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Disclaimer: I do not own Bones; otherwise Zach would never have gone to the loony bin.

Chapter 3

Life's Promises


"Excuse me?" asked Mrs. Gordon and I had to repeat myself.

"Did you know your daughter was pregnant?" I asked again.

"N…no, we…we had no idea." said her husband

"We're very sorry for your loss." said Booth, "we'll come back if we have more questions."

As soon as we got into the car Booth got a text message from Dr. Brennan with directions to Derek's place. "Althea, you want to visit the boyfriend as well?"

"Sure, I've got nothing else to do." I replied as we pulled out of the driveway. "So where does this Derek Vanier live?"

"Not to far from here. He and the victim went to the same school together." said Booth and my phone rang.

"Dr. Calloway…you did…ok great, bye." I said and hung up "According to the bugs Jack analyzed the victim had been held in that bunker not to long prior to being killed. He says between two and five days she lived in that bunker."

"So her parents kidnap her, keep her prisoner and then kill her…nice family." said Booth.

"But who owned the bunker at the time of her disappearance?" I asked as we pulled up to a small house at the end of a relatively nice neighborhood. But unlike the Gordon's who lived in an upper middle class place this was a normal working class house. We walked up to the door and a short sweet woman opened the door.

"Can I help you?" she asked pleasantly.

"Mrs. Vanier my name is Special Agent Booth I'm with the FBI and this is Dr. Calloway." said Booth. "May we speak with your son?"

"Is this about Jessie?" asked Mrs. Vanier.

"Yes."

"You found her then?" she asked and we nodded, "Please come on in. Derek's in his room."

We followed her into the sweet styled home, which was filled with pictures of Mrs. Vanier a boy, a girl and a man. All doing different things: in the park, at the fair, at the beach.

"Derek. Could you come here please." she called and a tall scrawny kid with long black hair came in.

"What is it mom?" he asked politely.

"This is Agent booth from the FBI and Dr. Calloway…they found Jessie…"

"Oh…." he said sadly and looked away from us. "You're here to ask me the same questions the police did? I didn't kill Jessie, I would never hurt her. I loved her."

"The FBI wants to ask some different questions." said Booth. "May we sit?"

"Oh of course." said Mrs. Vanier. "You sit, I just baked some fresh cookies." she smiled as we sat down and left.

"Derek, why did Jessie break up with you?" I asked.

"I don't know. We were happy together. She said it was the first time she could talk to someone with out being judged. We planned to get married as soon as we were old enough."

"Did you know that Jessie was pregnant?" asked Booth and Derek starred wide eyed at us.

"W…what…Jessie…was pregnant…so that's why she…" he started.

"Why she…." encouraged Booth.

"Before she broke up with me she tried to convince me to runaway with her. She said she knew a place we could go to get married and live together." said Derek. "That was two days before she disappeared and one day before she broke things off."

"How did her parents treat her?" I asked.

"They treated her….well not as well as parents should. They always told her who she could be friends with, who she could date. What clubs she could join. So you can guess how much they loved her dating me…"

"What did they think of you?"

"Her step-dad thought I was a freak with no money and her mother thought I was some idiot she paid to piss them off."

"If her parents found out she was pregnant what would their reaction be?" I asked.

"They'd yell, have her give up the baby and then castrate her." said Derek. "They would have killed her had they known about the baby…or even that she and I …." he stopped just as his mother came in with cookies and coffee. She set the tray down and went back into the kitchen.

"Is there anybody who would have known if she was pregnant?" asked Booth.

"Cassie would, she was her best friend. She would often cover for us. Her parents live three blocks from here. But she moved out. She's married now. Cassie Shay-Bernard." he said.

"Thank you Derek." I said. "Do you know anyone that would want to hurt her for any reason?"

"Jessie was loved by everyone. I don't thing anyone would want to hurt her…" he said and started crying. "She wanted to be a pediatrician. Not exactly the future senator daughter her parents wanted."

"Thank you Derek." I said and Booth handed him his card.

"If you remember anything please call me." said Booth and we drove back to the Jeffersonian.

Dr. Brennan was waiting for us when we arrived. She motioned for me to come over to her.

"I never expected anyone to measure up to Zack's standards, but you have definitely fulfilled those standards. So I would be honored if you would accept a job here as my new assistant." said Dr. Brennan.

"Really, thank you." I said and hugged Dr. Brennan.

"Althea." called Angela "You want to grab lunch with me?"

"Uh….sure," I replied and I followed Angela to a small diner not to far from the Jeffersonian.

We sat down and ordered a couple of hamburgers and fries along with some coffee. I could tell she wanted to talk about something, I just wasn't sure what. Our food came and she finally began.

"SO you've been a busy bee, with so many degrees." she said.

"I guess." I said.

"So, you and Jack are cousins." she said.

"Yes, and you and him almost got married." I said

"Um…yeah, that ended." she said. "He didn't trust me."

"Whatever. Let's change the subject because if I start, I won't stop." I said and took a bite.

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"You think he didn't trust you, the reality was that he didn't trust you're ex husband. Even if he didn't trust you, could you blame him? Considering you still had feelings for him. Or did I miss something?" I said.

"How would you know?"

"Because Jack told me" I said.

"Oh….so you and Zack been friends long?"

"Eight years, since we were seventeen."

"Wow, so you know everything about Zach?"

"I've know him forever. We used to study for finals together, not that we needed to study." I said with a laugh. "I miss him."

"You aren't by any chance….you know sweet on him are you?"

"Me, what of course not…." I said nervously. "He's my best friend and that reminds me I promised I'd go and see him as soon as I knew if I got the job. I better go. Thanks Angela, nice talking to you. We should do it again real soon." I headed out of the diner and back to the Jeffersonian to pick up my yellow beetle convertible and drove to see Zach.

As I walked through the doors I did not see the annoying security guard, instead a nurse was there.

"Hi, I'm Nurse Jennifer Kenny, can I help you?" she asked. I could clearly see her soft blonde hair being hidden underneath her hat.

"My name is Dr. Althea Calloway from the Jeffersonian. I'm here to see…."

"Zach Addy am I right?" she asked and I nodded. "Only people from that Institute come and visit him. Such a nice boy…Do you have some identification?" I showed her my driver's license. "Great, he's outside right now, just follow the red path through the left door." she indicated the door on the left of the double doors.

"Thank you."

I followed her directions and found Zach sitting on a bench in the shade looking grim. He saw me heading towards him and he automatically became oh so happy.

"Althy, hey, how are you?" he asked and paused. "You got the job. I knew you would."

"Aw, thank you Zack." I said and hugged him. "I also managed to figure out who the murderer was. I went with Agent Booth, but Zach I want to get you out of here."

"You have to talk to Dr. Sweets." Replied Zack

"I met the schmuck. I can tell you he is not a suitable shrink for a perfectly sane person. He's been keeping you in here, while he KNOWS that you're innocent." I said.

"How did you manage….forget it…I've know you long enough not to ask where and how you get your information." he said and I couldn't help, but laugh a little. His expression turned a little grim.

"You realize that I will inform Dr. Brennan, and the others about this, right?" I asked.

"Althy you can't…."

"Why not," I asked

"Because, I…um…with….and…"

"Exactly, you can't give me a strait answer. So I'm telling them that my best friend is NOT a murderer."

"But Althy…."

"Don't but Althy me. With a little luck and a LOT of phone calls I'll get you out of here faster than you can say loony bin." I said.

"Loony bin." he said raising his eyebrow at me.

"I was being metaphorical." I replied laughing at him.

"Oh, see you know that always confuses Me." he said

"And that's what I love about you." I replied then I checked my watch. "Shoot, I better go. I have to get back to work…wow…that felt good." I kissed him on the cheek and headed out. "I'll be back, I promise. You'll be back at the Jeffersonian before you know it."

I went back to the Jeffersonian with two minutes to spare. Booth was waiting for me with a file.

"Congratulations on the job." said Booth "and you were right. Parent's confessed."

"Really," I said, "well…tell me everything."

"I pulled the mother in for a few more questions. She confessed that she found out her daughter was pregnant and told her husband. They took her right after school and put her in the bunker, which was owned by her husband's brother at the time. They kept her in there chained until she agreed to give up the baby. She refused and her step-father stabbed her in the stomach, killing the baby and her, then they tried to remove her brain in order to better preserve her body in death."

"Nice family. Twenty-five to life, I hope." I said.

"Oh definitely," he said

"Woo." I said "I need to talk to everyone, can you gather them around especially Dr. Sweets?"

"Sure, no problem, do I need to be present as well?"

"Yes."

With in minutes everyone was waiting for me to speak in Dr. Brennan's office. I liked her office; it had a lot of artifacts and had a very unique sense of style that I admired.

"First off I'm really happy I got this job. Second I would like to make an announcement regarding Zack Addy." I said.

"What about Zach?" asked Dr. Saroyan?

"Zack did not kill the lobbyist." I said and starred at Dr. Sweets when I said it.

"What how…then why did he confess?" asked Dr. Brennan

"Because he knew he would NOT do well in prison also the fact that everyone pretty much intimidated him into confessing. Dr. Sweets knew this and did nothing about it." I said "Zach is innocent and I will do whatever I can to get him out." I smiled. "Dr. Sweets, do you have anything you would like to add?"

"Yes, I knew, but I couldn't tell anyone due to confidentiality. He believed that had the master asked him, he would have killed the lobbyist." said Sweets.

"Gee and you still didn't try to do anything to help him?"

"What was I supposed to do?" asked Sweets.

"Your job!" I replied and turned to Booth. "Agent Booth, did you read Zach his rights?"

"Now that you mentioned it…no"

"And is there any evidence that Zach killed the lobbyist?"

"Well…actually no, just that he was an accessory to a cannibalistic serial killer, and even that wasn't a lot of evidence. Sweets could have stolen the skeleton for all we know."

"Hey." said Sweets.

"Just saying." said Booth.

"Ok, thank you." I said "I need to call a lawyer friend of mine." I said and dialed a number on my cell. "Hey Jackie….you up for a challenge…this ones a dozy…did you hear about Zach?...Great turns out he didn't kill anyone, as if I'm surprised, point is the most he's guilty of is an accessory….so do you think you can keep him out of jail?...Perfect I'll ask FBI agent Booth if he can get you the file on Gormagon, thanks Jacks I owe you….great I'll see you than…" I finished and hung up.

"Wait Jackie….you called Jackie Kayamodo?" asked Jack "That Japanese girl that was always sleeping over whenever I visited?"

"Yeah, Jackie kind of had a little crush on you, but she got over that when she went to law school. She'll be here tomorrow. So Booth, can you get the file?"

"For a squint, sure," he said.

"Correction, I prefer the term Geek." I said and he walked off laughing.


K, K. That's the end of this chapter. I NEED MORE REVIEWS!!!! Reviews make me write faster. That's why as soon as I got review number two I jumped on the computer and began finishing this chapter.