A/N: Continuation of 1x05 A Boy in a Bush
TRIGGER WARNINGS: TALKS OF OVERDOSING, SEXUAL ASSAULT, PEDOPHILIA, DARK SIDE OF FOSTER SYSTEM, DEATH OF A CHILD (THIS WHOLE CHAPTER IS A TW)
Claire walked into the Jeffersonian and headed to the examination room, Zach needed some insight with the remains and Claire agreed to help him. Claire walked in and she looked at Booth and Brennan, "Good morning."
"Hey Cee, how was dress shopping?" Booth asked and she looked at him confused, he shrugged. "Paparazzi." Claire sighed, "Of course, it went fine." Brennan looked at Claire, "I'm afraid that Angela's going to quit."
Claire shrugged, "Maybe, but that's her decision and we can't force her to stay if she wants to leave." Booth nodded, "I told you Bones, Angela's more sensitive then the rest of you here. She likes puppies and kittens and ducklings, she likes doing Jell-O shots, dancing on bars. She's more...normal and this job isn't exactly normal."
Brennan sighed and turned to look at him, "I know that, she's my best friend and Angela's not the only person in the world who likes baby animals." Zach shrugged, "I never saw the attraction." Booth clapped his hands, "I rest my case, she's more sensitive."
Brennan shook her head, "Well, Claire likes most of those things too and she's not thinking about quitting."
"I did for a bit yesterday, but that's been worked out." Claire shrugged and she looked up when she noticed they weren't talking, "What?"
"You were going to quit?" Zach asked and Claire blinked, "Oh, I said that out loud. Sorry, ignore me." Brennan frowned, "Cee-"
"Mr. Addy, your findings?" Claire interrupted and Zach nodded, "We cross-referenced the length and density of Charlie's leg bones with other children his age, I mean the victim." Brennan turned to look at Booth who was staring at the remains, "It helps to concentrate on the details."
Booth gulped and nodded, "Yeah let's do that." Zach pointed at the legs, "We found some abnormalities, they're bowed and abnormally short. Also, the victims bones show freezing of the joints at the hip and knee."
"Charlie was crippled?" Booth asked and Claire frowned, "Did his mom say anything?" Booth shook his head, "No, not in the slightest." Zach looked down at his file, "This victim was disabled from my findings."
Zach pointed to the ribs, "The ribs are broken in two places which is not typical of blunt force trauma." Brennan looked over at Claire, "How do you explain that?" Claire glanced over at her, "If I had to make an assessment, I'd attribute it to his medical condition and the corresponding brittleness of his bones."
Zach nodded, "It looks like scoliosis, a bend in the spine." Brennan looked closely at the bones, "I think it's more than that Zach, there are multiple calcified lesions on the posterior thoracic vertebrae."
Claire hummed as she leaned closer to the bones, "Charlie's short stature and plus all our findings, the asymmetric length of his legs...Agent Booth, Margaret Sanders may not be Charlie's biological mother."
Booth's eyes widen, "What?" Claire looked over at Brennan, "I'll run some tests with Zach for a X-link type of hypophosphatemia and Coffin-Lowry syndrome."
"Woah, woah. Hold the phone, okay?" Booth asked as he stared at the bones and x-rays, "Can we back up to the part where she's not his real mother?" Brennan frowned, "She is his real mother, just not his biological mother."
"Look Bones, just explain what the squints are going to be doing."
"Dr. Kano and Zach are doing to check for hereditary genet defects which are always passed from mother to child, if Charlie had one then Margaret Sanders is not his mother biologically." Brennan answered and Booth sighed, "Well then we have a new problem, we need to find out who Charlie really is."
___
Claire stood in the corner of the room, she sighed as she watched Booth and Brennan interrogate Margaret. She opted to not be involved, but she stayed close by to see if she needed to file this as a report for kidnapping. Claire had zoned out before snapping back to reality, she held her notepad and pen up to write down what was necessary.
"My husband left me because I can't have children." Margaret confessed, "So I took in foster kids." Brennan stared at Margaret, "Like Sean and David Cook?"
"And Charlie, but his name was Nathan at the time..." Margaret gulped and Claire wrote that down in her notepad, Margaret cleared her throat. "I uh, got him as a baby in Pittsburgh when he was just ten days old. His mother was arrested on drug charges and child services brought him to me, I had him for three weeks before the charges were dropped..."
"And you kept him?" Booth asked and Margaret shook her head, "I gave him back, but it nearly killed me to do." Margaret smiled sadly, "I stayed in touch, I bought him things like formula, a stroller, toys, anything. I wanted to make sure he was alright."
TW*****
"Nathan what, Mrs. Sanders?" Booth asked, "What was his last name?" Margaret sniffled, "Nathan Downey." Claire wrote that down in her notes as she continued to listen to Margaret, Margaret sighed. "His mother was a drug addict named Jeannine...I found her Christmas Day, dead on the floor. There was a needle stuck in her arm and I could hear Charlie crying upstairs....so I went up."
Brennan looked at her, "And you took him home?" Margaret smiled sadly, "I looked him in the eyes and promised that I'd never leave him alone again...and he stopped crying, I was so scared. I expected every day for Child Services to come looking for him."
"He would've ended up back in the system anyway." Brennan sympathized and Margaret had tears down her face, "I meant to keep him safe, to love him...and now he's dead."
Claire finished writing her notes down and Booth looked over at her, she nodded at the door and they walked out. "I can book her for kidnapping." Brennan looked at him shocked, "Booth."
"Look Bones I get that she tried to do that out of the kindness of her heart, but she didn't report a dead body and she stole that baby from his dead mother."
"He would've been in the system again-"
"And he could've went to another family." Booth countered and Brennan glared at him, "A family that may not have loved him as much as that woman loved him." Claire sighed and rubbed her face, "This could go either way..."
"How? Cee, she stole a baby." Booth stared at her and she shook her head, "First off, don't call me Cee. Secondly, that is true but it could be argued...that since the child was never reported missing, it's not kidnapping. She could argue that she found the child and chose to raise it as her own-"
"See Booth? Dr. Kano-"
"Is a Doctor and not a prosecutor, not a lawyer, and not an attorney, not anymore." Booth interrupted and turned serious, "You said for me to not tell you how to do your job, so don't tell me how to do mine if you're no longer with the system. You're not here to defend her so I just need to know, can I book her for kidnapping?"
Claire blinked at him and sighed, "From what I heard...yes. You have a reason and a confession to arrest her for kidnapping Charlie if the story checks out." Booth nodded, "Thank you, that's all I need."
Brennan looked at Booth shocked as he walked away to get the story checked out, Brennan turned to look at Claire. "Dr. Kano-"
"What do you want me to do Temper? She's given a full confession, how do you want me to lie and tell Agent Booth that he can't arrest her?" Claire asked and Brennan opened and closed her mouth, Claire lifted her hand and awkwardly patted Brennan's arm. "I'm sorry, but I'm no longer a prosecutor. He asked for my honest opinion and my honest opinion is...she can be arrested for kidnapping a baby."
"But she did it to protect him, the system is-"
"I'm not saying she should be arrested Dr. Brennan, I'm just saying he has probable cause to arrest her." Claire assured her and Brennan relaxed, "Booth's going to arrest her, can you protect her?"
Claire shook her head as she looked back into the room through the glass, "No, not with her giving a full confession already."
___
"Story checks out, she confessed Bones and I had to arrest her." Booth stated as he walked into his office and Brennan shook her head as she followed him, "Margaret Sanders did nothing more than respond to the anthropological imperative, she saw an orphan and reacted." Booth raised an eyebrow, "You getting attorney lessons from Cee?"
Claire closed his office door after she walked in, "I'm staying out of this." Brennan sighed "Booth, I'm serious. She-"
"This isn't a National Geographic study, okay? This is the suburbs and she kidnapped that child." Booth interrupted as he sat down, Brennan shook her head, "Why would she kill the boy? She obviously loved him."
Booth shrugged, "There are situations that happen Bones, the kid could've gotten sick, he doesn't turn out to be what she wanted. I bet that you could give me a dozen examples of societies that have killed their own young."
Brennan sighed and shook her head, "Well what about Sean and David Cook? Where do they go now?" Booth opened his file, "Back into the system."
"Do you have any idea how had the foster care system is Booth?"
"Do you?" Booth countered and Brennan looked at him shocked before opening her mouth, but Booth interrupted her as he stood up and walked over to her. "What do you want to do? Kidnap them? The way she kidnapped Charlie?"
Claire walked in-between them, "Let's all calm down, shall we?" Brennan glared at Booth from behind Claire, "I want you to let them go home to Margaret Sanders."
"Not gonna happen." Booth responded and Brennan shook her head, "Then we're done here." She walked out of his office and Claire sighed, "Agent Booth, I'll say this once. You're being an ass."
"How-"
"Because for someone who reads up on personal files, you don't read carefully enough." Claire called back as she walked after Brennan, Claire caught up to her at the elevators and Brennan sighed. "I'm sorry, I got emotional-"
"There's no need to apologize Temper, you think I call you that without a reason?" Claire asked and Brennan smiled at her, Claire and her walked into the elevator and Claire sighed. "You've told me that you were in the system, I'm sorry that those kids are going to be taken back."
"Can you stop that from happening?"
"I...don't know if I can, there's lots of problems factoring into this case." Claire confessed and she shrugged, "But, I could put in a good word if Miss Sanders is put on trial." Brennan nodded, "Thank you, that'd mean a lot."
Claire gave her a small smile as the doors opened, they both walked to the parking lot. "Aren't you glad I drove my car?" Claire asked, "You would've felt awkward walking out and then having Agent Booth drive you back to the Jeffersonian."
"I may have not thought that through."
"I know, which is why I followed you."
___
Claire was walking to Brennan's office when Booth and Brennan walked over to her, "Angela's got a face for the abductor." Claire nodded and followed them, Booth smiled. "Bone's writing her next book."
"Already?"
Brennan sighed, "They gave me a car and I feel like I need to work harder to repay them." Claire hummed, "That's psychology Temper, they're making you subconsciously think that you owe them." Booth nodded as they walked into Angela's office, Claire stood next to him. "Have you two made up?"
"Not really."
"Did-"
"Yeah, I paid more attention to the files." Booth whispered back and Claire hummed, "Feel like an ass?"
"You have no idea." Booth answered and Claire looked at the screen as Angela pulled up the feed, "I looked on both cameras and this one offered more reflective surfaces."
Booth nodded, "Right at the door." Angela typed on her computer, "Check this out." Claire looked at the door and saw a distorted face, "The abductor's face." Angela nodded, "By polarizing the image, the computer can interpret the spaces and the dark gaps and fill in the missing pieces."
Brennan frowned, "Wait...that doesn't look like an adult." Angela glanced back at her before continuing to type, "When I repolarized the image-"
"That's Sean Cook, the victim's foster brother." Booth stated as he stared shocked at the screen, Brennan looked at the screen in shock as well. "His brother took him out of the mall?"
"And I'm on my way to bring him in for questioning." Booth stated as he left, Brennan walked after him and turned to look at Claire. "Dr. Kano, please."
Claire blinked at her and nodded, Brennan looked at her gratefully before walking after Booth. Angela looked at her confused, "What did she mean when she said 'please'?" Claire looked at Angela before walking out of her office, "She said that because she wants me to go and help Sean."
She's asking me to be on her side...to not be professional.
___
Claire stood outside the room with Brennan and a juvenile prosecutor, they listened as Booth was questioning why Sean was leading Charlie out of the mall. Sean had a lawyer in there and the prosecutor looked at Claire and Brennan. "I wish I could say kids killing kids was rare."
"He's not been proven guilty." Brennan defended and the prosecutor shrugged, "It happens, but with the evidence-"
"I'm trying to listen if you don't mind." Claire interrupted and the prosecutor cleared her throat, "Of course, sorry." Claire turned back to the glass and watched Booth put the picture Angela helped compose in front of him, "Where were you taking Charlie?"
Sean didn't look at him as he played with the water on the table, "When can I talk to Margaret?"
"After you answer my questions." Booth answered and Brennan frowned, "Can he do that? Lie to a kid?" The prosecutor turned to her, "We're after a child killer Dr. Brennan, if the child advocate in there doesn't complain, I sure as hell won't."
"But he's not even trying to protect Sean." Brennan stated and Claire sighed, "What the hell's the point of having him in there if he doesn't advocate for the child?"
"Are you confused on which side you're on Miss Kano and Dr. Brennan?"
"It's Dr. Kano, and no actually I'm not. I'm here to find a killer of a young boy, not here to watch you traumatize another one." Claire answered as she turned to look at the prosecutor, "Let me make this clear, everyone if innocent until proven guilty. You should remember that, it's basic prosecutor logic."
The prosecutor stared at her and Claire turned back to look at Booth questioning Sean, Brennan gently touched her hand. "Thank you."
"Hmm." Claire hummed, she took a deep breath as memories flashed in her mind.
'Did you push your sister in?'
'No.'
'Well...are you sure? You know it's okay if you did, she was being mean to you.'
'I didn't push her.'
'Claire, I can't help you if you're going to lie.'
'I'm not!'
'Well she's missing or dead and I need to find her, and you're not helping.'
'I'm trying...'
Claire snapped out of her daze as she listened to Booth talk, he was showing Sean his scar and Sean looked at it. "How'd that happen?" Booth smiled at him, "I got it while playing soldier with my brother Jared."
"Did it hurt?"
"Yeah it did, but it was an accident. Do you have any scars?" Booth asked and Sean hesitated before showing Booth his arm, "My dad did it with a cigarette."
"He shouldn't have done that."
"Margaret didn't do anything like that, I love Margaret." Sean's voice broke and Claire tensed, so did Brennan. Booth leaned closer to him, "I need to know if Charlie had some kind of accident...Sean?"
"Maybe we can take a break," The advocate said and Claire scoffed, "No he does his job?"
"Sean?" Booth asked again and didn't get a reply. The prosecutor sighed, "He's not being aggressive enough." Brennan tensed and looked at her, "Foster kids are powerless, they're treated like garbage. You're in a position to do something about it and all you can say is, 'He's not aggressive enough'?"
"Dr. Brennan, you know this boy may very well have beaten a child to death with a rock?" The prosecutor countered and Claire rolled her eyes, "I don't like to repeat myself, but I will say this and say it again. This boy is innocent until proven guilty."
"Dr. Kano, you're no longer a prosecutor."
"And maybe you shouldn't be either if you're going to treat every child like a criminal."
"It's my job-"
"To find the truth, not to assume it." Claire interrupted and sighed, "I'm sure you're a wonderful prosecutor, but you don't come into this assuming everyone is guilty. You come into this with a biased mindset then you're going to be biased, you have to see this from both sides equally."
The prosecutor narrowed her eyes, "I don't need you to tell me how to do my job." Claire shrugged, "Do it correctly and I won't." The prosecutor sighed and left the room, Brennan watched her leave before turning back to Claire. "Can you do that?"
"No clue, we'll see if she writes a complaint." Claire answered and Brennan smiled at her, "Thank you, for sticking up for Sean."
"I didn't do it for you Temper, no need to thank me."
"You did it for him?" Brennan asked and Claire shrugged, "Who knows, but likely not. I'm doing this out of the fairness and mindset of a former prosecutor, I stood up for Sean because they were being unfair and emotional."
My emotions are all over the place, I need to calm down...stop remembering the past Claire.
___
A/N: The bracelet Claire has been wearing and playing with, the flower is a violet~
Claire sat in her office playing with her bracelet, she sighed and took a sip of her coffee when Hodgins walked in. "Did you know that Angela was thinking about quitting?" Claire hummed as she put down her coffee, "Yes, I did."
"Why didn't anyone say anything?"
"Why do you care?" Claire countered, "I didn't know you two were close." Hodgins shook his head, "We're not."
"Then why're you asking?" Claire asked as she stood up, "I have to go see Dr. Brennan in the examination room, if you have a guilty conscience about something then you might want to talk with someone else Dr. Hodgins. I'm not in the best of moods."
Claire walked away and tied up her hair as she walked into the examination room, she walked next to Brennan when they heard a knock on the door. Booth cleared his throat, "I just thought you'd guys like to know that Sean and David Cook were put in Emergency Care, I pulled some strings and they're going to be staying together."
Brennan nodded, "Good." She looked back down at her clipboard and Booth sighed, "It's the best I could do Bones." Claire looked over at him, "I think that was nice of you Agent Booth." Booth smiled at her, "Thank you."
"I understand." Brennan shrugged and Booth shook his head, "No, you say you do but you don't. Look, I know you really don't get it because you see if as unfair or unjust. I mean, if you don't like the rule you ignore it."
Booth walked over and put his hand over the pencil on the table, he made a fist. "I can't have that and if you work on cases with me and outside this lab, I need to know you'll respect the law."
Brennan sighed and Claire took the clipboard from her, Brennan looked over at Booth. "Tell you what, if I can't respect the law I can at least respect you Booth." Booth looked surprised before smiling, "Oh, yeah. That'll work too, it kind of comes out of nowhere...but thanks."
Claire looked up from the clipboard and stared at them, "Huh." Brennan looked at her, "What?"
"Nothing, just interesting." Claire answered as she diverted her attention to the bones, and Brennan frowned at the broken pencil when Booth moved his hands. "Look what you did."
Booth looked at the pencil and shrugged, "It's a pencil, I'll get you a new one." Brennan shook her head, "The victim was killed by trauma to the chest, but the ribs are broken in to places instead of one."
Claire hummed as she continued staring at the bones, "It could be because of the brittle bones and his disease, but there could be another explanation." Brennan nodded, "I agree." Booth frowned, "What other explanation?"
Brennan looked at him, "Compression, Charlie Sanders was crushed to death. Look at the Green stick fractures on the vertebral and sternal, here." Brennan pointed to the bones and Claire tilted her head, "Sean Cook outweighed Charlie Sanders by maybe 30 pounds, he wouldn't have been able to crush him to death."
"You don't know that." Booth countered and she shrugged, "Not for sure, so lets go see someone who can tell us for sure." Claire walked out of the room and Brennan and Booth followed after her, they saw Angela near the observation deck.
"Angela, we need to run some scenarios through the Angelator." Brennan said as they walked over to her and Angela nodded, "Sure, let's go." Brennan walked towards Angela's office and Claire was going to follow when Hodgins called to them, "Angela and Booth!"
Claire turned around and raised an eyebrow, Angela sighed and shook her head. "We'll be there, don't worry." Claire hummed before walking after Brennan.
As long as it doesn't involve me, I'm fine with it.
___
Claire looked up at Angela and Booth when they finally walked in, Angela grabbed her tablet. "Okay, what am I simulating?"
"Charlie was 3'4 and weighed about 58 pounds, Sean Cook is 1.4 meters tall and weighs 31 kilograms, his brother David is 5'8 and 150 pounds, 1.75 meters and 68 kilograms." Brennan answered, "We're trying to see if either of them could've crushed Charlie to death."
Angela cringed but nodded, she put the measurements into her tablet and Brennan sighed. "At first, I thought the break to Charlie's sternum was caused by blunt trauma because it only ran along one fault line. However, when Booth broke my pencil I realized there's another way to cause the same type of injury."
"Compression." Claire finished and Angela looked confused, "Hodgins didn't find any particles that suggest crushing." Claire shrugged, "Body weight, there has to be enough weight on the victim to stop the abdomen from moving so no air can get into the lungs."
Brennan nodded, "Prolonged pressure caused the sternum to snap in half and the ribs to break." Angela gulped before making simulations to showcase a knee crushing Charlie's ribs, "I entered real-world variables taking into account Charlie's size and the amount of pressure needed to break it in this way."
"What did you come up with?"
"86.2 kilograms." Angela answered and Booth cleared his throat, "What's that in American?"
"190 pounds," Claire answered as she turned to look at him, "Which means that Sean isn't your killer Agent Booth."
"Or David Cook and Margaret Sanders, they don't meet the requirements." Brennan stated and Booth sighed, "Which takes us back to square one, the neighbor kid Skyler is only about 160 pounds so it's not him either."
Brennan shook her head, "You're looking for a full-grown man, you have to get Sean to tell you where he took Charlie when they left the mall."
"He won't talk to me." Booth said and Brennan looked over at him, "I'll do it." Booth shook his head, "No offense Bones, but people are not your strong point. Besides, he's not gonna care how many facts you put in front of him."
"Then I'll go with her." Claire stated, "No offense Agent Booth, but you and the prosecutor are not going to get anything out of that boy. He doesn't trust you, he knows you were against him."
"And he'll trust you both?"
"Yes." Claire answered and Angela shrugged, "It's the best you've got." Brennan sighed, "Go with me on this one Booth, please." Booth looked at her before nodding, "Fine, but Cee goes with you."
___
Claire sat next to the child advocate and sat across from Sean and Brennan, Brennan smiled at Sean. "You remember me, Sean?" Sean nodded, "The museum lady who's really smart, is that your friend?" Claire gave him a small smile, "Hi Sean, it's nice to meet you."
"Do you work at the museum as well?"
"I do."
"Are you also smart?"
"I'd like to think so." Claire answered and Sean smiled a bit at her, "You probably are then." Claire stood up and squatted next to him, she was in between both Brennan and Sean. "We're both smart enough to know that you didn't kill Charlie."
Sean stared down at his lap and Brennan leaned closer to him, "You don't have to say anything Sean, can you listen to me?" Sean nodded and Brennan cleared her throat, "They give you a garbage bag to carry all your stuff like they're telling you everything you own is garbage, then you have to go to a new school in clothes that smell like garbage bags...all the kids know you're a foster kid."
Sean had tears run down his face, he sniffled. "How do you know what it's like?" Brennan looked at him sadly, "They bounce you from place to place and it's never home."
"Sometimes the foster parents are nice." Sean's voice broke and Claire hesitated before gently rubbing his arm, "Like Margaret?"
"Yeah, she's nice."
Brennan sat up a bit, "And sometimes they separate you from your brother. It must have been nice with Margaret and staying with David." Sean sniffled again and didn't look at them, "We got bunk beds and at night, I knew David was there and he was guarding me."
"You'd do anything to stay with Margaret...right? The man you took Charlie to, the man who hurt him, he's noticed that. He didn't know he'd hurt Charlie, but he did." Brennan said softly and Sean sniffed, Brennan smiled at him sadly. "This man told you that Margaret would blame you, that she'd hate you, but this man is lying to you Sean. I can make sure that you'd go back to Margaret."
"How? You work at a museum."
"I have a friend in the FBI, if I ask him to, he'll make sure that you and David get to live with Margaret again. And Dr. Kano? She's a great prosecutor, she'll make sure that this happens."
Sean tensed, "That other lady was also a prosecutor..."
"Dr. Kano is nicer." Brennan reassured and looked at Claire, Claire was still rubbing his arm and cleared her throat. "You were scared, right? You were scared of Agent Booth and the prosecutor before which is why you didn't say anything."
"They were looking at me like they did."
"Who?"
"The kids at school, the lady was looking at me like I was weird or I did something wrong....she made me feel different."
"But you didn't Sean, you were tricked into doing something out of fear." Claire said gently but firmly, she gulped before continuing. "It's scary, when adults are looking at you and expecting you to understand what they want. It's also scary when you're sad or hurt and everyone's wanting you to answer the things they want, I know it's scary for you. You're just a kid, you're young, and you're just trying your best to please them even if you don't understand what's going on."
"How do you know? Were you ever scared...of people looking at you like you were in the wrong?"
"Yes, it's why I used to be a prosecutor. I hated being looked at and people looking at others like they were guilty without any proof, I hated how they judged without knowing the truth." Claire answered immediately and Brennan looked at her before looking back at Sean, he sniffled again and the advocate sighed. "Dr. Kano and Dr. Brennan, you can't make promises like that." The advocate stated and Brennan shook her head, "Yes we can, he'll do it. My friend will make it happen and so will Claire."
Sean looked over at Claire. "You'll let me stay with Margaret?"
"Yes, but you need to tell me who hurt Charlie." Claire answered and Sean sobbed. "What if Margaret doesn't want me anymore?" Brennan shook her head, "Charlie wasn't her biological son either, he was just like you....someone that Margaret chose to love."
Claire gently reached and held Sean's hand, "I don't think we should let the man take you and David away from Margaret." Brennan nodded, "He took away Charlie, he shouldn't take you two either."
"We should stop him Sean. Me, you, and Dr. Brennan should all stop him, would you like that?" Claire asked and Sean sobbed before hugging her, Claire tensed up before slowly embracing him back. Brennan teared up as well before joining their hug, Claire tightened her hold on him as he turned and whispered something for both of Claire and Brennan to hear.
"The man who lives next door, Mr. Nelson....Skyler's dad hurt Charlie." Sean whispered and Claire gently reached up to stroke his head, "You did good Sean, thank you for telling me." Brennan looked at the glass and nodded so Booth would know that they knew who to get, Brennan squeezed them in the embrace before she let go and walked to the door.
Claire didn't let go though, she stayed there and held onto Sean as her heart ached in a way she hadn't felt in a long time. Claire closed her eyes as she held onto the boy who sobbed his heart out in her arms.
He reminds me of myself....a scared, innocent, naïve child who was just trying their best to be happy.
___
Claire denied going to arrest Mr. Nelson with Booth and Brennan, she opted to just reuniting the Cook siblings with Margaret. It took some persuading, but Claire was able to get Margaret reapproved and able to foster Sean and David.
The juvenile prosecutor walked over to her, "You kept your promise to that boy." Claire shrugged as she watched them all embrace, "I know you and Agent Booth helped out too."
"We did, but I'm going to guess and say that you're argument was more persuasive than me or Booth were." The prosecutor smiled at her, "You're still very skilled, ever think about coming back?"
"No, not in the slightest." Claire answered honestly and the prosecutor shrugged, "Well if you ever do, give my department a call." Claire blinked before walking to the elevators after Brennan, she sighed as she pressed the button. "Time to get ready for the party."
___
A/N: Claire's full outfit for the banquet~
Claire walked into Brennan's office, "Ready?" Booth turned to look at her and whistled, "Well hello there, you look nice." Claire sighed, "I'm not in the mood for your jokes Agent Booth, I'm about to be stuck at a banquet for an hour."
Booth smiled at her before Brennan stood up, "I still need to get ready, I'll be quick." Claire nodded as Brennan cleared her throat, "Dr. Kano, I was under the impression that you weren't a big fan of physical contact."
"I'm not."
"You let Sean hug you...I thought that was very nice of you." Brennan stated before she left to get changed, Claire turned to look at Booth. "Did you two make up?"
"Yeah, in a way we did. I knew when she was talking about being taken away from your brother due to the system wasn't about the Cook's, she said we'll talk about it another day." Booth answered and Claire hummed, "That's good."
"Hey, do you want to talk? When you were talking to Sean Cook..."
Claire blinked at him before shrugged, "It's in the past Agent Booth, besides you've read my file. You already know what I was talking about." Booth nodded and sighed, "The detective who questioned you, he thought you were the cause behind your sister's possible drowning. He snuck into your hospital room and tried questioning you because he thought it could be gang related to one of his cases, you had just gotten out of surgery too. I heard he was harsh and due to that, he was fired.
Claire hummed, "I heard that too." Booth sighed, "You were a kid and he was wrong to bombard you with questions to make you feel guilty, you didn't do anything wrong." Claire blinked at him before shrugging, "It's fine Booth, are you here for any other reason?"
"Just filling Bones in on the case, we arrested and charged Mr. Nelson."
They both walked to the others, Hodgins wasn't in a suit and Goodman sighed. "That's not a tuxedo Dr. Hodgins."
"I'm not going Dr. Goodman."
"You are going," Goodman said firmly as he handed them nametags, "When we arrive, the donors will all be wearing name tags." Zach frowned, "What do we talk about?"
"Work of course, Dr. Kano I've heard that your brother will be coming here to pick you up."
Claire nodded, "Yes, so is my mother." Goodman smiled at her, "How lovely." Angela stared at her hands awkwardly, "Zach's work consists of removing flesh from corpses, Claire analyzes flesh, anatomy, and sees who's fit for trial, Hodgins dissects bugs that have been eating people's eyeballs, and Brennan is amazing with looking at bones."
"Leave me out, I'm not going." Hodgins called over at them and Claire nudged him, "Not the time Hodgins."
Goodman looked at her, "And how do you see your job?" Angela looked up at him, "I draw death masks." Goodman frowned, "Is that how you see it?"
"Don't you?" Angela countered and Goodman shook his head, he smiled at her. "You are the best of us Miss Montenegro, you discern humanity in the wreck of a ruined human body. You give victims back their faces, their identities. You help remind us all why we're here in the first place, because we treasure human life."
Angela had glossy eyes and hugged him, Brennan walked over dressed up and raised an eyebrow. "What happened?" Zach shrugged, "Apparently, all Angela needed was to hear her job description in a deep African-American tone."
"Mr. Addy." Goodman said as Angela let go and Booth chuckled before clearing his throat, "Actually Dr. Goodman, we need Hodgins in the lab tonight. FBI needs this analyzed by morning." Booth raised a bag and Claire frowned, "Did you have that the whole time?"
"Yeah." Booth answered and Hodgins took it with a grateful look, "I'll get right on it." Brennan frowned, "What case file is this? Am I supposed to know about it?"
"Booth mentioned it to me earlier today." Angela answered and Brennan shrugged, "Good enough for me." Goodman sighed, "Fine, you're off the hook Dr. Hodgins. Let's not keep the limo or your family waiting Dr. Kano."
Claire sighed as she walked to the doors, she turned to see Booth and Brennan talking. Claire hummed as she saw Booth smile at Brennan after looking at her outfit.
Interesting.
Claire walked out of the Jeffersonian with the rest and smiled a bit as her mother walked over to her, Angela whistled as she looked at Kenny and Claire's mom. "Nice to see that the family has genes." Claire gave her a look before walking over to her mom, "Hi Mama."
A/N: Claire's mother and Claire's brother's outfit~
"You look stunning honey." Claire's mom gently held her face and Claire hummed, "You look amazing too mom, ready to go?" Kenny smiled at them both when they walked over, "I've told mama about your one hour requirement, she's bargaining for an hour and a half."
Claire sighed as her brother's driver opened her door, "I guess that's fine Mama." Her mother smiled at her, "Good, let's enjoy tonight." Kenny laughed as he shut the door, "Can't, not with all the paparazzi." Their mom shrugged, "They've left me alone so far, guess I'm not interesting enough."
Claire smiled a bit at her mother, "Mama, you're very interesting. They just know me and Ken would publicly and metaphorically destroy them." Kenny nodded, "They know better Mama."
Their mom laughed, "You two are hilarious, let's try and enjoy tonight with our best behaviors?" Claire shrugged, "As long as none of the donor's try and talk to me about meaningless things then I'll be fine."
Kenny nodded, "I don't really feel like talking about scientific things that I don't understand."
"Half of those arrogant snobs don't understand the periodic table Ken."
"Then I'll be fine." Kenny smiled and their mom sighed, "I just wanted normal children." Claire tilted her head, "You did, we're perfectly normal but just with very extraordinary jobs and brains."
"That's not exactly normal darling."
"But it is interesting."
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Hello! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'm not fully back! I just had time for an update and I wanted a way to thank you all for your patience and kind words that you all had for me while I was on my break. We're seeing glimpses of Claire's past and we'll get into it more and more as the book goes on~ I will probably not update as frequently anymore because I really had a breakdown because I was hurting my mind and body by pushing it to hard. I'm doing better now though, I just don't know when the next update will be~
I DIDN'T RESPOND TO COMMENTS BUT I READ EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM AND I JUST WANT TO THANK EVERY PERSON WHO REACHED OUT WITH SUCH KIND AND ENCOURAGING WORDS! IT MEANS A LOT TO ME AND I CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH, I CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH AND EXPLAIN HOW MUCH I APPRECIATE ALL THE KINDNESS YOU'VE ALL SHOWN ME AND MY STORIES, I WILL BE REPLYING TO COMMENTS AGAIN AND YOU ALL ARE AMAZING AND I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH💖💖💖💖💖💖🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
Don't forget to vote and comment if you enjoyed this chapter~
See you in the next update!