Kelly had called over to the FBI and asked to speak with Booth. The agent that had answered the phone said he wasn't there, and Kelly tried his cell phone with no luck. She needed to talk to someone, so she got in her car and drove to the Jeffersonian. Hoping to speak to Angela, she trudged past security and made her way into the lab. She didn't have to hunt for long as Angela was standing on the platform with Brennan, the rest of the squints and Booth.
"There he is." She mumbled to herself as she stood at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for someone to let her up.
She was only standing there for a minute when Angela tossed her hair over her shoulder and caught a glimpse of Kelly, wearing a t-shirt and jeans and a expression of abject despair and misery in the middle of the work day.
"Oh my God, Sweetie." Angela gasped when she saw Kelly. Everyone else on platform turned and looked at her. Booth's face twisted in confusion then panic when he started processing the sight in front of him.
"Kelly," He flew down the stairs, skipping over the last few steps. "What happened, is Parker-" He stopped in front of her, his arms twitched at his side, not knowing what was wrong and how he should respond.
"Can I talk to you for a second?" Kelly looked down at her pink Converse sneakers.
"What's wrong?" He tried to look in her eyes, but she kept avoiding him.
"In private maybe?"
"You can use my office if you need somewhere to talk." Brennan spoke up from behind Booth. His head turned at the sound of her voice and he realized he didn't hear her following him. He whispered his thanks and she sympathetically smiled back.
He consented to Kelly with a nod, gently steering her out of the lab area and into Brennan's office. Once in the room, he took his hand away from her small of her back and she stood still. He looked at her for a moment. She refused to meet his eyes, concentrating on picking off her hot pink nail polish.
"Do you want to sit down?" He asked uncomfortably. Her eyes flashed up to meet his for a brief second, she nodded, then she looked back down at the ground and walked over to the couch.
Dumbfounded, Booth followed her. Kelly was usually a firecracker, her eyes always twinkling mischievously, but in that brief second he had seen all the fight was gone. Kelly practically fell into the couch, keeping her eyes on her nails. Booth gently sat next to her, keeping a few feet of space between them. He didn't know how to broach the topic of what was bothering her, so he decided to wait.
"You know the Harvey Kennedy case is coming to trial." She said after a minute. Booth nodded, remembering the harrowing experience that was catching Harvey Kennedy. The man had killed his girlfriend's two young sons. He and Bones had chased the man for over a week, finding clues just to have him allude them at the last minute. To calm himself, Booth took a deep breath and nodded. "Martin gave me the case."
"You're going to be representing Kennedy in court?" A wave of nausea passed over him and he swallowed hard to fight it.
"No," She shook her head, looking at her shoes. "I'm not going to representing anyone in court until I can find another job."
"Excuse me?"
"I was fired," She shrugged. "Well, I quit. It was a mutual decision." She looked up at him. "I win. That's what I do and I do it well, but there's always that option I might lose, and if I had to lose, I'd prefer it be to you, but-" She stopped and bit her lip. "But I saw the case notes and I knew how I could win it. A legal loophole. It took me only ten minutes to see it."
"What did we miss?" He didn't know if he was angry or proud at that moment.
"Nothing. You did everything right." She sighed and looked up. "It was a stretch to go for the loophole and I know it, but there was legal precedence. I figured if I was off the case, I could maybe keep it a secret. On the case, I'm obligated to do everything in my power to assure my client's safety."
"What about the safety of the little boys he killed?" Booth growled.
"Not the time for a moral debate." She rolled her eyes. "I went to Martin, asking to be taken off the case and he told me no. We both knew I would win, and he told me that either I win or I walk."
"You walked."
"I didn't have a choice." She sighed "And now I don't have a job. And I'm going to have one well of a time getting a good reference letter from Martin."
"You did this for me?" Booth asked breathlessly after a second.
"No!" She looked up at him. "I did it for me! I don't like being backed into a corner. I'm honored that Martin only sees me as someone who can seal the deal, but I want to be more than that." She turned to face him and tucked her legs underneath her. "I want to be irreplaceable. I hate ultimatums."
Booth laughed darkly and Kelly looked at him curiously.
"Last ultimatum someone gave you, you ended up running away for ten years."
"Yeah," She picked up a pillow that was on the couch and started kneading it. "I guess you're right. But I'm not running away this time."
"Yes you did." Booth pointed out. "You quit, got fired, whatever it is... you ran away from your job."
"Because he was going to make me turn you into a fool!" She protested.
"I don't let lawyers turn me into a fool." He sneered. Secretly, he was glad Kelly left, but he also knew how important that job was to her, and slowly guilt crept in with the gladness.
"I would have won." She said, tilting her chin up in a defiant manner. Booth didn't doubt her for one second. "But you're right, a killer would have been walking free." She seemed to deflate at that moment. The proud, confident Kelly melted into a sad little girl. Booth reached across the couch and pulled her into a hug.
"Hopefully whoever has the case now isn't as smart or devious as you are." He mumbled and she laughed in response.
"My first murder trial." She said almost regretfully. "And I blew it."
"There will be more." He promised as he pulled out of the hug. "Unfortunately."
"I don't know, maybe not for me." She sighed "Maybe this is a sign from God telling me that I should be doing something else with my life."
"You're going to throw away your law degree?" He looked at her in disbelief
"No," She shook her head resolutely. "But I'm going to figure something else out. Weigh my options, try again."
"Sounds like a plan." He smiled
*
12 year-old Kelly Booth threw a sweater into the suitcase sitting on her bed. With the back of her hand, she wiped away a stray tear that made it's way down her cheek.
"Child Services should be here any moment, Kelly." A soft voice came from her doorway and she snapped her head in the direction of the gentle sound. She sighed when she saw Alice Booth, her father's wife and the only mother she had ever really known, standing there. "Do you need any help?"
"No." She quickly replied and threw another shirt in the suitcase.
"I think you should take this." Alice crossed into the room and made her way to Kelly's dresser where she picked up a framed picture of her three children. She looked at it fondly before handing it over to Kelly. Alice had always considered Kelly to be one of her children, as though blood relation was not an issue.
"Thanks." Kelly muttered as she placed it on top of her clothes.
"I know this doesn't make it easier, but I don't want you to go, either." Alice stood there helplessly as a fresh stream of tears made their way down Kelly's cheeks.
"Mommy." Kelly cried out meekly and threw her arms around Alice's neck. The girl's use of Mommy didn't shock her at all. Alice knew that the bond between Kelly and the Booth family was stronger than anything her birth mother, Stephanie, could ever hope to have. If it wasn't for biology and genetics, this girl was hers. For all intents and purposes, the girl belonged with her and her sons. Only the law said something different.
"God is giving you the opportunity to show the world not to mess with Kelly Booth." Alice smiled softly as she held the girl at arms length and pushed a stray blond hair behind the her ear. "Don't forget who you are, Kelly. You're the one who is smart and strong. You're the one who everyone loves so dearly-" She cut herself off before she started crying and pulled Kelly back into a hug. "We aren't going to abandon you. I'm only a phone call away."
"Mom," Jared stood uncomfortably in the doorway. "They're here."
Alice stood up and tried to slip out of Kelly's firm grasp.
"I don't want to go with them." Kelly pleaded. "Can you and Jared take me?"
"Let me talk to them." Alice reassured her with a warm smile. "I'll see what I can do."
She left the room to talk to Child Services and Jared stepped aside to let her pass. When she was down the hallway, he came into the room and sat on the corner of Kelly's bed.
"Do you want me to take your suitcase down for you?" He offered weakly.
"No." She whispered as she zipped it up.
"I wish," Jared's voice caught in his throat. "I wish Seeley was here. He's a lot better at the whole pep talk thing."
"He'd tell me to be strong because I'm a Booth." She sat down next to her brother. "And he'd tell me that he loves me. And he'd say not to get upset because there's more in store for me."
"Then I'll say it too." Jared nodded, knowing that whether he liked it or not, Seeley was right.
"You don't have to." Kelly looked up at him. She looked a lot younger than 12 years. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and she had bitten her lip so fiercely that it had started bleeding. He reached out and held her in a tight embrace.
"You're my little sister, Munchkin." Jared sighed. "Even though you're not going to be in this house anymore, you're still a huge part of our lives."
"I'm scared, Bubba." Kelly whispered into his shoulder, using a nickname that he had forbidden all but Kelly to use. "I don't know her."
"She's your mother."
"Alice is my mother."
"You can have two."
"That's not very helpful." She hiccupped as more tears started falling.
"Look, Kells." Jared pulled out of the hug and place his hands on her shoulders, squaring her to look at him. "The Seeley in your head is right. We love you. Sure, we fight and sometimes we're pretty miserable, but stuff happens and we get over it. But your mom loves you too, so just give her a chance."
"Is this a suck it up and be a man speech?" She eyed him cautiously
"I guess." He shrugged. "I mean, what else can we do?"