Pulling his SUV into its normal spot in the Jeffersonian's underground parking, Aubrey turned off the car and checked his image in the visor mirror once again. Not bad...if I do say so myself. His dark hair had been freshly trimmed and was carefully combed into place. His icy blue shirt contrasted nicely with his charcoal gray suit and the dark blue and silver striped tie he'd purchased especially for this occasion. As part of his plan to entice Jessica to consider taking him back, he was determined to make a good impression on her this morning. Taking a deep breath, he got out of the car and started walking quickly to the elevator before stopping suddenly. Swearing softly, he jogged back to the car to get his folder. After all, he needed a reason to see her, like maybe bringing her some evidence to peruse...so he'd better have the evidence with him, right? Smooth move, there, Slick…
He tapped his foot nervously as he waited for the elevator to take him up to the lab. He hadn't been there much since it was in the process of being rebuilt, and he wasn't sure exactly where he was going, but that was going to be a minor detail as long as he was able to talk to his favorite redhead this morning.
After wandering down a corridor for a few minutes, Aubrey finally found the new lab area. The repair of large open room was a work in progress, with construction equipment and scaffolding still in place as workers tried to finish their jobs quickly while still trying to please the fastidious Dr. Brennan as she supervised their every move.
Seeing a familiar figure, the agent confidently strode over to greet him. "Hey, Hodgins…"
"Aubrey! Long time, no see! How's it going, Buddy?" Hodgins grinned as he shook hands with his friend. "I was beginning to think you weren't ever coming back."
"I've been busy, you know, trying to get the division in shape...trying to learn my new job on the fly and all…" Aubrey quickly scanned the area, hoping to see his former girlfriend. "Anyway, I needed to give this folder to Dr. Brennan, but I see she's busy, so if you tell me where I can find her intern…"
"Wait...aren't you a Special Agent in Charge? Why didn't you just send it here via courier instead of bringing it over here yourself?" Hodgins chuckled at the transparency of Aubrey's excuse. "Well, Oliver should be back any minute…he can be a jerk sometimes, but he trusted to give that file to Dr. B."
"Oliver? As in Oliver Wells? Dammit...I mean, I don't mind giving this file to him, but…" Aubrey tried unsuccessfully to hide his disappointment. "...I thought maybe Ms. Warren was working here in the lab today…"
"What?" Hodgins pretended to be offended. "You want to talk to Jessica? And here I thought you came all the way over here just to see me." Laughing at Aubrey's embarrassment, Hodgins shrugged as he turned his wheelchair towards his office. "Ms. Warren is down in bone storage taking some pictures and some measurements for our new database, trying to make sure that we have all the bones that belong together put back in the correct box. As you can imagine, it was a giant mess down there after the explosion. You know where bone storage is, right? Down in the basement?"
"Yeah. Thanks, Hodgins. Good to see you again." Aubrey waved as he started for the stairway that would take him to the lowest level of the lab.
"Yeah, you, too." Laughing to himself, Hodgins called after the agent. "Hey, Aubrey...didn't you want to leave that evidence file with Oliver so he can give it to Dr. B?"
"Oh...yeah, I guess so...here…" Trying to act cool, Aubrey sauntered back to his friend and handed him the folder. "Tell him I said hello…"
"You bet." Hodgins smirked as he thumbed through the file. "I'll make sure he gives all of these blank pages to Brennan, too…"
"Give me that…" Rolling his eyes at Hodgins, Aubrey snatched the file back and pretended to look through it. "Shit...this is the wrong file…"
"You got that right." Hodgins shook his head as he raised an eyebrow at the younger man. "Now...go see Ms. Warren."
Oooooooooo
Feeling extremely nervous, Aubrey hurried down the stairs to the basement, rehearsing his speech in his mind as he went. I was here at the lab anyway and thought I'd just drop by to say hi… He grimaced slightly, wondering if he'd sound like an idiot. As smart as Jessica was, she'd probably see right through his lame attempt to act casual, and she might even ask all sorts of pointed questions, like why he hadn't just called her a long time ago if he wanted to talk to her.
Undeterred by his nerves, he took a deep breath as he approached bone storage. The door to the room was slightly ajar, and he was delighted with what he saw as he peered around it.
Jessica was standing at an exam table, mumbling to herself as she took some measurements on some bones and recorded the information on her tablet. The fluorescent light overhead cast a bright light over the area, making her fair skin seem to glow. Her glossy red hair was pulled away from her face, showing off her delicate profile. Even when she was working with a pile of old bones, she was beautiful. Without thinking, Aubrey let go a low whistle of appreciation.
Startled by the noise, Jessica looked up toward the doorway, and when she realized who her visitor was, she offered a radiant smile. "Agent Aubrey! Wow...what a surprise." She took off her exam gloves and threw them into the trash before reaching up self consciously to smooth her hair. "I mean, I'm glad to see you, but I didn't expect to see you here at all. I know your new job keeps you busy…I hope things are going okay for you, with your new responsibilities and all..."
"You're right...it does keep me busy, but that's no excuse for ignoring my friends." He licked his lips nervously as he stepped into the storeroom. "I mean, I hope you can still think of me as your friend, in spite of everything that's happened. I know I haven't exactly done a good job of staying in touch…I haven't been a very good friend myself."
"Well, neither have I." Pulling over a couple of stools, she motioned for him to sit down. "I wish we'd had more time to talk after the Kovacs case...but I wasn't sure that was a good idea afterwards…since...you know...we weren't..."
"I know. It might've been weird. I get that." He stared at the floor for a few seconds before he continued. "I've had so many regrets about answering my phone that afternoon when you came to see me at the Hoover…I should've stayed to talk to you instead leaving to go talk to Kovacs. I had so much more I wanted to say..."
"You had important things to do with the case…I understood that.", Jessica commented solemnly. "That's your job…you had to do an interrogation to do. You were trying to bring down a killer."
"Yeah, but I should've spent more time with you before I left. They had the suspect under lock and key. They could've waited a few more minutes for me to get there. I know now that working on that case wasn't nearly as important as talking to you about what was going on between us." Suddenly embarrassed, he cleared his throat softly. "Anyway, things at work are fine. I'm glad I decided to stay here in DC. I've learned a lot from Booth about how to run a division. There's a lot of stuff I have to do, but I'm finally getting a handle on it."
"Good. I'm glad you're happy." Nodding, Jessica was subdued as she remembered what else had changed in Aubrey's life recently. "You and Karen seem to have a good thing going, too.", she said softly.
"A good thing?" Aubrey shook his head slightly as he folded his arms over his chest. "I don't know about that. When Karen first came to see me after you and I broke up, it never occurred to me that she wanted anything more than friendship from me…"
Jessica was shocked by Aubrey's statement. "Seriously?! You cannot be that stupid, Aubrey! She's been trying to get you in her bed since the first day she met you. She practically shouted your praises from the rooftops from day one. It would've been more subtle if she'd just worn a neon sign with your name on it around her neck instead. Don't pretend you didn't know how she felt about you." Frustrated with his lack of understanding about the situation, Jessica stood up and walked over to the exam table, turning away from Aubrey so he wouldn't see her angry tears. "She's always had the hots for you…and you just let her waltz right in and take my place, didn't you? She waved some fast food in front of your nose, and you couldn't resist her charms...and then you forgot I even existed."
"No…I didn't forget you..." Realizing that their discussion was about to take a dangerous turn, Aubrey interrupted her. "Well, maybe that was true at the time, but I was upset and hurt over what happened, and I wasn't thinking straight, okay? I was easy prey for anyone who wanted to take advantage of me." He walked over to stand beside Jessica and shrugged sheepishly, avoiding eye contact with her as he continued his confession. "Okay, look...I really don't have an excuse for what happened with Karen except that I was being a fucking moron. I was mad at you, and mad at myself, and I was looking for an easy way to fix things so I wouldn't feel so awful any more. Having Karen around seemed like a good idea at the time, but it was a mistake...a huge mistake. She wanted so much more from a relationship than I could give her. I tried, but...um...I couldn't love her like I love you..." He exhaled softly as he jammed his hands in his pockets. "That's why I ended it with her. It wasn't fair to use her like that...as a substitute for the real thing. I felt like I was lying to her all the time. Being with her... just felt wrong after a while, so I finally broke up with her a couple of weeks ago."
Jessica was surprised at that bit of news. She hesitated a few seconds before her annoyance with Aubrey broke through her stoic exterior. "So...now what? I don't hear from you for months, other than an occasional nod at a crime scene, and I'm supposed to act like that's no big deal that you've been avoiding me? First you ignore me, but now you're bored, and maybe you're lonely, or maybe you're just horny, and so you want me to give you another chance? Things don't work that way with me, Aubrey." Jessica glared at him before she moved away from the table. "I'm not that desperate. I don't have time to wait around for you to decide that you want to be on good terms with me again. I can't spend time worrying about what you want to do. I have my own life to live, and right now I'm doing pretty well without you. It seems like I don't have any need for you in my life after all."
"I thought that was what you wanted, Jessica...for us to be completely over. Karen said you wanted to be left alone, so that's what I did...I didn't want to intrude on your life." Aubrey's spirits sank as he listened to Jessica's tirade. "I know I was wrong...I mean, I know you've got a boyfriend now, and I can't expect you to drop him just because I show up at the lab and tell you that I broke up with Karen, but I was hoping we could be friends again. I miss talking to you." Closing his eyes, his shoulders slumped. "But Scott seems like a nice guy, and I wouldn't want to wreck that for you…"
"I guess he's okay, if you like tall, handsome, intelligent men." Jessica pulled another pair of plastic gloves out of the cardboard box on the exam table. "I need to get back to work."
Thoroughly defeated, Aubrey inhaled deeply, biting his lip as he moved toward the door. "Okay. Maybe I'll see you around…maybe at a crime scene or something like that."
"Maybe." Jessica picked up a femur and pretended to examine it closely. She waited until the agent was about to walk out the door before speaking again. "Aubrey, let's have lunch together today. After all, there's no reason to waste the effort it took for you to get all dressed up in your best suit, right? How about the diner at 12:30? My treat?"
Grinning broadly, Aubrey nodded. "I'll see you then."
Oooooooooo
Hodgins laughed as he described Aubrey's adventure with the fake evidence file to his wife . "I guess he'd brought that folder as camouflage or something, thinking he'd have an excuse to talk to Jessica if he brought some evidence."
"That's kind of silly. Why doesn't he just call her?" Angela typed a few more words on her keyboard before turning to her husband. "That'd be so much easier…"
"I don't know. Maybe he felt like if he showed up in person he wouldn't be able to back out of talking to her like he'd be able to if he called her. He didn't want to chicken out. Besides, if he called her, she could've chosen not to answer. This way at least she had to see him face to face before shutting him down. Anyway, you should've seen him, Angie. He looked like he'd just stepped out of GQ...all dolled up in his best suit, with his hair all combed and his freshly shined shoes. He'd pulled out all the stops to get her attention. Full court press, Baby…"
"But why would he do that? Why make all the effort to see Jessica...unless...wait! He must've broken up with Karen!" Angela's face lit up with a happy smile. "Finally! I never did like the way that bitch manipulated Jessica into pretending to break up with Aubrey, thinking that would make him stay in DC. That was a horrible idea. Then they ended up really broken up, and Karen took advantage of the situation by glomming onto Aubrey."
"Yeah, but I think Jessica has moved on, right?" Hodgins rolled his eyes at Angela's enthusiasm. "Isn't she dating that blonde guy who's interning in Egyptology? You set them up, didn't you? What's his name? Scooter? Skipper?"
"It's Scott, Hodgins. She went out with him a few times, but from what she told me yesterday, I don't think she's all that impressed with him. She definitely doesn't like him the same way she likes Aubrey…" Angela's brow furrowed as she thought over the situation. "Hmm...I wonder if the two of them will get back together…maybe I can help that happen...Jessica and Aubrey make such a cute couple..."
"No way, Angie...no matchmaking." Hodgins shook his finger at his wife as he glared at her. "They have to work this out on their own, okay? I know you want them to be happy, but…stay out of it, okay?"
"But they're our friends and I want to help them." Seeing that Hodgins wasn't going to give in, she nodded slowly. "Okay, okay. I'll be good. They can work it out themselves. I'll be hands off and I'll keep my opinions to myself should either of them ask me for advice."
"Promise?"
Sighing in resignation, Angela nodded reluctantly. "I promise."
"Good." Hodgins turned his wheelchair toward the office's doorway. "I've got to go check on some test results from the mass spectrometer. I'll talk to you later."
"Okay. See you later." After watching him go over to his office, Angela accessed her favorite search engine on her computer. "I'm not supposed to play matchmaker, but maybe I can give the two of them a jumpstart towards getting back together. Let's see what we have here...that'll be perfect…and that...and one of those..." She smiled in satisfaction as she clicked on the icons that popped up on her screen. "Excellent. Just what I need to give those two a little push in the right direction. Maybe with a little help they can have a happy Valentine's Day this year."