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Dr. Temperance Brennan was no stranger to poor family situations. She had seen plenty of murders involving ex’s soon to be divorcees, and even siblings acting out of jealousy. But even her most recent interns situation was…intriguing.
Mirabel Simmons had been officially emancipated from her family a well known family on the east coast, the Madrigals, at the age of 15, her files had put it as something she had seen as necessary, she had then attended a fairly high end college on a scholarship and come out with a PhD in Forensic science and a degree in paleontology. And this was when she had barely turned 18 by the end of it all, she had moved across the nation to get away from the Madrigals.
Initially, she had been hesitant to take on another intern, or squintern as Booth would so eloquently put it.
Especially after Zack.
But upon hearing her accomplishments,hearing how quickly Mirabel had been able to sift through college, accelerating her education to her liking, Brennan had to see for herself, and now, it was hard to think about how she had nearly missed such a diamond in the rough.
“Hey Doctor Brennan!” Mirabel’s energetic voice came through after a few rythmatical raps on the door. “Here’s what I found on the victim from the pond.”
Brennan looked up, her intern was putting a packet on her desk, she grabbed it after a second, noting that her intern looked a tad troubled, almost desperate to prove herself. Had something come up to cause this reaction? A personal problem maybe? It was the same look that she had whenever something with her family came up, or her family tried to guilt her into visiting.
“Electricity?” she remarked, barely hiding her skepticism, and concern. Mirabel simply nodded her eyes taking on a more calculated looked She pointed to a picture of a part of a bone, displaying the collar bone, it had to little notches in it.
“Those noches line up with a police level taser, or at least, one that could be acquire for self defense.”
Brennan nodded, noting that she had put a few other likely causes as well. But Brennan could see why she had opted for a more logical option.
“Very good Mirabel, you may clock out if you would like. It is only logical that you would tired after hours of working on that victim.”
Her intern nodded, her frame edged with exhaustion, and Mirabel turned to leave, already in the process of shedding her lab coat, when Brennan spoke up.
“Are you…alright Mirabel? You seemed tired, more so than usual today. “ her voice was laced with concern, even if her voice held a calculating edge. Mirabel glanced back, an unspoken pain in her eyes.
“I’m fine Brennan, just…tired, something came up in my personal life.”
Brennan was never one to shove her nose where it didn’t belong, and she could see her intern’s rapidly closing walls, likely a family matter. With a nod she indicated her acknowledgment of the clear boundary set in order. Mirabel walked out of the lab, past where Hodgins was still work, and past Booth, who was just walking in.
Booth approached her first, and Brennan mentally prepared for a demanded report.
“Is everything alright with mini-Bones?”
The nickname was an affectionate one, used to describe Mirabel’s tendency to mimic Brennan’s skills when she was learning a new set.
Brennan just strugged.
“She’s had a rough week.” was all she said. Booth huffed lightly.
“That looks like a little more than a ‘rough week’ as you put it.” Booth paused, then glanced back at the doors, as if Mirabel would walk back through them. “Does it have to do with that phone call she got earlier?”
Brennan rolled her eyes and stalked past him to a table holding the remains of the victime they were working on.
“It’s her life, not ours, and we-” she paused to shoot him a look. “Need to figure out what happened to our victim.”
Booth rolled his eyes, but turned his gaze back to the table.
“So what we got?”
“You want the Boring details?”
“You are never going to let that go are you?”
“No.”
_______________________________
Mirabel’s phone was buzzing instantly, it had gotten to the point where Hodgins and Angela had started counting and averaging how many missed calls per hour she had just to get a rough estimate. Brennan found it rather unorthodox to be watching all of it go down, Mirabel had been helping wrap up loose ends in the reports for the trial of a murder a couple years ago.
Mirabel hadn’t been around,but naturally, she could pick up based on the remains of what they were looking at. And that’s when Booth walked in, a serious expression on his brow.
“Hey Simmons. “ he called, drawing immediate attention. Mirabel’s last name being used was a bad sign, or it meant that something serious was going on.
“Yes Booth?” MIrabel called up to the FBI agent.
“I need you really quick, just for a quick one on one interrogation.” Mirabel’s eyebrows shot up. Her gaze sliding up, she to face the FBI agent.
“Is something going on?” Mirabel’s voice was firm, shifting from goofy, clumsy, but effective to stern, precise, and deadly in a second. Booth’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. A faint frown pulled at his lips as he analyzed Mirabel’s posture.
Her phone buzzed with a call, one she swiftly declined. Booth was fairly certain that she had changed her number more than once, and had ringtones for each member of the team, so who were the people calling her.
“It’s your sister. “ Mirabel’s face fell as soon as he said it, and her gaze became stony as she spoke.
“What did Isabela do?” Mirabel asked in a deadpan tone.
Not ‘is she okay?’ Or ‘what happened?’ Just: ‘what did she do?’ The tone took Brennan aback, knew her intern well enough to know that she was not one to use that tone, always trying to interject cheer into a conversation, so for her to use such a tone, it was highly unusual.
Booth cocked his head to a side, his eyes narrowing at the phone like it had personally offended him, which in a way it had.
"What's that about?" he asked, watching as MIrabel declined another text message. “A boyfriend perhaps?”
Mirabel rolled her eyes. “They know what I do, they want me to cover up for Isabitch." she sneered. "Isaroach likely upset that I'm not being her little punching bag anymore, and went to complain to someone, or find a new one. And Alma just enabled her."
Booth arched an eyebrow, the same look when he found a lead entering his eye. "Would this Isabitch, as you put it, be capable of murder?"
"Why not? She's a psychopath." Mirabel growled.
"Even a senator's son?" Mirabel looked up at Booth with a deadpan on her face.
"If she thought she could get attention from it, I'm assuming it's Richard Bell?" Booth nodded and Mirabel snorted. "That's her ex, he broke up with her a year ago, she didn't take it well from what I heard, she stalked him, and he got a restraining order. She likely killed him so she could get the attention she had gotten while they were dating."
Booth looked surprised, that's what the California police were thinking, and he hadn't even mentioned anything in regards to her case yet. And yet Mirabel had just summed up the whole investigation.
"So is that a yes you think your sister is capable of murders."
Mirabel glanced up again, rolling her eyes. '
Can't men ever read the context?" she grumbled, earning a disgruntled 'hey !" from Hodgins, Mirabel looked up at Booth again. "One, she's not my sister, she never was, she's just a narcissistic bitch who never grew up, and two, absolutely”
“Do you mind if I take a look at the messages those could be considered evidence. “ Booth finally asked. His eyes softening slightly
Mirabel rolled her eyes and tossed him the device, which as if on que buzzed with another voicemail. Mirabel just had this look that said ‘see what I mean?’. Booth left with the phone in hand, and Mirabel turned back to the various files, electing to ignore the various looks she was getting, something that Brennan found slightly familiar.
The room settled back into a somewhat tense rhythm, but it wasn’t long before the Files were done, and everyone had elected to clock out for the night, leaving the labs another night of knowing they had some progress.
_______________________
“You might have to get a new phone.” was what Booth said as he tromped up the stairs to an observation table. His gaze was unapologetic, Mirabel just rolled her eyes.
“If I can get a new number? Yes please.” she grumbled, turning back to the remains, she was dual casing 2 cases right now, the pond victim and the one she was currently working one, which was found in a ditch. With a hum she turned back, this was a case that Dr. Brennan wasn’t working on, but it was one that she had been tasked with to try and figure it out.
Naturally, she wanted to impress her mentor but much like the pond case, this one had hit a dead end.They knew a set of likely variables, and had been systematically crossing them out, yet now, the team that was working the case had hit a solid brick wall.
Mirabel let out a huffing sigh as she grumbled, this was a test for the interns, and Mirabel’s competitive streak had begun to show through in her work, her reports were all correct, but they still didn’t have a set murder weapon.
This was a more rebellious group of interns, she hadn’t been part of the initial badgering, but from she understood, the interns, all from various people, wanted more leniency, more freedom, they didn’t want their mentors looming over their shoulders, Mirabel had been assigned by Dr. Brennan as damage control.
The 6 interns knew it, and while she wasn’t kept in the dark, they didn’t like her.
“How bad did it get?” she asked glancing up, she was currently observing a peculiar set of notches that were probably from the fatal injury. Booth let out a chuckle tossing her a new phone, his gaze still wasn’t all that apologetic.
“You got about a hundred calls all through last night.” he muttered, groaning as he ran a hand through his hair, Mirabel smirked when she saw how disheveled he was.
“And you were in charge of recording them?”
“Yes.” he groaned, Dr Brennan stopped by, arching her eyebrow and Mirabel shrugged.
“What have you gotten so far?” Dr Brennan asked, coming up beside her, Mirabel huffed.
‘Does this mean that the revolution is over? And they’ll stop complaining?” she muttered, Dr Brennan nodded slightly, and Mirabel sighed in relief. “I’m thinking of a wood carving tool, those are sharp, new ones especially, plus it’s the only thing that marks this curve that is logical.”
Brennan looked over her review and then nodded.
“Very good Mirabel, you’ve done a good job.”
Mirabel let a small sneak onto her face, she could do this, it was easy, just another way to prove her family wrong.