Chapter 7
Brennan walked into the lab at 9:30 am and tried to sneak into her office unseen. It didn't work and within 0two minutes had everyone poking their heads into her office to give her grief for being there in the first place and not at home resting. She reassured each one, in turn as each one arrived and went on their way, that she was fine.
Angela had come in to work as well to basically the same reception but, other than being a bit tired, was feeling well enough to work. Since Brennan needed to talk to Angela, she was the only one not immediately shooed out of her office.
Angela was thrilled to learn how well Anna was doing as well as the news about her grandmother. She also noticed there was something different about Brennan somehow, but couldn't quite put her finger on it.
Thankfully, Brennan didn't have any new cases to deal with so was able to put her full attention on her own situation. Sitting at her own desk, Brennan showed Anna's picture to Angela.
"Oh, my God. What is this supposed to mean?" said Angela.
"I don't know. Maybe Dad knows. I'm going to see if I can request the area where my mother's bones were found searched again. Angela, I had an odd dream last night. My mother was there telling me I had to find my sister named Beth. I'm afraid the way she said it implied that she was dead. You know, Dad still hasn't said anything about what happened when Mom died. I can't believe I'm taking this seriously," said Brennan, finding it hard to believe her own experiences in the light of a new day.
"When did you want to visit Anna? I can get away whenever you like, unless something else comes up," said Angela.
"I'll come and get you around noon. My appointment to see Dad and Russ is at 2:00pm. I need to examine the bones from the explosion. Now that they have been identified, we can move on to searching for other answers," said Brennan. Mulling over these new developments, Angela returned to her office.
Brennan joined Hodgins and Zack in examining the two explosion victims. By the time she needed to pick up Angela to head for the hospital, she had made little headway. She knew little things about the victims like childhood injuries and other seemingly insignificant details, but nothing that answered her real questions, all whys. Why has a little girl lost her mother? Why was an allegedly opportunistic employee of an ordinary delivery service dead? She needed Booth for those answers. He was good at that. She could answer many questions but rarely the whys.
Brennan remembered she hadn't asked Booth about the case that had come up yesterday that caused them to leave the bookstore in a rush. She would have to remember to ask him about it later.
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Anna was sitting up in her bed watching cartoons, when Angela and Brennan walked in. They had removed the monitoring wires so she was free to move as she wanted. Angela carried a bag of drawing supplies for her.
"Angela! Dr. Brennan! Did you hear, my Nana's coming!" said Anna, excitedly.
"Yes, we did. We're so happy they found her. How are you feeling? Do you need anything?" asked Angela.
"I'm okay. My arm hurts and my bumps, too. I miss my Momma but she promised to come back and visit me sometimes. She told me I would have to go live with Nana, now." said Anna. Angela and Brennan exchanged glances on hearing this.
"Sweetie, I'm so sorry your Momma's gone," Angela said, with tears rising to her eyes.
"Anna, do you know why anyone would want to hurt your mother?" asked Brennan.
"No, I don't know. Sometimes Momma would have people come into the store who didn't understand things and called her bad names. Sometimes, the phone would ring and after a moment she would hang up looking angry. I don't know why someone would blowed things up," said Anna.
"I brought you some drawing things for when you get tired of watching cartoons," Angela said, handingthe bag over toAnna who immediately dumped its contents on her bed to look though.
"Thank you, Angela. I hope I didn't scare you, yesterday," Anna said.
"What do you mean, sweetie?" Angela asked
"When Momma found me. I saw you looking at us. I followed you to work and watched while you drew Momma's picture. I saw a big box of awful bugs and then I saw you make Momma's picture show up on the light box. Momma came and took me back to the hospital," explained Anna, revealing yesterday's adventures at the forensics lab.
"Angela, what is she talking about?" asked Brennan.
"Oh my god! It was real. I can't believe it. How could you do that?" Angela said, so totally stunned that she had to find a chair to sit down.
"I don't know but it was a lot of fun," giggled Anna. "I wanted to play some more when I woke up this morning but no matter how much I tried, I couldn't make my body sleep without me. Dr. Brennan, are yougoing to look for Beth like your momma wants?"
This child was one marvel after another. Talking to Brennan's mother was one thing but Brennan's whole world view was rapidly turning upside down and opening up a world of mysteries to be considered. Brennan and Angela exchanged another puzzled look.
"Yes, Anna. I'm going to try. I don't really know where to look but we'll start where my mother's bones were found," explained Brennan, feeling that there was no point in trying to shield this particular child from serious issues like death.
"That's probably a good place," Anna said seriously, with a maturity way beyond her years that seemed hard to fathom in one so small.
Remembering the events at the bookstore, Brennan suddenly realized that Anna might be able to communicate with her mother. Feeling incredibly uncomfortable about Anna's evident abilities but taking a chance at these new possibilities, she asked, "Anna, yesterday you said that my mother was there with us. Is she here with us today?"
"No, Dr. Brennan. I guess it's the hospital. Momma showed me how to think really hard to make the voices go away when there are too many. It's not too bad yet but maybe cause I got hurted," Anna replied, reverting back to sounding reassuringly like the little girl she was.
"Then, how do you know about Beth? You didn't mention her yesterday," asked Brennan.
" Momma did. She was with me until I woke up today. She said it was okay to help you if you asked me. Maybe when I'm feeling better the spirit people will come back and talk to me again," answered Anna.
At that moment, an older woman, recognisable as an older version of Karina Maisson, came into the room. She looked tired and sad but at the first sight of Anna, she smiled as she rushed over to the little girl's bed.
"Nana! You're here," an overjoyed Anna cried out as her grandmother carefully picked her up for a big hug, taking into account the girl's injuries.
"Baby, I was so worried about you," Anna's grandmother said emotionally, with tears in her eyes.
"Nana, this is Angela and Dr. Brennan. They got blowed up too," Anna politely introduced them.
"Hello, I'm Marianne, Marianne Maisson. Thank you for being here for my granddaughter," she said, as they all greeted each other and exchanged condolences for the loss of her daughter. "You must be the Dr. Brennan I was told to find. The people who contacted me said you were part of the investigation into my daughter's death. You were both caught in the explosion, too?"
"Yes, that's true. Fortunately, we only had relatively light injuries. It seems, so far, to have been a coincidence. We just happened to be in the store at the time. It's not technically an FBI case but our involvement has changed things. We both work for the Jeffersonian Institution's Medico-Legal Lab with the FBI and other authorities when necessary. I'm a forensic anthropologist and Angela is our imaging artist, among other specialties," explained Brennan. "My partner with the FBI, Agent Seeley Booth will probably be contacting you regarding any questions they may have."
"Of course, I'll help in any way I can," replied Marianne.
"Well, we should leave you to visit with your granddaughter. Please contact me if you or Anna need anything," said Brennan and handed her a business card.
"Thank you so much. I'll call and leave my contact information later when I get settled into a hotel. I came straight from the airport," Marianne said.
Angela and Brennan both gave Anna hugs, said their goodbyes and promised to check up on her the next day. Brennan dropped Angela off at the Jeffersonian, checked her messages and proceeded to the prison for her appointment with her father and brother.