Wednesday, July 11- 9:30am
Booth walked quickly into the lab, glancing around as he walked, his eyes scanned the platform, and his wife's office, only to hear her voice coming from Angela's office. He turned on his heel and walked toward her voice. "Bones?" He called, watching her head pop out from Angela's office, her face held a questioning look. "Hey, you called?"
"I called Ace." She said, watching as Booth stopped, tipping his head curiously.
"Ace took a couple days off." Booth said, watching his wife's eyes narrow, he took a step back. "He said you were right, he was out of line, and decided to take a couple days off to figure some things out."
"He took off a couple of days off in the middle of our case?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest, stepping toward him.
"Perhaps you didn't hear what I said. He said you were right." Booth said, watching as she shook her head.
"That's neither here nor there. Of course I'm right. I am seldom wrong. That doesn't give my partner the right to take a couple of days to pout about that fact. He should be used to it by now." She said, watching Booth try to hide his smile. "Where is he?"
"Bones, don't worry about it. He will be back in a couple of days, he just needs to sort through some things." Booth said, watching her stare at him with that look she typically saved for remains. "What did you need? Why did you call?"
"As you know, we exhumed Ms. Hunter's body." She said, straightening as she walked toward the platform.
"Yeah." He said, declining a trip up onto the platform, she turned and looked to him, a slight smile on her lips. "Did you find something?"
"We ran some tests, and it appears that in addition to the heroin in her system, there were high levels of strychnine."
"She was poisoned." He said, watching as Temperance nodded her head.
"I don't know if it was on purpose, or if it was a bad batch of drugs. It's often used to cut heroin. Either way, her dealer is responsible for her death." Temperance said, watching Booth lean against the railing in thought.
"Yeah, but murder or not, Bones, this may or may not be linked to the people pursuing Melody." He said with a sigh.
"It has to be linked, Booth. There's no other explanation. She's a five year old girl. How many enemies has she accumulated in that amount of time?" She sighed as she stepped down off the platform in front of him. "What did the boy say? Mitchell. He said that they were looking for something that Melody had, or knew. How did they even know she had been taken in by the Cameron family? How did they know where to look? Aiden said he was uncomfortable with the CPS connection, have we looked into that?"
"We've been accumulating information on the people who have been connected with her case, but without interrogating each and every one of them, it would be impossible to find the connection."
Temperance sighed and nodded toward her office as Booth followed her. "Well, she's been in the system full time for a year and a half, correct?"
"Yeah." He said, stepping into her office, he sat down in one of the chairs in the room, watching as she sat behind her desk. "So you think that it's someone that has been involved recently?"
"Possibly. Perhaps look into connections with people since Sandy Cameron took interest in her. I know it's a longshot, but I'm hoping that Aiden's guts are as intuitive is yours." She sighed.
"Gut, Bones. Just our gut, not our guts." Booth laughed.
"What is the difference?" She asked, watching as he shook his head and just laughed. "Is Christopher okay?" She asked suddenly, watching her husband's smile disappear, and the sparkle in his eye faded for a moment.
"He's just having a hard time with all of it. Reading Melody's file brought back a lot of memories of when he was a kid, and it is upsetting to him that the foster system hasn't changed a lot since then." Booth said, shrugging. "He didn't really feel much like talking about it."
"Where did he go?"
"He didn't say he was going anywhere. He just said he was taking a couple of days off. I wasn't going to question it, he has been really agitated lately, and it's probably for the best that he takes a break. You have me here, Aiden is willing to do legwork if he's needed. Toni is at a safe house, Fitz doesn't have to be there the whole time." Booth said, watching Temperance's eyes for a moment, she looked concerned. "Bones, she's safe there."
"I don't like the idea of her being alone there, pregnant, with a child." Temperance sighed.
"Then go down there and spend some time at the house. You have access to the lab from there, and you have squints here to do the heavy lifting. We're not expecting to have any more bodies in this case. You performed the autopsy review already. Go down to Virginia Beach, Bones. I know you want to see her." Booth said, tapping her desk with his knuckles.
"Booth, I can't leave in the middle of the case." Temperance sighed. "Besides, Grace is getting ready for the wedding, and she needs my support."
"She has support, it's fine. I can help her if she needs. She has a phone, she has a computer, she can call you or talk to you at any time. Any issues she has with the wedding can be handled. Bones, go. Please?"
"Perhaps I'll go this weekend." She said with a sigh. "We have dinner with Anna and Fiona on Friday. I thought about postponing it since Aiden and Antonia aren't here, but I think it might be nice for us to do something normal for a change. Also, Anna and Fiona are new to town, I want to make sure they feel welcome." Temperance sighed, watching Booth nod. "Will that be okay?"
"It sounds like a good idea." He said, reaching his hand out to her, she leaned forward and grasped his hand. "I think it'll make you a lot happier to see her in person, make sure she's getting her rest. We're going to get them all home soon." He said, giving her hand a squeeze.
Wednesday, July 11, 2:00pm-
"Tex?" Aiden said, stepping onto the small office, only to find the love of his life slumped over a pile of papers, her head on the desk, sleeping peacefully. He shook his head and approached her, crouching beside her, he ran a tender finger over her arm. "Tex." He whispered.
"Mm…" She grumbled, looking up at him, a scowl appearing on her face. "Why'd you wake me up?"
"You're drooling on your papers." He smiled, watching as she jumped back, looked at the papers and found that he was teasing her.
"That was not nice." She whined.
"Why don't you take a nap in a bed?" He whispered, running his fingers through her hair as she turned to lean her head against his shoulder. She mumbled into his shoulder something he couldn't understand, and he laughed a little. "What was that?"
"I said I don't like you anymore." She mumbled, leaning against him, she breathed deeply. "You smell nice."
"It was raining, so Shadow and I made cookies." Aiden said, kissing her forehead. "She's taking her afternoon nap right now."
"I like you again." She said, smiling sleepily as she sat up, watching his eyes sparkle at her as he shook his head. "I love you." She whispered.
"I love you." He said, looking up at the icon on her screen, blinking. "Hey, someone is calling you. Wipe the drool off your face and get to it." He said, watching her scowl.
"I don't like you again." She said, as she hit the button on the keyboard and looked at the screen. "What?" She grumbled, scowling at her father's surprised face.
"Woah. I can call back later." He said, watching his daughter's eyes narrow.
"She just woke up, sir." Aiden said from beside her, kissing her nose when she glared at him. "What do you need?"
"Just a few things. Ace is off the case for a few days. We'll be working with Agent Nichols until he's back." Booth said, watching as his daughter flinched.
"Nichols? No." She shook her head. "No, no. No. Absolutely not. Absolutely, positively, no…"
"Hi Antonia!" Agent Nichols appeared on screen. He was a younger agent, just about Aiden's age, blonde hair, blue eyes, and extremely eager. Aiden wasn't familiar with the agent, and Antonia seemed to have a visceral reaction to seeing him on the screen. He watched her for a moment as she gritted her teeth.
"Dad." She growled. "No."
"Just until Ace gets back." Booth said, watching his daughter's glower become more pronounced as she woke up a little more.
"Where the hell is Ace? Why isn't he here? He's Mom's partner! He can't just leave in the middle of this case! Dad, where is Ace?" She said, trying not to look at the other agent on the screen, trying to focus on her father.
"He'll be back in a day or two. He just needs some time to cool off." He said, watching his daughter shake her head. "Your mother performed the second autopsy, and she determined that the heroin that Melody's mother died from was laced with strychnine. We don't know if it was murder, or if it was just something that they cut the drugs with, and she overdosed. We're not sure yet. We are looking for her dealer now, see if we can get any information on him."
"What about the two suspects we do have?"
"We're working on them."
"You're not going to get anywhere with Agent Dopey there." She snapped, watching her father shake his head.
"Toni." Booth sighed. "Also, your mother will be coming down there this weekend."
"Mom? Why?" She asked, sitting up, she glanced to Aiden. She seemed a bit alarmed by the news.
"We're going to send Aiden home, and your mom is going to stay with you and Melody for a few days. You're more than secure there, but your mom doesn't want you to be alone with Melody. Not that you can't handle it, but she just would feel better if you weren't by yourself. We're going to need Aiden here." Booth said, watching a wave of emotions roll over his daughter's face. He couldn't tell if she was upset, or if she understood, but she said nothing.
"When?" Aiden asked, lifting an eyebrow curiously, his expression was even more difficult to read.
"Probably Saturday, unless there's a break in the case, then we may need you earlier." Booth replied. "Sorry to cut your vacation short." He said, wincing a little.
"Trust me sir, being in danger is no vacation. I'm not going to be relaxed and happy until we're all home and out of harm's way." Aiden said, watching Booth nod. "I'd be happy to come home and help on that side." He said supportively, ignoring the light pinch that Antonia gave him to his leg. He scowled at her and she narrowed her eyes. "Maybe sooner would be better." He said, smiling.
"We'll let you know." Booth said, nodding. "I'll check in tomorrow."
"Okay, love you, Dad." Antonia said, her voice monotone.
"Love you, kid. Be safe."
"Always." Antonia said, clicking the button to disconnect. She stood up immediately. "No! No! No!" She exclaimed , pacing the room. "No!"
Aiden stood up and watched her as she moved back and forth like a caged lion, shouting to herself, she stopped and sighed heavily. "Tex, it's okay."
"No! No, it's not okay. It's not okay, Aiden. This is the exact opposite of okay! You can't leave! You can't!" She exclaimed. "I don't want you to leave." Her shouting turned to a full out whine.
"Tex, it's to further the case. So we can all go home."
"I'd be happy to come home and help on that side." She mocked, glaring at him. "You're a damn suck up!"
"I am not! I want to go home! I want you to go home! Tex, please…" He said, following her. She stopped and turned on her heel, stepping up to him, she shook her head angrily. "Is this one of those hormonal things?" He asked, knowing as soon as it left his lips that it was the wrong thing to say.
"I am going to stomp on your foot." She said, setting her jaw.
"It doesn't count if you warn me." He said, taking a step back.
"I'm not warning you. I'm guaranteeing." She said, stepping forward to look into his eyes, the brown depths of her eyes were but rings around her quickly dilating pupils. "You can't leave. I don't want to be alone."
"You won't be alone." He said, rubbing her arm lightly, he watched the fire in her eyes start to extinguish, her body reacting to his closeness. "It won't be for long, just a day or two to help your dad." He said softly. "I wonder what happened with Ace."
"That's another thing! Agent Nichols? Agent Nichols is a complete moron!" She said, her anxiety and anger ramping up again, she turned out of his embrace and put her hand to her head as she stared at the door to the room for a moment. "What the hell was my father thinking? Agent Nichols couldn't find his way out of a paper bag if it had holes on both ends!"
"He seemed awfully happy to see you." Aiden shrugged. "I've never met him."
"I thought he was transferred to Miami or Alaska, or who cares where the hell he was transferred! Anywhere but Washington would be fine with me." She muttered, taking a slow, deep breath.
"How do you know him?" Aiden asked, trying very hard not to sound too curious. She turned her head from him, biting her lip. "Tex? Tex, how do you know him?"
"I don't know him." She mumbled.
"Come on, Tex. He knows you. How do you know him?" he asked again.
"He was you!" She said, turning around, swinging her hand in his direction. "Are you happy? He was you! He was one of Dad's puppies! He was shadowing Dad a couple years ago, and…"
"And?" He asked, sensing more, a wicked grin spread over his lips and he watched her eyes widen, and her mouth clamped closed as she let out an angry grunt.
"And nothing. I am going for a walk." She said, walking out of the room.
"Antonia?" Aiden said, following her out of the room, he watched her walk quickly down the hallway. "Tex, come on!" He exclaimed as she angrily slid open the door to outside, and slammed it closed behind her..