Author's Note: Sorry for the delay. I've been dealing with some stuff. Still am. But yeah. I think I'm a little better. Anyway, hope you like. And if any of my readers knows about 1960s forensic science, your help would be greatly appreciated for the future.

Chapter 51: Birth

"I don't think jail will really be a problem for you," Peter heard Booth say from the top of the stairs. He and Davy had gone in the room to give Sarah the medicine but Peter found it hard to really look at her like that, so he'd excused himself and allowed Davy and the doctor to help Rose treat Sarah. He was now sitting on the top stair holding baby Emmett and listening to the conversation below him. Even though he knew it was rude. Peter's stomach dropped at the thought of Mike and Micky going to jail over this, but couldn't bring himself to say anything. "If what you say turns out to be true, the DA will more than likely not prosecute. But if you did anything illegal of your own will and without coercion, you will be prosecuted."

"Fine," Micky said. "We'll deal with that later. For now, how about you tell us what you think you know about Chucky's death and we'll fill in the blanks."

"How do I know you'll tell me the truth?" Booth asked.

"Because if you're any good at your job, what we tell you will make sense," Mike said. "It'll be hard to believe, but if you suspend your disbelief long enough to analyze it, it'll make sense."

"Ok," Booth said after a moment. "Mostly, it's my gut. He was killed in a gang shootout by accidental friendly fire. Every gang member insisted Chucky was still alive by the time all the shooting stopped. Yes, they lie, but I believed them. When I talked to his family, no one seemed to grieve him."

"No surprise there," Micky mumbled.

"I found out Chucky was upset over Heather's choice of profession," Booth continued. "He tried to get her to stop. That was her motive. Then I found out she was sleeping with his partner secretly and broke up with him a week after the shooting. That is means and the shootout was opportunity. I just can't prove it."

"Well, you're right about the means and opportunity," Micky said, "but the motive is off."

"How?" Booth asked. "She didn't want him controlling her life or butting in anymore."

"That's a small piece of it," Micky said. "But...did you find anything off about Chucky when you were investigating?"

"I think he was having an affair," Booth sighed. "I thought that was part of the motive."

"What made you think that?" Mike asked.

"I found a few pictures of Chucky with another woman," Booth said. "They were hidden in a false bottom in his desk drawer."

"She didn't look distressed?" Mike asked in disbelief.

"That's not all that surprising," Micky said. "He preferred his girls drugged."

"What?" Booth asked confused.

"Were you able to identify the woman in the picture?" Micky asked.

"No," Booth said. "Do you know who she is?"

"What do you know about Chucky?" Micky asked.

"Not much," Booth answered. "I met him once, but it was only briefly. Most of what I know about him came from my investigation."

"He's a very bad man," Micky said. "The girl in that picture is probably either a runaway or someone else who won't be missed. Either that, or she was kidnapped at a very young age."

"What?" Booth asked.

"Chucky is a pedophile," Micky said. "He kidnaps children. Mostly girls, but sometimes boys, and drugs and rapes them. He makes them perform for the camera and then sells the pictures. Sometimes he even sells out the kids."

"You're kidding, right?" Booth asked.

"Does he look like he's kidding?" Mike asked.

"Chucky was a great agent," Booth said. "He closed hundreds of cases, sometimes even cases that no one else could crack. He was a war hero."

"Have you never seen a corrupt cop?" Mike asked. "A judge who takes bribes? A soldier go bad? These things happen. Some people are bad; that's just what it boils down to. Profession doesn't matter. In fact, some people choose their profession to cover their corruption. Who would suspect a war hero and federal agent of pedophilia? You don't."

"I…" Booth muttered and trailed off. "No, I don't believe it."

"Have you ever investigated the number of people that went missing in California in the past 40 years?" Micky asked.

"Not really," Booth said. "I never needed to."

"Look into it," Micky said. "Tell me what you find. Then look into the disappearances in DC before and after Chucky got there."

"That's gonna tell me whether or not you're lying to me?" Booth asked.

"That'll tell you whether or not what we're telling you makes sense," Mike said. "We told you if you were any good at what you do, you'll realize that what we tell you fits. Then you can make the decision of whether or not to trust us." Behind him, Peter heard Sarah scream again and Davy tumbled out of the room.

"Micky!" Davy yelled. "The baby's coming!"

"Go," Booth said. "I'll wait down here. Process all this." Peter stood up and moved aside long enough to let Micky and Mike run by him into the room. He walked down the stairs still holding Emmett in his arms and looked at the agent.

"I know everything they said to you is hard to believe, but you have to," Peter tried. "Micky is covered in scars and wounds just from his time in the hospital and despite everything they put him through, he's willing to go back if it means saving us. How does any of that make him a bad person?"

"I don't know," Booth said.

"Mike's done all this to protect his son," Peter said looking down at Emmett. "He'd give his life for his son. I didn't know much about evil people before. I've dealt with a few bad people, but none like these people. The people that hurt him are pure evil. All you have to do is look at Micky's wounds to see what they did to him. What they'll do if he goes back there. We could have escaped sooner and Micky wouldn't have gone through everything he did, but we wouldn't have been able to save Mike's son. That's not evil. That's the opposite."

"What wounds?" Booth asked. "He didn't show me anything."

"You didn't ask," Mike said coming out of the room.

"Is Sarah ok?" Peter asked.

"She's still bleeding, but Rose thinks she'll be fine now that she has the medicine she needs," Mike answered reaching for his son.

"This is your son?" Booth asked Mike nodding at Emmett. "The baby you kidnapped is your son?"

"Yes," Mike answered taking Emmett from Peter. "I couldn't leave him with her."

"Who?" Booth asked

"His mother," Mike answered. "The woman you admit to believe to be a killer. Heather."

"Heather is this child's mother?" Booth asked looking a little dismayed.

"Now you know why I had to take him," Mike said. "I couldn't let her raise him."

"I need to talk to you," the doctor said as she, Davy and Willow emerged from the room as well.

"Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of us," Mike said when she appeared to want to talk to Booth in private.

"Go ahead, Dr. Brenden," Booth said.

"I looked at the girl," Dr. Brenden answered. "She bears a lot of signs of long term physical and sexual abuse."

"What do you mean?" Booth asked.

"She's got a lot of scarring on her," Dr. Brenden answered. "More than I've ever seen and I've seen a lot of abused and battered women in my research and career. Some of them are years old and layered. I'd say she has been abused since she was a very young teenager."

"14," Mike answered.

"She was kidnapped at 14?" Booth asked.

"Not really," Mike answered. "Her parents sold her to Chucky when she was 14."

"And she's been assaulted ever since?" Booth asked. "That's why you got involved in all this? Because of her? She escaped?"

"Yes and no," Mike answered. "This is all happening because she escaped the hospital, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't save her again if I had to do it all over. But there's more to it than that. But again, we can't tell you more until we know you trust us. We won't answer any more questions or tell you anything until we know you'll keep our friends safe."

"Fine," Booth said after a moment glancing at Dr. Brenden for confirmation. Peter could tell she believed them after seeing Sarah in the condition she was in. "But we'll be back in the morning. If you leave…"

"They won't leave," Dr. Brenden said. "They can't. Not with her in that condition."

"Then we'll be back in the morning," Booth said as the two of them turned to leave. Peter watched them walk out the door and felt at ease. Maybe Mike and Micky weren't sure if they could trust these people, but Peter felt he could. He knew Booth didn't yet, but when he found the evidence, he would come around. Dr. Brenden saw first hand the scars on Sarah and trusted their story completely.


Micky sat on the edge of the bed next to Sarah terrified out of his mind. Sarah had been in labor for several hours now, and the baby had finally started coming out. Sarah was only half conscious after Rose had given her the medications, but still had no idea who he was and kept insisting that he leave and not hurt her baby. Micky didn't know how to convince her that he wasn't about to hurt her or the baby.

"Just breath, Sarah," Rose said. "Almost done."

"You're doing good, sweetie," Micky said brushing her hair away from her face. "Just a little longer." Rose coaxed Sarah a little longer until she was finally able to ease the baby out all the way. Micky watched as Rose carefully took the baby in her arms and started cleaning it. Micky waited for the sound of the baby to cry showing the baby was alive, but the entire room was silent. The silence killed him. Minutes felt like eternity to him. Rose turned away from him after a minute and he felt despair fill him. This couldn't be happening. He couldn't be losing his baby after everything. It wasn't fair. The universe owed him. How could it take this away from him now? "This isn't fair."

"Come on," Rose said softly trying to coax the baby to cry. But it should have already cried. Something was terribly wrong. So when he finally heard the crying, he wasn't even sure he was hearing it; he thought it he was imagining it. It finally clicked in his mind when he looked up and saw the relief and smile on Rose's face.

"My baby's ok?" Micky asked.

"She's fine," Rose answered. "Just took her a bit to respond. She's a little tiny, but she might grow into herself."

"I don't care if she's three feet tall when she grows up," Micky said laughing with relief. "I just want her to be healthy. What about Sarah?"

"Take her and I'll look," Rose said. "I don't see a lot of bleeding, but I wanna double check."

"Hi, baby," Micky said taking his daughter in his arms. He looked down at her and smiled as he finished cleaning her. She couldn't smile or open her eyes yet, but she was beautiful to him. "You're my little miracle. You've already shown how strong you are in your first few minutes. Don't worry, sweetie, mommy's strong too. She'll be just fine." Micky held the little girl in his arms for a while. He didn't really feel tired, but he closed his eyes anyway after a while. When he opened his eyes, his baby was gone. He panicked for a moment, but Rose shushed him.

"Baby's fine," Rose said softly. "You fell asleep so I put her in the other crib."

"Oh," Micky said relaxing as he glanced over at the crib. "Thanks. I didn't even realize I was tired."

"You've been through a lot," Rose said.

"How's Sarah?" Micky asked.

"She woke up once," Rose answered. "She seems just fine. She knew who I was and I explained what happened. She fell right back asleep after that. But she smiled."

"Good," Micky said. "And the bleeding?"

"Stopped," Rose answered. "It's gonna be ok, Micky. You deserve it."

"Thank you, Rose," Micky smiled. He heard the faint sound of a knock on the door downstairs and started to panic again.

"It's probably that agent and doctor," Rose said. "Mike told me last night they'd be back this morning."

"It's morning?" Micky asked.

"Yes," Rose laughed. "Davy made breakfast an hour ago, but we decided to let you sleep."

"Thanks," Micky said.

"Why don't you go down there," Rose said. Micky glanced at the baby in the crib and Sarah in the bed. Rose walked over and put her hand softly on his arm. "Go. Take care of this. I'll watch over them. You know I will."

"I know," Micky said. He leaned forward enough to place a tender kiss on her forehead. "I don't know what I'd do without you. Thank you so much for everything you've done."

"You're welcome," Rose said. "I love you too. You're my baby brother and I don't know what I'd do without you either. Now go downstairs and deal with this."