The Girl From North Carolina
Angela
When you pull up in front of the restaurant, you can see your friends sitting at a table in the back. Cam looks like she's just come from a hot date, as usual, and Zack is laughing, his mouth hanging wide open. Brennan and Booth are facing away from you, but you're just glad Booth decided to show. The three of you head inside, and just as you're about to get to the table Juliette stops and Jack nearly knocks her over when he runs into her.
"Juliette?" You rest your hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"
"Who are the ones facing away from us?" She asks softly.
"That's Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan. Why?"
"They look like my parents," Juliette reaches for your hand. "I thought they were my parents."
You nod and squeeze her hand. "It's okay to think that you see them. It just means you miss them."
She nods slowly and then looks up at you, her chocolate eyes meeting yours. "Sorry."
You smile and kiss her forehead. "Don't apologize, sweetie. It's perfectly alright." She smiles softly and you lead her to the table.
"Hey!" Booth grins widely when you reach the table. "How are you guys?"
"Good." The three of you sit and you run your fingers through Juliette's hair. "Everyone, this is Juliette."
"Hey," Zack wipes his hands on a napkin and reaches to shake her hand. "I'm Zack Addy."
Juliette shakes his hand and giggles. "You're the one that plays King of the Lab with Jack?" Zack turns a little red and nods. "No wonder he always wins." Zack's eyes widen and the rest of the table laughs, causing Juliette to beam.
"I like this kid," Booth says as the laughter begins to die down. Juliette is still grinning when he reaches across the table to shake her hand. "I'm Seeley Booth."
"It's nice to meet you." She looks around the table after Cam and Brennan introduce themselves. "So, you all work together?"
"We do." Brennan says, smiling. "At the Jeffersonian."
Juliette nods. "Angela says that it's a pretty cool place."
"It is," Cam grins. "If you come to work with Angela and Jack I'll give you a tour."
"Okay!" The wide grin on Juliette's face makes you smile. "Maybe I could just hang out there instead of going to school."
Jack laughs and you squeeze her shoulder. "Even though you'd probably learning more, I don't think that's going to happen sweets." Juliette wrinkles her nose and you shrug. "Sorry."
"Oh come on, Angela." Booth grins. "You'd be great at home-schooling."
"Please, don't give her any ideas." Juliette pouts and everyone else laughs. "We'll talk about it later." She nods reluctantly and the waiter comes, distracting her for just long enough for you to glare at the rest of them. You're already new enough at this, they don't need to be making your job any harder.
∞
When Juliette gets up to use the restroom near the end of dinner, the others start to talk rapidly.
"She's amazing, Ange." "She looks just like you." "She's hysterical." "I can't believe how much she's like you…"
"She's pretty great, isn't she?" You grin widely and Jack squeezes your hand.
"Where are you going to send her for school?" Zack asks, stealing a fry off of Juliette's plate.
"I don't—we don't know yet," You say, stealing a glance at Jack. "But she's certainly not going to be homeschooled. Thanks for your help on that one, by the way."
"The percentage of children who are homeschooled that end up doing well in college is actually higher than the percentage of those that go to even a private school." Brennan says, taking a sip of her coffee.
"Bren,please. Unless you're going to teach her, no more suggestions about home-schooling…or even Jeffersonian-schooling, okay?" She nods and Juliette comes back to the table, sitting down and immediately reprimanding Zack for stealing a fry.
"How did you know that?" Jack asks, leaning around you to look at her. His hand is resting low on your back and you can't help but smile. His small gestures make your heart swell.
Juliette shrugs. "I don't know. It just looked like one was missing."
He laughs. "Well alright then."
"Hey, Juliette, maybe tomorrow after you and Angela check out high schools you guys can come have lunch at the FBI Building." Booth says, smiling.
Juliette frowns. "We have to check out high schools tomorrow?"
You nod. "Yeah, sweetie. We need to figure out where you're going to go this term."
She crosses her arms over her chest. "I thought you said we were going to talk about it later. How come I can't be homeschooled?"
"Jules, high school isn't that bad…" You get ready to launch into a speech about how much loved high school (even if it isn't true) when you realize that there are tears on her cheeks. "Oh, honey, it's not that bad. You'll make friends soon enough…"
She shakes her head. "P-please don't call me Jules." She sniffles, wiping the tears off her cheeks. "My M-mom, she called me Jules."
Your heart breaks into a million little pieces and you feel Jack's hand tighten around your waist, but you nod. "I'm sorry, Juliette, I didn't know."
"I-it's okay, just…" She swallows hard and runs her fingers through her hair. "D-don't, okay?"
You nod. "I promise, I won't." You squeeze her hand and take a slow breath. You manage a smile when Brennan cocks an eyebrow at you and manage to sit through the rest of the dinner just fine. Brennan and Booth offer to take Juliette to the Jeffersonian to look around, and when you okay it, Juliette heads off to Booth's car and you immediately burst into tears.
"Ange, baby…" Jack hugs you to him and when you look up a few minutes later Cam and Zack are gone, cash for their bills resting on the tables. "She's new at this too, you know."
"I know," you say softly. "It hurt. Nothing has ever hurt that much.My Mom called me Jules." You say softly, taking a shaky breath. "What am I, chopped liver?"
Jack laughs at your use of a much too old expression. "You're the new sheriff in town and she doesn't like it. I think she was hoping you'd be easy to convince of things."
"Yeah well that's not happening."
He laughs and kisses the top of your head. "Come on baby, let's go home."
∞
Juliette
You're scared. Terrified, really. It's less about where you are and more about the bones that Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth are showing you in the dark, but that on top of everything else is just too much.
"You alright?" Dr. Brennan's voice startles you and you almost knock over something you're sure shouldn't break. "Is all of this scaring you?"
"N-no, not really." You shrug and she leads you into her office, turning on the lights.
"It's less creepy during the day," She says, perching on her desk as you settle in her desk chair.
"The bones don't scare me," You say, knowing that's true. "I don't really know what's scaring me."
"Oh, uh, okay…"
"I guess I'm just nervous about being in a new place." You say, noticing her start to look a little nervous. "What?"
"I'm really not the psychological one in the family. That's Angela."
"Yeah, well, I can't really…wait, did you say family?" You run your fingers through your hair and she nods. "Are you related to Angela?"
"Well no, not really." Brennan clears her throat. "I guess we aren'treally a family, but we like to think we are. Zack's the baby, Hodgins is the bug-obsessed middle brother, Angela's the wild-child…and Booth is the over-protective older brother that most people get aggravated with." She says, smirking as he glares at her when he comes in.
"And Bones is the annoying know-it-all oldest child that no one really likes," He snaps, sitting down on the couch.
"Who's Bones?" You ask, tucking your hands in your jacket pockets. "And if you guys are a family, isn't it kind of weird that Angela and Jack are together?"
"I'm Bones," Dr. Brennan says, laughing. "And no, it's not. It seems really right."
Booth shrugs. "She's too hot for him, but otherwise, sure, it's pretty right."
You laugh and spin around in the chair. "He's pretty great."
"So is Angela." The chair stops spinning and you come face-to-face with Dr. Brennan. "Don't spin in my chair. And don't make Angela cry."
You cock an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?" Dr. Brennan's face hardens and all of a sudden you get a little scared. "Um, Dr. Brennan…?"
"Bones…" You see Booth's hand rest on the doctor's shoulder, but she ignores him.
"Angela is my best friend. She's strong and talented and loving and I hardly ever see her cry but when you told her not to call you Jules because that's what your Mom called you, she was hurt." Your stomach drops and you swallow hard. "I know you're struggling with all of this, but so is she."
"Yeah, because she didn't want me in the first place and now she's stuck with me." You snap.
Within seconds Dr. Brennan has been moved out of the way and Booth is crouching in front of you. "You really think that's the case? You really think Angela dropped everything and flew to Charlotte the day after she found out about your parents because she's stuck with you?" Booth shook his head. "Think again, Juliette."
You take a deep breath and hug your arms closer to your body. "Can you take me back to Jack's house?" Booth nods and you slide out of the chair, hands still tucked in your pockets. You aren't sure what it is you're feeling, but you don't like it.
∞
When you arrive back at the house, the door is unlocked so you let yourself in and lock the door behind you. You can hear music coming from the kitchen so you kick off your shoes and head in that direction. It takes you a minute to recognize the song, but you reach the kitchen just as the chorus hits and what you see stops you in your tracks.
Angela and Jack are dancing (or something, after all, they're listening to ZZ Top) and you can't help but smile. You lean against the wall, noticing how Jack can't seem to take his eyes off of Angela. You slide down the wall and watch them, fighting to keep your eyes open.
You wake up when Jack is carrying you up the stairs, Angela leading the way. He tucks you into bed and Angela kisses your forehead. You roll onto your side and open your eyes. "Mo—Angela?" She turns, a little startled that you're awake. "I'm sorry."
She smiles and crosses the room, hugging you. "It's alright sweetie." She runs her fingers through your hair and hugs you tighter. "Sleep tight, okay? We'll talk in the morning." You nod and snuggle back under the covers. They leave and it isn't until you're nearly asleep that you realize that what you'd been feeling all night was a mix of guilt and sadness, and you have a feeling you won't be able to get rid of it for a while.
Please review! Thanks - Mel.