24 hours left
Hodgins smiled up at the woman he loved, enjoying the incomparable view she presented from her perch over top of him. He'd known that she was the one early on in their relationship, known that he felt something for her that he'd never felt for another living soul in his entire life. He hadn't been indiscriminate, but he'd also sampled the offerings from a wide variety of the farer sex's members. Never had he loved someone so much as he loved Angela.
She lifted her arms up, grabbing the headboard so she could ride him at the speed she liked, which was fast and all consuming. He ran his hands up her toned stomach, loving the feel of her soft skin in his hands as he made it up to her breasts. They filled his hands perfectly, just as he filled her perfectly. Through his pleasure he couldn't keep the smile from his face.
"Jack, oh God Jack you feel so good." She pushed herself away from the headboard and leaned back until her hands rested behind her on his thighs. He tilted his head back with pleasure at the change in the angle, ignoring the ringing coming from his cell phone on the nightstand.
Feeling himself getting close to the brink, he reached up and pressed his fingers to the sensitive spot that her change in position had exposed to him, biting his lip to slow himself down when her moans reached his ears. He found the right rhythm, watching her writhe above him at the sensations he caused within her until he felt her clench around him. She cried out in ecstasy as he joined her, the hand that wasn't pleasuring her gripping the flesh on her backside as he rode out his own release.
She collapsed down onto his chest and he wrapped his arms around her, a chuckle escaping his lips. "We've got to stop spending our lunch hour this way, its torture getting back out of bed."
Angela lifted her head and placed a soft kiss to his lips, a satisfied smile bending her lips. "Not as much torture as having to keep my hands off of you at work."
He brushed her hair back from her face and shook his head in disbelief, his smile shining brightly up at her. Nope, there'd never been anyone for him quite like Angela. "How did I get so lucky?"
Pressing another quick kiss to his nose, Angela lifted herself up and started looking around for her shirt. "Can't answer that one for you big guy. Come on, we're going to be late if we don't get on the road in the next five minutes."
Hodgins sat up, grabbing his shirt in one hand and his cell phone in the other. "I'm glad my place isn't all that far from the Jeffersonian."
Angela pulled her jeans on and stood so she could button them back up. "I know. I can't help it, ever since Cam caught us on that security camera the forbidden aspect of doing it at work has made me almost insatiable."
He pulled his shirt over his head and laughed as he punched the code in for his voicemail. "Well, you'll never hear me complaining baby."
Angela picked up his jeans, tossing them to him as she slid her feat into her shoes. He dialed a number on his phone to get the message that had come through while they'd been making love. The expression on his face went from satisfied calm to confusion and he looked up at her while he tried to make sense of whatever he was listening to. Then his eyes grew round, his skin going deathly pale.
"Jack? What is it, what's wrong?"
He flew out of the bed and pulled on his jeans.
22 hours left
Hodgins swiped his card to get onto the lab platform, his expression mutinous. "I just got off the phone with my business manager."
Angela's eyebrows lowered in confusion at this information. "You have a business manager?"
"When you're the soul heir to the third largest privately owned corporation in this country and you'd rather spend your time knee deep in bugs, you hand your business over to someone."
His tone was tense and angry, which Angela knew was a sign that he was starting to break down. Cam walked closer to them from where she had been pacing over by the exam tables. "Well, what's the word? Can we get the ransom to the account the Gravedigger specified?"
The tortured look on Hodgins face was slowly becoming one of anger and he crossed his arms over his shoulders. "Apparently, the vast majority of my liquid assets are tied up in investments, stocks, bonds and tax free charitable organizations. It seems that, on paper, I'm a multimillionaire, but in reality, I'm a dude with a big house. I have plenty in my account, just not 10 million."
"What about the Cantilever Group?" Cam was trying to be proactive, but Angela could see that Hodgins' anger and frustration was close to bubbling to the surface.
"Oh, why didn't I think of the Cantilever Group? I totally forgot about them." Hodgins looked down at Cam like she was a peasant. "It seems as though, even for the boss, it takes a formal addendum to the bylaws to overrule my own policy on non payment for kidnappers without a proof of life. It would take 48 hours to get the red tape cleared and the money freed up for transfer. I've had them start working on it, but if we want Booth and Brennan back, we're going to have to find them ourselves."
The group stood looking at each other in silence. No one knew what to say and as the moments stretched out, the tension building between them felt like a scream. Unable to stand it, Hodgins pushed past them and turned to the railing at the edge of the lab that faced the entrance. " Where the hell is that guy, we called him over forty five minutes ago!"
Angela followed him, putting a calming hand on his back. "Sweetie, he has to find Booth's evidence file. He'll be here any second now."
Hodgins looked over his shoulder at the ticking clock that graced one of the computer monitors. This is what it had been like when he had woken up in Brennan's car a year ago. He remembered the pain and the fear that had gripped him when he'd opened his eyes, the hell that he'd endured for almost fourteen hours underground. Were Booth and Brennan in pain? He knew they were afraid. Knew from experience.
Fury tore through him like fire and he spun on Cam. "I knew we should have kept working this case, I knew he would do this again! We handed it off to the FBI in favor of more pressing cases, and look where that got us. Back underground."
Cam kept her eyes level on her bug guy's, her expression calm and authoritative. "We got a case that needed our attention the very next day Dr. Hodgins. I understand your frustration-"
His large blue eyes grew wide in disbelief. "You understand?" He advanced on Cam, ignoring the helpless look on Angela's face. He knew his outburst was scaring her, knew that she needed him to be calm, but he just couldn't stop his anger. He'd held it in since everything had happened the first time and now the floodgates were open.
Cam never wavered even as he came toe to toe with her. "How can you say you understand? You weren't buried alive, almost suffocated in a car in the middle of Virginia and then kept out of the loop about the case being handed off while you healed from a broken leg and jungle surgery at home. I took one week. One week, and in that time it was decided that finding the man responsible for doing this was not top priority."
Cam dropped her eyes and Hodgins knew he'd made his point. Walking back over to the railing, he rested his elbows on it and let his head drop.
The sound of the sliding glass doors opening caught his attention and he looked up to see Sweets finally walking through the doors. Hodgins pushed himself away from the railing and raced down the steps toward the young psychiatrist.
"Doctor Hodgins, here is the file you-." Without a word, Hodgins yanked the file out from under Sweets arm and ran back up the steps to the lab, abandoning Sweets at the bottom step. Angela took mercy on him and swiped her card to admit him.
Hodgins leafed through the file, the anger in his face only intensifying with every page he turned. "Nothing has been done. In over a year, nothing has been done?"
Slamming the file on an exam table he whirled on Sweets, his tone incredulous. "The FBI hasn't done a thing beyond our initial investigation? Really?"
Sweets held up his hands in supplication as he kept his voice calm and even. "I've only just been made aware of this case Doctor Hodgins. I'm barely up to speed myself."
Angela saw that his words were doing nothing to calm her fiancé and she knew the time had come for her to step in. All eyes turned to her as she walked over to him, placing herself directly in front of him so she could look him in the eye.
When he continued to stare menacingly over her shoulder at Sweets instead of turning his attention to her, something inside her snapped. "Jack, we all realize that you have a personal reason to be so angry right now, but you need to get a serious grip."
His eyes slashed over to hers in disbelief and she cocked an eyebrow. If he'd thought he was getting a soft and comforting speech out of her, he was sorely mistaken. She was afraid and worried and, currently, extremely annoyed. At him.
"We are going to have to work together to get them back and, in case you haven't noticed, we don't have Zach, Booth or Brennan. I doubt that the Gravedigger would make the same mistake twice in leaving she or Booth with anything useful wherever they are, so we're on our own here."
All of Hodgin's anger left him at her words and he found that a gut wrenching fear was left in its place. Angela placed her hand to his cheek, her tone softening as she saw his change in mood. "Sweetie, we need you. You were there, you know more about it than any of us. They're our friends, Brennan's my best friend. They need you." Her eyes filled with tears. "I need you."
Hodgins added guilt to the laundry list of emotions he was feeling all at once and enveloped her in his arms, taking as much comfort as he was giving. He looked over her shoulder at Sweets and then at Cam, his expression of apology getting a shake of Cam's head that told him that no apology would be needed.
Releasing Angela, he reached out and picked the file back up from the exam table he'd thrown it down on. "Well then, let's get to work."
