-Venus POV-
I was just about finished fixing the boys console controller when David spoke up, "Do you know what you're doing?" I chuckle "Of course I know what I am doing. I have a degree on engineering, this here for me is just kids play." Booth nods agreeing with me as he then asks to the boys, "So, you guys, uh... you guys have girlfriends?" David nods "I do." Sean then speaks up "Her name's Leila." "Leila? Leila ..." "I thought you guys were going to ask us questions about Charlie." I speak up as I finished fixing the controller and handed it to Booth, "I'm not FBI. I just the brains behind this muscle FBI." Booth then continues "Yeah, so which one of you puny mortals wants to challenge me first?" Sean cuts in taking the controller first. I then added in "I even made sure the console runs faster when uploading new games." Booth and I watch their movements seeing that they are hiding something.
An hour later Booth and I were outside as we talk to the kids. Booth lost multiple times "All right, look, you beat me bad!" David then speaks "No wonder you don't have a girlfriend!" Ms. Sanders scolds David as I chuckle, and Booth speaks up. "It's okay, Ms. Sanders. That's all right. No, I do have a girlfriend." Sean speaks in "She pretty?" "Nah. She's butt-ugly. She's got one glass eye, and ugly black teeth." We all laugh at that as I speak up to David "Now, was Leila with you the day that Charlie disappeared?" "Uh... yeah, actually. We stopped and played some video games at the arcade." "That must've been before you and Charlie went to the park." Ms. Sanders then cuts in "You didn't go to the mall that day, David." The boys look down ashamed as Ms. Sanders looks from David to Sean "Sean?" David speaks up "Don't ask Sean, Mom." Booth cuts in "You met Leila at the mall, didn't you? You left Charlie with Sean at the park." "Well, just for a few minutes and then they came back to the mall. Sean let go of his hand for a second. Charlie was gone like that! And then we came straight home!" I look at Booth "Charlie wasn't taken from the park, he was snatched from the mall. We've been looking in the wrong place."
Booth and I quickly made our way back to the lab to check out the security tapes Booth asked for at the mall. We made our way to Angie's workspace as Temp and Angie waited for us to start. "There are 20 surveillance cameras taking stills every two seconds throughout the mall, including access corridors and parking lots. I concentrated on the ones aimed at the public concourse." Booth then speaks "Okay, 10,000 people a day go through that mall. How we going to find one small kid?" Temp answers him, "Angela and Venus designed a mass recognition program to apply body types to skeletal remains." Angie continues "Endomorph, ectomorph, mesomorph-that sort of thing. I modified it to scan two-dimensional images." I then added "In this case, we're looking for body masses roughly congruent with Charlie, Sean and David." Angie cuts me off "There's David."
Booth then speaks "Angela your actually one of them, aren't you?" "One of who?" "The squint. You look normal, and act normal, but you're actually on of them." "This whole mass recognition program was Brennan's idea. I'm completely normal. Really." "Hey, Ranger, you should remember I am also not like other squints... I am a berry squint." "Of course, I wouldn't forget about that Blueberry. You don't need to worry." Temp then cuts in "I see Charlie." Booth then says "Whoa. That's him, all right." Angie and I were looking at the screen with sad eyes as Temp looked at us "Ang, Ven... are you both okay?" Angie speaks for the both of us as I clutched onto her shoulder... "These are probably the last pictures of this little guy alive. Why is he alone? Why isn't anybody with him? Sorry. Max. resolution is X-40 by 480 pixels per square inch." I cut her off "He's not alone. Someone's calling him over." Booth then speaks "Can't you just zoom in?" Angie answers "The fewer pixels that make up an image, the more the picture degrades once we zoom in on it. Did that sound too squinty?" Temp looks at me with a bit of a worried face before moving on "Any way, to enhance it?" "Well, I wouldn't bet a date with Colin Farrell on it." "I know him. He's funny." "Funny is Will Ferrell, honey. Hot is Collin Farrell." Booth then speaks "Look, the kid was definitely moving towards someone, all right? He wasn't struggling, he wasn't trying to get away. You know, I want to add the kid neighborhood kids- Skyler and Nelson-to the list of possible suspects." Angie speaks in "I have one other angle, but our bad guy is still obstructed in it." "Who the hell are you?"
Angie and I were sitting down on a bench holding each other's hand for comfort as Temp walks up to us. "Angela, are you thinking of leaving the Jeffersonian?" "I'm not really this person." "What person?" "I'm not like you or Venus. I'm not driven by the need for justice and all that. I'm a good-time girl." "We have good times." "Cracking jokes over murdered skeletons is not good times." I pip in "It's true that I am driven in some sense for the need for justice, but it still doesn't make it easy on me when I see these dead bodies. I still get haunted by the things that I have done in the past. Things that I didn't want to do but had to." They both looked at me with sad eyes. Temp then speaks "I know it's harder on you both than it is for the rest of us." Angie then cuts her off "No, it's not. Why?" "Because you Angela look at their faces. We look at everything else. It's more clinical for us. As for you Venus you look at the bones and you can understand the victims struggle to fight for their lives as you have as well when you went on missions. For you both it... it's personal. When we see a murdered child..." "Honey, I... I'm... No offense. I'm really not up for one of your 'It takes a village' anthropology lessons. This is the longest I've ever had a job. That's because of you." "If this is about hours or time to do your own art, then...Just let me work on it, okay? I'm an artist. I used to draw naked guys. Now I draw dead guys." "Just don't decide anything without talking to us." I add "Yes, please don't." "Of course I won't." We sit there a few seconds before I decided to stand up and I faced the two. They looked at me questionably as I pulled them into a hug. "You both know that the two years I have been here with you all have been the most amazing time I ever had in my entire life." They chuckled and hugged me back. "Alright but now I need to go and make sure everything will be ready for the banquet. I have to make sure they have Angie's favorite drinks." "Well, you better hurry sweetie, you know how much I love my alcohol." I nod and walk away.
-No Ones POV-
Booth and Brennan are walking in the lab together as she speaks up, "I'm afraid Angela might quit and Ven might have a big meltdown." "Amazed that they stuck it out this long." "Why?" "Oh, because Angela is human and Blueberry has major trauma for the past 19 years of her life. I'm sorry, Bones, it's just that, you know, uh, Angela didn't get the same training that the rest of you got on, uh, Planet Vulcan. While Blueberry got the extreme training version for a longer period then the rest of you." "I don't know what that means." "They are more sensitive." Zack then cuts in as they made it into the examination room. "Who's more sensitive?" Temp answered, "Angela and Venus." Booth continued "Angela likes puppies and kitties and ducklings and, you know, Jell-O shots, and, you know, dancing on bars. While Blueberry needs to touch and play with little cute fluffy things." "I know that. They are my best friend and sister. And Angela is not the only person in the world who likes baby animals." Zack then interrupts "I never got the big attraction." "I rest my case. They are more sensitive." After that they went on discussing the investigation finding out that Ms. Sanders is not Charlies mother.
-Venus POV-
Temp had called me telling me about their findings and how they are bringing in the mother to interview. I quickly made it into the FBI district into the other side of the room where the mother was being interviewed, listening in the conversation. "How can you say that?" Temp answers "Charlie suffered from a hereditary genetic disorder called hypophosphatemia." Booth adds to it "Charlie's real mother would have the same disease." "You do not." "Never said I wasn't Charlie's real mother because I was." Booth cuts her off "Biological mother, then. Ms. Sanders, you are not Charlie's biological mother. Hmm? You want to explain that to us?" "I can't have children. That's why my husband left me. So, I took in foster kids." Temp adds in "LIke Sean and David Cook?" "And Charlie. Though his name was Nathan. I got him as a baby down in Pittsburgh. Ten days old. His mother was arrested on drug charges, and Child Services brought him to me. Three weeks I had him. Then the charges were dropped."
Booth then cuts in "And you kept him?" "No. I gave him back. But it nearly killed me. I stayed in touch. I bought him things. Formula, a stroller. I wanted to make sure he was all right." I was looking through the glass mirror at her and I could see that she really was just his mother not just to Charlie, but to Sean and David as well. Booth then asks "Nathan what, Ms. Sanders?" "Nathan Downey. His mother was a drug addict named Jeannine. Christmas Day, I found her dead on a kitchen floor, a needle stuck in her arm, and I could hear Charlie crying upstairs. So, I went up." Temp then cuts her off finishing the sentence for her "And you took him home?" "I looked him in the eyes, and I promised him I would never leave him alone again. And he stopped crying. I expected every day for Child Services to come looking." Temp then speaks "He would have ended up back in the system anyway." Ms. Sanders started to crying while speaking, "I meant to keep him safe. And love him. And now, he's dead."
I then see Booth arresting her and I was frozen watching him do that and other officers take her away. I got back to reality after seeing no one in the interviewing room and I panicked walking out of the other room and making my way to Booth's office as I hear them arguing. "Okay, I had to arrest her." "The story checked out- the overdose." "She confessed to kidnapping." "Margret Sanders did nothing more than respond to the anthropological imperative. She saw an orphan and reacted." "This is not a National Geographic study, okay? This is the suburbs." I walked in "Why would she kill the boy?" They turned and looked at me as I continued speaking "You can clearly see that she loved him so much." Booth sighs as I stand next to Temp as he explains "There are situations, right. The kid gets sick, he doesn't turn out to be what she wanted." I cut him off before he finished "No... she loved everything about that boy. She didn't care if he was sick or the perfect child. To her he was her perfect child. Also what about Sean and David Cook?" I start to tear up a bit "Where do they go now?" "They go back into the system." I start to choke up a little not wanting to let the tears fall as Temp speaks "Do you have any bad the foster care system is?" "Do you? What do you want to do, hmmm? Do you want to kidnap them, the way she kidnapped Charlie?" I started to breath a little faster, but they haven't noticed me yet as Temp speaks "We want you to let them go home to Margaret Sanders." "It's not gonna happen."
I start to hyperventilate as I grab onto my knees to keep myself steady. Booth and Temp started to hear something wrong with me as they turned and faced me seeing that I was a panic attack. Temp turns to Booth "Booth close the door and shut the blinds." "Yea I got it." He closes all the blinds. "Okay, help me get to her little corner you set up for her." Temp goes and sits on the ground as Booth picks me up and places me on the ground next to her. Temp then hugs me close to her as she places strokes my hair calmingly. "It's okay Ven, we are right here. Take deep breaths. Okay, breath with me alright." Temp guides me to breath the same time as her as she strokes her my hair and I start calming down. A few minutes go by and I have calmed down, but I was a bit tired. I looked over at Booth still hugging Temp and start speaking to him, "Booth, when we catch the killer, could you try and send Ms. Sanders back to Sean and David." Booth sighs "I will try Blueberry, but I don't know if I could." "That's fine as long as you try, promise Ranger." "Promise." I nod and let sleep take over. Booth and Temp look at each other. "Could you help me take her back to the lab and put her down on Angela's couch in her office." "Yea. Let's go." Booth picks me up as Temp opens the door for him and they make their way back to the lab, with me asleep.
-No Ones POV-
Booth and Brennan enter the lab with Venus asleep in Booths arms. Temp speaks up "I need to do some stuff. So take her to Angela's office so she could watch her. Plus, her couch is much more comfortable." "Yea, I got it." He then walks to Angela's office.
In Angela's office Zack and her were discussing about the case. Zack was the first to speak, "Try redigitizing and resizing." "I did. The extrapolation protocol got confused by the spread. You know Hodgins better than anybody else. So, why is he so bent out of shape about this banquet?" "What makes you say that?" "Because every time someone mentions it, he starts snapping that rubber band around his wrist." "I mean, what makes you think I know Hodgins better than anyone else?" "You're roommates." "I live above his garage." "But you see a lot of each other." "Not really." "He drives you to work." "I've never been up to the main house." "The main house?" "It's at the opposite end of the driveway on the other side of the tennis courts across from the pond."
Booth then walks in with a sleeping Venus as the two turned to see them. Angela got up immediately worried. "Oh, gosh Booth what happened to her?! Is she okay?!" "Yeah, she is fine. She just fell asleep back at the precinct. Could I place her on your couch?" "Yeah, of course. Go ahead, let me just get a blanket for her." "Okay, thanks." Booth was putting her down as Zack spoke up. "It's good she didn't faint, like we did to her last time." "You, WHAT?!" Angela quickly cut's in before Booth questions what Zack did to make her faint. "I got the blanket. Excuse me." Angela places the blanket on top of Venus, then made her way back to the computer with Zack as Booth walks up to them. "Okay, anything on the identity of Charlie's abductor?"
Angela starts speaking, "I can't clear up this image any more than it is. Tell Booth what you told me about living in Hodgins's garage." "There's a bedroom, living room, kitchen, another bedroom, a den, two bathrooms." "Great. Quite a garage. Can we focus on the case?" "How many cars does he have in that garage?" "Including the antique ones, about 12. And a boat. " "Zack has never seen the main house, because the tennis courts and the pond block the view." "Well, he must be one of those Hodginses." Zack then asks "Who are those Hodginses?" "The Cantilever Group Hodginses." Angela then starts to realize something "Oh, my God." Zack also starts following along "The same Cantilever Group that generates more GNP than Europe?" Angela then cuts in "Get this. They are the single biggest donors to the Jeffersonian Institution." Booth laughs "Ha. Makes Hodgins your boss." Angela then asks Zack "What do you guys even talk about when he drives you to work?" "I mostly sleep. Hodgins mostly yells at the radio." Booth cuts in focusing back on the case as Venus wakes up walking towards them without their knowledge. "Okay, if you can't see the guy's face, maybe you can grab a reflection." Zack nods "That's workable idea." "Oh, I'd say thanks, you know, if you didn't say it like it was some kind of a miracle." Venus then pops in all cheery, scarring them all "No, Ranger. It was a remarkable idea. Even Zack couldn't come up with that idea on the spot." "Geez, what a scare you gave us Blueberry. But that does make me feel better. I will go get Bones now, she will want to see this." Venus nod as he left and then Angela spoke. "You feel better sweetie?" "Yeah, but this is the second time in a case that I find myself waking up on someone's couch." Zack then speaks, "It's because we don't know where your office is at." "Oh... It's at..." Before she could tell them, Brennan and Booth walk in and then Zack excuse himself leaving.
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DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN "BONES". IT IS OWNED BY JOSEPHSON ENTERTAINMENT, BY HART HANSON. I ONLY CLAIM MY CHARACTER VENUS BRENNAN. I ALSO DON'T OWN ANY OF THE IMAGES. THANK YOU.