(The Patriot in Purgatory)
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I don't own Bones.
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Jared finally got his driver's license back and Booth was happy to give him the car he'd bought for him. It had been taking up room in the garage and now he could park his Mustang back in the garage where it belonged.
Jared had hesitated to take the car, but since it had already been paid for and Booth didn't need it, Jared realized that not taking it would be a slap at his brother. "Thanks for the car, Seeley. I'll hold on to it for a few years and by then I should be able to buy a newer one . . . I appreciate what you and Temperance did for me. I don't think I could have turned my life around without your help." He had grown to realize just how lucky he had been. His situation could have been a hell of a nightmare at the moment, but he was rescued by his family and he knew that the only way he could pay them back was to keep sober and to keep his job. "Padme found a job in the Fairfax school system and she likes it there . . . She's happy, Seeley. At least I think she is. She says she is."
Glad for his brother, Booth handed him the title to the car and the keys. "Hey, you had to want to change your situation and you did. Pops is so proud of you and so am I. The car has insurance on it. It's good for six months, after that you'll have to start paying for it. The policy is in the glove compartment."
Taking the keys and the title, Jared felt his throat tighten with emotion. Not sure what else to do, he hugged his brother and after a few moments let him go. "I know that I screwed up, but I think I'm on the road I need to be on. I like my job and Fairfax is a nice town to live in. I'm going to my meetings and they help . . . I just wish that Dad had made it through the program. Maybe things would have been different."
Booth doubted that very much, but Jared was doing his best to not be their father and Booth appreciated his brother's effort. "I've been going to GA meetings for years, Jared. There's no cure for our problem, just perseverance. If you need help, you call me. If I don't answer, leave me a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
He held out his hand towards his brother and smiled. "Thanks for everything Seeley. I know I've been a pain in the ass for a long time, but this whole thing, the accident, my license yanked, my broken leg . . . it made me realize that I could sink like Dad or I could swim like you and I'm swimming, Seeley. I'm swimming as hard as I can."
Proud of his brother, Booth shook his hand and smiled. "Just remember to get in the boat and rest sometimes."
Chuckling, Jared got in his car, back it out of the driveway and rolled it out into the street. His brother waved at him and he knew that he had been very lucky. Very lucky to have a brother like Seeley. The brother who was his father since his real father was no father at all.
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The week had started out fine, but it quickly got complicated when Booth started investigating the death of an Army veteran. The Metro police had found his body in an abandoned warehouse on September 25, 2001 about four days after he'd died. Because of the injuries to the body, it had been assumed by the coroner that he had been beat to death. They couldn't find out who he was, so his body was sent to the Jeffersonian where his remains were stored until someone had time to research his identity. His case had come up in the rotation and Brennan had assigned the bones to Arastoo. It was his job to examine the body and try to determine cause of death and his identity. Other bones had been assigned to her other interns and it was her intention to see what they had learned working for her. She expected them all to be successful and they had not failed her.
The hardest case had been Arastoo's and in the end with the help of the other interns, Brennan and Booth it was determined that the victim was a veteran of Desert Storm by the name of Tim Murphy. The man had stood outside the Pentagon every day for years trying to get justice for his friends who had died during Desert Storm. When the 911 attack had occurred, he'd been on the west side of the Pentagon as usual when a plane flew by him, clipped a light pole and crashed into the Pentagon. The sheered lamp post had shot out shrapnel in all directions and a piece of that hit Tim in the ribs breaking some of them. Like the hero he really was, he had moved into the destroyed section of the building and started to rescue people even though he was hurt.
Tim had damaged his body moving pieces of cement and columns that weighed over 400 pounds. It was more than one man should have been able to move, but he had done it and saved the lives of three people. He had injured his patella, he sustained compressed fractures of his spine, his shoulders were dislocated and one of the fractured ribs splintered and punctured one of his lungs. It took him ten days to die of his injuries and he had died in a great deal of pain alone in an abandoned warehouse.
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The case had affected everyone that worked trying to identify Tim's remains and how he had died. After Tim was given a proper military funeral, Booth and Brennan had talked about Tim's heroism and his self-sacrifice. Booth told her that he and his friend Ben were going to see if they could get Tim's dead comrades the Silver Star he had wanted them to have. While he was talking to her, he noticed how sad his partner was. "What's wrong, Bones?'
Brennan had wept in Booth's arms, telling him how she had worked for days at the destroyed towers in New York City right after the attack, searching for remains and helping to identify those remains. Most people weren't aware that the remains weren't really whole bodies but pieces of bodies. Some pieces were the size of postage stamps and many people had made a huge effort to find all the human remains that were trapped in the piles of concrete and steel. She had worked methodically doing her job, but at the time she wasn't vested in the victims. She didn't shed a tear and she had been proud of that, but things change, time reshapes past events and now when she thought of the events of 9/11/2001 she thought 'what if that had been Booth dead in the towers or Cam or Angela or Hodgins'?
Booth knew that his Bones felt things deeply, but she had the ability to hide her emotions, to move forward when looking back wasn't an option which caused her problems later when she had time to think about it, when she had time to put things into perspective. He held her in his arms that evening and let her weep for the dead who had no chance when the towers fell. The victims of the attack had died gruesomely and in terror leaving behind family and friends that would never see them again. "It's okay, Bones. I'm here . . . I'm here."
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It took a while, but Booth had information that he felt Tim Murphy would be interested in. The man was dead, but Booth firmly believed that those who passed away could hear you if you spoke to them. Standing in front of the man's gravestone, Booth held up a piece of paper. "Tim, I know you wanted your friends Walken, Moore and Park to be awarded the Silver Star for their service and I tried to get that for them, but I couldn't make it happen. I did manage to get some people I know to consider something else and your friends were awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service. That couldn't have happened without your standing in front of the Pentagon every day for years drawing attention to their case. You did good, Tim. You're a hero. Because of you three people were saved at the Pentagon on 911 and your friends got what they deserved. Thank you for your service."
Booth did a silent prayer for Tim and once he was done, he crossed himself. "Good-bye Tim. Rest easy. You deserve it."
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