A/N: Thanks again for the reviews guys! I'm so glad you're enjoying what I'm doing with this, and hope you keep on telling me what you think (and keep getting rewarded with the quick updates). Huge kudos to paperdoll39, the only one who caught the Rent reference I couldn't resist last chapter (Angela's landlord shutting off her power on Christmas Eve). Anyway, not much to say about this one...it ended up being way more intense than I originally planned, and I love it for that. Hope you guys do, too.
Chapter Three
Here we are as in olden days…
They'd been walking for ten minutes down the deserted robe when Brennan said quietly, "I don't think I want to keep doing this."
Albert nodded, unsurprised. "Yeah, I could see you thinking that. That's why I'm giving you a little break while we walk."
Brennan blinked at him, confused. "I thought we were on our way to see Cam."
"Well, we are," Albert said matter-of-factly. "But you saw what I did last time. I could have us there now if needed…besides, Cam's in New York. We can hardly walk there."
Abruptly, Brennan stopped walking. "Cam's just…she's just in New York? Like she's supposed to be?"
Now it was Albert's turn to look surprised. "You knew that?"
"Yes, she…she was taking Michelle there for Christmas. To visit family."
"Oh," Albert nodded knowingly. "Forgot about that. Silly me. But, no, she's living in New York now. Actually…" He pulled out a pocket watch and squinted at it . "Yes, she's still working right now. We should hurry though, if you're ready."
Brennan sighed; she didn't feel even a little bit ready, but she felt herself nodding.
"Great. Right there." Albert pointed behind Brennan, and as she turned she saw, instead of a deserted street, the entrance to a morgue.
Albert brushed past her. "Let's go, doc."
Following him, Brennan shook her head slightly, losing count of all the impossibilities she'd witnessed that night.
Soon, they were walking down stairs to a basement, and then pushing through the door of a small, cramped morgue.
Cam was the only one inside, standing over one of the three corpses laid out on tables and making notes. She had headphones in her ears, and like Angela, she didn't look up at their entrance.
Brennan felt herself relax somewhat. This wasn't so bad. The morgue was tiny and ill equipped, yes, but the memory of Angela and, worse, Hodgins' grave was too fresh for this sight to be anything but a relief.
However, Albert shivered suddenly beside her. Arching an eyebrow at him, Brennan asked, "You okay?"
"Sure, you know…morgues. Death. Brings back bad memories."
"Right," Brennan muttered. "So, go ahead, explain why Cam works in New York."
"No forensics department at the Jeffersonian without you. So she was never transferred...worked for years."
Brennan frowned slightly, circling the room, still disconcerted by Cam's complete unawareness of their presence. "Granted, it's fairly inefficient and less than ideal compared to the Jeffersonian but…this doesn't seem so terrible."
"It's not," Albert agreed slyly. "She'll be having Christmas with her father and sisters tomorrow, after all. Though she does stay here pretty late most nights, having no one at home."
Brennan paused in her survey of the room, glancing from Cam to Albert. "What do you mean, no one at home? She has Michelle."
Albert made a face. "Well…"
"What?"
He shrugged apologetically. "She wasn't working the case, when Michelle's father died. She did hear about what happened of course, and she flew down for the funeral. Only saw Michelle once, and the girl was very angry-"
"No, she…that happened, but Cam went back. She kept going back-"
"Without the case, there was no reason to," Albert interrupted. "Besides…you weren't there to suggest she take Michelle in."
"Oh…." Brennan turned back to Cam, her voice trailing off. She'd forgotten that. "So…Michelle is…where?"
Albert pursed his lips, appearing to think. Finally, he said, "I guess we could go there, too. Yes, actually, that's probably smart considering…come with me."
Brennan followed obediently, trying not to think about the fact that she was starting to accept the strange, twisted logic of this night.
The two of them walked up the stairs and out the door of the morgue, only to once again face a completely different setting outside than had existed when they entered.
There was a house in front of them, small and dilapidated, with toys littering the yard. Albert nodded Brennan up the walk. "Come inside."
The lighting inside was dim, and the carpet was dirty. A woman sat in front of a blaring television in the living room, smoking. A few kids ran past Brennan and Albert as they walked inside, and the woman didn't look over at them.
Albert nudged Brennan forward. "Back there, the second door…"
Soon they were entering a tiny bedroom, with two twin beds. One was unoccupied, but on the other, Michelle was stretched out, reading a book.
Albert shut the door behind them as Brennan's eyes fell in the corner…clothes were spilling out of a dropped garbage bag. "This is her foster home?" Brennan whispered, though of course Michelle couldn't hear her.
Albert had barely nodded before there was a sudden pounding on the door. Michelle jumped, dropping her book and drawing her knees up against her chest, suddenly looking terrified. A deep, male voice shouted from the other side of the door. "Girl, what have I told you about locking this door?"
Michelle's eyes were screwed tightly shut, her breathing suddenly shallow.
"Open the fucking door!" The voice repeated, and then there was several large thumps, until the door swung open on its own, and the a large man strode in, slamming it shut again behind him.
"I've told you about that," he snarled, approaching Michelle's bed.
"I'm sor-"
The girl never got the sentence out before the back of his hand connected with her cheek.
Brennan sprung forward instantly. Albert murmured a protest, a reminder that it was useless, but Brennan ignored him, seizing the man's arm and preparing to throw him off Michelle.
But her grip was useless, and the man moved as though completely unencumbered. He kept his gaze fixed on Michelle. "It's almost Christmas. And I know how I like to spend my holiday…."
"Please," Michelle whimpered, physically drawing away as much as she could as he leaned on her bed. "Please don't…."
He slapped her again, hard. "Don't ruin it." The man grabbed her arm with one hand, swinging himself up on the bed, cupping her between the legs as he pressed his body over her. "It'll all be over soon…"
Brennan felt like her chest was collapsing, her vision swimming in front of her eyes. Michelle was crying, and the man was undressing, and Brennan was drowning in her own memories…
You're a pretty one…I think it's time you show your gratitude…
Make a sound and I'll kill you….you scream you ruin everything….
It'll all be over soon…
"No, no, no, stop it, please don't, stop it, don't…." Brennan wasn't aware whose voice she was hearing, her own or Michelle's, but then Albert was pulling her out of the bedroom, away from the whimpers, and suddenly she was standing on an empty street again, shivering violently.
Brennan slowly sank down, sitting on the side of the road, unable to hold herself up anymore. She swiped a hand across her face, surprised to find it soaked with tears.
"I'm sorry about that," Albert said quietly after a long moment, and his voice sounded unsettled. "You can take a second…"
"We have to go back to Cam," Brennan cut him off in a small, fragile voice that didn't sound like her own. "We have to tell her to take in Michelle, she….she'll do it, she loved her-"
"We can't do that," Albert told her gently.
"Why the hell not?" Brennan burst out. "Especially you, you claim to be this…this angel, a supernatural representative of a deity, yet you claim you can't help her? You want to just leave her there while he breaks her, she's a child-"
"I'm your guardian angel," Albert said sadly, sinking down beside Brennan and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Not hers."
Brennan jerked away violently, anger pulsing through her veins. "Then where is hers, according to you? Who doesn't think that is what merits being rescued from?" She paused her chest heaving, "And, actually, where were you when…" Her voice cracked, and Brennan pressed her lips together, stopping herself.
"…when it was happening to you?" Albert asked.
Ducking forward, Brennan pressed the heel of her hands against her eyes, not answering.
"I know it isn't fair," Albert added eventually. "I know none of what happened to you was fair. Cal Harris was a bad man. And you didn't deserve what he did to you."
They sat in silence for a long time. Finally, Brennan broke the silence, begging in a small, unsteady voice, "Please tell me how you're doing this."
With a small smile, Albert told her, "I can't offer you any explanation that's going to satisfy you, doc. But you can't discount observation, and all I can hope is that you've observed enough tonight, so far, to understand. And to trust me." He paused. "Whenever you're ready there's more to see."
Slowly, Brennan nodded. "Can we just…sit for a few more minutes?"
"Of course."
Closing her eyes, Brennan cradled her head in her hands for a long time, waiting until that feeling of being stuck in her past gave way.
To the bizarre, unsettling present.
She was almost afraid to ask who was next. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she'd realized that, eventually, it was Booth they'd be seeing. And she had no idea what to expect.
But when, after a good twenty minutes of silence, Albert tentatively asked, "You think you're about ready to go?"
"I don't know," Brennan murmured honestly. "Where are we going now?"
"Well, that depends…" Albert once again pulled out his pocket watch and squinted at it. "Yes, I think we've got time to check on Dr. Sweets on our way."
Cutting her eyes at him warily, a ball of dread tightening in her stomach, she asked, "On our way where?"
Albert smiled slightly. "To your brother's."
A/N: Thanks again for reading everyone! Three more to go...and we're getting super close to the big one (three guess as to who that revolves around). Keep up the great feedback! You guys are the best.
