Chapter 10

Disclaimer – look at earlier chapters, same stuff applies now.

Well, I think I'll leave most author's notes to the end.. not much to say about this chapter anyway. :)

Just a quick comment, I did some (not much) research into dislocated shoulders, and my research didn't seem promising that there would be any affects left on the bones, but I wanted there to be, so poof, now there is. :)

So go read… (and don't forget to review). (And if you see errors, let me know, I re-read it over once quickly and made a few corrections but probably missed some others).

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After helping Booth and Parker get out the door, Brennan made it into work a few minutes later than she normally would. Angela, Hodgins and Zack were already busy working away. Hodgins was off in his office analyzing the fiber, Zack was looking over the now clean bones, and Angela was in her office sketching the face for the victim.

Brennan did a cursory walk through the lab saying hello to the others before finishing with a quick stop in her office. After confirming there was nothing urgent in her email (using her definition, not the wording of the emails) she joined Zack on the platform.

"So what have you learned so far?" Brennan asked as she pulled on her latex gloves and leaned down over the table.

"Well, I got in early this morning so I was able to look over the skull before Angela got here. There's evidence of blunt force trauma to the back of the skull and looks like there may be an impression from the weapon used on the skull. I've asked Angela to take a look using the Angelator after she's done with the skull." Zack stood up and faced his mentor. They may be equals now, but that was only in terms of the "Doctor" preceding their names. Brennan still had more experience and knowledge than Zack, and therefore he still often deferred to her for an opinion and praise. "I've been going over the rest of the bones and the only thing I've noticed is evidence that his shoulder has been dislocated. Well that and lots of little teeth marks from animals. I guess they could be hiding evidence…" Zack trailed off and watched as Brennan moved to look at the shoulder he had pointed at.

"Interesting," Brennan nodded her head. "It doesn't look like it even had a chance to start healing. There's very little evidence of blood pooling at the location. I would estimate that this occurred shortly before death."

"Yeah, that's what I thought as well," Zack nodded in agreement. "I've been over these bones once already, but I'll double check them now and see if I can discover anything else."

"Sounds good, thanks Zack," Brennan gave the bones another cursory glance before heading off to Angela's office to check with her about her progress on the sketch. She was just finishing it up when she entered.

"Hey Bren, I'm just about to enter the sketch and run it against the missing person's database." Angela looked up briefly from where she sat in front of the computer. After checking over the final details, she clicked the mouse button and started the search. Standing up, she grabbed her ever-present touch screen control device for the Angelator and moved over to Brennan's side. "So I've entered the information for the skull into the system, let me pull it up."

The two turned their attention to the Angelator in the center of the room, moving over to stand on opposite sides of it. As the skull appeared, floating before them, Brennan looked at the back of the skull carefully. "Hey Ang, can you focus on this area right here?" She gestured to a specific part of the skull.

Angela nodded in agreement before tapping away on the touch screen and soon only the back portion of the skull remained.

"Is it just me, or do you see an impression right here?" Brennan pointed at the image. "Do you think you could show what the impression looks like? You know, a molding of it?"

"You want me to bring the imprint and put it into 3D?" Angela clarified and Brennan nodded her agreement. Once again Angela bent over the touch screen tapping away. While she worked, Brennan wandered over to the computer to check on the missing person search. It had found 4 possible matches so far but Brennan was able to dismiss all of them with a quick glance.

"Okay, I'm ready," Angela called her back over.

"Hmm," Brennan stared at the screen where the impression now floated. There dent seemed to be caused by an object that had a sharp corner. But it wasn't consistent, on one side the impression then moved slightly out, making it wider. Almost like there was another protrusion on the object that wasn't as sharp and wasn't able to make as distinct an impression.. " What does that look like to you?"

"Nothing," Angela shook her head apologetically. "I think you'd need some objects to compare it too. Sorry that didn't help."

Beep. They both turned back to the computer where a flashing "Search Completed" blinked on the screen. Moving back over to it there were now nine results showing. Brennan looked them over slowly before turning to Angela in disappointment.

"I would say that none of them are a match," Angela agreed. "Odd though, because from the fragments of clothing left behind he didn't look like he was homeless. I would expect someone to have noticed that he had gone missing."

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By the time Booth and Parker arrived at the lab, everyone was feeling frustrated as no one had made any progress and they were all snapping at each other. Brennan had fled to her office in an attempt to save her sanity and so that was where Parker found her, rushing in waving about a drawing.

"Look Bones, look," Parker rushed up to her. She rolled her chair away from the desk, turning to face him and caught him as he leapt into her lap. "I drew this for you!"

"Wow, thanks Parker," Brennan examined the drawing carefully. There were three stick figures, one wearing a blue dress, one in a black outfit and the final one, a shorter one, was wearing blue pants and a red shirt. "Am I wearing a dress?" Brennan asked confused.

"No silly," Parker laughed, shaking his head wildly, "that's your lab coat."

"Oh," Brennan nodded. She envied the parents who were able to look at their kids drawings and have a pretty good clue as to what it represented. She always seemed to misinterpret.

"And see, that's daddy," Parker pointed at the black figure. "He has a gun," Parker continued in awe and Brennan was just able to make out the gun shape in place of one hand.

"How come I didn't get a gun," Brennan questioned.

"We're not allowed to have guns," Parker replied solemnly. "But that's okay, daddy will protect us." He turned and looked at his dad, who was just entering the office now, having not run all the way through the lab like his son had. Brennan caught his eye briefly, before both immediately turned away.

"How's the case going?" Booth asked, standing awkwardly in the doorway watching his wife and son cuddling in the chair. Wife, it always blew his mind when he thought of her as his wife. They may have been married for close to a year now, but the fact that they were still continued to amaze and surprise him. If anyone had told him when he had first started falling for Bones that he would be able to convince her to change her mind on marriage he would've laughed in their face and bet his life savings against himself. What a change the past year and half had been.

"Not great," Brennan sighed, learning forward and sliding a case file towards Booth. She opened it up to the sketch that Angela had produced. "We tried running the drawing through missing persons. We got nine results but none were close enough matches."

Booth moved closer to the desk, examining the image closely, and Parker mimicked his dads actions. There was one notable difference though, while Booth's expression remained neutral, Parker pointed excitedly.

"That's Mr. Johnson!"

"What?"

"Who?"

Both Brennan and Booth's heads snapped towards the little boy. When Booth didn't continue as he was too stunned, Brennan spoke up again. "Parker, do you recognize the man in the picture?"

"Yeah, that looks like Mr. Johnson. He's Freddie's dad," Parker nodded, then paused thoughtfully. "Although Mr. Johnson has less hair."

"Freddie? The kid from your class?" Booth questioned as he moved to stand beside Brennan and Parker.

"Yeah, he's really nice. I'm going to invite him to my birthday party. He's been sad lately."

"Have you seen his dad?"

"Not recently. I think that's why he's sad. He lives with his mommy like me."

"Well I think we've got something to check out this afternoon," Brennan said happily. Progress was the best motivator.

"Well I have something to do," Booth corrected. "You'll be hanging out with Parker, remember?"

She looked about to protest, before glancing down at the boy. He was looking up at her with such hope that she didn't have the heart to refuse him. "Right, you'll check it out. I guess we can discuss the results later."

Booth nodded and picked up the file and turned to head towards the door. He paused as he reached the threshold. "Parker had I never had a chance to eat lunch. Would you guys like to go to Wong Foo's?" Booth asked tentatively.

Brennan was about to say no but she looked down and saw Parker was already nodding in agreement. "Sure, why not." She nudged Parker and he got up off her lap and moved over to the door. She quickly gathered her stuff together and joined them.

Booth stepped back, allowing Brennan and Parker to pass through the doorway ahead of him before following them out, shutting the office door behind him. They weren't walking very fast, so a couple steps later he had fallen in line with them, walking next to Bones. Parker was in the middle of telling a joke he had learned at school and they all laughed at the punch line, Booths' hand coming up to rest on Brennan's lower back unconsciously.

Brennan flinched slightly at the feeling of his touch, but resisted the temptation to glance over at him. Her smile slipped to a frown as she felt him pull his hand away temporarily. After a short pause, he placed it back and her smile reappeared. She placed her hand on Parker's shoulder gently guiding him towards the door just as his dad was guiding her.

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Well there's chapter 10! And the case is finally moving forward as we have a tentative identity for the victim.

And look, Booth and Brennan are touching. Okay, so they're not talking, yet, but it will come about… just give them time. They're both stubborn and someone's going to have to cave and make the first move (when they're both awake to realize it).

And if anyone cares (probably no one does, but I'm proud of myself) I've managed to get my running up to 25 minutes consistently (about 2.5 miles or just over 4 km). :) If anyone wants to get into running they should check out coolrunnings couch to 5k program.. it's working for me. :)

Okay, so I had 8 reviews for the longest time, and was really lacking on motivation to write this chapter. Luckily, I got a ninth review yesterday which helped get me started writing. I'd really like to hear more opinions from you guys. I've been watching the 'hits' and I know there are more than 10 people reading it. :)

So … hit that button and let me know what you think so I can keep the motivation going and update the next chapter this week (next weekend (is a long weekend) and my sister and her friend are visiting, so it'll be a bit harder to find time to write. I hope to get a chapter up before they get here, and

Oh, wait. I know what I wanted to ask… chapter length? Too long? Too short? Just right? Shorter and more often? Longer and bigger breaks? Any opinions?