AN: This is totally random, but as I celebrated Pi Day with my class this week I was…inspired. All random bits of info are true…at least to the best of my elementary school teacher knowledge. And my best friend, also a teacher, did in fact allow herself to be hit by a pie…now that is dedication!
"Bones! Bones!" An excited voice called through the lab as a well dressed man bounding up the platform steps, swiping his ID as he went.
"Booth I am up here." Brennan showed herself from behind a large microscope. "What is so urgent? Do we have a case, because the Mallory case is still utilizing a great deal of our resources and I am also aware of the two additional cases that you are working that are not requiring the Jeffersonian expertise, doesn't your superiors recognize your work will suffer if they allow your focus to be overly fractured?..."
"BONES!" It was always difficult to end one of her diatribes, but this one actually warmed his heart a little…she practically admitted she worried about him.
Brennan's face fell a little at his abrupt calling of her name. He felt a bit bad for hurting her feelings so he instantly flung his arm around her shoulder. "Sorry for yelling Bones. No, not another case. I just heard AWESOME NEWS!"
She looked at him, her face scrunched up; that single furrow forming between her brows. "Well, Booth I have remains to examine; are you planning on telling us this wonderful news or did you just decide you wanted to spend the afternoon screaming my name?" The double meaning of her words was not lost on her colleagues that have gathered with her on the platform in response to the ruckus.
"Bones Today may be my new favorite holiday! According to my page a day calendar today is National Pie Day! Pie Bones! I LOVE PIE! Come with me to the diner to celebrate!" His armed moved from its place around her shoulders to grasp her hand in his in attempt to pull her out the door.
Suddenly he was surrounded by an unnerving amount of laughter. Causing him to pause and take in the chorus of squints that seemed unnaturally amused at his exuberance.
Brennan too was laughing so hard that there were tears in her eyes. As she took in her partner's confused expression she composed herself enough to explain the labs outburst. "Booth, I hate to rain on your carnival, but it isn't that kind of pie."
"It's rain on your parade, not carnival. Besides I love all kinds of pie…blueberry, apple, lemon, pecan, chocolate…"
BOOTH!" It was her turn to use the act of screaming her partner's name to break a tangent. "Booth today is March 14th which makes it Pi Day, not Pie Day. It is MATHEMATICAL Pi."
His face suddenly fell at the realization of his mistake "You mean it is a freaking SQUINT holiday?!"
"Well I suppose to you it would be. It is typically celebrated at 1:59 as a representative of the first 6 digits of the value of Pi, 3.14159. It originated in schools as a way to help students internalize the value."
"In High School we were taught 'How I wish I could recollect pi easily today.' A three letter word, a single letter, a four letter word and so on." Booth hadn't even realized that Cam had crept up behind him.
Hodgins piped up next excitedly. "Has anyone read Mike Keith? He has written a 3,834 word story called Cadeic Cadenza. Following the same pattern, it is a little strange but he manages to reference Edgar Allen Poe and the Jabberwocky!"
"A Piphilologist is a person who created mnemonic devices to remember Pi." For once Mr. Nigel-Murray's factlet was remarkably on topic.
"ENOUGH!" Booth was clearly losing his temper amidst all their high IQ conversation. "That is a terrible holiday! Celebrating numbers…its…it's…its UNAMERICAN!" A pout clearly settled on his face.
Brennan's face softened at her friend's clear discomfort. "Well, you will be glad to know that you are not entirely wrong." Booth looked at her with curiosity.
Brennan hurried to continue in an effort to alleviate his disappointment. "Many teachers allow their students to celebrate with actual pie, to increase the enjoyment of the day. I actually recall a teacher in my middle school allowed the person who memorized the most significant digits of pi to actually throw a cream pie in his face. The winning student memorized 43 digits; the fact that I knew well over 80 was irrelevant because I was not in his class."
It was one of those moments that the rest of the squad disappeared. Despite being in a crowded room, she was speaking only to him.
"Well maybe I can take the REAL winner out for a slice at the diner to celebrate?" His eyes twinkled at her, and she smiled. The rest of the team just watched their seemingly oblivious interaction.
"I don't like my fruit cooked…" Her typical reaction quietly slipped through her lips.
The moment was broken by another of Mr. Nigel-Murray's ramblings "In 2006 Japanese Mathematician, Akira Haraguchi, managed to recite 100.000 digits of pi over the course of 16 hours."
"Shut-up Vincent." Angela whispered, annoyed that he was interrupting.
Without another word Brennan stripped off her rubber gloves and retrieved her trench. As they walked through the labs glass doors Booth spoke again. "Hey Bones, I forget what exactly is Pi in math?"
"Pi is the numerical value of the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter. You probably remember finding area of a circle asA=πr2."
His hand took up the familiar place at the small of her back. "Pi R Squared…Yeah, that does sound familiar…But you know Bones…Pie are not square…Pie are round!"
As the rest of the lab resumed their respective assignments, the laughter, correspondingly deep and loud; sweet and light, could be heard echoing down the hall.
