(After season 12)
I don't own Bones.
Ooooooooooooooooo
Looking for something to read, Hodgins had stopped at 'Alexander's Used Book Shop' and looked through the mystery section for something new to read. As a rule, he tried to read a wide variety of subjects and didn't mind reading murder mysteries when the mood hit him. Spying a book by a new author, he pulled it from the shelf. "Hm, 'Never threaten a Weasel', that's a weird title." Flipping through the book, he found it interesting and bought it.
A week later, when he had some free time, he began to read the book and found it as interesting as it first looked but somehow it seemed familiar. The more he read, the more he felt like he'd read this story before. Since the author was new and only had one book published, Hodgins knew he hadn't read the book before and yet the story seemed so familiar.
When he'd read about a quarter of the book, he realized why it sounded so familiar. "Shit, this is not good." Rolling his wheelchair over to his bookshelves, Hodgins removed the book, 'Red Tape, White Bones' from the middle of one of his shelfs and quickly flipped through the pages. "Oh God, I can't believe this is happening." Carrying the book over to the coffee table, he opened the book he had stopped reading and started to compare the writing in each book. "Shit, she's going to . . . Oh God, not that part too!"
After he closed both books, Hodgins carefully placed them on the coffee table, stared at them and wondered if he should say something. "If she doesn't know she'll be okay . . . On the other hand, what if Booth finds out and he shows it to her? She'd want to know, of course she would . . ."
"She'd want to know what? Who is she?" Angela had entered the room carrying a glass of iced tea for both her and Hodgins and found her husband staring at two books on the coffee table, talking to himself. "What's wrong?"
"Babe, what if I found out something and that something could cause a lot of trouble . . . not for you or me but someone else . . . but me keeping quiet might not be a good idea because sooner or later that someone else is going to discover that something on their own and when they do they might make a big deal out of it and if they tell someone like Booth he'll go ballistic . . . I don't want to cause problems, but well . . . um, what do you think?"
Confused, Angela placed the glasses on the table and sat down. "What the hell are you talking about? What is the something? Why is this something a big deal? Who are we talking about Booth or Brennan or both?"
Rubbing his chin, Hodgins felt that he had no choice but to tell his wife. "Okay, it's like this. I bought this book." He handed it to Angela and grunted. "I started reading it and it looked like something I'd read before. But it can't be because this author is new and it's his first book. Um, I don't know how he got away with it. I mean, no legitimate publisher would ever publish this book, but someone has and . . . um . . . this book is almost identical to 'Red Tape, White Bones'. I mean, the names of the characters have been changed as well as the city where it takes place and the writer changed the weasels from living in a pet store to pets in a house, but still . . . Brennan is going to blow a gasket."
A little overwhelmed by Hodgins' rushed speech, Angela flipped open the book by the new author and started to read. After a few chapters she flipped through the book and read a few more chapters. "This is bad . . . this isn't legal." Checking the publisher, she shook her head. "Rogue Publishing Company? I've never heard of them . . . Where did you buy this?"
"A used book store . . . that means it's been out for a while." Hodgins picked up the glass of tea, drank the beverage until it was gone then placed the empty glass back on the table. "I need a beer."
"Yeah, me too." Angela stood up and picked up the glasses. "I'll be right back. Don't do anything until I come back."
Staring at the rogue book on the table, Hodgins shook his head. "Like what?"
"Don't call Brennan."
"Are you crazy?" Hodgins looked at his wife. "I'm not going to tell her."
Slowly nodding her head, Angela exhaled deeply. "Yeah . . . oh I know what we can do. You give the book to Booth and let him read it. He can tell her."
"Oh, good plan." Hodgins picked up the book. "Let him throw the grenade. He's a former Ranger."
"Yeah, no that's not the reason . . . we're going to give it to Booth because he can handle Brennan better that us." Angela feared how Brennan would react when she found out her book had been plagiarized.
Snorting, Hodgins shook his head. "No one can handle Brennan. All you can do is break the bad news and wait to see how she'll react. Booth will support her . . . uh, yeah, support her. Maybe a little too much. You know how protective he is."
"God, maybe we shouldn't tell, Booth." Angela licked her lips. "Okay, I'm going to place it on her desk when she's out of her office. Let her discover the problem and then we'll go from there."
Hodgins bit his lower lip. "So, there is really no good options here are there?"
"No, Babe, none at all." A realist, Angela knew she was right. "Brennan is logical. She'll handle it in a logical way."
"Yeah . . . Let's hope."
Ooooooooooooooooooo
The ride home had been done in silence. Not sure what was going on, Booth brought Hank into the house while Brennan ushered Christine into the living room. Once he had his boy out of the baby carrier, he placed the child in the playpen and turned to watch Brennan walk into the kitchen to get their daughter a snack. As soon as she placed a slice of banana bread and glass of milk in front of Christine, Booth walked over to his wife and pointed at the kitchen. "I need to talk to you."
Her face an unemotional mask, Brennan followed her partner into the kitchen and leaned against the counter staring at him.
"Okay, if you're mad at me then tell me what I did or didn't do. You know I hate the silent treatment." Booth braced himself for a storm and was surprised when it didn't come.
"I am not angry with you, Booth." Brennan realized that not speaking to her husband since he had picked her up from work had made him anxious. She hadn't meant to do that. "I'm sorry if I gave you that impression. I have a lot on my mind and I have a decision to make . . . it has nothing to do with you."
Curious, Booth folded his arms against his chest. "What decision?" Her words were meant to assure him, but they didn't. Whatever the problem was, it must be serious.
"I found a book on my desk at work this morning." Brennan walked over to the fridge and removed two bottles of beer. After handing her husband one of the bottles, she walked over to the kitchen table and sat down. "I was curious and had a few spare moments, so began to read it. As I read it, I found the story to be very familiar. In fact, too familiar. Someone has plagiarized my book 'Red Tape, White Bones'. They made a few changes to try to hide what they'd done, but it is my story, my invention and of course, I knew it was my novel."
"Wow." Booth hadn't expected that particular piece of news. "Who placed the book on your desk?"
Sipping some of the beer in her bottle, Brennan thought she knew the answer, but had no proof. "I don't know. Someone who didn't want to upset me but wanted me to know about the problem . . . probably Angela or perhaps Cam or Hodgins."
After he sipped some of this beer, Booth placed the bottle on the kitchen table and sat down. "What are you going to do? This is a big deal."
"Yes, I agree, it is a big deal." Placing her hand on Booth's arm, Brennan shook her head. "I am going to call my publisher and let them know about the book. I'm sure they have a legal team that handles these things . . . This is the first time I've had this problem. It is flattering that someone loved my book so much they wanted to . . . well, perhaps flattering isn't the word I should be using . . . I'll call the publisher tomorrow and let her deal with this. I don't have time for nonsense like this."
Placing his hand on her hand, Booth nodded his head. "Good, this is probably going to go to court and that means lawyers and judges and stuff. Let them handle it . . . I'm sorry someone stole your story from you. Whoever did this, did it because they probably wanted to make a quick buck and it was easier to steal your story than to write one of their own. It stinks, but you have options."
"The only thing I find upsetting is the fact that a publisher printed it." Brennan stood up, grabbed her bag from the counter and carried it over to the table. Once she was seated she opened the bag, pulled the offending book from within and handed it to Booth. "They are supposed to do due diligence and make sure the story is unique and not plagiarized from someone else."
"I've never heard of them . . . Rogue Publishing Company. They don't sound legit to me." Booth placed the book down on the table. "I'm sorry, Bones."
Glad that Booth understood her dilemma, Brennan smiled. "Thank you. This is certainly a unique situation for me. I am glad someone left the book on my desk, but I wish I knew who did it."
Shrugging his shoulders, Booth sipped more of his beer. "It was probably Hodgins. Angela would have placed the book in your hand. Cam doesn't read murder mysteries, so I doubt she did it . . . It could have been on of your interns not that it matters."
"No, it doesn't matter." Her eyes on the book, Brennan shook her head. "This is very disappointing."
Ooooooooooooooo
After Brennan called her publisher, she was told that the problem would be taken care of and she wouldn't have to do anything. That was why she did business with her publisher. Carla was efficient and reliable and that was important to her.
The weeks went by and occasionally Brennan had been given updates about the situation. She was assured that the problem was being taken care of and Carla was certain the publishing company and the author would lose in court.
One bright sunny morning, she got a call. "Brennan."
Temperance, this is Carla. It's all settled. The book "Never threaten a Weasel' isn't going to show up in any more bookstores. Rogue Publishing Company is out of business as of yesterday. I had an investigator look over their list of books they've published and found out that most of them are plagiarized. I'm just surprised no one caught on earlier. It's a small publishing company that used to print Fanfiction and they decided to expand. Unfortunately for them they chose the wrong path. Since they're a small firm they couldn't pay the fine the judge handed down after they lost their case so they filed for bankruptcy. I hate to see that happen, but they weren't a legitimate publishing company so good riddance.
Surprised at the outcome, Brennan sighed. "So, I wasn't the only author they plagiarized then."
No, there were eleven others. All mystery writers. Those writers have been informed and their publishing companies can handle it for them. Not that there is anything to be done. The company is out of business and they don't have any assets. During their investigation my people found out that the authors that plagiarized the books don't really exist. The publisher was the writer as well, so there is no one else to sue.
"Thank you for taking care of this issue." Brennan felt grateful that her publisher could be counted on to take care of issues like this one. "I am sorry the company had to go out of business, but they were breaking the law and brought this upon themselves."
The call ended, Brennan smiled and leaned back against her chair. She hadn't bothered to find out who had placed the book on her desk, but she knew if she told Angela her friend would make sure that the person who had discovered the deception knew that the problem had been resolved. Whoever had discovered the plagiarized book had done her a favor and she appreciated it even if they were afraid to tell her in person. Why they were afraid of her was strange since she was logical and a calm person, but she couldn't worry about that. "Booth was probably right and it was one of my interns. They have a tendency to be skittish around me. Perhaps because of my reputation as the best forensic anthropologist in the world." Yes, that was it.
Ooooooooooooooo
Let me know what you think of my story. Thank you.
