Chapter 10
Brennan sat on the ER stretcher after she had Starry-strips applied to her cleaned belly gash and her head has been cleaned needing only two stitches to hold the wound closed. Booth stood in front of her as they waited for the papers to release her. He leaned down and kissed her gently being broken apart as the curtain was thrown back and all of their friends and Brennan's brother and father ran in with the two agents following them. Angela nearly pushed Booth over as she pulled Brennan into a tight hug and the others gathered around.
"I'm fine Angela." Brennan said as she smiled and pulled away from her best friend. "The doctors only gave me two stitches for my head and they used Starry-strips for my stomach. He said that I have a little concussion but everything is fine." She smiled as Angela pulled her back into another hug.
"Sweetie we were scared. Zack calls in the middle of the night saying you're in danger and when we get there your bleeding and blood is all over…." She trailed off as Brennan gave her a squeeze and pulled back.
"You all didn't need to come to the hospital in the middle of the night." She said looking around as Rus stepped forward and hugged her.
"What were you doing at a mental hospital alone in the middle of the night?" He asked as he pulled back.
"I needed to talk to Zack about the case we are working on. I found a connection and I needed to know if he knew the person."
"You couldn't wait till morning?" Angela asked drawing her friend's attention as she took a seat next to her.
"No. I told you in my office before I left; we need to get this case finished so we can relax."
"You should have called for backup knowing that the murderer was working at both facilities." Agent Miller said making several look at him as others shook their heads. Brennan opened her mouth to answer him as she furrowed her brows but was cut off by Booth.
"You are working on this case to learn how to work with the squints not tell them what to do. If you start telling them what to do you'll find they do what they want anyway and never tell you or ask for help or back up."
"You tell them to do things. Besides, it's not normal for people without a badge or gun to endanger themselves and not ask for help; although it's not normal for an Agent to ignore the fraternizing rules either." Miller said making everyone look between the two agents as they remembered the kiss they had seen as Max, Rus and Sweets looked between Booth and Brennan. Brennan stood and walked over to stand in front of Booth angrily.
"The fraternizing rule is out dated and to be able to move forward in the constantly evolving world. Besides, if you tell the FBI about it then we could deny it. Who in their right mind would take apart a team who has solved more cases successfully than the entire building put together? If they sign a new agent, they had better start looking for a new Anthropologist and lab team. I've made it very clear of the past several years that I refuse to work a case without Booth." She paused and glanced up at him as he put his hands on her hips.
"Dr. Brennan is the only person I've met who is able to compartmentalize to the most extreme. And Agent Booth has been able to deal with his feeling since he developed them. I see no reason why they would not be able to continue to work together only because they have made their feelings known." Sweets said and looked at the two. "Besides I am their therapist. If there is a question about breaking up their partnership I would be consulted. I'm not stupid, they are the best team the FBI has ever had. There is no way I will have anything to do with them being broken apart." He smirked at Miller who looked around.
"Miller, there's one thing you need to learn." Ledger said as he looked at his partner. "I've been in the FBI for the last three years and I've seen teams who fall apart and cause problems, but when you see a team of people who hold together so well and do their jobs as well as this team… you don't do anything to compromise it."
"What are you saying? The rules are in place for a reason, we ignore them now who knows what else gets ignored." Miller said looking at his partner shocked that he was willing to let the broken rule go. He looked to see everyone standing ready to defend as Brennan leaned back into Booth as he slid his arms completely around her.
"If you don't like how the team works then you can always leave. There is no shame in leaving a situation or group that you do not fit into." Sweets said as Miller looked at him before he turned and left and the group was able to get back to making sure Brennan was alright, as Brennan moved out of Booth's arms before Rus or Max noticed how they were standing
"What was he talking about fraternizing with your partner?" Rus asked Booth as he stood back with Max and Sweets while the others spoke with Brennan.
"You and Tempe finally admitted it. Didn't you?" Max asked as Booth looked over at Brennan before he gave Max a nod, not really knowing what to say to the man. "It's about damn time." He said with a smile as Rus looked between the two.
"Are you saying that you and Tempe are together?" He asked shocked as Booth gave another nod and Max chuckled. The two men walked over to talk to Brennan about what they had just been told leaving Sweets to walk closer to Booth.
"So how did Agent Miller and Agent Ledger know?" Sweets asked curiously
"I, uh, may have kissed Bones in front of them." Booth said looking at Brennan as she smiled at something someone said, before glancing at Sweets who stood staring, completely shocked and unmoving. "You okay Sweets?" He asked as the young psychologist blinked and brought himself back from his stupor.
"You did what? What did they do?" He asked as Booth smirked at the man's shock and interest at the same time.
"They didn't do anything. As soon as it was over the paramedics showed up and brought us here. It's not that big of a deal." He shrugged.
"If you want to keep this quiet then I think it is a big deal a mega big deal." Booth looked at him as he revered back to his teen-like speech indicated he was talking as a friend and not as a professional FBI psychologist.
"it's not like anything can be done against us. Like Bones said. We just deny it everyone acts normal and we're fine."
"Booth, depending on who this gets to, if this, goes to high they could bypass the questions and just fire you. Even if it doesn't get very high this could cause every case you work together even more difficult. Every choice, thought, movement and breath will be monitored." Booth looked at him and shrugged.
"No one has to know anything."
"What happens if you go farther in your relationship? Get married have children? Things that people will notice." He said making Booth's head snap back to look at him. "I won't say anything about anything between you. My job is to make sure you are able to perform your jobs. As long as you are still solving cases as well as you have been, there is no need for anything to be done." Booth glanced at Brennan before looking at Sweets,
"Sweets, you know that's not gonna happen. I mean Bones…. She doesn't even believe in marriage." He said as she Sweets shrugged and walked over to join the others talking.
Booth and Brennan walked into a hospital room to see Johnson, handcuffed to the bed and dozing. The Nurse stood next to them as she started explaining about him and what was going on.
"We were able to retrieve the bullet and stitch him up. We have received his medical records and found that he had been diagnosed with Schizophrenia three years ago. His records say he was placed on several medications for his illness but when we ran his blood work there was not even a little trace of any drug in his system."
"He most likely stopped taking his medication slightly before Danielle was murdered." Brennan concluded.
"We have him on medication to try to bring him back from his dilutions but he's been a bit lethargic. I have the doctor ordering another one to try so he will be able to function better."
"Thanks." Booth said to the nurse as she nodded and left the two alone in the room with Johnson as he started to open his eyes.
"You." He said softly as he opened his eyes a little more. "You were in my dream. You were being hurt." He said softly as Booth looked at Brennan as she walked closer to the man.
"That was not a dream Richard." She said standing beside his bed. "You stopped your schizophrenia medication and began hallucinating. You acted upon your dilutions and cause a lot of pain."
"I… I did that? But, it was just like a dream…" He said looking at her unbelieving before she took the file Booth was holding while he waited, letting her speak to the man, knowing his temper was slightly shorter than normal from this man hurting Brennan.
"You remember Stephanie Hulse. She was 22 years old a patient at West End Federal Psychiatric Hospital. She was found in her room only a few weeks ago. She was stabbed multiple times cutting arteries. She died from blood loss."
"I don't know." He said as Brennan held up the picture before showing him a different one.
"What about Sara Fetters? She was 29 years old, a patient at Edgewood Mental Hospital and pregnant. She was gutted and stabbed multiple times before she and her mutilated baby were thrown off the side of the road." She held up a third picture. "Danielle Stevens was 36. She was beat and had her head smashed against a door at the hospital."
"I….. I…" He cried out looking away as Brennan pulled the last picture from the folder.
"What did Collin Jennings do? He was just 4 years old when you killed him by slicing his throat."
"What happened, Richard?" Booth asked walking closer to the end of the bed. "What did these women and that boy do to you to make you kill them?"
"No. It wasn't me…. It was only a dream…." He said shaking his head.
"It wasn't a dream." Booth said harshly. "You murdered three women and two children and you went after my partner. This was not a dream or one of your dilutions." The man looked at him horrified. "I saw you attacking my partner. That was real."
"I didn't know… I swear. Alisa said it was a dream. I swear." Booth looked at Brennan.
"Alisa?" Brennan asked
"Alisa Navarro. She's my fiancé. She will be here soon." He said with a small smile. "She said that it was just dreaming. I didn't mean to hurt them. I was just dreaming." He said as Brennan glanced at Booth as he stepped out of the room to call Ledger.
"Richard. You told me that I was going to go where she was. Who were you talking about. Was there someone in your dream right before me?" She asked trying to find out information as he became increasingly frustrated that they insisted it was real. He looked at her a moment as she watched him before he thought and tried to remember.
"A pretty little thing. She had dark blond hair that was just below her shoulders and her eyes… she looked at me with beautiful clear blue eyes. Just like yours. They are very beautiful." He said making her furrow her brows.
"Richard I need to know where she was."
"I don't know…. she was in a little room… I can't remember. I just remember being mad and Alisa telling me to punish her. Punish her like the others. Like…. Like they deserved for medaling around in our business." He said as anger seeped into his voice. "I…. I punished them like she said." He nodded as Booth walked back in and Richard looked away not wanting to talk anymore. Brennan gathered the pictures and put them back in the file before she started walking out with Booth following her.
"What did you get?" He asked walking beside her as they made their way out to the car.
"When he was holding me he said that I was going to go where she was going. I tried to ask but he started pulling at my clothes and then you showed up. I just asked him about it all he could say was she's in a little room, has dark blond hair and blue eyes. He only remembers being mad and Alisa telling him to punish them."
"Then we need to track down this Alisa. She should know where this woman is." Brennan nodded as they reached the car.
Booth sat with the Jeffersonian team and Agent Ledger in the FBI conference room going over every piece of information they had collected during this case. Miller was missing and Booth knew why. The man had disapproved of rule breaking and refused to have anything to do with it. They had told him that if he felt the need to do something, request removal from the team. Cullen would understand, as he knew how the squints could be to normal people. They were trying to find hard evidence that Johnson had committed each crime, evidence to lead them to who Alisa Navarro was and evidence to find the 5th victim. They had already been at it for three hours with no luck when the door slid open and Zack walked in with Sweets following him. They all looked up shocked.
"I thought we could use a little extra help on the case and the meeting rooms at the hospital are not big enough." Sweets told them before Brennan jumped to her feet and hugged Zack tightly before pulling back with a bright smile as a tear slid down her cheek making her turn quickly trying to conceal the emotions she couldn't hold in check.
"What would you like me to work on first, Dr. Brennan?" He asked as she turned away and started walking back to the table. No one seemed to notice except Booth and Angela, as Brennan would not lift her head to look at anyone. She went through a stack of papers before telling Zack what to do.
"Just find irrespirable proof that Johnson did everything." She turned back towards the door. "I'll be back." She said as her voice waved and she moved quickly from the room. Booth got to his feet and went after her, as the others continued to work oblivious as Angela sighed softly knowing Booth would take care of her.
Another two hours passed and Booth and Brennan had come back and started working again when Zack stood up making everyone look at him.
"There is a bleach container tucked away in this picture. It is on the other end of the floor. You said that the first victim was doused in Bleach before being left at the complex. There could possibly be DNA evidence on the bottle." Zack said handing the picture to Brennan and Booth walked up behind her and was looking over her shoulder.
"This is why we have squints." Booth said with a smirk.
"I merely only caught something that your men at the FBI failed to find, even though the canister is placed in a semi open area." Zack said as Booth looked at him and shook his head.
"Don't push it Zack. See what else you can find, Bones and I will go get that bottle." Booth told everyone.
"Agent Booth. May I accompany you and Dr. Brennan to the crime scene? I may be of more assistance. Brennan looked at Booth as if silently pleading for him to allow it. Booth glanced at Sweets who only shrugged.
"Let's go, robo-boy." Booth said as he turned and walked out with Brennan, Zack and Ledger following him.
"You are the one who was placed in the psychiatric hospital?" Ledger asked as they walked out of the building.
"Yes. My name is Zack Addy."
"I'm Keith Ledger."
"Great you two know each other, let's get going so we can close this case." Booth said getting in the car as Brennan gave him one of her special little smiles as she walked around to climb in the passenger side.
It only took ten minutes to get to the apartment complex which had been closed off for the investigation. Booth and Brennan led the way as Zack and Ledger followed. Again, they needed to take a break at the ninth floor of the building. Booth leaned against the wall trying to get a second wind before they started again only to have Zack point and stare as he walked over.
"The wall. We are tired going up nine floors to get to the 11th. The killer would have been carrying a dead body up the flights of stairs he was bound to get tired. He would have rested on one of the landings to catch his breath before starting back up again. If he was perspiring, which I assume he would have considering he was carrying-"
"Zack." Booth said making him look at him while Ledger looked lost. "Your point?"
"He would have left DNA on one of the flights of stairs." Brennan said looking at Booth as if she was upset with herself for not seeing it sooner and extremely happy to have Zack back with her, even if it was temporary.
"He would have left perspiration on the walls and hand rails and he would have laid the body down while he tried to get relax slightly before beginning to climb. You may be able to find blood where he had laid her while he paused." Zack added as Brennan hugged him before she started running down the stairs again.
"Bones!" Booth called after her. "Ledger get the bottle and let him look around a bit but he doesn't touch anything." Booth said before looking over the side seeing Brennan already down two flights. "Understand?" He asked Zack who nodded as Booth started after Brennan, calling for her to wait. Zack and Ledger started walking up to the 11th floor to get the bottle and to look around hoping Zack would be able to find more evidence the FBI had missed in their initial search.
Brennan looked at Booth as he finally caught up to her. She turned and started again with him beside her asking what she was doing as they moved quickly.
"I need to get my light from my bag and I need the lights turned off in the stairwell. If there is blood present, I will be able to find it where they body was laid while he took a break and that will be where we find his DNA on the wall and railing." She said happily, as Booth smirked. The two went to the car parked out front where she grabbed her light and they went back in after Booth had made it to the basement to turn the lights off. Brennan turned her light on and the two started walking up the stairs once again only much slower this time. They reached the sixth floor when Brennan stopped. Booth looked at where Brennan was pointing the light.
"Whoa. That's a lot of blood." He said looking at the stain that had pooled on the landing. "Looks like someone tried to clean it up."
"That would be why he had the bleach here. He must have tried to clean up everything and poured what he could on the body. So if the body is resting mostly against the railing….."
"He would have leaned against the wall…." Booth said taking her light and aiming it at the wall where they could see a large mark. "let's take a sample and get it tested." He said as she took the samples she could from the wall and the floor before going up to meet Zack and Ledger, who were on their way down.
"Were you able to discern where the murderer took a break?" Zack asked as they walked ahead of the two agents.
"Yes I was able to positively identify the landing that the killer stopped on. He seems to have laid the remains down against the railing as he leaned back against the wall. I was able to collect several samples for Hodgins to examine and match."
"Agent Ledger has the bleach container that will most definitely have the murderer's finger prints on it." Brennan smiled as she walked beside her favorite intern turned co-worker.
"It's good to have you back Zack." She smiled as he nodded.
"I must admit I do miss being in the field with you and Agent Booth instead of sitting in the room with Hodgins talking about the cases. Or going over the case files he gives me to try to help." Booth smirked at how happy Brennan was as Ledger followed along curious of how Booth was able to work for so many years with a group of people that most of society could not even understand, let alone for him to fall in love with one of them. The four went back to the lab as Brennan called the others to have them gather the files and meet them there.