Okidokie, so here's Chapter One of my Bones/ZackxOC romance story. Hope you read the chapter that was before this; if not, please do. Thanks to those who favored this story. Keep it up, but this time, please REVIEW! Anyway, hope you enjoy this new chapter.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Bones or its characters. All I own is my OCs and some plot points.

Warning: Swearing, crude humor, gore, violence, alcohol and drug references, and mild sexual content.

Chapter One: Loss of the Old, Gain of the New

Special Agent Seeley Booth hated cases that involved children.

Sure, she wasn't exactly a child as she was over the age of being legal, but still, she was young enough.

His boss, the head of the FBI, Cullen, had assigned him to be the bodyguard of Charlotte May Haines.

He had met her about two weeks ago when he and his partner, Dr. Temperance Brennan—Zack Addy had been there, but that wasn't entirely important to him—got called in to check the dead body that Charlotte had discovered in the bedroom of her apartment. It had been a haunting sight. Then again, such situations were always haunting, but it was even more so because on the mutilated body was a single Post-It note that read: "Catch You Some Other Time, Doll".

Obviously, it had been a murder and the murderer had been after Charlotte, but got someone else instead. According to Bones it was an Asian and Hispanic young woman around the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, who had been sliced up and asphyxiated and according to Charlotte, the young woman was her younger friend from college, Daniela Hanamura. Daniela had been staying at Charlotte's apartment while Charlotte was out of state.

Thus, since it was safe to assume, even though they were going to question the poor girl anyway, that Charlotte was the original target and was probably still the target, Cullen had assigned Booth to protect the girl during the investigation and until the killer was caught. And Booth hated it.

And the girl's solemn expression from across the room didn't make him hate it any less.

Charlotte Haines was twenty, but was short for her age—under 5'5", probably 5'1" or 5'2"—and had a baby face; she even had light freckles. Her mildly curly hair that was strawberry-blonde brushed slightly passed her tense shoulders. The girl's eyes were big and glassy, being a soft hue of green. She was lightly tanned and had vibrantly painted nails that were chipped and a bit bitten. She looked shy and somber as she gazed around the FBI Agency, like a little kid in an unfamiliar place unattended, waiting for him; a brown leather messenger bag was placed close to her securely.

Taking a deep breath before clearing his throat, the muscular male made his way over to her. When he approached, her apprehensive body relaxed slightly upon seeing the—slightly—familiar face. "Charlotte Haines?"

"Charlie, please," she answered softly. Again he could hear the hint of a Southern accent in her voice—according to her file, she was from Texas. "And you're Agent Booth, right? You were at…the crime scene?"

"Yes," the brunet nodded.

"Um, nice to see you again, sir." She certainly was polite.

He gave another nod. "You as well. I've been assigned to be your bodyguard."

The fair-haired girl chewed the inside of her cheek, her light eyes becoming downcast. "…I see."

Booth tried not to frown. Instead, he tried to be reassuring. "Don't worry, Charlie, I'll make sure nothing happens to you," he promised.

Charlie lifted her eyes to search his handsome face. After a moment, she mumbled with a tiny grateful nod, "Thank you, sir."

That time he did frown. It was clear she was broken up about what happened to her friend and was cautious around everyone. Again, he hated cases that involved kids and he didn't like when he had to question them for information, especially when they weren't guilty, but it was his job.

"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to have to follow me to the Interrogation Room; I have to question you on Miss. Hanamura." he admitted reluctantly, but boldly.

Charlie made a face, but nodded. "Okay."

"Don't worry, it's just a couple questions. We don't suspect you," he pointed out, guiding her through the busy office towards the Interrogation Room.

"Its fine," she muttered. She had to pick up her pace a little since the ex-sniper's strides were far larger than hers. "I just want the bastard that killed Ella found."

Booth was fairly relieved to hear the new emotion in her voice; it was passionate and vigorous, as all he had heard so far was sadness and apprehension. It was good sign that she was feeling other things.

He placed a big hand on her small shoulder, causing her to look up at him. "Don't worry, they will be." he assured her again confidently.

If he didn't know better, she tried to smile, but it didn't exactly appear.

The FBI agent steered her into the steel-colored Interrogation Room and gestured to a seat at the large metal table. The redheaded girl complied silently, placing her bag beside her chair. Booth situated himself across from her, straightening his tie a little. His placed on his usual business tone, "I'm just going to ask you few simple questions, Charlie, and I want you to as honestly as you can."

"Of course. Anything I can do to help." she nodded.

He gave a nod and cleared his throat. "How long were you away from your apartment?"

"About a three weeks, I think." she answered after a moment of thinking, tucking a strands of hair behind her ear that was pierced a few times, calculating the days in her head.

"Where were you?"

"Vancouver, Canada to help a friend on an independent movie he's working on; he asked me to be in it."

"You act?"

"Yes. I study Musical Theatre at the Conservatory on Wisconsin Street."

"And Ella attended school with you?"

"Yes, she is…" Charlie shook her head a tad and corrected herself, cringing subtly. ""Was studying to be a dancer—a Rockette actually." Her tone added the unspoken words of "Now, she won't ever get to be one."

Booth shifted slightly, but kept focused on the cross-examination—he also didn't want Charlie to feel worse than she already felt. "Why was Daniela staying at your apartment? It says on her file that she was living with a…" He paused to gaze at the case file, at Daniela's file specifically. "Kyle Owen."

"That's her boyfriend," she answered. "They had gotten into an argument, which isn't a rare occurrence, and she was really upset about it, so I offered her to crash at my place." She frowned and looked away, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. "Obviously, that had been a mistake…"

"Don't blame yourself, Charlie," he said gently. She just stared at me him. Her eyes looked unconvinced, but she said nothing. Booth, with a frown, continued, especially since he had a potential suspect arising, "Did you have any ties with Kyle that would provoke him to want to come after you?"

The question clearly had taken her aback when Charlie blinked rapidly and stammered a little, "Uh…um…he was my friend…and um…he had asked me out a few times before he met and dated Ella."

"Did you reject him all the times he asked you out?" Booth asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Yeah," She furrowed her thin eyebrows. "Do you…think he's the one who killed Ella, because of that?" She sounded like she couldn't believe it; he didn't blame her, as it was always hard to believe people you trusted could be capable of murder, especially over something so tiny—Booth, unfortunately, had known people who had killed others for less.

"It's possible, but we won't know until we question him," the brown-eyed male claimed. He got to his feet. "But before we do that, we need to go to the Jeffersonian and pick someone up and introduce you to a few people."

She blinked. "Uh, o-okay," she nodded and hesitantly stood.

Booth gave her a kind smile. "Don't worry, Charlie. They're good people. Different, but good and since you'll be with me a lot, you're going to be around them a lot. You should get to know them, especially since they're the forensics team working on the case."

"Okay," Charlie nodded again, speaking softly. She still looked wary, but was going to obey.

Booth guided her out and led her to his black SUV in the parking lot.

Charlie had only been to the Jeffersonian once in her life and that had been on a spontaneous trip with her friends; it was when none of them had any classes and or work—a rare thing for Charlie. Thus, she didn't get to see the entire thing and now, with her new bodyguard (an odd thought), she was apparently going to the Medico-Legal Lab on the lower floors of the museum to pick someone up and be introduced to a group of people that Agent Booth worked with.

And she'd be excited if her mind wasn't flooded with a zillion questions and worries.

Why would someone murder Ella and so viciously? Why was someone after her? Was it someone she knew? Who did she know that called her "doll"? Was it someone from school or work or from somewhere else? Could Kyle be the murderer just because Charlie had rejected him? When was she going to be able to return to her apartment? Was she going to be able to return to it? Was Scout doing okay at MJ and Shannon's apartment while she was gone? Was she going to have to take a lot of time off from work? How many classes was she going to miss? Had someone called her mother? Did someone notify Ella's family and how were they taking it?

Her mind was so distracted that she accidentally missed a step ascending to the museum. With a cry, she tripped and banged her knee, landing mostly on her hands. She whimpered, feeling the skin cut open on her palms, stinging them and the bruise already forming on her knee underneath her skinny jeans.

Two strong hands helped her to her feet and steadied her on the stairs. "You okay, kid?" he asked worriedly.

"Yeah, thanks. I wasn't paying attention, I'm just a klutz." she sighed, dusting herself off. She scowled a little at Booth calling her "kid", but let it slide for now as she proceeded to follow him into the building once he was sure she was all right.

The museum was as she remembered it, filled with various items and such of the past and all drew the attention of Charlie's green optics—she made sure to pay attention to where she was walking while ignoring the twinges in her hands and knee. However, when Booth and she arrived at the Medico-Legal Lab, after confirming their identities with the buff and burly security guards, it nearly took the young woman's breath away.

She knew that a forensics' lab shouldn't seem beautiful considering what people did within it, but the actress couldn't help think it and she was pretty sure it showed on her face. Eyes danced from place to place as her jaw slacked slightly; she even quickly brushed her reddish swept bangs from her face to see things better.

Everything was so bright and shiny and that was the simplistic way of describing what Charlie saw all around her. It almost seemed like everything was made of pure, clear blue glass with brilliant lights. Various noises resounded in her ears from all sides; beeping gurgling, clanking, and so on. The room seemed to revolve around a large platform in the middle of the large room where there were a bunch of computers and metal autopsy tables. A few work desks were placed here and there and there were doors leading to what Charlie assumed were individual offices. Numerous people in blue lab coats were fluttering about. It was definitely a busy place and very different yet, it seemed—oddly enough—welcoming.

"Charlie, keep up!" Booth called to her, snapping her back.

Shaking her head a little, she trotted up to the dark-suited man, who was waiting by the few steps leading up to the platform. He wiped a card through a contraption by the stairs, there was a beeping of authorization, and guided the female up the steps with a secure hand between her shoulder blades.

He addressed a group of four very different people, who were gathered around a mutilated body that was all too familiar to Charlie—one person out of the four seemed to keep her distance though. Booth clapped two hands on Charlie's shoulders, speaking in a loud, booming voice, "All right, Squint-Squad!"

Charlie's brows furrowed. Squint-Squad?

"Gather around, everyone, gather around! I got someone I want you to meet!" Booth called out.

Hesitantly, their attention that was originally on the body on the autopsy table was now on them, specifically Charlie. She suddenly became sheepish—strangely considering what she was studying—at all of the pairs of eyes on her, studying her closely. "Squints, this is Charlotte Haines. Because of her current situation concerning the case with Daniela Hanamura, I have been assigned to guard her. That being, she's gonna be hanging around here a lot; make her feel welcomed, okay?" Booth announced firmly, patting Charlie on the shoulder.

Then, he began pointing to each person consecutively starting from Charlie's far right. "That guy right there is the bug and dirt guy, Dr. Jack Hodgins."

Dr. Jack Hodgins was a short man, but taller than Charlie and looked like he was in his mid to late thirties. His dirty blonde hair was curly and a thick beard the same color of his hair covered his face. He had bright blue eyes and broad shoulders.

"I don't like the term 'dirt'," Hodgins retorted to Booth, but flashed Charlie an inviting crooked smile. "Wassup, kid?"

Again, with the word 'kid', but again, Charlie let it slide and gave a nod.

Booth moved to the next person, who happened to be a lovely young woman, maybe around her early to mid thirties, with keen bluish-green hues. Those eyes matched very nicely with her wavy, long auburn hair. She was slender, but appeared strong. She was familiar as well as she had been at the crime scene too. "That is my partner, Dr. Temperance Brennan. You might know her from her novels."

Brennan just stared back at Charlie as if examining her, which made her squirm slightly, but gave a tiny smile in greeting.

Booth pointed to the young man standing next to Brennan. "That's Dr. Brennan's graduate student and assistant, Zack Addy," he stated.

Zack had to be not much older than Charlie with a young face and big brown eyes. His hair was a brown mop on his head and he had a lanky, but tall body. He looked as perceptive as his mentor, the same look in his eyes, but held himself with not as much confidence. He had also had been at the crime scene, but Booth had been the only to talk to since Zack and Brennan had been very focused on Daniela's body.

He looked to Charlie, studied her for a moment before shyly waving. Charlie returned the gesture in the same manner.

Booth came to the last person, who happened to be a gorgeous female. Her eyes were narrow, it was possible she had some sort of Asian in her, and they were bright and a warm brown. Her dark hair was silky and fell perfectly around her face. She was slender and elegant and she was the most welcoming after Booth introduced her to Charlie as "Angela Montengro, she's does the facial reconstruction around here; she draws faces." Angela gave Charlie a tender grin, saying, "Nice to meet you."

"Great," Booth grinned. He turned to Brennan. "Bones, we got a lead; we gotta go question Daniela's boyfriend."

Immediately, "Bones" Brennan yanked off her latex gloves and slid off her coat to get ready to leave. "Don't call me, Bones, Booth," she said briskly. "Hodgins, see if you can identify that hair follicle that we found, along with any particulates, especially on the note to Charlotte, and Zack, once that is done, please clean the bones." The two men nodded.

Booth peered down to Charlie. "Charlie, you stay here. I'll be right back, okay?" he told her gently.

"Okay," she replied softly with a small nod.

"Good," Her bodyguard looked to Angela. "Ange, can you watch Charlie and fix her up?—she fell outside."

"Of course," Angela smiled. It was warm, but there was a hint of knowing—she knew that Booth wanted to keep Charlie away from the "weird" people, AKA Zack and Hodgins, especially since she was new. "C'mon, sweetie," the brunette spoke to Charlie. "We'll go to my office. I got a first-aid kit there."

Charlie hesitantly followed, but not before Brennan spoke to her, "I am sorry for you loss, Charlotte. My team is very efficient; we will find the killer. In the meantime, please stay out of their way and do not break anything."

Charlie blinked, taken aback at the odd welcoming—or was it a reassurance?—and could only manage to stammer out a bemused, "Uh…r-right, th-thank you."

With that and nod, Brennan followed Booth out of the lab. Charlie followed after Angela to her office, however she spared Hodgins and Zack a glance before doing so.

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed! Please REVIEW!