Tempe and Booth were in the lab later that day watching as the bodies of the innocently slaughtered children were wrapped up to be handed off to their families. Through most of the facial structures Angela had provided the families had been notified.
Lilia Morgan had been called down with her family to pick up the dead body of her son, Michael. The family sat in the lobby area waiting for the body to be brought in when another agent walked through the door and started to handcuff Lilia's mother.
"Mrs. Morgan, you are under arrest for the murder of Michael Morgan." The agent said reading her, her rights and walking her out of the room.
Lilia ran out of the lobby and up to Booth, asking for answers. After calming her down he explained that the same morning her mother had gotten up, picked up Michael and took him to the park where she met Hernandez and had him killed. Lilia broke down and watched as her mother was walked out of the lab.
Later that day after Lilia had left with the remains of her son, Tempe stood looking over the remaining bodies and an uneasiness passed her.
"You know, every bone in the body tells a story." She started saying, Booth listened closely. "The story of how the person lived and what they did in their life, but these children's' stories were cut short and instead they tell a story not meant to be heard at this young age."
"I know, Bones." Booth whispered pulling her close as the other bodies were taken out.
The mothers of the other children had been placed under arrest as well and were awaiting the same fait as the others. Only one mother came and wasn't taken into custody. The parents of the oldest child arrived and explained that their child had been kidnapped, which turned out to be true, one of Hernandez's first tries at his technique.
Later that night, after the lab was cleared of all remains and only the flicking of the lights made a noise, Tempe and Booth walked out and headed towards the car. After getting in they headed towards the hospital to pay a visit to their new goddaughter.
"Hey sweetie." Angela said looking over as they entered her room. She was sitting up in bed watching TV with Hodgins while the young child slept peacefully.
They were going to stay in the hospital for another day just to make sure the baby would be fine. Tempe walked over to the small sleeping form and gently brushed her finger across her soft cheek, causing the child to stir.
"You can hold her if you want. She's slept enough the whole day." Hodgins said looking over to her.
Gently Tempe picked the baby up and held her close, looking down at the tiny infant and smiled as she realized just how precious she really was.
"Hello Melissa." She spoke softly playing with her little fingers that intertwined with her pointer.
Booth walked over to Tempe and looked down at the small human being. Her eyes were brown and her hair a darker shade, like her mother. She had her father's lips, ears and nose and she screamed Angela and Jack's daughter.
Slowly Booth watched as Tempe interacted with the child as if she were her own and he began to wonder why she hadn't wanted children, he knew he shouldn't ask and at that moment he wouldn't, but someday he would ask her why not.
Slowly Tempe passed the crying infant to her mother who took her happily and fed her, hoping to silence the small human who would soon grow to be, hopefully, smarter than her mother and father out together.
"I have a favor to ask." Angela said handing Melissa to Booth after she had been fed.
"ok." Tempe whispered.
"Not now, but maybe sometime in the future when she's a little older, maybe you could baby sit her while Jack and I go on the honeymoon we missed out on."
"I would like that." Booth said and Tempe nodded not able to take her eyes off of Melissa.
Sometimes it was hard to believe, how in only thirty six weeks two single cells could come together to form a life so beyond real compression with over millions of cells on it's own. A million combinations were possible for how she would look her eyes, nose, ears, mouth, and hair, everything about her rested in only a moment's time. One thing could be her moms and another her dads.
As she watched as how Booth played around with her she began to realize that within only a few years the child would be fully developed and ready to start her own life. Though eighteen years seemed so far away it was only so close. Soon Melissa would be looking down at her own child, a combination of her DNA and that of her mate.
A small squeal pulled Tempe out of her thoughts and back to the present. She looked over to see Booth handing Melissa to her.
"I think she wants you." He said smiling as she held her close and began to loose herself in thought.
Soon the small life would be in her position or that of her own mother, depending on how her life went. Suddenly Tempe's heart felt heavy, this was an experience she never got to see completed by Alicia. That child would be around nine years or so, but instead she lay six feet under at the age of three months and she'd be damned if anything ever happened to Melissa.
The cries of Alicia rang in her head and soon they became too real, pulling her back out of her thoughts and to reality where she realized it was Melissa who was crying, she rocked her and allowed her to rest and fall asleep in her arms.
"So Brennan, you thinking about having children?" Angela asked looking over to her.
"No, I have Melissa and that's all I need."
"What about you Booth?"
"No, you heard Bones, Melissa and Parker are all I need." He said pulling her close and placed a gentle kiss on her head.
"So you two have finally gotten together." Hodgins stated.
"When can we expect a wedding?" Angela asked curiously.
"Not sure if it will go that far." Tempe said getting up to place the baby back in her little bed.
"Well let's just it does."
"Sometime in the future I guess." She said looking over to Booth and smiled.
The rest of the night was quiet and filled with the occasional talk. The topic of the case had come up near the end, by Angela.
BONES
It had been a month and a half since the case, the body of Hernandez had been brought in and ID. The funerals were over with and the court had convicted every mother guilty and they all had received life in prison. Due to the case, that had gone national, Booth and Tempe stood inside of a TV studio getting ready for a commercial they were to due.
Behind them was a black wall, a TV screen and one camera stood on them, Tempe watched as they counted down to filming time and as they stood side by side they did the commercial.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Temperance Brennan and ID bodies." Tempe spoke into the camera.
"And I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth. I work with the FBI." He said, both were serious.
"As some of you may have heard we just finished up a case working on the killings of unwanted children. These children were brought in by their own mothers and killed."
"Hundreds of children each day are born to parents who don't want them and they are left on the side of the road, in dumpsters or in other places left to die."
"These children should be given a second chance, they weren't asked to be born. So we are making one of Los Angeles, California's laws one of ours and welcoming in the safe surrender act. We ask that if you or if someone you know has a child they don't want please have them bring the child to the nearest hospital, police or fire station. Within the first seventy two hours no questions will be asked."
"Safe surrender will help give these children a fighting chance at life with a family who will watch over them. We can't save them all, but with your help we can bring the numbers down and help save a lot of lives and stop a lot of meaningless deaths."
Behind them the screen came to life and showed the 'Safe Surrender' information as Booth and Tempe walked out of view of the camera. At the bottom of the screen one line read 'No Shame, No Blame, No Name. Now there's a way to safely surrender your baby.'
Ok that was that, I have one last chapter left so please review and I'll get this up ASAP. In case there are those who are wondering "Safe Surrender" is real and is everything I explained in the story, I'm not sure if it is a nation wide thing or what, but I'm pretty sure it is a law in the counties of Orange and LA in California.
Everyday it as hard to turn on the TV to see another abandoned child dead, but with this law we hardly see it anymore. I'm not sure if it is national law, but I feel it should be and will do just about all I can to make sure it gets done, well I can try at least I don't think my mom and dad would let me fly from So. Cal. To DC for it, but if anybody has any questions please ask.
Also please review I would love to know what you guys think about this. One chapter left, thank you to those who have reviewed, you mean the world to me right now. Much love headed your way.
