A/N: I'm back! So sorry that I've had to keep the wait on this long, but blame university for that... The story is juuuust about completed now, I'm on what should be the epilogue, if not chapter 13 to be followed by an epilogue. Anyway, I'm thiiis close to winter break, so the end should come shortly. Either way, the rest of the story should come uninterrupted, one chapter every Monday as usual :)

CHAPTER 7 - To Fill the Gaps

Booth and Brennan sat in silence for quite a while. Booth wanted to say something, but he doubted that anything would change what she'd just learned.

Brennan tried as best she could, but there was no way around it. She knew the case, knew the facts. She just didn't know how to accept Brighton as a killer.

All of a sudden, she reached for the door handle, heading back toward the Brody home with a decisive stride. Instantly, she could hear Booth scrambling to catch up with her.

"Hey, wait. Wait…" he came to stand before her. "What are you doing?"

"I need to talk to Jane again," she tried to bypass him.

"I wouldn't recommend it, not right now, Temperance…" She looked up at him, lost for words. "It's getting late. We'll start fresh in the morning." She stood still for a moment, considering what he'd said. "Let's go."

x

That night, Brennan went to bed trying to push all of the mess of this case out of her head. The further things went, the more she feared a point in future time where everything would unravel and fall apart. Still she kept hope they could get through this.

Everything had come at them so fast, she could barely find her way back to reason and balance. She wasn't going to let it go on. Booth and the others had done their best through this, made sure she was allowed a hand in this.

These people weren't strangers to her, they were a part of her past. She knew no one expected her to be completely indifferent, least of all her. She needed to get back on track though. She owed it to Tilly McCrea, to Grace Wills… and despite what they'd discovered, she owed it to Brighton Young all the same.

Waking up the next morning, she got ready. She felt confident again, and her mind swam with new ideas. Most of all, one memory.

She'd been moved to a new home, a second home. It was the first time she'd been moved, first time she had to leave behind a new family. Then Sara Lynn arrived to this same home, she was so happy and thankful for a familiar face that she didn't even stop to question why both of them had been moved on the same day.

That brought her back to before, as she'd been reunited with Cristina, Leigh, and Perry. Perry had mentioned how he'd last seen them all two days before his eighth birthday when they'd moved him out. Unless her memory had failed – and she doubted it – that was the same day she and Sara Lynn were moved. That now made three of them.

When they left the apartment, Booth and Brennan headed to the FBI building. On the way, Brennan asked to see records on herself and the others on the list. He asked why, but she simply said it was a hunch.

Shortly after they'd arrived, a couple of the files had come in – the Costa twins. "Now will you tell me what's going on?" Brennan didn't reply as she opened the two files.

There was a part of her that felt like she was invading their lives. But then she knew Cristina wouldn't mind if it meant finding Tilly's killer. What she knew of their story was confirmed here. Their mother had been sixteen at their birth. She'd done her best to deal with the two girls, but in the next four years, she barely scraped by. Finally, she'd decided that for her daughters' best interests, she couldn't be counted upon. So the best she could do was let them go.

She kept the files parallel, scanned the dates. They'd been together, separated at times but always inevitably reunited. Finally, she found the home in both the files. What she also found… "They match…" she half-gasped.

"What does?" Booth asked. Brennan looked up, handing the files over.

"Brianna and Cristina Costa left the Brody home on August 3rd 1992."

"Okay, I don't…"

"So did I." That made him pause. "So did Sara Lynn Gill, Perry Langham…"

"And the others on the list…"

"They probably did, too…"

Over the next while, they waited as the other files came in. Brennan's belief toward Perry was confirmed. The same could soon be said of Leigh, Harley, and Brighton.

"Is there any way to know if others left on that day?" Booth asked, sitting back with a sigh.

"Probably, but I don't think there will be."

"You think this has anything to do with Tilly trying to reach you all?" Brennan paused, looking over the gathered files.

"Maybe." They were still silent for a moment. "Three years…" she whispered. Booth looked up. "She was at the Brody house from age 15 until she turned 18… Big run…" she looked back down. "Has Richard…"

"Not yet. I've got people looking for him right now. Look… there's something you should know."

"What?" she looked up at him.

"I looked into his background. From what I can tell… Richard Brody isn't who he says he is. He goes back about 25 years, but that's it…"

"How's that possible?" she frowned.

"I don't know exactly. I'm trying to figure it out."

For some time, Booth worked to figure out 'Richard Brody'. Sitting across from him, Brennan looked through the files, uncertain what she was looking for. It was easy to imagine that certain things might have happened around her back in the day and she wouldn't have noticed, an unfortunate result of being younger. But now, older and wiser, these files were telling a whole other story. She was seeing now that, even for the period since their separation, there were many things before they'd known each other that would indicate she'd been in the dark there too; parts of them had been strangers – like then too.

Leigh, for instance, was proving to be a revelation.

She'd only ever made vague references to her family and her life before the system. She was constant in expressing she was better off where she was now though, and here Brennan found out why. Leigh had been a runaway from age ten. She wasn't on her own for more than a few months before social services had gotten their hands on her. The marks on her showed signs of repeated abuse, physical and sexual. However she'd never been willing to identify her parents, and it was assumed 'Leigh Tanner' was an assumed name.

After leaving the Brody home, she'd spent the next year making a veritable tour of the DC foster system. There was a period after this where she was unaccounted for, and then she'd finished out her fostered years in relatively steady stays. The missing period stayed on Brennan's mind.

"Are they all still here?" Brennan asked Booth. He looked up from the file he'd been reading.

"We set them up in a safe house, seeing as we don't know how long…" Seeing the look in her eyes, he reached for a sheet and handed it to her. "Should I stay here, or…"

"Might be best if I…" she spoke slowly. He nodded.

"I'll keep looking. Keep me posted."

X

As she was approaching the safe house, the sort of irony of all of them sharing a home like this wasn't lost on her. No doubt it was bringing back memories for them too. An agent let her in, and soon she found the five of them in the kitchen, plus one. Perry, Harley, and Sara Lynn were sitting and eating while Cristina and Leigh were cooking. Standing by Cristina was a boy of about six years. She knew who it was – Brianna's son, Manny.

"Temperance," Cristina spotted her first. "Just in time for lunch."

"Actually, if I could borrow Leigh for a minute." Everyone looked up at that. After a moment, Leigh followed as they stepped into one of the rooms, shutting the door.

"What's going on?" Brennan hesitated as she looked back to her. She didn't want to have to bring up her past, but there was no other way.

"You should know I saw your file, I know…" Leigh's face registered this – no anger, but relief in a way.

"Seems like another life…"

"You left for a few months when you were about fifteen, you came back…" Leigh slowly nodded.

"I should probably have mentioned that, I just…"

"It's personal, I understand."

"No, that's not it." She sighed. "Last time I saw Tilly? It was those months." Brennan sat up. "Last house before I ducked out, it was a nightmare, and the thing was… the home before that, there was this boy, and… Couple of weeks into nightmare house, I was late and…"

"You were pregnant?" Leigh nodded.

"I knew they would make me get rid of the baby, and I couldn't let that happen. So I ran… again. By luck, I ran into Jane after a few weeks. I told her, and… she said I could come stay with them, off the books, until the baby came, then we'd see from there."

"And Tilly?"

"She was back at the house, never left. I was so glad to have her there, you know how she was with us…"

"Yeah…" Brennan smiled.

"She took care of me, next few months. Don't know that I could have dealt without her." At Brennan's look, she elaborated. "I lost the baby, it just… died. It was a girl…" Leigh cried. Brennan hugged her. For a moment, neither of them spoke.

"You said… you should have mentioned it?"

"Yeah," Leigh nodded. "Something about Tilly and Richard felt changed… Sometimes they'd be the best of friends, but then other times… she was angry at him about something. I never knew what it was…"

Once Leigh had gathered herself back up, they were able to rejoin the group. At this time, Brennan suggested for Manny to step out. Cristina sent him off to watch television with his lunch.

"Did you find out anything?" Harley asked.

"You could say," Brennan nodded. They awaited anxiously. "One, Brighton might be dead." They reacted quietly, allowing her to continue. "Two, Richard Brody may not be who he said he was." The further she went, the more she could see the children in them. "Three, Tilly was looking for us, and I think I know what tied us together on that list. The eight of us on it, we all left the Brody home on the same day."

"What?" Sara Lynn's eyes grew wide.

"We verified. The six of us, Brianna, and Brighton, we all left on August 3rd." The facts settled and with them memories floated out.

"It all happened so fast, it was strange," Perry frowned. "I was in bed, but then ten minutes later I was in the car…"

"And Tilly wanted to tell us about this? Why?" Cristina looked to the others. Brennan sighed.

"I spoke with her fiancé. He seemed to think Tilly wanted to find us to tell us something before she died. If this was in fact what it was, then…"

"So you're saying…" Leigh started.

"I don't know… This is what I have for now. But if any of this brings anything to mind, please let us know?"

After all agreed, she got up to leave. She wasn't sure why she'd decided to keep the facts on Brighton and Grace Wills, but part of her almost didn't want to shift their image like hers had.

As she was approaching the door, Leigh caught up with her. "Temperance, I…"

"I won't tell, I promise." Leigh smiled, nodded. Then…

"About Richard…"

"Yes?"

"One day, when I was there, Tilly had an argument with him. She mentioned a name. Back then I thought she was talking about someone else, but now… I think it could have been about him, that she knew…" They both quieted at that. "Could he have… Is it possible…" she sighed.

"What was the name?"

"Devin…" Leigh recalled. The shock on Brennan's face must have been strong if Leigh's reaction was any indication. "What?"

"Tilly's father…"

"He killed her mother," Leigh thought back. Then she understood. "Oh…"

"Devin McCrea…" Brennan confirmed.

X

"How long before we know?" Booth asked on the phone. As his eyes caught someone entering his office, he saw Brennan return, sitting across from him. Just looking at her, he knew she had some vital information. "Thanks," he hung up. "What is it?"

"I…" she started, then paused.

"Did you find something?" She stared for a moment.

"Yes?" He stood, coming around to her side.

"That bad?"

"Comes off as a mistake on my part, I just… I don't know…"

"Okay, take it easy. What happened?"

"Well… I found out Richard Brody's real name…"

"Good," he nodded then, off her face, "Bad?"

"Devin McCrea." Now he understood. "It doesn't mean he killed Tilly."

"But it'll definitely raise his stock as a suspect."

"What do we do?"

"I've got people looking for him right now. When they find him…" He was cut off by the ringing of the phone. They shared a look, and Booth picked up. "Booth." He listened, looking back at Brennan. "Keep an eye on him but don't approach." She was already on her feet. "We'll be right there."

"Where is he?" she asked as they went into the elevator.

"Of all places? Cemetery." When they got to the car, "What do you know about the family?"

"Tilly's? Just that when she was five, like I told you, her father killed her mother. She wasn't in the house at the time. Apparently her father tried to come get her after, at the daycare, but the police were already on it. They chased him, but he got away. He was never caught."

"Until now," Booth nodded.

"When I told… him… that Tilly was dead, he looked so… lost. I don't understand how he could have done this, gotten to house all of us without anyone finding out who he was…"

"We'll get to the bottom of it, for now let's worry about finding him."

When they arrived at the cemetery, the officer directed them. They spotted him quickly, sitting before a grave stone. They were a few feet away when he looked up and saw them. He got to his feet and Booth started reaching for his gun.

"Wait, wait," he held a hand before him. When Booth stopped, Richard nodded, turning around and placing his hands on his head. "Go ahead."

"What am I arresting you for?" Booth asked.

"Her," Brennan spoke up. Booth looked to her, and she indicated the stone. Elizabeth McCrea. "Put your hands down, Richard," she spoke evenly. "One thing at a time." When he turned back to face them, they were all silent for a moment.

"I did it, I admit it. I've been running for too long. I should pay…"

"You have, in a way," Brennan seemed to understand.

"It won't ever be enough. And now, my… my Matilda, she…" he broke down.

"So you are Devin McCrea," Booth nodded.

"I haven't been, not for… years. Devin made a lot of mistakes, hurt of a lot of people in a lot of ways."

"And Tilly, she knew?" Brennan asked.

"She knew the part about her mother. She didn't know who I was, not until…" He paused, looked to Brennan. Somehow, she caught the leap.

"August 3rd 1992." Richard nodded.

"And she was just fine with it?" Booth doubted.

"It was more complicated than that."

TBC