Chapter Text
“Do you know why you’re here?” Booth asked the teen girl sitting across from him in the interrogation room.
“Um… because I can’t remember anything?” She asked nervously, bouncing her leg before pulling her legs up to sit crisscross and tapping her fingers rhythmically on the table.
“Yeah. Um, I have to ask a few questions just to get a gauge of how much you remember, okay?” He glanced at the mirror, wishing it was Sweets in here instead of himself. She nodded, biting her lip anxiously.
“Okay, well what is your name?” He looked at his list of questions before glancing back at the girl.
“Lizzie... I think,” Her voice shook, coming close to tears.
“That’s okay, that’s okay,” Booth said quickly, trying to calm her down, “We can just move on to the next question, okay?”
“Okay.” She took a deep breath and blinked back her tears as Booth started on the next question.
“How old are you?” They continued going back and forth for a while with most of the answers being shrugs or ‘I’m not sure’. Finally, they neared the end of the questions. “I’ll understand if you don’t want to answer this question, okay?” He waited for her nod to continue. “Do you know who the little boy we found you with is?”
“That’s my little brother. Is he okay?”
“Yeah he’s okay, we’ll bring him in a few minutes. I’m gonna step out for a few minutes, okay?” He didn’t wait for a response before hurrying out to the other room where Sweets was waiting.
“What do you think?” Booth asked the younger man as he peered through the two-way mirror at the girl as she began biting her nails.
“Well, with the way she’s biting her nails plus her bouncing leg, I would say she most likely has anxiety. The way she quickly became calmer and more adult-like once you mentioned her brother has me thinking she’s been like his parent for a while, but she’s not a killer.”
“Okay well that’s helpful, but without knowing their names we can’t do anything with them-”
“Aha! I knew it!” Sweets suddenly cut him off, pointing at the girl who was shaking her hands like she was shaking water off them. “Look at how she’s shaking her hands out. She’s definitely neurodivergent.”
“Neurodiverwhat?”
“Neurodivergent. Her brain works differently than say you or me. She probably has ADHD or is on the Autism Spectrum.”
“What did I miss?” Brennen asked as she came in, stopping in her tracks as she saw the girl. “Is that the girl we found at the crime scene?”
“Yeah Bones. The little boy is her brother. That’s pretty much the only thing she could remember.” Booth sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
“You’re upset about something.” She pointed out, laying a comforting hand on his arm.
“No, it’s just-” He was cut off again as the door opened, an agent bringing the little boy in. The three adults watched silently as he ran straight to her.
“Lizzie!” He called, wrapping his arms around her as they met in the middle. She hugged him back, tears in her eyes.
“Hey, JayJay. Are you okay?” She asked, checking him over.
“Mhm! They gave me a toy!” He said proudly.
“Oh really? Wow, can I see?”
He pulled a toy dinosaur from the pocket of his shorts, showing it to her proudly. “It’s an Oviraptor!”
“Oh my goodness!” She bent down to his level, smiling at him widely. “How did they know that was your favorite dinosaur?” She tickled him a little, making him laugh.
“Well um,” Sweets cleared his throat, tearing his eyes away from the siblings, “in my professional opinion, she nor he could be the killer. Now, I am going to go wallow in being an only child.” He quickly left the room.
Booth shook his head, “I uh- I have two names to look up now, I guess. Bones, you gonna go back to the lab?” When there was no response from his partner, he looked over at her, seeing her fixated on the siblings. “Bones?” Still no response. He lay his hand on her arm softly. “Tempe?”
She snapped out of her daze, looking at him. “What?”
“I asked if you were going to go back to the lab. Everything okay?”
She nodded. “I’ll head back to the lab in a few minutes. You leave without me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. I’m fine, go on without me.”
“Okay, okay.” He held up his hands in surrender, closing the door behind him.
Brennen sighed, sitting down in a chair facing the mirror. She didn’t know how long she sat there watching the siblings, worrying about their fate.