The Girls In The Ground
Bones / Beauty And The Beast
by Thomas Mc

Chapter 6

Catherine got that same blank look on her face that Brennan had noticed before. A second later Catherine announced. "Vincent and Jennifer will be here in about two minutes."

Brennan had glanced down at her watch with a frown.

At the same time Booth looked at Catherine with fair dose of doubt. "How can you know that so accurately?"

Dennis was the one to respond with a hint of amusement in his eyes. "Probably because Cathy knows that they have reached the bottom of the basement access stairs."

Brennan addressed Dennis. "You both may have a fair idea how long it takes to get here from there but it still doesn't explain how she can know his exact location. There are too many variables, speed, exact route, unexpected encounters, to be able to judge their position that accurately."

Dennis laughed, shaking his head. "You are working under the wrong assumptions. This has nothing to do with dead-reckoning or typical walking time." He glanced at Catherine and she shrugged in response. Dennis continued. "I know that he is at the Basement access because it takes about two minutes to reach this room from the bottom of the basement access. As for Cathy, she always knows exactly where Vincent is."

"That is not logical." Brennan insisted. She glanced around dubiously. "I see no device for tracking in evidence."

"That's because there is no tracking device involved." Dennis responded.

At that moment, Catherine glanced toward the back of the place. "They're here; right on time."

Brennan glanced down at her watch as they were interrupted by the sound of a door from the back of the brownstone. Almost two minutes. Too close to be coincidence.

Brennan and Booth both glanced in the same direction that Catherine and Dennis were looking. Stepping through the opening from the dining room was Jennifer and a very large, very fierce looking and very real lion-man. Brennan and Booth both gasped in surprise. The lion-man looked so much more real and so much more impressive up close in the bright light of Catherine's parlor.

Brennan grabbed Booth's hand tightly. "My God, he's real. It's not possible." She looked at Booth and shook her head. "You are seeing what I'm seeing, aren't you?" Up until this very moment Brennan had been harboring a very tangible doubt that that she had really seen what she thought she saw through the binoculars earlier. She had convinced herself that Vincent must have been wearing some type of mask. Her gaze traveled the length of him, taking in every detail from his very mobile leonine face and impressive size to his fur covered hands that ended in very deadly looking claws. She took in every detail, looking for some type of evidence of a hoax. But she could see nothing that might indicate that he was anything other than what he appeared to be.

Booth nodded his head with an expression of awe and uncertainty then looked at Brennan. "You see him too? A lion-man?" At her nod, he felt a weight begin to lift from his mind. If Brennan was also seeing the lion–man, then he must be real. His gaze shifted back to the approaching lion-man. The lion-man, that Catherine called Vincent, was huge and looked very powerful. Booth did not think that he would be easy to bring down should he turn hostile.

The older woman and the lion man came over to stand beside Catherine as Booth and Brennan continued to stare with uncertainty and wonder at the new arrivals.

"How could this be?" Brennan asked softly.

Catherine responded with a snort. "We've been asking that question for years."

Booth reluctantly pulled his eyes away from Vincent and reoriented on Catherine. "But What I don't understand is how you could be involved in all of this."

Catherine shrugged as a soft smile spread across her face. "That is easy; Vincent is my husband." She cocked her head a bit. " And the father of my children."

Two chins dropped simultaneously as Catherine put her arm around Vincent's waist and he put his arm across her shoulder.

"What?!" Booth exclaimed. "How is that possible?"

Seconds later Brennan's brow furrowed in thought as she spoke up. "Thennn . . . that means that whatever this Julian did, it has to be cosmetic . . . sommme kind of . . . bizarre form of fetal plastic surgery." She declared.

Catherine shook her head. "No, whatever he did, it had to be at the genetic level because both of our son's look just like their father."

"That's not possible." Brennan declared. "Modern genetic research is not even close to that kind of extensive manipulation." Brennan declared. "Especially more than forty years ago."

"Wait a minute, sons?" Booth remarked belatedly. "There are no records of any male children born to you. I checked."

Catherine responded to Booth a bit acerbically. "Of course there are no records. Both of my sons look just like Vincent and like their father we have kept them secret for their own safety." She turned her attention to Brennan. "A doctor friend of ours was able to run a DNA test on Vincent. He said that Vincent's DNA is human with the exception of his . . . ahh 'Y' gene. That is where he said that all of the changes were located." Catherine shrugged and rested her head against Vincent's side. "I don't really understand it but our doctor friend says that it explains why only our sons look like Vincent."

Booth saw obvious signs of intimacy in the way Catherine and Vincent were 'leaning' into each other. His thoughts drifted momentarily to Brennan, and then he again remembered what Sweets had said about his feelings for Brennan being just a temporary side effect of his brain surgery and forced his mind back to Catherine and Vincent.

Brennan thought that she saw a very strong connection between them. For a moment she felt a hint of envy for what they seemed to have. The next instant she ruthlessly suppressed it. Booth was not interested in her that way.

After asking permission, Brennan stepped closer and touched Vincent's arm then got Booth to touch his arm as well. There could be no doubt for either of them that Vincent was very real and very solid. The physical contact banished the last of Booth's fears that Vincent was only an hallucination. As the reality of Vincent sank in Booth's old self-assurance began to emerge.

Brennan studied Vincent's face a moment. "The modification is more extensive than just cosmetic changes. There is significant change in the underlying skeletal structure. The slight snout like protuberance around the mouth and the flattened nasal ridge . . ." She cocked her head. "Could you open your mouth please?"

Vincent cocked an eyebrow. At first Catherine felt a spark of annoyance shoot through her and the woman's cold clinical callousness and was about to cut loose with a piece of her mind when she felt Vincent's calming projection wash over her. The next instant she could feel Brennan's rampant curiosity and Booth's acute embarrassment, both echoed to her through Vincent as well as his amusement over the whole thing. After a second Vincent opened his mouth displaying a very impressive set of fangs.

Booth felt a streak of alarm pass through him at the thought of what those fangs could do in a fight.

Brennan's blinked. "Smooth natural transition of the oral skeletal structure to accommodate all of the modifications. . ." Her gaze shifted to one of his hands. "The changes also extend to the phalanges." She looked at Catherine. "Are his feet like his hands?"

Catherine looked over at Vincent, a bit annoyed for his sake. Again he quirked an eyebrow in amusement but this time she was not so easily mollified. She responded acerbically. "He's right there in front of you. Why don't you ask him."

Out of the corner of her eye Catherine caught a hint of annoyance and embarrassment crossing Booth's face.

Brennan blinked twice then her gaze shifted expectantly.

After a second Vincent finally spoke. "Yes my feet match my hands. It makes it difficult to wear socks."

Brennan felt an unexpected and very strong wave of erotic desire pass through her at the sound of Vincent's gentle yet extremely masculine voice. At the same time her mind turned to thoughts of Booth. It took her several seconds to force her libido to behave and to get her mind back to the subject at hand.

Catherine smirked at Brennan's rather typical reaction to Vincent's voice. 'That should knock some of that cold smugness out of her.' Catherine thought to herself. It was amusing watching Brennan struggle to regain control of herself.

Meanwhile Booth was dealing with how intimidated that commanding voice made him feel.

Brennan finally got control of her voice. "How could modifications this extensive exist without giving rise to a separate species? Changes this extensive should render him genetically incompatible with a normal human."

Catherine shrugged. "Oh, Vincent and I are very compatible and we have five natural children to prove it."

Brennan glanced back and forth between Catherine and Vincent. "It's a shame that they are probably asleep. I would very much like to meet your children . . . particularly the boys."

Catherine stared back at Brennan for a moment then looked over at Vincent. Vincent looked at Brennan and she felt as though he could see straight into her soul. It was a very disconcerting feeling. Then Catherine and Vincent both glanced toward the staircase. Vincent chuckled and Catherine simply smiled.

Catherine called out. "OK you bunch of rascals; I know that you're up there listening in. You may as well come on down and meet our guests."

There was a few seconds of silence then the sound of several feet moving around upstairs. Then several bare feet attached to pajama clad legs appeared on the massive spiral staircase that dominated the back side of the parlor. Brennan found herself fighting hard to keep her emotions under control.

The first two to come completely into view was a leonine male and a normal looking female. They both appeared to be in their early teens. They were followed by two pre-adolescent girls. Next came a young adolescent leonine male followed closely by a young adult female. They seemed to move as a single unit as the group cautiously approached, stopping next to Vincent and Catherine.

Catherine began introducing them in the order that they had appeared. "This is my oldest son Jacob and his twin sister Jennifer. Jacob is named after the man that raised Vincent and Jennifer is named after . . . Jennifer, Vincent's mother" She shrugged in deference to the obvious. These two girls are my other set of twins, Nancy and Brigit. This other handsome young man is Charles. He's named after my father. And finally we have Naomi, our oldest."

Booth frowned at the oldest girl. "When I was investigating, I there was no mention of Naomi." He looked expectantly at Catherine. "Why is that?"

Catherine placed an arm around Naomi's shoulder. "Naomi was adopted through the witness protection program when she was six. Agent McClendon arranged it." Catherine looked on Naomi with parental pride in her eyes. "Naomi is home on a break from college where she is majoring in Criminology. As a young girl she idolized her 'Uncle James',"

"Mooom!" Naomi rolled her eyes.

Catherine grinned at her eldest daughter then continued. "You know him as Agent James McClendon. Naomi hopes to join the FBI after she graduates."

Booth looked again at Naomi. "Did Agent McClendon know about Vincent when he arranged the adoption?"

"Of Course he knew. That was one of the reasons he arranged it." Catherine responded. "It was Vincent that rescued Naomi when her family was killed. He knew that she would be safe with us." She gave Naomi a quick pat and a hug. "Now I think that it's time for you children to go to bed."

After each of the kids collected a hug from Catherine and Vincent, They all trouped up the stairs. Brennan and Booth both found it interesting that Vincent and the boys appearance seem to have no effect. There interactions looked like any normal close family.

After the children had gone up stairs, Booth and Brennan talked with Jennifer and Dennis about what had happened to her so long ago. She told them what happened after she collapsed on the Brooklyn Bridge. Then the conversation shifted to how Catherine first became involved with Vincent. Catherine told them how Vincent had found her dying in the park, after she had been brutally attacked, and took her to a secret place where she was cared for until she was strong enough to return to her own world.

"I do have one question." Booth remarked. At Catherine's nod he continued. "Just how much does Agent McClendon know about all this?" He indicated Vincent and the copied pages on the coffee table.

Catherine smiled. "Oh James and Vincent have known each other for years. Whenever he has a witness that is too hot for even Witness Protection to handle, he contacts Vincent for help."

At that moment they were interrupted by the ringing of Booth's cell phone. He glanced at it then held up one finger. "One moment, I have to take this." He answered the phone, listened for a couple of seconds then responded. "We'll be there as soon as possible." Then he put the phone away and addressed the others in the room. "Brennan and I need to go back to DC immediately. We have a new case. Something about a body on an airport parking structure."

Brennan up to leave then paused. "What about Hodgins car?"

Catherine responded. "I have a friend with access to a plane that can carry you and your car back to DC." She went to the kitchen and made a quick call then returned to the Parlor. "If you meet Elliot at Hanger 23 in one hour he will have a plane waiting that can take you both and your car back to DC. You will have to hurry."

Booth and Brennan thanked Catherine for her help and started for the door. At the door Brennan turned back to Catherine and Vincent to ask a question that had been nagging at her since she learned that Vincent's unique appearance was due to an alteration of his genetics. "I have to ask. What was that madman trying to accomplish with you and the others?"

Catherine responded. "We don't really know what he had planned. As far as we know, what records remained, were destroyed when Gabriel's place burned down." Then Catherine's smile turned mischievous and she reached up and ran her fingers through Vincent's thick mane. "Personally, I think he was trying to find a cure for hair loss."

The End

'Bones' and its characters are owned by Twentieth Century Fox.

'Beauty and the Beast' and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures.

No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.