Fic: The Monkey in the Elevator
Title: The Monkey in the Elevator
Author: MsJDarcy
Rating: PG
Fandom: Bones
Pairing(s): General
Disclaimer: Bones is the property of Fox, Hart Hanson, Kathy Reichs and their associates.
Summary: In episode 2x01 Titan on the Tracks when talking about experiments, Booth mentions an experiment where Brennan threw a dead monkey down an elevator shaft. This is how that happened.
Author's Notes: Fic set between seasons 1 and 2. It's my crazy idea of what may have prompted Booth's comment. Please forgive any forensic inaccuracies. And no animals were harmed in the creation of this story.
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“Fractures of the femurs, tibiae and the right fibula are congruent with a fall from height. Fractures of the radii and ulnae support this theory as does the fracture pattern evident on the skull.”
Brennan turned away from the bones of the seven-year-old boy and surveyed the scene around her. The bones had been found at the base of a building that had been abandoned for years. The building had been scheduled for demolition when workmen had stumbled across the bones.
Booth glanced over her shoulder. “So did he fall or was he pushed?”
“Or he could have been thrown off.”
“Thrown?”
“Yes. He could easily have been picked up, carried to the edge of the roof and thrown off.”
“So the kid was thrown off the roof.”
“Not necessarily - you shouldn’t narrow it down to two possibilities without first considering the evidence.”
“So what did happen?”
“I’ll know more once I get the remains back to the lab and run a few scenarios.”
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Booth swiped his card and entered the lab, searching for Brennan. The boy’s broken bones were laid out on the examination table but no one was on the platform. He poked his head into Brennan’s office and spotted her bag and jacket, but no doctor. Booth frowned slightly, wondering what could have tempted his partner away from her precious bones. Walking down the hallway, he paused when he noticed Angela in her office.
“Where’d Bones get to?”
Angela looked up from her sketch with a slight grimace on her face.
“She’s in the basement running an experiment with Hodgins and Zack. Trying to find out which bones would have broken if the boy had been pushed from the roof.”
“Doesn’t she have enough fancy equipment in the lab for that?”
“This experiment’s more… organic.” Booth frowned in confusion. “Take the stairs in the east corner. You’ll find her in the elevator lobby.”
“Why the stairs?”
“Ask Brennan.”
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“Bones!”
Brennan turned away from the walkie-talkie she had been speaking into and saw Booth walking down the hall towards her.
“Why are you down here and why can’t I use the elevator?”
“Some of the victim’s bones may have been broken before he fell from the building. We’re conducting an experiment to determine which bones would break as a result of being pushed off the roof. The elevator shaft is being used to simulate the height of the roof.”
Booth walked over to the doors that were opened to reveal the bottom of the elevator shaft. Looking upwards he saw the elevator car at the top of the shaft. Light spilled from an opening five floors up where Hodgins and Zack must be. Booth was beginning to comprehend why Angela chose to stay in her office.
“You’re throwing a skeleton down the elevator shaft?”
“Of course not. The body still had all its flesh intact when it fell. Using a skeleton wouldn’t give us the results we need.”
Booth looked with apprehension at the purely professional anthropologist. “You’re not actually going to throw a dead body down there are you?”
“No, we’re using a medium with similar size and bone structure and we’re pushing it down the shaft, not throwing it. Then we will x-ray it to determine which bones broke during the fall and compare the findings to the victim's skeleton.”
“If it’s not a body then what is it?”
Brennan was prevented from answering by Hodgins’ voice crackling over the walkie-talkie in her hand. “Dunston is ready to check in.”
Confusion crossed Brennan’s face. “I don’t know what that means, but we’re ready to go down here.” Brennan grabbed Booth’s arm and led him away from the opening of the elevator shaft.
Brennan’s confusion turned to anticipation as Zack counted down. “Three… two… one… push!”
Booth watched in horror as a hairy object fell to the bottom of the shaft with a loud thud. Hodgins’ whistle of appreciation floated down the shaft. “Yeah, baby!”
Booth tentatively peered into the shaft, his jaw dropping in disbelief. “Jesus Christ, Bones, is that a monkey?”
Brennan stepped forward to examine the furry mass. “An orangutan actually. It died of natural causes last week and its owner donated it to the Jeffersonian for research. We were very fortunate that it was a similar size to the boy otherwise we would have had to rely solely on the Angelator.”
“Research? Angela could have run this scenario easily.”
“Yes, but…”
Brennan shrank back in guilt as Booth glared accusingly at her.
“You just wanted to see what would happen when you threw a dead monkey down an elevator shaft!”
“… Orangutan…”
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Author's Note: I wrote this a couple of years ago, and am using posting to procrastinate! This isn't my first Bones fic (it's my second!), but as it was written quite some time ago, comments on improving would be greatly appreciated. That said, any other comments are also welcome!