Disclaimer: I do not own Bones, but I am obsessed!
Author's Note: Happy Bonesday! I am off to watch tonight's episode, but I had to post. There will probably not be another post for a week because I am out of town for a few days. I have had no time to write, and I'll be honest that this week has been a struggle for me to get any posting done. I should have some time next week when I get back to get some writing done, so hopefully I will be back on track soon. Enjoy.
Chapter 11: One Piece At A Time
May 7, 2006 Booth's Apartment
Russ awoke in a small boy's bedroom. Booth had explained that he had a son who was only around every other weekend, if Booth was lucky. Russ nodded his acceptance of the fact and had gratefully sunk into the Spiderman sheets. Both Russ and Booth had tossed and turned for a long time in bed, both thinking about Temperance Brennan. But it had been a long day and soon both men feel into an exhausted sleep. The sun had barely risen when Russ awoke. As he blinked his eyes he noticed a macaroni encrusted frame that held a crayon drawing. Four figures were drawn in the picture, labelled: Parker, Dad, Lucy, and Dr. Bones.
Squinting a little, Russ could see the resemblance of the child's drawing to his sister. He smiled at the picture and made his way out of the bedroom. Russ closed the bedroom at nearly the same instant that Booth exited his own room, freshly showered and straightening his tie. The two men stared awkwardly at one another for a minute before Booth recovered his manners and started to make some breakfast. Russ managed to start the coffee pot as Booth scrambled together some eggs and fried some bacon.
They were silent as they sat down to eat, Russ just mumbled gratefully for the food as Booth acknowledged the hot cup of coffee. It was definitely a strange way to start the day. Russ pushed the eggs around on his plate for a few moments before finally digging in. Booth decided it was time to break the silence.
"So you're a fan of your sister's book? She's working on a sequel. She even let her publicist read it. Apparently, its very good."
Russ raised an eyebrow as he stabbed a bit of eggs onto his fork. "She won't let you read it?"
Booth took a large bite of his last bacon strip. "No. Not till it's published anyway."
Russ chuckled, "Sounds like Tempe."
Booth had finished his breakfast and pushed the plate away. "Why is that? Why do you think
that Bones asked her publicist to you know, to uh, read her book and not me?" Russ shrugged, but a knowing smile graced his face. Booth stammered a bit as he continued. "You know, maybe…maybe because there was just too much of me in the story. Oh, she was embarrassed. You think? May-Maybe?" They were dangerously close to the topic in the car the day before, and while Russ had a pretty good idea of how Booth felt about his sister, he was slightly relieved by the ringing of Booth's cell. As the day before had shown Russ, things were tense between the partners and all members involved in this case were treading lightly.
Booth turned away to answer the phone. He was only on the phone briefly, "Yeah, I'm on my way. Thanks. I'll be there shortly." Booth turned back to Russ. "Uh, the family car just arrived. I need to get a hold of your sister and stop by the office to grab some stuff before we head over to the garage. Do you... do you want to come along?"
Russ hesitated for a moment. The desire to see his sister outweighed his desire to avoid another tense attempt at reconciliation, and Russ shrugged at Booth. "Sure, you mind if I grab a shower first?"
Booth nodded and grabbed a clean towel for Russ. Booth cleaned up the breakfast dishes and was just hanging up with Angela when Russ reemerged from the bathroom. Russ caught the tail end of the conversation, that at some point today he was going to speak to the person on the phone, but didn't get much else out of the conversation.
"So, I'm going to talk to whoever you were talking to?"
"Probably, yeah. Her name is Angela. She's a forensic artist at the lab. She's really talented, she can help us out. She also happens to be your sister's best friend." Russ frowned. "Don't worry. She won't hold that against you, much." Russ nodded. "I already called your sister. She's going to meet us there. She knows you are coming, she doesn't sound too happy about it, but she'll get over it. Let's get out of here."
The men managed to make polite conversation as they drove to the Hoover, this time about hockey play-offs. Booth signed Russ into the building and they stopped briefly into Booth's office. Booth left Russ there and went to seek out Charlie, who had been looking into a few things earlier that morning. Booth returned to his office, his face pale and his expression icy. "So, Kyle Keenan, huh?"
Russ looked up in shock. "How did you find out?"
"Why did you lie to me?"
"I made a promise. It was a secret."
Booth threw the file folder on top of his desk. "And this is the FBI. It is our job to uncover secrets."
"Agent Booth, I'm sorry, but I couldn't tell you, it was to protect Tempe. Please, believe me."
Booth shook his head slightly, frustrated at having been lied to, and realizing that there was more to the story than Russ trying to pull one over on the FBI. He decided to save that line of questioning for later. "Let's just go. We're late to meet your sister." Booth walked out of his office and led Russ on the short trip over to the garage where the family car was being investigated. Booth met with a tech and told him to do the full work up.
Russ walked over to the car, careful not to touch it, but feeling slightly dizzy from another blast from the past. He had first learned to drive on this car, circling around an empty parking lot with his Dad, while his sister sat in the back and tried to give Russ tips on how to place his hands on the steering wheel. He jumped slightly when his sister appeared out of thin air and pointed to the scratched out bumper sticker on the car.
Booth approached the siblings and inserted himself into the conversation, "There was a bloodstain. Front seat. Passenger side." Booth turned his attention to the files in his hand and decided that it was time to get all of his investigation work out into the open. He cleared the entire garage of all other personnel and Brennan eyed him warily.
She shook her head slightly, "Twice in two days."
Booth just nodded and fiddled with some papers, "I had NCIC database check for a married couple who disappeared in 1978. Meet Max and Ruth Keenan."
Brennan and her brother looked at the mugshots that Booth had procured from Charlie. Russ nodded at the pictures, "That's mom and dad alright."
Brennan continued to stare at the photos, taking them in her hand and tracing her finger along the outline of her mother, "The NCIC database? That's ...that's criminals. My parents were on the list of Federal Offenders?"
Russ couldn't help a half-hearted chuckle. "How do you like that? I guess a criminal nature runs in the family." The small smile on his face was banished a second later as his sister snatched another photograph out of Booth's file and waved it in front of his face.
"You were seven years old, Russ. Old enough to remember. What... what is your real name? What is my real name?"
Booth took the photo out of his partner's hand and placed it back in the folder. "Bones, it's right here in the file."
Brennan's eyes flashed sparks as she first stared down her partner and then stared down her brother. "No! No! I want him to tell me! What is my real name, Russ?"
Russ took a deep breath, he had been holding onto this secret for over 25 years, Booth knew the truth of it, and now it was Brennan's turn. "My name was Kyle. Your name was Joy."
The sparks in Brennan's eyes erupted into an explosion as she cried at Russ. "You are not my brother." Her hand reached out and slapped Russ across his face. Russ rubbed his cheek absently as Booth looked on in horror.
"Bones!"
Brennan turned sharply towards her partner, yelling at him and her brother "No! He lied about that! What else are you lying about? What else are you not telling us?" Before anyone could comment, Brennan had stormed out of the garage. The lab techs who had been eavesdropping quickly stepped out of her way and pretended to be interested in the blank walls of the entryway. As soon as the door had slammed behind the scientist, they made awkward eye contact with each other and began filtering back into the garage.
All of the techs carefully avoided looking the two men in the room. Eventually, Booth made his way over to the head technician and quietly asked him to make this case their top priority. The tech mutely agreed and went back to processing the car. The tech watched as Booth led Russ out of the building, filled with pity for the agent who was clearly dealing with the devil by being assigned to Temperance Brennan.
Neither Booth nor Russ felt hungry enough to eat some lunch, and felt too jittery to try and force down another cup of coffee, so they settled for heading back to Booth's office. Booth continued to trace down some leads, while Russ sat, literally twiddling his thumbs. His face still tingled slightly, and he brought his hand up to the pink cheek. "She's been wanting to do that for awhile, hasn't she?"
Booth looked up from his files. "Probably. Just be glad that she didn't kick you. I once had to use some pull to get her off assault charges for that one. And don't get me started on the time that I had to arrest her for assault."
Russ' mouth gaped open. "When was that?"
Booth thought back for a moment. "Our third case. She had just gotten back from a trip to Guatemala and we were investigating the death of a Congressional intern. Your sister figured out who did it and went to confront him. She shot a guy in the leg, but as it turns out he was trying to destroy evidence and set her on fire. So she wasn't convicted."
Booth let his voice trail off, and Russ shook his head in disbelief. "See I'm telling you. The criminal element really does run in the family."
Booth nodded and struck by sudden inspiration found a telephone number and began dialing rapidly. Ten minutes later, Booth had tracked down an original FBI agent that was assigned to Max and Ruth Keenan. Clapping his hands together, Booth wordlessly invited Russ along with him as they once again made their way out the door. It was time to put together yet another piece of the puzzle that was the story of Temperance Brennan.
