("A Boy in a Bush')
Thank you for reviewing my story. It is the only way I can tell if you are interested or not.
I don't own Bones.
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They were trying to get Shawn Cook to tell them who had killed Charlie, but the boy was afraid and he didn't know who to trust. Booth had tried to get the child to talk to him about how Charlie Sanders had died, but the Shawn's fear kept him from telling Booth what he knew. Brennan was certain they knew who had killed Charlie Sanders, but they needed more proof, they needed a reason to get a warrant to go after Edward Nelson and Shawn was the key.
Brennan had seen Booth interview Charlie and she had seen how the boy reacted to authority with fear and distrust and she knew how to get over that wall that Shawn had built around himself. She had felt the same fear as a child when she had been abandoned by her brother and had been given to the state of Illinois. "Let me talk to him, Booth."
Wary, Booth knew that his partner was socially awkward and had little contact with children, so he couldn't understand why Brennan thought she could talk to the boy when he couldn't. He could also see that Brennan wanted him to trust her and he knew that he would. She deserved that trust.
Once in the interview room with the boy, Brennan had lowered her voice and spoke softly. She didn't want to intimidate the boy in any way. He was already afraid and she didn't want to make the situation worse. She had opened the conversation by stating she knew that he hadn't killed his foster brother and that got the boy's attention. "They give you a garbage bag to carry all your stuff, like they're telling you everything you own is garbage. And you have to go to a new school in clothes that smell like garbage bags."
Startled, Booth leaned against the window in the observation room and listened to his partner, listened to her words.
Amazed that Brennan knew what it was like to be a foster kid, Shawn had responded. "All the regular kids know you're a foster kid. How do you know what it's like?"
Unwilling to explain, Brennan looked at the boy with sadness. "They bounce you from place to place and it's never home. Sometimes the foster parents are nice."
With a sense of wonder in his voice the boy barely whispered, "like Margaret?" Could this lady really know what it was like to be a foster kid?
She knew the boy was listening to her and she needed to be careful how she continued. "Yeah and sometimes they separate you from your brother. . .
While Brennan continued to talk to the boy, Booth knew that what he was hearing was personal. It had to be. He didn't know a lot about his partner's personal life, but he realized that he had probably been working on a lot of assumptions when dealing with Dr. Temperance Brennan. He needed to rectify that. As soon as he could, he was going to pull her file because he knew she had one and he was going to read it. His partner had surprised him and he didn't like surprises.
Sarah Johnson, the prosecutor assigned to this case and Booth listened to Brennan break through Shawn's defenses and in the end the child gave Brennan the name of the man who had killed Charlie. Edward Nelson's truck contained the same insecticide that was found on Charlie's clothes and that was the end of the investigation. Charlie's killer had been found and with Ms. Johnson's help, Booth was able to reunite Shawn and his brother David with their foster mother. Booth considered that a good day's work.
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Alone in his office, his door closed to keep out the nosy, Booth pulled Brennan's file and read it. Surprising him, he found out she was the child of Matt and Christine Brennan. When she was fifteen years old her parents left their house on Christmas Eve and they were never seen or heard from again. Her brother Russ Brennan who was nineteen at the time gave his sister up for adoption to the state of Illinois right after New Year's and Brennan stayed in the system until she aged out.
Not surprisingly, Brennan earned full scholarships which helped her gain her degree in forensic anthropology. She had achieved her doctorate with no encouragement or backup from any family members. She had toiled by herself and this infuriated Booth. Russ had walked away from his sister when she needed him. He had left a young socially awkward girl to navigate the world on her own.
If there was one thing Booth knew, it was that if he had been given responsibility for his brother Jared when he was nineteen years old, he wouldn't have given his brother to strangers to raise. He would have found a way to make it work. He despised Russ Brennan's self-centeredness and his lack of compassion for his sister. If he ever met the man, he knew he would have to watch his temper and not abuse the man for what he had done in the past.
Their case sewed up Booth arrived at the Lab to give his partner the news. When he entered Brennan's office, he found her dressed in a pretty blue and silver dress and she took his breath away. Ignoring his reaction, Booth told her about Edward Nelson, his confession and the fact that he though Ed had abused his own son. He had reported the abuse to Child Protective Services and he hoped the boy got help. "Look, I'm sorry." He hadn't been sure if he was going to mention what he had found out, but he realized he couldn't put the genie back in the bottle. He knew and he wanted her to know he knew.
Puzzled, Brennan paused and faced her partner. "For what?"
"You have personal experience in the system." All of his assumptions about Brennan coming from a safe middle class background had been blown out of the water and he'd had to come to grips with that. They were both from the poor side of the tracks and they had both worked hard to be where they were without parents to help them along the way. His grandfather had raised him and for that Booth would always be eternally grateful, but his grandfather's job as a policeman had meant he had lived with a lower middle class income and he couldn't pay for college or trade school for his grandsons. Both Booth and Jared had joined the military for the opportunities that the Army and the Navy could give them.
Not sure if she should respond, Brennan knew that if she confirmed what he had said, then her private life would no longer be private. She stared at her partner for a moment and decided that she trusted him, but only up to a point. "I was a foster child until my grandfather got me out."
Aware that she was now lying to him, Booth decided to give that to her. He knew she had a hard time trusting him and there was no way he was going to call her a liar. She didn't need that from him. "Yeah . . . when you said, 'They take you away from your brother', I kind of had the feeling you weren't talking about David Cook."
Not willing to get into her childhood and abandonment by her family with her partner, Brennan grabbed her wrap and pulled it around her shoulders. "Booth, I'll tell you about it one day, but tonight I have to get dressed for a party."
He could see she didn't want to talk about it and he didn't want to push it. Turning he left the office. He needed to take care of some business with Hodgins, but once that was done, he had to leave. His son was going to visit him for the weekend and he needed to go to the store to pick up Parker's favorite cereal and fruit snacks. He also wanted to buy some ingredients to make lasagna since the boy loved it and he wanted his son to be happy.
After he did Hodgins a favor by giving him some dirt to analyze so the entomologist could get out of going to a company party he didn't want to go to and after he chatted with Brennan for a few minutes as she left the Lab, he glanced at his watch and walked out to the parking garage where his SUV was parked.
So, Bones was in Foster Care but she doesn't want me to know she aged out of the system. I wonder why? I know she's a private person, hell she's built a thick wall around herself to keep everyone out, but still, why tell me she had a grandfather that rescued her? Hell, she didn't have anyone to come and rescue after her brother abandoned her, so why lie?
Of course, she didn't know I was going to look at her personnel record either, so there is that. I mean she doesn't think I know anything about her. And I can't tell her I read her file either. God she'd probably punch my lights out or stop being my partner and I can't let that happen.
He arrived at his truck, entered the vehicle and sat behind the wheel for a moment, not moving. I've seen what Foster Care is like for some kids. It can be good and it can be horrible. I don't think Bones had the good experience. I don't know what happened to her in Foster Care, but if she wants me to believe that she was taken out by her grandfather then I won't let her know that I know that isn't true. She does have a right to her privacy.
Brennan walked out to her car, entered it and watched Booth leave the elevator two minutes later. The Agent got in his truck, sat there for five minutes and left. I probably shouldn't have lied about having a grandfather. It really isn't any of his business if I aged out of Foster Care or not, but I don't like to lie . . . I wonder why I did lie. Am I protecting myself or him? He probably had a typical middle class childhood, two parents in the house, probably a sibling or two and knowing Booth, a dog to play with. He has no idea what it is like to live in Foster Care, to be abused by people who are supposed to take care of you. He didn't have parents that disappeared from his life. He wouldn't understand and I don't want his pity. I'm his partner and I don't need his pity.
With that last thought, Brennan started her car and drove down the ramp. Angela knows I was in Foster Care and she knows what I went through, but she's my best friend and she told me that best friends know everything about each other. Booth is my partner and maybe he is my friend, I'm not sure, but he's not my best friend. He doesn't have the right to know everything about me.
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