(Stargazer in a Puddle)
This story is being told from Booth's point of view.
I don't own Bones.
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Some cases are worse than others. I really hate cases with children who've been murdered. I always end of thinking about Parker and whether I do enough to make sure he's protected.
The cops found a body in an abandoned warehouse. The body had been in water for a long time and it was in pretty bad shape. They called the Jeffersonian for help so that's how Bones and I got involved. We drove over to the warehouse to have a look. That warehouse had a problem with the roof and I guess the rain poured in every time it rained. The basement was flooded.
I had talked to Angela that morning and she told me that Hodgins had asked her to marry her twice and she turned him down both times. Hodgins told her he wasn't going to ask her anymore. Then he did something squinty and they ended up engaged. I was kidding with Bones about it and I tricked her into saying "I'd like to marry you." I told her that it was sudden or something like that and she thought I was being serious. She didn't realize I was joking. I need to work on my jokes. She tried to say that it was something I wanted to hear. She hates psychology except when it's convenient for her. Like I said I need to work on my joke delivery.
That warehouse was very wet. I should have worn boots. There was water everywhere.
We met up with a D.C. cop and he told us that while a suspect was being chased, the guy threw a knife into the basement. They caught the guy; but, they needed the knife he threw so they brought in some pumps and pumped out the water in the basement. They started finding a lot of stuff like guns, knives and a body in a shopping cart. It looked like a little kid to me. Bones said the kid was a girl and it looked like she'd been shot. I called in the FBI squints to go over the place and see if they could find bullet fragments.
Bones found a small rock in the girl's hand. It had "I love you" painted on it.
Bones wanted to show me something so I went over to the Lab. She had done an x-ray of the victim and it showed arthritis in her neck. Bones said it was because the victim looked up a lot. While I was talking to her Max showed up at her office to see her. To say I was shocked is an understatement. Bones made it tough for me. I asked her to get the cuffs out of my back pocket while I held a gun on Max; but, she refused to do it. For months she had been telling me that she was ok with me arresting him and then the minute I get a chance to do it she gets freaky about it. I know he saved my life when Gallagher tried to kill me; but, that didn't matter. Max was a wanted felon and I was doing my job.
Max had heard a rumor that Bones was getting married and so he turned himself in. Too bad it's Angela getting married. He screwed that up.
After I hauled his ass over to the Hoover, I let Caroline know that I had Max Keenan. I put him in one of the interrogation rooms and waited for her to do what she had to do. Unfortunately when she came to see me she had bad news for me. We couldn't prove that Max was Max Keenan. He had set himself up as Art McCgregor in around 1984 and his paper work was good. He had tax records, a driver's license and he was a member of the electricians union. All of the paper work backed him up as an electrician from Oregon and not Max Keenan from Ohio.
I went and talked to Max; but, he was pretty smug. He had been drinking from a glass and I thought that I could use his finger prints to prove who he was; but, he didn't seem concerned. He tried to be chummy with me. He actually wanted to shake my hand. I reminded him that he had abandoned Bones when she was a kid. I had no intention of shaking the old bastard's hand. He hurt Bones pretty bad and even if Bones wanted to forgive him; I don't. He thought I was being snotty to get him to hit me so I could hold him. I wouldn't have minded taking the hit if that would have worked; but, I didn't act snarky with him for that reason. I really hate the way he hurt Bones. She didn't deserve it. She ended up in Foster Care and that really messed with her. She's been on her own since she was fifteen years old. It was Max's fault and I won't forget that and I won't forgive it either.
I had to let him go. I didn't have a legal reason to hold him.
Caroline had the FBI do a check on the fingerprints on Max's glass and didn't come up with a match in our database. All of Max Keenan's data had been wiped from our system. It looks like Deputy Director Kirby wiped Max from the system. He probably did it so that when he killed Max there wouldn't be anything to trace Max back to him. Unfortunately for Kirby, Max killed him and it looked like Kirby helped him get away with it. Caroline was worried that I may have had second thoughts about going after Max because of Bones. I told her that Bones understood that I had to do what was right; but, Caroline wasn't so sure. She said she would compel Max to give us a DNA sample and I had to find something to match it up with.
Angela worked up a sketch of the victim and got a hit on the NCIC database. The child turned out to be a 22 year old girl named Chelsea Cole. Bones said she had an aging disease that made her look old before her time. At the same time she was just really a kid, she never entered puberty.
Bones and I went over to Chelsea's mother's house to talk to her. We talked to Cynthia Cole and told her that we found Chelsea. We told her that her daughter was found in a shopping cart. She guessed it was a Tuft's grocery cart. She said that was Chelsea's favorite store. There were a bunch of pictures on the wall of stars and the sky. Cynthia said that Chelsea drew them. They looked like kids drawings to me. Bones said that Chelsea had some condition which aged her; but, not necessarily mentally. Cynthia said that Chelsea thought the stars were a message from heaven. I mentioned that when Chelsea had disappeared, Cynthia had put the police onto some guy named Joe Mellon. He was a care giver that Cynthia used while she attended Community College. She said that Joe had given Chelsea a bath and she had filed a complaint against him with child services. Bones caught on that the investigation ended when Chelsea disappeared.
I had Joe Mellon come in for an interview. Joe denied that he did anything wrong and that Child Services reassigned him because of it. He said that Chelsea was mentally six years old. He said she got jam on her hands and clothes and freaked out. He said he ran the bath for her and stood outside the door while she bathed. He had her talk to him the whole time. He said she used her Mom's shampoo and got some in her eyes. He went in and rinsed her eyes and then left the room so she could finish and then get dressed. He said he told that to Cynthia; but, she wouldn't listen to him. He told me that he thought Cynthia made a big deal out of it because he had talked to her about institutionalizing her daughter and he didn't think she took that well. I asked him to look me in the eyes and tell me he didn't touch that little girl. He told me he took the soap out of her eyes and wrapped her in a towel and that was all. I believed him.
I got a warrant to compel Max to give me a DNA sample. I don't think Bones was happy with me.
Zach looked at Chelsea's body again and he figured out that she wasn't shot after all. The hole that Bones had found in Chelsea's head was caused by a drill. We went back to talk to Cynthia and she told Bones and me that Chelsea had brain surgery when she was three years old. I asked her why Chelsea had to have brain surgery and Cynthia went on the defensive. She wanted to know why I wanted to know. That sent up a flag as far as I was concerned. Bones told her that head injuries were common amongst abused children. She told us that she needed to go take her meds, which was a stalling tactic and sent up another flag. She then told us that Chelsea fell out of bed and hurt her head when she was three. She then wanted to know if Joe Mellon had complained about her grabbing Chelsea once. Another flag. I didn't like what I was hearing. I had my suspicions; but, so far that was all I had.
Hodgins called me and asked me to be his best man. That was a shock. I didn't know that he considered me to be a friend like that. I worried that I didn't have time to put together a bachelor party; but, he didn't want one. He told me he just needed me to stand with him at the ceremony, make a toast, give him the ring and tongue kiss the maid of honor. That was pretty funny. Bones heard me talking to Hodgins and she mentioned that she was the maid of honor. Wow, that put the brakes on that little fantasy. I asked Hodgins if he wanted me to contact Angela's father and that was when I found out that he had forgot him. I decided to let him handle that part.
Bones told me that Cynthia had HIV or Aids. She said she recognized the meds that Cynthia was taking.
We were sitting at the Diner having coffee when Bones asked me if I loved my father. I lied and told her I did. Well maybe it isn't a lie. Maybe I love him and hate him at the same time. You're supposed to love you father. I don't think I do; but, Bones has enough to worry about. Why confuse her? She said that she thought she loved Max; but, she worried about that because he was a robber and a murderer, plus he abandoned his kids and caused his wife to get killed. That's a lot to overlook and she worried about it. She was confused and she doesn't really want to love him. She wanted to know if that made her a bad person. I told her the truth. She isn't a bad anything. She isn't either. She cares about her friends and she's very loyal. She's a good sister to Russ and even though Max is a rotten father, Bones wants to try to love him anyways. I think she's wonderful for even trying.
Hodgins wanted Bones and me to come into the Lab, he had figured out whom and what killed Chelsea. He used sea chimps in an experiment. I hate it when he tells me stuff like that. I actually had sea chimps when I was a kid. He said they will eat decomposing human flesh. Hodgins had found sea chimps under Chelsea's body and so he checked them for poison and found out that they had died from an overdose of Aids medicine. That means that's what Chelsea died from. That told us that Cynthia had killed her daughter.
Bones and I went over to Cynthia Cole's home and confronted her. I brought Chelsea's rock with me. Cynthia had the nerve to tell me that she loved her daughter very much. I told her that I didn't believe her. I was pissed. As far as I was concerned the child was six and she trusted her Mom. I told Cynthia that and that we knew that she killed Chelsea. I arrested her for the murder of her daughter.
Charlie found out that Max robbed a Piggly Wiggly in 1978 and the clerk hit Max on the head with a bat. Max used some napkins to stop the bleeding and didn't take the napkins with him when he left the store. The state police still had the napkins so I had the DNA I needed to match what I took from him. I was worried how this was going to affect Bones. Cam did the test for me and I had a match. I guess I was hoping that it wouldn't match because I had to arrest Bones' father again and this time I'd be able to hold him.
I tracked Max down to a parking lot that was near his hotel. I tried to arrest him peacefully. He even told me he wouldn't resist; but, then he changed his mind. I threatened him with my gun; but, he didn't give a damn. He actually wanted me to shoot him in his leg. If I had done that, I'm pretty sure that would have been the end of my friendship with Bones so there was no way I was going to shoot the bastard. I decided to just punch him out and then arrest him. He hits pretty good for someone his age. I finally knocked him down and he said he gave up. I bent over him to help him up and he punched me in my groin. Damn that hurt. If I could have strangled him I would have. We both lay on the ground for awhile and when I could I got up and pulled him up off the ground. I should have shot the bastard between the eyes.
Hodgins and Angela's wedding day came. That didn't turn out like it should. Bones was nervous; but, she sure looked beautiful.
Before the wedding, Zach wanted to talk to me. Zach wanted to know if I'd been to Iraq and if I had got shot there. He wasn't making any sense to me and he was asking me personal stuff that I didn't think was any of his business.
The wedding was getting ready to start so I walked Bone down the aisle. She sure looked beautiful. I wanted to apologize to her for arresting her father; but, she told me I had to do what I had to do. I couldn't get a feel about it though. I told her that Max could have got away. I wanted to her understand that Max could have abandoned her again and he chose not to do it. She was so happy to hear that. She hugged me. I mean she really hugged me. It wasn't a guy hug either. She was so happy and that made me happy.
The wedding started and some guy from the State Department showed up and stopped the wedding. Since Hodgins and Angela work for the Jeffersonian and the Jeffersonian has a contract with the FBI, the State Dept. keeps tabs. I guess Angela has a husband somewhere so getting married to Hodgins was a no go.
While Angela, Hodgins, Caroline and the guy tried to work it out, Zach wanted to talk to me again. He wanted to know if he should duck if he's shot at. I still didn't know what the Hell he was talking about so he gave me a letter to read. He said to read it after the wedding and it would explain everything. He said I knew more about duty and honor that anyone he knows. Wow.
The wedding was a bust. Hodgins and Angela took off; but, since the reception was paid for everyone went to it. It was very nice and I managed to dance a few dances with Bones. She's a pretty good dancer.
Caroline thought it had been funny that Bones and I had been left at the alter when Hodgins and Angela bugged out. She kept laughing about it during the party. Bones wasn't amused and neither was I.
That letter that Zach gave me was from the office of the President of the United States. I guess they're looking for anthropologists to go to Iraq to identify bodies. I don't think Zach is a good fit for the Army; but, it's his life and he has to do what he thinks is right for himself. He's a man; so, who am I to tell him not to go?
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C. B.H. - I'm with Dad, I really hate it when children are murdered. So many couples are out there that can't have children and then you have parents who can't throw their children away fast enough. It makes me sick to think about it.
Michael H – I know about this almost wedding. Mom thinks it's funny every time she tells it. Dad, not so much.
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Reviews would let me know if your still interested in this story. Thanks.
Ok, I am going to be taking a break from this story for a little while. This story turned out to be a lot of work and I fell behind with my other stories. I think the end of season 2 would be a good resting place. I will start with season 3 in a few weeks. Thanks for your patience. I really appreciate it.