Hi everybody. Here's my experimental Bones fanfiction. I'm not really sure where I'm going with this, but it's going to be a character insert with an assistant for Hodgins named Melinda Hart (shout out to Hart Hanson, the series creator). Tell me if you guys like her.
BTW, I don't own Bones at all. Fox Network does.
"Oh, Angela." Mel stared at the bright pink outfit of her co-worker. "You're back. What're you all dressed up for?" Angela slumped down in the chair next to her with a sigh.
"I went to pick up Bren but we got stopped by homeland security." She said matter a factly. Mel's eyes widened.
"Seriously?" She squeaked.
"Yeah, it looked a little fishy, but it's Dr. Temperance Brennan we're talking about here, so she should be fine." Angela eyed Mel's drink. "What's in the cup?" She asked.
"Chocolate milkshake, help yourself." She said, nodding distractedly. Angela reached over,
"Don't mind if I do." and took a large sip with pleasure. She laughed suddenly. "You should've seen it when they checked her bag though."
"Hmmm? What happened?" Mel asked curiously, fitting a new slide into her microscope.
"Well the guy opened it up and there was the skull staring back up at him…and Bren was all like, 'Boo!' it was hilarious." Mel gave a small smile.
"That's Dr. B alright." She said, in a mixture of awe and affection. Then she leaned over the microscope and began muttering to herself. "Cicindela campestris…green tiger beetle." Her brow furrowed, "But those are mostly located in Europe and the dead guy supposed to be from Maine…" Angela took another slurp of the smoothie.
"Do I even want to know?" She asked dubiously.
"Just identifying some particulates off of one of Zack's skeletons from limbo—the boss says it'll be good practice for me."
"Sounds fun." Angela said in a tone that suggested the opposite.
"It's okay." Mel said truthfully. She reached over to pull over another slide. "It is a lot of busy work though…so if you don't mind leaving for a bit, hopefully I'll can get this finished before Brennan arrives. Things always get a thousand times more hectic when she's around." Angela shrugged.
"Sure, I'll be going then." She made her way towards the door, but Mel frowned and held out her hand.
"My milkshake." She said firmly. Angela smiled, shook the empty cup up and down, and continued to leave the room.
"Thanks for the drink sweetie! It was delicious…" She called. Mel growled.
"You owe me one Montenegro!" She yelled after the older woman.
About ten minutes later Mel finally discovered an answer to the contradictions in the data, and rushed over to Zack, Petri dish of evidence in hand.
"Hey Zackie." She said, stopping abruptly to avoid running head long into her friend. "What's with the rush?"
"Melinda. Dr. Brennan is back." Zack explained quickly, he was adjusting some knob on his camera as he strode foreword. Mel, her legs a whole lot shorter then Zack's, had to jog to keep up with the guy.
"And…?" She prompted him as they reached the glass door.
"She has called me over to a crime scene for assistance." He finished. He stepped outside and looked around, brow furrowed.
"Okay." Mel nodded. "Do you need a ride?" Zack frowned down at her. She knew that he found her driving sub-par but she kind of hoped she could see what this crime scene was all about.
"I suppose…" He looked as if he was debating it when a Medico-Legal Jeffersonian (Anthropology Unit) van drove up. A man popped his head out of the back.
"Mr. Addy?" The man asked. Zack nodded.
"I am Zack Addy." He answered, somewhat cheerfully. The man motioned towards the inside of the truck.
"I have been informed to take to you Dr. Brennan's crime scene." He finished.
"I won't need a ride from you after all." Zack smiled at her. "I shall see you later Melinda." Mel sighed as the vehicle drove away with her best friend, before realizing that she was standing outside, in her lab coat, holding a Petri dish. She blinked and walked back inside to tell Dr. Hodgins and Angela what was going on.
Sooner then later she was examining particulates off of a mostly fresh dead body, sad that someone had been murdered, but nevertheless happy that they were all working together again. It had felt weird to work without Dr. Brennan.
Dr. Hodgins told everyone else about the microbes they had discovered as the five of them walked up onto the platform.
"Don't forget the black carp and coy." She added in a whisper that carried.
"I was getting to that." Her boss said impatiently. "They fed on the body."
"Can I, as the only normal person in this room, say…eww?" Angela scrunched up her nose as they looked down at the body. Mel couldn't blame her, some things were just impossible to get used to.
Hodgins continued on about the different particulates before Brennan asked him to cut to the chase.
"The body was in the pond one winter and two summers." He simplified.
"Spring before last." Brennan reiterated.
"You really think I'm Lesty?" Hodgins asked all of a sudden with a playful smile. Mel tilted her head to the side. She didn't really mind if she was Jane, the silently helpful assistant, but was a bit annoyed about one particular passage in the third chapter… Brennan just gave Hodgins a confused glance before turning to Angela.
"The book." Angela said by way of explanation.
"No, No, No. You're not in the book." Brennan dismissed him firmly.
"Sure he is! We all are…" Zack exclaimed from the other side of the table.
"No, none of you are in the book. Those are fictitious characters based on…." Brennan started. Mel had to stop herself from laughing at Hodgins' look of disappointment.
"I found some small bone fragments in the silt." He interrupted, gesturing towards the computer screen.
"We're out of the book now, we're back in real life…" Angela said, trying to keep her friend up to date.
"I guess Rana Temporaria." Hodgins said.
"Frog bones." Mel piped up, shuffling her feet uncomfortably under Brennan's thoughtful gaze.
"Also some tiny gold links, those from a fine chain…" Hodgins shifted the attention away from his shy assistant.
"Point of clarification, I'm not a virgin. Nowhere near in fact." Zack told Brennan, a gleam of uncharacteristic swagger in his eyes. Mel was reminded of her own point of clarification, and spoke before she thought of the embarrassment.
"And I'm not sexually attracted to Zack, we're just friends." There was an awkward second of silence during which Hodgins smirked at the two of them, and Zack opened his mouth to comment. Angela cut him off before he could even begin.
"Who you captured perfectly, is Booth. Buttoned down, but buckets of sexual confidence which, uhhh, I for one would love to tap." She was speaking in what Mel liked to refer to as 'Angela's sexually starved again' tone.
"It's not right to discuss tapping asses in front of a soaker." Zack said in his lecturing voice, and Mel rolled her eyes. Like he was one to talk.
"I can't bounce back and forth between my book and real life. Since we're stuck with real life let's just forget the book." Brennan said grumpily. Mel obliged, holding her clipboard up to Hodgins and pointing something out.
"We haven't analyzed whatever it was the victim was holding in her hand but it looks like cellulose." He said, turning to the screen again.
"Paper?" Angela wondered.
"Hmm…" Mel turned to Hodgins to be sure.
"Possibly." He agreed.
"I found microscopic grit embedded in the skull fragments, I need you both to identify those too." Dr. B told the bug and slime duo. Mel gave the leader a wordless thumbs up. Brennan turned to Zack. "Remove the remaining tissue, I'll debreed the skull fragments myself, reassemble it so Angela can put a face on our victim." She looked at Angela.
"Good." Angela nodded enthusiastically. "I prefer holographs, they don't stink." She walked away, and Brennan went to follow, stopping close to Zack first.
"Zack, I don't like those terms for human remains. Soaker…crispy critter."
"Burn." Mel mouthed to Hodgins, who grinned.
"Sorry Dr. Brennan." Zack said clearly.
Mel followed her boss off the platform, pulling on the gloves she kept in her pocket at all times. "Looks like it's going to be a long night." She mumbled.
She was right. The team spent the majority of the night working thoroughly with the remains, Dr. Brennan in particular, who assigned herself the job of reconstructing the entire skull. As Zack explained to her when she stopped by to see if he had any more particulates for her after the flesh removal, it was a rather delicate process that required a lot of skill and concentration. She made sure not to distract Dr. B while going about her own work. The particles turned out to be steel, concrete and diatomaceous earth. Mel couldn't make anything of that combination, and hoped Brennan had some idea how the three fit together. Soon enough it was well into the morning, she yawned, walking straight into Zack, and almost knocking over the cup of coffee he was carrying.
"Careful." He warned her.
"Is that for me?" She asked him, only half jokingly. He shook his head.
"Dr. Brennan is finished with the reconstruction. She'll appreciate some caffeine."
"That's sweet." She glanced past him at Dr. B dozing off on the platform. She had only slipped into sleep when her job was done, staying up the entire night to get it finished.
"I didn't add sugar into the coffee." Zack frowned, not understanding. "Dr. Brennan prefers it without."
"I meant your actions are thoughtful. You should really win some sort of conscientious assistant award." She said patting him on the arm fondly. He may not get basic euphemisms, but the boy certainly worked hard at his job.
"Thank you." Zack answered seriously, comprehending that praise more easily. She beamed at him and then pulled off her gloves with a yawn.
"Right then…I'll be heading home for a bit, hopefully I'll get a couple hours of sleep before getting called back. See you soon Zackie."
"Bye Melinda."
"Dr. Hart?" A new security guard was holding her up at the entrance. "Seriously—you're just a kid." Mel groaned. She understood she looked a bit young for her age, which was also a bit young for most people in her profession, but that didn't mean her credentials weren't genuine.
"Hey! Is there some kind of problem here?" Mel frowned, why did that voice sound familiar? She turned around to see a certain FBI agent standing behind her. "What's the hold up?" He asked aggravated.
"Who are you?" The guard asked, looking Booth over and deciding he didn't look much like a scientist either.
"Special Agent Seely Booth." Booth growled, flashing his badge. "And I'm not standing out here all day." Mel remembered from the last time they worked with this man—he was brave, and all for justice, but not very patient.
"Sorry Agent Booth." The guard muttered, confused as to why an FBI agent was at the Jeffersonian. "But I think this girl is rather suspicious. She claims to work here but—"
"Don't you work with Dr. Brennan and her robot assistant?" Booth asked Mel, cutting the dumb security man off. Mel nodded silently.
"And this guy won't let you in?" She nodded again. "She works here you idiot, so let us in!" Booth ordered. The guard frowned,
"But—" Mel reached forward past the bumbling fool and swiped her card, it made a satisfying beeping noise.
"See?" She interjected quietly.
"Oh." The guard, feeling stupid let them in.
"So you could've just swiped your card the whole time?" Booth asked her.
"Yes."
"You've got to be more of a presence." He frowned at her. "Aren't you supposed to be some genius kid?"
"That's Zack." She said with a bit of laughter in her voice.
"But how old are you?" Booth continued. "Like twenty?"
"Twenty two." It was a closer guess than most.
"And you're working here? That's got to mean you're pretty smart. So you should be more confident about it like the rest of your big-brained squint squad is." She smiled at him, knowing he was thinking about Brennan.
"Thank you Agent Booth, you're a very kind man." Booth grinned.
"Yeah—wait, why do you sound like you've changed your mind about something?" She scratched her head sheepishly.
"Well Dr. Brennan and Zack don't like you very much…I had yet to form my own opinion until now."
"Bones." Booth mumbled, rolling his eyes grumpily. Mel discerned some hurt hiding behind the cocky tone.
"Dr. B will see how nice you are too." She assured him. He looked surprised.
They walked into Angela's office exchanging a friendly smile. Mel plopped herself down on the couch next to Zack, who blinked sleepily in recognition at her. Angela was glanced back and forth between Mel and Booth, wondering why the two had arrived together. Hodgins, who would have been both suspicious and annoyed about their entrance didn't seem to notice. He was too busy staring at Angela in a wistful way. This made Mel frown, a surge of some unwanted emotion rising in her chest. Booth, feeling uncomfortable under Angela's inquisitive gaze coughed loudly, commenting on her painting to distract her. Dr. Brennan walked in exactly in that moment.
"Good morning." Brennan said shortly. This prompted the rest of them to gather in the center of the room. "Does Booth know how this works?" She asked Angela. Angela proudly jumped into an explanation.
"This computer program, which I designed, patent pending, accepts a full array of digital input, processes it, and then projects it as a three dimensional holographic image." A small grin slipped onto Hodgins face as he listened to Angela speak. Mel grudgingly felt a rush of respect for their resident artist and technology extraordinaire.
"Ok." Booth said, trying to look as if he knew what she was talking about.
"You got that?" Brennan asked him facetiously.
"Yeah, the patent pending part." Booth answered in much of the same tone. Mel frowned, wishing they would just get along already.
"Brennan reassembled the skull and applied tissue markers." Angela continued.
"Her skull was badly damaged, but racial indicators, cheekbone dimensions, nasal arch, occipital measurements suggest African American." Brennan looked between the skull in the computer with interest. Mel started at the computer generator expectantly.
"And…. We have our victim." Angela announced. Mel wasn't disappointed, the golden, glowing hologram was definitely amazing. Booth thought so as well.
"Whoa…" He stretched out his hand and wiggled his fingers through the image, "Have to admit, that's pretty cool." Brennan pulled his hand back.
"Ange, rerun the program substituting Caucasian values." She added thoughtfully. Angela paused for a second, before hitting some keys. The hologram altered slightly, and Brennan became even more contemplative.
"Does she look familiar to anyone?" She asked. Mel shook her head, wondering why she should be able to recognize the woman. Booth did the same, though Mel thought she could see the gears in his head begin to whir.
"No…" He answered slowly.
"Split the difference, mixed race." Brennan instructed Angela.
"Lenny Kravitz or Vanessa Williams?" Angela asked, looking for a reference point.
"I don't know what that means." Brennan told her. Angela shrugged at her friend's lack of pop culture knowledge and made the adjustments. This time something was definitely starting to click for Booth.
"Angela, reduce tissue depth over the cheekbones to the jaw line." Brennan added one last change. "Does anyone recognize her?" Booth stared at the spinning skull, and then back at the hologram, eyes widening. Hodgins shook his head, still having no clue. Mel furrowed her brow, trying to think.
"Not me." Zack said aloud, speaking for the three of them. Angela squinted pensively however.
"Wait, is that who I think it is?" She sounded surprised.
"The girl who had the affair with the Senator?" Zack asked slowly, the familiarity dawning on him. Mel frowned, what was that woman's name again? Booth seemed to know what she was thinking.
"Her name is Cleo Louise Eller. Only daughter to Ted and Sharon Eller. Last seen approximately 9pm, April 6, 2003 leaving the Cardio Deluxe Gym on K Street, she didn't even make it to her car." He gazed up at the image warily. Zack's mouth parted as he took in the information. Brennan was taken back at his knowledge on the victim.
"Pretty good memory." She told him reluctantly.
"Yeah well, it's my job to find her."
"Well, in that case, congratulations on your success." Hodgins said to Booth, somewhat abrasively in Mel's opinion. Zack wasn't the only one who needed some social pointers.
"This isn't exactly the way I wanted it to end." Booth sounded defeated. Dr. Brennan watched him much like she watched her bones—highly analytical, but with a hint of empathy underneath it all.
Okay, that's it for now…the episode will continue next chapter. I'd love to get some feedback on this as well…