i am so in love with all my reviewers. it may sound wrong, but i am ecstatic about how much everyone hates rossi. i take it as a compliment. take heart, she is there for a reason, and not just to randomly irritate y'all.
so shoutouts! meleigha, FABulous, allymcnally, danireed, writingfordaisies, boreanazlover82, mumrulz the truly spectacular, ronata, ziggystarduzt, tempertemper my love, xshaunibx, mereva, and laperkin, thank you all for your reviews. the feedback makes my day!
Brennan thundered into her office and came to a halt just short of her desk. That woman. What right does she have? Booth had been irritating when they'd first started working together, but at least he respected her lab for the most part. He hadn't tried to take over like this. She had wanted to storm at him in those early months, but right now she was a level five tornado threatening to loose herself on the surrounding area.
She took a few deep breaths to calm down. Yelling so loudly seemed to have strained her vocal cords and a good amount of soft tissue in her neck and had her head complaining insistently. The realization hit her suddenly that the pain in her skull had not ceased after the face-off as she had expected, it was, in fact, increasing steadily.
Her hand shot out to the side of the desk in front of her. She felt lightheaded. Getting to her chair or the couch might not be attainable so she stood, supporting herself with her arms, waiting for the feeling to pass.
Someone entered her office behind her. "I talked to Rossi. She's going to use the FBI's forensics lab, but she'll go through me if there's any evidence that requires your special talents."
"You think it takes 'delicacy' to work with me?" she asked Booth plainly.
"No, I think it takes delicacy to work with people like Rossi, and that includes being particular about how you calm them down." He noticed her supported position and the fact that she hadn't turned to look at him. A feeling of abrupt disquiet rose in his chest when he realized that she also hadn't yelled nor had even been sullen when he entered. "Bones, are you okay?"
"No," her voice was feeble. "My head is throbbing like there's no tomorrow and I'm so lightheaded I... don't think I can make it to a chair."
Booth was beside her before she'd even finished speaking, left arm around her waist and right holding her elbow. He helped her to the couch and let her sink slowly down.
The rest of the squints had left Brennan to her foul humor, deciding together that she deserved a little time to cool down. At the sight of Booth helping her trembling frame to the couch, however, they flooded through the door in alarm.
"Brennan, sweetie! What's going on?"
"Her head is hurting again." Booth directed his attention back to the woman on the couch before him, "Did you bring the pills?"
She decided that this was not the time to worry about bombarding her body with more drugs. She spoke gingerly, "In my purse."
Booth looked back to Angela and the artist strode over behind Brennan's desk. She placed the purse on it's surface, poking around inside until she came up with several bottles of medications. Hodgins ran out to retrieve a glass of water and was back faster than Brennan's brain cared to calculate.
Brennan took the pills and water and attempted to swallow them. Her faltering throat, however, had other ideas and she nearly coughed them out of her mouth entirely. Now they sat on top of her tongue, dissolving and emitting a horribly disgusting taste. She stuck out her tongue, nearly gagging.
Booth had knelt down in front of her and put a napkin to her mouth and chin, mopping the water she'd choked up. His concern was written all over his face. "Relax, Bones. Try again."
This time she focused and managed to get the pills down. She made a face and stuck out her tongue again. "Mlehh. Do we have any juice or soda or something to get this taste out of my mouth?" Hodgins once more ran from the room in search of beverage.
"I'm going to take you home. I have to swing by the Hoover building first though. Stay here and rest until I get back."
Brennan contemplated arguing about being sent home for precisely one second, during which her brain pounded against her skull at least twenty times. Twenty Hertz. Twenty piercing throbs per second. No, she wouldn't argue, she was useless in this state. She felt fragile. She didn't like it.
"I'm not weak, Booth."
"I know you're not. There's a difference between weak and recovering. You took two hits in quick succession - hostile equipment, poison. And then to top it off you wound up in a heated argument with a psychotic bitch. I'd be surprised if that didn't have an effect on you." He turned to the others, "Angela, will you stay here with her? Make sure she stays put?"
"Yeah, of course."
"Don't you think I should have some say in this?"
"No. If you had your way, you'd be back up on your feet working instead of getting better, and you'd just make yourself worse."
"Don't be so sure about that." At the moment, there was nothing that she wanted to do but to try to stay at still as possible on the off chance that it might help the rate of hammering in her head. The redundant pain was beginning to wear on her.
Booth knocked and poked his head into Cullen's office.
He looked up, "Situation diffused?"
"Yes, sir. I think we're safe for the time being."
"We going to need to file any assault charges?"
"No."
"Good."
"Sir?"
"Yes, Booth."
Booth held up the folder Cullen had handed him earlier, "I thought Agent Rossi was handling the Columbo investigation."
"She is, but I'd like for you to be in the loop as well. You have plenty to deal with at the moment, with the homicide and the attack on your partner and yourself, but the timeframe and MO are similar. Columbo has been with us for a very long time, and I'd like to make sure we have all angles on the case."
"Of course, sir."
"I understand you know Agent Rossi?"
"Yes, sir. We were at the Academy together."
"Good, good. Always helps to have investigators who are familiar with each other."
It was true, but Booth wasn't usually quite this familiar with co-workers.
"Keep an eye on those two, would you? I don't think they have exactly complementary personalities."
"That is my intention. It would appear that the confrontation has exacerbated Dr. Brennan's head injury. I'd like to take these files home with me so she can rest and I can make sure she's alright while I finish up."
"Home?"
"Well, to Dr. Brennan's."
Cullen paused for a moment. "I see. Very well, Booth. See you tomorrow."
"Goodnight, sir."
Booth went to his office and began packing a number of files into a large briefcase. When Charlie walked in, it occurred to Booth that every time he was in the middle of something, Charlie interrupted him. It gave him a feeling of unease and incompletion, which in turn made him testy. Keep calm, Booth. He's a good investigator and means well.
"Have you been to see Columbo at the hospital?" Charlie asked, rounded figure leaning against the door frame.
"Not since Friday night."
"It's a shame. His children really are worried. Even at their age they seem to realize their dad has had a close call. I saw them there yesterday with their mother."
"Oh?" Booth asked, rifling through pages and not really listening.
"Lovely woman. They're separated. I can't imagine what went wrong, they both seem so friendly. It's sad to see the family so uneasy."
"I don't blame them. Arsenic is no picnic, and Art's not exactly young anymore." Booth picked up a file directly in front of him, looked at it, and deposited it on a pile to his right.
"True. Cullen's already earmarked him for some vacation time. He's even passed on his case to another lead."
Booth gave up on sorting the stack to his left and threw them all in the briefcase. "What was he working?"
"Stolen explosives. Actually, more have gone missing since he's been in the hospital."
"Ouch. Who's the new lead?"
"James Clarke."
Booth paused and looked up at Charlie with a casually pensive look. "I never liked that guy."
"Oh, well, at least he'll be able to keep the investigation going. He's gone to see Agent Columbo and asked to be filled in already."
"Art's awake?"
"Yeah. Rossi didn't tell you?"
"No, she didn't." Options filled Booth's mind. Ripping Rossi a new one was particularly appealing. He had the urge to go question Columbo about the poisoning himself, but it wasn't his case. He forced himself to ignore the situation and instead focused on his partner, debilitated by her confrontation with Rossi and waiting to go home and get some rest. Rossi could eat shit and deal with it herself. Booth snapped the briefcase shut.
"See you tomorrow, Charlie."
"Be careful, Booth. This sicko who poisoned the three of you is still out there."
"Oh, believe me," Booth's gaze had gone fierce. "I'm on alert."
tune in next time, same bat time, same bat channel. some more smuffiness shall be coming very soon as well, so you've got that to look forward to. ;) i know how much you love the smuff.
don't deny yourself. you know you want to leave me reviews.
