Chapter 15
Friday morning found Brennan at her desk before 7 am, well before the arrival of the rest of the lab's other staff. She was pleased that the next person to arrive for work was the Institute's geneticist who ran the sequencing equipment. Her request was graciously approved to have her two samples placed at the top of the day's priority list.
Everyone on staff knew the significance of these remains and, if at all possible, were happy to be helpful. The mtDNA test would answer her personal question regarding the origins of hopefully one of the infants, but she reminded herself to treat both of them like any other set of unidentified remains under investigation.
The others trailed in soon after carrying coffee and a bag or two of donuts. As there were no other cases besides the two infants and Limbo cases, Brennan had no trouble getting approval from Cam to put the others to work on the infant remains. The personal aspect for Brennan was incidental to the fact that the infants were a development from a previous Limbo case that just happened, by coincidence, to be her mother. Brennan's relationship with her supervisor had sometimes been strained but, in this instance, she was happy to accept Cam's heartfelt support for the search for her sister.
Hodgins began work on soil samples and trace evidence while she and Zack examined the remains arbitrarily designated for convenience as Infant "A" and Infant "B". X-rays, MRI scans and other procedures were completed first so that a virtual set of tissue markers on temporary computer models of the skulls would enable Angela to start on facial reconstructions. Her results would then be aged to produce images that would be able to show discernible features. Her completed images would then be compared to the actual skulls once the bones had been cleaned by Zack's flesh eating beetles.
She chose Infant "B" that was the smaller of the two wrinkled, soil-stained and disturbingly doll-like remains, leaving the other for Zach to process. Her choice was consistent with her father's story of a premature birth between 7 and 8 months gestation. Fibers were collected that on examination would match fabric remnants found in the soil supporting the assumption that they were each wrapped or clothed before burial. One of the first details established in both cases was that they were female and had been either stillborn or died close to the time of their births due to the attached remains of their umbilical cords.
It was almost noon and Brennan and Zach had just finished their examinations when the sound of footsteps walking up to the platform filtered through their concentration. They both looked up to see Booth standing at the top of the stairs, apparently not wanting to approach any closer and looked a few shades paler than usual. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw him cross himself and mutter. She remembered that recitation of a verse know as a "Hail Mary" often accompanied the movement of his hand. She understood the sentiment of his reaction to seeing the infant remains on the tables but didn't have the luxury of keeping her distance. She often used her concentration and attention to detail to mask any emotional reaction she might have to the subjects that appeared on her examination table.
"Hey, Bones, ummm... I'll just wait for you in your office after...ummm, I have to update Cam anyway," he said hesitantly before he turned and walked back down the stairs. He swiped his keycard quickly to complete his escape. Seeing dead babies always made him feel off-balance and queasy. The images inevitably got mixed up in his mind with the joyful memories of his son at that age.
Brennan exchanged a sympathetic smile with him as he left and said," Okay, we're almost done here. Zach's just about to take them to be cleaned."
"Don't need to know that, Bones," he called from the ground level corridor as he walked to his meeting with Cam. The last thing he needed was the mental image of Zach's beetles at work on the tiny remains.
Half an hour later, Booth entered her office to see Bones seated at her desk frowning at her paperwork. She looked up and got caught in the snare of his brown eyes and electric smile. He did one of his famous lean-ins over her desk and stopped several inches from her face.
"Let me cash in my raincheck from last Monday and take you out for lunch," he said, searching her face.
She responded with a smile of her own, met his gaze a few inches closer and said,"Sounds like a good idea."
She got up from her desk, grabbed her stuff and took a few steps ahead of Booth towards the doorway. He reached for her arm and pulled her back into his arms for a kiss that took her breath away and sent tingles down to her toes.
"Sorry, I couldn't wait any longer," Booth said when they separated, both breathless. He knew she was serious about their proper conduct at work which he, of course, agreed with in principle.
"We haven't got a chance of hiding this for long from Angela and the others but are you worried about Cullen?" she asked from her comfortable position within the circle of his arms.
"It would be nice to avoid the conversation for as long as possible," Booth acknowledged. "With him, it's more of a 'don't ask, don't tell' kind of situation and as long as nothing embarrassing gets back to him, we should be okay for a while."
"I'm fine with that. How about you?" she asked quietly.
"It could be one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Almost as hard as letting you carry a gun," he said with mock seriousness tempered with his customary twinkle and smirk. He grimaced with pain as she stood on his shoes to kiss him with a gleam in her own eyes.
"Lunch is going to cost you for that, Agent Booth. The Diner's not good enough," she said with an evil little chuckle. She stepped off his smarting toes and pushed a laughing Booth out of her office and continued herding him towards the lab's main doors.
Unbeknownst to Booth and Brennan, their entire intimate and playful display had been observed by the rest of the 'squints' from their vantage point along the edge of the platform near Brennan's office. Hodgins and Zack wore shocked expressions while Angela beamed with the satisfaction of a matchmaking campaign progressing more or less on schedule.
By the end of the day, Infant "B" was confirmed as being Brennan's sister, Elizabeth. The first evidence found came from one of the soil samples that contained a tarnished silver dolphin charm and the remains of a few links from the chain. As soon as Hodgins found it, he grabbed Angela to be with him when he presented the evidence to Brennan on the platform where she had begun work on another Limbo case. When she saw Hodgins approach with Angela in tow, she knew what was coming. She was about to learn the answer to a question raised moments before her world blew up four days ago.
Silently, Hodgins handed the metal tray of necklace fragments and tarnished silver. She looked at the tray's contents. She said a soundless,"Oh!" and looked up at Hodgins for the answer to her unspoken question.
"B" he said quietly. Her composure crumbled for the first time that day. She carefully placed the tray on the nearest table with a trembling hand. Hodgins was then surprised to receive a quick hug from her and a whispered, "Thank-you," before she moved to Angela to do the same. Brennan then rushed off the platform without swiping her card and caused a short flurry of activity from the posted guard who hastily reported her false alarm.
Brennan sat in her office chair to pull herself together while she looked at her mother's picture that always sat on her desk. A few minutes later, Angela entered and handed her two pieces of paper. One contained the results of the mtDNA test that confirmed the evidence Hodgins found. The other was her facial reconstruction drawing of "B" made by hand from the 3-D results her calculations had created in the Angelator. It showed a little girl of about 5 years old with strong features of her own but was undeniably the daughter of Ruth Keenan and sister to Brennan. Angela reached over to give her friend's hand a squeeze and left the office to leave her in peace.
Angela saw Booth entering the Lab and stopped him to quickly fill him in on the recent events.
"Should I go in?" he asked her.
"She was almost seventeen when they died. Don't you think she's been alone with this long enough," Angela said and urged him with expressive hand motions to get moving.
From the same viewpoint as earlier that day, Hodgins, Angela and Zach watched as a teary eyed Brennan stood up from her desk and rushed into Booth's arms as soon as he entered her office. After a moment, Angela silently shooed Hodgins and Zach away as all three returned to their individual workstations.
THREE WEEKS LATER...
The lab had still not made any headway in identifying Infant "A" when they received an official request to have the remains returned to Salisbury authorities. A member of the public, an elderly woman in her 70's had come forward to claim them. She had apparently become quite distraught when she had visited the little cemetery and found evidence that her long dead child had been dug up. She confessed to having been an unwed teenaged mother when her baby had been a stillbirth and at that time so long ago, had not wanted to be subjected to her community's censure. Since the woman was not financially able to properly rebury her daughter, Brennan made a generous donation to the Salisbury's cemetery maintenance fund and paid for the reburial at the original resting place of Infant "A" who, as it turned out, did have a name. Her mother had named her Henriette.
Brennan had her sister's remains inserted into her mother's casket and replaced the headstone with one that could include the addition of her sister's name and year of death. Russ was expected to be released from prison on parole sometime in the next month or two. When that date was known, they would plan a small memorial gathering for family and their close friends. She recognised that some of her society's rituals were useful and an opportunity to say goodbye to those who had died was an important one that she would honor.
She only regretted that there was no way that prison authorities would ever risk allowing her father to join them. The only gesture she could make was to give him a copy of Angela's drawing. When she gave it to him, it brought him to tears when he saw it. She knew that he was thankful for the gift and was instructed to thank Angela for her beautiful work. She would give one to Russ as well.
On the day of her sister's memorial, a few weeks after Russ' release and his wedding to Amy, her family and friendsmet at the gravesite for a small service of remembrance that Russ and Brennan had created between themselves. Afterwards they all went to the prison to spend time with Max. They had been able to arrange for use of the same trailer as the previous Christmas. One of the special arrangements that they were able to make was to play a friendly game of baseball in the prison's recreational area.
Booth and Parker came too. It had taken a long time for Booth to convince Rebecca to let Parker join them at the prison but she eventually agreed. Parker brought his new prized possession. The previous weekend had been his birthday spent at his Grandma and Grandpa Booth's house. While there, Booth had retrieved his grandfather'sglove from his brother's toy chest in the attic just where Anna had said it was. Booth was overjoyed that Parker was thrilled with his new gift and even liked the story about it having been passed on from his dad's grandfather.
Brennan had been a little nervous before hand but had to admit that it was one of the best days of her life.
SIX MONTHS LATER...
Brennan sat at her desk late one night at the Lab trying to finish a chapter of her latest book. Thinking of her plot dilemma, she rested her chin on her hand. After a moment, she was startled to hear the happy sounds of giggling children at play. She looked up to see a little girl about five years old with shoulder length brown hair and familiar facial features standing in her doorway.
"Hi, Tempe," she said shyly with a smile.
"Come on, Beth. I want to show you something," came a far away voice.
"Anna, wait up," the little girl called, looking behind her.
The little girl gave Brennan a little wave and ran down the hall. The laughter of several children faded away as Brennan woke with a start. She got up from her desk and went to check the hall outside her office. There was nothing to see and even listening carefully resulted in only normal office sounds. With nothing to explain her experience, she returned to her desk. She looked at the framed pictures of her mother and sister on her desk and instantly recognised the little girl she saw as Beth.
Smiling to herself, sheturned off her computer, grabbed her things and quickly made the decision to go home. Hallucinations were known to occur as a result of stress, overwork and a lack of sleep. That's it. She just needed some sleep.
She arrived home and soon crawled into bed. She snuggled up to the warm body next to her. He turned to wrap his arms around her and kissed her with a feather touch as if from a dream.
"Goodnight, Bones," he whispered. "Night, Booth," she said.