11
Angela looked up from her spot on the couch, the TV entrancing her suddenly. There on the trashy gossip show was a giant photo of her father's face followed by the year of his birth and death. Shit. Someone had leaked the story to the press.
Brennan had informed her that due to the sensitive nature of the case and her father's fame they were declining on releasing the details to the press. They feared that it would be more of a hindrance to the investigation. Trying to solve murders was hard enough when there were not reporters crawling all over the steps of the museum. She turned up the volume letting the reporters voice fill the room.
" Sources are being scare about the details surrounding the cause of Gibbons death, but our hearts go out to the guitar genius' family. His only daughter, Angela Montenegro, who could not be reached for questioning, survives Gibbons. This is a truly sad day in the blues world…"
"Oh this is not good." She said reaching for her phone, praying that Booth was not around when she told Brennan the bad news.
*****
Booth was fiddling with the dial on the radio in his SUV, trying to find something up beat. The last thing he wanted to think about was fact that they were going to have to bring back everything Angela had been dealing with. He knew that Brennan would allow him to tell her, sitting beside her as a friend not as an ongoing part of the investigation. She would let him talk in order to be kinder, more discrete with the details. The brilliant woman next to him had never learned the fine art of tact, and while that was one endearing quality in her that he adored, it would not do them any good at this point.
" And in other new ZZ-top Guitarist, Billy Gibbons, was found dead almost two weeks ago. Local authorities are declining to release any information on the details surrounding his death or the finding of his autopsy. We send our wishes to his family and fans, this is a sad loss for blues world."
Booth's hand froze, his eyes darting to the radio and then back to the road in a matter of seconds. Shit. Someone had leaked. He had worked very hard to keep the identity of Angela's father a secret, wanting to solve the case before the media frenzy broke loose.
"Booth, no one is supposed to know about this." Brennan's voice pulled him to reality, her face tinted with panic.
"No really?" He snapped, instantly regretting his biting tone.
"There is no need to take this out on me. I feel the best course of action would be to figure out where we go from here?" She responded to him with narrowing eyes.
"I'm sorry, I did not mean to snap at you." The shrill ringing of his wife's blackberry, causing them both to jump just a little, suddenly drowned Booth's voice out.
"Brennan." She held the phone to her ear, the color on her face paling even more. "We know, it was on a local radio station. Yes. I know. All right, we are actually on our way to the house. I would say twenty minutes. Alright."
Taking the device out from under her hair she hung up, directing her deep blue eyes to Booth. He could tell from the way they seemed to shift colors that she was not happy.
"Who was that?"
"Angela, She was watching television with the boys and they had an announcement fairly close to the one we just heard. They even mentioned her name as the surviving family."
"Oh for fucks sake," Booth almost never swore since having Michael, and he had not dropped the f-bomb in even longer than that, but this was not going to help the case at all.
"What do we do?" there was no alarm in her voice at his out burst, just the calm clinical subjectivity that she reserved for the lab.
"Damage control I suppose. We should wait to tell Angela about anything else that we have found or will find. The less she know the better at this point, and also she cannot go home. The press will be all over her, trying to know what she knows."
"She can stay with us, I assumed she would till this was solved anyway." Brennan responded, turning to look out the window.
"We need to keep the fact that she is there a secret. You are to high profile as well, this is going to be tough." Booth reached out and placed a hand over her thigh, trying to re-assure her. Her only response was to pick up the blackberry and hit several buttons before placing it to her ear again and waiting.
"Who are you calling?" He asked, a puzzled look crossing his features.
" Cam," She said quietly. Booth re-focused his attention to the road while she waited.
"Dr. Saroyan," Cam's voice picked up on the second ring.
"Cam, it's Brennan. Someone leaked Angela's father's identity to the press. It is all over the news."
"What the… Who knows about this?" Cam's voice raised an octave in her ear.
"The leak? Booth, myself and Angela."
" Who knows about the identity in the first place?"
" The lab, Booth and Perotta, also Cullen would know because of the reports. As far as I know that is everyone, security clearance on this was key to keep it out of the press."
"Clearly that did a lot of good."
"That is not the issue anymore. Now we have to keep as many details as possible out of the press."
"What do you want to do about this?" Cam asked, trying to get some grounding with Brennan.
"Booth said that Angela can not go home, we have to keep her out of the press' eye until the case is resolved." A beep clicked in cutting through Brennan's response. "Hold on Angela is calling me again."
She clicked over, waiting for the other line to come through.
" Bren, we have a larger problem." Angela sounded rushed, her voice was breathy and the faint sound of the boys talking loudly appeared in the background.
"What is the matter?" She glanced at Booth who had remained silent the whole time, but was working on intently trying to split his focus from her to the road in a safe manner.
"There are about a dozen reporters outside the house, several of which followed Parker home from the bus." Brennan shook her head and covered the receiver, looking at Booth.
"Several reporters followed Parker home from the bus, Angela said that they are waiting outside the house." She whispered.
"What!" Booth was frantic, they were only about ten minutes away from the chaos at their doorstep and he had no clue what to do.
" Angela we will be there in a few minutes, keep the boys upstairs and away from the windows. I have Cam on the other line." Brennan looked stressed as she clicked over, thinking how the minutes had felt like seconds.
Finishing with Cam, they were already able to see the media frenzy in front of their large home. She was not used to such a large ordeal, shying from the public herself, staying in the safety of her lab and her home. Flashes of light went off, people stormed the door and crowded the driveway, only turning when Booth guided the large SUV down the winding drive.
"Get out of my way!" He yelled at mob through window. His annoyance was growing by the second and he could tell that Brennan was also uncomfortable. He was able to control his temper, using his sniper training to ease his mood, but at some point he would find out who had started all this, and they would pay.
" Just park here, we have to walk through them since they are blocking the garage." Brennan pointed to the mass surrounding the car.
"So help me I will shoot anyone that does not let me through." He said turning to look at her. She was reaching for the handle when he reached out to stay her hand. "We go together, you go first and I will follow. Do not say anything to anyone."
His gaze was serious and his eyes held the fire behind his temper as she nodded. Waiting for his cue before opening her door and making her break for it. Booth was there in an instant, leading her smaller body through the crowd, his broad shoulders taking the brunt of the arms reaching out to them. Time seemed to crawl as they made their way to the stoop, avoiding the flashes and the questions.
Then just as quickly as the whirlwind started, it stopped. The couple stood in the entryway, closing the door on the masses and turning to each other with a sigh. Booth looked angrier than she had seen him in a very long time, the flecks of red and gold creeping up around his chocolate irises.
"I'm calling the Bureau." Booth said before storming off, leaving her to go see what type of damage waited upstairs.
Tired and defeated Brennan climbed the large floating stairwell, making her way to her own bedroom. Her shoulders ached with new tension, the relief form her afternoon delight faded into the distance. This was not something she missed, the stress of finding the answers on a deadline. It was consuming and nerve wracking whenever it became to personal, and this was far to close for comfort.
Angela was sitting on the bed with Michael watching TV and looking overly agitated when Brennan opened the door. She looked up, the stress on her face easing a little when she saw her best friend.
"Hey." Her voice sounded strained as she tried to fake her calm.
"Are you alright?" Brennan knew that she wasn't, she had not been all right since any of this started and it was hard to watch someone else go through that pain. It was still buried deep within her, but she still know the great loss that Angela was faced with. If there was one thing that could come out of all of this she hoped it was that Ange would at least have a sense of closure that she never had.
"I'll live, I'm more worried about Parker. They pestered him all the way home from the bus stop and he was not happy about it." Angela shifted Michael in her lap as the toddler reached out towards Brennan.
"Booth is very angry about it. He is on the phone with Cullen now trying to get us some FBI surveillance to keep the reporters at bay and to escort Parker till this mess is all sorted out." She sat next to her friend, taking her son and hugging him tightly. Michael nestled his little head on her shoulder and sighed with contentment. At least one of them was at peace for the time being.
"Good, I can not even believe this, I mean who would violate protocol like that? They certainly do not deserve to work on cases."
"I have no Idea, Cam is working on a list of people who had access to the information." Neither woman said anything after that, the comfort of each other's company was enough to fill the empty silence they shared.