Dr. Jack Hodgins looked through the binocular eyepieces of the high end Olympus dissecting microscope as he used tweezers and a probe to tease out the slimy sliver of decayed tissue from inside the chitinous exoskeleton of the claw broken off from what must have been an impressive specimen of Callinectes sapidus. When it came to hand-eye coordination he still sometimes preferred the old school methods. Dissecting using a video monitor just felt too disembodied, like a video game. The noxious bit of crab meat pulled free. Gotcha.
A Chesapeake fisherman had found a damaged skull which had made it's way to the Jeffersonian. Zack had already identified the fatal trauma although he could not yet make a determination as to whether it had been an accident or not. Unfortunately after its long immersion the bones were as denuded of flesh as if his Dermestidae had taken a crack at it. However, Zack had found the claw of a blue crab inside the skull so Jack was going to analyze it on the assumption that the crab that left it behind might have been munching on the head and therefore picked up trace contaminants.
It was a long shot, but running the crab tissue through the gas chromatograph might yield some clues.
He put the retrieved sliver in a small sterile specimen cup and was turning back to the scope to for another.
"Hey, Hodgins, got a minute?"
He spun around on his stool to see Special Agent Seeley Booth.
"Shoot."
The G-man cleared his throat, actually seeming a little awkward.
"I just realized I never got around to saying 'Thanks.'
"For what?" He was puzzled.
"You know, for keeping your head down there and using your bag of tricks. Bones told me all about it. What you did was amazing."
Ah. So that was it, for helping save Brennan.
"Well, I was just doing my thing, but you know it was Brennan who really kept me going, kept me from wigging out and giving up."
Booth nodded at that. He looked down, clearly thinking about her.
Hodgins couldn't help it. "She means a lot to you, doesn't she?"
"Uh, yeah."
Poor guy almost looked guilty. Whatever the hell there was between the two of them he hoped they'd figure it out. Their 'thing' was getting more and more obvious to everyone but them apparently. And Zack.
Hodgins took a small chance.
"Well down there, in the car, a big part of what kept her going was you."
"Yes?" Booth was looking at him cautiously.
"Yes. She insisted that her confidence in your not giving up on us, in your ability to find us, was based on logical reasoning." He smiled at the memory. "I told her that, no, what she really had was faith."
"Yes?" This time Booth was smiling. Apparently Brennan had left that part out. Jack added, "Just in case you didn't know, she really puts you way up there on a pedestal."
Just then the object of their conversation walked by one aisle over, accompanied by Dr. Saroyan. Booth saw her at the same time as he did and smiled warmly at Brennan.
Both women saw him and smiled back.
Once they turned away, Booth turned back to him, clearly troubled although he tried to hide it.
Jack caught his eye. "She means a lot to me too. I just hope that pedestal's not too high."
Booth looked down and grimaced. He nodded and left.
Jack watched him go, then muttered as he turned back to his work,
"…because it's a long way down."