The Woman in Limbo

"The Woman in Limbo" Episode 1x22 Written By: Hart Hanson Directed by: Jesus Trevino Transcribed by: Tracie

Disclaimer: The characters, plotlines, quotes, etc. included here are owned by Hart Hanson, all rights reserved. This transcript is not authorized or endorsed by Hart Hanson or Fox.

ACT I

(Open - Medico-Legal lab - Booth is trying to get Brennan out of the lab, and everyone keeps stopping her)

GOODMAN: All I ask is that you stop by the archeology section and identify the skull as a Syrian, Hetite or Egyptian

BRENNAN: I'm in court today. I need my notes.

GOODMAN: Well, there's a photocopy in the file

BRENNAN: No. The last time I read from photocopies, the defense lawyer told the jury I was winging it.

BOOTH: Ready? (claps hands) Chop, chop.

BRENNAN: I can't find my original notes...

BOOTH: Photocopy in the file.

BRENNAN: No. The last time the defense lawyer told the jury that I...

BOOTH: (cutting her off) It was a ploy. It failed. Let's go.

HODGINS: I found glass. I found pollen. Which do you want first?

BRENNAN: Pollen.

GOODMAN: Perhaps you could swing by archeology on your way to your ah..court..

BOOTH: No. No swinging.

ANGELA: Alright. Her height makes no sense and her spine length is..wacky.

ZACK: Dr. Brennan?

BRENNAN: Okay. Calculate the height off the femur and assume that fire shrunk her spine.

BOOTH: I don't think you should talk about other cases so much on court day. You might get confused.

GOODMAN: One simple question. A Syrian, Hetite or Egyptian?

ZACK: Dr. Brennan?

GOODMAN: 5 Minutes.

BOOTH: Bones!

BRENNAN: (to Zack) What's up?

ZACK: Buttercup. If you sign off on these tissues markers, Angela can finish the facial reconstruction.

BRENNAN: Why did you say buttercup"?

ZACK: What's up, buttercup is an amusing, rhyming, linguistic meme. This (points to skull) is the latest Jane Doe from Limbo.

BOOTH: How 'bout this for an amusing, rhyming linguini. See ya later, alligator.

GOODMAN: Please don't refer to bones storage as "Limbo". (turns to Brennan) 5 minutes.

ZACK: There are thousands of human remains down there waiting to be identified. Limbo seems an appropriate name.

BRENNAN: No sign of foul play.

GOODMAN: If you have time for this, you have time for my Hetite.

BRENNAN: Tissue depth of the cheekbones and along the jaw line looks a little deep to me, but otherwise--

BOOTH: ..out of limbo, back on earth and on our way to court. Thanks.

(Booth guides Brennan off the platform and into the hallway where they run into DAVID SIMMONS, Brennan's Boyfriend)

DAVID: Oh, Temperance. Hi.

BRENNAN: David! (she kisses him on the cheek) What are you doing here?

BOOTH: She has to get to court so -

DAVID: Agent Booth. Nice to see you again. Especially when I'm not in custody. Listen, I read your manuscript. I couldn't wait to tell you how great it is.

BRENNAN: Thank you. Really?

BOOTH: You read her manuscript?

BONES: Uh, uh, uh..(takes manuscript away from Booth)

DAVID: Her second novel. Bone Free. It's kinda like "Born Free" except no lions.

BOOTH: Yuck on the title. Am I in it?

(At the same time)

BRENNAN: No!

DAVID: Definiately.

BOOTH: Ah!

BRENNAN: Uh, we have to get to court - -

DAVID: Hope you remembered your original notes, because last time....

BRENNAN: Told you, Booth!

BOOTH: No. Bones. We don't have time! Our - all right, listen. Uh, Three minutes. I'll wait for you in the car.

(David and Booth circle each other like two lions in the jungle)

BOOTH: (laughs) So are you two, uh -

DAVID: Yeah, sort of. Is that a problem?

BOOTH: Yeah. Bones is very literal. So in the future, no jokey advice on a court day.

DAVID: Okay.

(Cut to: Brennan inside the lab heading to her office. She pauses when she sees the image of a woman on the Angelator)

GOODMAN: Is something wrong?

BRENNAN: (to Angela) What's this?

ANGELA: Zack's Jane Doe. He said that you okay'd the tissue markers

BRENNAN: No, that can't be right. That can't possibly be right. You did it wrong. It's a mistake, Angela.

ANGELA: Alright, fine. Sweetie. I'll turn it off.

(Brennan turns and runs out of the room)

BRENNAN: Zack. The artifact bag from your Jane Doe - do you have it?

(Brennan runs onto the platform without swiping her card, the alarms start blarring)

ZACK: Yes. I also have three - (Brennan runs off with the bag)

SECURITY GUARD: (into to walkie talkie) It was Dr. Brennan.

ZACK: ..Three bags of soil samples from where the remains were buried.

(Cut to: Brennan going into to her office to examine the contents of the bag. First she pulls out a bag containing a marble - but then focuses more closely on another bag containing a dolphin belt buckle - she flashes back to a woman wearing that very same belt buckle and starts to break down)

(Cut to:Booth entering the Angelator Room)

BOOTH: Any of you see Bones? We're due in court, like -hello--Now.

(Angela, Zack and Goodman are all standing around the Angelator with confusion on their faces. They look at Booth.)

BOOTH: What?

ANGELA: This.. (she brings up the image of the woman) totally freaked her out.

(Booth picks up his phone and dials)

ZACK: My theory. Caffeine intolerance.

BOOTH: Yeah. You're gonna want to take Dr. Brennan off the witness list today. No. She can't make it into court. Thanks.

ANGELA: Alright. What's going on.

BOOTH: That... Is Christine Brennan.

GOODMAN: Good God.

BOOTH: You just found Bones's mother.

(cut to opening credits)

ACT II

(Brennan sits in her office staring at the belt buckle. Booth approaches the doorway.)

BRENNAN: I have to miss court.

BOOTH: I know.

BRENNAN: I remember this belt buckle. I borrowed it without asking first day of high school. My father had it specially made for my mother because she loved dolphins.

BOOTH: Bones...I'm sorry.

BRENNAN: I always knew that for my parents to disappear like that (flash back to her parents in a car waving goodbye) They - They had to be dead. I thought that when it was confirmed, I'd feel relief, but-

BOOTH: It's still bad news.

(Zack appears in the doorway)

BRENNAN: You have the file, Zack?

ZACK: Jane Doe, Number 129-0998.

BRENNAN: Where was she found?

BOOTH: Bones, I-

BRENNAN: What does it say?

ZACK: (reading from file) "In September of 1998, a grave-digging crew at the Sunset Memory Cemetery in Salisbury, Pennsylvania, uncovered human remains in a completely advanced stage of decomposition." BOOTH: Is it from a grave?

ZACK: No. It appears that somebody just dug a hole at the edge of the cemetery and...plopped the body in there.

BOOTH: Zack....

ZACK: Sorry. (goes back to reading the file) "The local coroner found no obvious evidence of foul play and sent the remains, a few artifacts and soil samples to the Jeffersonian, hoping we could identify her. Technically, you mother's been at the Jeffersonian as long as you have.

(Brennan is visibly shaken)

BOOTH: Zack.

ZACK: Sorry. But they both got here in 1998.

(Goodman enters)

GOODMAN: Dr. Brennan. Miss Montenegro has volunteered to drive you home.

BOOTH: Temperance. Go home.

(Cut to: Overview of Washington D.C)

(Cut to: Brennan sitting at her dining room table looking at old pictures and reminiscing - until she's interrupted by a knocking at the door. She opens it to find Booth, with food from Wong Foo's in hand)

BRENNAN: It's after midnight...

BOOTH: Well, I was driving by, I saw that lights. I thought you might like some Wong Foo's.

BRENNAN: You saw my lights from the road?

BOOTH: That is correct. (Brennan can tell he is lying - and she lets him in) All right!

(Cut to: Booth and Brennan eating at the table)

BOOTH: After you gave me your parents' missing persons file, I did some poking around.

BRENNAN: You worked on it?

BOOTH: Well, there wasn't much I could do. There was no evidence, no clear jurisdiction. (Booth sighs) Listen, Bones. Finding your mother's remains means that I can open an official F.B.I. case. I mean for the first time, a real investigation can occur.

(Brennan flashes back to her parents in the car waving goodbye, again)

BRENNAN: Three days after my parents disappeared, they found our car at a rest stop a thousand miles from where we lived in Chicago.

BOOTH: Yeah. I found it in a Federal impound lot in Jersey. I'm having it trucked to the Jeffersonian.

BRENNAN: They kept it all those years?

BOOTH: Well, nobody claimed it.. (looks at file) Your father was a high school science teacher. He had no trouble with anyone at work. And then your mother - That's a different matter.

BRENNAN: She was a bookkeeper.

BOOTH: MMM, she was a witness for the prosecution. Twice.On evasion charges. That gives motive. Then there's uh, your brother.

BRENNEN: Russ - The brother who deserted me.

BOOTH: He's on parole. He ran a chop shop processing stolen cars for parts.

BRENNAN: Figures.

BOOTH: He says that you blame him for your parents' disappearance?

BRENNAN: You talked to Russ?

BOOTH: I called him. Just asked him a few routine questions. He didn't give me much. We're gonna find out what happened to your mom. Okay?

(Cut to: Jeffersonian - Medico-Legal Lab)

HODGINS: Adipocere and decomp residues in the bagged soil, indicate the body was buried at least five years.

ZACK: That's congruent with, uh, P.H. in the soil, climate and degree of decomp BRENNAN: No. Seven years. It should be seven years.

HODGINS: I'm still going through the soil samples, but something in there might allow me to be more specific.

BRENNAN: She was buried near Christmas 1991.

(Booth enters)

BOOTH: I need the room, guys.

ZACK: The whole lab? For what?

HODGINS: It's a cop way of saying, "Get lost." BRENNAN: What?

BOOTH: When you first gave me the file on your parents, I..I looked back into their lives three to four years before they disappeared. Jobs, friends.

BRENNAN: Okay...

BOOTH: I looked back a little further and I found that...Christine Brennan didn't exist before 1978.

BRENNAN: What are you telling me? That - That this woman isn't my mother? I was born in 1976. Obviously, my mother existed.

BOOTH: Do you know the most common way of creating an identity?

BRENNAN: Getting the birth certificate of someone deceased who was born the same year you were...and take over that identity.

BOOTH: I found a one, Matthew Brennan. Born and died, in 1948

(Brennan looks at Booth in disbelief)

BOOTH: Do you understand?

BRENNAN: I don't know what it means. I don't know what any of it means.

BOOTH: It means your parents weren't who you thought they were. It means that they were living under...assumed identities.

(Brennan sighs)

(Cut to: At a town carnival in Moorehead City, North Carolina - which is where RUSS BRENNAN is working)

CARNIVAL OWNER: Every minute this is down, I'm losing money RUSS; want faster work, grab yourself a cup of coffee. Let me alone, man.

BOOTH: You licensed for this job?

RUSS: You're a cop.

BOOTH: You know who recognizes cops?

RUSS: Other cops.

BOOTH: ..and crooks. I talked to you a couple of months ago on the phone. I'm Booth.

RUSS: You gonna ask me some more questions about my childhood?

(Booth holds up the picture of Christine Brennan that was rendered from the Angelator - Russ takes it and looks at it)

RUSS: You found my mother?

BOOTH: Your sister did the I.D.

RUSS: What about dad?

BOOTH: No.

RUSS: What do you want?

BOOTH: Do you remember being anyone else besides uh....Russ Brennan?

RUSS: No.

BOOTH: You wouldn't lie to me, would you, Russ?

RUSS: Cops always think I'm lying.

BOOTH: (laughs) I want you to come back to D.C. and help out in this investigation.

RUSS: I got a job, man.

BOOTH: You know, the alternative is I just cite you for performing unlicensed repairs on heavy equipment, get your parole revoked. Tell you what? You give me a call when you get into town. (Booth sticks his business card in the railing) Oh, and if you ask me, this -this thing here-(in regards to the ride) is beyond hope. (Russ starts up the ride) Look at that. It works. I'll see you soon.

(Russ takes Booth's business card out from the railing and looks as Booth walks away)

Act III

(Jeffersonian - Medico-Legal Lab)

ANGELA: What is it?

HODGINS: A clump of cellulose. It came from soil samples collected at Brennan's mom's burial site from the same depth as her bones.

ANGELA: You said you had a giant problem.

HODGINS: I used the laser scanning confocal microscope.

ANGELA: Which one is that?

HODGINS: It looks like an espresso machine. Now it showed that this is mass-produced cardboard. Now electron dispersion spectroscopy indicates that the cardboard is coded with ethylenically unsaturated monomers, which kept it from completely deteriorating...

ANGELA: Hodgins. What's the giant problem.

HODGINS: It's a movie ticket. A little U.V. analysis, some guesswork..I come up with "The Fugitive" ANGELA: So what's wrong? You don't like Brennan's mom's taste in movies?

HODGINS: The Fugitive was the third top-grossing film of 1993.

(She finally realized what he's getting at)

ANGELA: Brennan's parents disappeared in December of 1991.

HODGINS: Yet, mom's going to Harrison Ford movies almost 2 years later.

ANGELA: Oh, god. This IS giant.

HODGINS: What do I do? Pretend I never found this?

(Angela is speechless)

(Cut to: Observation platform Brennan is studying her mother's skull and has a flashback to her.)

HODGINS: Dr. Brennan?

(stands up, visibly shaken but trying to regain her composure)

BRENNAN: Yes, um. Did you find something in the soil?

HODGINS: Yeah, uh.. this was in the soil samples alongside your mother's remains.

BRENNAN: A movie ticket?

ANGELA: Rialto Theater. 9pm showing of "The Fugitive". September 22, 1993.

BRENNAN: Well, how did it get there?

HODGINS: Either your mother had it in her possession when she was buried, or it was somehow buried with her.

ANGELA: Either way, it dates the burial.

BRENNAN: No. That's..that's impossible. My mother disappeared in 1991.

ANGELA: Sweetie...

BRENNAN: It's possible mom was buried somewhere else, for a year and a half, then moved.

HODGINS: No. That's not possible.

ANGELA: Maybe it is.

HODGINS: We decided to tell you the truth..and this is the truth.

(Brennan walks away and goes back to examining her mother's skull)

ANGELA: You alright?

BRENNAN: I'm pretty sure I just found cause of death. Zack?

ZACK: Yes. Dr. Brennan.

BRENNEN: See the discoloration on the inside of the skull.

(Angela leaves)

ZACK: (he examines the skull) Left side, extending from the coronal suture, crossing the superior and inferior temporal lines to the squamosal suture (Brennan sees Booth come through the door with her brother, Russ.) Subdural hematoma. Whoo! A big one. (Brennan appears to no longer paying attention to what Zack is saying and has a flash back to her and Russ as teenagers.) Dr. Brennan?

BRENNAN: Probably fatal.

ZACK: There are no indications of a blow to the outer skull.

(Brennan sees Russ as he approaches the platform)

BRENNAN: (to Zack) Scan the outside of the skull. Look for histological changes, microscopic modeling.

(Brennan gets up, and stops next to Booth)

BRENNAN: (to Booth, whispering) I don't want to talk to him. (She brushes past him and Russ)

BOOTH: Bones. Bones. (Booth turns to Zack) Alright, listen, Zack. If this guy moves, shoot him with a tranquilizer...dart or something...(Booth goes to chase after Brennan)

ZACK: I don't actually have a tranquilizer gun...

BOOTH: Hey, Bones. Come on.

BRENNAN: My mother died of a subdural hematoma. Bleeding in the brain.

BOOTH: You want to proceeded rationally, correct?

BRENNAN: Chances are the subdural hematoma was caused by a blow to the head.

BOOTH: Great. You got the how. Now let's get the who. You just told me that your mother was murdered. I mean, who better to help us than - than your brother?

(Cut to: Brennan's office - Russ holding the Dolphin belt buckle)

RUSS: Mom loved dolphins. This was mine! (has a flash back to him playing with a marble when he was younger) My favorite marble. What was she doing with that?

BRENNAN: Where did Booth find you?

RUSS: It's not hard for an F.B.I Agent to find a parolee.

BRENNAN: I didn't ask how. I asked where.

RUSS: Moorehead City, North Carolina. I call every year on your birthday. You never pick up.

BRENNAN: Take a hint.

RUSS: (holds up marble) Can I have this, please?

BRENNAN: It's evidence.

RUSS: Of what? It's a kid's marble.

BRENNAN: It's the rules. I can't let you have it.

RUSS: (Hands the marble back to Brennan) Same old Tempe. Never met a rule worth breaking.

BRENNAN: Same old Russ. On parole.

(Cut to: Angela's office)

BOOTH: Angela, I might send Russ in to describe some people to you.

ANGELA: Okay. What people?

BOOTH: Some people a seven year old boy might remember.

ANGELA: That's a little vague there, Booth.

BOOTH: The drawing - I mean, that's important. It's more that I trust your instincts.

ANGELA: When it comes to men? (she laughs)

BOOTH: (laughs then gets serious) When it comes to suspects. (he starts to leave but stops and turns back to Angela) Why do you think that Bones asked her boyfriend you know, to uh, read her book and not me? (Angela goes to answer but Booth cuts her off) You know, maybe...maybe because there was just too much of me in the story. Oh, she was embarrassed. You think? May--Maybe? (Cell phone rings - he answers it) Booth. Yeah, I'm on my way. Thanks. (to angela) Uh, the family car just arrived.

(Cut to: lab/garage - Evidence Processing Room)

FBI TECH #1: Are we on the look out for anything in particular?

BOOTH: Treat it like a brand new crime scene. Full workup.

FBI TECH #1: Let's go.

BOOTH: But tear through the whole car, treat it, and then go through it with a fine tooth comb.

RUSS: That's are old car, all right.

BRENNAN: The name of my school is scraped off, Woodside Elementary. They said they didn't find anything in the car.

BOOTH: There was a bloodstain. Front seat. Passenger side. (to the crew working on the car) Guys! Everybody! (whistles) I need the space! Now!

FBI TECH #2: What? Now?

BOOTH: Yeah. Now.

FBI TECH #1: Take 5. Everybody!

BRENNAN: Twice in two days.

BOOTH: I had N.C.I.C. database check for a married couple who disappeared in 1978. Meet Max and Ruth Keenan. (Brennan looks at mug shots)

RUSS: That's mom and dad alright.

BRENNAN: The N.C.I.C. database? That's ..that's criminals. My parents were on the list of Federal Offenders?

RUSS: How do you like that? I guess a criminal nature runs in the family.

BRENNAN: (hold up a picture of her and Russ as kids in the car) You were seven years old, Russ. Old enough to remember. What - What is your real name? What is MY real name?

BOOTH: Bones, it's right here in the file.

BRENNAN: No! No! I want him to tell me! What is my real name, Russ?

RUSS: My name was Kyle. Your name was Joy.

BRENNAN: You are not my brother

(Brennan slaps Russ across the face)

BOOTH: Bones!

BRENNAN: No! He lied about that! What else are you lying about? What else are you not telling us?

(Brennan storms out, leaving Russ and Booth behind)

ACT IV

(At the Medico Legal Lab - Catwalk.)

BRENNAN: At first, I thought the worst thing was that they were missing.

ANGELA: Except "dead" means no more hope.

BRENNAN: My mother was alive for almost 2 years after they disappeared. She abandoned me.

ANGELA: You don't know that. Look. You finally got to slap Russ. (Brennan laughs) You've been wanting to do that for years.

BRENNAN: I worshipped him. You know? Oooh. (flashes back to her brother as a teenager) God. He was so cool. Everyone knew I was Russ Brennan's little sister. I wasn't cool or pretty, so being his sister - You know that game, Marco Polo? (angela nods) I'd be sitting in class, and I'd hear out the window "Marco!" It'd be Russ, checking in on me and letting everyone know that I was his little sister.

ANGELA: Did you "Polo"?

BRENNAN: Yeah. Sometimes it'd be the only word I said all day - "Polo". And then mom and dad disappeared and Russ took off. (flashback to Russ getting in his car and leaving) Suddenly, no one cared where I was. I miss that. Someone caring where I am all the time.

BOOTH: Bones! Bones! You up there? Come on. Let's go. (claps hands) Chop. Chop. I found the Agent that was assigned to your parents' case.

(Cut to: FBI Headquarters - Booth's Office)

SPECIAL AGENT WARNER: I was the F.B.I. liaison on a bank robbery task force, working out of Cincinnati in the mid-to-late '70's. Secret Service, State Police, A.T.F. - All of us after a pretty bad bunch of armed robbers working Ohio, Kentucky, Iowa. You know, excuse me. Am I to understand that I'm addressing the family of one of these robbers?

BOOTH: Max and Ruth Keenan's children.

WARNER: Max and Ruth. Yeah. They never really belonged in that crew.

BRENNAN: Why?

WARNER: They worked smart. Specialized in safe deposit boxes. No guns. They'd either con their way in or case out the place. Break back in on the weekend. Took their time. We never got a handle on the size of their scores.

RUSS: Why?

WARNER: Well, people keep jewelry and cash in safety deposit boxes.

BOOTH: And a lot of stuff they don't want to report stolen..

WARNER: None of us understood why stand-up criminals, like Max and Ruth, would join the Midwest strong arm crew. Links to white supremacists, real dedication to firearms and violence. A job in Dayton went really bad. Two innocent bystanders were killed. One state trooper, seven wounded.

BOOTH: When was that?

WARNER: July 4, 1978.

RUSS; Never caught them?

WARNER: Not us. No. A few years later, one of them turned state's evidence for an F.B.I. Agent out of Louisville. Sent the rest to jail. My understanding is they're all dead.

RUSS: Our parents were bank robbers...who morphed into a high school science teacher and a bookkeeper?

WARNER: Their particular brand of safety deposit break-ins stopped. At the time, I figured the strong-arm crew killed them for their cut.

FBI TECH #1: Agent Booth. We found blood in the car.

BOOTH: Well, we expected that.

FBI TECH #1: Yeah, but here's the wrinkle. We got blood from two separate individuals.

(Cut to: Medico Legal Lab)

HODGINS: Now, these two DNA charts are from the blood in the car. These two are from Dr. Brennan and her brother. These three match, and this one, does not.

BOOTH: These three people are related?

BRENNAN: This is mom, me and Russ.

HODGINS: But this chart - A male, but it's definitely not your father.

BOOTH: So we'll just run it through Codas and the Convicted Offender Index and see what pops up, all right?

(Cut to: Angela's Office)

ANGELA: So you describe someone to me and I draw them. That's the drill.

RUSS: Who do I describe?

ANGELA: I don't know yet. Booth put us together so I could charm you into telling me the truth.

RUSS: Trust me. I got no more truth.

ANGELA: You know, your sister is my best friend, so when she says you can't be trusted, I trust her.

RUSS: This is you being charming? Does Tempe really hate me that much?

ANGELA: Russ, she loves you. It'd be easier if she hated you. Hate is a lot easier to deal with than love. Especially, disappointed love.

RUSS: You know what's ironic? Tempe doesn't trust me because I keep a promise.

ANGELA: What promise?

RUSS: (flashes back to when he was a kid) Seven years old. Dad and me in the backyard, this was in Ohio. My dad tells me. "You're not Kyle anymore. Forget about Kyle. You're Russ." He says, "If you ever tell anyone - the police, anyone - you will be killing your mother and your sister." (flash back to Ruth and Joy) "Swear" he says. "You swear on your baby sister's life you won't tell" He makes me say my new name a hundred times - Russ Brennan, Russ Brennan, Russ Brennan. He say it with me. Russ Brennan. Russ Brennan. Russ Brennan.

ANGELA: Around that time, when Kyle became Russ..Maybe you saw someone. Maybe you saw someone who scared you? (a face flashes in his mind) Someone who scared you because you had instincts. The instincts of a frightened kid. Was there someone like that? (the same face flashes in his mind, again)

RUSS: Yeah. A man came to the house one day.Um, my dad said if I ever saw this guy again, to grab my sister, and hide.

ANGELA: Well, when you're ready, you'll describe that man to me.

RUSS: All right.

(Cut to Brennan's apartment - Late night)

BRENNAN: If you keep bringing Chinese food in the middle of the night, we're both gonna get fat.

BOOTH: I know what you've been thinking.

BRENNAN: I doubt it.

BOOTH: You've been thinking that your family is made up of liars and criminals. And that makes you feel lonely. There's a story here we don't know yet.

BRENNAN: Like what?

BOOTH: Bones, "don't know" means it's a mystery.

BRENNAN: What were your parents like?

BOOTH: (laughs) My parents, uh - my dad, he, uh -He drove thuds and phantoms in Vietnam. Those are fighter jets. After that, he was a barber in Philadelphia and my mom, she wrote jingles for a local advertising agency.

BRENNAN: So they didn't go out at night after you were asleep and rob banks?

BOOTH: Listen, Bones. You know - parents, um, they have secret lives. If they didn't, they wouldn't be parents. It is a little late for Chinese, isn't it? Thanks for the meal. See you tomorrow.

(Cut to: Medico-Legal lab- that same night)

ZACK: Dr. Brennan, is it morning?

BRENNAN: No, I couldn't sleep. Why are you still here?

ZACK: We're all here. No one's leaving until we figure out what happened to your mother.

BRENNAN: (touched) Thank you.

ZACK: Don't thank me. I'm failing. I've gone over every millimeter of the skull and found no evidence of remodeling., which makes no sense because any wound that results in a subdural hematoma that big should leave a mark on the living bone.

BRENNAN: What if the subdural hematoma, started out much smaller?

ZACK: And grew over time?

BRENNAN: Over the course, of say, a year. That might explain the gap between the time my mother sustained the injury and the time she was buried.

ZACK: And the blow itself might not have left a mark on the bone.

BRENNAN: Show me the surface of the skull directly above the center of the hematoma.

ZACK: Hundred times magnification.

BRENNAN: Go to 500? Oh. See here?

ZACK: Microscopic fractures of the osteons and is that the result of bleeding into the interstitial spaces? I can map the fractured osteons. That might lead us to the weapon.

(Cut to: Brennan's office- Booth enters and finds her asleep on the couch - she wakes and sits up when he gets near)

BRENNAN: I'm awake.

BOOTH: Yeah, I could see that. Caught a break on the DNA in the car.

BRENNAN: You know who is it?

BOOTH: Not exactly. See it's a closed file. Whoever it is, is in Witness Protection. I'll make a request, but they're pretty tight over there.

ANGELA: What if you had a face?

BRENNAN: Who's that?

ANGELA: Somebody your father pointed out to Russ when he was seven. Somebody he's still afraid of.

BOOTH: Hey, know what? I'm gonna play hardball with Witness Protection. If they don't cooperate, I'm gonna put his face in the paper.

BRENNAN: Wouldn't you get in trouble for that?

BOOTH: Well, we'll find out. (he leaves)

ANGELA: You know what? Sometimes, he is just - Whew. (Brennan looks at Angela, amused.) What?

(Cut to: Medico-Legal lab)

ZACK: This is the pattern of fractured osteons.

ANGELA: It suggests a blow from the front that grazed the skull.

BRENNAN: A bullet?

HODGINS: There would've been particulates left behind by a bullet. Especially fired from a short range.

ZACK: I Isolated the most fractures osteons and this pattern emerges.

HODGINS: It looks like the business end of a tire iron.

ANGELA: No, the size is wrong. Too small. The weapon was actually chasing the skull when it landed. I believe that the victim was pulled away at the last second so that most of the force was lost leaving only the slightest impression.

BOOTH: Bones. I got what I need from Witness Protection. Let's go for a drive.

(Brennan turns to leave to go off with Booth, but turns around once more before she goes)

BRENNAN: Everybody. Thank you. I - (she hesistates) Thank you.

(Cut to: Pig Farm - Booth and Brennan pull up the car)

BOOTH: Okay, Bones. (they get out of the car) Just listen to me. This guy, McVicar, he might be a pig farmer now, but he used to be a mechanic with ties to the strong-arm crew that your parents ran away from.

BRENNAN: A mechanic? Like Russ.

BOOTH: Not like Russ. Russ, fixes things. This guy, he used to kill people.

VINCE MCVICAR: Can I help you folks?

BOOTH: (Booth draws his gun) Yeah, put your hands up. Do it.

BRENNAN: Booth...

BOOTH: Check him for a gun.

MCVICAR: What's going on?

BRENNAN: (scoffs) He's got a .45

BOOTH:. 45. Check his ankle.

BRENNAN: (scoffs) He's got a .38.

BOOTH: .38. I'm always right. I'm FBI. I know who you are.

MCVICAR: Stever Beers, Pig Farmer.

BOOTH: Vince McVicar. The pig farmer, huh?

MCVICAR: You want to talk to Vince McVicar. You do it through the Federal Marshals.

BOOTH: I do it through the Federal Marshals, I'm gonna have to tell them about a pig farmer who carries two concealed weapons.

BRENNAN: Three. .22 in the small of his back.

BOOTH: .22. I'm always right.

BRENNAN: No you're not.

BOOTH; Yes, I am. Bones, will you put the gun down.

MCVICAR: What do you want?

BRENNAN: I'm Ruth Keenan's daughter.

MCVICAR: Joy? You're Joy Keenan? Yeah (he laughs) I can see that.

(Cut to: Stables)

BRENNAN: They found your blood in the car.

BOOTH: You hurt lots of people, Vince. You bashed in their heads.

MCVICAR: Well, they never proved that, or I wouldn't be in Witness Protection.

BOOTH: Yeah, we know how it works, Vince. You rat out your crew. Everybody loses interest in a few old murders...

BRENNAN: My mother was hit on the head.

MCVICAR: Yeah, I know. I was there (shows scar on his forehead) Thirty-two stitches.

BOOTH: She fought back, huh?

MCVICAR: Ruthie fought back, alright, but not against me.

BRENNAN: Then against whom?

MCVICAR: Your father.

BOOTH: Why did he attack you?

MCVICAR: Think about it a second, all right?

BRENNAN: You and my - my mother?

MCVICAR: Me and Ruthie had run off together. Max caught us pulling into a motel outside of Champaign, Illinois. We were nuts about each other, Ruthie and me. Crazy in love.

BOOTH: Okay, let's just skip that part, okay?

MCVICAR: Well, he hit Ruthie first.

BRENNAN: With what?

MCVICAR: Tire iron. Hit my arm, caught me a roundhouse to the head. Lights out, baby. I came to, Ruthie and Max were gone. Never saw neither of them again. You ask me, Max killed Ruthie and buried her somewhere and vanished. Our plan, once we set up - most likely in Florida - was to bring you down. Your father is a hard man, Joy.

BRENNAN: My name is Brennan. I'm Dr. - (she sighs) I'm Dr. Temperance Brennan.

(MCVICAR scoffs and walks out of the barn)

BRENNAN: I work at the Jeffersonian Institution. I'm a Forensic Anthropologist. I specialize in identif - (she starts to break) in identifying - in identifying people when nobody knows who they are. My father was a science teacher. My mother was a bookkeeper (she starts to cry) My brother - (she wipes her tears) I have a brother. (now her tears are flowing) I'm Dr. Temperance Brennan.

BOOTH: I know who you are. Hey. I know. (He pulls her into him and holds her tight.) It's okay. Shh. It's gonna be alright.

Act V

(Cut to: Brennan's apartment)

RUSS: No way dad hits mom. Now way.

BRENNAN: If he caught them together..

RUSS: No way mom cheats on dad. No way.

BOOTH: Men like McVicar, he lies the way you guys take a drink of water. He killed people, then snitched to save his own ass.

BRENNAN: You don't believe him?

BOOTH: No. I don't believe him.

BRENNAN: Give me one piece of evidence that doesn't back up his story.

BOOTH: You're school sticker on the back of your parents' car - it was scraped off.

RUSS: What does that prove?

BOOTH: Well, the only reason to do that - to keep you guys hidden, safe.

BRENNAN: From McVicar.

BOOTH: McVicar performed hits for the crew your mom and dad ran out on.

BRENNAN: What else?

BOOTH: Well, there's a story that tracks for me, but without evidence, it's - it's just a story.

RUSS: Tell us.

BOOTH: Your parents go out Christmas shopping one day. They spot McVicar, the hit man. Alright? They lead him away from your home.

BRENNAN: Scrape off the name of the school so he can't trace it back to me and Russ.

BOOTH: He take out your father..

BRENNAN: ..and my mother gets away with a head wound.

BOOTH: She leaves the car a thousand miles away, finds friends, but she can never go back to see you guys because the crew is still looking for her. It's just a story.

BRENNAN: Fits the evidence.

BOOTH: Alright. You know what? The weapons that McVicar had on him, they're a violation of his agreement with the Witness Protection Program. I'm gonna take him into custody. I'm gonna get a warrant. I'm gonna search his farm.

RUSS: Search for what?

BOOTH: McVickar like to bash in people's heads. Maybe we'll get lucky and match the weapon he used on your mother.

BRENNAN: It's unlikely.

BOOTH: In that case, we'll still ruin his day. (Booth leaves)

RUSS: Tempe, that theory explains why mom never cam back for you during that year and a half before she died.

BRENNAN: What's your excuse, Russ?

RUSS: You're the one that left me. You needed someone to blame. You chose me.

BRENNAN: I was Fifteen years old.

RUSS: I was nineteen! My parents were gone. My sister hated my guts. Everyone's telling me that she'd be better off in foster care.

BRENNAN: You didn't even ask me.

RUSS: I tried, Temperance. You wouldn't talk to me. You still wouldn't be talking to me if mom's bones hadn't shown up. And I kept trying. Every year. Every year on your birthday. You're the on that gave up! You turned your back on me and you made yourself a new family. (Russ leaves, leaving Brennan alone)

(Cut to: Medico Legal Lab - platform - the crew is examining weapons taken from McVickers farm.)

BRENNAN: What's going on?

HODGINS: The FBI delivered all these tools and weapons from the pig farm guy.

ANGELA: We went through them to see if any of them match the mark on your mother's skull.

BOOTH: We got 20 hammers, a dozen hatchets..

HODGINS: Man loves his blunt instruments.

ZACK: Seven tire irons. None of them match the wound, even allowing for shrinkage.

BRENNAN: It was 15 years ago. Even if McVicker killed my mother, what are the chances he hung on to the exact weapon?

BOOTH: Uh, It's always like this with McVicker. Alright, ya know, some mook is found with his forehead bashed in. The FBI goes in the basement, collects about 40 hammers and nothing matches.

BRENNAN: Always the forehead?

BOOTH: Yeah. That's his signature kill, yeah. Not that anyone could ever prove it.

BRENNAN: You said guys like McVicker get comfortable with a way of killing...

BOOTH: Yeah.

BRENNAN: Where did McVicker grow up?

BOOTH: He grew up a farm kid in Iowa. Why?

BRENNAN: How do you slaughter a pig?

(Cut to: McVicker's Farm)

BRENNAN: Why is he here? (looks towards McVicker, who is standing with the cops)

BOOTH: He gets nervous, we know we're getting close.

FBI TECH #1: Found this in the barn. (hands object to Brennan) This is a spring-loaded captive bolt stunner. The animals restrained. It's pressed to the forehead.

BRENNAN: (examines the stunner) Hmm. (presses into the wooden fence and pulls the trigger, causing a section of the fence to be blown out)

BOOTH: Oh!

FBI TECH #1: What kind of person could use this on a human being?

BRENNAN: What kind of person could use this on a pig?

BOOTH: It's the perfect dodge. Blood, flesh - it can all be explained.

BRENNAN: I think I just became a vegetarian.

BOOTH: So what do you think?

BRENNAN: Yeah. Same shape as a tire iron, but smaller. This could be a match.

MCVICKER: (yells from the distance) Before you decide anything, we should talk.

BOOTH: (to Brennan) I'd call that nervous, wouldn't you?

MCVICKER: There's no way to prove that's the exact weapon that killed your mother or anyone else.

BOOTH: You'd be surprised what she can prove.

MCVICKER: (to Brennan) I need to speak to you alone.

BOOTH: Forget it.

BRENNAN: Booth, it's alright.

BOOTH; No.

BRENNAN: It's alright.

BOOTH: You got two ways to look at this. One is, you score a private chat. The second one is, you attack her and I'll drill you through the forehead.

MCVICKER: How could I possibly attack her.

BOOTH: I'll decide what is and isn't an attack -like say, a hiccup.

BRENNAN: Booth. Come on.

(Booth watches like a hawk and Brennan and McVicker move away to talk)

BRENNAN: You killed my mother.

MCVICKER: Gonna be hard to convince a jury.

BRENNAN: I'm pretty persuasive. I'll put you away.

MCVICKER: Here's the thing, Joy. Two people know what really happened that night. Me and your father.

BRENNAN: You killed him before you attacked my mother.

MCVICKER: Then how did I get this scar on my head? You got a choice, Joy. You drop the bolt stunner down the well, and you'll know what happened. You put me in front of a jury, not only will you fail to convict, but you'll never know the truth. (Brennan looks over at Booth) You can't live with that, Joy. You can't live not knowing.

BRENNAN: I found out what happened to my mother. I will find out what happened to my father, too. (she starts to walk away) We're done.

MCVICKER: You will NEVER know what happened to your father.

(Cut to: Booth & Brennan in the car - night)

BRENNAN: Why are you letting me drive?

BOOTH: It's your reward..

BRENNAN: For what?

BOOTH: For totally pissing off a hit man. Can I read your book?

BRENNAN: After it comes out.

BOOTH: Not before?

BRENNAN: No.

BOOTH. I let you drive.

BRENNAN: Just let it go.

BOOTH: Where are we going?

BRENNAN: I'd like to make up for a little lost time.

(Cut to: Town carnival in Moorehead City, North Carolina - Booth and Brennan approach Russ.)

BOOTH: I'm gonna go get a funnel cake.Okay?

BRENNAN: I have something for you (she holds up the marble and give is to Russ)

RUSS: Thanks, Tempe.

BRENNAN: Russ. You were right. You were only 19, but at the time, I didn't understand what that meant. Sometimes people need to explain things to me, I guess.

RUSS: Then, you have to let them talk to you.

BRENNAN: If you can maybe come back and stay a couple days longer? Please? At my place, I mean.

RUSS: (he pauses for a moment) Marco.

BRENNAN: Polo.

(Brother and sister are united and they hug. Booth watches them and smiles)

(Cut to: Brennan, Russ & Booth all enter Brennan's apartment)

BRENNAN: Anybody thirsty?

RUSS: Is it too early for a beer?

BOOTH: Ah, I gotta go. You know, I'm Picking up Parker for the weekend. (Booth spots Brennan's manuscript sitting on the table. The original title "Bone Free", crosses out) Yeah, I'll take one.

RUSS: You have boy?

BOOTH: Yeah. (He lifts up the front page and sees the dedication "This book is to my partner and friend, Special Agent Seeley Booth.)

RUSS: The woman I'm seeing, she's got uh, two daughers.

BOOTH: (puts the page down and smiles) Nice. (he looks at Brennan) Girls are nice.

(Brennan hands the two guys a beer - they raise their bottles to toast.)

BOOTH: To us.

RUSS: Whoever the hell we are.

BRENNAN: To what we're becoming.

(Brennan goes to play back her phone messages)

ANSWERING MACHINE (female voice): "New message recorded today. 3p.m."

MAN'S VOICE: "Temperance? You have to stop looking. Y-You have to stop looking for me right now. This is bigger and worse than you know. Please stop now."

BOOTH: Who's that?

(flashback to Brennan and Russ's father - "stop")

BRENNAN: That was my father.

(another flashback to Brennan and Russ's father)

End.