(After "The Change in the Game')
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I don't own Bones.
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While Cam did the autopsy of the victim, Hodgins ran a DNA test to verify that the man lying on the table in the autopsy room was Eric Sanders. Angela was out on maternity leave and he was trying to fill in where he could. He wasn't a computer expert like his wife, but he did know how to run the Angelatron and had used it to run a facial recognition program against a picture he had taken of the victim. Cam had made copies of the victim's fingerprints using four of his fingers. The rest of the fingers were either missing or badly mauled. He had forwarded the prints to the FBI hoping that it was enough.
"According to the facial recognition program, there is an 85% chance this is Eric Sanders." Hodgins carried a folder containing the information he'd collected so far but didn't open it. "The mess the deer hooves made of his face didn't help and neither did the torn scalp, but still 85% is pretty good. The FBI Lab said they should be able to get back to me in about an hour to let me know about the fingerprints . . . then you can call Sheriff White and talk to him about our victim." Hodgins tried to keep the smile off of his face but found it impossible. He'd seen the flirting between the Sheriff and Cam at the crime scene and he had found it both amusing and adorable at the same time. Adorable wasn't a word he normally associated with his boss, but it fit the situation perfectly.
Well aware that Hodgins was teasing her, Cam ignored him and removed the damaged lung from the body. "The antler did tear this lung. I found a broken piece of the antler in his chest cavity. Mr. Sanders died a painful death."
Daisy was standing by waiting for Cam to finish the autopsy so she could take the bones to be cleaned. "Dr. Saroyan, when will you be ready for me to clean the bones?"
Her gaze on the lung lying on the scales beside the autopsy table, Cam noted the damage done to it on a notepad and placed her pencil down. "I should be ready for you to take it in another hour or so. There's been more skin slippage since we brought the body back to the Lab, so you might keep that in mind when you move it."
Not really looking forward to handling the decomposed body, Daisy nodded her head and was relieved that she had an hour reprieve. Like Brennan, Daisy was a bones scientist and flesh and blood wasn't her thing. She cleaned the flesh from the bones because it was required sometimes, but decayed flesh was messy and smelly and not her favorite part of the job although she did find soup bodies to be interesting. "Alright. I'll let Dr. Brennan know and I'm going to continue to work on one of the cases in Bones storage until you're ready."
Once Daisy was gone, Hodgins stayed in the room and watched Cam remove what was left of the liver and weigh it. "I hope he was dead before the animals started eating him."
The comment was grotesque, but Cam knew that Hodgins was compassionate and she knew he hoped that Sanders hadn't suffered further. "Yes, he was dead. I'd say he died shortly after he was attacked. Booth estimated that Sanders crawled about two feet before he stopped moving. I think he died right after that."
"Good." Even though he didn't know Sanders, he was still glad that the man hadn't suffered the horror of being attacked by birds and woodland predators while he was still breathing. "That's good."
"Yes, it is." Cam finished making some notes and sighed. "Seventeen years in prison is a long time, but he did have a chance for parole. Escaping from prison didn't work out like he planned that's for certain."
"Definitely not." After he collected what was left of the clothes that Sanders had been wearing when his body was found, Hodgins checked to make sure they were bagged properly. Even though they probably knew how he had died, he still wanted to check the clothes to make sure they were on the right track. "I'm running the tox screen you asked for. It should be ready in another hour."
Once Hodgins was gone, Cam looked down at the face of the victim. "You made a poor decision on top of many poor decisions." Shaking her head, Cam recorded her notes on her recorder so that a transcript could be created of the autopsy.
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Once the bones were cleaned, Brennan examined them and didn't find anything in the bones that might point to Sanders being killed by anything other than a deer.
Fascinated, Daisy held one of the broken ribs in her hand and rubbed her gloved fingers lightly over the bone. "I know you can be killed by wolves or bears but I never thought about deer. I suppose anything can kill you under the right circumstances."
"I met a rancher once in Argentina who had his left foot amputated as a young man when a bull stepped on it and crushed it. His foot became infected and the local physician had to remove the foot to prevent gangrene from moving further up his leg."
Slowly nodding her head, Daisy placed the rib down on the table and inspected the next rib in line on the table. "I'm glad I don't work on a farm or a ranch . . . I noticed that you had some saltines in your office. Are you alright?"
Startled, Brennan looked up and stared intently at her intern. "What I have in my office is my business Ms. Wick and having saltines in my possession doesn't mean I'm ill. When I want a salty snack, I eat saltines." Annoyed, Brennan realized that she would need to remember to keep her crackers in her desk and out of sight of prying eyes.
Not sure why Brennan was annoyed with her, Daisy shrugged her shoulders. Her mentor tended to be touchy about the oddest things and she knew that. "I was just concerned you weren't feeling well since I usually only eat saltine crackers when I have a stomach virus."
Since further conversation might lead to more questions, Brennan removed her gloves and walked towards the door. "Continue to inspect the bones and let me know if you find anything unusual." Once she was out of the room, she walked down to Cam's office and entered the room. "I have examined the bones of Eric Sanders and I have not found anything that points to another cause of death. It appears that Mr. Sanders was unlucky and a deer did kill him."
"The tox screens came back negative and Hodgins said he didn't find anything on Sanders' clothes that shouldn't be there." Cam turned to look at Brennan and noticed some dark smudges under her eyes. "Are you well?"
Surprised, Brennan folded her arms against her chest. "I'm fine." Not sure why Cam was asking her that, she put it down to Daisy being a gossip and nothing else. She wished her intern wasn't so nosy since it was inconvenient sometimes.
Since Brennan was clearly being defensive Cam decided to end that line of questioning. "I'll let Booth know that Sanders wasn't murdered after he escaped and I'll let Sheriff White know as well."
"Very well." Once she was out of Cam's office, Brennan walked down to her office, entered the room and closed the door behind her. Sitting on the couch, she ate three saltine crackers trying to settle her upset stomach. She had a feeling she was experiencing morning sickness and that meant future trouble for her. If she started to exhibit signs of morning sickness, she knew that Hodgins and Cam would be astute enough to notice. She wanted to wait to announce her pregnancy, but circumstances might force her hand and she found that to be very annoying.
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That evening, Brennan's appetite seemed to be back to normal and she ate a hearty portion of spaghetti with margherita sauce. "I thought I might be experiencing morning sickness this morning, but my stomach is not bothering me this evening so I may have been wrong."
Placing his fork down, Booth sipped some wine and placed the glass down. "Rebecca only had morning sickness in the morning while she was pregnant. Maybe that's what's happening to you."
She considered it for a moment and shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose time will prove whether you're right or wrong . . . Daisy noticed I had a box of saltines in my office and asked me about them. I find her inquisitiveness to be very inconvenient."
"Not to mention she gossips and it might make people start asking you questions." Daisy's habit of not minding her own business annoyed the hell out of Booth. "You may have to break the news about your pregnancy sooner than you want to. You're working with really smart people and they notice things normal people don't."
"That's true, but I will wait as long as possible before I tell them." Brennan was determined to get her way. "I would hate the attention that a pregnancy garners and then lose the fetus."
A shiver running down his spine. Booth placed his hand over her hand. "Hey, don't say stuff like that. Our baby is fine. You're healthy and so is the baby."
She knew that Booth believed in jinxes so decided to stop upsetting him by mentioning it. She believed in being realistic, but sometimes it was better to do that quietly. "I am fine, Booth. Don't worry about that."
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