I am flying on this story, I am already pre-writing Chapter 3.
Note: I will be gone from April 5th to April 7th in DC (yay! lol) and won't be back most likely until the 10th or the 11th. So just to be aware of that.
Title: The Body in the Story
Summary: Some stories are worth repeating and some people are just worth talking to again...
Rating: T
Genre: Drama/Romance/Mystery/Tragedy
Characters: Temperance "Bones" Brennan, Seeley Booth, Camille "Cam" Saroyan, Tim "Sully" Sullivan, Angela Montenegro, Jack Hodgins, Zach Addy, and Sam Cullen
Other People: Raycheil Alai Raines, Colby John Raines, Geoffrey Tim Jakes, Autumn Joyce Sparks, Gregory Alan Collins, Dakota James Jones, and Shelbey Alaina Jones
Pairings: Booth/Brennan, Ange/Jack, Cam/Sully and family relationships
"We should catch a game while we're down here," Booth remarked, heading into the direction of the museum. By now, it was quarter to six.
Brennan shot him a side look like she had no idea what he was talking about. And Booth took the chance to jump in and explain it to her.
"You know, Bones, baseball game. Phillys are famous here you know."
Brennan nodded. "Yes, I know what you meant by 'game' and I am very familiar with the Philidelphia Phillys. My look was for why would I be interested?"
"First of all," Booth pointed a finger at her, "I wasn't sure you know what I was talking about-"
"Because of my lack for intellectually knowing pop culture references," Brennan cut in. Booth gave her a look intended for non-interruptions. "Sorry. Go on."
Booth took a left. "Secondly, I just thought that maybe when we weren't working on the case, seeing a game would be some good down time."
Brennan hid her smirk. "And your last point?"
"Don't push me, Bones."
"You forgot?"
Booth sighed. "Yeah. I did."
Brennan shook her head and looked out her window. She bit her thumb, then turned her head back to Booth. "Work is everything to me. You should know that by now."
Booth groaned deeply. "Oh, here we go!" He tossed a hand up.
"What? I'm just saying--"
"Yeah, Bones, I know. But do you ever just want to take a break and do something fun for once in your life?"
Brennan shrugged. "It depends on what you will or will not perceive as what's 'fun'."
Booth gave her a look. "What?"
"Merely that based on--"
"Okay, you know what? Forget that I said anything," Booth shook his head and focused his eyes on the road ahead of him and his mind back on the directions.
Brennan fell silent as he took a right, then said, "I didn't m--"
"It's fine, Bones, okay? Just drop it," Booth looked outhis side window, then to her. "Did you figure out who your mystery corpse woman was?"
"No," Brennan shook her head.
Booth squeezed her shoulder gently and gave her a charming 'no worries' smile. "Don't worry, Bones. Everything comes to you in time. You know that."
Brennan nodded and Booth took his hand off her shoulder and made another turn. The sun leaked into the SUV and both Brennan and Booth put on their sunglasses just as the FBI agent pulled into the lot of the Philidelphia museum.
Once parked, the two stepped out of the SUV, showed their IDs and stepped into an elevator. Then it started. Brennan felt her heart pound against her sternum. She felt sweat start to run down the back of her neck and the palms of her hands got clammy. Claustrophobia started to enfulge her almost as soon as she stepped into the elevator.
Booth looked sideways at her. "Bones? You alright? Temperance?"
Brennan nodded, but the agent didn't believe her. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," Brennan swallowed and closed her eyes.
Booth looked at her. "Are you afraid of elevators, Bones?"
"Small spaces."
"I didn't know that."
"You never asked," Brennan sighed and opened her eyes again just as the doors opened, letting her and Booth leave. The agent let her out first, then followed behind her.
"How do you get by it?"
"Slow, easy breathing and a simple, good thought."
Booth smirked, walking beside his partner in perfect stride. "Like what?"
Brennan shot him a look and he hled up a hand in defense. "Just asking."
The two walked down a flight of stairs and through a pair of double doors. They stepped into a large, well-lit room that could have easily been twin to the lab at the Jeffersonian.
Booth whistled. "Wow. They uh, sure do like to have their corporate funding," He looked up, then around. "It's...too shiny still. Too clean."
"Like the Jeffersonian?" Brennan asked smartly.
Booth looked at her. "Hey, I have very high intensions for that place."
Brennan looked at him in confusion. "I don't know what that means. I really don't know what that means."
"You know what, just stop arguing with me," Booth shook his head.
Brenna folded her arms and both her and Booth looked over to their right when a woman dressed in tan dress pants, dark brown dress shirt and a black blazer. Her chestnut brown hair was in a high ponytail and blue eyes soft. Standing next to Booth, she would have been about a mili-meter shorter. Her name tag read Karissa M. Yobe. Her title was indeed anthropologist and she really was young looking.
"Doctor Brennan," Karissa's smile was bright and inviting; her voice was sweet and young.
Brennan smiled in return. "Doctor Yobe, I take it."
Dr. Yobe nodded and warmly shook Brennan's hand. "That would be me. Please, call me Karissa."
Brennan nodded and pointed to Booth. "My partner, Special Agent Seeley Booth of the Federal Bureau of Investigation."
Karissa looked in Booth's direction and smiled, taking his hand in hers. "You must be the detective in Dr. Brennan's books. I can see it."
"What? You read my books?" Brennan asked, slightly surprised.
Booth put his hands in his pockets after he and Karissa broke off the shake. "That's not me."
"No," Brennan agreed. "Defintely not. You read my books?"
Karissa nodded. "Absolutely. All of them. Can't find a better read."
"Yeah, there's nothing like dealing with death, then reading about it," Booth remarked, rocking on his heels.
Karissa and Brennan both looked at the agent before Brennan shook her head. "That's not him. The remains?"
Hiding her grin, Karissa shook her head and Booth rolled his eyes. It was just like her to get right to her work. "Right over here," Karissa pointed. "I just got the remains when I arrived for work."
Brennan and Booth followed the young anthropologist. "Were you informed on the structure of this case?"
Karissa nodded. "I found it a shame, really."
"don't you, uh, seem sort of young, Dr. Yobe?" Booth asked. "I mean, for all this? Death...bodies..." he waved his hand. "Surely a young, pretty woman like yourself would like more out of life than this."
With a smirk, Karissa turned on her heels to face Booth. "Agent Booth, would you care to explain to me my job description scientifically?"
Booth puffed his chest out. "Yeah, sure. You--you and Bones...you, uh, identify bodies and reamins and--stuff." He looked over at Brennan, then fell. "Sorry," he mumbled.
Karissa laughed lightly and shook her head, leading the agent and other anthropologist to a lab table where the bones lay, making a full body skeleton.
"How long have you been studying forensics?" Brennan asked.
"For about four years. I was at the top in majoring anthropology along with my sciences and linguistics in both high school and college."
Booth stood behind Brennan. "What a coincidence. So did Bones," he grinned at his partner.
Karissa looked curiously at the two, but with questioning. "You call her 'Bones', Agent Booth?"
"Pet name," Booth shrugged with a grin at Brennan.
Brennan pulled on a pair of latex gloves and turned her focus to her job and Karissa. "Would you mind if I called my team at the Jeffersonian to asses in this case?"
"Not a problem. Do whatever you have to."
Brennan picked up her phone and tossed it to Booth. "Get the video talk on and if Karissa has a computer..."
"Sure. Right over there," she pointed.
"Great. Booth, call Angela. She'll pick up and get everyone else."
Booth nodded and went to do as Brennan instructed. Turning back to the bones, Brennan examined the remains up and down. "There's no sign of a struggle at all."
"He's cute, Dr. Brennan," Karissa said.
Brennan looked up at her. "Who?"
"Agent Booth, of course."
"Oh. Indications show on the femur and rib bones that she was beaten. Several cracked fragments," Brennan went on.
"You can't tell me that you don't notice him," Karissa continued as well.
"We're just partners," Brennan replied, "can we focus on teh case? Not to be rude to your major, but..."
Karissa held a hand up. "Hey, I'm still young. I have a tendency to get into the romance vibe. Sorry."
"Just like Angela."
"Who?"
"Member of my team. Friend...great artist..."
"And also right here, Sweetie."
Brennan turned around and Karissa looked up to find the fresh face of Angela Montenegro on the large, plasma TV like computer screen. Her long, wavy black hair was held up in two, small pigtail buns and she wore a virbant orang long-sleeved shirt.
Booth grinned at Brennan. "Looks like I'm good for something else after all, huh Bones?"
"What does that mean?" Angela asked, smirk plastered mischeivously on her face.
Brennan shot a look at Booth, then to her friend. "Nothing, Angela." She paused. "Where are Zach and Hodgins?"
Instantly, Zach Addy and Jack Hodgins appeared on the screen behind Angela on either side. Both were grinning almost from ear to ear, as if they had been up to no good. "No worries, Doctor Brennan, your boys are right here and ready for duty," Hodgins joked with a boyish smile and salute.
Karissa hid her laughter of amusement and Brennan rolled her eyes. Booth just shook his head, refraining from saying anything smart that might get him into trouble.
"Thank you for the introduction," Brennan said. "We havea case."
"Already?" Angela asked.
"Yes. I got called by Booth one this morning and flew to Pennsylvania. I'm at the Philidelphia museum now going over the reamins with Dr. Karissa Yobe," she pointed and Karissa waved.
Hodgins made a face. "Wow. Talk about your early morning wake-up acll."
"You got that right," Brennan clicked on the computer. "I'm sending you the file on the case that we know and have so far." Not a moment later, Camille Saroyan appeared on the screen.
"Hey. Got a case I heard."
Brennan nodded. "Raycheil Raines--"
"'Found in the janitor's closet on the second floor of the school'," Angela read, then wrinkled her nose. "How cheery for that guy it was to open his closet and see a decomposed body."
"Says she was a third-grade teacher," Hodgins read. "Lots of stuff in a classroom that can result in toxins. Markers, glue..."
"That could explain the lack of stuggles," Brennan agreed. "Could have fairly and all too easily knocked her out."
Zach spoke up next. "What could you assess from the bones, Dr. Brennan?"
Brennan pointed. "There was bruising on her left femur when we first found her. That and cracks in the ribs suggest beating." She moved to the phlanges. "She also had a long history of cracking her knuckles in three places," she pointed to each.
Booth bit his thumb. "So we have a knuckle-cracking third-grade teacher who Bones thinks she knows." He clapped his hands together. "What can we do with that?"
"Wait," Cam said, "Dr. Brennan knows the victim?"
Brennan made a simple side shrug. "No necessarily know. Just her name sounds so familiar like I know her or should remember her."
"Do you remember anything siginificant about her name?" Angela asked.
Brennan shook her head. "Look, if I'm right and I do know, it will come to me. In the meantime, Booth and I will talk to her husband, friends, and whoever else who may have known her." She looked at Angela. "I need a reconfiguration of the skull from you."
Angela flashed a smile and thumbs-up. "On it, Sweetie." She left the screen and Hodgins sat down.
"What'dya need from me, Doc?"
Brennan hit a key on the keyboard. "I'm sending you sample traces of what we found on the bones as well as a skin fragment to biopsy. Check for the toxins you spoke of--"
"Got it covered and way ahead of you, thanks," Hodgins smiled, then left as well.
"As far as Zach goes," Brennan looked at her grad student. "You can check the bone fragments I am sending to you for anything else at all that you think will benefit."
Zach nodded and smiled, knowing that he would be doing something he loved best. "Thank you." He, too, left and Cam took the seat.
"Do you think Sully would be interested in this?"
Brennan shrugged. "Ask him yourself. I wouldn't know," she unplugged her phone, shutting the screen off and losing the connection instantly.
Booth made a "oooh, not good", face. "Bones, that probably was not a good idea."
"She'll get over it."
"Who was she?" Karissa asked.
In unison, both partners replied, "The boss." And Karissa responded with a face that was much like what Booth had shot at Brennan.
There you have it. Hope you liked! Chapter 3 will be up tomorrow.
Jay
