2017 / Astoria

Astoria Brennen sat on a sleek couch in her therapist's office. Her messy chestnut colored hair covered part of her face shielding her green eyes from the man across from her. She closed her eyes again trying to recall the dream.

"I keep hearing this voice. It's a woman screaming a name, and she keeps screaming as loud as she can until there's a green light and then I wake up in sweats"

"What name is she screaming?"

"Harry." Astoria Brennen shifted on the couch facing Dr. Lance Sweets. She had been his patient for six years and had been having that dream for her whole life.

"Mom comes into the room worried sick because I'm screaming his name too, and it's like I can't wake up. I'm shaking and my body has gone cold but I'm still sweating…"

"I see. Do you talk to your mom about the dreams you're having?"

"She doesn't understand them. I don't either, but I do see faces."

"Faces?"
"Yes. In dreams, you only see faces of people you've seen before.. so logically, I must have known them."

"I'm really proud of you, Astoria. This is a real breakthrough for you. The dreams feel real-"

"They ARE real! They're tangible, Sweets. It's like I could reach out and feel them. What if it's a link to my real family?"

"Astoria," Sweets leaned in, "We looked for your family, remember?"

"You didn't look hard enough. What else could the dream be? I'm just making it up?" She started to gather her things.

"Astoria, I didn't mean that you were making it up."

"This is a waste of time! I'm going to the lab."

"I guess time is up isn't it, see you next week?"

Astoria grabbed her black messenger bag and stormed out of Sweets office. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going and barreled into Special Agent Seeley Booth.

"Astoria, Are you okay? What happened?"

"Sorry Booth, I have to go meet Mom at the lab."

"I'll call Bones, don't worry, do you want to go get an ice cream? We can talk this out, okay?"

She considered the offer.

"But you're working?"

"What flavor do you want?"

"I just want to go to the lab."

So they headed out in Booth's giant black SUV. Astoria watched outside the window silently as Booth drove.

"Do you want to talk about what's wrong?"

"You wouldn't believe me, Booth."

"Hey, I'm the illogical one, remember?"

"Sweets doesn't even believe me. He thinks I want it to be real so I'm making it all up."

"Making what up?"

"I keep having these dreams, there's a woman screaming and I feel like I know her. I do know her in the dream but when I wake up I don't know who she is anymore."

"We all have dreams like that, you know? Even Bones."

"No, she doesn't."

"She loves you too, she'll want to know about this."

"Booth, I think the woman in my dreams could be my real mom. I don't know, but how could Mom understand that?"

"Astoria, I don't think it's my place exactly. But Bones has had her share of sadness, okay? She can handle it."

"Can she?"

Astoria phone started ringing loudly in her pocket and when she pulled it out, she saw it was her best friend Parker Booth.

"Hey Parker, I'm with your dad by the way. – yeah, he's driving me to the lab – You want to help me clean bones? Yeah, right. – I can meet you after – I'll tell him – Bye." Astoria hung up the phone.

"Parker says hello."

"What do you two got planned today?"

"Um, we're meeting at the diner later to go over some stuff."

"Sorry Tori, but Parker's grounded. He shouldn't have made plans with you."

"Why?"

"Oh, we're at the lab. You got everything?"

"Yeah, I think so. Thanks Booth. I'll tell Mom you said hi."

She turned and started walking towards the Jeffersonian when as she looked up, she saw a gangly, black headed boy staring at her. He looked so familiar but so strange. He was wearing norTori clothes and he looked like any other person on the street. Something was different. Their eyes were locked for a long moment. Booth honked his horn to say goodbye so Astoria looked back at him but when she looked for the boy again he was nowhere in sight.

Inside the lab was a perfect world of fact. Her mother, Dr. Temperance Brennen, was in her office examining bone fragments on the computer. Angela (Montenegro) Hodgins was also hard at work. Astoria took a minute to look around but then felt a warm sensation cover her eyes.

"Guess who?"

"Prince of the lab?"

"Hey now, I gave you extra the other night for babysitting. What am I?"

"King of the lab."

"That's more like it." Dr. Jack Hodgins smiled at the teenager, "What are you in the mood for today? Cleaning bones or dissecting mold?"

"I'd love to but I think Angela wanted to meet with me and Mom, I think we're going to buy prom dresses."

"Prom?"

"Yes, prom!" She laughed, "I can get a date!"

"Who is it then?"

"Parker. It's not a big deal. We're just going as friends."

"Parker Booth? Isn't he ten?"

"He's sixteen, Hodgins."
"What'd Booth say?"

"Well, we didn't tell Booth. Parker's coming by to get his tux and stuff so don't freak out when you see him. Okay?"

"Nah, don't worry. I wouldn't embarrass you, would I?"

"Well, there is the rare occasion."

Hodgins smiled and went back to work as Astoria walked over to Brennen's office. She had always loved the lab. She remembered her first time coming here as an eleven year old. She had evidence on her and she kept asking random questions about bones. Everyone took care of her and Dr. Brennen wouldn't let anyone put her into more foster care. So the rest of her life was spent in this lab or at school. Astoria was hoping to get into the medical university so she become an anthropologist like her adopted mother.

There were many occasions during her time at the Jeffersonian, that she had been able to complete her work without physical touch. She could make things happen with her mind for instance, when she was trying to finish studying but had to clean bones, the bones would clean themselves while she worked on her coursework. Usually it happened when no one else was around, but Hodgins had walked in on her a couple of times and promised to keep it a secret. He thought it was really cool and he was interested in it enough that sometimes he had her come in to dissect mold and it was their weird sort of entertainment. Dr. Hodgins thought of Astoria as a little sister and was very close to her. He wanted to protect her because even though the dissecting mold with the mind trick was cool, he knew it was extraordinary and potentially harmful (if handled incorrectly).

So Astoria made her way into Dr. Brennen's office who was on the phone with Booth. She sat down on the couch and started to count the ceiling tiles while she waited for her mom to finish talking about bone fragments in someone's ear. Her mind quickly drifted off from the amount of ceiling tiles to the boy who was staring at her earlier.