From the Woman at the Airport.

Brennan's point of view:

I pick up the skull again, turning it over in my hands, running my gloved fingers across it as I stare into its vacant eye sockets. "Who are you?" I whisper, "and why did you do this to yourself?" Everything that we could use to identify this woman...everything that made her face uniquely beautiful, has been chiseled or carved away by some barbaric plastic surgeon who couldn't or wouldn't say no to her request for more surgeries.

I placed the skull under the magnifier, hoping to find even the smallest trace of a substance that will give me a clue to her identity. "Why did you hate yourself so much?" Again I ask a question for which there is no answer, but I do know, without a doubt, that she must have hated herself. To do this much damage to the underlying architecture of her skull...to try to change the bone structure wrought by millions of years of inherited genetic traits is simply unimaginable to me. In trying to look beautiful, she changed herself so much that she made herself forgettable. She was trying to be a movie star in the land of movie stars, but instead of being able to stand out in the crowd, she became part of the crowd. Booth says that Hollywood is a hard place to make a living as an actor, because everyone is so beautiful. I guess she was just trying to compete with everyone else, but she turned herself into someone who looked just like everyone else instead.

"I know you were young...even with all the surgeries you've had, I can tell by your skull sutures. You must have been in a lot of pain…" A lot of pain physically, because these surgeries were so close together in time. She barely had time to heal before she undertook another change….and a lot of pain emotionally as well. All of these surgeries amount to a type of self harm. Perhaps she thought she could gain happiness by changing what she looked like...maybe if she looked different, she might feel different, but it seems she was not successful in achieving happiness.

Now, all I have left to work with after all of the surgeries have been done is an anonymous skull that has been reshaped into blandness. No one deserves to be forgotten. This woman needs closure, as does her family. She once had a family that cared for her, and they might not even know she's missing...or that she's dead. Even if they're looking for her, they might not be able to find her, because they don't know what she looked like before she died.

I know what it's like to be anonymous...ignored...to have no one care if you're missing or even if you're alive. I also know what it's like to have a missing family member...to not know whether or not a family member is alive or dead. I can't quit searching for an answer until I find the truth for this woman. I know that perhaps this woman did a lot of things in her life that people didn't approve of, but she deserves to keep her identity. She deserves to get her name back. She deserves to have people know that she once lived, and I can't give up in my quest to give that back to her, no matter how long it takes.

Oooooooooo

Booth's point of view:

I stood in the doorway of the lab, watching my partner as she studied the skull she held in her hands. She was whispering to it softly as her gentle fingers worked their way across the bone. It's fascinating to watch her. I have no idea what she saw, but I could tell by the frown on her face she wasn't happy about it.

She said that the plastic surgeons who did this to our victim are butchers, but I think that's extreme. Brennan is a beautiful woman. She's been blessed by nature and genetics. Not all of us are so lucky, and the people who want to be movie stars...they have to be exceptionally beautiful. A lot of people are desperate for that kind of success, and they'll do whatever they need to do to achieve it. Of course, bones mean a lot to my partner Bones, and the idea that people would just want to tear a skull apart and start over is almost more than her genius brain can fathom.

I cleared my throat a bit so I wouldn't startle her. "Hey, Bones...I know you don't want to give up on this case, but Cullen says he thinks it's a lost cause. He wants us to turn the bones back over to the LA field office and come home. We've got nothing else to go on, and I don't know what else to do…" And you know what? She said no, she wasn't leaving….that I could go on home, but she would stay and make her own arrangements to get home. She wanted to find out who that woman used to be.

Now, I gotta tell ya...there are times when her stubbornness can drive me up a wall. I mean, she can be so pigheaded about the most asinine things, but this was different. This time, she was looking out for the rights of our victim, and nothing was gonna change her mind. She told me that she knows what it's like to be ignored and forgotten, and that nobody deserves that...and she's right. "Now I know why you hate anonymous death so much.", I said. "I'll call Cullen. Maybe we can scrounge up a few more leads. There may be a few more people to talk to...places to look…"

Bones gave me a shy grin of thanks. "I don't want you to get in trouble…", she starts. "I want to see if Zack and Hodgins can help me figure out what kind of tool made this cut on her mandible. Maybe we can track down the surgeon."

I guess there's a chance that I might get scolded for staying a few days longer after we've been recalled, but I also know, deep down inside, that even if I get in trouble with Cullen, it'll be worth it as long as me and Bones can give that poor woman her identity back.

It's our job. That's what we do.