August 2004
'Have a good day-' receptionist of Edgar J. Hoover Building quickly said to woman was obviously rushing out of this place as quickly as possible. She almost forgot to remove her 'Visitor' badge, she was that pissed. Once she realised, the badge was quickly thrown on the table without any further explanation and before the receptionist was able to form a proper question as he was curious what have happened to this pretty young lady.
'…ma'am…' he quickly finished what he intended to say. Long before he knew, she was already out of the building with a wish to never ever come to this place again.
'I just saw your Bone Lady flying at the full speed, like a rocket, cher…' Caroline Julian began the second she saw Seeley Booth sitting at his desk and staring miserably at one point, looking helpless. The second she finished speaking, he raised his head to face her, she noticed something on his cheek.
'You hit the door or something…?' Caroline's face looked puzzled. Booth squeezed his lips tighter in annoyance.
'No, apparently, I slapped myself and it was my fault…' Booth said sarcastically.
Caroline just raised her eyebrows at him.
'Really, Caroline? You really have to ask…?' Booth said as he reached to soothe his left side of face which was now marked by a small red hand print.
'I knew that woman was a walking trouble…' Booth looked at her from down. '…I mean since she double-punched federal judge turned murderer, feel sorry for that girl…'
'You mean her?'
'God, no. The murder victim…' Booth frowned, but Caroline didn't seem to notice. 'I'm glad ties are cut now for good…'
Booth frowned even more and this time Caroline did notice.
'You're having second thoughts, aren't you, cher?'
Booth didn't expect that kind of question from her.
'What? Me? No, nope…' he shook his head but as soon as he started, he winced as the pain struck his cheek. He reached with his hand to clutch.
'There you go, I'd say the evidence is in front of me. Case's closed.' She joked. 'Avoid her and your other cheek will survive through it…' Caroline turned around and began to walk away.
'So what now?' Seeley ask out of sudden.
'I'm heading over Cullen to sort things out. If I were you, cher, I would rather try not to get into more problems…'
'Oh, so now I'm in trouble too, that's great…'
'That's what I'm saying, cher…' Caroline stopped once again. Booth stood up, grabbed his suit coat, put it on and began to walk towards cafeteria. Caroline, not knowing what he was up to, decided to follow him.
'She might be smart, but it takes guts to attack a federal judge or agent.'
Booth opened the freezer hoping to find some ice cubes. He took plastic bag and threw a couple of them on it. Then he placed the bag against his cheek and sighed in relief.
'That's what exactly I need…' he leaned backwards on the counter.
'You don't think you need something else?'
'You mean cold beer, yeah, I do…'
'I mean to fill the charges against that woman.' Caroline said while crossing her arms on her chest. 'Have you thought about that?'
'I did.' Booth said with his eyes closed, obviously enjoying the chill.
'And?' Caroline persisted to find his plans.
'I don't know…' he simply said. Caroline groaned and dropped her hands in defeat.
'You do have second thoughts about her.' Caroline pointed finger at him. Booth opened one eye to look at her.
'And what if I do, does this make me an accomplice?'
Caroline scoffed at him. 'I'm going to see Cullen and you make sure my eyes will never see that woman again, ya hear me?'
This time Booth had both his eyes opened. 'Caroline, is this a threat?'
She was about to snap back at him but held herself, Booth just grinned at her widely. She turned around and walked out this time for good.
Minute later another agent came inside to make some coffee for himself. He eyed Booth with pity. As he began to sip his coffee, he was still looking at Booth. Seeley feeling being watched and sensing what was about to happen took advantage of the situation.
'I hit the door, okay?'
The fellow agent chuckled again and began to walk through the entrance.
'Must have been really hard door…' he smiled.
Booth took a deep breath and lowered his hand which was holding bag full of nothing but water.
Meanwhile, so called Bone Lady came back to her own work place. Still feeing angry, she went straight to her office and slammed the door behind her, completely ignoring everything and everyone who was staring at her. She literally fell on the couch, took one of the pillows to hide her face. She still felt tingling sensation on her right palm when it came in contact with the skin of that arrogant agent's face and in response she squeezed her fingers into a fist. She was about to drift into thinking about what could have been done and not when she heard a small knock on the door. Slightly opening it, the voice of another woman spoke.
'Hey, can I…'
She even didn't finish her sentence when the Bone Lady quickly sat up and nodded.
'You're okay? Are you crying?' The other woman sat beside her, look of worry in her eyes.
'No.' she quickly wiped the small tears that had spilled since she entered her office.
'Because on the phone, you were like the hell was about to break loose…'
'I don't understand what that means, Angela.'
Angela let out a sigh. 'What happened, Brennan?'
She was looking at her best friend, rolling her eyes whether she should tell her or not.
'I slapped him, Angela…' she went straight to the point. She understood that she would hate her if suddenly they find out that FBI is no longer working with them…again. So, there was no use to keep secrets.
'What…' Angela's eyes grew wider. '…why?' Then after a short moment, she added. 'Did you finish the case, at least?'
Tears began to gather in Brennan's eyes, something Angela thought was impossible to see.
'We did, but after it when we were talking with the mother of the victim, we started to argue in front of her until he pulled me out of the room and then I lost it.' she admitted. 'That's it. Done. No more FBI.' she said after she composed herself a little.
'Back to normal jobs, huh?' Angela asked sadly, accepting the fact that Booth will be no longer around, she really started to like this guy. Cute, handsome, kinda hot. She even secretly hoped that when Brennan 'admitted' by finding him appealing with jaw and shoulders stuff, there would be more than just a work between the two. And now you have it, maybe it wasn't up to fate.
'Yes.' Brennan said not noticing sadness in Angela's voice. 'Until then, I'll be preparing for Guatemala.'
'You're still thinking on going there?'
'Yes. I would be still going even while working with FBI and…' she couldn't finish and hung her head down.
Angela lifter her arm and placed on Brennan's shoulders, pulling her closer.
'Come here, sweetie…everything's gonna be okay…'
'You don't know that, Ange…' Brennan sniffed her nose.
'Just go with me on this one, will you?'
'Okay…' Brennan let out a small smile.
They stayed like this for a while until footsteps came closer to the entrance. Someone knocked on the door.
'Dr. Brennan?' She immediately turned around while Angela removed her arm. 'Can I speak with you for a minute? It's about you trip…' Dr. Goodman was standing with his hands behind his back. 'Miss Montenegro if you would excuse us?'
'Sure…' Angela said while standing up. '…I'll see you later…'
'Thanks Angela…' Brennan followed her until she was gone out of sight. 'What is it, Dr. Goodman?'
'I'm afraid that your trip to Guatemala might be delayed until next year…'
'What?!' Why?' Brennan jumped up from her seat. 'It's because of the FBI right?'
'This has nothing to do with the FBI, Dr. Brennan.' Dr. Goodman tried to calm her down and explain further the situation. 'Jeffersonian is facing some issues in relation to your trip, so for now we can't afford sending you abroad…'
Brennan began to pace in her office with her hands on her waist.
'Now this is a temporary problem… I can guarantee you will go there, but not for now…'
'You're sure?' Brennan asked while she stopped to look at him. Then she carried on pacing angrily.
'Positive…' Dr. Goodman nodded his head. 'Until then, I would like you and others to work on anything we have left…'
Angela and Hodgins were standing not far from Brennan's office observing the scene between two people in the room.
'What are they talking about?' Hodgins asked Angela.
'It's something about her trip to Guatemala…' Angela said simply. 'And I'm not sure if it's anything good about it there…'
They watched as Brennan stopped and had one her hand on her forehead while other was kept on her waist.
'Do we have an agreement, Dr. Brennan?'
'Yes.' she answered and sat down back on the couch. Dr. Goodman left her office and noticed the two standing and watching.
'I would suggest you get back to work, Miss Montenegro, Dr. Hodgins…' he said while walking past them. 'And get Mr. Addy… I'm sure he will be needed…' with that he left them alone standing near the platform.
'I'll go check up on her…' Angela said. 'You go and get Zack…' she said to Hodgins.
'Right.' he left her standing alone. Angela let out a sigh and began walking back to Brennan's office.
Let me know what you think...
