A/N: I was inspired to write this after finishing all seasons of Bones in one and a half weeks, and realizing that if I didn't find a creative outlet for my Bones obsession, I would probably implode. This takes place after Zack comes back from the asylum (because Bones without Zack is just depressing), and after Angela makes out with (and possibly has sex with?) Wendell. Reviews are not only encouraged, but also very encouraging.
***
"Who is that?" Angela whispered.
Hodgins said nothing. The two of them were congregated around the main platform, watching Brennan and Booth talk to someone. Brennan handed her a card that looked suspiciously like the cards they all carried with them.
"She's getting a card. That means she's an intern," Hodgins said, sounding shocked.
"But she looks…like…Sweets' age!"
"Maybe Parker isn't Booth's only kid," Hodgins suggested.
Angela raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well, what's your suggestion?"
Before she could reply, Booth, Brennan, and the mystery intern turned and starting walking towards the platform. Angela and Hodgins spun around and frantically pretended that they were actually working. Angela stumbled into the nearest computer and began inputting random numbers, and Hodgins stared at a completely blank slide through the first microscope he could get his hands on.
He heard a card being swiped, and the trademark beep of the security system.
"Everyone," Dr. Brennan said, and then paused when nothing happened. "Dr. Hodgins? Angela?"
They stood up, shooting each other slightly frantic glances. "Yes, Dr. Brennan?" Angela said.
"It is my pleasure to intro--"
"Cut the happy chatter, Bones, alright? We have a case to get to," Booth interrupted.
Brennan stared at him in disbelief. "I'm perfectly capable of handling this situation myself!"
"Everyone? This is Diana, our new intern," Booth said unabashedly. He stared at everyone for a moment. "Angela, show her around. And now," he said. He put one hand on Brennan and steered her out of the Medico-Legal lab, "We go solve a murder."
With Booth and Brennan gone, there was no buffer preventing an awkward silence from descending over the lab.
"Um," Diana said, and looked at Angela. "I'm going to assume you're Angela?"
Angela, in turn, glanced nervously at Hodgins. "Go!" he mouthed.
She smiled. Socializing. I can do this.
"Hi," she said. Diana looked relieved that finally, someone was talking. "I'm Angela. Over there is Dr. Jack Hodgins, but we call him Hodgins. He's the bug and slime guy around here."
Hodgins looked up from his microscope. "I'm an entomologist. And a conspiracy theorist," he added, smirking.
"Make sure you don't ask him anything about the government. He's got half the conspiracy textbooks in the country scanned into his brain," Angela advised.
Diana laughed. "I'll keep that in mind."
"And now," Angela said, walking towards her office. "This is my office. I do facial reconstructions using--" she tapped a button on her laptop, and the Angelator sprung to life, outputting a holographic model of a skull, "—this."
Diana looked impressed. "That's really…that's pretty cool."
She followed Angela as she left her office and began walking down the hall. "That's Brennan's office", she said, pointing to the next room. "There's Hodgins' lab area over there. And there's Zack."
Zack rounded the corner, staring at a sheet of paper in his hands. He looked completely engrossed, and didn't acknowledge Angela's greeting. "Limestone…Bird excrement…Unidentified particulates…" he muttered, "No signs of struggle."
"Zack!" Angela said. She snapped two fingers in front of his face. "Hey, Mr. King of the Lab!"
He looked up, slightly dazed, and then noticed Diana. Immediately, he flushed, unable to come up with a proper greeting. He scanned his brains for the proper introductory greeting in these situations. "Hi," he managed.
Angela rolled her eyes. "This is Dr. Zack Addy. He's a genius, but completely socially inept. Don't take anything he says to heart, unless you can't understand it. Then he's probably right."
He blinked a few times. "My knowledge of colloquial speech patterns suggests that I have just been insulted."
Diana laughed, and held out her hand. "I'm Diana."
Zack wasn't sure why she was laughing, but shook it anyways. "Are you our new intern?"
"That would be me."
"Well it's nice to meet you. I really should get going – I have unidentified particulates from the soil in which the skeleton from the most recent case was resting."
Angela winced. "Bye, Zack."
"Well, he seems nice," Diana said after he'd left.
"Zack? Yeah, he's really nice. Completely awkward, but good heart. Anyways, you've already met Dr. Brennan and Booth. They won't admit it, but they're totally in love with each other."
Diana laughed. "Really? When Dr. Brennan was handing me my card they were non-stop bickering. It was actually sort of amusing."
"That's Brennan and Booth for you. Anyways, there are a couple other interns around here." She paused. "Daisy, who is…indescribable. And Fisher, who's slightly morbid. And Wendell, who--" she tried to come up with a proper adjective to describe the guy she'd made out with two days ago. "—is really sweet," she finished.
"And you guys manage to all get along?"
Angela laughed. "Well, we manage to not turn each other into skeletons, so that's something. Oh, and Sweets. He's the psychologist around here. Mostly we all try to avoid him, but he's not a bad guy."
"I'm minoring in psychology," Diana said. "It's really quite fascinating."
"Don't let Dr. Brennan hear you say that. She thinks psychology is – and I quote – a "soft science". Although personally I think that's just because she doesn't like when people can read her."
"Not many people do."
"So," Angela said, biting her lip. "Exactly…how…old are you? Not to be rude or anything," she added quickly.
Diana shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I get that all the time, apparently I look like a toddler. I'm twenty-one." She smirked. "Go legal drinking age."
***
Booth pulled up at the crime scene, a small alley behind a rundown bar. "Alright," he said. He and Bones got out of the car. "Body was discovered by a young man and his fiancée last night. They'd gone behind the bar to--" he smirked – "fornicate, although why anyone would want to do such a thing here is beyond me."
He flashed his FBI badge and stepped into the alley. The skeleton came into view immediately – half decomposed, half still covered in rotting flesh. He tried to remember why he'd ever signed up for this job, and then tried to avoid thoughts of the woman crouching down next to him.
Bones took off her sunglasses and began examining the body in front of them. Immediately, words seemed to come out of nowhere and spill out of her mouth.
"Male. Late teens to early twenties. It looks like he's been here for about a week, but we'll have to get the body to Hodgins to make sure…Cause of death is still unknown, but marks on the radius and ulna are consistent with defensive wounds. We'll need to get this to the Jeffersonian," she said to Booth, and he nodded. No matter how many times he took Bones out in the field, her ability to turn a few bones into a wealth of knowledge never ceased to amaze him.
"Alright, guys," he called. "We need this shipped over to the lab as soon as possible, where Bones and her team of squints'll do their magic."
Bones looked confused. "It's not magic. Magic is a superstitious effect not explainable by logic. Forensic anthropology, on the other hand, is defined by logic. They're two completely different things, Booth. You should know that by now."
He smiled at the familiar comments, and, as usual, paid absolutely no heed to them. Instead, he just smiled at his partner.
"Congratulations, Bones," he said. "We've got a case."
***
A/N: How was it? Still trying to decide whether or not I should continue this. Reviews are greatly appreciated.
S