(The Party in the Pants)

Thank you for reading my story. I really appreciate it.

I don't own Bones.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooo

It was there all along. Both Clark and Brennan had examined the skull several times, but the only thing they had found was the hairline fracture of the frontal bone. Her frustration at not being able to find the cause of death made her think that the obvious was keeping her from seeing the actual cause of Marianne's death. While Clark and Wendell observed, Brennan used a saw to cut the skull open and she at last found what she was looking for.

Embarrassed that it had taken her four days to think to do something she would have normally done on the first or second day, Brennan accepted the fact that she had been too emotionally invested in the search to think logically.

Her cheeks pink, Brennan held up the skull so both Clark and Wendell could see what she had found. "Marianne suffered from a subarchnoid hemorrhage. Notice the blood stain in the parietal bone? I surmise that when she fell she sustained a serious enough injury to this area which caused an excessive buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the skull which ultimately lead to dangerous swelling and pressure on the brain. She would have lost consciousness rather quickly and perhaps Edwin panicked when that happened. If he had taken her to the hospital she would probably have been saved, but we know he didn't do that. He drove her across the state to a national forest. She probably died on the journey and he buried her to hide what he had done or at least caused."

"So Booth's father did kill Marianne." Wendell sighed. "God this is so bad."

Clark shook his head and exhaled deeply. "Thank God I had loving caring parents."

After she placed the skull down on the table, Brennan removed her gloves and threw them in the biohazard bin. "Booth had the love of his grandfather to help him and his brother." That was all she was going to say on the matter. She hated to discuss her private life and history let alone Booth's. It was bad enough that her co-workers knew so much about her history and Booth's, she didn't wish to add to their knowledge. "Mr. Bray please let Dr. Saroyan know that we have found cause of death. I will return to my office and fill out the required forms and then inform Booth of my findings." With that she left the room.

After she was gone, Clark stared at the bones on the table momentarily and grimly turned to find a box to put them in. "No one should have to live with the fact that one parent murdered another. It happens more often than I like to think and all I can think about is the poor children and what they have to go through when it happens. My God, if you can't get along with your spouse then get a divorce for God's sake. None of this makes sense."

Wendell had seen sour relationships in the neighborhood he had grown up in and he knew that it was more complicated than that. "Sometimes people are just too poor to separate or one of the spouses has been brain washed into thinking he or she is getting what they deserve. Some stay because they have kids. It's never as simple as you think. It's hard to break out of a cycle like Booth's parents were in and it takes a lot of strength. Some people don't have that strength."

"Well, Booth broke out of the cycle and he's a good man." Clark carefully picked up the skull and placed it in the box. "My parents taught me a lot of things and one of them was respect and love. I'll always appreciate that I had parents like them. I hit the parent jackpot I guess."

Wendell nodded his head. "Me too man."

Oooooooooooooooooooooo

She stood in Booth's office and grimly handed him a folder. "Your mother not only sustained an injury to her hip when she fell, she also sustained an injury to her skull, the parietal bone to be precise. It ultimately led to her demise . . . I'm sorry I didn't discover this sooner . . . I was too emotionally invested in the outcome. Normally I am able to separate my personal feelings from the cases I work on, but for some reason I couldn't do it this time."

After he took the folder from her and placed it on his desk, Booth stood up, came around the desk and pulled Brennan into his arms. "Hey, you were under a lot of pressure and most of it was from me and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have put so much pressure on you. I trust you and I knew you'd find out the cause sooner or later . . . this is my fault not yours."

Brennan placed her arms around her mate and leaned against him. "You were under a lot of pressure too . . . I'm sorry for your loss, Booth."

He loved her so much and the fact that it had taken her four days to find the cause of his mother's death told him that he had placed too much pressure on her and that was unforgivable. "Thank you . . . I was in shock for those first three days and I treated everyone like shit because I felt like shit. I'm sorry that happened but I have everything under control again. I just lost it for a while I guess . . . I know that I didn't cause my mother's death, my father did that, but I still wish I had called the police. Maybe they could have figured out that my Dad was lying through his teeth when they found out Mom wasn't at a hospital. They could have forced my father to at least take them to where my mother was buried and we could have had a decent funeral for her . . . This is going to hurt Pops when he finds out. I haven't had the guts to tell him yet, but I need to do it now that we know what happened. He loved my Mom and he felt bad when she disappeared . . . Jared was Mom's favorite so he's going to take it bad too."

"I don't know if Jared was really her favorite or not, but she loved you enough to protect you from your father." Brennan kept her ear over Booth's chest and listened to his heart beat. "She probably saved your life and I am grateful for that."

He kept his arms around her and felt the comfort Brennan gave him by being in his life. "I need to tell Pops personally. I can't do that to him over the phone . . . I'll make arrangements to bury Mom and we can have a graveside service. She would have loved it. Mom loved funerals . . . not in a ghoulish way. I just mean, she loved a good cry and to be with family during bad times. I remember going to a couple of funerals with Mom and she'd be so solemn and she'd cry and then when we'd sing a hymn . . . her voice was so pretty . . . we'll have to sing her favorite hymn, 'Morning Has Broken'. She said that it was a song of hope and you always have to have hope." He felt a tear fall down his cheek and he let it. A man has a right to mourn his mother didn't he?

"Yes, we will." Brennan had heard the break in Booth's voice and she knew that it would take time for him to mend, but she knew he would. Her mate was the strongest person she knew. No matter how much tragedy was thrust upon him, he always came through it and she hoped he always would. She planned to be by his side and help him through his troubles like he had been for her. "It's odd that our mothers were found in the Jeffersonian, but we did find them and we know what happened to them. You said there will be no closure for Marianne, but that's not true Booth. She isn't buried in a forest, we know where she is and we can give her remains the respect and dignity they deserve. You now know what happened to your mother and you won't have to continue to wonder why your mother ran away leaving you behind. Now you know that she didn't do that. She was taken away from you. She didn't want to leave you."

Another tear fell and Booth held his arms around Brennan pulling her closer against his body. "Yeah, you're right. She was lost and now she's found and I owe that to you. Thank you."

Oooooooooooooooo

This is the end of my story. Let me know what you think of it. Thank you.