Chapter 11 – The Story the Bones Told
Brennan spent the rest of the next day examining the bones, only taking breaks when she needed to eat or rest. The nausea hadn't been as bad so she decided to take advantage of the time without it. She catalogued at least twenty bone breaks and various other small nicks to the bones. It didn't make very much sense the amount of damage the victim had suffered while still being alive. All the breaks had occurred no more than a day before the victims death as no remodelling had occurred. She didn't want to admit it but at that moment she was stumped. She decided to head into Angela's office to see if she'd been able to complete the reconstruction of the victims face. Wendell had finished piecing the victim's skull together two hours ago and she was immensely proud of his fine work.
"How's the reconstruction going Ange?" Brennan asked admiring Angela's concentration as she went about her task.
"Wendell did a great job of piecing the skull together but it's taking a while to get this right, every time I think I've got it, I look at it and it just seems off to me, could you take a look?" Angela said, handing the reconstructed skull to Brennan to look at. She took the skull and weighed it in her hands, feeling it kinetically to see if she could figure out what Angela was meaning. It only took a few minutes to figure out that Angela was right, something was off, or more like missing from the skull.
"I have to take the skull to the bone room so I can examine it closer, something is missing Ange, you are right there is something off with this skull, keep doing what you can with what you've got and I'll get this back to you as soon as I can" Brennan told Angela, walking out of the room before Angela could even respond.
She headed back to the bone room and placed the skull in front of one of the powerful microscopes so she could see the different parts of the skull closer up. She saw the problem immediately, one of the facial bones was missing, a crucial part for facial reconstruction. She put the skull down carefully and went to find Wendell.
"Mr Bray, we need to go through the soil and particulates that were brought in with the body, do you know where Dr Hodgins is?" Brennan asked, hoping that the missing bone would be among the mound of surrounding dirt they'd brought back with them so that Hodgins could search for particulate evidence.
"Here Dr B, what can I do for you?" Hodgins asked as he rounded the corner after hearing Dr Brennan ask about him.
"We need to go through the soil and particulates that were brought in with the body, one of the facial bones is missing from the skull, and I don't believe Angela will be able to get a face without it" Brennan told them as a wave of tiredness hit her, and she did her best to shake it off.
"Dr B, Wendell and I will look for the facial bone, you look like you could use a rest, I'm not trying to tell you what to do, I value my life too much, but if Booth were here he'd be suggesting this and you've been on your feet most of the day looking at those bones, please Dr B just go with it" Hodgins asked, waiting for the explosion from Brennan. When it wasn't forth coming he was secretly proud of her, she really had changed.
"Very well Dr Hodgins, I'll be in my office if you need me" Brennan agreed, not wanting to concede but knowing she wouldn't do anything to risk this pregnancy, she was doing her best to listen to her body more now that she was pregnant, it was difficult she'd spent so long ignoring it. She'd pointedly made sure that while she was working that she stopped every two hours to have a snack, drink some water and rest if she needed to. It was difficult maintaining that kind of focus on herself, especially when the mystery of what happened to this man was so great.
Two hours later, Angela walked into Brennan's office smiling at her best friend curled up on the lounge still sleeping. A blanket was draped over half of her body and she was snoring lightly. Her face was peaceful and although Angela hated to wake her, she knew Brennan would want to be as involved in this investigation as she could be. The fact that she was asleep at all, was a testament to how much pregnancy was changing her best friend, her focus shifting to the baby growing inside her, ensuring it's safety.
"Bren" Angela called, shaking her best friend slightly and smiled as the anthropologist roused from her sleep. There was something so childlike about her when she was just waking up and Angela stood and observed her for a little bit, while Brennan regained her bearings.
"What is it Ange?" Brennan asked, hoping she sounded more alert than she felt. What she wouldn't give for a cup of coffee at that moment.
"Wendell found the bone you were looking for, we have a face and a match" Angela explained as she punched a few keys on her keypad and a face appeared on Brennan's view screen.
"Anthony Feldman, med student completing his internship at Georgetown University Hospital, he was 23 years old. He has a girlfriend and Booth was able to get in contact with his parents, they are heading to the FBI building now, Booth asked if you'd join him when you woke up" Angela told Brennan, watching her take in the information.
"How did a medical student end up in a place like that, with twenty of his bones broken just prior to his death?" Brennan mused out loud, the absurdity of a young man with that much promise ending up behind a run down warehouse was not lost on her.
"Only one way to find out" Angela laughed, pushing her best friend over to her desk so she could call Booth to let him know she was on her way over to the Hoover to help with the questioning of Anthony's parents and his girlfriend if Booth could locate her.
She was greeted by Charlie when she arrived at the Hoover, who directed her to a conference room where Booth was waiting. She'd been in this room many times, during talks with Caroline, during questionings of relatives of victims and even sometimes informal interrogations. She wasn't prepared for how seeing Booth in this room after their relationship change would affect her. A part of her wanted to walk straight up to him and kiss him like both of their lives depended on it, but she knew they couldn't be unprofessional if they wanted the FBI to accept their relationship. She tucked that thought away for later that night, hoping that she'd be able to stay awake long enough to bring her thoughts into fruition.
"Bones" Booth called, searching her face and looking deeply into her eyes. She could tell he felt the same way, wanting to show affection when they both knew they couldn't. She walked over to sit next to him while they waited for Anthony's parents to be brought to the conference room and took his hand under the table, squeezing it slightly to show him she felt it too.
"Did you learn anything else about the victim?" Brennan asked, mostly because she didn't want to sit in this room in silence, it would only make it harder being alone with him without conversation.
"It seems our doctor in training had a bit of a drug problem, it's possible that's what got him killed, hopefully the parents or the girlfriend will know more" Booth said, part of him wishing the parents would hurry up and get there, so the temptation to kiss Bones would lessen. He could feel her hand stroking his under the table absently as she thought about what he'd said.
"I should take another look at the bones when we are finished here, see if I can tell how bad his drug problem was from his bones" Brennan told him, a few of the injuries to the bones now making sense. All the nicks on the bones she'd found were mostly centred around his radius and ulna on each arm. She wondered would he have been injecting that would have required a needle long enough to nick the bone.
"Dr Brennan, Agent Booth, this is Mr & Mrs Feldman, Anthony's parents" Charlie said showing them into the room and then walking out. Booth watched Anthony's parents sit down, taking note of the resigned grief he could see on their faces. Like they'd been expecting Anthony's death for sometime, but were still grief stricken by it.
"Mr & Mrs Feldman, my name is Special Agent Seeley Booth and this is my partner Dr Temperance Brennan of the Jeffersonian institute, we are both very sorry for your loss" Booth told them, watching their responses to his words. He saw Mr Feldman look at Bones, a look of awe crossing his face and groaned as he realised the man was a fan of Bones' books.
"We knew Anthony had a problem, and we'd tried to get him help, he was doing so well, but we knew it was only a matter of time before something bad happened to him, we did what we could" Mrs Feldman said tears forming in her eyes as she thought of her boy and how they'd been unable to cure him of his addiction to heroin.
"Mr & Mrs Feldman did you know who your son's dealer was, or where he got the heroin from?" Booth asked, continuing to watch them for non verbal responses to his questions. He could see immediately that Mrs Feldman didn't know anything, but the father he definitely did.
"It was another student at the hospital, ah Jim, Jim Spencer I think it was, he was in the same year as Anthony and they were pretty close, they were both good kids, but they were easily influenced, it only took a few hits of heroin for Anthony to become addicted and when Jim realised it, he took it upon himself to source Anthony's heroin to make sure Anthony wouldn't OD somewhere on bad heroin" Mr Feldman answered, smiling at the courage of the young man to make sure his son didn't die from an overdose. He'd had his suspicions about their friendship, about whether it was just a friendship but Anthony had been dating Samantha and he knew their relationship had been sexual, he'd found the used condoms next to Anthony's bed whenever Samantha had stayed over.
"Any idea where we can find Jim, he might have some information on what happened to Anthony" Brennan asked, deciding to assert herself into the conversation, giving Booth time to continue to observe the parents.
"He lives in university housing, here I'll write down his number, but I can tell you for a fact he did not hurt my boy" Mr Feldman said, grabbing the piece of paper and a pen that was offered to him by Booth to write down Jim's number.
"You seem very sure of that Mr Feldman" Brennan commented, picking up on the man's words and the tone behind it. She had a feeling there was something more to that statement.
" Anthony and Jim were very close, I actually suspected that they were in a relationship together until Anthony brought Samantha home, Jim would have done anything for Anthony" Mr Feldman told them vehemently, not wanting them to think for a minute that Jim could have hurt Anthony. If Anthony hadn't loved Jim that way, he was pretty sure Jim loved Anthony that way and he could see that the boy would never have been capable of hurting the man he loved.
"We'll be speaking with Samantha later this afternoon, is there anything else you can think of, any enemies, or disagreements your son may have had?" Booth asked, still watching them, but also watching Bones out of the corner of his eye too. She was watching the father curiously, and he could tell she could see something in him that she really couldn't understand.
"No, other than the drug problem, Anthony was well liked in school and at the hospital, I have no idea who'd want to hurt my son" Mr Feldman told them, standing up and reaching for his wife's hand.
"Is that all? We have a funeral to arrange" Mr Feldman asked, the grief beginning to surface again as he thought of his son and how his life had been ended before he'd even been able to finish med school. He had so much potential, potential that would never be realised.
Booth shook his head and watched them walk out and then turned his focus onto his girlfriend curious about her thoughts on their conversation with Anthony's parents.
"So, what's your thoughts Bones? You were pretty quiet after he mentioned Jim Spencer, what were you thinking?" Booth asked, curious about his partner's developing ability to read people. She'd obviously seen something that had peaked her curiosity and he was interested to find out what that was.
"Anthony was gay, I believe the father knew and approved, but the mother she didn't" Brennan stated, she'd been watching not only the father when he talked about his son, but the mother too. Her lack of participation in the conversation after the mentioning of Jim Spencer had peaked her curiosity and she had used Booth's technique of looking like she was observing the father, to really observe the mother.
"Anthony had a girlfriend Bones he wasn't gay" Booth said, shaking his head, maybe his partner wasn't getting better at reading people.
"Booth, I know reading people is your expertise, but you heard Mr Feldman, he thought his son was in a relationship with a man before finding out he had a girlfriend, what if Samantha was a cover, because Anthony was ashamed of his homosexuality, or thought his parents would be ashamed of him" Brennan suggested, unsure of why she was so sure that Anthony was gay and why she was so sure the mother disapproved.
"Okay, let's go with that angle then, we should find this Jim Spencer and talk to him, after we've talked to the girlfriend, perhaps she didn't know she was being used and was angry enough to kill him" Booth posited, knowing his partner didn't like it when he did, but he needed to think out possible motives.
"How about we talk about motive over some lunch?"Brennan asked, her stomach growling as she realised it was now after 2pm and she hadn't had lunch. She went to stand up and a wave of dizziness hit her and she grabbed onto Booth's arm to steady herself. Low blood sugar she decided, realising it had been at least four hours since she had eaten something, her last snack had been just before she'd fallen asleep on her couch.
"You okay Bones?"Booth asked a little concerned by the paleness of Bones' face.
"I think my blood sugar is a little low, it's been at least four hours since I last ate, I came straight here after my nap, I should have eaten something" Brennan explained hoping it would appease Booth so they could get moving, she knew she had some nuts she could snack on in the car and the dizziness had passed quickly so it could have just been a case of getting up too quickly.
"Let's get you some food then" Booth said ushering her out of the door and down to the lift so they could head to the parking garages. He kept his hand at the small of her back, wanting to be able to support her should she be struck by another dizzy spell. He knew she'd been trying to eat more frequently, reasoning that it might aid with ensuring her morning sickness wasn't as bad and so far it seemed to be working.
The journey to the diner was quiet, Brennan had her head back and her eyes closed after she'd eaten a few nuts when they'd gotten into the car. She'd handed over her keys to Booth immediately knowing if she was struck by another dizzy spell that it could be dangerous for them both. The nuts had helped and she was no longer feeling dizzy, but she was tired and hoped that lunch would provide her with enough energy to get her through the rest of the day.
They'd found their table empty when they walked into the diner and had ordered immediately, Booth quietly asking the waitress to put a rush on their meals, while Brennan got up suddenly and headed for the bathroom. He hoped she wasn't being sick, but then remembered that she'd been needing to use the bathroom more often since she found out she was pregnant, and hoped that was all it was. He hated the thought that something so wonderful could be making her feel so awful.
Brennan walked back to the table a little shakily, her stomach having settled back down enough for her to think about eating her lunch, she knew she couldn't afford to skip this meal, even if she didn't quite feel like eating. She looked into Booth's worried brown eyes and tried to reassure him silently.
"I'm sorry the baby is making you so sick Bones" Booth said, wishing he could take on this part of the pregnancy for her. No matter how often she told him it was necessary and a good sign that the pregnancy was progressing normally, he still couldn't help but feel guilty for putting her in this position.
"Booth, morning sickness is a normal part of pregnancy, I'll be fine as soon as I can get some food into me" Brennan reassured him, seeing a flash of emotion cross his face that she was having trouble identifying. She smiled up at the waitress as she placed her bowl of soup and a bread roll in front of her, and sniffed at it warily hoping the smell would not trigger another round of nausea. She never knew what would set her off and she was happy to find that this smell was not only not making her feel sick, but was actually making her feel hungry. She dug into the soup with gusto, breaking the bread roll into pieces to dip into the soup as she ate. She could feel Booth's eyes on her as she ate, but it didn't break her concentration on her food, as she knew that once she'd finished she would feel a lot better.
Booth watched her an amused smile coming over his face as he watched her dig in, it was so strange seeing her eat like that, with gusto rather than the methodical pace she normally ate at. He picked up his burger and continued to watch her eat, happy that she seemed to be enjoying her meal. She finished her soup long before he finished his burger and he laughed quietly as she began reaching for some of his fries.
"Are you still hungry Bones? Should I order you some dessert?" Booth teased gently, knowing that his partner very rarely had dessert, and had yet to experience any cravings, which Booth was secretly looking forward to fulfilling. He was actually looking forward to being woken up late at night by Bones wanting him to go to the shop and buy her something that would satisfy her craving. Suddenly he had a vision of Bones, heavily pregnant, eating ice cream in bed out of the container, looking devastatingly sexy as she groaned her approval of the ice cream she was consuming. He heard his name being called and looked up and saw Bones looking at him expectantly.
"Uh, sorry Bones did you say something?" Booth asked, sheepishly as he realised his pants had become a little uncomfortable after his vision of her. He felt her hand come to rest on his thigh and almost jumped out of his skin at the sensation.
"Are you alright Booth? You are going a little red in the face" Brennan asked concerned and began tracing her hand along his thigh in an unconscious manner as she looked into his eyes to try and read the emotion in them.
"I – yes uh no Bones you need to stop that" Booth said, feeling his pants tighten at the sensation of her hand tracing patterns on his thigh, struggling to maintain his composure. He was pretty sure she had no idea what she was doing to him and the thought both scared him and aroused him even further.
"What?" Brennan asked confused, still tracing her hands over his thigh. She gasped when he caught her hand in his, stilling her movements before bringing her hand to rest near the bulge in his pants.
"That, do you have any idea what you do to me?" Booth asked, gasping himself as she wiggled her hand a little in his grasp causing their hands to rub against his erection. He looked up at her and saw the twinkle in her eye as she realised exactly what she'd been doing to him and decided she was definitely going to make sure she stayed awake, so she could show him exactly what he did to her when he touched her just as innocently.
"I'm sorry Booth I was unaware that my actions had caused -" Brennan said but was cut off by Booth kissing her gently, deepening the kiss as he felt her respond to him. They were breathless when the kiss ended and Booth realised they needed to head back to work or they were going to end up not going back to work at all.
"We should head back to work, do you want to come back to the Hoover with me or should I drop you off at the lab?" Booth asked, trying to regain his composure after the kiss not realising her hand was still resting close to his still erect penis.
"Are you sure it's a good idea for you to get up right now?" Brennan asked as she stroked him a little to emphasise his predicament.
"Well if you would stop touching me" Booth growled as she stroked him again. She was torturing him, and he was finding it harder and harder to concentrate on getting them out of the diner and back to work.
"I find that I'd rather go home and make love to you, than go back to work" Brennan told him huskily, knowing she was torturing him, and knowing they didn't really have time, but a part of felt that she needed to take advantage of the periods where she wanted him, she never knew when her exhaustion would take over her, sometimes she'd be able to stay up fairly late with him, other days she'd be asleep well before 9pm.
"Bones, we have a case, we don't really have time" Booth said biting back a moan as she stroked him again, he was getting harder by the second and was rapidly losing his will to go back to work and part of him thought that she knew it. He watched her throw some bills on the table and then grab his hand pulling him out of his chair and pushing his jacket at him in an effort to help him disguise his erection. He willingly followed her to the car and before he knew it they were at his place, both of them bounding up the stairs as quickly as they could. She had him pressed up against the wall inside his doorway before the door even closed, kissing him deeply and fumbling with his shirt buttons. He decided then to let this happen at her pace and was surprised at how quickly she had him undressed.
He groaned as she pressed herself against him, grinding against his erection as he stood naked before her. She quickly stepped out of her clothes and guided him towards his bedroom, pushing him back onto the bed and straddling him as soon as his back hit the mattress. He reached up to stroke her breasts as she ground against him a little and heard her hiss in appreciation, he circled them gently knowing they had been tender and wanting her to feel pleasure not pain. He groaned again as she pressed herself against his erection and enveloped him in her warm wet heat, her walls clenching around him as she sank onto him completely. She stilled for a moment allowing herself to get used to the pressure and then slowly began to move, pulling back from him and then sinking back down into him again, both of them now groaning from the sensation of being joined together. As her arousal grew she began to ride him harder and faster, and he struggled to keep his focus on her breasts as her walls began to clench around him, he knew neither of them were going to last long and took her into a passionate kiss, their tongues duelling together as he rose his hips to meet her thrusts, his hands circling her nipples enticing her into orgasm.
When they both finally erupted she collapsed against him, both of them breathing heavily at the force of their joint orgasm and and the pace of their lovemaking. They lay there for a while like that, with him still buried inside her, both trying to regain their composure. He held her to him feeling her heart beat begin to calm and return to a normal rhythm and her breathing slow and deepen. When he realised she'd fallen asleep, he slowly turned onto his side, pulling himself out of her, smiling at the little moan she made in her sleep and then gently got up out of the bed so as not to disturb her and went to take a shower.
When he came back from the shower he saw that she was still asleep and made a decision to go and question the girlfriend and friend by himself, maybe he'd ask Sweets to sit in, but he was loathe to disturb her sleep when he knew she needed it so much. She might be unhappy with him later, and tell him he should have woken her, but he was going on his instincts on this one and his gut was never wrong.
He wrote her a quick note for when she woke up and left the apartment as quietly as he could willing his mind back onto the case and not back with his sleeping girlfriend. He made a quick call to Cam to let her know that Bones was going to be late back from lunch if she made it back at all and smiled when Cam told him that it was fine and that she was happy he'd been able to get the stubborn anthropologist to rest.
The interview with the girlfriend yielded very little usable clues and it was clear from Samantha's responses that Bones had been right, there was no sexual relationship between Anthony and Samantha. As much as he didn't want to think it, he was beginning to think Anthony's homosexuality could have been a motive in his murder. Sweets had agreed when he went to talk to him about the interview and his suspicions. Sweets had been surprised when Booth had told him that Dr Brennan had come up with the theory that Anthony was gay and possibly in a relationship with Jim Spencer.
He got a text from Bones a little later in the afternoon thanking him for the note and asking him why he hadn't woken her up when he left. He had no idea how to respond without possibly sounding condescending, or overprotective so he didn't respond. He instead immersed himself into the case, doing a little research on Jim Spencer and going back over his thoughts on the interviews he'd conducted, thinking about Brennan's thoughts on Anthony's mum not being happy her son was homosexual. He couldn't shake the thought that there was more to this case than they could see at that point in time and smiled when he got another text from Brennan advising him she was back in the lab examining the bones again.
He texted her back asking her if she could be available for Jim's interview, wondering if she would again be able to see something he didn't when they talked to Anthony's possible lover. She confirmed that she would but asked if he could pick her up as she wanted to leave after the interview to go home for the day. He replied with an okay and got back down to work.
Before long it was time to go pick up Bones, he quickly grabbed her a fruit salad from their favourite coffee stand and headed over to the lab. She met him down at the parking garage and they were headed back to the Hoover building before he knew it. She munched happily on the fruit salad, touched that he'd thought of her and grateful for the food as she hadn't had time to grab something herself.
She wanted to wait until after they'd interviewed Jim Spencer before telling Booth what she'd found in the bones, so she distracted him as much as she could on the drive back to the hoover. They quickly made their way up to the conference room they'd met Anthony's parents in before and saw that Jim was already there waiting for them.
"Jim Spencer, my name is Special Agent Seeley Booth and this is my partner Dr Temperance Brennan, we'd like to ask you a few questions about your friend Anthony Feldman" Booth began watching the young man to see if he gave anything away. Brennan took one look at Jim and knew instantly that he was a homosexual. She'd once done a paper on the way homosexual men moved as opposed to straight men, as part of her degree in kinesiology and that was what had tipped her off with Anthony.
"Before you say anything I did not kill Anthony, I loved him, but I think I know who did" Jim said looking nervously at Booth and Brennan.
Leaving it there as a little bit of a cliffhanger.. so any clues yet as to who you think might have murdered Anthony? I wanted to try my hand at concentrating on a good portion of a case during this chapter so I hope you all liked that. Thank you again for reading :)
