Yay! I've finished another chapter/episode! I hope whoever's reading this enjoys it.
BTW, I promise that I don't own Bones. Melinda Hart however is a figment of my imagination.
The two entomologists were just beginning to discuss the particulates they'd found, and possible matches for the elements of the bomb, when Zack ran up, beaming widely.
"I'm about to start my first cranial reconstruction!" He announced, full of pride. Hodgins shrugged.
"Yeah, okay Zack. We're busy, go away." Zack frowned.
"That's great Zackie." Mel said more gently, "But we really are preoccupied…why don't you go start and then show me your progress later?" Zack nodded slowly, disappointed that they weren't as excited about this as he was. "I'll bring you some coffee later, like you do for Dr. B." She added. Zack began smiling again at the comparison and set to work immediately. Hodgins shook his head.
"That kid gets too stoked about his work—ooh look, here's something we missed!" He exclaimed. Mel blinked at the irony before shrugging and diving into the work with equal enthusiasm.
The three scientists were quiet as they analyzed their evidence. Zack was struggling with two pieces of the skull that weren't cooperating with him. Hodgins' eye was jammed up against a microscope. Mel was going over the paper work for their findings.
"How's it coming?" Dr. Brennan asked, walking up behind Zack.
"The Ethnoid and Sphenoid fragments won't piece together." He was frustrated.
"Zack, I would like to return the remains to the widow before her demise." Brennan also appeared to be in a bad mood.
"I'm doing my best, Dr. Brennan. The integrity of the bone seems to be compromised. I don't know if it's the metal fragments from the blast…" Zack explained dejectedly.
"I examined the chemicals used in the explosives. The perchlorates I found can have a degenerative effect." Hodgins put in, defending his friend. Mel nodded.
"Not this quickly." Brennan disagreed, moving towards the microscope. "Excuse me." Hodgins got up to let her sit in his chair. "Unusually soft bone tissue. You know, this has nothing to do with the blast." She concluded, turning to her grad student. "I owe you an apology Zack." Zack raised his eyebrows. "Do you have his medicals?" He slid them across the examination table, and Brenann picked them up, leafing through the information. "Stiff joints, facial disfigurement." She took another peek at the slide. "There's a disorganized Trabecula pattern here that his doctors wouldn't have been able to see. Could have been a degenerative disease." She looked up at Hodgins whose brow was furrowed. He shook his head.
"I don't get it. How does his medical condition figure into the murder?"
"Now it's a murder. Before it was terrorism because we didn't have all the facts. You don't overlook anything when you're looking for the truth." Mel was impressed. "Check for Lupus and Pagets." She instructed them.
"Do we have enough tissue?" Mel wondered quietly.
"Yeah, we can manage it." Hodgins said, a little taken aback.
"If those come back negative, he might have been exposed to a toxin which would mean his brother was too." She hopped back up, and skipped away still talking. "He's exhibiting similar symptoms. I'll get the brother's medicals." Hodgins sighed and sat back down in front of his microscope, Mel handed him a pen.
"I graduated top of my class, Rhode Scholar, youngest member inducted into the Academy of Physical Sciences… but she still makes me feel like a cretin." He confessed. Zack waved a skull fragment proudly.
"She apologized to me." He bragged. Hodgins turned and glared. Zack smirked, looking back over the cranial reconstruction.
"Zack…" Mel sighed.
"I'm still three times more qualified than you are." Hodgins countered, referring to his doctorates. Zack didn't say anything, ego still swollen from Dr. B's apology.
"Come on boss, let's check for Lupus and Pagets." She gave him an imploring look. He rolled his eyes and nodded.
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
After they finished the tests, Angela came up, and smugly sat herself down next to Mel.
"Our handsome Agent Booth has himself a sexy lawyer girlfriend who stops by for sleepovers." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at the last word.
"Sleepovers." Mel repeated, not really sure she wanted to know about this. Zack and Hodgins pretended not to be listening.
"Apparently, they live together a few days a week, but he was very clear that she has her own place." Angela continued, relaxed and lounging.
"Should you be intruding into their lives like this?" Zack couldn't resist asking.
"Oh yeah. Absolutely." She returned, as if it was obviously her duty to be butting into other people's business. Mel rolled her eyes, and Hodgins attempted to refocus Zack's attention.
"We're negative for Lupus and Paget's. When you're done, Mel can do a scraping for environmental contaminates."
"I found these." Zack handed over a Petri dish. "Shiny flakes that caught onto the torn patches of bone."
"Bottom line, I still think Brennan has a shot with Booth." Angela clearly thought her line of conversation was more important at the moment.
"But she says she's not interested." Hodgins pointed out hopefully. He wanted the FBI out of their lives, but if Booth and Brennan got together…
"Methinks the lady doth protest too much." Angela countered knowingly.
"Maybe…" Mel admitted, Brennan did seem the type to deny feelings she would think irrational.
"Or maybe she protested just enough." Zack put in.
"Puh-lease. She's been sleeping alone for months." Angela informed them. Zack twitched at this. "She has enough pent up sexual energy to power a small mid-western city." Mel let out a giggle.
"This looks like gypsum." Hodgins interrupted, looking up from his microscope. Mel snapped back to attention.
"That wouldn't cause any organic damage, right?" She asked her boss. He nodded.
"It's probably used to insulate the explosives, bet the FBI doesn't know that yet." He said the last part superiorly while Angela pouted over the change of topic.
"I'm gonna go check out this girlfriend." Angela winked at Mel walked away. Hodgins watched her leave suspiciously.
"What do you think she meant by that?" He asked the only other girl in the room. Mel shrugged. She really didn't have much experience with that sort of thing.
A little bit later Mel was starting a tox screen while Hodgins fiddled with his and Zack's homemade bomb reconstruction.
"I'm almost done with the skull." Zack informed them eagerly.
"I'm on my way to putting one over the superficial government again." Hodgins said in much of the same tone. He tightened a screw on the contraption in front of him.
"Hmmmhmmm…" Zack wasn't sure how to respond to that.
"When Booth sends over the brothers medicals, I want them matched to Hamid's." Brennan said, from behind them. Mel jumped slightly, wishing Brennan wouldn't pop up out of nowhere like that.
"I—I've…" Mel stuttered nervously.
"Mel's started a tox screen." Hodgins finished for her. Mel handed Brennan a sheet of paper.
"Farid said his doctor suspected a genetic condition. Maybe we are overlooking something." Brennan told them, stopping slowly when she noticed the bomb model. "What is that?" She asked Hodgins. He motioned her over. She stood next to him, staring.
"We used the trace elements we recovered to try and build the bomb. It might give you another link." Zack explained from behind them.
"Isn't the FBI working on that?" Brennan wanted confirmation. Mel nodded exasperatedly.
"Yes, this is just for fun." Hodgins answered in a seemingly nonchalant tone.
"To see who's better?" Brennan understood.
"Maybe. A little. Yeah." Hodgins admitted.
"Good luck." Brennan replied. Her serious tone betrayed a hint of amusement. Zack waltzed over to her with the completed skull.
"Ta-da." He proclaimed, showing her the finished job with a wide smile.
"Nice job." Brennan was appreciative. She walked over to get a magnifying lens to get a closer look. A still happy Zack, and a curious Mel and Hodgins followed. "No wonder you had such trouble with reconstruction—look at the spread of the Trabecular pattern in the bone."
"Microscopic fissures, like cracks." Zack translated for Hodgins, who was not grateful.
"I knew that." He glared at Zack.
"I don't think so." Zack was smug from all the praise.
"Guys…" Mel warned.
"Can we focus?" Brennan snapped. Both Zack and Hodgins froze. "The spread is too rapid for any organic bones disease or genetic condition. It's definitely a toxin. Is there any surviving marrow to test?"
"Ah, I'll try and find some." Zack answered.
"Let's do it." Brennan ordered, wondering why they were waiting around. Zack and Hodgins dispersed. "Men." Brennan grumbled to Mel.
"Dr. B…Did you have an argument with Agent Booth?" Mel asked, channeling Angela.
"Women." She muttered in the same tone.
"Right then…" Mel squeaked nervously. Brennan still intimated her sometimes. "I'll go help them."
After careful examination, Hodgins wasn't optimistic about their chances with the new lead.
"The marrow's degraded. I can give you basics, but that's it." He told Brennan.
"According to these tests the liver function was impaired." Zack added, after reading a section of her notes that Mel pointed out to him.
"His body was trying to get rid of whatever was poisoning him." Brennan reasoned.
"There is trouble in paradise." Angela joined them with a singsong voice. Mel hoped she wasn't going to bring up Booth's girlfriend again, Dr. Brennan was already grumpy enough as it was…
"I beg your pardon?" Brennan put a hand on her hip. Behind her back Mel tried to signal Angela to stop talking.
"Tessa does not feel secure in that relationship. I think she's threatened by you." Angela went on anyway, nodding confidently.
"You talked to her." Brenann seemed resigned all of a sudden. Hodgins watched them go back and forth as if they were an interesting television show. Mel moved to stand next to Zack.
"She didn't say much but even though she has a phenomenal figure she was chowing down on a fat-free muffin," Angela said this as if it was highly revealing. "And she was reading a book about unsolved FBI cases. Uck, she's obviously feeling insecure."
"She's spying for you?" Hodgins asked Brennan incredulously, though still clearly amused.
"No! No!" Brennan was beginning to become embarrassed.
"Even if you have nothing in common it's difficult to sublimate intense sexual attraction," Zack said in a rush, gesturing with his pen. "And we hear it's been awhile." Mel stepped on Zack's foot to tell him he had stepped over a line. Hodgins just smirked.
"Okay, Stop!" The poor forensic anthropologist gestured her arms wildly.
"He is there for the taking, honey." Angela urged her. Just then Booth came sprinting up the platform. He swiped his ID quickly,
"Okay, I couldn't get his medical records." He fiddled with his card some more before noticing that everybody was staring at him. "What?"
"Oh nothing." Brennan turned away sharply. Angela and Hodgins exchanged a mischievous look. Zack rubbed his foot grumpily while Mel gave him an apologetic glance.
"Trying to track down the doctor?" Booth asked slowly, deciding not to dwell on whatever had been going on before he arrived.
"Don't need him. It's definitely a toxin but we can't determine what kind." Brennan was leaning over the table. Zack rolled over to her to get a better look at the skull. Angela peered over his shoulder.
"Too bad the liver is cooked, that could tell us everything." Zack concluded. Mel nodded at him.
"You know, I need subtitles walking in here." Booth had no idea what they were talking about.
"The liver is like a filter. It would contain evidence of any toxins in the system, but we don't have the liver or any of the flesh left." Brennan grumbled. Hodgins and Mel glanced at each other, remembering something suddenly.
"But we do have the beetles." Mel announced hesitantly, not liking what she was going to have to do. Booth looked at her, forehead crinkling.
"Follow us." Hodgins told them. He and Melinda lead them to the room where they had cleaned the bones. Once they got there Mel picked up a jar of her bettles and began to screw off the lid. "They ate Hamid's flesh and whatever organs remained. And we all know you are what we eat." Hodgins elaborated.
"So you can ID the poison from the beetles." Booth surmised.
"You can't kill them." Zack said stiffly, Mel frowning along beside him. "They have names." Zack had been quite excited when Mel asked him to name them for her…but seeing him now, maybe she shouldn't have let him become so close to the beetles.
"We have to, Zach." Brennan reached into the jar Mel was holding, and pulled out a handful. "Some." Zack breathed out roughly as Hodgins took a smaller jar of them.
"In Thailand, they are sautéed in peanut oil." He said teasingly, shaking the container. "Mmm…" Mel glared at her boss. Booth made a halfway disgusted, and halfway sympathetic noise, while Zack gapped in distress. The agent made to pat Zack on the shoulder but thought better of it, ruffling Mel's hair instead. Mel stared at him. Zack pouted.
"…I suppose there's always the bomb reconstruction." Zack said wearily. Mel patted him on the shoulder instead.
"I'll make sure he doesn't kill any more than necessary." She said soothingly.
"Dioxin!" Hodgins told Mel excitedly over a blender of her beetles. Mel sniffled at the sight of them. Hodgins shook his head. "I'll buy you more beetles Mel, just focus on the dioxin for now."
"Cancer, diabetes, heart attacks and…bone degeneration." She concluded, rubbing her eyes.
"Exactly—let's go tell the others."
They strode back to the platform, Hodgins announcing what he had found.
"Give me the saturation levels." Mel handed Brennan the report. Brennan nodded and marked something off with a pen. "Angela can use it in simulation to give us approximate date of ingestion." Hodgins rushed off, gesturing for Mel to follow him.
Later Zack joined Hodgins and Mel as they discussed the particulates. They all studied the data on the computer screen.
"The gypsum proved to be even more helpful than we initially thought." Mel explained in a whisper.
"The insulation they used is gypsum based, with plaster and lead mixed with asbestos." Hodgins continued.
"Pyrobar," Zack told them. Mel looked at him. "It's a fire proof tile developed in 1903 by the United States gypsum company. It was only used for a few years."
"So probably came from the building where the bomb was constructed in." Hodgins thought that sounded reasonable. He grinned, and patted Zack on the shoulder.
"We find the building…" Mel began.
"And we find the bomber." Zack finished in a rhythmic tone. "I get to call Dr. Brennan!" He searched for his cell phone. "Where…"
"You forgot it at home today, use the lab phone." Mel reminded him. Hodgins snorted. Zack ignored him, dialing the number he knew by heart.
"The bomb insulation was made from Pyrobar which was used by an architect named…" He began after a second. Mel clicked on the file, "William Allard. He was known for developing the Woodley Park neighborhood around 1910." He finished. Zack frowned, staying silent. "She sounded distracted—why would she be distracted?"
"I dunno, it can't be because we're dealing with a bomber, now could it?" Hodgins muttered sarcastically. Zack paused again.
"She wants to speak to you." He said disappointedly, handing the other man the phone.
"Yeah." Hodgins said, to let her know he was listening. "…Dioxin. That's how you would make it." He responded to something she said. Zack and Mel looked on nervously. "…Yeah, yeah, yeah." Hodgins continued quickly. "Ahhh, homemade device similar to the car bomb that could be…" He was looking around the table for something, Mel handed him the notebook where they had been taking notes. "Three to five hundred meters. If the victims weren't killed they'd develop cancer, blindness, lesions, diabetes…okay." He finished with finality, hanging up the phone.
"What does she want from us?" Zack stood up quickly.
"Angela…something about bus schedules…" Hodgins shook his head. "I think they're in danger. I wish there was something else I could do."
"I'll check on Angela." Mel decided, rushing off the platform before either of them could respond.
Back in another room Angela was talking on the phone, and clicking through her computer. Mel came up behind her.
"Okay, okay, uh…three movies start a six. There's a lecture at Fuller Hall on Birds. I can't imagine that will be crowded," Her expression suddenly became sad, "And a peace conference at the Hamilton Cultural Center. There will be speeches by Arab Moderates and a Congressman. That looks like the one." She hung up, catching sight of Mel who had been watching her uneasily. Angela reached over and squeezed her hand. "They'll be alright…okay sweetie?"
"They will." Mel softly tried to reassure herself.
Zack and Hodgins came in and the four of them huddled around the phone, waiting to hear what had happened. About a half an hour later Brennan called. Angela snatched up the phone, listened quietly for a minute and then breathed a sigh of relief.
"Team hot anthropologist and sexy FBI agent have done it again!" She exclaimed.
"Yes." Zack nodded enthusiastically.
"Alright!" Hodgins gave Mel a high five while Angela grinned.
"I thought you didn't like the FBI." Angel teased him. Hodgins shrugged.
"Yeah, them I don't like…but Booth, he's okay."
Angela couldn't understand it when Brennan got back and immediately wanted to start working on identifying her WWI victims. Zack frowned.
"Dr. Brennan is a very efficient worker…though additional rest between ventures could only add to the likelihood of her success." Mel just shook her head admiringly.
"Dr. B is just a very caring person." She said to them. "I'll go check if she has an particulates she needs me to identify."
"Not you too sweetie, why don't you come clubbing with me? Let loose a little." Angela suggested.
"Or just go home and watch some Firefly." Zack offered an alternative.
"Err, no thank you, I enjoy this work." Mel tried to sound polite as possible. Angela rolled her eyes.
"Go on then." She waved her hand. Mel ran all the way to Dr. Brennan's office where she found the anthropologist bent over a skeleton, and a stack of biographical papers.
"You smell like alcohol." Mel observed curiously.
"Booth and I went out for a drink to celebrate the completion of the case." Brennan explained, without looking up.
"A small drink then…" She hadn't even been gone that long after all.
"Yes." Brennan said, not saying anything further on the subject. Mel sat down next to the older woman hesitantly.
"Would you…like some help? Because, I want to do some more work tonight, and I know you have all these remains…" Brennan looked at her carefully, and then nodded.
"If you want to."
A couple hours later, Brennan and Mel walked out of the office together, having identified yet another victim.
"I feel very satisfied Dr. Hart, how about you?" Brennan asked. Mel looked at the anthropologist's wide smile, a large improvement from her earlier distress.
"Yes, very satisfied Dr. B." She answered, starting to grin as well.
Well, I hope you liked it! I'll just say, if anybody is reading this I would really appreciate a review. I'd like to know whether I should continue writing this…what people think of my OC. Even if it's just like, 'Boo! Your story sucks!' or 'Cool.' Of course, more detailed comments would be welcomed as well.
Bye,
AoiKuroNekoSan