A/N: Here's a short one- just a warning it does go into details of a body so if that kind of thing bugs you I'd skip this chapter!
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"Bones! We've got a case! Let's go!" Booth barked drumming his hands on the door frame of her office.
"A case? Thank you god! I thought we'd be doing limbo cases all month!" Hodgins jumped up from the couch and Brennan glared at him for his outburst. He had the good sense to look sheepish. "I mean- it's tragic, of course. For the dead guy." Brennan was already halfway out the door, her own eager excitement propelling her forward.
"Do you know any specifics yet?"
Booth shook his head, "Just the location. A warehouse shut down a few years ago, Popular with the homeless and addicts looking for a place to stay."
"Abandoned warehouse? There's going to be a lot of rodent activity, which means the remains will probably be spread throughout a large area." She stopped walking and called back towards her office. "Hodgins I'd like you and Dr. Edison to accompany us to the site- there'll be an abundance of material to collect" Hodgins whooped happily and had his gear packed up and ready before she finished her sentence.
"Oh please let it be a messy one!" He grinned, blue eyes dancing from an exasperated Booth to a smirking Brennan. The partners turned and walked on ahead while Hodgins waited for Dr. Clark. They drove in separate cars, Brennan and Booth in the SUV and Hodgins and Clark in another. They would need a lot of room for equipment but in reality the separate cars was more out of habit than anything. They talked easily on the ride relieved to be working again.
"I'm telling you Bones, the pie today was something extra special, you should've taken a bite." Brennan grinned and rolled her eyes at the familiar banter.
"Well if they could someday make a pie without cooking the fruit inside maybe I would try a slice. Until then I'll stick to my salad and fries."
"You mean my fries. And raw fruit inside a pie doesn't sound like something I'd eat. I just don't understand your cooked fruit hang up."
"It's just too… mushy." She squinched her face in distaste.
"World renowned forensic anthropologist and all you can come up with is 'mushy'." His eyebrows climbed his forehead in mock disbelief.
"It's an accurate descriptor Booth! I really don't see why this is so important to you."
"Hey", He reached over and grabbed her hand from her lap, "I just don't like it when you miss out on things. And believe me. You're missing out." He smirked and locked his eyes with hers. Heat crept up the back of her neck and she pulled her hand from his, looking away.
"We'll miss out on more than pie if you don't watch the road." Booth feigned offense.
"I have the senses of an extensively trained special agent of the FBI!" He looked her in the eyes again, "You should know by now I would never do anything that would hurt you Bones." He tried to force his tone to sound light. Brennan shifted uncomfortably in her seat, wondering if they were somehow talking about two different things. She searched for a change of subject.
"Sam was pretty quiet at lunch today- I guess she's still tired from last night." Booth was silent for a moment. Brennan became apprehensive that he wasn't going to allow the change of subject.
"I don't know if it's just last night. She's been kind of quiet for the last week or so."
"Do you think something's wrong?" Brennan furrowed her brow. She considered Sam to be a friend, they'd gotten to know each other through Angela and her father, both of whom had decided to take the girl under their respective wings. Whenever her father spoke of Sam his facial expression changed. She couldn't quite interpret the meaning behind it, but she knew her father well enough to know that he had a soft spot for the girl. For all her father's faults he was an excellent judge of character.
"I figured it was because the holidays are coming up, she never talks about family. Maybe she doesn't have any around. That can make for a crappy holiday." Brennan wondered if he'd be getting Parker for Christmas this year, he was always moody when he knew he wouldn't see him for the holidays.
"Or maybe she doesn't want to contact the ones she has." Booth muttered something about the land of misfit toys which Brennan ignored.
"Maybe we should do something for the holidays, ya know, bring a little cheer."
"Something like what exactly?" She asked warily.
"I don't know, something Christmassy. Egg nog, santa hats, presents… the whole nine."
"Why specifically nine? There's more people would could invite from the lab."
"Nine yards Bones- like the whole enchilada, the whole shebang."
"I don't know what that means." Booth was saved from explaining further as they pulled up to the warehouse.
They parked between two police cars at the scene. She glanced around at all the official looking vehicles. There's more cars than usual- that can't be good. The uneasy feeling gathered weight in her stomach as she collected her kit from the trunk. She walked toward the warehouse not waiting for Hodgins and Clark as they pulled up behind her. Scenes were never especially jovial but cops could usually be seen milling around talking, laughing, and drinking their coffee.. There was none of that today. There was an Officer Balian standing outside the warehouse looking pale with a thin sheen of sweat covering his face. He wiped at his mouth and avoided her eyes sheepishly. Vomiting was common among officers, especially new ones and especially around badly decomposed bodies. He should have breathed from his mouth.
She stepped through one of the doors and into the eerily quiet warehouse. Men were gathered on the open upper levels, carefully looking in every direction but one. Brennan had seen many bodies in various stages of decomposition- but there were two things that always made cops go quiet- it was either someone they knew or a it was child. It was a cold December but not nearly enough to freeze a body. She could already smell a hint of decomposition in the air. She prepared herself, breathing deeply through her nose as she inhaled the last bit of fresh air. Behind her she heard Hodgins and Clark step into the building, Hodgins more subdued than he'd been at the lab. He sensed it too.
Even though she was now breathing through her mouth, the air felt thicker on the second floor. She didn't have to ask where the body was, though it was hidden behind a pile of discarded steel. Flies swarmed in a pulsing cloud and there was evidence of rodent activity. Actually she glimpsed an especially large one scurrying away with something dangling from it's jaws. A red and white high top sneaker lay on its side about three feet from the rubble. Her heart constricted as she struggled to keep her face passive. Nobody likes it when the body experts looked disturbed. Even if it was a child. She rounded the pile of steel and took in the condition of the body. Short stature, small proportionate limbs- most likely a child, though without a closer look she couldn't be sure it wasn't a small adult. Genetic anomalies were rare, but did occur.
"Hodgins, can you get someone to round up the rats? They've ingested evidence." Hodgins went straight to his task as Clark looked relieved not to be included in the rodent roundup. She turned her attention back to the body. Much of the boy's facial features were missing, a facial reconstruction was going to be extremely difficult. She couldn't see from her position but hopefully there were enough teeth to help with a dental identification, if the boy had been to a dentist. Boy. She hadn't consciously realized she'd determined the gender but as she peered at the pelvic area, bones protruded from the stripped away flesh. She saw a distinctive 'V' shape and was comfortable identifying the body as a male.
"So whaddya think Bones? Is it a kid?" Booth needed to know. She knew that but there was just enough skin covering the skeletal structure to hamper an age estimate. She knelt next to the boy and peered at his scapula. Here, rodents had eaten enough of the flesh for her to see that the bones hadn't yet fused completely.
"The shoulder area suggests a prepubescent male, aged ten to fifteen." The youngest victim she'd worked in a while. Booth cursed under his breath.
"Any obvious cause of death?" Brennan gazed searchingly into the hollow of the boy's cranium. Only a few teeth, not enough for a dental. She did however, see tiny copper like pellets scattered throughout the cavity. There was brain matter and bits of skull on the floor a few feet behind the boy's head.
"Looks like he was shot in the head close range with a shotgun. Did anyone find a weapon?"
"No, no weapon was found in the area so far but they're still looking. They did find a kid's backpack though. Hopefully there'll be something inside to help with an ID."
"Facial reconstruction will be difficult in this case. Even if we do manage to put enough of the skull back together the facial structures have been mostly pulverized." She stood up and called to Clark who was conferring with the team from the crime lab, "Dr. Edison would you please oversee the removal of the body as well as any other particulates or bone fragments that are found? Have everything sent to the Jeffersonian." She looked at Booth for confirmation that they were ready to leave. His impressions of the crime scene often proved to be almost as important as the evidence they collected. He was staring down at the body, fury darkening his brown eyes.
This was going to be a long case.