31This story takes place during Season 6. It begins after "Hole in the Heart" but before Angela gives birth. It's a bit AU as the case at the bowling alley won't happen and Booth finds out about Brennan's pregnancy in a different manner.
As always, "Bones" isn't mine. I'm just playing and will put them up nicely when I'm done. 😊
Please let me know what you think. Gatewatcher
Ch 1
The day was gray. Early spring days can often be chilly and it takes the sun a while to decide to appear in the morning. While most people were still sleeping, snuggled underneath warm blankets, Brennan was already in the lab working on identifying the many bodies that came to her three weeks ago. As usual, she spent every waking hour in the lab working. She wasn't even sure when she ate last. Several weeks ago, she had thought things were changing. After the death of her English intern, Vincent Nigel-Murray, she and Booth had become even closer than they ever had been before. She had stayed at Booth's apartment that night. At first, she had considered having to stay there unnecessary, but he needed to be sure she was not in harm's way with Broadsky still on the loose, so she acquiesced and stayed to make Booth feel better. She had realized later that he knew she would end up needing him, allowing him/asking him to hold her as she lost all control of her emotions from the loss of such a young life. Since that night, they had barely been separated; that included work hours and after hours. Some nights she spent at his apartment, and some nights he stayed at hers. Right now, though, if she were to compare how she felt to a color, it would be gray, same as the dawning day.
Three weeks ago, on a Monday morning, she had come into work late. She had an early appointment and entered the lab about nine o'clock. Booth had spent the night at her place, but they drove in separately. She had barely gotten busy when her phone buzzed.
"Brennan", she announced as she answered the call.
"Bones, it's me. I'm headed over to get ya."
"Where are we going?"
"I'll explain on the way."
Ten minutes later, the pair was on their way to Jamestown, Virginia. Booth had explained that a construction company was digging to begin on a new project when they discovered a mass grave site.
"Apparently", he had informed her, "the bodies appear to be very old; there are no decayed coffins, grave markers, or anything like that anyone has been able to decipher. So, they asked for you and the team to take a look at it."
Arriving on scene, Brennan grabbed her gear and met with the FBI forensics team. As she stepped down into the massive hole in the ground where they construction crew had been digging, she observed several sets of bones. Most were just lying in the dirt. The bodies weren't all intact.
She yelled up to Booth, "These are old; probably nearly 100 years."
He reached out for her hand to assist her out of the hole as she continued to speak. "We would have to excavate them all out and try to match sets together to make individual remains. It will take quite a while. They were correct in stating there are no coffins. It appears to be a large body dump."
"Okay, let's call Hodgins and Cam and get the team down here. You guys can start digging it all out and get this party started."
"Booth. This will hardly be a party", she exclaimed as she pulled out her phone.
Booth just shook his head and turned around to go find the construction supervisor.
Toward the end of the week, Brennan and Hodgins were nearly finished with sifting through the dirt for remains. She was just about or ask for a large amount of the soil to be trucked to the Jeffersonian when a news crew pulled into the lot.
Booth headed over to the van to try and intercept them. He walked up to the back of the van as the crew was taking out their equipment.
"Excuse me. I'm Special Agent Booth from the FBI. I'm sorry, but you can't…"
"Hello, Seeley", cooed the blonde as she turned around to face him.
"Hannah? What are you doing here?"
"Trying to get a story, Seeley. My job."
"I thought you were….."
"I am waiting for a transfer back to Afghanistan; it just hasn't come through yet."
"I see."
"Come on, Troy. Let's go get some footage and see if we can get anyone to talk to us" she ordered as she by-passed Booth with her eye on the large hole in the ground.
Brennan had been watching from across the lot as Booth and Hannah spoke. She made an assumption that this was the first they had spoken since she turned down his marriage proposal.
Hannah strode straight toward Brennan with her cameraman right behind her.
"Hello, Temperance."
"Hello, Hannah."
Hannah then turned to the cameraman and motioned for him to start filming and then began…
"Good afternoon. This is Hannah Burley with WHDC and we are in Jamestown, Virginia where we have been told that crews discovered a mass burial site. I am with the world's most renowned forensic anthropologist, Dr. Temperance Brennan from the Jeffersonian Institute. Dr. Brennan, what can you tell us about what you have found here? Could this be the people from a mass murder, a Native American tribe, or perhaps a lost colony? Then she thrust the microphone into Brennean's face.
"I have no idea", she responded indignantly. "How could I know what this is until I get it all back to the lab and have time to study it?"
"Well, could you at least give our viewers an educated guess? What do you think this is?"
"I do not speculate nor do I guess. I must review the remains to obtain facts. You should know that, Hannah", she replied as she turned and walked away.
Hannah tried to speak with Jack and then to a security detail, but no one would give her any information. Sighing, she instructed the cameraman to call it a day and begin putting the equipment back into the van.
The whole time she was trying to get a story out of this, Booth just watched and shook his head.
While Troy was putting things away, Hannah walked over to Booth and began a conversation.
Brennan observed from a distance wondering what they were discussing when her phone rang.
"Brennan. Yes. Yes. I will. Thank you for your call." She began to mentally make plans for dinner. When she looked up from replacing her phone, Booth was coming toward her.
"Bones", he shouted. "Are you ready to pack up and get out of here?"
"You don't have to shout, Booth. Yes, I believe we have all that we need for now."
As they started to walk to his SUV, Hannah ran back towards him and asked if they could have dinner together.
He started to say no, when she pleaded with him to have a chance to talk. He turned to look at Brennan. They hadn't informed anyone yet that they had started a relationship, and this was not the way they wanted their friends to find out. She smiled and stated that perhaps it was a good idea if they clear the air.
"I will be working on these remains. You may as well go and have dinner. Bring me something back."
So, he agreed to meet Hannah at Founding Father's at 6:00 after dropping Brennan off at the lab.
That was the last time she had seen Booth. That was two weeks ago. He called her at 8:00 that evening and said that he had to go out of town for a few days. He said he would call her when he returned and not to worry. He also told her that Agent Barrett would be taking his place and was looking into the area where they discovered the bodies. Before he hung up, she overheard a female voice say, "Come on Seeley. We'll miss the flight." And she hasn't heard anything since.
So, she has spent every day, and most nights, working on the remains. In that amount of time, she had put together nearly a dozen bodies and identified eight of them. As it turns out, in the early 1900's, an asylum had stood on the ground where the bodies were found. It had been abandoned an eventually demolished in 1942. The remains they found had been patients who had died while in residence, mostly from illnesses. There was no foul play that she could decipher; she was having them returned to family members or arranging for proper burials.
Eventually, on this early gray morning, Jack and Angela arrived and found her working. As Angela watched her, she whispered to Jack that Brennan was looking very pale. She marched over to her and demanded that she stop working for a while.
"Bren, come on. I'm hungry. Let's go to the diner and get some breakfast."
"You only just arrived. How can you be hungry already?"
"Well, this baby is hungry all the time. I always want to eat", she smiled. "When's the last time you ate?"
Brennan just looked at her.
"Ahuh. That's what I thought. Come on. No arguments. Let's go."
"Ang….."
"Nope. Jack, help me."
"Come on Dr. B. Humor her. It's useless to argue."
"Fine." Taking off her lab coat, she was going to hang it in her office. She turned quickly and took a step. Immediately feeling light headed, she lost her balance and nearly fell down the steps. Luckily, Jack was only a few feet away and managed to catch her before her unconscious body hit the floor.