"Angela!" Brennan hollered as she hurried into the lab with Booth in tow. She quickly slid her card and approached her friend wide-eyed.
Angela took three steps back and put her hands up. "Whoa, whoa, sweetie, calm down. What's going on?"
"I figured it out. I need you to put this on." Brennan said as she pulled out a fake pregnancy bump.
"Where did you get this?" Angela asked as she held it up.
"A maternity store on the way here…" Brennan said as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Booth laughed with Angela.
"You should've seen the cashier's face when Bones went in, grabbed one of the bellies and took it up to pay for it. She took it off a mannequin!"
"You did not!" Angela gasped, amused.
"Okay, I did, but can we please focus? Now put this on." Brennan said as she tried to help Angela into the seventh month bump she'd purchased. Angela looked incredulously. As Brennan worked on securing it to her body, Angela spoke slowly.
"I'm sorry, but what purpose is this serving?"
"Stephanie Beck was seven months pregnant when Justin Wickler was murdered." Brennan stated.
"And I'm supposed to be her in this experiment"
"That would be why I'm strapping this to you" Brennan nodded quickly and Angela stopped her.
"Sweetie, I'm several inches taller than her" Angela pointed out. "And that's without my heels on"
Brennan sank a little bit and quietly helped her out of it. "I can't use it, because I'm pregnant. No one else in the lab has the right build."
"Except for—" Angela started.
"Please don't say it." Booth groaned.
"Daisy" Angela finished. A collective groan rose from several people—even some that were not involved in the conversation.
"That's right. She's about the right height." Brennan said, her finger to her lips as she mulled over her options.
"Do we all want her here? I mean is it really necessary? Can't we just try it out on the hologram thing?" Booth groaned again. Daisy Wicks was not anyone's favorite person—besides Sweets, but he was a little off anyway. She was fired twice from the Jeffersonian. It was unlikely that anyone would enjoy her presence, but it was needed.
"No, we should run it physically and compare with the Angelator for accurate and consistent results."
"If we must, then we must." Angela sighed.
"What must we do?" Cam asked as she scanned her card and scurried onto the platform, her black high heels making a satisfying tap.
"It is imperative that Daisy Wicks serve in an impending experiment that may lead to the conclusion of this case." Brennan breathed
"Oh, dear. Imperative?" Brennan nodded softly. "Alright, well, call her in. Make damn sure she knows this is not permanent and the second I hear a squeal, sigh, the words 'Lancelot' or 'Lance' said or even if she gets too flashy with that ring…she's out."
The group laughed and Angela left momentarily to call the irritating intern in.
Brennan was pacing, relaying possibilities in her head, when the squealing hit her ears. She turned to see the very over-excited Daisy approaching arms open very quickly. She looked as if she was going to embrace Brennan.
Cam shot Daisy a menacing glare. And Angela fake coughed.
"Oh, don't worry Dr. Saroyen I'm calm!" She turned to her idol anthropologist. "Dr. Brennan! I was so excited when Angela told me you needed me here! What do you need? Anything!"
"You are about the right size for an experiment we're conducting." Brennan said slowly.
"Ooh! An experiment! And I get to help?" Brennan nodded slowly while Cam's face met with her palm in a disparaging way. "Okey dokey! What do you need me to do?"
Angela lifted the seventh month belly in the air and smiled. "Put this on"
"Ummm, what? Is that one of those fake pregnant belly things?" Angela nodded. "I don't understand."
"Our suspect was seven months pregnant when the victim was murdered." Brennan supplied. Daisy hesitated. "What are you waiting for, Ms. Wicks, put the maternity bump on."
"I don't know…what if Lance sees me in it…" She mulled as she glanced at the belly and back to the ground. Cam's knuckles turned white and her teeth clenched.
"If you want to work again in this field, you'll put the belly on, or Booth here will slam some cuffs around your wrists and charge you with impeding an investigation," Cam spat nastily at the foolish ex-intern. Booth chuckled lightly but after a glare from Cam solemnly nodded. "So what's it going to be Ms. Wicks?"
Daisy simply giggled, which further infuriated the coroner. Daisy beckoned for them to put the belly on her, commenting that perhaps Lance would decide they should procreate soon. Everyone rolled their eyes, while Cam muttered under her breath about irritating, clueless, good-for-nothing kids.
After Daisy was secured in her costume of sorts, she turned and admired herself in the reflection given off from the surrounding glass. Before she could mention the young psychologist, Brennan spoke.
"Booth will stand in for Justin Wickler. What we need to prove is that Stephenie Beck killed her boyfriend by slicing his jugular in a downward motion" Brennan explained matter-of-factly.
"Like this?" Daisy asked making a stabbing motion towards Booth.
"Exactly" Booth was looking uncomfortable. "Of course we have to figure in the knife…"
"You're not going to give her a knife, are you?" Said Booth, nervously backing up.
Ignoring her anxious boyfriend/partner/father-of-her-child, she turned to Angela. "Crime of passion, premeditated…that'll change the way she stabs."
"I'm going to say crime of passion, because if it was premeditated, don't you think she'd do it a little more cleanly, or had planned it out better?"
"And if it was a crime of passion she would grab the most convenient weapon, a kitchen knife." Booth offered.
"That's speculation." Daisy said, hoping to impress her idol, a grin stretch across her eager face.
"But it makes sense…" Brennan thought, dismissing Daisy. "And if her boyfriend was not helping her with the baby or endangering her baby, that's a motive, right?" Brennan added as she thought about all that she would do for this baby she was carrying, even though she hadn't felt a kick yet, she loved the tiny creature inside of her. The heart beat alone was enough to make her maternal instincts kick in. She could kill for this baby and not blink an eye. She could understand…but she wasn't a killer.
"Yeah, she didn't seem to have many nice things to say about Wickler. He was dealing, too" Booth offered.
"But, we don't have evidence aside from the fact that someone of Ms. Beck's stature and condition could indeed inflict the injuries found on Wickler…and a possible motive. Is that enough to get a search warrant, Booth?" she asked now turning to him.
"Should be." He shrugged.
"Well." Booth breathed as he approached Brennan and Angela a couple hours later. "Caroline talked a judge into a search warrant."
"That's good!" Brennan said jumping up, Angela's face wrinkled though.
"No, sweetie, he's not done. If you got a warrant, why do you look stressed?" Angela asked noticing the lines on Booth's forehead coming out more prominently and his eyes clouding. The exhaustion was evident on his face.
"Stephenie Beck is dead."