"So, you are a Forensic Anthropologist who helps the FBI solve murders?" Isabel asked, attempting to break the silence. Liz was in the back pondering something.
"Yeah. I worked with Agent Booth for a couple of years, solving crimes with burn victims and cold cases, or bodies with quickened decomposition," Brennan answered, driving a bit fast down the road. "What do you do?"
"According to Liz and Max, good deeds and avoiding the law. It's one of their terms," Isabel answered, laughing because Liz wouldn't know.
"So, Max and Liz somehow found a way to keep up the romance in their relationship even after they were married?" Brennan added, "Anthropologically speaking, marriages tend to leave out the romance because the two think that they have enough time to do everything they want to, and they don't get excited to see each other because they have to see each other."
"Brennan, she left her husband to go off the grid. We are criminals, remember?" Liz filled in, still looking out the droplet-covered window.
"What's gotten into her?" Brennan asked more quietly.
"Why don't you ask her?" Liz said, finally looking into the rearview to look at Brennan. "What about the fact that everyone thinks that I'm a bad person because no one understands us? Everytime that we save someone, we have to leave town in case they tell the police. So, we can't do what we are supposed to do in one city alone, especially if they bring attention to the FBI. We had to leave Roswell because we were going to get exterminated." She looked back out the window, breathing heavily and angrily.
"I'm going to try to help you with that. I can convince the FBI to clear you, but you have to help Booth."
Isabel looked at Liz with wonder, but Liz was still looking out the window. Isabel noticed as well as Brennan, and she looked forward again. "We can help you, but there are more of us."
"You mean, there are more than three of you?"
"There are six of us, but five of us have powers. Kyle finally got his in control, Iz," Liz said as though she was proud of her son.
"Who's Kyle?"
"He's a friend. Do you trust the Roswell police?" Liz asked.
"Sure," she answered, turning down an alleyway.
"Can I borrow your phone?" Liz asked. She took the offered phone and dialed the familiar number. "Hi, Mr. Valenti," Liz greeted on speakerphone.
She heard a door close and a squeak of a chair before he greeted back.
"You're on speaker phone, Jim," Isabel said. "We have a Forensic Anthropologist here with us. We're helping her solve a case."
"Who does she help?" Valenti asked, sounding increasingly worried.
"The FBI. We're working on convincing her partner. She believes us, even though she's a scientist." Isabel breathed deeply and waited for the end of the hesitation.
"FBI, Isabel? That's not good."
"We had to save the child, but he was the son of an FBI agent. They're after the agent, and we're trying to help him, but the agent doesn't believe us. The anthropologist does. Temperance Brennan."
"Hi," she greeted nonchalantly.
"Sorry, Doctor Temperance Brennan," Isabel corrected. "We're going to help them as much as we can, whether the agent does or not."
"And if he reports seeing you?"
"We're not going to go anywhere. We'll do anything to wrap up this case. They took a child, and that's inexcusable. We'll get them and then we'll leave.
"We also didn't want to leave any alien traces on the serial killers or the child, so we couldn't take them out."
"Serial killers? Liz, Isabel, why didn't you kill them when you had the chance?"
"I was with Max when I rescued the kid, and he was in charge of taking out the guys to get the kid. We have to move forward, no matter what the reason was for not killing the serial killers. We have to kill them without alien traces. Unfortunately, the person needing protection won't give it to us."
"If the anthropologist won't report you, then use her for protection. You don't mind, right?"
"I'll do anything to keep them safe," Brennan answered.
"Good. Just try to stay away from any FBI interactions. Whenever you have to, stay around Dr. Brennan. How's my son?"
"Kyle's getting ahold on his powers, but we're still watching him to make sure that he's okay. Don't worry; it takes a while for the powers to be completely controlled. We're all okay except for this."
"Isabel, Liz, why did you call me?"
"We wanted an adult figure to tell Dr. Brennan that we are safe."
"These children won't hurt anyone without unfailing cause. They want to kill the people who took the kid because they took a child. They would do the same for any child."
"I've already established that, Mr. Valenti?"
"Yeah. You two girls keep my son safe, and don't call without needing to again, okay?"
"Sure, sir," they both said and hung up the phone.
"Who is he?"
"He's Kyle's father. He used to be the sheriff, but he lost his job trying to protect us. He's now a deputy helping to get the feds away from us. The same ones that you work for."
"So, they're after you because of your killer-protector?"
"Humans are curious about aliens. They just tortured us to find out about us," Isabel answered matter-of-factly. "When we tried to protect ourselves from the FBI, we got on their Most Wanted list. We're in a sticky situation, and have been for the past eight years."
"So, not only do you risk your lives for humankind, but you also can't get any reimbursement for it?"
"Yeah," Isabel answered darkly. "We have to run away, but is the "Good Samaritan" thing really so important?"
"It's what Max wants to do, and I'm with him. You said you didn't want to leave him, so we have to do this. What is your problem with it?"
"She really does like to help people. She just likes to put you on edge as a test. She hasn't gotten a picture of you to walk through your dreams, so she doesn't know you and she's been having trouble trusting because she was the only female in the group for ten years. So she feels a little weird around new people. Sorry, Iz; she needs to know that we aren't dangerous."
Brennan pulled the car into a lot and got out.
"The Jeffersonian? You work here?" Liz asked, admiring the back of the building. "I hear that it has state-of-the-art labs for any type of science or history. I could have worked here, had I finished college," Liz explained disparagingly.
"I do all of my lab work here, but I do some of my case-solving at the FBI. Well, generally, Agent Booth does that, but I stand there trying to understand it in the other room. This is where I study the bones and try to find out about the person. I have someone who looks at sludge, slime, and insects to find out where a victim was killed. I have someone who can take the bones and make them into faces; she's an artist. And then, I have a pathologist boss who is good at her job. I try to have a grad student who helps me, but it doesn't always work out with them. Agent Booth helps us by accessing FBI files for us, and he also takes care of the psychological aspects of a case."
"You're clinical and he's psychological; you complete each other!" Liz exclaimed, walking into the building behind Isabel.
Brennan pretended she didn't hear it. "If you two decide to stay on longer than just this case, I'll get you some ID cards. If not, then you'll just disappear like you normally do. In the meantime, you have to follow me around and enter the lab with me." She approached the card swiper and turned around. "I'm sorry, but I'll only be able to allow the two of you in here. But, I will trust the other four with protecting Booth's life."
"So, what's the reason for why the other four can't be here?" Isabel asked, following Brennan up the stairs after she swiped her card.
"My boss will only see you two right now, at the beginning of the case. She might suspect someone who comes in the middle just randomly. It's just confusing, trust me," Brennan said awkwardly, but she smiled genuinely.
"So, where is your team?" Liz asked, looking at the deserted area.
"Of course," Brennan said, laughing a little. She dialed her phone and put it up to her ear. "Angela, where are you?...France?...Angela, I need your help. I'm back at the Jeffersonian to solve a murder involving the kidnapping of Parker Booth…Yes, you heard that right…Hodgins? Angela, could you just come back as soon as you can?...Seriously…Yes, he's back…Alright…Thank you so much. Yeah. Bye." She clicked her phone shut and looked at the women. "My artist friend and her husband are in Paris for a year. They're going to come back and help me. So, we have to find out everything we can about the remains before they come. After that, we can get a face to the person and found out what happened after that. We can start investigating."
"We need to get the FBI agent to pull files of serial killers that Agent Booth has put in jail. They would definitely be after him. The hard part is to catch the elusive killers. It'll probably be easy to find them. They said they escaped from jail and they're after Booth because he was the one who arrested them."
"Right. But we also need to see who killed this kid. They might not be connected."
"Dr. Brennan, it's nice to see you again," a voice said from behind her.
Brennan turned around and saw Dr. Saroyan behind her, smiling. "Cam, it's nice to see you, too."
"But why is it nice to see you after nine months anyway?"
"The FBI wanted me to examine the remains of a child. It could be linked to the kidnapping of Parker Booth. But when Booth and I got here, these two women had rescued him and kept him safe until Booth and I arrived."
"Actually, my husband and I rescued him and cared for him. Isabel helped us find the father. She's good with kids. I'm Liz."
"Dr. Brennan, why did you allow two women into the lab?"
"They are helping me to solve the case. Angela and Hodgins are coming back from Paris."
"That's where they've been! Thank you. If you find any flesh or organs on this body, give me a call. Otherwise, feel free to examine the body. Dr. Boyd, I would like you to assist Dr. Brennan," she ordered. "Brennan, you know the drill." She left on her stilettos and Brennan introduced the doctor and the women.
"Liz, what type of Biology were you going into?"
"I never picked one, but I can do almost any of them."
"Which one were you best at?"
"Human." Brennan sniggered before looking at the body. "Eight years old, male, died of literal heart burn."
"Poker?"
"Yeah, seems like it. I'd have to clean the bones to confirm." She looked to Dr. Boyd, who had to be told to do it. "So, can you look at blood samples and dictate…?"
"Where they're from, yes. But it's just bones. I can't say where the victim is from," Liz answered. "So, you're the best?"
"Yes."
"Honesty over modesty. I don't like it," Isabel answered, trying to engage in conversation.
"Isabel, be nice to her. Anyone in that room could have turned us in, and she didn't. We have to trust her," Liz advised quietly. "Brennan, what do you normally do now?"
"I generally go over to the FBI and start looking for suspects, but that's because we have an ID on the body and it's already clean. No offense, but you delayed me a bit this time, and Angela's not here.
"I suppose that we should go over there now and meet the FBI agent."
"We shouldn't go. We might be able to get away with Booth because he'll listen to you, but we won't be able to get away with a random agent, especially if they know about us. The next step is to convince Agent Booth so we can have him on the case here. We can't take no for an answer. If you trust him, I do, too. We need him on the case."
"And Parker? What do you plan to do with him?" Brennan asked, beginning to lead the women outside.
"With Booth's cooperation, we can put him under Max's care. Or Michael's and Kyle's."
"You mean, Idiot One and Idiot Two?" Isabel asked smugly.
"Okay, we have to bring in Max and convince Booth that he's safe. I mean, he has his own son!" Liz reasoned, ignoring Isabel's smugness.
"Where is the son?" Brennan asked, opening the door for them.
"He gave him up because he was human and he wanted to protect him from our involvement in government conspiracies. He didn't want to get a human involved in this. The only full human involved is the girlfriend of an alien and my best friend," Liz answered.
"Max, Michael, and I are royal hybrids. They took genetics of our former lives and humans here on Earth and combined them into one body. Max saved Liz, and she began to take on alien powers. Didn't we already go through this?"
"Just clarify for me again."
"Kyle was saved nearly a year after Liz was by Max. He has a special power of healing. Michael's is unknown, Tess's was mind-warping, and mine is dream-walking. Oh, Max can also conjure force-fields. Anyway, we don't know how it happened, but the two developed alien powers. Liz got a gift of premonition," Isabel got into the front seat of the car, "and she has been learning how to use communal powers, like blasting and changing molecular structures. Kyle is waiting for his specialty, but he can change the colors of shirts. He's still learning.
"Maria hasn't been saved by alien powers, so she won't get any. But she didn't want to leave Michael, so she's traveling with us," Isabel finished and sighed angrily.
"Right. How long have you been running from the FBI?"
"About ten years, but our protector helped by taking over Agent Pierce and kept the Unit away from us until he died. We've been threatened by both human and alien forces. But eight years ago, I saw a vision of us dying. We've been on the run ever since graduation," Liz explained.
"Are you hoping to get off the list by helping us?"
"If that happens, great. But if not, we are going to get away from D.C. forever. We can't risk running into you or Agent Booth again. Not to mention the fact that we won't trust you or your team again."
"You've been through this?"
"Never with the FBI, but with the police; NYPD and LAPD. We can't ever return to those places. We are on their watch lists, too. Is it necessary for you to hear this again?" Liz asked, looking at Brennan.
"No. I want you to know that I won't betray you, unless you give me unadulterated proof to do so. I don't think you will."