Two: Sunrise

They were locked in the Jeffersonian Institute. He remembered the last time that this particular incident happened and just how bored he had been. He may have respected the squints but having to spend hours on end with them in a confined place full of scientific data and other geekiness? It wasn't exactly his ideal way of killing time. Being locked in with them once was more than enough but like all nightmares he found himself reliving it, locked once again within the Institute. This time it was because of some scare that no matter how many times they explained it to him he was never going to understand. Angela even tried to give him the dumbest version of what was going on but he couldn't wrap his mind around the idea that once again he was stuck in the lab…with bones. Lots and lots of bones. Dead bodies didn't bother him all that much but the empty, black, sightless sockets of skulls looking at him always sent a shiver down his spine. It just wasn't natural.

The other thing that sucked about being locked up with them was the lack of anything he could do. There were no games on the computers and their internet access was restricted. That meant that he could check his email and read the news but nothing more. Unless he wanted to research the way bugs arrived at corpses and how long it took a blowfly to go through the stages of its life; fourteen days. It took fourteen days, give or take a day with the interruption of the temperature. Yes, he was bored and had actually listened when Zack started talking about something that sounded remotely interesting. Now he was stuck with that tidbit of information forever implanted in his brain. What was he supposed to do with knowledge like that? Open a blowfly farm?

When his boredom hit an all time low he found his way into Temperance's office and began digging around her desk until he found what it was that he was looking for; a container full of paperclips. Once he had that in hand he wandered over to her couch where he collapsed into the soft cushions. Then he began making a paperclip chain, something he had not done since he was a little kid. What else was he supposed to do, whacht Hodgins boil the flesh off a skull? That would only make him lose what little appetite he had. Piecing paperclip after paperclip together it wasn't long before he had a rather long chain of shiny silver paperclips. But what was he going to do with it now? And why hadn't Bones come back to her office? He figured with all this extra free time she would be working on her next novel. Just yesterday she had been complaining about needing to meet her deadline. He knew how big she was on getting things done on time. He connected the two ends of his paperclip chain and hung it around his neck giving the phrase 'office attire' a whole new meaning.

The Jeffersonian Institute was a big place so there was no telling where his little geeks got off to. They could be in that room with Angela's neat-o machine that produced 3D renderings. He'd been in their earlier only to get yelled out when he tried to make a game of the damned thing, creating little animations of people dancing and other things. Turned out Angela wasn't pleased when her machine was used that way. Then again, they could be in the room with all the little white boxes lining the walls. All those boxes full of bones. Nobody knew it but that room creeped him out. All those skulls just starring at him? He couldn't understand them working there with such comfort and ease. He always felt like there were a million eyes on him and that made his skin crawl. He wasn't about to let Hodgins in on his little secret but he was indeed a little paranoid when it came to that room. Perhaps because his sniper training made him acute to people watching him, studying him, starring at him. That room always brought back unpleasant memories of his time as a sniper. Memories that were better left gathering dust in the farthest reaches of his mind.

Since the lab was so big and there were so many rooms that they could be in he decided to just wander the lab like a lost puppy. Maybe he would stumble across them or find something he could do to pass the time. There was a little breakroom type area on the second floor, nestled amongst a shit load of plants that had been put in to make the place less dreary. There were days when they spent a lot of time up there, though not nearly enough. He liked that part of the Institute because there was no slime, no decomposing bodies or skulls. It was probably the most normal part of the entire lab. So that's where he decided to head. But there was nobody up there. It was, dare he think it, as quiet as a morgue. Letting out a completely frustrated and bored sigh he flopped down on one of the sofas, his eyes boring into the ceiling, his hands resting on his chest. Maybe he should get some shut eye. Perhaps that was his problem. It was dark outside, making the lab even drearier. He should have been home watching some late night movie or actually sleeping. Instead he was locked in this place wearing a paperclip necklace.

The more he thought about sleeping the more it tugged at him, drawing him within its depths until he finally gave in, falling into the comforting embrace of sleep. For some reason he found that he dreamed about giant mice. They weren't Mickey Mouse type of mice either with red shorts and white gloves. No, these were the type of mice with beady eyes and twitching noses. He ended up feeling like he was in one of those twisted Twilight Zone episodes where they take seemingly helpless animals and turn them into mutinous monsters. Needless to say he didn't sleep for long. When he opened his eyes and looked around he was started to see that Bones was sitting in one of the chairs, a cup of coffee in one hand and a book open on her lap. She must have heard him stir because she looked up at him.

"Enjoy your nap?"

He sat up. "I don't like giant mice."

"What?"

"Nothing," he said as he rubbed the lingering sleep from his eyes. "What time is it?"

"Time for us to actually leave," Zack said from the top of the stairs. "They lifted our quarantine. We're all free to go home now."

Bones looked at her watch. "Sun will be coming up soon. I think I will just stay here. There's a lot of work that I have to get done."

Booth practically jumped off the couch, his paperclip necklace forgotten. "We can leave? You're not playing some cruel joke on me, are you? We can actually leave?"

"Yes," Zack said, his eyes wide with a touch of fear.

Booth wasted absolutely no time in descending the stairs and streaking for the entrance of the Institute. He loved the squints but could not stand being looked up in that lab for so long. There was nothing to entertain someone like him; no games, no television, no books that he was even remotely interested in cracking the cover of. They saw nothing wrong with extra time in the lab. They were scientists; the lab was home to them. But to someone like him it was a place he only wanted to visit on occasion. Pushing open the door he stepped out into the early morning light, the sun peeking over the horizon. He smiled, every fiber of his being finally relaxing, the boredom easing. For once he just stood there, reveling in watching the sun come up. It really was a beautiful sight.