Disclaimer: I own nothing but Talia, Noah, and her unnamed sister.
"But, why can't dinosaurs come back to life?" Noah practically whined from the back seat. He clutched a plush, dark blue tyrannosaurus rex in his right hand. Talia had to restrain herself from chuckling at her nephew's expense.
"Because darling, they are currently extinct. Maybe we can go to the museum again and you can ask some of the scientists who work there about it?" She replied in a gentle manner to placate the passionate four-year old. Her hands clutched the steering wheel as she maneuvered the car as best as she could through all of the traffic. The street was on the receiving end of some construction work. In DC, that meant that the already shotty traffic was even worse. Getting to MedStar, the hospital, would be such a pain after dropping Noah off at daycare.
"Aunt Tally," Noah began speaking once more. He could not go very long without asking questions. "Since you're a nurse, does that mean that you give people lollipops whenever they visit like Ms. Su does?" Ms. Su was the nurse who assisted his pediatrician.
She laughed and steered right for her turn. "No, Noah. They only give lollipops to the children. I work mostly with adults. They don't really get candy."
"That's not fair. Everyone should get the candy." There was that passionate side again. He was so much like his mother.
Talia pulled up to the red light and looked at him through the rear-view mirror. His hair was getting a little too long. It was forming a small, dark Afro at this point. His face was furrowed into a frown. Once again, Talia was forced to consider how much her nephew looked like he could be her son. They had the same brown skin and eye shape. His eye color and nose favored her late brother-in-law, but all in all he was a testament to the strong resemblance she shared with her sister.
"I promise next time I'll ask my patients if they would like a lollipop bef-" Her sentence was cut off as the car lurched forward from the impact of another car hitting hers.
Things went in slow motion, but her thoughts were going a mile a minute. She was grateful that Noah was strapped tightly into his car seat. She was grateful that she was facing forward so that minimal stress was put on her neck and back. She was grateful that it felt like the damage on the car would not be too extensive. She was grateful that she was not unconscious so that she could give the other driver a piece of her mind.
"Noah, baby, are you alright?" She asked immediately taking off her seat belt and turning to look at him. He nodded with watery eyes.
"I'm okay." She leaned through the opening between the driver and passenger seat to get a good look at him. Nothing seemed out of place, but he could possibly feel the effects of the impact tomorrow.
"Don't move from your seat okay? I'm going to talk to the other driver." Talia switched on her hazard lights and carefully climbed out of the car. The damage on the rear end of the car was not too bad. She tested her trunk and found that it could still be opened. She had just bought the Audi SUV a year ago. Getting it fixed at the dealer would not be too hard. The back bumper was damaged the most, and one of her taillights was broken.
By the time she finished assessing the damage, the other driver had climbed out of his own vehicle. He was tall and dressed in a somewhat expensive looking suit. He kept running his hand through his hair before reaching into his pocket and retrieving a wallet. Her guess was that he had a card to give her.
"Are you out of your mind?" She asked him her temper spiking. Apparently, that passion was not exclusive to her sister and nephew. "We were sitting in front of that red for a while. Were you not looking?"
"I am so sorry. This was completely my fault. I was not paying attention. I tried to break but it was too late," He had not looked at her in all of his fumbling with his wallet. "I'm looking for my card sorry. Are you okay?" He finally met her eyes. She noticed his eyes widen a little in shock before he regained his composure.
"I'm fine," She answered quickly. "My nephew is a little shaken up, but he will be okay. Sorry for yelling at you, but I'm pretty protective when I'm driving someone so young around. He's only four, so this will be a story for him to tell at day care." Talia considered whether or not she would even drop him off today. This incident was reason enough to call into work. She needed to get that light fixed stat before she would be ticketed for it.
"My name is Talia Horne by the way," She offered as an after thought.
"Doctor Lance Sweets. There's a child in the car? I'm such an idiot. I'm sorry," It was obvious that he felt bad about the incident. He handed her his card. Lance Sweets, Senior Psychologist, Federal Bureau of Investigations. Talia's eyebrows shot up. He could not have been more than a year older than she was. Yet, he was already both a psychologist and in a senior position. And she thought she went through nursing school fast.
"Do you mind if I apologize to your nephew? Even though it's a minor accident, the effects can be pretty bad. It might do him some good to know who was at fault and receive an apology," Sweets offered. Talia barely nodded before he walked over to the car. She followed behind him and listened as this stranger talked to Noah.
"Hey there," Sweets said as he leaned against the floor of the vehicle. Noah shyly waved at him. He no longer looked like he was going to cry, but he was nowhere near as exuberant as he had been.
"My name is Lance Sweets. I just wanted to apologize for hitting the car you were in. Are you okay?"
"Yes. I'm Noah," Noah responded with a lisp on the "yes". "Did you break Aunt Tally's car really bad?"
Talia shook her head. "No sweetie, my car's just fine. Nothing a couple of band aids and a lollipop won't fix." Noah smiled at that.
Lance looked a little confused, but chose not to ask. He noticed the dinosaur plush and smiled kindly at the little boy. "Is your dinosaur okay? I wouldn't want him to have gotten hurt either."
"Doug is fine. He was a little angry, but I told him that he could not eat you," Noah replied with a shrug and both of the adults chuckled.
"Well, thank you for that. I'm sorry Doug," The FBI psychologist told the dinosaur toy.
"Mr. do you know why dinosaurs can't come back to life? I'd really like it if I could run around with Doug," Noah asked. He was getting back to his normal self after the accident.
Sweets shook his head. "I can't give you the exact answer, but I know some people who can. They work at the Jeffersonian. Maybe I can ask them for you?"
Noah started nodding exuberantly. "Can you also ask them if there really is a lochness monster? Or if it's possible to have a giant alligator? Or, or, or what space smells like?"
Talia shook her head and put her hand over her mouth. Sweets laughed land nodded. "Of course. Not a problem. I'm going to go exchange information with your aunt so that I can let her know when I have the answers to all of your questions. It's the least I could do with you saving me from Doug. Good bye Noah. It was a pleasure meeting you."
"Goodbye Mr. Sweets!" Noah said waving.
Talia told Noah to hold on a little longer, while she exchanged more information with Lance. "Doug is an interesting name for a t-rex," He said good naturedly while she wrote down her cell phone number.
"Yeah, I honestly don't know where he picked it up from. He does not go anywhere without that dinosaur toy. His mother bought it for him. So, he never wants to leave Doug behind. Thank you for talking to him the way you did. It was very kind of you." Talia stated handing him the piece of paper with her information on it. "Call anytime. I think we're gonna hang out at home tonight to get this all sorted."
"It was the least I could do. I'm sorry again for hitting your car. I'm truly glad you both are okay. I'll be in touch tonight at the latest," He shook her hand before they both parted ways to go to work and back home respectively.
Talia could not help but be grateful for the lack of traffic on the way back.
Hodgins was getting to work with some fascinating bugs today and he was in a rather good mood. Angela and Michael were doing well. The former was taking a day off to spend at home with their son. He was excited to get back home to be with his family, but work was keeping him just as occupied.
And then Sweets came in.
"I realize that self-deprecating behavior is not healthy, but I am such an idiot," the young doctor said as he threw himself in the nearest chair.
Hodgins' eyebrows shot up as he took in the appearance of the younger man. "Sweets, I don't mean to sound rude, but isn't this usually Booth's and Dr. Brennan's area of expertise?" Hodgins begrudgingly removed his gloves and moved far away from the bugs he was looking at.
"They are working on a case, Cam is in a meeting, and Angela's not here today. You're all I have left," Sweets said almost dramatically.
Hodgins sighed and crossed his arms. "What's going on?"
"I got into a car accident today. Everyone is fine. The damage is not that bad, but I feel so stupid. I was not paying attention and I reared ended this woman and her nephew," Sweets groaned.
Hodgins' frowned. "You got into a car accident, but everyone is okay. Yeah, you should have been paying attention, but it sounds like everyone came out of this okay. So, why are you beating yourself up Sweets?"
Lance listened to the logic thrown his way and shrugged. "I just hate losing focus. Talia, the other driver was very understanding about the situation. She told me off a little, but I deserved it. Talia was a force of nature at first, but she definitely calmed after I apologized. It was something to see. She couldn't have been any older than I am…." Sweets trailed off a little bit remembering what had passed.
"So, what's really eating at you Sweets? You usually don't lose it over something like this. You have been in worse situations. What exactly is going on?" Hodgins asked with a sigh.
Lance shrugged. To be honest, he was not sure why he was reacting this way. He had spent the drive to work fretting over various aspects of his life. He was beyond successful in the areas of his career and home. He had strong friendships with the team at the Jeffersonian. Yet, as far as romantic relationships went, Sweets was not a very successful man. And while he was not trying to keep a scorecard of some sort, he was lonely. Romantic attachments just didn't seem to work out.
It did not make sense to him that he would hit a car, and then spend the rest of the day bemoaning the fact that it had happened because he was distracted by how lonely he was.
"What was so distracting to cause you to get into a car accident?" Hodgins questioned.
The younger man tensed and let out a long sigh. "I suck at romantic relationships."
"Well, yeah. You're still young and learning things. I mean, don't you remember that older woman you dated? April? That was a hell of a learning experience for you. Is it really bothering you that you don't have any romantic entanglements? After what you went through, I thought you'd enjoy the time off?" The entomologist's eyebrows were raised and his crossed arms were a rather imposing view.
"It's just, every other area of my life is working out except that one. You know?" Lance shrugged and bowed his head a little.
"And you were thinking about this when you got into a car accident. And now you're moping because you don't know what to do because you don't have a girlfriend. Did you turn into a 16 year-old when we weren't looking?" Hodgins said a little too sagely for Lance's liking.
Lance groaned and leaned his head in his hands. "You're not helping Hodgins. There have not been any opportunities for me lately as far as this goes. I'm just ready to be in a relationship finally, and now the opportunity decides to fail me."
"Every moment in life is an opportunity in life Lance. Some go by like a breeze and others hit you like a car. Opportunity whispers. Opportunity shouts. You have to listen. Take a day off and relax. I'm not quite sure what sort of answer you're looking for. You probably really don't even want an answer. Go home and let me get back to my bugs," Hodgins said before putting on a new pair of gloves and turning back to his work.
Lance sat there quietly for a moment, taking in what Hodgins said.
"Are you still here?" The entomologist called from over his shoulder. The younger doctor shook his head, and muttered his thanks before leaving the Smithsonian.
~~Fin~~
I hope you enjoyed! Please read and review. Tell me what you think. Thanks! ~Rodi