The Scientist in the Girl and the Girl in the Scientist chapter 4

Hey guys! Thanks again for the interest! You are the ones that make this worth writing. Just a short chapter this time round. But there is more on the way. Will hopefully update before I head off to Mexico. Please let me know what you think! It makes me super happy! And, again, they aren't mine…

It was early and Booth was awake. In all his life he'd never been a morning person but since marrying Brennan he'd adapted. 5am was not an uncommon time for him anymore. But it was still very early and he felt exhausted. He knew that his body wanted more sleep. But whether that was because it needed the sleep or because he was avoiding dealing with things was the question. So he got out of bed, careful not to wake Lola, and started making pancakes. They always made him feel better and he thought it wouldn't do Lola any harm either. They needed some cheering up after the time they'd had recently.

Booth considered again whether or not he should have Sweets talk to Lola. Not necessarily about the incident the day before at the funeral, but about what she'd witnessed. Any child would be scarred from seeing her mother get shot. But Lola…Lola was her mother through and through. She had been upset, yes. Scared, definitely. But she hadn't mentioned it. Booth hadn't even been able to get his mind to think how close it had been to Lola getting shot. And would that have made the whole thing easier? He hated himself for thinking it. Would he prefer Lola to have been killed and Bones to be alive? No. He would never make that choice. It wasn't a choice. He wanted both of them to be alive and well.

Mixing the batter, he heated up the pan. Memories were cascading over him. Memories of the hundreds of times he'd done this for Bones, with her. Memories of watching Lola and her mother trying to imitate Booth's skilled pancake flips. They made him want to cry and smile at the same time. The memories, however, were interrupted with a very graphic image of the bullet tearing through Brennan's flesh, her blood spattering over Hodgin's and Lola. Despite not being there when she'd been shot, Booth had seen enough gunshot wounds to clearly picture how it had happened. Right down to the shocked expression on Bones' beautiful face.

Hodgins had been in shock by the time Booth had gotten there. Paramedics had already taken Bones away. His tiny daughter had been in Hodgins' arms. She hadn't been crying. There was blood smeared across her pale face, matting in her hair. Police arrived moments later. The whole thing still seemed like a blur. Hodgins trying to explain what had happened. Booth trying to make sure Lola was ok. Trying to get to see Bones in the hospital. And he hadn't been able to. Not before she'd died. They said she'd died en route to the hospital. The paramedics had tried to revive her. But Booth knew it was because he hadn't been there to protect her. If he'd been there…

Realising that the pancakes were burning he snapped out of his thoughts. He had to get a better grip on things. He had to be stronger, get his act together. If not for himself, then for Lola. All this standing around crying wasn't going to help her deal with this. He was going to be a man and do what he had to do to raise his daughter. Alone.

When Lola woke and followed the smells of cooking she found her dad standing bent over a smoking fry pan, a spatula in his hand, sobbing. As the black smoke clouded around him she could see his shoulders shaking and the tears falling from his cheeks onto the blackened pancakes. She walked towards him slowly, carefully. Reaching up, she took his hand in hers and held him while he cried.

B&B

"How are you today, Lola?"

"Ok."

"Is there anything you want to talk to me about?"

"No. Is there anything you want to talk to me about?"

Sweets couldn't help but chuckle. It was bittersweet, really. This little girl was so much like her parents. She was only five years old and already making his job harder. But he had given his word to Booth that he would talk to her. He really wanted to talk to Booth. But the agent was immovable. He refused to discuss anything other than Lola with Sweets. He wouldn't mention Dr Brennan, he wouldn't discuss the incident, and he wouldn't even discuss the case. All he was focussing on was his daughter. And as caring as that seemed, Sweets knew it wasn't healthy. Nor was it helpful to Agent Booth or his daughter.

"I thought maybe we could talk about your mum." Sweets suggested, his voice tentative. Working with children was always tricky. They were incredibly resilient and adaptive but certain levels of trauma required extra care. And seeing one's mother shot and getting covered with her blood constituted extra care.

"Ok. If you want to." Lola was swimming in the chair. She looked so tiny. Her little legs hung over the edge and she swung them. It was such a childlike, innocent action that it made Sweets melt a little. Her blue eyes were watching him studiously.

"Well, do you want to tell me about a happy memory you have of your mother?" Sweets watched her keenly. He thought it best to have her remember some good times with Dr Brennan. It would help her deal with her loss. But it would also give her something to hold onto when they started dealing with her death.

Lola was thinking his question over carefully. She was not one to blurt out a response. Just like her mother, Sweets thought again. It was painful, all these reminders. No wonder Booth was in the state he was in.

"When we went camping." She said finally. Sweets nodded.

"Just you and your mother?"

Lola scrunched up her face.

"No, silly. Parker and daddy were there too. We made a fire and we slept in a tent and we caught bugs!" She gave him a winning smile. Sweets smiled back.

"That sounds like fun. But what about a time with just your mum?"

"Mummy and daddy took me to the carnival. Daddy and me ate too much cotton candy and mummy told us we'd get sick. But she laughed when she said it."

"I'll bet she did. And knowing your daddy, you guys had it all over you." She was circling the issue and Sweets was aware of it. He wasn't going to push her too hard, but he was going to try to get her to talk about it.

"Yeah! And then daddy pretended to be sick when we went on the scary ride! But he wasn't really."

"Sometimes its fun to be silly. Were you ever silly when it was just you and your mum?" He could almost feel Booth rolling his eyes at the question. Even though the agent wasn't in the room – at Sweets' insistence – the doctor knew what he would think of this line of inquiry.

Lola gave him a curious look before shaking her head slowly.

"Mummy wasn't very silly." She admitted softly. Sweets nodded.

"But you had fun together?"

"Sometimes it was just us. In her office. And she would show me bones and things. And tell me about her adventures!" Lola's eyes lit up. "She's been everywhere! The pyramids, the jungle, everywhere!" She grinned. Sweets took note of the present tense pronoun. Lola obviously still hadn't accepted her mother's death.

"You're right," he said gently. "Your mother had seen a lot of places." He gave her a soft smile. Lola looked at him for a long moment, taking in what he'd said. A small frown settled on her features. She knew exactly what he was trying to do.

"You want to talk about mummy's funeral." It wasn't a question. Sweets sat back in his seat, not surprised but still thrown by the directness of this little girl.

"What do you have to say about it?"

"It was boring."

Sweets had to chuckle at that. Still a child, then.

"But you understand what it was for?"

"Daddy told me it was so we could say goodbye to mummy. And Aunty Angela said that they would put mummy in the ground in a box and we wouldn't see her anymore. But that I could talk to her anytime I wanted to."

Sweets nodded. Those were reasonable explanations. But it was Lola's complete disassociation with the event itself that had him worried. She did not seem to be making the link between her mother and the body in the coffin.

"Are you sad that that was the last time you would see your mother?"

"I saw her again."

Sweets controlled his expression. He'd been there, of course.

"Do you mean when you ran into the car park?"

"Yes. She was in the car."

"Your car?"

"Don't be silly. It was the man's car. Mummy was in the front."

"Who was the man?" Sweets' interest was piqued. Children imagined all kinds of things after a trauma. It was interesting that Lola's would manifest itself in a way that was so similar to the things her parents dealt with day in and out. Although, perhaps that should have been explanation in itself.

"I don't know. But he was mean."

"Mean? How was he mean?"

"He had mummy tied up. And he hit her. There was blood." She was so serious as she spoke. Sweets processed her words. Obviously she was clinging to the hope that her mother was still living. It was fanciful, wishful thinking. He'd seen it before. And it never ceased to be heartbreaking.

"How could your mother be in the car with the man when she was in the box?"

"Daddy asked me the same thing." Lola wriggled off the seat, landing on the floor and walking towards the window. "He didn't believe me." She watched the people walking out front of the Hoover Building. There was a tap at the door. Looking up Sweets saw Booth's silhouette. Getting up quickly he opened the door and exited before Booth could enter. He wanted to press this subject more with Lola. He didn't want Booth to go in and upset her.

"How is she? What did she say?" Booth was anxious. His very body language was tense. Sweets knew that this was more stressful for him than it was Lola.

"She's fine, Agent Booth. She's quite open to discussion. However, she seems quite uninterested in accepting her mother's death."

Booth cringed visibly at his clinical words. Sweets, as always, catalogued his responses for later reference.

"What can I do? She's convinced that Bones is still alive. She thinks she saw Brennan being kidnapped by some man. I don't know how she's made this up! Where would something like that come from?" Booth's voice became slightly hysterical.

"Agent Booth," Sweets put a calming hand on his shoulder. "Lola is trying to keep her mother alive in any way she can. This outlandish scenario she has created is merely a collaboration of things she has experienced and things she has heard you speaking about. It is a completely normal reaction."

"Do you think…" Booth trailed off, berating himself for letting his thoughts slip.

"What, Agent Booth?"

"Just…she isn't telling the truth is she?"

"Do you think she is?" Sweets asked.

"I don't know! It's crazy, isn't it? I mean, how could she possibly be alive? The paramedics took her to the hospital. There was an inquiry. We have the bullet that killed her at the Jeffersonian." Booth looked at Sweets desperately. The thoughts had been cascading around his head over and over. He'd been dying to say it out loud – to have someone confirm that it was crazy.

"Agent Booth –" Sweets began. The door opening behind him halted his words. Both men turned to face the young girl.

"It is true." She said firmly, gazing right at her dad. "Mummy isn't dead."

Still no answers. I know – I'm the worst person alive! But there are answers on the way. Will Booth and Sweets listen to a five year old? I mean, obviously Bones is dead. So who was it that Lola saw? Send your thoughts through with a review… :P yes. Shameless bribery.