Brennan let out a tired yawn as she stood back and looked at the tissue markers she'd placed on the skull of the smallest of the four sets of remains, the same set of remains that she'd stayed up into the wee hours of the morning examining. Angela would be able to do something with this one now in the Angelator and at least for the time being, there wasn't much more that Brennan could do until the other squints had done what they were best at. The couch in her office seemed to be calling out once again and she was more than willing to head that call. The meeting with Cullen earlier had put her further out of sorts than she had been before and she was almost glad when Booth had left shortly after he'd brought her back to the Jeffersonian. He needed to run down a few more leads based on the previous ownership chain of the house the remains had been found under and she had really needed to do what she did best by identifying the bones.
"Bren, you ok?" Angela knew that she must be close to turning at least one of the skulls over to her to input tissue depths, and she also thought that her friend was working a little too hard.
Brennan didn't really answer her question, "I've finished with the tissue markers on this skull, Zach is working on cleaning the others and as soon as he's done one of us will put the tissue markers on those as well; make sure I review them before you input the data if he's the one that places them." She let out a yawn and finally noticed Angela's concerned expression. Her brows arched upwards just slightly, "What?"
"Bren, sweetie, you need to take a break, and I don't mean a sleeping on the couch in your office break until your FBI partner hotty with the naughty body whisks you away for another meeting down at FBI headquarters. You should be at home sleeping in a normal bed like a normal person." Angela was really one of the few people that could be that blunt and not have it come off sounding like an insult.
Brennan let out a tired sigh and smirked at her friend, "Ang, there is still plenty of work to do and I'm sure that Zach is close to having another one of the skulls ready to place the tissue markers on." It wasn't that she disagreed with Angela, she just like to be the one to come to her own conclusions; she didn't like having someone tell her what her conclusions should be.
"You said yourself that he was capable of placing the markers himself...you just need to review them." Angela looked a bit smug; she wasn't necessarily looking to win a battle her or be right, but she was concerned that Brennan wasn't getting enough rest or enough of a life for that matter and she was using the one thing that Brennan really couldn't argue with – logic.
"Well, I suppose that's true, but his time would probably be better used cleaning the remaining skulls while I place the tissue markers," Brennan let out a sigh and her fatigue was evident in her expression, "The FBI wants an ID on these four remains as quickly as possible...apparently some agent named Tom Brokaw is anxious for the results." It didn't really make any sense to her what this agent needed the information for; Booth was the agent in charge of the investigation and she had no recollection of ever meeting this Agent Brokaw before.
Angela stifled a full fledged laugh and let out a giggle instead before she put on a more serious face and continued, "Tom Brokaw is a network news anchor, and he probably wants the information for a story; it's been all over the news."
"Oh, that makes more sense." Brennan faintly recalled the words 'television new anchor' in Cullen's office, but she had been a little preoccupied trying to think through what little evidence they had been able to discern so far from the skeletal remains.
Angela's arms were crossed in front of her chest and an amused smile played at her lips, "Sweetie, you need to get some real sleep; you don't seem to be quite yourself." She was briefly tempted to say something along the lines that Booth looked a little tired himself and why didn't they both just admit that they wanted each other and kill two birds with one stone? Somehow at the moment she thought that little pearl of wisdom might just go in one ear and right out the other.
"I was planning to get a little sleep on the sofa in my office until Zach was ready with the next skull." It was perfectly logical use of time given the timeline that the FBI wanted to impose upon the investigation. Once she was able to give Angela all four skulls, then she'd have the time to go home and have a good night's sleep; if she could sleep that is. She could envision the face of the smallest of the victims and it angered her that someone was capable of hurting a child and then tossing them underneath perhaps the very house they lived in hoping that they would simply just be forgotten.
Angela was about to launch into another monologue about what part of the last few minutes of conversation did she just miss when Hodgins swiped his access card and hurried up the stairs to the platform with an expression on his face that nearly matched the one he'd had when Angela had first agreed to date him. Only this time he had something in his hand that clearly indicated that this little bit of excitement was work related; well a girl could hope anyway and after work, well, she'd make sure he was sufficiently excited about her if she had anything to say about it.
Hodgins sounded a little bit out of breath, "Dr. Brennan, I've been working on a piece of cellulose that we found in the pocket of the Toughskins one of our victims were wearing," He glanced over at Angela and arched his brows a bit suggestively before turning his attention back to Brennan. "The thing is I've figured out what it is." Hodgins looked victorious.
Angela raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Are you going to share with us, or did you want to play 20 questions?" She could tell by the look on his face that a string of techno babble had been about to come out of his mouth, but he was filtering it through his mind to get to the point.
"As much as I'd love to play 20 questions with you later," He looked at her with a flirtatious glint in his eyes before he got back to business, "I think what I found is going to help us considerably."
"What is it?" Brennan usually didn't mind the banter between the couple, but today her patience was starting to fade as the fatigue ached to take over.
"A movie ticket stub for 'One Little Indian'," Hodgins looked giddy.
"Never heard of it," Angela wrinkled her nose, "What is it, some western?"
"I've heard of it," Brennan seemed to be thinking back to a happier time, "I saw it on the Wonderful World of Disney a long time ago, I think it was Jodie Foster's second film appearance." She might not be up to date with current movies, but the ones she'd seen with her family were stuck in her mind like still photos.
"Exactly," Hodgins chimed in, "And the date on this movie ticket is June 22, 1973, which means those remains have been there a very long time."
"Thirty-four years, wow," Angela wondered if anyone would even recognize the faces after all these years after she put the composite together in the Angelator.
Brennan seemed suddenly energized now that a very definitive detail, a purposeful expression seeped in and spread across her face as she moved very quickly towards her office, "I need to call Booth."