The Loneliest Shade Of Blue ~ Criminal Minds/Bones (Aaron Hotchner x OC)

6.0: Ex-Prosecutor & The Banquet

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."