Her Eyes Betray

Later that night, Casey headed towards Seeley’s house to talk to him. She called a taxi and got in when it arrived. After telling the driver where the residence was she looked out the window completely oblivious to the driver. When the cab stopped moving she snapped back into reality and saw a building in front of her with several cars in the driveway.

She paid the taxi driver and exited the car. Casey walked up to the window and didn’t see anything inside the living room. Deciding to surprise him again she snuck around back hopped over the fence. Sliding the backdoor open she heard a loud bunch of noise and walked towards the noise slowly keeping her eyes open and aware. Peeking past the wall she saw everyone from the Jeffersonian singing to karaoke or watching karaoke people in the living room.

Casey was surprised at this, never having experienced this side of Seeley. Walking up behind Seeley who was one of the farthest back and everyone was looking forward, no one noticing her entrance into the room.

Slowly she took in the couple singing, Angela and Hodgins. Zack was off to the side trying to understand why they were making such fools of themselves. Dr. Brennan was sitting on the couch close to Zack trying to explain what she knew to him with Camille, while Lance Sweets was laying down on the other couch holding his head. Turning to look at Seeley she
noticed he had yet to notice her and decided to grab his arm.

Big mistake, when she made contact with Seeley’s arm he instantly turned around and grabbed her arm and turned it behind her back pressing her into the wall next to him. Casey whimpered and her armed felt like it was going to snap. She heard a few curses and the pressure disappeared and so did her vision. From the pain exerted into her body and the memories that resurfaced it took her body into her subconscious and left her body in a lifeless heap.

~flashback~

“If you would just do what you are told to do you wouldn’t be in so much pain now would you?” a rough voice yelled into her ear as she was shoved against a wall. She already had a broken arm and a stab wound to her abdomen on the right side. Her face was covered in blood and scratches. She gasped as she felt a knife run up her neck. “Maybe I should just kill you now and my problems would be gone.”

“Stop! Leave her alone. She doesn’t know what’s going on. Please just leave her alone” a broken voice sliced through the tense air. The pressure against Casey vanished and she heard a scream.

Turning her head she witnessed her mother being beaten by her father. He grabbed her head and bashed it against the wall a few times before pulling out the knife. Casey attempted to get up but her legs wouldn’t respond. She watched as her father stabbed her mother continually in the chest.

It was a few minutes before he stopped, while she had stopped responding to the stabs after the first few stabs. Her father was covered in blood, her and her mothers. Casey, outraged about what she just witnessed jumped up, her legs seemingly working fine now, and tackled her father. She beat him in the face a few times before he grabbed her by the hair and stabbed her in the arm. She grabbed the slippery knife from him and stabbed him in the shoulder which was followed by a cry of pain. She pulled it out and pushed it back in. She was about to pull it out again when the front door busted open and men in suits busted in with guns in their hands.

She was pulled off of her father screaming, ‘He killed her!’ and thrashed around trying to escape the tight embrace. The man holding her pulled her face into his chest and tried to soothe her by murmuring calming sentences and petting the back of her head like a mother would.

In all this commotion her father was killed for trying to fight back and stab a police officer. Casey’s two parents now lay on their living room floor with blood threatening to drown the survivors. Casey had passed out from the lack of energy and blood.

~End flashback~

“Casey. Casey!” she heard Seeley shout while stroking her face in a brotherly way. When she opened her eyes she saw his worried face above her. A few faces were in the background but were too blurry to recognize.

“Booth, back up and let her have some space. She probably won’t make sense for a few moments.” She heard Camille’s voice.

“He killed her. He killed her. Let go!” Casey mumbled trying to escape Seeley’s grip on her to keep her from falling off the couch. In a moment she instantly awoke and launched herself into Seeley’s arms that held her tight against him.

“Case. Case, calm down. It’s alright, he’s not here. Shhh,” Seeley whispered into Casey’s ear covered by her hair. She had tears trailing down her cheeks which were absorbed by Seeley’s t-shirt.

“Seeley, I remember that night. Why? I thought I went through therapy to get rid of the deep pain.” She whined and whimpered against him. No one understood what she said due to the muffling of Seeley’s shirt, but Seeley knew what she said because he had heard it before.

“Casey, it’s okay, you are suppose to remember but not to feel so hurt. Shh, baby calm down.” He soothed ending up with Casey falling into sleep against him. He stood up and lifted her into his arms, which was easy considering she was little, and walked toward the bedroom.

After he had laid her down and reentered the living room, the party mood was pretty much gone. “Well that wasn’t expected for this party. What now?” Angela asked hesitantly.
“I think you should all go home. She won’t want to wake up seeing you all here. She usually forgets the whole ordeal by morning and if you are here she might go into a hysterics mood.” Booth sighed running his hand through his hair.

“She’s done this before, Booth?” Sweets asked looking concerned.
“Yeah. It happens when fights happen or something reminds her of the day her parents died. She witnessed the whole thing, and was kind of part of it.” He admitted.

“What do you mean part of it? Was she the killer?” Zack questioned looking equally confused as everyone else was.

Booth sighed, “I guess you could say that. Though it’s not what you think, it was self-defense mostly.” When no one said anything Booth continued.

“Her father, my uncle, was an alcoholic son of a bitch. He abused her and her mother all the time but was never caught in the act. Casey missed a lot of school because her father didn’t want people seeing the bruises and scratches on her face.

“One day though, it got worse. Her father asked her to go to the store and buy him something, she couldn’t remember what when she told me but she had refused to go simply saying she had school to attend and a test to study for.

“He didn’t like that answer and started to slap her but she wouldn’t cave. She had been beaten so much in her life, it’s almost like she got used to the pain. Anyway, he kept beating her and soon her mother walked in. Her mother tried to protect her, but her father turned on her and killed her in a brutal way.

“I guess that’s when Casey snapped. She can’t remember what happened next but the police said they found her on top of her father stabbing him in the shoulder with a knife soaked in blood. She was covered in blood and was screaming ‘He killed her!’ loudly. They pulled her off of him and tried to calm her down. In that moment her father tried to stab a police officer but was shot in the head. After a few moments of hysterics Casey passed out.

“She wasn’t blamed for anything but she wasn’t the same after her mother was killed. It almost seemed like the innocence in her vanished. She was only eleven. After that she came to live with my family. Though it wasn’t much better, she wasn’t ever hurt there and mostly kept to herself. But I think she blames herself for her mother’s death to be honest.”

When Booth finished the women in the room, aside from Dr. Brennan, were close to tears or in tears. The rest of them were stunned in silence. “I guess that would explain her behavior of being yelled at, me grabbing her arm a little too tightly and you shoving her against a wall. It triggered her memory and it was too much for her to handle. She should go see someone or find a close person and reveal this to them so she can calm herself.” Sweets suggested.

“She’s tried but after a few sessions she never went back. I think she is afraid to relive it.”

“Sweets!” Angela said suddenly earning a startled expression from everyone, “You should talk to her in a friendly way and help her. I mean you are a psychologist and everything.”

Everyone shook their heads in agreement and then it was settled. Dr. Lance Sweets was doomed.