Brennan had called Kelly early in the morning inviting her out for a late lunch at the diner. Kelly happily accepted. It might have been the fact that she was doing nothing with her life, but she was starting to notice just how unbelievably busy her brother and her friends really were. In contrast to her current situation, they never seemed to stop working.
"So how's life?" Kelly asked after she accepted a plate of food from the waitress.
"Busy." Brennan smiled.
"You know, the people you work for are dead. They aren't going anywhere." Kelly smirked back. "You could take a break every once and a while."
"I'm here." Brennan laughed. "This is my break."
"I feel so honored." Kelly swooned with sarcasm then smiled back.
"Booth and I just wrapped up a case last week." She offered as small talk, a concept she was still adjusting to. "Bodies were found over four states, all the same amount of decomposition and murdered the same way."
"Serial killer?" Kelly raised an interested eyebrow.
"It appeared to be that way, but it was actually two killers. Twins."
"Ooh, juicy!" Kelly leaned in and sipped her Diet Coke. "Acting as one? That's psychologically fascinating."
"Dr. Sweets is having a good time with it." Brennan nodded. "His profile was dead on, with the exception of the twin phenomenon. It has been nearly impossible to identify which twin killed which victim."
"I would hate to have your job." Kelly laughed and sat back.
"What are you doing these days?" Brennan decided to broach the topic
"A little of this, a little of that." Kelly shrugged. "I've become addicted to Perez Hilton." She saw the clueless look on Brennan's face and explained, "A celebrity blogger. I spend hours on his website reading celebrity trash. Oh, I've gotten involved in community theater!"
"Community theater?"
"It was a total accident. Jeremy's little sister does theater and the community theater she is doing a show with has been having issues with the 501(c) non-profit status and he asked me to take a look. I showed up for one rehearsal and his sister, Julia, managed to rope me into doing publicity." She fished into her purse and pulled out a post-card sized flyer. "Oklahoma. Julia is Aido Annie and she's honestly quite good. Jeremy and I are going opening night, you should check it out."
"I enjoy theater." Brennan accepted the card and looked at it, wondering if Booth could be dragged along.
"Really?"
"Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals are classics. I remember my mother and father watching the movies when I was little." She smiled fondly and slid the card into her purse. "I'm glad you're involved with something."
"Well, I had to be. Jeremy is always involved with his sister's productions ever since she was 8. Building sets, hanging lights… you know, Jeremy could really teach Seeley a thing or two about hovering." She laughed a little. "Maybe that's why they get along now, the whole over-protective older brother thing."
"He cares."
"Whoa, déjà vu!" She laughed a little. "We've totally had this discussion before."
"But the foundations of the discussion have not changed at all, so perhaps we'll be having it a few more times." Brennan winked quickly. "Have you started looking for a new job?" Brennan asked cautiously. Judging from Booth's reaction to the topic, she assumed it would be a sore spot for Kelly as well. Kelly simply shrugged.
"I've been going out to bars that a few lawyers from other firms go to. I've been networking, but no one seems to be hiring right now." She sighed. "Either that or they don't want to hire me."
"Why would they not want to hire you? You're a very aggressive and smart lawyer." Brennan recalled "You do your job well."
"I have now apparently been black-listed."
"Who would do that?" She wouldn't admit it out loud, but being a lawyer seemed like being a part of a secret society that Kelly should never have been a part of.
"Martin."
"But you spoke so highly of him."
"Yeah, but I pissed him off." Kelly laughed as she took a sip of her soda. "I have learned very quickly if you get on his bad side, he can destroy you. Which is exactly what he's done." Brennan looked at her quizzically and Kelly continued. "He used to be vice president of the Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He knows people and now I'm known as the defense attorney with ties to the FBI. Not exactly a good thing when I want to work for a large firm. Large firms who aggressively seek out high profile cases like the ones that you and Seeley solve. I'm useless now."
"That's illogical." Brennan shook her head. "You can't change who you're related to."
"No, you can't, can you." Kelly smirked a little. "And the merits of my work should be enough, right? But it's not. Not when your brother is a high profile crime fighter." She chuckled to herself. "Who knew that what you and Seeley do, something so heroic, could be so catastrophic for me?"
"I'm sorry." Brennan looked down at her plate of half-eaten food.
"Eh," Kelly shrugged. "Don't be. I could easily solve the problem if I were so committed to doing so. I could move out of the area. But I don't want to, so I'm still trying to figure out what to do."
"The Jeffersonian is hiring legal counsel." Brennan offered with a smile. "I can put in a good word for you."
"No, please." Kelly shook her head. "Like I said, merits of my own work, not the work of my family and friends."
"At least let me help you make orange juice." Brennan said after a second of thought.
"Orange juice?" Kelly choked back her soda.
"Yes, life has handed you a proverbial lemon." Brennan placed her hand, palm up, in the air. "So now you have to make orange juice."
"You've been talking to my brother." Kelly narrowed her eyes and smiled.
"He is my partner." Brennan's hand fell to the table
"He's a friend, too." Kelly laughed. "I guess it's alright for friends to share their woes."
"He had nothing to do with this, it was my idea."
"You ran it by him first I assume."
"Of course."
"And he didn't object." Brennan shook her head. "Of course." She sighed. "Have you ever heard of the Senoi tribe?"
"In Malaysia? They're capable of lucid dreaming."
"They control their dreams and they are among the healthiest people in the world. There is no fear, no unhappiness…" She swallowed and continued. "I want that. I know it's close to impossible in this westernized world, but I want to control my dreams, I don't want to be afraid anymore."
"Psychologists have found that another key aspect of the Senoi tribe's superior mental health is the fact that as a community, they share their dreams, talk about the symbolism. It's called dreamwork. When they discuss their dreams, they talk about how they change their behavior and attitude in future dreams." Brennan explained, very familiar with the Senoi phenomenon. "They discuss it with their families. The families help eradicate fear and unhappiness, it's not something that the Senoi people are capable of doing themselves."
"I have a family, I have you, but what I'm saying is that I need to control my dreams."
"Make orange juice." Brennan repeated, trying to rephrase her statement in a way that Kelly would understand. "You're dreaming of lemonade, make orange juice. Yes, we're your family and who better to help you?"
*
10 year old Seeley Booth crept down the hallway, skipping over the third, fifth and eleventh floorboard, knowing they would squeal under pressure. He stood at the top of the stairs, straining to hear what was happening downstairs. He heard the tell tale sounds of his mother in the kitchen, washing the dinner dishes and a deep rumbling from the garage. His father must be in there, sitting in the car. That's what his father did now. After dinner, he would go and open the garage door and get in his car. Sometimes he would drive away, but sometimes, like tonight, he would just sit in there. Seeley didn't know what he was doing out there, but he was happier knowing that his father wasn't in the house.
Certain the coast was clear, he continued down the hallway. The room at the end of the hall used to be Jared's room. Ever since she came a few weeks ago, it was hers. Jared and Seeley had to share a room, which didn't make Seeley very happy. He was older than Jared and Jared simply didn't understand that he needed little brother-free time.
The door was slightly ajar, but the lights were turned off. He crept towards the door, vigilantly looking over his shoulder to make sure no one was around. He pushed the door gently, knowing that if the door was opened more than 6 inches, it would make a loud popping noise. Carefully, he stepped into the room and breathed the familiar scent of baby powder.
Seeley took a few steps into the room before he stepped on a wooden block. "Damn it." He muttered. He knew he wasn't supposed to say things like that, but it made him feel older, more mature and worldly. Plus, his dad had said it when she was dropped off at their front door, so in his mind, that might as well have been her name.
Slowly, he made his way to the crib in the corner. He placed two hands on the rail and pulled himself closer to peer in. He wasn't expecting two round brown eyes to be staring back at him.
"Hi." He said as she blew a little bubble out from between her lips. "You're kind of gross, you know that, right? I mean, you poop a lot. More than I do. And you're annoying. The ladies at church, they've renamed you. "Kelly Booth the Cutie Pie." I think it should be "Kelly Booth the Poopy Head." How about that?" He criticized as he rested his chin on his hand.
Kelly reached a tiny, pudgy fist up to grasp at him, but she missed, closed her fist and pulled it back in.
"You're not too smart, are you." He laughed and stuck out his finger and dangled it over her. She reached up again and this time was able to grab something. "But I guess you learn quick enough." He acquiesced with a grumble. He wiggled his finger slightly seeing if she would hold on. She didn't let go.
"You shouldn't have come here. Your life is going to be so different now." He said while turning his wrists in lazy circles. "I should hate you. You're stealing everything away from me. My mom doesn't stop talking about you. When you two picked me up from school today, I heard all the other mother's talking about Dad's bastard baby. That's you." He reminded. "Mom couldn't pick me up from baseball because you had a doctors appointment. Jared got left at school last week because you were sick and Mom was too busy with you. And Dad…" He trailed off and looked at her closely. She had brown eyes, the same exact shade that looked back at him when he looked into a mirror. They stared back at him, wide and unblinking, as if challenging him to give up. "Dad doesn't even know you're here. He pretends we're all gone, I guess."
He stopped talking again, still twisting his wrist around and she was still holding on tight. After a few minutes, she started making gurgling noises and kicking her legs as if she was aiming at his hand. The gurgling turned into a whimper.
"Hey," Seeley looked at her seriously. "Don't make too much noise, you'll get us both in trouble." With the sound of his voice, she seemed to calm down. She let her legs fall onto the mattress and she blinked once and then held his gaze. "You like it when I talk to you, huh?" He smiled. "You like to know you're not being forgotten. I wish I knew I wasn't being forgotten."
As if in response, she yanked on his finger, pulling him further over her crib. Shocked, Seeley started to pull away, but she looked up at him and with a big, gummy grin. She smiled at him. For the first time since she was welcomed into his dysfunctional family, she smiled. The warm feeling he felt bubbling up inside of his belly wasn't a reaction he expected. Her smile spread through out her face, causing her eyes to squint a little and he smiled back, not knowing his grin was almost an exact reflection of hers.
"I guess we've just got to stick together." He whispered conspiratorially. "Make sure we're not forgotten, right?" She blew another spit bubble and he cringed. "But first, you have to get older and get over this spitting thing. It's really is gross."
..fin..