Author's Note: Sorry this has been so late. Besides being sick, school's been busy.
A Second Chance
"Morning Mommy." a little boy peered over the ruffled covers of a bed.
"Good morning Thomas. Grandma's waiting for us, you all ready to go?"
"Yep! My bags are all packed and everything. I'm going to eat breakfast." Thomas's chocolate hair bounced out of the room.
"Thomas, wait for me! You're not allowed-."
Alex awoke to someone shaking her shoulder. After giving a non-committed swat at her sleep-disruptor, she said, "5 more minutes Mom." A moment passed before Alex flung herself in an upright position. Her eyes roamed the lounge until they landed on Booth, who was desperately trying not to laugh. "You will not speak about this to anyone."
Booth held his hands up in defense. "Fine, fine. Who's the kid?"
"His name's Thomas. I assume there's a reason for you waking me?" she all but growled.
"Bones wants to ask you a question about the skull you did."
Alex glared at him, but followed him down the stairs. When they got to the room that held the Angelator, Brennan asked, "Alex, how did you know to add a scar on her forehead?"
"If you feel the skull, there's a slash in the forehead. Either our victim had a very recent surgery, like the day she died, or her head was sliced by a very sharp object. If the latter of the two, the injury was most likely caused by her assailant, but if the former…..I'd start looking into hospitals that have missing patients. With the fact the girl was strangled, I'd go with the former of the two."
Brennan studied the skull she held while Zach went to go see if anyone had been reported missing from any hospitals.
"The slash definitely has medical expertise. Zach?"
"4 girls have gone missing from a local hospital. All had head surgery, and went missing during the night," Zach called from the back.
"Coincidence? I don't think so. Zach, I need their doctor's name and address, now!"
Alex left them and went to join Angela in the lounge. Seeing Alex, Angela poured another cup of the dark coffee. A few minutes later, coffee practically shot through Alex's nose as she laughed at Angela's poor wedding day.
"But you guys are definitely married, right?"
"A full four years. Actually I'm 3 weeks pregnant." A blush crept across her face.
"Really? What do you hope for?"
"Twins, a boy and a girl, but Brennan says it's unlikely."
For how long they sat talking about baby names and things, Alex wasn't sure. After a while though, Angela helped Alex pile her stuff into Angela's car and left the Smithsonian.
"I'd forgotten what cities looked."
"Big change for forests, isn't it? Hey, Booth said something about you drawing a picture of a kid."
"His name's Thomas, my son."
"Your son? How come he isn't here with you?"
"He couldn't come. My mom promised she would take care of him. Where am I going to live?" Alex deftly switched the subject.
"Well the place above the garage has two rooms, so you could stay there. It's got a kitchen, living room, and each bedroom has a full bathroom. It's actually not that bad. Or you could stay in the main house. The only difference is the kitchen is fully stocked. The kitchen in Zach's place only has what he stocks it with."
"With that being said, I'll stay in the main house. My brother could starve a camel. Speaking of my brother, has he had any girlfriends at all?"
A small smile crept on Angela's face, and she replied, "Yes, but he keeps losing them with his intellectual rambling."
Alex laughed at this and said, "He always did have bad luck with girls back home."
After Angela pushed the code into the keypad, the black iron gates screeched open.
"Remind me to have Hodgins oil the gates when he's in better health." Her face wrinkled in pain.
They winded up the paved driveway, past the garage, lake, and tennis courts before finally getting to the main house. Alex's mouth dropped open when she saw the "main house"
"It should be called the main mansion, not the main house. Besides the buildings in D.C., I don't think I've ever seen a bigger building."
"It took me a while to get used to it. I'm just glad I don't have to clean the thing." Angela popped the back to the van, and Alex went to get her stuff.
"So with Hodgins being a paranoid freak, a simplified version of what Zach said, does the building have any secret passages?" She drug her two suitcases, back-pack, and duffel bag from the car.
"Not sure, probably. I haven't really gone searching for them." She grabbed the back-pack and duffel, shut the back and went to open the door. "Welcome to my lovely house."
"Mansion," Alex chimed.
