One Little Tragedy

A/N:Post-ep for Pain in the Heart. It seemed like Hodgins had kinda figured out that Zach was Gormogon's apprentice before anyone else and didn't want to believe it. This is a story I came up with because of it!

He knew it before anyone else. Everything pointed to it. The fact that whoever Gormogon's apprentice was, lived on his street address. The fact that whoever it was had to be working at the Jeffersonian. That it had to be someone who knew the chemical compounds to cause an explosion. A person who could be manipulated easily.

He'd known as soon as he made the discovery of where the apprentice was located, that it was Zach Addy. He knew he'd been strangely quiet when he'd given Cam the information she needed.

It was the reason why he'd kept pushing the button on Zach's morphine drip when he'd mentioned skeletons. He knew if Zach were drugged up he'd never be able to confess anything. Or perhaps it was his own way of making it unreal. Perhaps he did it for himself so he wouldn't have to see his very best friend as a cold-blooded killer. He'd remain Zach Addy. Just Zach. The brilliant,rational young man with the floppy hair and brown eyes---the picture of teenage innocence although he was a man in his twenties. The one who was eager to get things right,eager to please. The one he did experiments with and the man who lived over his garage.

Why hadn't any of them realised that something was very wrong with Zach? Had they all been so busy with their own lives that they didn't notice that Zach was slowly sinking into something dark and twisted?

When he, Angela, Cam, Brennan, Booth, and Sweets had sat down at the table of the lounge in the Jeffersonian with a small box of things that they'd given Zach, they'd all mentioned things they had wished they'd done for Zach when Cam had blurted out that they should forget him. That he'd killed someone and deserved to be punished---he'd understood why she'd said it. He wished that he could hate Zach. He knew that Brennan, Angela, and Cam did as well. If they hated him, it wouldn't be such a pain in their hearts. They wouldn't feel betrayed and lied to. Wouldn't feel like a piece of themselves was missing.

But this was them. He knew none of them could ever hate Zach. He was their family, no matter what he did. He'd wormed his way into their hearts and into their lives, and nothing could change that. Not even this.

But he knew that the lab wouldn't be the same. No more King of the Lab---that was his and Zach's thing. He couldn't do it with anyone else.

He knew Brennan would have a hard time picking an intern. She already had a hard time when she had to pick one temporarily. When Zach had come back from Iraq she'd offered him his position bag and had given him a hug.

He knew Cam wouldn't try so hard to get Brennan to pick out an assistant.

He knew that Angela wouldn't be handing out more dating advice.

He knew Booth wouldn't be getting annoyed anymore.

He knew his home would feel empty without Zach living above the garage. One betrayal, one big mistake had changed everything in the lives of the squints and it wasn't something that could be easily fixed.

The End!

A/N:So I hope to god that in season five, it comes out that Zach didn't kill the lobbyist because it needs to be told. The squints need to know.