When Grace pulled up to the curb by the crime scene, she could see her sister pacing back and forth, a child in her arms, buried deep in her neck as she gripped her sister tightly. The conversation on the phone with Harding had been short, and he seemed angry about something, but simply told her to return because her sister needed help bringing evidence to the Jeffersonian. Her confusion was piqued further when he insisted she bring a child seat as well. She stopped at the station, dropped her partner off, and pulled one of her nephew's booster seats from the trunk of her own car and tossed it into her cruiser.
She pulled the car up to her pacing sister, and could see the look of relief in her eyes, and knew that Antonia could see the confusion in hers. "What's going on?" Grace asked, stepping out of the car, she quickly approached Antonia, only to hear the child she was holding make a high pitched noise and dig at Antonia's neck at the quick approach of someone new.
"It's okay, it's okay." Antonia whispered, rubbing the girl's back as she watched Grace take a step back for a moment. "She's terrified. She was hiding in a closet. Nobody knows who she is, why she was in the apartment. She won't let me go." Antonia said, feeling the little girl's grip as she dug her face further into her neck. "Harding is being an ass. I need a ride to the Jeffersonian."
"She's the evidence?" Grace asked, unsure of what her sister needed, confused about why this child was holding onto her as if she were the only thing keeping her alive.
"Yes." Antonia whispered. "She's terrified of Ace. Please, Gracie."
"It's fine, Ant. There's no way she's letting go of you to sit in that booster seat though." Grace said, watching the girl's legs as they pushed harder into Antonia, she opened the door to the back seat of the patrol car and watched as Antonia tried to sit down with her still holding tightly. She pulled the girl's legs to her lap, cradling her tightly against her as she whimpered and hid her face, one of her arms holding tightly to a stuffed toy that she clasped tightly in her hand. The entire time, Antonia whispered softly to her that she wasn't going to let her go. Grace crouched down a bit in the doorway, watching the love and care that her sister was putting into getting the little girl comfortable. "Hey there…" Grace said, eliciting no reaction from the little girl, she glanced to Antonia, who shook her head slightly. "Hey, it's okay, we're going to take good care of you, sweetheart." Grace said softly. Still, the little girl whimpered and hid herself from Grace, holding tightly to Antonia.
"Let's forget the seat, Grace. She's already digging into my skin, and you're right, there's no way she's going to go willingly into it." Antonia said softly, seeing Harding step out of the building, he walked up to the car quickly. "Crap." Antonia mumbled.
"Hey, Ace." Grace said, standing up, she blocked the view into the car for a moment as he approached her.
"Thank for coming back." He said, his mood seemingly calmed since his argument with Antonia, he tried to look in the back of the cruiser but was blocked by Grace. "How is she?"
"She's petrified." Grace replied. "Who is she? There was zero evidence of a little girl living in that apartment, Ace."
"Toni found her stuffed bunny, and was convinced there was a little girl. I found her in a closet, and she fought tooth and nail until Antonia showed up. I don't know if she's a foster kid, a relative, or what. The grandfather never mentioned a little girl." He said, visibly shaken as he again tried to get a glimpse of the girl. Antonia said nothing, just gently rocked her in her arms and whispered to her, listening to Harding.
"We have her now, Ace. She's in good hands. Just take care of the scene. I'm taking them to the lab. Are you okay? You look like you're really shaken up." Grace said, watching as Harding again tried to look into the car.
"Yeah, I'm just… It's fine, I just don't know how I missed it." He said. "Toni?" He said, hoping she'd answer him. He knew that he had been far too short with her, and he knew that she was upset with him.
"I'll take care of her, Ace." Antonia said from the car. "I'm taking her to a safe place. I've got her."
Grace moved out of the way so that he could see in the car, and looked into Antonia's eyes for a moment as she held the girl against her, the tiny body trembling.
"See if she'll eat something. We don't know how long she's been hiding." He said, watching Antonia nod her head, grateful for his now calm demeanor. "I'll see you at the lab in a bit."
"Thanks, Ace." Antonia said, nodding her head as he stepped away from the car. Grace closed the door and gave him a slight smile as she started to move around the car. She glanced to Harding as she noticed a deep sadness in his eyes, a look of concern that she had never seen before.
"Hey, are you okay?" Grace asked, stepping to the driver's side, she watched him focus on her for a second.
"Yeah, yeah… I'm just… I just was thinking about something. I'm fine." He said, shaking his head a bit as he took a step back onto the sidewalk. "I'll see you, drive carefully."
"Always." Grace smiled as she got into the cruiser, and with a push of the button, turned on her lights as she carefully made her way to the Jeffersonian.
The drive to the Jeffersonian was in silence, and when they arrived, Grace parked in the parking garage and climbed from the car as she moved toward the back to help Antonia from the car. She opened the door and watched as Antonia shifted the girl slightly. "Here, hand her to me." Grace said, watching Antonia look at her with an incredulous look, and Grace shook her head. "What? Just hand her to me so you can get out."
"Grace, she's not going to…" Antonia started to say, as Grace reached in to help. She wasn't harsh or angry, but when the little girl turned her head and saw the police uniform, and two arms reaching for her, she started to fight with all of the strength that she had gained while resting with Antonia. Her feet kicked out as she let out a scream, and leapt at Antonia with both arms, wrapping them around her neck as she squeezed. "Grace! Back off, please! She's going to hurt me!" Antonia said as she watched her sister take a step back, as Antonia pulled the girl's arms from her neck and pulled herself from the car quickly, finally able to take control of the struggling girl. She stopped pulling and just settled against Antonia's chest, as she closed her eyes and gripped her toy with all of her strength.
Grace watched her for a moment and sighed, unsure if she should just leave Antonia there, or accompany her to the lab. "Are you alright?"
"I'm okay." Antonia said softly. "I just need to get her into a safe place. Let her know that she's safe." She sighed.
"I feel like you're trying to convince yourself." Grace said, closing the car door. She walked with Antonia into the building and watched as she pulled out her ID. She stepped into the elevator, and Grace followed her, her eyes on her sister for a moment. She scanned her ID, and pushed the button for the lab, allowing the doors to close, Grace continued to watch her.
"What? Why are you staring at me?" Antonia asked, gently rocking the little girl, who kept her eyes closed, her thumb firmly planted in her mouth.
"You're in an elevator." Grace said softly. "You never take the elevator. You must be really worried."
Antonia didn't look at her sister, just watched the number on the elevator change as it settled on the correct floor. "I've been taking the elevator lately." She said softly, unsure if she should give anything away. "Aiden has been helping me with my anxiety." She said, as the doors opened, she said nothing more and quickly made her way down the hallway toward the lab.
"Wait! Ant!" Grace said, following after her sister quickly, she had to practically run to keep up with her long stride. "That's great." She said, as Antonia turned and gave her sister a slight eye roll, but the slight smirk on her face gave away a bit of happiness in the strides she had been taking.
"Right now, I just care about her." She whispered as she scanned her card and walked quickly into the lab with Grace behind her. "I need to call in the big guns." She said with a gentle sigh.
"You mean Mom, right?" Grace asked, her feet moving quickly so that she could keep up with her sister.
"She'll know what to do." Antonia said as they both made their way toward Temperance's office, oblivious to their names being called curiously by Angela.
Cam stepped up to Angela as they stared at the quickly closing office door. "Was that…?"
"Yes." Angela said. "Both of them."
"And she had…"
"A child in her arms." Angela replied, her eyes narrowing as she stared at the closed office door, as if that would force them to open it.
"You should know by now, that when it comes to the Booth kids, it's probably best not to ask any questions." Cam replied, turning around to walk back toward her office.
"But what should we do?" Angela asked, watching Cam turn around and shrug slightly.
"Give them ten minutes, and then go in and interrogate them." Cam replied, watching Angela smile as she turned her attention back to the office door and Cam walked back to her office.