Sorry, I couldn't find any sort of motivation to write yesterday, I thought about it all day. And it's really hard to write this stuff when I don't actually have any education in forensics or anthropology, and really awkward to look up certain questions online in public, like "What chemicals will kill someone" and things about dead bodies.

Sorry this chapter is kind of shorter than usual. I plan on writing more when I have my almost week long break for Thanksgiving.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bones, Fox does.


Chapter 4


No One's P.O.V.

Booth had gotten in contact with Leo's parents and were now waiting for them to arrive at the FBI building. While he was waiting he had been briefing Aubrey on the case so he could help him out with the parents. You know how the parents might react when you tell them the information, especially when they deal with the other issue of their kid being transgender. They might be accepting or they might not be, either way it puts a lot of stress on them. So, while he normally wouldn't worry about it this much, it would be a lot easier to have Aubrey there as well to keep the situation under control. Especially if this turns out to be the product of a hate crime like he speculates it is.

About the time he was finished briefing the younger agent there was a knock on his open door. Leo's parents had arrived. The two agents left and went to lead the parents into a conference room. He Aubrey shook both their hands, giving their sincerest apologies, and gestured for the couple to take a seat across the table from them. While they exchanged greetings Booth took in the appearances of the two.

The mother was the shorter of the two, with curly, long red hair tied back to keep it out of her face, which was littered with freckles. She wore thick squared framed glasses that made her green eyes stand out. She was dressed in a business casual outfit, a decent contrast to her husband. He was considerably taller than she. Her head barely even made it to his shoulder. He had shaggy dark brown hair that was still kept neat, and a mustache and beard to match. He also had green eyes. He wore dark brown leather dress shoes and a plaid long sleeved shirt that was loosely tucked into his khakis.

"Did you find our kid, is everything alright?" The father asked worriedly, "can we see him?" The wife added in. Booth and Aubrey shared a look before sighing. "About two days ago," Aubrey started off slowly. "A body was found dumped in an open wooded area, we identified the remains as your son." He said, not wanting to look them in the eyes. The father asked the typical "are you sure, do we need to confirm it?" To which Booth shook his head. "My partner, and one of the best forensic anthropologists was able to clearly confirm the remains were those of your son." He said as he watched the color drain from their faces as they took in the news.


The four sat down and got business. Booth began rearranging the file he had on the case as he said, "I just want to apologize again for what you two are going through. It must be difficult. But we're going to need to ask you a few questions about your child." He paused, looking into their eyes. Aubrey took over asking the first question, "It says here that a missing person's report was filed about a week after our forensics team confirmed his death to be. Four months ago, is that correct?" He got a nod from them both in response. Booth took over asking, "He was here to get an award for writing an essay with 4 others, did he come here alone?" The mother was the one who replied. "Yes, he flew in on the plane with the other winners. We had agreed to meet him later, give him time to explore the area before it got down to business. He didn't have his license so we knew he wouldn't be able to do too much, on top of him being 17 and not having his name legally changed yet, we would have to be there to assist with some things."

"How long did he have to explore on his own before you had arrived?" Booth interrupted, handing a tissue to her to dab her teary eyes with. "About a week and a half. We wanted to make sure we gave him some space." The agents nodded, listening intently. "And when you arrived, did he mention running into any trouble while here? Maybe with someone on the streets or with any of the other 4 winners?" Booth asked, and the couple shook their heads in response. "He never mentioned anything like that happening on the street, and he was friends, or at least acquaintances with the others. They all got along, it's why we agreed to arrive later." The mother responded again. "Did your son ever have any enemies at all?" Booth asked, and the mother fidgeted a little. "Well," she started, "I'm sure you had realized that Leo wasn't exactly a completely normal boy." She said, indicating to the boy being trans. "Isn't wasn't really all too much of a surprise when we faced people who couldn't accept that."


The questioning went on for a while, and gave Booth and Aubrey only simple yes's or no's in response. "Your son was here to receive an award for writing an essay, surely that wouldn't have taken that long, but it says here," Aubrey pointed to the document he had been looking at "that the hotel room that Leo had been staying in was being paid for, for about a month. If he was just there to get an award, then why did he stay so long?" He arched an eyebrow.

"We had planned it out," the father finally voiced, "we had agreed that she would meet us here after about a week and then after she got the award, we would stay as a vacation and then go to the gay pride parade with our other daughter that was coming up." The agents nodded, take into note the use of the wrong pronouns and the stress on the words 'other daughter'.

After a few more question, the agents stood up, and gathered the file before thanking the husband and wife for their cooperation and time and showing them to the elevators, promising to keep them informed.

Once the couple left, Aubrey and Booth looked at each other, both agreeing that this might definitely end up being a hate crime, and that from their interaction with him, Leo's father might very well be a suspect, based on the lack of use of the correct pronouns for his son.

So, yup. That's it for this chapter. I'm not sure if I'm gonna write tomorrow or the day after based my school schedule. I might just keep all my time for writing to Thanksgiving break. It just depends.

So, until next time, peace

-Ted