Author's Note: I didn't abandon this one, honest. :) I apologize for taking so long to update it...and I hope to have a much smaller gap between this chapter and the next than I had between these first two.

I do not own Bones or any of its characters.

Thank you to everyone who is reading/following/reviewing this. That and your patience are always appreciated. :)

TimeWitch93: Well I hope that you are still intrigued. :) I will try to keep this one better updated from now on...

Super Ario: I try to make sure to finish all of my stories (even if some of them take me a long while to do), but I totally understand how it can be hard at times. And yes, you are right in saying that this case will hit close to home for certain members of the Bones cast, to be sure. :)

Peanutmeg: Thank you for the review. Yes, this one will be a difficult one to write at times, and yes, you are right in thinking that there will be certain parallels drawn. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

Lives in the now: Thank you. This is another one of those plots that I have been wanting to tackle for a while now, so I hope that I can pull it off. Anyway, thank you for your continued support and I hope you will enjoy these updates as I try to move forward in all of my open projects.

D: Well admittedly, these kind can be hard to write at times too (much like how certain sections of The Heart of the Family were not as easy to write), but I am hoping that the overall story will be enjoyable to read. As for the Garlocks...that will remain to be seen...

Charlotte Thornton: Thank you. I do have a lot of plans for this one, so I hope it goes well. I also hope that you enjoy this chapter too.

Doodlechick12: Thank you for your review and your comments about my work in general. I am sorry that I took so long to update, and I hope that you will enjoy the rest of this fic.

The Gloaming of the Soul—Chapter 2

A short while later, Booth was sitting in the waiting room of the local hospital with Barnes waiting to hear from the doctor who was attending to Nick. The two of them had taken the boy there to be checked over once he had calmed down enough to walk out on his own and after Booth had grabbed some clothes for Nick to change into.

"Well, at least we were able to find Nick," the sheriff sighed. "Still can't believe that Don and Crystal are dead….Anyway, I talked to one of the nurses a little bit ago while you were on the phone. She said that it doesn't look like anything major happened to him."

"Unless you count being locked in a closet for who knows how long," Booth scowled.

"Yeah, I suppose so," Barnes said softly. "I wonder how he ended up in there."

"Sheriff, what else can you tell me about the Garlocks?" the agent inquired. "Has there been any issues involving their custody of Nick? Any possible concerns?"

"Now wait a minute," Barnes replied. "I've known Don and Crystal for years. They're not the kind of people who would do…do what you're implying. They love kids. Always have."

"And yet apparently they didn't have any of their own," Booth said. "Is there a reason for that?"

"Crystal couldn't have any," the sheriff answered. "She was in a car accident a few years ago. Had to have major surgery. For a while there, they weren't sure if she was going to make it. They tried for a while after that and then the doctors told them that that accident had pretty much wiped out any chance of them having kids of their own."

"There's always adoption," Booth said. "Why choose the foster system instead?"

"Oh sure, there's adoption," Barnes snorted. "You ever try to adopt a baby? Don and I used to talk about this once in a while. There's the paperwork, the interviews, and a ton of other red tape to go through. But what it all boils down to in the end is money. Lots of it. Don and Crystal were good people with enough money to own their own home, have two cars and live comfortably, even if it was a bit frugally. But that wasn't enough for those agencies. And they wonder why so many kids end up spending their entire childhoods in orphanages and foster homes."

"What about their relationship with Nick in particular?" Booth asked. "Any problems at home or school?" The sheriff let out a giant sigh and leaned back in his chair.

"Look, you're probably going to find out about this soon enough, so let me tell you now," he said. "Nick LaRouche…he came from a really bad home. His natural parents weren't good people, if you get my drift."

"Child abuse," Booth replied, his expression grim.

"Yeah," Barnes nodded. "And from what I understand, it was really bad. Nick does his best to hide them, but Don's told me about some of the scars that poor kid still has…Anyway, apparently that went on until Nick was almost seven years old, and he was taken out of their custody."

"Any chance that his birth parents might have tried to find him?" Booth asked.

"Nope, and that's one of the few lucky breaks that this kid has ever gotten," Barnes answered. "Turns out that when they weren't making their kid's life a living hell, they were dealing coke, weed, you name it. Both parents were arrested during a drug raid and last I checked they're still serving time in prison."

"I take it that there wasn't any family who could take Nick in," Booth said.

"If there was any family, they weren't claiming him," Barnes said. "So anyway, after a while in the foster system, Don and Crystal ended up with him. That was little over a year ago. They had fostered a couple of other kids before…but not like Nick. Not one with his kind of background."

"Over a year?" Booth said. "That's a long time for a foster placement."

"It is," the sheriff responded. "But Nick had been having a tough time in the system, and he was doing well with the Garlocks. I guess Child Services thought that it was best to leave well enough alone. But…and here's why I brought all of this up…Nick…he's always had some problems, you know? Problems at school, problems with the neighborhood kids and with some of the adults as well. Granted, he's gotten better over time, but that's partially because he keeps to himself for the most part these days. Besides, a kid like that…you know that they're not going to just shake it off, right? It's going to take time before he gets really better."

"I understand," Booth replied, hoping his tone sounded as neutral as possible.

"I hope you do," Barnes said. "You need to know that Don was a good man, and that Crystal was one of the most generous women in this whole town. They did everything they could to help that poor boy. However Nick ended up in the state we found him in, I am sure that the Garlocks had nothing to do with it."

"That still doesn't give me much in the way of answers, Sheriff," Booth said, shaking his head. Barnes was about to say something more when the doctor, a short blond women, walked into the room. The two men stood up and walked over to her.

"Hey Cheryl," Barnes said. "How's Nick?"

"About as good as can be expected," the doctor replied, her eyes sad. "From what I can see, he hadn't had any food or water for a day or two and not much in the way of sleep during that time. Still, there shouldn't be any long term effects. At least not physical ones."

"Excuse me," Booth said. "Doctor….?"

"Tiegs," the doctor smiled, holding out her hand for him to shake.

"Cheryl…Tiegs?" Booth said, unable to hide his surprise as he shook her hand.

"Yeah, I know," Cheryl said with a wry smile. "My mom was a little too obsessed with big name fashion models. I'm getting married in three weeks, and believe me; I'm looking forward to changing my name. For now, feel free to just call me Cheryl. Everyone else does."

"Cheryl, we need to talk to Nick as soon as possible," Booth continued. "Where is he now?"

"Well right now, he's getting cleaned up and put in a room," the doctor said. "I see that you brought some clothes for him to change into, and I'm glad. All we have around here are hospital gowns and scrubs that wouldn't really fit him. But…can I ask what this is about?"

"I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth," Booth said, producing his badge.

"He's from the FBI," Barnes added. "You know those bodies in the park? They were the Garlocks?" Booth glared at the sheriff but remained silent.

"Oh God," Cheryl said. "I can't believe….I was just talking to Crystal a few days ago. She said that she and Don were coming to the wedding…Poor Nick."

"Has there been problems for Nick before?" the agent asked. "Perhaps he might have been brought in to this hospital for treatment?"

"Not…not much. Not really," the doctor said, shaking her head. "Nothing unexpected anyway."

"What do you mean?" Booth asked, suddenly tense.

"Well Nick used to get into fights with the local kids when he first moved here," Cheryl replied. "He got pretty banged up a couple times and needed stitches. But fortunately, he's been keeping himself out of trouble recently, so there hasn't been any incidents of late."

A nurse appeared in the waiting room and Cheryl acknowledged her with a nod before turning her attention back toward Booth.

"If you'll excuse me, I have some things that I need to attend to," she said. "In the meantime, the nurses can lead you to Nick's room if you need to talk to him, but I'll warn you though that he's really shaken up. Plus, he's always been wary of strangers, so he might not say much to you."

"I'll make sure to go easy on him," Booth assured her.


A few moments later, Booth stood in the doorway of Nick's room, watching the boy sitting on the bed. Nick was sitting on the edge, letting his legs dangle over the side, while staring out the window. He had jumped a little when he heard Booth approach the room, but after seeing who it was, Nick returned his gaze back to the world outside. Eventually, the agent walked into the room, picked up a chair, and placed it next to the bed.

"Hey Nick," Booth said as he sat down. "How are you doing?" Nick shrugged. "I brought you some stuff to wear, so you don't have to stay in that hospital gown."

The boy watched Booth's every movement as the agent sat a plastic bag with some clothes onto the bed. Nick pulled at the sleeves of his hospital gown, yanking them downward to cover his arms, and Booth was sickened to see what looked like circular burn scars dotting the boy's flesh.

"My name is Seeley Booth," he continued. "I work for the FBI." Booth then pulled out his badge again and held it out to Nick. The boy gingerly took the wallet from him and studied it carefully with his dark blue eyes.

"Are you going to take me away now?" Nick nearly whispered, still looking down at the badge in his hands.

"I'm just here to talk to you is all," Booth answered. Nick nodded and handed him his badge back before staring out the window again.

"Thank you," Nick said. "For letting me out."

"No problem," Booth said. "How long had you been in there?"

"I don't know," Nick shrugged. "A couple days, I guess. I know that it got dark then light at least twice while I was in there….I…I'm sorry."

"For what?" Booth asked.

"I uh…" Nick's cheeks turned pink as he spoke. "I…sort of made a mess in the closet. I'm sorry. I tried to hold it as long as I could, but…."

"Hey, it's ok," Booth assured him. "No one's upset with you over that. There's not a lot you can do when you got to go, right?"

"I guess not," Nick said as he started to swing his legs back and forth.

"You know, I have a son about your age," Booth said. "His name is Parker. And I'll bet that he likes some of the same things that you do…."

The two of them proceeded to talk about various video games and TV shows that they had seen. At first, Nick mainly listened as Booth mentioned these things or would only give one word replies to his questions. But eventually, Booth was able to get Nick talking and the boy even started to smile once in a while. After a few minutes of this, Booth decided that it was time to move on to a couple of the more difficult questions.

"Nick," he said. "I know that this is going to be tough to talk about, but I need to ask: how did you end up in that closet?"

Any trace of calm or cheer that Nick had instantly vanished at that question. The boy then immediately turned away from him.

"I can't talk about that," Nick said.

"Nick," Booth tried again. "It's all right. Nothing bad is going to happen to you. I just need to know who…."

"No!" Nick yelled, still facing away from him. "I can't talk about that. I can't."

Nick flopped forward on the bed and buried his face into his pillow. Booth thought about what he might try to do next when the sound of footsteps caused him to stand and turn toward the doorway.

"Is everything all right in here?" Cheryl asked as she entered the room. Booth started to say something, but was interrupted by another woman walking in.

"Excuse me, my name is Mary Graham," the woman said. "I'm with Child Services. What is going on here?" Booth moved over to them and showed Graham his badge.

"Special Agent Seeley Booth," he said as he put his badge back in his pocket. "I'm here investigating the murders of Mr. and Mrs. Garlock."

"And you're interrogating Nick without an advocate present?" Graham asked.

"No," Booth said, irritation creeping into his tone. "I'm trying to find out how he ended up in a locked closet for about two days. Perhaps it had something to do with the people he was placed with. Tell me, when was the last time anyone from your office checked in on the Garlocks?"

"According to my records there was a home-visit about a month ago," Graham said, narrowing her eyes. "And from we have seen thus far, Nick was doing well in the Garlock's care."

"Don and Crystal wouldn't hurt Nick," Cheryl insisted. "I just can't believe that." Booth felt like saying more, but decided that it would be better to keep his thoughts to himself.

"What is going to happen to Nick now?" he asked instead.

"I'm afraid he is going to have to go to a group home for now," Graham sighed.

"Can't another foster home take him?" Booth asked.

"It's not that simple, Agent Booth," the social worker said. "Nick is a special needs child and not every foster home is equipped to handle someone like him with his background. We just do not have anyone available in the area who can take him right now."

Booth looked over at the figure on the bed. As much as he hated the idea, he knew that there was nothing he could do about Nick's fate within the system.

"I still need to talk to him at some point," Booth said. "We need to find out what happened to the Garlocks, and Nick may know something."

"I can make arrangements for you to talk to him after he is settled," Graham said.

"Please do," Booth said. "And just so you'll know, I will be bringing someone with me to talk to him as well."