Your reviews are awesome! Now, let's find out how Elena deals with Alex' secret, and how Tommy deals with his sister.
Chapter 11
Whenever Elena was upset about something, her training either went extraordinarily badly or miraculously well. Today, it had been the latter. She'd performed no less than ten beam routines without a wobble, just because she was hyper-concentrated so she wouldn't have to think about Alex, scared and alone in the shelter, and the horrors he'd been through. As a result of doing five complete bar routines, fifteen Yurchenko vaults and three full floor routines, she'd been absolutely positively exhausted. She'd almost called her dad to ask if he could pick her up. The advantage of biking home, though, was that it was a low-intensity exercise and her hips and knees liked the weightless rotations. As soon as she dragged herself into their house, she found the nearest couch and fell onto it, utterly spent.
Thomas got up and crawled over to the couch. Their mom and dad were still in the kitchen making dinner. "Hi, sis," he whispered as he crawled onto the couch with her, his special Zorro teddy bear in his hands. Mom had told him to take a shower, so he was already dressed in pyjamas and his hair was still damp.
Elena grunted as she draped her arm around her little brother. "I'm dead," she groaned, "You'll have to carry me to bed."
"Are you sick?" her little brother asked her as he put his hand on her forehead. After a few moments, he shook his head. "No, you're not sick. We still have to eat, maybe that will help."
"I did too many routines. My couches even asked me if I thought I was training with the elite girls because I did the same number of routines. You know what elite is, right? The girls on the national team who come on tv?"
"You did that many jumps? Poor sis," Thomas told her and got up off the couch. "I'll make you feel better!" First he ran upstairs, where he grabbed his sister's pillow and her own special teddy bear as well as one of the Mobys. He went downstairs and gave them to her. Then he ran into the kitchen. "Daddy! Elena needs some of your special hot chocolate!"
Booth frowned and wiped his hands on a dish towel. Now that Thomas had stormed in, he realised his daughter hadn't even come into the kitchen to let them know she was home, safe and sound. Booth walked over to Brennan and gently kissed her cheek. "I'm going to check on her." He turned to his son, "Tommy, that means you have to help Mom set the table, okay?" His son nodded and dutifully, he started setting the table.
Booth left the kitchen and walked into the living room, where he found his daughter on the couch, still wearing her sneakers and her jacket, her head resting on her pillow, clutching the two bears he had given her when she was four. He sat down on the coffee table in front of her and mirrored his son's actions, putting his hand over her forehead.
"I'm not sick, just deceased," Elena mumbled without opening her eyes.
"Your brother seems to think hot chocolate might revive you. Do you want some, sweetheart?" Normally, they weren't allowed, but he could see she was dead tired and Booth was willing to make an exception.
Elena nodded her head and opened her eyes to look at her dad, then closed them again. "I did the same as the elite girls today. I have regrets."
Booth knew that his daughter only overexerted herself if she was worried or if she wasn't feeling well emotionally. He also knew that - just like her mom - she needed her space and she was not to be pushed or prodded until she came to him. After the fiasco with the drugs - which he had flushed down the toilet - he was determined to think before speaking. He leaned down and gently kissed her forehead. "I'll help you take your sneakers and jacket off."
"Yes, please," she sighed and rolled onto her back to give her father easy access.
Booth started with her sneakers. He untied the laces, took her shoes off and carried them to the hallway. He grabbed her slippers and put them down next to the couch. When she hadn't moved an inch by the time he returned, he unzipped her jacket and helped her to manoeuvre out of her jacket, like he had always done when she was just a little girl. He grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch and draped it over her. "Are you hungry, honey?"
"No, but I should eat," Elena yawned.
"Dinner is almost ready, rest your eyes for a moment, I'll come get you when you can eat."
Booth walked into the kitchen and walked over to his son. "How would you like to eat in the living room with your sister? Just this once?"
Thomas' eyes widened and he nodded. "Yes, Daddy! Please! I'll go straight to bed afterwards!"
Booth chuckled. "That's not necessary. Go set the coffee table in the living room for you and your sister. But let her rest."
Thomas wrapped his arms around his father. "I will."
Booth bent over and kissed the top of his son's head.
Brennan put the pans on the table and wiped her hands on her apron. "Dinner's ready. I'm going to check on Elena." Brennan walked into the living room and saw the pile of sore limbs that was her daughter. "Hey sweetheart, are you all right?" Brennan asked her softly as she undid Elena's bun and ran her fingers through her daughter's hair.
"I worked a little bit too hard today," Elena said as she lifted her head and then rested it in her mother's lap.
"Because of what?" Brennan wanted to know.
"Because I was able to focus really well today," Elena replied, not wanting to think about Alex but then feeling guilty for not wanting to think about him.
Brennan sensed that there was more to it, but she let the issue go for the moment. In the end, Elena always turned to either her mother or her father. "You should try to eat. I made a pasta with lots of green vegetables in the sauce, so it should help your body to recover from your workout. After that, I can help you take a quick shower if you're still exhausted. Okay?" Brennan soothingly caressed her daughter's forehead.
"Thanks, Mom. That would be nice," Elena said and made an attempt at a smile.
Brennan knew that her daughter hadn't forgotten about Alexander, and she understood Elena might be more than slightly upset about the entire situation. They'd talk more about it once the case was closed. "I'll go get you some dinner, honey," Brennan told her after a few moments, and gently got out from underneath Elena.
Thomas entered with glasses and cutlery. "Dad said we could eat here, isn't that nice?" He approached his sister and sat down in front of the couch, resting his chin on his hands. "Dad is making you hot cocoa..."
Elena smiled at her little brother and pushed herself into a sitting position. "I'll share my hot cocoa with you, brother." She pulled Thomas onto her lap and cuddled him. "You take really good care of me."
"You're my sister, I love you," Thomas said softly as he wrapped his arms around her neck. "When I'm tired you help me, too."
Booth walked in with two full dinner plates and smiled at the picture his kids made. "Come on kids, don't let your dinner get cold." He put the plates down and went back into the kitchen, filling their glasses with water. "If you need anything, Mom and I are in the kitchen. Enjoy." Booth returned to the kitchen and sat down next to Brennan. "What do you think is up with her?"
"The whole situation with Alexander, would be my guess," Brennan told him. "What do you think?"
"Probably," Booth grumbled. After he had talked to the boy, he had disappeared, fallen off the radar, quite some feature for a seventeen-year-old junkie. "You don't think she's still upset with me, do you?"
"I don't think so," Brennan said. "Maybe it's not good that we're not talking about the case. Maybe she'd feel better if she knew more about what's going on."
"Bones," Booth sighed, "you know that's not possible. I'm an FBI Agent, this is confidential."
"I think you should talk to her about her friend, Booth. Elena almost got involved with the case. I think she's not asking us about the case because she knows it's confidential, but it's eating at her and this is how she deals with her feelings. She works herself to exhaustion."
Booth nodded. "I can do that," he told her as he pushed around his food. "You know, maybe I should've stayed a mechanic."
Brennan placed her hand over Booth's. "I know this is all hitting a little close to home, but it is the way it is. You're handling it as well as you can."
"Am I? Bones, our little girl nearly worked herself to death today. Clearly there's something on her mind and she doesn't feel like she can talk to us, otherwise she would've done it by now. I just... I know I was a bit harsh on her, but I was just worried. I think I'll talk to her over a cup of hot chocolate while you tuck Thomas into bed if that's okay with you."
"All right. Don't make it too long, though, because she still needs to take a shower. Don't worry, Booth. You're still a good father," Brennan assured him.
"And you are the best mother I could've ever wished for my children, Brenn." Booth leaned over to her and kissed her softly. "I'm really not hungry, I'm going to see if they need anything. Do you need something to drink or anything else?"
"I'm good. Go ahead," she smiled encouragingly at him.
Booth got up and walked into the living room. Thomas had nearly finished his plate and when he looked up, he grabbed his plate and returned to the kitchen. He sat down next to his mother and continued eating. When his mom stared at him, Thomas shrugged his shoulders. "I don't want you to eat alone, Mommy. Can we go to the park in the weekend?"
Booth sat down next to his daughter and gently guided her into his embrace. "You're worried about him, aren't you?"
Elena hesitated for the longest time. Eventually, she nodded. She had to be careful not to say anything she couldn't say, now.
"You can talk to me, honey," Booth coaxed her gently.
"I just know that he seemed to be in trouble, and hurt, and nice, in the end. And then he has a panic attack and he runs and now he's gone," Elena tried to avoid having to lie to her father while giving him an answer.
Booth hugged his daughter. "You have a right and reason to worry about him, Elena," he told her softly. "I just don't want you to bottle all of this up inside of you. Mom and I are here if you want to talk."
"Not this time," Elena said, "You're both working on the case, I know you don't want me to ask about it and I know that even if I ask, you're not allowed to tell me anything."
"Okay." His brilliant daughter was right of course, but he hadn't realised how hard this was on her. "What worries you the most? Can you tell me that?"
"I worry about where he lives and if it's safe. But also... if he's a drug addict, and his drugs were here, what will he have to do to get his drugs? Or what will happen if he doesn't get them? What if he - accidentally or not - kills himself?" Elena started enumerating all the things that concerned her.
"We can help him with his drug addiction, he's still young Elena, he has his whole life ahead of him. Do you think he might do that? Take his own life?" Booth wrapped his arm around his little girl.
Elena crawled up against her father, needing his protection. "If he comes back, can the FBI put him in a rehab program?" she inquired.
Booth thought about it for a few minutes and nodded. "We could probably help him to fight his addiction, yes."
"Probably? Why would he come back to testify for you if it was just a possibility that he would get help?"
"Sweetheart, that is not just my decision. I would definitely recommend it, but there are other people who would have to agree."
Elena made sure she'd remember what her father said. She'd tell Alex everything. "Dad? Do you think Alex killed his foster father?"
"I don't know, sweetheart. When I saw him, when I spoke to him and took him to the hospital, I noticed that he had several injuries. Those could've been the outcome of a fight, but... he panicked. In my experience, murderers don't panic. Not afterwards, they could panic in the moment and do stupid stuff, but by the time I talk to them, they either want to confess or they're determined to keep it a secret. I do think he is keeping certain things secret, like his drug addiction, but no," Booth kissed his daughter's temple, "I don't think he did it, no matter what the evidence says. I need to talk to him, so that I know I'm interpreting the evidence correctly," he answered her, wanting to truly help her to understand the situation, while remaining as vague as possible.
"So you were just going to talk to him, not arrest him or anything?" Elena asked, glad that her father was giving her responses.
"Yes. I need him to explain some things to me, but I don't think he was responsible. I need to talk to him, so he can help me understand better, so that I can make other people listen," Booth tried to explain himself and his actions.
"So he shouldn't be afraid," Elena concluded, having calmed down her raging brain a bit.
"No, sweetheart, he shouldn't be afraid." Following his instincts, Booth rested his cheek on top of Elena's head and whispered softly, "Please know, that I'm asking you this, as your dad, not an FBI Agent, so you can tell me honestly. Do you know where he is?"
Elena froze in his arms. She was torn between keeping her word to Alex and knowing that it was better for him if her dad found him. "I'm not sure..."
Booth tightened his grip around her and gently rubbed her back. "Usually that means that you do know, but that you don't know if you can tell me. I'm your dad, honey, you can tell me anything. I will respect your choice though, and I won't ask again. Just - if that's the case, that you know, but that you don't know if you should tell me? Just know that a burden shared is a burden halved." He kissed her temple and changed the subject. "How about that hot cocoa?"
"Yes, please," Elena said, relieved that her father wasn't pressing the issue, because she would have probably ended up telling him everything she knew.
Booth got up and went into the kitchen, where he found mother and son doing the dishes together. He grabbed a cup and poured the hot cocao into it. "I think I'm going to read a chapter or two from Elena's favourite book out loud. Would you two like to join us?"
Brennan smiled at Booth, he seemed to be dealing with this. "Go ahead, honey," she told her son, "I'll join you in a minute."
Thomas left and Booth walked over to her. "You did talk to her, right?" he asked her quietly, his words barely a whisper. "You know, about not meeting him on her own?"
Brennan looked at him. "I didn't."
Booth leaned in and kissed her. "Thank you."
"Thank you?" Brennan repeated, surprised. "I figured you'd have wanted me to tell her not to meet him."
"I don't know what made you decide to not tell her not to see him, but you did good, Bones. I'm positive that she saw him. And now, I don't have to waste my energy or jeopardise the relationship with my baby girl, to get her to confide in me." Booth kissed his wife again and returned to the living room, where they all sipped cocoa and listened as Booth read from Herman Melville's Moby Dick.
That night, Elena had no skills and routines to focus on, and all she could think about was Alex. Wouldn't he be cold? Here she was, well-fed, well-loved, showered and safe in her soft, warm bed. Alex would be on the floor with no one but Ripley. He had to be cold. And lonely. Scared. He could be experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Perhaps he was having nightmares about the man who attacked him. Elena tried to push her thoughts away, because she needed to sleep.
She couldn't very well go outside to check on her friend, now. Her dad would notice for sure and she'd lead him straight to the shelter, betraying Alex... Oh, how she wanted to take her dad to the shelter, so they could make sure Alex was safe and cared for as well, like her.
Eventually, Elena fell into a slumber, and after a while, she was finally asleep. In her dreams, though, she was still thinking about Alex. She saw him walk into an alley, and a dirty man sexually assaulting him, after which Alex had to go home feeling upset and ashamed. And then when he finally came home, nobody cared for him or what happened to him. He was alone with his feelings, and when it got too overwhelming, he needed drugs. Elena understood that. In her dream, she wanted to walk up to Alex and tuck him in, or just hold his hand, but something held her back. Suddenly, they were back in the alley, and Elena screamed at him not to go in there, and then she wanted to come and save him, but again, she was held back as if she was behind glass.
With tears running down her cheeks, Elena woke up. She felt deeply upset, and put on her robe and slippers. She tip-toed downstairs, holding Moby to her chest as she continued to cry quietly. She couldn't sleep knowing that Alex wasn't safe. She had to help him, even if he didn't want to be helped.
Wondering what Elena's going to do about the situation? Stay tuned ;).