him speak as he walked away from the gate.

As the girls waited, Ellie reclaimed the camera and suggested Meg demonstrate her solo for her upcoming dance recital. As Meg did so, Ellie panned on around her with the camera, giving it a good 360 feel. She'd just finished when Jack appeared.

"Hey Mr. Hodgins!" Meg smiled.

"So what's on your mind that you needed me?" The camera lifted as Ellie offered it up to Jack.

"Can you film us a while? Our parents are kind of useless right around here..."

"Uh, yeah, alright," he took the camera, turning it around to take in the two sisters together.

"Great, come on," Ellie turned to Meg and crouched. Meg took the cue, climbing on her back. Ellie ran about, jostling Meg along, much to her enjoyment. Jack followed, capturing the images of the Montrose sisters hopping along like they were riding the world's best ever sugar high. It all lasted about a half hour before they finally told Jack the tape would run out soon.

"So what's all this for?" he asked, still filming.

"Going to make a copy... I'll have one, she'll have one... Our version of a friendship bracelet," Ellie explained. "Okay, bye now!" she laughed as she and Meg waved to the camera before Ellie reached over to turn it off.

xxx

That night, Meg was in bed at 9:30, after which Ellie hung about in her room, listening to music and thinking - of what had been and what was to come once she was shipped off to her new school. She knew why she was being sent and that only made her despise her parents for it even more.

"Ellie, sweetheart?" her mother's voice was heard from outside the door, followed by a knock.

"Yeah..." she responded, not even bothering to sit up. The sound of the door indicated her mother's entrance.

"I just got off the phone with your father."

"And he sends his love from... where is he this week?"

"Prague."

"Right! What'd he want?"

"Well apparently there's been a mix-up and you need to be at school by tomorrow night."

"So dad doesn't want me here when he gets back... perfect. I'm not exactly bouncing with joy at the thought of seeing him either."

"Eleanor..."

"Don't Eleanor me, you know it's true." There was silence for a few seconds.

"I'll help you with your suitcases in the morning."

"Don't bother, I have it covered," she rolled over on her bed, grabbing the covers over herself. "Shut the light on your way out." After a few seconds, the light was turned off, the door shut. Ellie sighed to herself and closed her eyes to sleep.

xxx

It was front page news for weeks, then less and less. Time just went on and people started forgetting, stopped caring.

It never stopped being a mystery people argued over though - What happened to Ellie Montrose?

The stories ran from kidnapping, to runaway, murder, or suicide... She was never found, they didn't know if she was alive, or dead...

The family remained locked tight, which of course kept the blame circling over them like vulture after a great big juicy prey.

TBC