Hope this chap is enjoyable! Thanks for the reviews, you guys ROCK!
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It's nice to find a kindred spirit. She's got a really bold style, in your face and proud of it. I like that. I like it because art allows her to do that, and because that means it could be allowed of me.
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Brennan and Booth breezed through the doors of the FBI building, one skinny girl in black pants and an oversized gray shirt in tow.
Once in the elevator they exchanged looks, trying to figure out what they would do with April once they got upstairs. She couldn't very well come in while they interrogated Chris.
The answer came in the form of a shrill voice yelling their names.
"Temperance Brennan and Seeley Booth if I wasn't wearing my best Prada heels I'd kick your butts!" Every head in the bullpen and three heads exiting the elevator turned toward Booth's office.
There, arms crossed over a boldly patterned pink and purple blouse and denim jacket, Angela glared at her two closest friends. Her black lace leggings peaked out from under a purple skirt as she stalked over to them, ignoring the questioning looks dozens of agents were throwing in her direction.
"Angela what…"
"Ange are you..."
"Where the hell were you?" Angela had not yet said her piece and was going to make sure she did before the offending parties got the chance, "I've been worried sick! Okay, you have to call me when you're going to do something like this. You have too many run-ins with mobsters, gangsters, murderers and psychos to be ignoring phone calls. I thought you were dead!" She threw her hands in the air and stared at them impatiently.
Booth and Brennan pulled out their cell phones while April looked on from her place off to the side, a tinge of amusement in her eyes as she watched the scene play out.
Booth cringed and Brennan winced and they both peered over the other's shoulder at the phones. Booth had four missed calls, all from Angela. Brennan had six, from the same.
"I'm sorry about that Ange, we had a…situation. We were waiting for the bomb squad and…"
"The Bomb squad!? I rest my case."
"Angela could you keep it down?" Booth glanced apologetically at his coworkers and attempted to guide the women to his office, looking back every few seconds to be sure April was following.
"Angela just take a deep breath and calm down."
"Calm down. Booth I wouldn't need to calm down if you two would just answer your damn phones. Any other time you pick up almost before it's finished the first ring, this time your both completely gone. You run off after finding out that your apartment was broken into and your main suspect escaped jail...and your both MIA. What was I supposed to think?" Angela paced while Booth and Brennan watched her. April found her way to the chair behind Booth's desk and eased herself down into it, waiting for the drama to be over.
She was able to drown out most of the argument by doodling on Booth's desk calendar and only a few words wormed their way into her subconscious.
Irrational…cannot believe…deep breaths…fine…suspect waiting…good…worried…why in the world…illogical…love you
April looked up and found the dark haired woman hugging both Booth and Dr. Brennan and she wondered what had happened to make her change her attitude so quickly.
Booth walked over to April and smiled down at her, smoothing her already flat black hair, the tiniest bit of brown peeking out at the roots.
"Bones and I need to go but Angela will wait here with you okay?"
April returned to her sketch and nodded, suddenly feeling too tired to argue. She wanted to see the person confess and she wanted to see Tommy more than ever. She knew they could get their jobs done faster and better if she wasn't there.
She didn't even notice when the partners left the room.
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Booth and Brennan sauntered into the interrogation room. She with her hands in her pockets, he with the file tucked under his arm. They wore an expression of scrutiny mixed with intimidation as they settled into the table across from Chris Pike.
No one would have guessed that Brennan had worked on that 'tough cop' expression for hours in her bedroom mirror when she and Booth first became partners, trying the whole time to visualize Booth, hoping she would one day belong in his world of 'chasing bad guys' just a little bit more easily.
Brennan leaned against the table in the interrogation room, her arms folded in front of her.
"So. You ready to talk?"
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April felt a presence next to her and nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Whoa, there. Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I was just coming to see what you were drawing." Angela peered over the girls' shoulder at the doodle on Booth's desk calendar.
"Oh. Okay." April swallowed her adrenalin and nodded. "It's just…"
"Beautiful." Angela interrupted softly, reaching out to touch the intricate cross-hatch portrait that covered the last weekend in May.
April smiled up at the dark haired artist, feeling more at ease by the moment.
"Um…thanks."
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Booth gave Brennan a pleased glance out of the corner of his eye.
I'll make a cop out of you yet Bones.
"Chris we found remnants of your brand of cigarettes on the clothes Courtney was wearing the night she died." Booth pulled his attention back to the case and started laying out photos in front of the young man.
Brennan narrowed her eyes at him and pointed to the picture of the victims' skull.
"And you're height and weight matches that of Courtney's killer."
Chris's forehead began to pop out beads of sweat and he shifted nervously in his chair. When he opened his mouth Booth expected him to request a lawyer, but that's not what he got.
"They were everywhere."
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"You really think so?" April and Angela had settled into the couch under the one window in Booth's office and had Angela's sketchbook spread out across their laps.
"Oh yeah, definitely. The balance here with the tree and the darkness here, creates a definite mood. Ominous almost." April nodded and pointed to the different parts of Angela's drawing. Her dark eyes sparkled like fresh cut emeralds, it had been so long since she got the chance to seriously talk art with someone, she'd forgotten how good it felt.
"Thanks, that's sort of the idea I was going for. I drew it a little while after I started working with Bren and the gang. It wasn't such a great time for me."
April reached up to push her hair out of her eyes and get a better look at the next drawing, but winced when she tried to move her wrist. Ignoring the pain as it receded to a dull throb, she turned the page.
"So what do you do there?"
Angela sighed. "Well, my boss once told me I give the dead back their faces, their identities. See, when we get body's there's usually very little soft tissue left, which means we really have no idea what they looked like when they were alive. It's my job to figure it out."
A few seconds ticked by on the stainless steel clock above the door, interrupting the delicate quiet they'd succumbed to.
"You give them back to their families." April said finally, gingerly touching a drawing of a smiling girl who stared up at her with bright gray eyes.
"Nah, I'd say that part is a team effort."
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"What do you mean? Who's they?" Booth leaned forward, but the kid seemed to be off in his own world, no longer listening.
"They kept crawling all over her. Eating her skin and her eyes…I just wanted them off. I-I was trying to help. She was screaming…I was just trying to help."
Brennan watched as the boy's voice broke apart in sobs and exchanged a suspicious glance with Booth. Before either of them got a chance to ask anything, Chris continued.
"Then they started to get on me, I could feel them crawling everywhere." Chris looked up at them, tears streaming down his nose and cheeks as he looked from Brennan to Booth and back.
"I swear I never meant to hurt her…I-I was just trying to get the spiders off."
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"So tell me about him?"
April sighed and Angela smiled, recognizing the wistful look on the girl's face as she stared off . The look all women got when they were in love.
"He's just wonderful in everyway possible. We met a few years back, were friends for a while and then…" She smiled, shaking her head, "I got drunk one night at a party. Couple of jerks thought they'd get an easy score but Tommy stopped them. He loaded me into his car and took me home. I ended up puking on him, the poor guy. But he never complained. Through all my foster homes and all the messes that have made up my life, he's always been there, no matter what." April shook her head in awe-struck disbelief. "I don't deserve him."
Angela smiled, patting April's knee.
"Every girl deserves a knight in shining armor."
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Brennan looked at the papers in her hand while Booth stared through the glass at Chris, still sobbing with his head laying on the metal table.
"He's been picked up before, Minor in Possession. He tested positive for LSD, cocaine, heroine…" She read slowly off the notes in his rap sheet.
"Pretty heavy duty stuff for a young kid." Booth muttered, fingering the poker chip in his pocket and studying the young man on the other side of the glass.
"…picked up twice for breaking and entering but never any violent crimes." She lifted her eyes, "Yes, but it would explain the hallucinations of the spiders and why he went crazy trying to get them off. Probably pushed her down and…" She let her sentence trail off, not really wanting to think about exactly how Chris had gone about killing Courtney.
"You do realize he could plead insanity." Brennan asked, trying to get some response from her suddenly quiet partner.
"Yeah," He reached for his cuffs and went to the door, "and it would be true."
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"Eeeewww. I would barf!" Angela squealed between her laughter.
April nodded vigorously, every gasp for breath pained her but she didn't care, she liked laughing with Angela.
"I know. I almost did, but he ate 'em. Seeley ate every last hot dog and won first place…but I don't think he's eaten a hot dog since." April smiled widely at the memory. "Then he won me a giant pink elephant at the shooting game . Hit every target."
"I bet the guy who ran the booth was really upset. Had no idea he was dealing with an ex sniper." Angela shook her head imagining a young cocky Booth picking out the biggest stuffed animal he could see for his favorite goddaughter.
"No, I bet he didn't."
The girls took a few minutes to calm down before speaking again.
"So how much longer do you think they'll be?" April got up to study the pictures on Booth's desk. Pictures of Parker, Booth's parents, a bunch of people in blue lab coats, and one of he and Dr. Brennan. She smiled.
"I don't know. However long it takes I guess. I'm not usually around when they do this kind of stuff."
April turned around to respond and spotted Booth and Brennan emerging from a small room on the other side of the bullpen, a skinny young man with sunken eyes and pale skin walking in front of them.
"April I…April?" Angela looked up just in time to see the girl practically run from the office and towards something outside.
"Is this the guy who did it?" April asked sharply when she was about twenty feet away. Brennan stood back, her hands in her pockets, and Booth unceremoniously tugged Chris back.
"Yes it is." Brennan stated, her usual bluntness was ignored, only because Booth knew what was about o happen.
"April you should…" He began.
"I'm sorry April." Chris croaked.
Setting her lips in a hard line, April allowed her self to come toe to toe with the boy.
"You did this to her?" She ground out through clenched teeth.
Chris cast down his eyes. "I'm sorry."
WHAMMO!
Booth, in all his lightning fast Special Forces army trained glory, did not see the hit coming. April pulled back her right hand and slammed the heel of it directly into Chris' nose, setting it bleeding immediately as he stumbled backward into Booth.
"You don't deserve the air you're breathing." She spat. Not making eye contact with either Booth or Brennan, afraid of the vulnerability they might see, April turned and marched off toward the elevators.
Her arm was blindingly painful now and she was beginning to think it would be a good idea to start heading to the hospital.
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Well that was genius of me. I probably shattered my stupid hand.
I can only hope I also broke his stupid nose.
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Fiesty little thing ain't she? lol. Please review.