Can you say "bonus chapter?" This is a longer one- hope you enjoy!
To recap the episode: A six-year-boy's remains is found near a shopping mall and when he is confirmed by Dr. Brennan to be the same boy who went missing from a local park, Booth and Brennan's team work together to find his murderer.
It was 9:30 when the phone rang. Elizabeth had been watching the a movie, something to unwind from a long day filled with lots of teenagers and their angst before coming home and dealing with a small boy and his energy, and she reached for the phone without taking her eyes off the screen.
"Hello?" she said, eyes still watching Julia Roberts flirting with Richard Gere, but she shut the TV off completely when she heard her husband's voice.
"Hey, it's me."
It wasn't as if the words were alarming in anyway, but she had known Seeley for most of their lives, and had been in love with him since childhood, and she knew that tone of voice.
Whatever case he had caught, it was a bad one.
"What's up?" she asked.
"Could I talk to Parker?"
Oh, god, it was a kid. The case- something horrible had happened to a kid. Parker was fast asleep in his bed, but Seeley needed this, damn it, and it wasn't like Parker was going to complain about talking to his daddy.
"Of course, lemme get him."
She went down the hallway to their son's room, and opened the door. The room was lit softly from a small nightlight that Parker denied he still needed but wouldn't go to sleep without (he pretended it was so if anything happened he'd be able to see the bad guys to fight better- the boy really was too much like his father) in the dim lighting she could see the lump that was her son, snuggled deeply under his dinosaur themed sheets and comforter. Creeping softly into the room she couldn't help but smile a little. Smooshed between Parker's cheek and his pillow was Mr. Raymond, Parker's stuffed pig he'd had since he was born. Xander had bought it because it reminded him of Mr. Gordo, Buffy's own stuffed pig from childhood and her friend thought Parker would need one of his own.
"Parker," she called softly, reaching out a hand to her son's shoulder, "Parker, sweetie, daddy's on the phone."
One bleary eye opened. For as much as he was like his father, Parker definitely took after her when it came to waking up. In that it didn't happen easily.
"Daddy?" he questioned.
"Yeah, sweetie, he's on the phone for you. Sorry to wake you, but he wanted to say goodnight."
One arm untangled from the mass of blankets and reached out, Elizabeth muttered a quick "here he is," into the phone before handing it over to her son.
She sat on the edge of his bed and Parker sleepily responded to his father over the phone before mumbling a "g'night, daddy," and handing it back to her.
"Hey," she whispered as she retucked her son into his bed. Parker was already back to sleep and might not even remember the conversation in the morning.
"Thanks for that," Seeley said as she slipped out of the room, leaving the door cracked open behind her, in case Parker needed her during the night.
"There's nothing to thank me for, besides, I'm not even sure you really talked to him- he might've been sleep-talking from the sound of things."
Seeley gave a small chuckle. "Still, thank you. I love you."
"And I love you. You wanna talk about it?"
She heard her husband sigh stormily. He did hate talking.
"We found the little boy," he finally began, and she remained silent, waiting for the other shoe to drop, knowing it would, "Zach had to use the thermal imager to find his body in the whole field. We're in the back of some mall and, god, Buffy, I just- I really needed to hear his voice."
There wasn't much you could say to comfort someone who had just found a child's body decomposing in the brush. Children aren't meant to die. Their bodies aren't meant to be found decomposing in bushes.
"You'll find who did this. And Parker will be here, safe, with us."
Because, really, what else could she say?
Booth walked out of the Sanders' home joking with the two sons about the video game he had played with them.
"Alright, look, you beat me bad," he admitted with a grin.
"No wonder you don't have a girlfriend," the elder boy teased.
"David!" his mother scolded.
"It's okay, Mrs. Sanders," Booth said, pulling on his suit jacket, "It's alright. No," he said to David, "I don't have a girlfriend. I do, though, have a wife."
"Is she pretty?" the younger boy, Shawn asked.
"Nah," the Agent said sarcastically, "she's butt ugly. Got a glass eye, snaggly back teeth." He winked at the young boy before taking out his wallet. Pulling out a picture of Buffy and Parker, he showed it to Shawn. "That's her."
"Wow. And that's your kid?"
"Yup, that's Parker. So," he turned to David, who was now looking at the picture as well, "was Leila with you the day that Charlie disappeared?" he had a theory about the teenage boy. He remembered being that age, and wanting to spend time with Buffy but needing to watch Jared sometimes.
David answered uncomfortably, "Uh, yeah, actually. We stopped and played some video games at the arcade."
Booth began to press a little, "That must've been before you and Charlie went to the park."
Mrs. Sanders turned to her eldest, slightly confused, "You didn't go to the mall that day, David."
David looked away.
Mrs. Sanders turned to the other boy, who was handing the photo back to Booth, "Shawn?"
"Don't ask Shawn, mom," David said, being the elder brother and taking the heat. Booth felt something like approval- he could remember a couple times he failed as an older brother, and he was pleased to see David stepping up to the plate with Shawn.
"You met Leila at the mall, didn't you?" Booth urged, "You left Charlie with Shawn at the park."
The boy sought to explain, "Well, just for a few minutes, and then they came back to the mall."
Shocked, his mother exclaimed "David!"
Her eldest turned to her, sorrow and guilt written all over his face, "Shawn let go of his hand for a second, Charlie was gone like that! And then we came straight home.
"Charlie wasn't taken from the park, he was snatched from the mall," Booth nodded slightly, planning a new angle for the case in light of the new information, "We've been looking in the wrong place." Booth looked across the street to see the neighbors, Mr. Nelson and his son, Skylar, loading up their truck before leaving. The boy kept shooting glances their way.
Booth was starting to get a very bad feeling here.
"Booth!" shouted Elizabeth's boss, causing her to jump slightly at her desk.
"Yes?" she asked, swiveling around on her chair after closing her solitaire game.
"They need you down at the Bureau- child advocate wants you in on this. Your hubby's got a kid he needs to question."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes, "You know, hubby sounds weird no matter how you say it."
Her boss just grinned, "Get your well-toned ass down to your husband's office, but no hanky-panky. You're there to do a job."
"Have I ever been less then professional when on the clock?" she asked, feigning offense.
"Not that we've ever caught you," and with a grin, her boss turned away. Elizabeth shut off her computer and grabbed her purse. Maybe if the time worked out she'd have lunch with Seeley. Which would be a very good thing, because with any other investigator she'd probably have ended up skipping it.
She sat down in the interrogation room with the child advocate and Seeley. Sitting across from her was little Shawn Cook. He had a water bottle sitting in front of him and seemed dead to the world. As if he had just shut himself off. Looking up, she noticed Seeley open his mouth to begin questioning. She shook her head. Shawn Cook had just lost his mother, and his younger brother, and now was in a room full of strangers. She recalled what Seeley had told her about Margaret Sanders- it was tragic. The law said that because she confessed to the kidnapping, in front of a Federal Agent in an interrogation room no less, she had to be arrested. Seeley was frustrated because the black and white of the situation was getting in his head. Kidnapping bad. Kidnapper in jail good. Elizabeth had lived life in shades of grey, and she saw a mother who'd do anything to keep her child safe.
It was a position she could understand. And she knew Seeley could too. If he'd just get his head out of his ass.
"Shawn?" she asked, bending forward so she was little more on his level.
The small boy looked up at her, "you're the lady from the picture."
Elizabeth looked over to Seeley who gave a small shrug before speaking, "That's right. This is Buffy, she's my wife. But right now she's here for you, Shawn."
Elizabeth looked around the room, "You know, it's pretty boring in here, Shawn. Here," she reached for the water bottle. Pouring three tiny pools of water on the table before Shawn and then three more before herself, she gestured to them, "Let's see what we can do with these."
Both she and Shawn swirled their fingers into the water for a few moments. Buffy was sketching some random designs; Shawn seemed intent on making a smiley face.
"Where were you taking Charlie, Shawn?" Seeley began. The boy shot a quick look at Buffy before mumbling to his artwork.
"I brought him to the mall to see David."
"I know you brought him to the mall. But we got a picture of you… leading him out of the mall," Seeley puts a photograph of Shawn on the table. The boy looks at it momentarily before turning back to the water.
"Where were you taking him, Shawn?" Seeley tries again.
"When can I talk to Margaret?" Shawn asks.
"Shawn," Buffy began, seeing Seeley was about to answer, probably with something she'd end up slapping him for later, "Did someone explain to you where Margaret is now? Properly, I mean?" the little boy shook his head slightly.
Reaching across the table, Elizabeth slid her hand into one of his.
"Margaret had to answer some questions about Charlie, just like you, and it turned out that Charlie wasn't her biological son either. Now, because she didn't tell the government that, there's been some confusion. And she has to wait in jail until it's all sorted out. I promise you- I will try my very best to get you to Margaret after you finish talking with Agent Booth, but right now she's got to explain to the government some things. Do you understand?"
Shawn gave a small nod.
Seeley stood and lifted up the hem of his shirt, revealing a scar on his hipbone, "Shawn, you know what that is?"
"A scar?"
Seeley tucked his shirt back in before sitting back down on the table, looking down at the boy who still held one of Buffy's hands. "Yeah. Got it when I was playing soldier with my brother Jared."
"Sometimes things happen when brothers are playing," Buffy adds with a shrug.
"Did it hurt?" the little boy asks, looking up at Seeley.
The agent nodded, "Yeah, it hurt. But it was an accident. You got any scars?"
Shawn rolled up his sleeve and Buffy had to restrain herself from gripping his hand tighter or gasping. There were round, circular, burn scars clustered just below Shawn's elbow. The kind you get when-
"My dad did it with a cigarette," Shawn explains calmly, dispassionately.
Seeley was struggling with the same emotions as his wife, but merely uttered, "He shouldn't have done that."
Shawn slid his sleeve back down, "Margaret didn't do anything like that. I love Margaret."
"Of course you do, honey," Elizabeth said, giving his hand a quick squeeze, "And, from everything I've heard, Margaret loves you too."
" What I need to know is if Charlie had some kind of an accident," Seeley explains patiently.
"No one is saying anything is your fault, Shawn," Buffy said, ducking her head down to look him in the eyes, "But we want to know what happened to Charlie so it won't have to happen to anyone else. Does that make sense?"
Shawn remained silent.
"Shawn?" Seeley questioned.
"Maybe we can just take a break," the advocate said with little feeling. Elizabeth doesn't have much respect for his way of doing his job at this point. Shawn turned away from Seeley, and took his hand from Buffy's, leaving his back towards the FBI Agent.
"Shawn?" Seeley repeated.
"Seeley," Buffy interrupted, motioning her head towards the hall. Her husband nodded. She reached out and squeezed Shawn's hand once again. "I'll be back," she promised with a smile. The small boy nodded before turning back to the water droplets, as if it didn't make much difference to him if she followed through on her promise.
She joined Seeley in the hall.
"We're not getting anywhere with him," he sighed, rubbing his face in frustration.
Elizabeth grabbed his wrists and lowered them before linking her fingers with his. "I don't know what to say. But I think we should take a break, I'll stay with him, but in a different room. That one's so cold. Also, I'll see if I can't pull some strings so he can talk to Ms. Sanders."
Seeley nodded and gave her a small smile. "So, whatcha doing for lunch?"
"Babysitting a small boy," she returned with a smile of her own, "Why?"
"I was thinking of asking you out on a date, but if you're busy," he trailed off and shrugged.
"You could always babysit with me. Bring some take out."
"Thai?"
She groaned and gave him a caste peck, "You know me so well. I'll see what Shawn likes to eat, and check to see if he has any allergies."
"It's a date," Seeley promised with a small smile, before sighing and going back into what Buffy called his "FBI mode." "To work, then."
Elizabeth was sitting with Shawn and a coloring book when her phone rang.
"Oh, sorry," she apologized to the small boy, though he probably didn't care, "Let me just take this."
Stepping out into the hallway she answered, "Seeley? What's up?"
"Shawn Cook couldn't have killed Charlie."
Buffy rolled her eyes, "Tell me something I didn't already know. That boy could barely hurt a fly."
"Neither did David Cook or Margaret Sanders."
"Again, I'm not exactly fainting from shock here."
"It had to have been an adult male, about 190 pounds."
"Who does that leave in your suspect pool?"
"Well," Seeley paused, "Any adult male weighing about 190 pounds. We need Shawn to tell us where he took Charlie that day."
Buffy sighed and then thought for a moment. Her gut was telling her something and there were a few things she had noticed plus and it was all adding up into her taking a leap of faith. "Are you with Dr. Brennen?"
"Yeah, what? You thought I did all the science on my own?"
"Put her on."
"Huh?"
"Seeley, just work with me here, put her on, and trust me."
"Hello? Mrs. Booth?" Temperance Brennen's voice crackled slightly over the phone.
"Dr. Brennen, I'm taking a leap of faith here, and I want you to either say yes or no. You don't have to explain either way.
"But I think you know what to say to Shawn Cook, I think you know how to talk to him to get him to open up. Seeley can't, I can't, and the child advocate certainly can't and I'm not letting that child prosecutor within twenty feet of Shawn. But you- I can see you getting through to this boy.
"Do you agree, Dr. Brennen?"
There was a pause for a few moments while Elizabeth held her breathe and hoped she hadn't massively misinterpreted everything (she's done that before and Seeley usually teases her for days about her foot-in-mouth syndrome).
"Yes," the Doctor finally responds, "Though, I'd like to talk to you afterwards as well."
"I'd be more than happy to, Dr. Brennen, and thank you."
It seemed like minutes later when Buffy was leading Dr. Brennen into the interrogation room where Shawn and the child advocate waiting.
"Shawn?" she asked, "I've got someone here who would like to talk with you, if you don't mind."
The little boy just shrugged and the counselor and anthropologist exchanged nods before Dr. Brennen sat down beside Shawn and Elizabeth left the room.
Entering the room on the other side of the one-way mirror, Elizabeth heard Brennen open up a dialogue with Shawn.
"Yeah, I'm pretty smart."
"And very modest," the juvenile prosecutor snarked.
"Believe me, she is being modest," Booth defended his partner.
Elizabeth examined the woman before asking, "Has anyone ever told you that you can be a vastly unpleasant person?"
The room was quiet after that.
Until finally Shawn began to cry and Dr. Brennen told him he could stay with Margaret and David, but he needed to tell her what happened to Charlie.
"I'm gonna need your help to keep the promises she made to that boy," Seeley remarked to the prosecuter.
The woman began to protest, "Hey, I- I can't promise-"
Seeley used his very-serious voice that Buffy usually heard when he was threatening perps or trying to get Parker to go to bed on time, "Mrs. Johnson, my people and your people are gonna have to make this happen."
"I've already been connecting with some of my own contacts as well," Elizabeth remarked, "So it shouldn't take too much effort on your part, ma'am. Though I'm sure you'll be stuck with the paperwork. Still, if that's the only price for reuniting a family, I'm sure you'll do it with a smile on your face."
Seeley smirked when he saw his wife's saccharine grin aimed at the prosecutor.
That woman had no idea what she was getting into if she went toe to toe with Buffy.
Brennen at that moment looked through the glass and gave a slight nod, Seeley sighed.
"She did it. She got his name."
"I knew it," Elizabeth couldn't help but add.
About three hours later, after an arrest and quite a bit of paperwork, Elizabeth was sitting with Dr. Brennen next to David and Shawn Cook when Margaret Sanders laid eyes on them again.
"Boys," she practically sighed, and the two children cried out and ran into her arms.
Elizabeth looked across the room at her husband, who was looking rather happy with himself and couldn't help but smile as well.
Sometimes, the day ends happily.
Turning to Dr. Brennen, Elizabeth figured it was about time for that conversation.
"So, how about a drink?" she asked. The other woman nodded.
As they left the building Buffy thought she might've heard Seeley mutter something about "there's trouble."
She chose to ignore him.
"Why did you think I'd be able to talk to Shawn Cook?" Brennen asked as soon as their drinks were served. It was a bit early for them, but the blonde figured that after a case like that, they were more than excused. "Did you look me up and find records of me in the foster system or-?"
Elizabeth cut her off, "No, nothing like that. I'm horrible with computers anyways, I always have to have my friend Willow do everything for me. Seeley's terrible too. No, I just- I remembered a couple times where Seeley had told me about arguments he had with you, and some of the things I heard you say during this case, and then the way you were looking at the boys, how fiercely you protested against Margaret Sanders's arrest. You're normally one for following rules, or so it seems- not necessarily other's rules but the rules of a functioning society. It's important to you. So for you to protest against that one so strongly…well, I put two and two together and got four."
"That seems like a lot of…inference."
"You mean psychology, Dr. Brennen?"
"I don't like psychology," the brunette confessed with a grimace, "It's a soft science and it has no actual basis in fact or empirical values."
"Well, I won't argue with you. I had an awful Psych teacher in college and it's kinda turned me off, but I'll admit to using it quite often. If not always with success. It's more a…template, I think, Dr. Brennen."
"Call me Temperance."
"Then you should call me Elizabeth. Mrs. Booth sounds so odd."
"You've been married for over fifteen years, that would typically be enough time to get used to a name change- or would you have rather kept your maiden name? It's understandable in a society where women are often the ones expected to give up certain things that are tied up in their identity for a relationship-"
"No," Elizabeth laughed a little, "It's not that. I do like being Mrs. Booth. I wasn't too fond of my maiden name. Kemp. Ugh. Such an ugly sound. Besides, whenever someone calls me Mrs. Booth Seeley gets this ridiculous look on his face. It's almost like he'd forgotten we were married and was reminded of the whole thing all over again. It's just not many people call me that. My friends all call me Buffy, my boss usually calls me Booth. Or, when Seeley's around, mama-Booth. My coworkers usually call me Elizabeth. And Seeley, of course, calls me Buffy. I guess Mrs. Booth just sounds a little formal for my husband's partner."
Temperance nodded, "It is still very strange for me to think of Booth as married. I told him I thought he had alpha male characteristics usually associated with a solitary existence but he seemed to take offense to it."
Buffy giggled, "Well, I can see where you're coming from. And don't let Seeley fool you, he acts all tough macho alpha-male, but really he's a giant adorable sensitive dork. Don't tell him I told you."
"Told her what?" Seeley asked as he walked into the bar.
"You will never know," his wife promised him.
"Well, I came to update you two on the case. We have Nelson cold. The insecticide he was using on the termites matches the fluoride concentration perfectly. Skyler's dad admitted everything."
"Don't tell me," Brennen sighed bitterly, "he said crushing Charlie to death was a mistake."
"He never abused Shawn Cook," Seeley continued, causing Elizabeth to give a small sigh of relief. At least Shawn was spared that, "he just used him to get near Charlie. It played out just like you said. He had Charlie out in that field. Some teenage kids, they come by, so he knelt on Charlie to keep him from crying out. Shawn got scared and ran back to his brother."
"Charlie was small and weak," Temperance concluded, "His sternum collapsed. You think he abused any other kids?"
Both Booths sighed, "Knowing how these cases usually pan out," Elizabeth scowled, "probably his own son."
"You report that to Child Services?" Temperance asked Seeley, looking away.
"Mm-hmm. Try to get the kid some help," the man nodded and then paused before continuing "Look, I'm sorry."
"For what?" Brennen asked.
"You have personal experience in the system," after that Seeley trailed off.
Brennen paused before sharing, "I was a foster child until my grandfather got me out."
"Yeah, when you said 'They take you away from your brother,' I kind of had the feeling you weren't talking about David Cook."
Buffy decided to intervene before things got too uncomfortable for her new friend. "Seeley, I think it's time we go, besides, I think Temperance has a party to get ready for?" she turned to the brunette, who nodded.
"By the way," the anthropologist called to the couple as they left, "there's a huge ding in my passenger-side door because you told me not to park it at an angle."
Seeley began to laugh, "What?"
"Okay, that's just mean," Brennen said as Buffy chimed in with a scolding "Seeley!"
"You're mean," Brennen added with a finger pointing at the Agent.
Seeley kept laughing as he guided his wife towards the exit. He gave a shrug to his partner and a quick "Sorry," before the couple was out the door.
"Seeley, really," his wife continued to scold as Booth wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close enough that her hip bumped against him as they walked.
"C'mon, we've got our own munchkin to check on. Gotta make sure he hasn't knocked Tara out from pure exhaustion and burned down the house with her in it. Willow'd never forgive us."
Bumping her forehead against her husband's arm, Buffy chuckled and let it go. The partners could sort out their own issues.
And they really should go relieve Tara from babysitting duty.
Well, hope you all enjoyed that episode! Please leave a review! They take seconds but make my whole day. :D