We talked late into the night about Shelby, her husband and her daughter. Her daughter just turned ten and is at the top of her class at her private school. Her dad was a science teacher at the local high school. They had since moved out of New York and they were now living in Kentucky near Shelby's family. He always said that if Shelby couldn't be a part of Payton's life then her family sure as hell would be. I called them once a year on Shelby's birthday and we sent cards back and forth but I had not seen either of them in person since the funeral.
I stood in the doorway of the bathroom watching him look through a dusty photo album, one that I was sure had his friends in it that died. He had not said anything about them as individuals, when he spoke of them he spoke of them as a group, a unit, not ever as individuals. When he finally looked up I walked out to the living room and asked who he wanted to visit first. We already set up a time to meet with Levi and Payton on Wednesday. They were flying up to New York for the memorial at the site and were getting in the afternoon before.
"You look so young." I said sitting down next to him and looking at the picture in the center of the page he had it opened to.
"I was nineteen. It was the day Jeremy and I were being shipped out the first time. We had quite the reputation. We could read each other and could communicate nonverbally better than anyone else who went into camp together. The General finally agreed to train us together as special forces. Sniper and lookout. You always go as double and Jeremy and I were the best they had seen…or so they told us over and over and over again." He said as he turned the page.
It was a group shot of him and five others, he did not look much older, except in his eyes, the shine and excitement of a boy was gone. He pointed to each one, "This is Derek, that is Mitchell, Jeremy, me, that is Adrian and the one in the crazy hat is Jason."
"You were in Iraq." I said looking at the background.
"How do you know that?" He asked confused.
"I was there. Not then, but in 2000. The Army asked me to identify the remains of a Blackhawk crash." I told him.
"I want to go see Derek and Mitchell's families. Their wives were also in the Army and still are. They live on Fort Dix. Jason's wife lives not to far from base and Adrian's kids live with his parents about five miles from Dix."
"I guess we are going to Jersey today then. Did you call and tell them we are coming?" I asked.
He nodded and we walked out to the car. Three and a half hours later we were at the gate for Fort Dix and they asked to see our ID's.
I followed Booth's lead as we walked up to the door. I was not sure if we were at Derek's or Mitchell's families home, he didn't say and I didn't ask. A beautiful young woman answered the door and threw her arms around his neck and immediately started crying. I had tears in my eyes as I watched the show of raw emotion. A couple minutes later she pulled back and Booth with tears in his eyes looked over at me.
"Terra this is Bones." He said quietly introducing me.
"Dr. Brennan it is so nice to finally meet you." She said pulling me into a tight embrace."
"Seel writes us all the time, Kristin and I get together often and share our letters. The guys were all so close. Please come in. Kristin will be over in a few minutes, she was just waiting for the kids to get home from school. They all have half days all week for 9-11. Family time or something to that sort. A lot of people based her have lost family since the war started so this is their way to give back to the kids." She explained as she led us into the living room.
Booth walked over to a picture on the wall, the same one he showed me before we left his house. Kristin walked in while he was lost in the picture followed by two adolescent girls, two pre-adolescent girls and two pre-adolescent boys. I stood up and Kristin came over and gave me a hug and waited for Booth to even notice she was in the room. The kids all walked straight through and into the backyard.
"That picture was taken at the end of their first mission together as a unit. Every time they got shipped out they went together." Kristin said when she saw me smile sadly at Booth.
Hearing her voice Booth turned around and wrapped her in a hug and held her. I could see his shoulders begin to shake and could tell his shield had broken. Kristin held him tight until he regained his composure and then he came and sat next to me on the couch.
"Bones, Terra was married to Derek and Kristin was married to Mitch." He said, I nodded and then Kristin continued.
"Allison belongs to me, Destiny belongs to Terra. They are three weeks apart and were both born when the unit was in Iraq the second time. The guys were gone less than a month and yet they both managed to miss their first born girls being born. They were both delivered a month early though so you cant blame the guys. They are both sixteen next month. I had triplets, two boys and a girl, Aaden, Aaron and Alexis, they are ten. Terra has the youngest, that is Faith, she is nine."
"Their Uncle Seeley sends them all kinds of crazy presents for their birthday every year but we have not seen him in person since the funeral." Terra said softly patting Booth on the leg.
They shared stories for a half hour or so before Booth became quiet. He needed to tell them what happened that day, he just didn't know where to start.
"They seem to be doing well after losing their fathers in the attack." I said quickly.
"Ya, Allison and Destiny are really the only ones who even remember what happened and they were still very young. They have groups and stuff at school that they are able to talk about losing a parent, unfortunately it is a commonality with Army life."
"It is my fault they died." Booth whispered wringing his hangs together so tight his knuckles were white.
The three of us become silent and looked over at him.
"I told them to stay where they were. To wait for directions and I went down to find out what was going on. As I walked out of the building the plane hit the same room I just came out of." He answered leaning forward and putting his head in his hands.
Terra got up and kneeled down in front of him, Kristin moved closer and put her arm around him from one side and I from the other. Terra lifted his chin with her hand and looked him in the eye. "Seeley what happened is not your fault. We do not blame you in the least. We are happy you survived, even if that meant that Derek and Mitchell had to die." She said without blinking, without her voice wavering.
"Seeley you were a family. We knew what happened and we never for a second blamed you. The only blame lies with those who hijacked the planes. That is it. Not you, not the Army, no one other than the pilots."
We held him as he cried, he was finally starting to release his guilt, the guilt he had held for the last seven years, we all cried together for the loss of our family, our friends, I did not ever meet Derek or Mitchell but they were family to Booth and he was my family.
Our hug was broken up by Faith coming in and walking over to Booth. She climbed up on his lap and said quietly, "My Daddy was your friend. He doesn't want you to be sad anymore. He said you have been sad for too long and he wants to see you smile again."
"Faith how do you know what your daddy wants?" He asked her as a tear slid down his cheek.
"My Daddy told me. He said to tell you that they are watching out for you like you did for them. I don't really know what he meant but he said that we have to remember."
"When did your Daddy tell you that?" Terra asked her.
"Before I left for school today. Daddy said that his old friend was coming to visit and that I needed to tell him."
I cut off this chapter for a reason...that being said my reason to cut it off there is that everyone will interpret the ending differently and I do not want to inhibit people's visions of how the conversation ended. I will not pick up my next chapter with the ending of the conversation. Please leave comments! The next chapter will begin with Booth visiting Adrian and Jason's families...
Hope you are enjoying this, I love feedback!!