Chapter 2
Zach, Hodgins, and Angela looked up at the residential building of the college. Zach sighed, and wiped his eyes.
"Are you sure you want to do this alone, sweetie?' Angela asked, and Zach shook his head.
"I have to do this, by myself. She's my little sister, and I have to do this for her."
"Call me if you need us" Hodgins said, understanding that Zach needed to do this by himself. Zach half smiled towards his best friend, and got out of the car, trudging along the path that lead to the residential building. With one had, he pulled his coat tighter around himself, while the other clasped a small piece of paper, with his sister's room number on it. He walked through the main doors, and walked up the stairs. By the time he reached the fifth floor, he was puffed. He walked along the corridor, keeping track of the room numbers on either side. Finally, Zach reached his sister's room, and knocked on the door, hoping she was there. He heard footsteps behind the door, and let out a relieved breath he hadn't realised he had been holding.
The door opened with a creak.
"Zach, what are you doing here?"
"Dani, I need to tell you something, can I come in?" Zach exhaled as Dani let him into her room.
"Whats wrong Zach, what happened? Are you okay?"
"Dani, its Mom and Dad." Zach began, and Dani froze.
"What happened, Zach?" there was a mix of urgency, fear and dread in her voice. Zach blinked, feeling tears well up in his eyes once more.
"Steve found them yesterday morning, they were dead."
"What!" Dani replied, unable to believe what her brother was saying.
"On Thursday night, someone broke into the house, and shot them." Zach said, his voice wobbling dangerously. Dani slumped onto her bed, and sobbed. Zach sat beside her and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder. She leant against him, sobbing into his jacket. Zach blinked, tears rolling down his face as he rubbed his sisters back, just like his mother had whenever he had been upset when he was younger.
"I can't believe they're gone, Zach," Dani whispered, "Who would want to hurt them?"
Zach shook his head, "I don't know, Dani, I really don't know."
XO XO XO XO XO
Danielle Addy, or Dani as she preferred, was a strange child, Hodgins found himself thinking when he and Angela met Zach and Dani an hour later, in the College car park. She was much shorter than Zach, barely making it to five foot two, although Hodgins could spot similarities between them. Both of their faces bore a youthful look, making them both look younger than they were. Zach and Dani had the same eyes; blue orbs that stood out from their pale skin. Dani's hair was a couple of shades darker than Zach's, though it was thick and wavy, just like Zach's. A notable difference between the two was that Dani was much more confident than her brother socially, easily falling into conversation with Hodgins and Angela, although she was obviously grief stricken by her parent's death.
At Zach and Dani's request, Hodgins and Angela spent the afternoon sightseeing, allowing the brother and sister to spend time together to share their grief. That night, they picked Zach up from the college, and went to the hotel they were staying the night at. Dani would pick Zach up at Seven o'clock in the morning, and they would continue on to Michigan, while Hodgins and Angela would go back to Washington.
Hodgins went to find a take away food shop, leaving Zach and Angela in the Hotel room together. Zach was sitting on the couch, which he would be sleeping on that night, and Angela gently laid her hand upon his shoulder.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"I think I'm okay, it's just harder than I thought it would be, especially seeing Dani in that much pain, and knowing that I was the one who made her that upset."
"Zach, its not your fault. Your parents died, you just told her about what had happened." Angela said, sitting down beside him, and wrapping her arm around his slender shoulders.
"I know, I just don't like seeing her upset."
Angela ran her fingers through Zach's hair soothingly, "She seems like she's a great kid."
"She is, even though I'm three years older than her, she understands me. Our parents used to joke that we were more like twins than just brother and sister."
"That's sweet" Angela smiled, and Zach let a small grin flicker across his face.
"Yeah, but when we got older, the differences started showing. Mom really didn't like some of Dani's choices, and Dani knew it. Dani is the most rebellious of all six of us, and Mom, she didn't like it."
"She didn't strike me as a rebel," Angela commented. Zach shrugged.
"Your idea of a rebel, and my mom's idea of a rebel, was probably very different."
"Oh, parents are like that, I guess."
Zach shrugged, "It was really bad for Dani when she was growing up, especially when I left. Mom thought I was the golden child, and everything Dani did never seemed to measure up in comparison to me. Dani knew Mom thought this, and it hurt her, not physically, but emotionally. I was the only one she opened up to in the entire family, and, well, when I left, I wasn't there. It was Dani, Mom, and Dad, and occasionally, one of the others, but they were the hardest years of her life, and she reacted accordingly."
"How rebellious are we talking" Angela asked out of curiosity, and also as she saw that talking was helping Zach feel better.
"Oh, she wasn't on drugs, and she's never smoked. She got drunk a little bit, and she had a habit of locking herself in her room. Sometimes, she'd ignore Mom, or fight back when Mom was talking to her. They fought a fair bit."
"That's all normal teenaged stuff, though," Angela was confused, and Zach shrugged.
"I don't know. Mom just had issues with Dani. They're all solved now, but I think it upsets Dani that they lost those three or four years, and now Mom's, well, you know…" he faded off.
"Dead. What about your other siblings?"
"What about them?"
"What do they do? Are they married? Do they have kids? What are there names? I know you mention them at work from time to time, but you rarely go into details."
Zach shrugged, and opened up his bag, which lay at his feet, and started sorting through his belongings until he removed a photo frame, which he handed to Angela. In it was a photo of Zach and his family. Angela could easily spot out Dani, as Zach's arms were protectively around her.
Zach pointed out one of the men in the photo "That's my oldest brother. His name is Stevenson, shortened to Steve. He works as a Human Resources manager for a company. He's married, with two children, Tom and Kate. Tom is five, and Kate is three." Zach pointed out the two children, before pointing at another of his brothers.
"Then there is Matthew, or Matt. He works for a newspaper in Detroit, as a columnist. He's married as well, with three children; Scott, who is seven, Amy, who is five, and David, who is four." Zach pointed out each of the children, before pointing at his other sister.
"That's Elizabeth, or Lizzie. She's a Nurse at the local maternity hospital. She's married, with one child, Benjamin, or just Ben. He's one." Zach pointed at the little baby in his sister's arms, before pointing at his last brother.
"And that's Samuel. He works as an accountant, although he plays hockey part time at a regional level. That's his way of rebelling against mom, although she was always so proud of him."
"Why would playing hockey be seen as rebellion?" Angela asked. Zach sighed.
"When Sam was twelve, I was eight, and Dani had just turned five, Mom had to help Lizzie with her homework, so she asked Sam to watch me and Dani. She said we could go across the road, to a park, and ride our bikes, so we set off. Sam leading, with Dani behind him and I was following her, just in case she fell off. Anyway, we were going to cross the street, and the road looked clear, so we crossed. A drunk driver sped around the corner, and hit us. He didn't even stop. Sam got hurt the worse, because he tried to get Dani and I out of the road. He broke his back, and we were told he'd never walk again. Almost 15 years later, and he's playing Hockey competitively."
"Wow, that's a sad story, and yet with a happy ending, sort of."
"Yeah, I guess so. I swore from that day on that I'd never ride my bike again, and I haven't."
"What about Dani, does she hold similar rules?"
"No, Dani's a lot braver than I am. She's able to look something she's afraid of in the face, and stare it down, except when its snakes. She can't stand snakes."
"How very much like Bren of her." Angela joked, and Zach let out a little laugh.
At that moment, the door opened and Hodgins came in, carrying a plastic bag.
"I come bearing Chinese food" he said, and Zach got up to help him set the table. Angela stayed on the couch, looking at the photo. It had obviously been taken at Christmas time, as the younger members of the family, that is, Dani, and all of Zach's Nieces and Nephews were wearing Santa hats, and the others were all wearing the flimsy hats that come out of bonbons. The adults were all standing, with Zach's parents at the centre of the group. Zach stood beside his mother, with Dani beside him, and Steve on her other side. Matt, Lizzie, and Sam were on the other side of their father, with the younger children on the ground along the front, grinning up at the camera. Angela smiled sadly. The photo was cute, but it was heartbreaking for her to see the family so happy, when, just less than a year later, they would be torn apart by murder.
She'd seen it happen so many times through her work, but she couldn't believe that it had happened to Zach's family.
A.N. Hi, just a few points I would like to bring up. Zach and Dani's siblings are Not going to be a huge part of this story (and neither are their children) so don't worry about trying to remember names or birth order.
Another thing is that I am not American, so I therefore do not habitually use the 'Mom' spelling of the shortened term for mother, but, I realise that the characters in Bones are American, so I'll try to use the Mom spelling over the Mum spelling as much as I can, although I might accidently slip up and use the Mum spelling occasionally.
Does all that make sense? I hope it does.
Anyway, please review.
R.W.
