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"Why are we here?" Louis asked. He was sitting beside her and swinging his legs, completely oblivious that he was going to be having an x-ray completed in the next few minutes.

"We are taking a picture of your leg," Brennan explained.

"Really?" Louis asked, his nose scrunched up. "Why?"

"It will show me what your bones look like," Brennan answered. "It will tell me why you have a limp."

"I can tell you that," Louis said proudly. "I fell and twisted my leg bad. Mama and Papa bound it up and told me not to leave the bed for weeks. It was a long time." Brennan felt like she was going to throw up. They didn't take him for professional medical help? Who were these people?

"That is a long time," Brennan agreed. She didn't want to alarm Louis.

"Louis Dubois?" the technician called. He caught Brennan's eye.

"That's us," she said, tugging Louis' hand. He stood up and followed hesitantly. He pulled at his hospital gown, making sure it wasn't coming loose.

"Temperance, I'm scared," Louis said fearfully, peering into the semi dark room and at the table he would be lying on. The technician headed over to his computer to get it ready. Brennan knelt down in front of Louis.

"It's okay," she reassured him. "It won't hurt you at all. It takes a picture, but it needs to be dark in order to work."

"Oh," Louis said. He still looked unsure.

"I'll be right here the whole time," Brennan said, looking to the technician for confirmation. He nodded. Louis let her take him to the bed and got him settled. She went to stand beside the technician, but she could see Louis was still scared. She felt bad for not holding his hand.

"Stay still, Louis," she instructed when she saw him wiggling anxiously. He stopped moving and squeezed his eyes shut. The technician took a few shots, and it was over within moments.

"All done," she said, going over to him. He opened his eyes.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yup! Come on," she said, helping him down. The technician held out his hand for a high five, which Louis gave him heartily.

"They'll be sent to the doctor," the technician said.

"I'm a doctor," she said. "Can I just have a peek?"

"I'm afraid I can't do that," the technician said. "I'm sorry." He moved past her and went on with his next patient. Brennan felt annoyed, but she knew they would find out tomorrow. It was just another whole day of waiting.

"Was I good?" Louis asked. "I held very still."

"You were so good," Brennan replied, beaming at him. He grinned back at her.

"Do you know why I limp now?"

"Not yet. Tomorrow," she promised. He nodded as she passed him his clothes. He dressed behind the curtain and came out looking much happier than he did going in.

"So Bones is just never coming back to work?" Booth asked Cam. They were in her office, and he had another case. "I mean come on. Jersey Shore. This stuff is her kind of thing!"

"She has requested an extension of her time off. She will be back next week," Cam promised.

"Did she tell you what's going on?"

"No, she didn't. Booth, let it go. You've got the interns and the rest of the team. They are just as good," she said.

"No they aren't," he muttered to himself. Cam raised an eyebrow at him.

"Don't you have bad guys to catch?" she asked.

"Yea, yea. I'm going," he huffed. He left feeling like something wasn't quite right, and he had no idea what it was or how to fix it.

Brennan listened to Angela's voicemail. She was complaining about Hannah hanging around and trying to be everyone's best friend. She was also saying how hard it was to keep her pregnancy a secret from everyone. Brennan chuckled to herself after she set her phone down. She couldn't wait for Angela to meet Louis. She just wanted more time with him first. She looked over at Louis who was drawing quietly. He was fascinated by crayons and pencil crayons. He had wanted to just do that all afternoon. She went to stand over him, and when she noticed his picture, it made her feel concerned. He had drawn a burning house with stick people trapped inside while two adult stick people and a baby stick person were running away.

"Louis?" she asked. He looked up at her. "What are you drawing?" He turned back to look at his drawing and took a while before answering.

"It's a nightmare I have," he finally said in a small voice.

"Are you the baby?" she asked. He nodded.

"I try and try to remember, but I can't," he told her.

"It's okay. If you were an infant, you wouldn't remember no matter how hard you tried," Brennan reassured him. "It also is just a dream, Louis. It doesn't mean it actually happened."

"Okay," he whispered. He didn't think it was just a dream, but he didn't want to make her mad at him. Bad things happened when people got mad at him. He felt bad for not telling the truth about his leg either, but his parents had sworn him to secrecy on that.

"Do you want a snack?" Brennan asked, sensing his subdued mood. He nodded again. She rubbed his back and stood to go fix him something to eat.

Booth knew that Hannah knew he hadn't been all there when he was with her. He had to give her credit for not saying anything. He was glad she was trying to bond with his coworkers. He wanted her to meet Bones, but he either couldn't get a hold of her or she told him to get out of her face. It was all so puzzling. Why had she gone away? What was she hiding?

"Seeley?"

"Huh?"

"Are you gonna be at dinner tonight?" Hannah asked.

"Oh. Yea. I'll be there," he nodded.

"Okay. I gotta go to work. Thanks for...you know," she winked at him.

"You're welcome," he said absently. This whole thing was putting a damper on his relationship with Hannah, and he knew he had to be careful or else she'd go find someone else who's head wasn't stuck thinking about another woman.

Brennan couldn't stop thinking about Louis' parents. Something didn't feel right about them, and she couldn't figure out what it was that was bothering her. He didn't speak ill of them, but he was a little guarded in his answers. His drawing was another red flag. How could he be nightmaring something so horrid? Had he seen something like that and it was stuck in his subconscious?

"I'm all done," Louis said. He had finished cleaning his teeth, which was a process he was still getting familiar with. Brennan had taken him to a dentist, and the guy almost had a heart attack over the state of Louis' teeth. He understood when she explained where Louis had been raised, and he told her they were all baby teeth still and would fall out.

"Good job!" Brennan praised when he showed her his teeth. They did look a little better than before.

"Can you read me a story?" he asked. She had picked up some books earlier that week too, and Louis loved being read to.

"Okay," she agreed. He hobbled off to his room at his quick pace, and she followed. He was all snuggled under the covers by the time she got there.

"You're fast!" she laughed. He giggled in return. He handed her a Franklin book, which he had discovered was his favorite series. She started to read, and he followed along eagerly. Brennan had been disappointed he didn't know how to read, but he was a very fast learner, and he was sounding out words with her as she read. She was confident he would do well in school. School. That was tomorrow's project. He was six after all. He needed some kind of education, and she did have to go back to work. The school year was only two weeks in. He wouldn't be too late. She had researched the best of the best, and she hoped Louis wouldn't freak out about the idea. When she was finished reading about Franklin's first day of school, she decided it was a good time to bring it up.

"Do you like the thought of school?" she asked.

"Yes!" he cried excitedly.

"Really?"

"Yes! There would be friends and learning," Louis said seriously. "I want to have friends like Franklin."

"Well, we are going to look at a school tomorrow," Brennan told him. "Does that make you anxious?"

"I get to go to school?" he asked, awed. His parents had never said anything about school to him before. It was new to him.

"If you want to," she smiled.

"I want to!" he exclaimed.

"Okay. Well, get to sleep my little bug, and we'll go tomorrow first thing," she promised.

"Okay!" Louis rolled onto his side and closed his eyes. He was so excited.

Brennan felt success. Louis had taken in everything about the classroom. They had sat with the teacher while the children were outside at recess. Louis had watched them playing, and Brennan could see the wistfulness on his face.

"He will fit in here just fine," the teacher had said, smiling. "He's not too late, and from what you're telling me, he's a fast learner."

"Oh yes," Brennan nodded. "It's remarkable." She felt a swell of pride then. Louis was thriving under her care. Who knew she could pull off this mother thing so damn well?

"Can I start tomorrow?" Louis asked eagerly.

"You'll start on Monday," Brennan said. "That's four days away." It was only Thursday.

"Do you think I'll make friends?" he asked, worried.

"Of course you will! You are very social," she told him.

"Social?"

"You get along with others well," she rephrased.

"I do," he agreed, getting it. They stopped at the doctor's next, and Brennan looked at the x-rays with him. Louis didn't understand what they were looking at, but he didn't say anything.

"So basically it broke," the doctor explained. "And it was never set properly. It healed wrong, so now he has a limp."

"Hmm," Brennan said, still looking at it. The pattern of the fracture was a little more intense than just a simple twist. She looked over at Louis, who looked a little sheepish suddenly. She'd have to talk to him later about it. The drive back to her apartment was a quite one. Louis wondered if she was gonna be mad at him for not telling the truth. He knew from her looking at the x-ray that she had figured out his lie. They walked up to her apartment holding hands. When Brennan opened her door and saw her father standing there looking bewildered, she froze, as did Louis.

"Hi, Dad," she said. Max was staring at Louis.

"Who's this?" he asked.

He had searched and searched, but he couldn't find the kid anywhere. It was aggravating. There was no way that kid got off this island on his own. He wasn't that smart. He asked around until someone told him about the orphanage. He charged over there, finding the woman at the desk to be incredibly annoying. At first she refused to tell him anything, but after a little convincing, she gave him what he wanted. So some doctor took the kid away huh? He'd see about that. He booked the first flight to the U.S. He was going to get that kid back, and nobody was gonna stand in his way.

And the suspense builds! Thanks for reading and reviewing! It means a lot to both of us that you take the time to do both :)