Tanned, Rested, and Ready
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(fixed a few goofs, finally let me upload a corrected document)
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"Look who's back!"
Hodgins looked up from the Leica binocular dissecting scope which he was using to examine a lepidopterid chrysalis to see Angela running over to give a newly tanned Temperance Brennan a welcome back hug.
He joined the rest of the crew gathered around her to quiz her about her trip. Dr. Goodman had practically had to order her to take a vacation. Brennan had finally got Angela to stop cross-examining her about all the men she must have met down in the Florida Keys when Booth came up carrying a file folder, still sipping his morning coffee. The FBI agent hung back quietly, allowing the squints their reunion, but after a brief nod in his direction Hodgins noted Booth only had eyes for Brennan.
"No, Angela, there were no hot men. I got a lot of rest, and was still very productive getting some work done on my next book. It was nice not having any distractions."
She ignored Angela's 'tsk' of disappointment,
"But it really is nice to be back. I missed you guys."
Booth had squeezed in closer and raised an eyebrow as if in question…
"Even you…" she glanced toward him with a small grin, "… a little bit," she qualified.
Hodgins was the only one to see Booth's answering wink just before he tipped back the big cup to finish it off. In pondering their exchange he almost missed Brennan's remark about how eager she was to return to the work itself.
Just as Hodgins registered how she said it, he saw Booth's eyes bug out and his cheeks swell. The agent suddenly turned to the side and spewed coffee all over Zack and the 200 plus year old skeleton he'd been working on. He sputtered, choked, coughed a couple of times, wiped a tear from his eye, then patted the assistant, still frozen in shock, on the shoulder in apology.
"Sorry, Zack."
Without looking back he told the others as he walked past a workstation heading toward the exit, "I'll just leave these files over here".
Zack recovered from the violation, dutchboy hair plastered down on one side by Starbucks, and began feverishly dabbing at the remains with gauze held in forceps in each hand. As Booth turned the corner out of sight Zack shouted angrily at the receding sound of footsteps.
"Goddammit, Agent Booth, this is a colonial era skeleton, not Java Man!"
Laughter echoed down the corridor, cut off by the closing elevator doors.
"Whoa, dude, I didn't know you even knew how to cuss," Hodgins commented. He swore the poor kid was about to cry.
Brennan stirred next, and wordlessly handed a box of KimWipes to Zack to clean up with.
After their initial shock, Angela giggled for a moment then managed to mostly squelch it. Hodgins only released a single snort, but couldn't take his eyes off Brennan's confused expression, waiting for her to react.
Brennan looked at Zack, then toward the direction Booth departed in, then back to Angela and Jack.
"I don't know what that means?" she asked, a rare uncertainty in her voice about what she'd just said.
"Nope!" Hodgins replied, hands in his pockets, rocking on his heels.
"But you guys have been giving me so much grief about slang and the vernacular, that I was studying…"
Her voice trailed off at their amused expressions – except for Zack who was still muttering to himself in anger over his contaminated specimen.
She sighed.
"That wasn't very 'hip', was it," she finished, with more of a statement than a question.
"Yep!" Hodgins replied, still rocking with an impish grin.
"Sweetie, your Freudian slip is showing. We need to talk." Angela grabbed Brennan by the arm and pulled her toward her studio.
Hodgins watched them whispering as they retreated. Then he noticed Zack again, who was paused for the moment, overwhelmed, the easy part of the decontamination done. He nudged the assistant and handed him a Nalgene squeeze bottle of de-ionized water and another box of the tissues, "Here, have some more KimWipes." Zack shrugged him off and pouted his way to the restroom.
The last one left on the central stage, Hodgins took a deep breath, let it out contentedly, and returned to his bugs, hands back in his lab coat pockets, whistling as he went.
After just a few moments at the scope he pulled away from the eyepieces again and spun around on his stool, all giddy again.
He quoted Brennan out loud to no one, eyes full of mirth…
"'I've really been jonesing for some boning'".
"Man, now that's priceless!"
He reluctantly forced himself back to his work.