Authors Note: My apologies for the delay in getting this chapter out I had hoped to be able to get an extra one out after the delay of the last one, but life didn't give me that chance. Thank you as always for reading. Now onto the case!
Chapter 10 – That which has not occurred before
" A case?" Brennan asked, staying seated as a wave of nausea hit her. She breathed deeply through her nose and out her mouth in an attempt to calm her stomach and smiled when Ange offered her a box of Saltines. She grabbed a couple of crackers out of the box and nibbled on one, relieved when the nausea began to settle.
"Yes, it's a gross one from what I've been told, Cam is already headed out there but we were told there was enough bone present for you to be needed, are you sure you're up to this?" Booth asked concerned for her, he knew her independent streak was likely to rear it's head and as much as he would love to convince her to send an intern, he knew that there was no one more qualified to examine the body than Bones.
"I am confident I will be able to control the nausea, let me just take one of the tablets the doctor prescribed me and I'll be all yours" Brennan reassured him, finishing off the crackers and heading for her bag to get the bottle of anti-nausea pills she'd been prescribed. She took one without water and grabbed the box of crackers and her coat and joined him at the door.
"Be careful sweetie, please let Booth take care of you" Ange said, her tone serious as she implored her best friend to take her advice. All of her instincts told her that Brennan was going to have a rough time with morning sickness and she hoped that her stubborn best friend would listen to her this time. Part of her wanted to go to the crime scene with them, but she knew she wouldn't be of much help, plus she was only helping out at the lab for a couple of hours when needed while Michael was still a newborn.
"I'll do my best Ange" Brennan responded and followed Booth out of her office, hoping that the medication would do it's job. She couldn't think of anything more embarrassing, than if she lost her breakfast over a dead body.
They drove to the crime scene in relative silence, Brennan still feeling too off colour to really hold up much of a conversation, the car ride not helping much. Booth kept looking over at her nervously, he didn't like it when she was quiet, but he couldn't seem to draw her out. Finally after a 45 minute drive they finally reached their destination, the back of a run down warehouse. Booth was not happy about the location and he scoped out the place to ensure that none of them were in danger. After a few minutes he was satisfied that they were in no danger. Nodding at Brennan they both headed for the crime scene, ducking under the police tape as Booth began speaking with the officer who greeted them.
"Hi, my name's Lieutenant John Jacques, the body was discovered by that man over there about two hours ago, his name is Lucas Mitchell, says he used to work in this area and lives in an estate over the hill over ,there, was out for a walk when he stumbled, literally over the body" Lieutenant Jacques informed Booth and Brennan, who looked over at the man standing on the other side of the police tape talking to another officer. To Booth's eyes he looked fairly shaken up so he was pretty certain he wasn't a suspect, but he'd need to take him down to the Bureau later for questioning.
"My name's Special Agent Seeley Booth and this is my partner, Dr Temperance Brennan of the Jeffersonian Institute, she's here to examine the body, along with Dr Cam Saroyan, is she here?" Booth asked, not having seen Cam near the body.
"Ah yeah, she took a quick look at the body, but I think she was just as grossed out as all of us were, she took off around the back of the warehouse not long after, I don't think she was feeling all that well" Lieutenant Jacques told them both and then went off to join his partner who was questioning the witness.
"Maybe you shouldn't examine the body Bones, if Cam reacted to it, it can't be good" Booth suggested worriedly, he'd never known Cam to actually become ill over a body before either and the prospect of having to look at this body, was not something he was looking forward to.
"I'll be fine Booth, the anti-nausea medication seems to be dropping in, I'm feeling much better" Brennan re-assured Booth.
"It's kicking in Bones not dropping, and I'm not so sure you're fine, you look a little pale to me" Booth told her, taking in the paleness of her face and the sweat beginning to bead on her forehead.
"I'm fine Booth" Brennan said, beginning to get annoyed. She could compartmentalise she was sure of it, despite whatever he saw on her face, she was feeling better than she had this morning and she wasn't going to give in to this sickness, she was going to do her job and she was going to do it well. Without giving him a chance to respond, she walked over to where the body was, took one look at it and knew she wasn't fine. Nausea rose up out of her so quickly she didn't have time to find anywhere else to run to and she threw up on the spot. Thankfully she managed to be far enough away from the body to not contaminate it, but she could feel her cheeks flaming in embarrassment as the nausea kept washing over her. When she finally had it under control she rose shakily, walked past Booth as quickly as she could and got into the SUV. She laid the seat back and breathed in slowly through her nose and out her mouth until the nausea was finally gone.
"Bones?" Booth asked as he opened her door. He was shocked, but knew he needed to work out what was going to happen so he could get things rolling and get her back to the lab.
"I'm sorry Booth, I can't examine that body, you're going to have to ship it to the Jeffersonian as it is, and have my interns deal with it until all the flesh has been removed" Brennan told him, still a little mortified, but exhaustion was slowly winning over that emotion.
"I'm just going to rest here until you've packed everything up" Brennan told him, her eyelids already drooping, within seconds she was fast asleep. Booth looked at her worriedly, and gently brushed some hair away from her eyes. Looking quickly around to see if anyone was looking he kissed her forehead and set off to find Cam and give the crime scene techs, and police officers instructions.
"Cam!" Booth called, searching for his old friend, still baffled by the fact that the two women he thought would never throw up at the site of a dead body, had just done that.
"Booth?" Cam called from her spot near the wall. She was totally mortified and didn't think she could face all the crime scene techs she normally gave a hard time to about losing their lunches over dead bodies.
"You ok?" Booth asked, taking in the pathologist sitting against the wall of the warehouse, still looking a little shaky.
"That has to be the grossest body we've ever examined, I can't believe I actually threw up over a dead body, I'm supposed to be immune to gore and bad smells" Cam told Booth, slapping his arm when he grinned out her boyishly.
"As I told Bones, everything happens eventually, if it makes you feel better you're not the only one who was sick due to the body" Booth reassured her, pointing to his SUV where Cam could make out Dr Brennan, who looked like she was asleep in the front passenger seat of the SUV.
"Is she okay? Dr Brennan really threw up over a body?" Cam asked, incredulous of all the people she thought would be able to handle this body, Dr Brennan was definitely the one. She looked up at Booth worriedly, this was not like her friend and she was worried about the implications.
"Yes Cam, this is normal apparently" Booth said, smirking wanting to let Cam figure it out, they hadn't discussed telling anyone about the baby, but seeing as Angela and Hodgins knew, he didn't think they'd be able to keep it a secret for much longer, especially if Bones' morning sickness was going to continue to be this bad.
"Normal?" Cam asked, looking at Booth and seeing a slight smirk on his face and then it registered, why Dr Brennan being sick would be normal, and she slapped Booth on the arm again, shocked but happy for them both. Despite them only having been together for a short time, she knew that this would be good for them.
"Dr Brennan is pregnant? Seeley why didn't you tell me! I would have requested she not come, how far along is she?" Cam asked, hitting him with question after question. She couldn't believe he'd actually let her come to the crime scene, Booth was normally very overprotective of Dr Brennan, even when they hadn't been together, any possible weakness on her part and he would have insisted she stay behind for his safety and hers.
"Yes Cam she's pregnant, 7 weeks and I didn't tell you because Bones and I are still coming to terms with it ourselves, and before you say anything you know I wouldn't have been able to stop her coming, I did suggest she stay behind at the lab, but she insisted she was feeling fine, she took some anti-nausea drugs before we left and I'm doing my best to not be too overprotective of her, what we have is still so new, I don't want to scare her away, it's been a lot to take in" Booth explained, running his hands through his hair. He looked over at his SUV and saw Bones was still sleeping and he hoped she'd stay that way for a while, at least long enough for the morning sickness to go away. She'd been better by the afternoon yesterday and he hoped it would stay the same today.
"Congratulations Seeley, you are going to be great parents, now is she ok? Should we wrap this up so you can get her back to her apartment?" Cam asked, standing up feeling much better now that she'd had time away from the body. She was still concerned for her colleague and friend, but she knew she was in good hands with Booth.
"I told her I'd take her back to the lab, she's exhausted but I know she will want to be involved with the case, she requested that the interns deal with the body while it is fleshy and she'll examine the bones once they've been cleaned" Booth advised Cam, as they began walking back towards the crime scene. The body had thankfully been bagged and was being lifted onto the coroners van to be driven to the Jeffersonian.
"Okay well, I'll meet you both back at the lab then, see if you can get her to eat something light, and get her to take another nap, we will probably be a couple of hours with the body, you know how Hodgins is" Cam laughed, as she pulled him into a hug.
"Congratulations again Seeley, I'm very happy for you both, it's taken you two a long time to get here and I'm glad you're finally getting it together, but can I give you one piece of advice, as one of your oldest friends" Cam asked him, holding a hand up when he went to interrupt her.
"Seeley, I once advised you not to tell her you love her unless you were sure, I can see you are both well past that stage now, but Seeley whatever you do, don't propose to her, let her take that step, I can't say how I know it, but I know she will ask you one day, if you have the patience to wait for her" Cam told him, waiting for him to get angry with her, she knew his track record with proposals, and she knew he was a romantic at heart, and the very notion of letting the woman in his relationship be the one to ask, would not sit well with him, but she hoped he listened to her, because she'd gotten to know Dr Brennan pretty well over the years, after their initial issues and she knew the anthropologist often voiced her reluctance to believe in a concept such as marriage, but after all the changes that had occurred within her friend, she knew she would eventually come around to the idea if Booth gave her time and space to think about it.
"Relax Cam, I have no intention of asking Bones to marry me, and it's not because of my track record, Bones has already given me so much, I don't need to be married to her to know I'll be spending the rest of my life with her, and I know that somewhere in there, she believes that too, you know she was the first one of us to say I love you" Booth told Cam, immensely proud of the woman he loved. He couldn't believe how far she'd come, from the woman he'd met in a lecture hall all those years ago.
"Wow, that is big Seeley, she's really coming out of that shell of hers, now go take her to the lab and take care of her, but let her have some control over things too, I know you're overprotective tendencies must be screaming at you right now, but you know what's she's like and if she has to fight you to let her do things, it's going to cause more stress for her and the baby" Cam told him, hoping he'd take her advice. She knew she and and Angela would do their best to make sure that Dr Brennan took things easier, and looking over at the sleeping woman, she had a feeling Dr Brennan wasn't going to resist as much as they thought she would.
"Thanks Cam, I will take all the advice I can get, I have a feeling this is only the tip of the iceberg" Booth said , squeezing Cam's arm and then he walked over to the SUV. As he got in he saw Brennan stir, and smiled at how beautiful she looked when she was just waking up.
"Booth" Brennan said, still half asleep, and fighting to keep her eyes open. She wanted to know what had happened with the body and if Cam was okay, but her body wasn't co-operating with her.
"It's okay Bones, you go back to sleep and we'll talk about all this when we get back to the lab" Booth assured her, stroking her face and placing a soft kiss on her lips, before starting up the car and driving away from the scene.
When they got back to the lab he ushered her into her office, hoping the body hadn't arrived and was thankful to see it hadn't. He grabbed the package of crackers and handed them to her, and settled her on the lounge with another soft kiss.
"I'm just going to make you some of that ginger tea, you just relax here and I'll be back in a few minutes" Booth told her, happy to see her comply with his wishes. Maybe this wasn't going to be as hard as he thought. When he got back with her tea, he could see she was dozing lightly and hated to disturb her, but he knew the tea would help her feel better.
"Thank you Booth, I appreciate you taking care of me, but don't expect me to be as co-operative for the whole of my pregnancy, I'll only let you treat me like an invalid, while I feel like one, I can't believe how tired I am" Brennan told him, unnerved by the pervasive exhaustion she was experiencing. She wondered how she was going to cope with another couple of months of this, and hoped it wasn't going to get any worse.
"I wouldn't have it any other way Bones, it would feel wrong if you didn't fight me on everything" Booth teased, and was happy to see her smile with him. She was getting better at telling when he was teasing her, and when he was being serious, and he smiled with pride, thinking again of how much she'd changed.
"So, how are we going to run this Bones, will you be okay in your office with the body out there? Do you want me to take you to lunch, and distract you while it's being examined?" Booth asked, thinking of how far Brennan's office was away from the platform and if it was likely that the smell from the body would permeate her office.
"Booth, the examination tables have ventilation and so does the whole forensic platform, the likelihood of the smell of the body reaching me here in my office from the forensic platform is highly unlikely, I'll be fine, you should go back to work, I know you need to interview the witness and speak with the police officers from the scene, please Booth go" Brennan requested, knowing that if Booth stayed she wouldn't get anything done, and there was more to her work than dead bodies, she still had reports to write up and she really needed to get started on a couple of chapters from her next book.
"Okay Bones, I get it I'll leave you to your work, but I'll be back in two hours to take you to lunch, no arguments" Booth told her, not giving her a chance to respond as he kissed her gently and then left her office.
The rest of the day passed in a much better fashion than it begun, Brennan had managed quite a bit of paperwork before Booth came to get her for lunch, and she was able to keep down her soup and toast that she'd ordered. She and Booth talked animatedly through lunch, and she was confident that the nausea had settled completely for the day. She was looking forward to beginning examination of the bones, once they'd been cleaned, as she was still feeling bad about how she'd needed to leave the crime scene that morning. She was going to suggest to Booth and Cam that during the rest of her first trimester, when the morning sickness would be at it's worst, that she stay in the lab and only participate in examining the bodies once they'd been cleaned. She didn't want to take the risk that she'd compromise a scene due to her morning sickness and this seemed to be the most rational solution.
The examination of the body took a lot longer than they were expecting due to the amount of decomposition and the damage to the soft tissue of the body. From what Cam could see, they were definitely going to need Dr Brennan's expertise with this one. The intern of the week, was Wendell Bray and he went to inform Dr Brennan of what they'd learned so far, and what would be happening next.
"Dr B? We've finally finished examining the body and I've begun the de-fleshing process on the body, but unfortunately the bones won't be cleaned until tomorrow" Wendell told her, hoping his mentor would not be displeased at the amount of time that was going to pass before she'd get a chance to examine the bones.
"Tell me what you found Mr Bray" Brennan requested, looking up from her computer screen to listen to her intern. She considered Wendell to be one of her brightest students and she was always happy when he came up on the rotation. He was thorough, very intelligent and although she knew he admired her greatly, he wasn't prone to squealing in her ear every time he witnessed her brilliance, like Daisy did or breaking into facts like Mr Nigel-Murray had done when he was nervous. Thinking of Vincent still caused her pain and she quickly brushed the thought away, so she could concentrate on what Wendell was telling her.
"Its a male in his early twenties, severe trauma to several places of his body, the back of his skull is in pieces, which will possibly make facial reconstruction difficult, from the x-rays he has a fractured right clavicle, left proximal humerus, and his left tibia and fibula are also fractured, due to the amount of tissue still left on the body we can't determine a cause of death at this stage, although I'm sure the injuries we have found would have been quite painful, all the fractures were ante-mortem" Wendell told her, handing her the envelope with the x-rays, so she could take a look herself. She held them up to the light and assessed them. She was pleased to see that Wendell had gotten it completely right and made a mental note to ensure that she talked with Dr Saroyan about how well he was doing.
"I agree Mr Bray, once the bones are clean, can you begin work on reconstructing the back of the skull so that I can work on the rest of the bones, once you've finished reconstructing the skull, I want you to begin the tissue depth marking for Angela, so she can start searching for our victim, excellent work Mr Bray, I'll check with Dr Saroyan, but I think it's safe to say you can finish for the day" Brennan told him as the length of the day began to catch up with her. She looked at her watch, surprised to see it was already six pm and stifled a yawn. She was looking forward to getting home and relaxing on the couch with Booth, maybe even watching the third of those vampire movies he insisted she watch.
"Thank you Dr Brennan, I'll go and check with Dr Saroyan if she needs me for anything else, oh and Dr Brennan, congratulations on the baby, you and Booth are going to make beautiful kids" Wendell told her, smiling at the look of shock on her face.
"How did you know?" Brennan asked, and wondering how many other people knew, and whether Booth had told them. They'd not formally decided if and when they were going to tell people, and as much as she'd like it to stay between them for now, it looked like she wasn't going to get that wish.
"My mum is a midwife, I know the signs pretty well, and well I've never known you to back away from examining a body, whether there is flesh on the bones or not" Wendell said grinning at her and surprised to see her grinning back.
"Thank you Mr Bray, you are very observant, a quality that will do you very well in this profession" Brennan complimented him, immensely pleased that she'd made the decision to fund his scholarship after his had been cancelled. He was becoming a great asset to the team and had managed to integrate further into their 'family' than any other intern. Mr Nigel-Murray might still have been her favourite intern, but Wendell was the most dependable, and the most talented in her eyes.
"Thank you Dr Brennan, I'll go see Dr Saroyan now" Wendell told her, wanting to suggest that she take the time while waiting for Agent Booth to pick her up, to get a little more sleep, but not wanting to step outside of their mentor/student relationship. He admired Dr B greatly, and felt that once he had his doctorates they'd be able to become good friends, but he knew that whilst he was still a student, and she his teacher, he wouldn't be offering her advice on how to deal with this pregnancy, unless she asked him for it. He walked out of her office smiling, thinking of how great a parent Dr B was going to be, she may not be the most conventional of people, but he knew she'd love her child and would be able to teach it so much when it got older. She still amazed him with the amount of knowledge that was stored inside of that genius brain of hers, not all of it pertaining to her profession.
Booth arrived an hour later to find Bones napping on the couch after having been talked into the nap by Hodgins who'd checked in on her once Dr Saroyan had given both he and Wendell permission to go home. He gently woke her and gathered up her things so they could go home. Without conscious decision they headed to her place and he quickly set about organising dinner for them once they were home. After eating he suggested as she predicted that they watch the third vampire movie, and she made it to the credits before falling asleep against his chest. He sat that way with her for a little while as the credits rolled, thinking of the movie and how opposite the two characters were and how that echoed his relationship with Bones.
"I love you Bones" He said as he kissed her cheek gently and settled them both on the couch, grabbing a blanket to wrap around them both. Once he was as comfortable as he was going to get on a couch he held her in his arms, gently stroking her abdomen as she slept next to him. He thought of the baby and how much he knew they both loved it already, even though she was only half way through her first trimester. He thought of the case, after Cam had called him to let him know the small amount of information they'd been able to learn about the body and wondered how anyone could bring themselves to hurt another human being in that way. He thought of Parker and how they were going to tell him that he was going to be a big brother, and then he thought of how Rebecca would react to the news, and hoped it would be positive. Finally he let his thoughts settle on his beautiful Bones and how much he loved her and was happy they'd taken this step in their relationship, she made him unbelievably happy and despite wishing they'd made this move earlier, he had to wonder if they'd actually be this happy if they'd begun a relationship back when he'd confessed his feelings for her at the Hoover, and decided that he was too tired to play the what if game. His last coherent thoughts were of the beautiful woman sleeping in his arms, a smile etched on his face even in sleep.
Okay leaving it there, I promise Brennan isn't going to be throwing up in every chapter during this case, the nausea is going to come and go, she'll have good days and bad days, but I feel that as the pregnancy is still so new to them, that they would still be all about the pregnancy at this stage. Up next, we learn the identity of the victim and Brennan does her thing, no pregnancy brain for her! Until next time.