Wednesday the 13th: 10:42 am; The Jeffersonian Institute Medico Legal Lab
Brennan sat on her couch running over facts and figures that had been accumulated during the autopsies of the several other potential victims of the stocking killer, but she found herself unable to concentrate. She knew that what had been happening was secondary to the women who had been killed by this maniac, but all she could think about was the fact that it was Booth who this maniac was messing with; if it was indeed the same person.
It was all a little too much. Despite the fact that bad things had happened to them before, she had always deluded herself into thinking that nothing bad would happen to them anymore. They had their fair share of turmoil and pain and now they were done. But this person who was coming after Booth was coming at him through a means which they knew could hurt him. He had been shot, beaten whipped, burned but the one torture that no one had ever really tried on him; intentionally at least, was emotional.
It was both his strength and his weakness and it made her completely irate that someone would stoop so low to try and take advantage of a good man. She was trying her best to keep him happy, but she felt that regardless of what he said that she wasn't giving him the kind of support that he ultimately needed. Maybe, she thought to herself, that's my strength and weakness. Being sure of myself and doubting myself in the same breath.
Brennan dropped her head and wiped her face in frustration letting out a groan as Angela cleared her throat from the door of her office. Brennan turned, slightly surprised by her presence, as well as Cam's and waited for them to speak. When they said nothing she spoke up, "Yes?"
Cam gave Angela a gentle shove forward, nodding to her to get her best friend's attention. Angela cleared her throat, "Hey Bren." she said quietly.
"What can I do for you?" she asked.
Angela looked at Cam for moral support and then back at Brennan, "We just wanted to make sure that everyone was okay." She said, walking over to the couch and taking a seat next to Brennan.
Cam followed in afterwards and took a seat across the coffee table in a chair, "We've noticed all of the… things that have been going on and while we respect your right to privacy and discretion on behalf of your friends, we could help but piece together some things that were otherwise left unexplained to us."
Brennan looked back and forth between the two women before speaking, "I just assumed that you had figured it out by now." She said.
Cam and Angela looked at each other. Cam looked at Brennan and then down at her hands, "Well, yes and no. We are fairly certain that there is something going on with Booth, most likely that someone is sending him cryptic messages, but that's about all of the information we have thus far."
Brennan's eyes widened, "Jack actually kept a secret from you?" Brennan said, turning to Angela.
"He knew?" Angela exclaimed, "That little…"
Brennan grabbed Angela's hand, "Loyal friend?" Brennan finished for her, "Besides Angela, you two aren't dating anymore. You don't have a reason to be angry with him. I was just surprised because… well…"
Cam snickered and shook her head swiftly deterring the anthropologist from completing her sentence, "Anyhow, can we finally know what is going on?" she asked.
Brennan nodded her head and took a deep breath, "Monday morning, Booth received a package addressed to him at the FBI building. Upon opening the package he realized that the box contained the remnants of the casts that once were a part of healing his feet after they had been broken by an unknown group of men in the Middle East. He had been captured during his time in desert storm and brought to an unknown location, strapped to a makeshift table and the soles of his feet were beaten repeatedly with pipes." Brennan paused to assess the situation in the room. Angela was crying, having never heard this story before, and Cam's down trodden eyes and painful expression led Brennan to believe that while she had heard the story before, the retelling of the events didn't hurt any less than the last time she heard it.
Brennan took another breath and started again, "On Tuesday, he received a box of thirteen roses, which he informs me is ironic, being that the rose is the national flower and the fact that there were thirteen is somehow significant in American history. I believe that both of you have handled the cards that he had received and know what was written on them." She questioned.
Cam shook her head, "The second was in code."
"Oh." Brennan said, "Right, Booth said that it was the written equivalent of Morris Code. It said something to the effect of 'Be at the corner of H street and 15th street, God Bless America'." Brennan said, shaking her head, trying to get the right phrasing from the note.
"He went to meet that psycho?" Angela exclaimed.
Brennan sighed, "Not technically." She said, shifting into a more comfortable position on the couch, "He went there with the intention and assumption of meeting in person, but the man who he was supposed to meet actual initiated contact with him via a nearby payphone." She said, holding up her index finger and moving from the couch to her desk to dig out the digital recorder. She walked back over to them and hit play.
They listened to the recording of the man and Booth conversing and when it was over she hit the stop button. The women all sat in silence, thinking over what they had heard on the recording.
"Was that what happened on the phone?" Hodgins asked from the door, startling the silent women.
Brennan turned around and looked at the astonished doctor, "Yes. I'm sorry. I've just been so distracted…" she started.
Angela stood up and walked toward her friend, "It's okay, sweetie. We understand."
"What is going on here?" A voice sounded from out in the lab, "Bones!" Booth yelled, as the occupants of the office watched him storm towards her office door. He turned around the corner to see four sympathetic eyes staring back at him. He took a double take stared back at them. They all knew what was going on and they pitied him. He suddenly felt and enormous amount of self consciousness that these people, these colleagues whom he had considered friends for the past four years could do nothing but look at him, and feel sorry for him.
He patted the door frame that he was standing next to as a means to reclaim some of the confidence that he had come into the Jeffersonian with, but failed. When he started to speak, his voice was raspy and his gaze lowered to the floor, "Bones, I need you to come with me."
Brennan nodded and gathered her things and left with him in silence. They made it all the way out to the car before Brennan stopped, "Are you angry?" she asked.
Booth stopped and turned to her, "No." he said half heartedly and shook his head, "I don't know. I don't think so."
"How could you not know if you're angry?" she asked.
He looked up at the sky and placed his hands on his hips, "It's just… this whole thing is a little disconcerting. I've never been in this position before, Bones. I feel like I can't trust anyone right now."
"You can trust me, Booth." She said taking a step toward him. When he didn't respond, she gently pushed him on the shoulder, "You can trust me."
Booth smiled at her, "I know I can trust you. In fact, I think that you and the squint squad are the only people who I know, without a doubt that I can trust. It's my colleagues at the FBI that I'm not sure I can trust. It's ridiculous because this guy has me so paranoid that I'm trusting him more than I'm trusting the people I work with, side by side every single day. And the fact that it might be a ploy; that it may not even be a real thing makes it really unnerving to see all of you taking pity on me."
"We aren't taking pity on you, Booth. We're concerned. Just like you were concerned about me when my father came back, just like you were concerned for Zack after he was committed; like you were concerned for Angela when Roxy was a suspect in one of our investigations. Shall I go on?" she asked.
Booth smiled, "No. I think I've received the message."
"Good." She said sternly and then smiled, "Now where are we going?"
"We're going to Jennifer's office to talk to her boss. See if she had noticed anything strange about her last few weeks." He said shrugging.
Brennan nodded, "Then what are we waiting for?" she said, raising an eyebrow at him.
Booth smiled and silently laughed as he placed his hand on her lower back and led her the rest of the way to the car.
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