CHAPTER. Chapter 14. Lost and Found

DISCLAIMER. There are many things I own, but Bones is not one of them. All characters belong to Kathy Reichs, Hart Hanson and FOX.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know that Americans celebrate Thanksgiving in November, but for the sake of myself being Canadian, I had Thanksgiving in October. Therefore, this is a somewhat Halloween chapter. I couldn't post this sooner because I was busy, but I'm posting it now. So be happy!

"Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan, good to see you again. Now, if you'll just follow me. I'll explain along the way," said the officer. He knows us? He's seen us before? How can I not remember him?

I glanced at Booth with a raised eyebrow. Hopefully, he can clarify who he is.

"Booth--"

"He's Officer Gordon. He was at the crime scene of the acid girl case. The cop that showed us to the little cave," he explained.

How did he..? "How did you know I was going to ask you that?" I must of had this weird look on my face because he laughed.

"Let's just say it's not the first time," he said, as he placed his hand on the small of my back, and guided me along the path Officer Gordon was taking.

"Okay. Construction workers said that they saw something floating around in the water, so they scooped it up. They found a mutilated finger," Gordon explained and stopped walking. "Here we are."

"Okay," Booth looked around. "Where are the remains?" Yes, where were they? There's nothing here.

Gordon pointed down the manhole. "They're down there."

Booth and I looked at each other. His face carried a look of disgust, and probably looking at my somewhat excited face didn't make matters any better. I slipped on my gloves and handed Booth my bag, as I climbed down the manhole, into the murky, gray waters. The unpleasant smell consisting of garbage, rat waste, and human remains filtered into my nose.

I halted the climb. "Aren't you coming down here?" I looked up to ask Booth.

"And ruin my gorgeous Armani suit? No way!" I rolled my eyes and continued down.

My booted feet splashed into the water, leaving a gentle spray of sewage water on the pant legs of my jumpsuit. Garbage was floating in the water around my feet. I hope your balance is great Brennan. After slowly walking around the corpse to search for any hazardous materials, I bent down and started examining for basic identifications I could gather from the human remains. Maggots had been crawling around, tearing off the flesh and worming in and out of the victim's eyes.

"Male. Caucasian. Late twenties, early thirties," I looked up and yelled, then looked at the body again.

"Time of death, Bones?" he yelled as he scribbled on his notepad.

"From the rate of decomp. I would say two to three weeks."

"Got a clue what killed our John Doe here?" He continued scribbling.

"There are extreme acid burns on the victim's body, but it appears to be from after the victim was murdered. So at the moment, no. I'll get more information once I do some intense examination." I looked down at the remains, then back up. "I need the forensics team to get samples and other particulates for Hodgins to determine the exact time of death and give us other relevant information. And I need this all bagged and sent to the Jeffersonian, as soon as possible."

"Okay Bones!"

"Okay, people! What have we got here?" Cam asked.

"Male. Caucasian. Late twenties, early thirties. Major acid burns on his body. We were wondering if you are able to gather anything from the remaining flesh, left on John Doe." I replied.

"I'll get right on it. I'll clean the bones up, and get some information from my autopsy. Then you can have it."

"Okay. That is fine by me." I nodded.

She gave a nod and instructed a few Jeffersonian employees to assist her in rolling John Doe into the Autopsy room.

"Got a skull for me yet?" Angela peered over my shoulder and asked.

I didn't bother turning around. "Not yet." I held up my index finger and she left.

"Dr. Brennan, I have found no traces of gunshot wounds to cause death." Zack said.

I decided to look up. "Okay, I'll continue the examination. Meanwhile, would you mind placing tissue markers on the skull, so Angela can give us an I.D."

"Yes, Dr. Brennan." He scurried off with the skull.

"Tox screen came back positive," Hodgins said, coming towards me. "High levels of alcohol, but not enough to kill him. However, I didn't find any drugs."

My heels clicked against the smooth surface as I walked around the examination table.

Just then, I heard footsteps coming up the platform, after the correct "beep" from the I.D. card scanner. Booth. I looked down at the set of remains that were staring at me. The flesh and bits of cloth material were still present on the remains. I bent down further to examine the bones I was able to see underneath the flesh. I felt his body heat behind me, his left hand on my hip. Then, I felt his breath against my ear as he whispered in a husky tone, "Dr. Brennan, do you have an I.D. yet?"

A smiled played on my lips. "No, not yet, Agent Booth," I replied, as I turned around to face him. "I told Zack to give the skull to Angela for her to create a facial reconstruction, once he is done putting tissue markers, so she can give us an I.D."

He wrapped his arms around my waist and leaned slowly forwards. "Okay." His lips got dangerously close.

"Not now Booth. Not here. We promised to be professional at work, remember?" I pulled back at bit.

He sighed. "Fine. But when we get back to your place, you are all mine!" He chuckled, and released me from his arms.

I rolled my eyes in amusement. "You sure about that?"

"Absolutely." He kissed my cheek. "I'll see you later."

"Bye," I replied, as he strolled down the steps and exited the front doors.

I gave a light chuckle and returned to examining Jane Doe.

I was in my office typing away the next chapter of my novel, waiting for Angela to give me an I.D. I had given Zack the job to locate some evidence of foul play to give to Booth.

The chapter was going around in circles. Tight, annoying circles, and like all circles, they go nowhere. My head was hurting, trying to think of an exciting plot detail that would get readers reading. So far, my brain was blank. My mind was too busy thinking about the case, even though we had no I.D. or cause of death. Obviously, the murderer was trying to leave his identity unknown, due to the intense acid burns they had caused.

Knock. Knock.

"I have an I.D. for you," Angela said, peering through my office door.

"Our John Doe is Trevor Friedman, aged thirty-two." Angela pointed to the screen.

"Well, that's helpful. I'll go find gather some background information on this guy, then we'll see what happened to this guy," Booth said. He had come in ten minutes after I called him in.

"Wanna come, Bones?" He stood at the door, flipping his poker chip into the air.

"Sure. Let me just go grab my purse and jacket," I replied and started walking out the door.

My movement had been stopped.

"Everyone," Cam had begun, "tomorrow is the annual Jeffersonian Halloween party. As always, you are responsible to attend the event, whether you like it or not because it is not my call, but the board's decision. I hate it as much as all of you." She stopped. "That includes you too Booth. You are a liasion of the Jeffersonian."

Booth's shoulders dropped immediately. His face showed sadness and extreme dislike.

"So everyone dress-up and come at eight pm." With that, she left the room.

"Aw man! Another one of those stupid parties?!" Hodgins said and began snapping the elastic band that was on his wrist.

"You said it, Hodgins." Booth.

"What are you going as Bones?" Booth asked me the next morning. His muscular arms wrapped around me like a blanket.

"I'm not sure. I could always go as Wonder Woman again." I shrugged. "What are you dressing up as?"

"I can go as your very good-looking Superman boyfriend." He placed a kiss on my shoulder.

A light chuckle escaped my lips. "Yes, you can be my very handsome Superman boyfriend." I emphasized the 'very' just to please him.

He spun me around to face him. "Oh? So you do agree that I am handsome." He waggled his eyebrows.

"Of course," I smirked. "Especially when you had those sexy glasses last year when you were Clark Kent."

"I was actually dressed as a squint, but now that you've mentioned it, I was Clark Kent." He paused. "You liked me more when I had on those geeky glasses?" He cocked and eyebrow.

"Mhm..." I kissed him briefly.

"Looking good you two!" Angela exclaimed, as Booth and I appeared through the banquet hall doors. She was dressed as Little Red Riding Hood.

"Thanks Angela. You don't look bad yourself," I heard Booth say. "Did Hodgins come?"

"Yeah. He did. He's just hiding in the corner over there, downing his wine." She pointed us to him. He was dressed as a pirate.

"What a coincidence. Jack Hodgins is Jack Sparrow." Booth said.

"Who?"

"Aw, come on Bones! You don't know Jack Sparrow?"

I shook my head.

"From Pirates of the Caribbean..."

"Booth, pirates don't exist."

"The movie, Bones. The one with Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley, and Orlando Bloom?"

"Johnny Deep?"

"Geez, Bones! How can you not know the movie Pirates of the Caribbean?! Even Zack probably knows it." He pulled me towards Zack.

"Excuse me," he said to the guests Zack was talking to, then pulled Zack away from them. "Zack, do you know the movie Pirates of the Caribbean?"

"Yes, the one with Johnny Depp. Am I correct because I believe that I have watched it once with Hodgins, and Hodgins is wearing a Jack Sparrow costume?"

"Yeah, you're correct Zack. See, Bones! Even Zack knows what I'm talking about! I have to show you the movie one day."

"Sure. I suppose."

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