The young doctors.

Dinner Time Children!

We were eating take out food in the bone storage room after decorating it with two television screens playing animated hearths, compete with stockings hanging over a roasting fire in the background. We were sitting with Seeley and Goodman at the very end of the table with Jack next to Seeley and then Angie, me, Zack and Temperance next to Daniel as we all enjoyed our food as we laughed.
"So if Lionel was a coin collector, that might explain the levels of lead and nickel in his bone." Jack stated.
"I actually have a few rare coins. I got them from my mum when I was seven."
"Oh I remember them." Angie added making me nod.
"When do they insert the needle into your brain?" Zack asked
"And can I watch?" I asked making Angie nudge me. "What I've always been curious to see what it looked like?"
"I sneezed because the air is dry. It's not valley fever." Temperance stated.
"Any other symptoms? Headache?" Goodman questioned before Zack continued.
"Any foul smelling pustules on your shins?"
"Dude not when we are eating."
"You'll be fine, you eat two dinners most of the time."
"Touché Bone Boy."
"Look, she sneezed twice, that's it. Did you find anything else about the letters?" Seeley asked to move the topic forward.
'Would hate to be related to him.'
"Quite a lot, yes. They are very, very passionate love letters." Goodman stated.
"Careful Lionel had a girlfriend." Seeley stated.
"I can't even get one of those or a boyfriend." I joked making Jack and Angie laugh.
"A girlfriend who was in trouble." Goodman added
"'Pregnant,' in trouble?" Angie asked
"Especially then it would have been big trouble." I stated
"Whoa, apparently Careful Lionel wasn't so careful." Jack joked making me giggle.
"Unmarried pregnant girl in Oklahoma in the late fifties..." Seeley spoke before silencing himself.
"You suppose Lionel came up here to procure an abortion?" Goodman theorised
"Back then not wanting children was like a type of sin." I stated
"You know what? This isn't a very Christmas Eve type story." Angie stated
"Of course it is. The whole Christ myth is built upon the travails of an unwed mother." Temperance told making Seeley annoyed.
"Okay, can we just stop bringing up the whole Christ myth thing? Alright, some people believe it's more than just a myth."
"Well, who besides you?" She asked making Goodman cut in.
"That would be me, Dr. Brennan. I'm a deacon at my church."
"Did you know, no one really knows when Jesus was born. What actually happened was, when Christianity took hold of Europe in the fifth century, some common folk refused to part with some pagan parties. So Christian leaders gradually transformed the popular traditions into a celebration of Jesus's birth." I stated making them look towards me
"Why do you know that?" Zack asked me.
"I did a Christmas report to piss off my very religious history teacher when I was eight. Needless to say I got detention cause of it." I told
"I do. Christmas and Easter, anyway." Angie told.
"Although I believe organized religion is just another political movement designed to control the masses, doesn't mean God doesn't love me." Jack told before everyone looked towards me and Zack.
"Hey, I'm a rational empiricist all the way. Unless you talk to my mother. Then I'm Lutheran." He told causing them all to look at me.
"You don't wanna know."
"Can't be that bad." Jack stated.
"Last time I told someone was Mike and I don't like telling people since many and I mean many have called it stupid so I just don't."
"You have made no indication that you are religious." Zack told
"Actually I have. No one but Angie has realised."
"Maybe shes just atheist." Temperance told making me close my eyes and let out a sigh.
"I don't believe in a god. I believe in multiple gods. The Greek gods to be precise." I told
"Why the Greek gods?" Zack asked
"The stories are interesting and I've grown up being surrounded by the stories so sue me for believing in those gods." I told
"I can understand why you'd be sensitive, Booth. You have a child out of wedlock and a cousin who doesn't even want to spend time with you or have anything to do with you." Temperance told making us all go silence.
'Wow this is so awkward.'
"Sweetie..." Angie began to signal Temperance she shouldn't have said anything.
"What?"
"The letters display a combination of both block and cursive." Goodman told to hopefully fix the tension.
"A combination of both printing and writing?" Angie questioned.
"Means she didn't do a lot of school. Right?" I asked
"It would indicate that she may have left school some time in the second grade. Most white children in those days would obtain at least an eighth grade education."
"Which helps us identify the female culture." I stated
"She was African American?" Temperance asked making Goodman nod.
"Why I believe so, yes."
"Is there any way Lionel was an African American?" Jack asked
"Definitely not."
"No, no he was definitely Caucasian." Temperance told
"A white man and a pregnant black girl in 1958 Oklahoma." Angie told putting all the information we had together.
"That was bad?" Zack asked
"Very bad."
"It was illegal." Goodman added
"In Okalahoma?" Jack asked
"Not just Oklahoma, here in D.C." He told.
"16 states actually prohibited it." I added
"Can you name them all?" Jack joked
"Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming." I told seeing how all of them but Angela and Temperance were shocked. "Well you asked."
"You actually know that?" Goodman asked
"Yes. I have a lot of skills to say the least."
"Like what?" Seeley asked
"Like pickpocketing."
"No way you could pickpocket me." He told making me grab all the wallets I grabbed and put them on the table.
"Sweetie I thought you promised to stop that."
"Well it was so I could figure something out for the person I got for secret Santa, but I realised if I just took their wallet then it would be clear so I just took everyone's but Temperance and yours since I already know what I need from you." I explained and I gave everyone their wallets back. "You can actually learn a lot from the type of person is based on what they have in their wallet."
"Well aside from that. Then why come here?" She asked as she moved back to the topic again.
"They were running away. Lionel had two tickets to Paris, and where else in 1958 could a white man and a black woman get married and live together?" Seeley told before a voice spoke from the door way.
"Visiting hours, folks." Hal told in a protective suit "Who's first?"
"As director of this institution, I claim that right." Goodman told as he quickly stood up a left.
"Okay, brief announcement. You guys might recognize my dad/ Ash's uncle, but I don't really want to talk about it, so, thanks. Okay? That's all." Angie told
"Hold up." Seeley said making us look towards him. "You two are cousins?"
"Yeah. Forgot you didn't know honestly. Also you might recognise some people with her dad/my uncle. I also don't want to talk about it. That is all folks." I told before we all got up to leave.
'Would rather do this is person. But it is what it is.'