I'm not very good at the medical stuff. If it doesn't sound very convincing, it's because it's not. But hey, I tried.

CHAPTER 1

"What do we got?" Agent Seeley Booth asked as he walked into the crime scene with Drs. Brennan and Addy close in tow.

A local police officer, Officer Davis, led them through a maze of debris, smoke, and trees. "A couple of joggers saw smoke. When they got closer they found this." The quartet finally found themselves staring at a car burnt black. "We found two bodies in there, in the same state as the car. It's amazing a forest fire wasn't started the way this fire was going."

"Is there a road leading out here?" Dr. Brennan asked as she began to examine the bodies.

Officer Davis shook his head. "That's the weird thing about this. There are just foot trails."

"Zack, look at the way these plants are placed. The burnt ones surrounding the car are all directed towards it, like they were growing over it. I think this car has been here for a long time."

"The evidence does look like it points that way, Dr. Brennan," Zack said taking a few snapshots. "Though, I think we should look at the evidence more before we assume that's what happened." Booth smirked as Brennan nodded in agreement.

Brennan began to examine the bodies, which were stuck together in one final embrace. "This one's a female, African-American, late teens to early twenties. The other one," she said with a grunt, prying the girl off of the second skeleton, "is a male, Caucasian, late teens to early twenties again."

"Hate crime," Booth said, tossing a die into the air, and snatching it effortlessly as it fell. "Let's get these bodies back to the lab, find out who did it."

"Look at the girl," Brennan said. "She's not holding this guy at all. And she's not in a position to suggest she was struggling. She was unconscious."

"Could it possibly have something to do with the smoke she was engulfed in?" Booth asked sardonically.

Brennan shook her head as if he was actually asking. "No, the flames were too hot to give either of them time to pass out. They were both killed rather quickly. He wasn't unconscious, either."

"Great, we can find out why, back at the lab."

"Wait, look at this," Zack said. Booth groaned. "Burnt flesh on the door handle suggests that someone opened the car door after it was set on fire."

"Someone got out," Booth said. "How about we go find out who?"

"No," Zack said.

"What now," Booth asked angrily.

"The skin is on the outside of the car, meaning someone came in, not out."

"Ok, great, can we go?"

"Why do you want to leave so badly?" Brennan asked. "You love bossing people around at crime scenes."

"I have to go pick up Parker from school. I get to pick up Parker from school. I don't want to be late."

"You can go. It's nothing we can't handle."

"I can go? I don't think so. Together, the two of you have the social skills of a rabid raccoon. I'm not going anywhere."

"Okay, then give us time for a thorough look at the scene."

Booth stood still for a second. "I'm leaving. Tell me if you get anything." He began to leave, but turned back. "By anything, I mean anything important to me, not a depression of the left lower oblongata, or whatever."

"That doesn't even mean anything," Zack said furrowing his eyebrows.

"Exactly," Booth shouted as he walked away.

X+X+X+X+X+X

"Dr. Brennan, I found something." Zack was bent over the body of the girl, while Brennan was examining the male. "The girl wasn't only unconscious. She was dead. For a while, too, maybe three weeks."

"Well the male was definitely burnt alive. Good work Zack."

"The car," Jack Hodgins said, appearing suddenly in the room, "was reported missing 7 years ago by one Dennis Hoffman."

"And I've IDd the girl. Jennifer Williams, a high school student at St. Albans. She went missing three years ago. Her parents, apparently loaded, are offering a $50,000 reward to whoever finds her." Hodgins' eyes lit up. "Like you need the money. Besides, I think this isn't the condition they wanted her in." Angela went quiet.

"Thanks, Angela," Brennan said softly.

Angela nodded. "I'll work on the guy now." She walked out of the room, followed by Jack, who wrapped his arm around her shoulders when he caught up.

Booth walked in, surprised by the sudden dreariness of the room. "Hey, what's going on?"

"We have names. Do you want to go check them out?"

"Sure…" Booth said, wondering what had happened while he was away.

"Zack, keep trying to find out what happened to the girl."

"Yes, Dr. Brennan."

X+X+X+X+X+X

Angela wiped the tears from her face as she sat with Hodgins in front of her computer. "I've never been so crude about a person before. A young girl for that matter."

"Angela, it happens. When you work here long enough, you learn how to distance yourself from the victims. You make jokes. We all do it."

"But not me. You're the slime guy. You don't see what I do. I see the person they were. It's harder for me. No offence."

Hodgins smiled. "It's okay. You're a good person. If you weren't you wouldn't be so concerned about what you said. Not only are you a good person, but also you're great at what you do. We're gonna find who did this, okay?"

Angela nodded. "Okay." She turned back to her computer. "I guess finding who the guy was will help, huh?"

"Probably. But I wouldn't really know, would I? Being the slime guy and all."

Angela smiled, "You better not hold that against me."

"For years."

X+X+X+X+X+X

"How's Parker?" Brennan asked as she and Booth drove to the address they were given for the Williams.

"Math is hard, apparently. Other than that…same old, same old. Girls are still punching bags. I'm safe for a while."

Brennan nodded, feeling her attempt at small talk had gone fabulously.

"Hey, what happened while I was gone? The whole room seemed…wrong."

"Angela made a comment about the victim. Something she didn't mean to say, I think."

Booth shrugged. "So, we all do. It's part of the job description."

Brennan shook her head. "Not Angela. Angela does faces, not bones, not bugs. She respects them, and empathizes with them. She's not like us."

"Well that's for sure."

"What I mean is that she can't distance herself from the victims the way we can. She can't even refer to them as victims."

"You know, Bones, you're using a lot of psychology."

She shook her head, "Not psychology, merely stating facts."

"Of course, facts." Booth pulled into a long driveway, that led them into a well-hid, but huge estate. There were landscapers watering the lawn and trimming the hedges and a fountain in front of the house sparkled in the sun.

"Well, Angela wasn't wrong about them being loaded…"

"Can we leave those comments to a minimum, we're about to tell these people their daughter was murdered." He parked the car near the house in the circular driveway.

"Not necessarily; Zack hasn't determined the cause of death, it could have been suicide."

"Just let me do the talking, okay? I don't want you offending them."

"Okay."

When Booth rang the doorbell, a middle-aged man arrived at the door. His smile was kind and inviting. "May I help you two?"

"I'm a forensic anthropologist—"

Booth put a hand up to stop her. "Bones, please. Mr. Williams?"

"James, please."

"I'm Detective Seeley Booth, this is Doctor Temperance Brennan…I'm afraid we have some bad news about your daughter."

James' face dropped. His eyes didn't leave Booth's face as he called over his shoulder for his wife. "Please, come in." James led them to a living room, where they were couches and chairs were set up in an oval-shape. Brennan and Booth took the chairs.

"What is it, James?" An attractive woman walked into the room, middle-aged as well, with chocolate-colored skin.

"Laura, these detectives have come here to talk about Jenny."

Laura saw her husband's face and knew it wasn't good news. She sat down next to him, and took his hands. "Go on."

Booth sighed. "We found your daughter. In the forest. I'm sorry, but—" The words had barely left him mouth when Mrs. Williams collapsed into her husband's arms, sobbing.

James held his wife, wiping away the tears that fell down his face. "We weren't expecting this. Not at all. She had fallen in love, and her boyfriend left for college. We had hoped that she ran away with him. We didn't know why she wasn't contacting us, but we didn't care. We thought she was happy with him."

"You didn't think of contacting him?" Booth asked.

"We didn't know him. We didn't know where he was going to college; we didn't even know where he lived. She spent all of his time with him, and mentioned him to us a few times. We had no way of contacting him."

Brennan's phone vibrated silently. She looked at the text message she received from Angela.

We have our guy. Stephen Mansfield. College student.

"We're so sorry for your loss," Brennan said. "This boyfriend…was his name Stephen Mansfield?"

James nodded. "I know his name was Stephen…I'm not sure about his last name though. Why, have you spoken to him? Does he know what happened to Jenny?"

Booth shook his head. "He's dead. He was found with your daughter."

X+X+X+X+X+X

"Zack, have you found how Jennifer Williams died?"

Zack shook his head. "I can't figure it out. She has bone deterioration, but not fatal. Also, she has broken bones, probably from being beaten, but nothing that would have killed her. I don't know what it was."

Angela walked in, with Hodgins behind her. "None of the scenarios I put into my magic 8 ball are proving to be correct. I don't know what is was either."

Brennan sighed. "I don't get how bone deterioration like this could occur. There's no sign of any disease, and she was not calcium deficient."

The room was quiet in thought. No one knew what the answer was. "Warsaw, Poland," Zack said breaking the silence.

Everyone stared at Zack with blank expressions, and Booth facetiously exclaimed, "I can't believe we didn't think of that sooner!"

Zack smiled, understanding that no one was following his train of thought. "Marie Curie, from Warsaw, Poland, discovered Radium. Radium would deteriorate the bones, as they are on the skeleton, and eventually kill the victim. She died of radiation poisoning."

Bones shook her head, skeptical. "For death to occur with radiation poisoning, it would have to take years."

Booth countered her argument quickly, supporting Zack, something he rarely did. "Think of how long she was missing for."

Angela, sighed. "This poor girl was held captive for three years. Are you saying they just kept her in a basement, exposing her to radiation?"

Zack chimed in with evidence. "Well, most likely you're right about the basement, as that seems to be the popular MO of torturous psychopaths. However, considering the cracked nature of the bones, it looks as though she was abused too."

Angela scoffed at Zack. "Oh good, because I was concerned that she was only held captive." She looked at her watch. "I have to go. Time to meet my apprentice." She gave Hodgins a devious smile and left the room.

"Apprentice?" Booth asked?

"Another artist like her, who majored in art and minored in biology," Jack said. "Cool, huh?"

X+X+X+X+X+X

Angela searched the crowded restaurant, looking for the girl with the blue blouse. She felt rather like she was going on a blind date, minus the man and the search for a relationship, and plus a current boyfriend. She finally spotted her sitting alone at a small table in a far corner of the room. "Valentine McKenzie?" Angela asked when she got to the table.

Valentine smiled and stood to shake her hand. "Ms. Montenegro." The two sat down.

"Angela, please. I'm only called Ms. Montenegro when I'm in trouble." Valentine made a mental note not to call her that. "So Valentine is an interesting name."

"I was born on Valentines Day…amazingly original, right?" Angela giggled. "You can call me Val, or whatever. Valentine is fine, too, though. Or McKenzie, if you want. My art professor thought that was my first name in college."

"I think I'll stick with Valentine." The waitress came over and took their drink orders, halting the conversation for a moment. Angela rapped her nails on the table, waiting for Valentine to say something. She finally did.

"So, a restaurant is a kind of weird place to meet your new apprentice…or teacher in my case."

"I know," Angela said, relieved to have a new topic of discussion. "I just wanted to point out that working at the Jeffersonian doesn't necessarily mean devoting every moment of your life to science and dead people. We do other things."

"Right. Like meet your apprentice for your job at the Jeffersonian."

Angela nodded, "Okay, so maybe that wasn't my only motivation. Some people at the Jeffersonian are…very job-oriented. They might seem…inhuman at first. They're very smart and very literal. If you ask them to give you a break, they'll either look at you with a blank expression, or find a body with a broken bone, and actually give it to you. They're like that."

Valentine smiled. "Thanks, I think I can handle them. I knew someone just like that back home."

The rest of the dinner went well. Angela was more than relieved to have another human working with her. A 22-year-old human, for that matter. And Valentine was overjoyed to have this job.