As always thanks to Melissa and Kim for their help with this story. And thank you for the wonderful reviews. Keep them coming!
Chapter 7: Interruptions
When Cam woke up the next morning she was alone in bed. She reached over to Hodgins' side with one hand and found the sheets and the pillow next to her cold, so he must have been up for a while. When she looked at the alarm clock that sat on his night table she saw that it was already eleven AM, so maybe time to get up. It was rare that she slept in that late on a Sunday, but after the date and the other activities of last night it was understandable. She smiled when she remembered how they had made it from the entryway only to the couch in the living room for round two. Only when they both woke up in the early morning they had dragged themselves up the stairs to his bed, where a lazy round three had followed and then they had fallen asleep again.
She got out of bed and grabbed her panties from the floor as well as his shirt and slipped both on. She combed with one hand through her tangled hair and realized that it still smelled like smoke, alcohol and something forbidden. Last night that smell had been intoxicating at the illegal casino, but this morning she found that it had lost its appeal. Slowly and still sniffing at her own strands of hair she walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs, where she turned left and quietly padded barefoot through the dining room into the kitchen.
He was standing with his back towards her, clad only in a pair of blue and white striped boxer shorts and hummed quietly while he seemed to wait for the coffee machine to fill the cup he had placed underneath it.
From behind she sneaked her arms around his waist, what made him jump slightly, and lay her cheek against his naked back.
"Morning," she mumbled sleepily and lifted her head a bit when he turned around in her arms and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and her neck and hugged her tightly.
"Morning. You should have stayed in bed. I was just getting breakfast ready," he said and pressed a kiss against her forehead.
"Bed was cold," she replied and he smiled at her sleepy mumbling.
"Now that you're up we can eat outside on the patio if you want. It's warm out," he said and stroked some hair out of her face.
"Sounds good," she smiled against his neck. "Can I shower first?" she asked then, realizing that he had buried his nose in her hair.
"Breakfast is ready. Why don't we shower together after breakfast?" he asked and kissed her when she lifted her head and nodded. "Can you take those?" he asked her and handed her two coffee cups, because there was no more space left on the breakfast tray. She took them from him while he carried the tray and led the way out to the patio. It was a beautiful place with teak furniture; large trees surrounding it and a huge pool in front of it that was shaped like a double S. Hodgins placed the tray on the table and walked to a small shed that stood on the left, hidden behind the trees. Inside he found two cushions for the chairs.
"It's beautiful out here," Cam said appreciatively and walked to the edge of the patio to look over the area.
"If you walk past the pool there's a pool house to the right behind those trees and then it's just garden. If you turn left after a while you reach the guesthouses and the driveway," he told her and wrapped one arm around her shoulders and walked back to the table with her. Without asking he handed her a croissant and strawberry jam, while he grabbed some scrambled eggs, bacon and toast.
"Do you have any plans for today?" he asked her.
"No, I was thinking about going to the lab this afternoon to do some paperwork before I go home and clean my place. It's a mess," she said with a sigh and dipped the edge of her croissant into the jam.
"What about Michelle?" he asked because he only knew that she had spent the last night at a friend's place.
"She's going with her friend to this new water world adventure thing and won't be back before tomorrow after school," she replied.
"Why don't you just stay here until tomorrow? We could stay out here at the pool, go out for dinner or order something if we want to stay in. Just be lazy all day and spend some time together," he told her with a smile.
"Sounds good, but I need clothes for today and tomorrow. Oh, and my car," she added and he realized that she still didn't want to drive to work with him. He had understood that she had wanted to keep it between them at first but now it had been nearly six weeks of sneaking around and he was getting tired of it. It wasn't convenient to drive to work with two cars all week, even though they spend nearly every night together. He couldn't kiss her or touch her in front of the others and it was hard to stay longer inside her office with the door closed without the others getting suspicious. He was getting tired of it and he wanted to tell her. However neither did he want to ruin the day they had together because he knew she wouldn't just agree like that.
"We can drive over to your place, pick up some clothes and your car and if you want to I'll help you clean before we come back here," he offered instead and was relieved when she nodded and smiled.
"Ok, but I think I'll do the cleaning another day," she said.
"Even better," he said and grinned at her from behind his coffee cup.
~*~
In the afternoon they were lying on the pool chairs lazily dozing in the shade, clad only in a bikini and some shorts, when Cam's cell phone started ringing. She looked at the screen before answering it and flipped it open with one hand so she wouldn't have to let go of Hodgins' hand which she held with the other.
"Hi Seeley," she grinned and lay back down. "Don't call me Camille!" she said next and Hodgins knew they were exchanging their usual banter. "What? No, why?" she asked then and Hodgins turned his head to look at her while she spoke to Booth. "No, he didn't call me," she said and he lifted her hand up to his lips and placed a kiss on it. "Who's Bill?" she asked and looked over to him with a small smile on her face. "Ah, that Bill. I haven't seen him in ages," she went on. "My dad? My dad's just dandy, happily playing with his fancy new remote control. I'm always waiting for the call when Felicia tells him that we're not a couple anymore," she laughed, listened to Booth and didn't pay attention to Hodgins who suddenly bit her thumb lightly before he placed a kiss on each fingertip. He thought it wasn't fair that Booth was intruding on their alone time and he wanted her to himself again. If he had to play dirty to achieve that- fine by him. "Listen I have to go now, uhm, I'll tell Jared that you're looking for him if he calls me, ok? Ok, have fun with Parker. Yeah, say hi back and tell him I didn't forget the zoo invitation," she said and then hung up. "What are you doing?" she asked Hodgins and threw her phone back onto the grass.
"Requesting some attention," he replied and kissed up her arm as far as he could reach without sitting up or rolling onto his side.
"Didn't you get enough attention last night and this morning?" she asked him.
"There's no such thing as enough or too much attention," he replied and laughed when she tugged on his arm. He let her tug harder before he gave into her wordless request and rolled over onto her chair and onto her.
"Better?" she asked after she had slung her arms around his neck and had kissed him heatedly.
"A bit," he grinned and kissed her again.
"We've been lying here all afternoon and haven't been in the water yet," she said, her hands playing with small hairs at the back of his neck.
"We had better things to do," he grinned.
"I know, but I'd like to go swimming now before it's evening and the sun is down," she said but didn't make any attempts to push him off of her.
"All right, your wish is my command," he said, got up and picked her up bridal style.
"Don't you dare," she shrieked when she understood that he was going to throw her into the pool and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. Hodgins didn't throw her in but jumped in with her in his arms.
"You are crazy! What if one of us had a stroke?" she asked when they came back up, she still in his arms. He decided not to reply and shut her up by kissing her instead. "I wanted to swim," she said huskily when they broke the kiss.
"You're free to go, or, well, to swim," he said and let go of her and held his arms out. Cam just smiled, kept her arms wrapped around his neck and slung her legs around his waist.
"Nah," she said and was glad when he wrapped his arms around her again, his fingers stroking over the wet skin of her back. She could swim another time.
~*~
"Hey, I've got something for you," Hodgins said after dinner when they were sitting out on the patio once again talking and just enjoying the evening. The lights in the garden and the candles on the table created a romantic atmosphere and they talked about everything and nothing.
"Really what? Please don't say dessert," she joked and he had to laugh.
"No, no dessert, I learned from my mistakes. Just wait a second I'll be right back," he replied and she watched him walking back into the house.
It had been a good day, she thought while she rolled the stem of her red wine glass between her fingers. She really could get used to spending time with Hodgins like this. However she had to admit that the more she enjoyed their time together the more tempted she got to end this whole thing. When it had started she had told herself that it was a fling, just something temporary for both of them. They could end it easily and go back to being friends if one of them wanted out or found someone else. She wondered when Angela would come back into the picture because she knew that he was still not over her. If Angela would snap her fingers he would go back to her without hesitating for a second and she should never forget that. Everyone at the Jeffersonian knew that Jack was madly in love with Angela . No matter how good they were together or how much she enjoyed their talks and their time together it was only temporary. She knew it, had known it from the very beginning and still only thinking about it hurt. She wondered if maybe it wouldn't be as bad as she thought when ending it quickly; like ripping a band-aid off. Booth had done it with her days before she had been released from the hospital and it hadn't been that bad. Sure, she had been disappointed because the sex had been amazing and Booth was always funny and a really good friend. So maybe it would be similar, she wondered, but then shook her head about her own thoughts. This wouldn't be similar because she finally had to admit to herself that she had fallen for Jack Hodgins, and had fallen hard.
He found her staring of into space when he came back, a pensive look on her face.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked her and touched her shoulder lightly but it still startled her.
"Nothing important," she replied and smiled unaware of the fact that he knew that both the answer and the smile were lies.
"Ok," he said and decided against searching for the truth. "Here, this is for you," he said then and handed her a small black satin pouch. Curiously she opened it and found the necklace inside that she had wanted to buy at the garage sale.
"When did you buy this?" she asked surprised and took the necklace out.
"While you were bargaining with the one lady about those Justin Timberlake CDs," he grinned and sat down on the armrest of her chair.
"You saw that? I thought you were buying records?"
"Nope, I was buying your necklace and then had fun watching you buying the CDs," he said.
"They're for Michelle," she defended herself a bit sheepishly.
"Uh-huh," he laughed. "Not buying it," he said and helped her to put on the necklace.
"Thank you!" she said, one hand lying over the necklace and the other on his knee.
"You're welcome," he smiled.
"You shouldn't have bought it though. That's way too much," she started.
"See it as a payment for the medical service," he said and pointed to his upper arm which was basically healed by now, due to the fact that Cam had kept a close look on it and had changed the bandages daily.
"Come here," she smiled and pulled his face down towards hers and kissed him softly.
"But you know that there's a condition tied to this necklace," he grinned then.
"No, I didn't know that. What condition?" she asked and let her hand rest against his neck so he would stay close.
"You can only wear the necklace with the wrap blouse. And it has to be me putting the blouse on and especially taking it off of you," he grinned devilishly.
"I intend to wear the blouse to work tomorrow, but I doubt we'll ever make it to the lab if you'll dress me. From what I gathered you're better at undressing me," she laughed and was happy when he kissed her in a way that made her forget all the doubts she had had before. Just for tonight at least.
~*~
The next morning Cam approached the platform where she could see Angela. She had read the reports the FBI had sent about the case and she had talk to Booth for a moment on the phone so she knew what she was dealing with but had yet to look at the body.
"Looks like someone took a flamethrower at a Sasquatch," she said when she looked at the body in front of her.
"Well, this is what he was supposed to look like," Angela said and held up a picture of a mascot that looked like an otter.
"Someone finally killed a mascot?" she asked just when Brennan's intern Vaziri entered the platform. "Mister Vaziri, do you have the X-Rays?" she asked him.
"Yes. I have never seen so many foreign objects in human remains before. Arrows, marbles, jacks, various coins, cutlery; my best guess is a nuclear explosion just as the victim entered the 99 cent store," he said and Cam tried not to laugh.
"Well, uh, close…He was shot by a blunderbuss, pelted by an angry mob and then burned," Angela informed him.
"Now that's what I call team spirit," Cam dead panned what brought her strange looks from both Angela and Vaziri. "I'm a wisecracking pathologist with a dark sense of humor," she excused her joke and knew that Hodgins would have found it funny.
"It was funny," Angela nodded but did not laugh.
When she was done with her first examination she went back to her office, got changed from her two piece work clothes back into her normal clothes and filled out the first reports so she wouldn't have to do that later. Meanwhile at the platform Hodgins had taken over and was freeing the body from everything that usually shouldn't be in a body together with Mr. Vaziri, who annoyed him because he had been the one who Brennan had told to call Cam, which had shortened their shower that morning immensely.
"This is a commemorative pin from the Chinese Olympics," he said and placed the object on another tray.
"It was in what's left of the victim's liver," Vaziri said.
"A ball-bearing…all this stuff is extremely common, nails, screws, bolts, washers, keys," Hodgins said when he looked over all the items on the different trays.
"What is this?" the intern asked and handed him another object.
"My guess, it's a USB drive," he said after he had taken a look at it.
"What kind of people would do this? Perfect human remains with household commonalities and refuse," he asked.
"I don't know…every bomber who ever lived?" Hodgins replied without thinking much about it.
"Did you make that comment simply because I am Muslim?" Vaziri asked and Hodgins saw his chance to get back at him for the ruined morning.
"You serious? Of course!" he said just sarcastically enough to leave it open to the interpretation if he was being serious or not.
"Timothy McVeigh, Ted Kaczynski, William Ayres, Mr. George P. Meteski, known as the original Mad Bomber," the intern listed but Hodgins had set his mind on revenge, just gave him a defiant look and turned away.
"It seems an insurmountable task, this. Each of these could have been the cause of death and yet we will not be able to trace it's…" Vaziri went on with his work.
"Trace it's? What?" Hodgins asked annoyed and turned around to face him.
"It's origin. This is a bullet," the intern replied.
"22 caliber," Hodgins said.
"A bullet says ''I wish to kill you'' much more clearly than an Olympic pin. Don't we agree?" Vaziri asked, obviously looking for some common ground.
"Yup," Hodgins just replied while he kept looking at the bullet and left the platform with it. He analyzed it quickly, wrote the report, printed it out, walked straight to Cam's office and opened the door without knocking, because he knew no one was around paying attention.
"Hey, you already changed," he said when he saw her sitting behind her desk in her white/green wrap blouse and grey skirt and noticed also that she wore the necklace.
"Yes, you helping me dress this morning was not working that well if you remember," she laughed.
"Undressing didn't work either," he grumbled and made her laugh again.
"What's this?" she asked and pointed with the pen she held in her left hand to the report.
"22 caliber bullet the intern just found in the victim," he replied and she got up and took the file from him, opened it and looked at the report and the pictures.
"Looks undamaged," she said and looked up at Hodgins. "And stop taking your bad mood out on Mr. Vaziri! Brennan made him call and she was right to do so," she told him.
"I am not taking anything out on him. Although I should…" he insisted which made her smile.
"Leave him alone. And now go scrape, swap or do whatever you have to do. I will go and tell Booth as long as he's here," she said, kissed him quickly and hurried out of her office because one never knew how long Booth and Brennan would stay at the lab.
"The bullet Arastoo found in the victim's remains was a 22 caliber, light and relatively undamaged," she told them when she walked into Brennan's office.
"Hmm, a pressure room fire cartridge," Booth agreed.
"Which is consistent with ROTC small arms…," she pointed out knowing that one of the kids had such a gun.
~*~
The next day Brennan and Booth brought in the sheets of the Beta Delta Sigma boys, much to Hodgins' delight. This was actually going through people's dirty laundry and he would get an idea of what was going on in their lives and in their beds without ever meeting them.
He hung up all the sheets on the platform, close to his work station so he wouldn't have to walk back and forth between the sheets and the computer. Still those were a lot of sheets and it would take him a while to analyze all of the traces on them because from a first inspection he knew that they weren't exactly fresh out of the washing machine.
"Hey, Dr. Hodgins, you need some help?" he heard and turned around with a smile on his face upon seeing Cam.
"Absolutely," he nodded and felt the need to touch her again. Maybe it would have been better to put the sheets up in his lab after all. Now they were standing in the middle of the room on a platform and there was no way he could discretely kiss her. With a small sigh he walked down the steps to his computer to get the things they would need to swap for traces and was surprised when she followed him.
"I forgot my glasses at your place last night. Can you bring them over tonight?" she asked quietly while he packed the liquids and pads.
"We're staying at your place tonight? I thought you wanted to try out that steam bath," he replied just as quietly.
"I really want to but Michelle complained about being alone every day," Cam admitted when he turned around to face her.
"We only spent the weekend and the last two nights at my place. She wasn't home anyway," he argued back.
"You're right but I don't want to fight with her. I'll make it up to you," she said and he sighed but nodded, squeezed her hand gently for a second when he handed her the gloves, Petri dishes and pads.
"Let the fun begin," he grinned then when they walked back up the stairs to the platform.
"It is wrong how excited you are about this," she laughed.
"Well, you can learn anything by looking at a person's sheets," he said and put his gloves on.
"I highly doubt that," she disagreed and put her gloves on as well.
"It's true. Just by looking at the sheets you can tell things he probably would never tell you," he said and started with his work.
"Like?"
"What products he uses, shampoo, lotion, nail polish and so on. Or if he showers at all," he grinned.
"Gross," she replied and scrunched up her face.
"Also you can tell if he had sex, with whom he had sex and how many people he had sex with. And if it's a guy and there weren't any tissues nearby you can most likely tell if he's left or right handed," he went on and raised his eyebrows suggestively.
"You make me miss my dead bodies at the moment," she replied and made him laugh with her expression of dismay. They worked quietly side by side for a while and every once in a while they would touch or bump into each other "accidentally".
"Ha!" Hodgins suddenly exclaimed and pulled her over by her arm to the sheet he was just working on.
"What?" she asked and had to smile at his excited expression and also because she knew he would tell her something disgusting.
"See this?" he asked and pointed to the outline he had drawn around some kind of stain that was visible because of the chemicals he had applied.
"Yes," she nodded, still slightly afraid what he might tell her.
"This is another something you can tell. By this stain here," he said and pointed to another one on the same sheet, "I can tell you that our Beaver was left handed and this one is the outline of his... you know," he grinned. "See you can even tell the size of the guy's… you know," he finished.
"Penis you mean, Dr. Hodgins. I am a coroner I have seen some and I use the word every time I have to autopsy a male person. No need to say "you know"," she said and smiled when he actually blushed a bit.
"I thought I'd be discreet," he said with a smile.
"For once? No need. Oh and you are left handed as well," she added randomly.
"You examined my sheets?" he gaped at her.
"Yes, that's the first thing I did," she replied sarcastically and rolled her eyes. "You write with your left hand," she told him then and pointed to the pen he was holding. His too analytical mind hadn't allowed him to even consider that option as the source of her information. He looked down at the pen in his hand, as if he needed to confirm it, and then he looked at her hands.
"You're left handed as well," he told her unnecessarily.
"Really?!" she just laughed and went back to work.
~*~
Three hours later Brennan was back at the lab and walked straight up to them to see if they had found anything.
"So, where you able to match sheets with boys?" she asked.
"Believe me, there was enough DNA on these sheets to paint a very clear picture of life at Beta Delta Sigma," Hodgins grinned.
"For example, these two boys were carrying on a sexual relationship with each other," Cam went on and pointed to some sheets.
"Yeah, and those two guys were sleeping with the same girl, although, refreshingly, not at the same time," Hodgins said and couldn't keep the mischievous look out of his eyes.
"What about Beaver?" Brennan wanted to know.
"Oh! Lots and lots of DNA," he replied gleefully.
"All of it, his own," Cam said and sounded maybe a bit disappointed.
"So there's no DNA on any of the sheets that could be Molly Briggs'?" she asked the two.
"Vaginal contributions were found on eight of the sets of sheets; none from Molly Briggs, but Dr. Hodgins did find something more than semen on Beaver's sheets," Cam said.
"Yeah, I found evidence of a vegetable-based Lanol, assorted liposomes, Sepigel, and micronized estriol," he replied and knew that Brennan couldn't have an idea what it was.
"Ointment," Cam translated because she had already been the one asking and she didn't see the point of making everyone ask 'What is that?'
"From the stains positions on the sheets, and its shape, which was approximately three inches long by 1 ¼ inch wide," Hodgins came to his favourite part.
"Okay, we get it!" Cam said and shot him a look so he wouldn't say 'you know' again.
"The substance appears to have transferred from the victim's penis directly to the bed sheet," he finished and looked directly at Cam when he said 'penis'.
"Adolescent males will use almost any available lubricant when masturbating," Brennan replied not really impressed by their findings.
"Even oestrogen cream?" Cam asked.
"More plausible scenario has got Beaver sexing it up at a different location, and then coming home to his own bed, naked, and I refer you again to the imprint," Hodgins informed Brennan with a smile.
"Sex with…," she started.
"An older woman, yeah, yeah, most likely menopausal," he clarified.
"Molly Briggs is twenty," Brennan remarked and knew that it couldn't have been Molly then.
"Also, I finished my autopsy and the bullet shot by Greg Harmalard was definitely not the cause of death," Cam told Brennan so she would have all new results.
"He was dead when it struck him?" the anthropologist asked.
"For at least 12 hours," Cam nodded.
"So we still have no cause of death?" Brennan asked and sounded frustrated.
"Well, I got a theory, kid died of dehydration, forgot to replenish his fluids," Hodgins provided with a grin and the looks both women shot him made it clear that his comment was disgusting and not appreciated.
~*~
After working with Mr. Vaziri that day and his random comment that Hodgins had found a way to estimate the height of the fall Cam knew that she needed to keep an eye on her favourite entomologist. He hadn't asked her yet if he was allowed to do an experiment, but she got suspicious when she saw all people leaving the platform and its surroundings in the evening. Quietly she snuck out of her office and stayed close to the dark walls so he wouldn't see her anytime soon and she could chose the time to strike wisely.
"This dummy's exactly the same weight as our victim, correct?" Hodgins asked Vaziri who was standing on the second floor railing with a crash test dummy.
"69.853 Kg, yes, and why are we the only ones here?" the intern asked confused.
"I, uh, asked everyone to leave. Ok, now, I have installed four sensors in the wrists and in the back of the spine so we should be able to gage the height from which the victim fell, within a few centimetres, after only a few trials," Hodgins replied.
"Why did you ask everyone to leave? Are we doing something shameful?" Vaziri asked and Cam got her answer as to why there were no more people in the room.
"Nah, it's just…last time I dropped something from up there, it bounced and injured An-" he stopped when Angela's name nearly slipped, "an innocent bystander, but nobody's here this time, so," he finished and leaned forward to his laptop so he could start the experiment. "Coccyx test number one, Dr. Jack Hodgins supervising," he said and Cam decided that this was the moment to stop him.
"No, no, no," she said when she made her presence known and walked towards Hodgins.
"Uh," he started but she interrupted him again.
"No," she shook her head.
"I…"
"No, no," she said again and reached him.
"But…," he tried to protest.
"No, stop! This is an unnecessary experiment. The height of the fall can be calculated mathematically," she told him finally and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"That is true, but I decided to humor Dr. Hodgins so we could bond over a project," the intern agreed and Hodgins shot him an annoyed look.
"Why do you need to bond?" Cam asked him and glanced suspiciously at Hodgins.
"He mistrusts Muslims," Vaziri replied and Cam turned back to Hodgins who nodded.
"Go grab a beer together, but I am saying no to this experiment," she told him.
"Yeah, I got that during the part where you said 'no', seven times in a row," he replied.
"I find that you don't pay attention during the first six," she replied and the reference to the morning after their first night together made him look at her with a small grin on his face, his eyes saying that he knew what she was referring to and he wanted to grab her and kiss her right there. Cam held his look for a moment and then walked away with a smile on her face.
"He can't drink beer, he's Muslim!" Hodgins called after her in mock annoyance but she didn't turn back around.
~*~
Hodgins walked into her office half an hour later with a paper in his hand that had the mathematical calculation on it so she could add it to the file and also tell Brennan, Booth and the rest who needed to know.
"First he interrupts us yesterday morning and today he turns out to be a fink," Hodgins huffed and plopped down on her couch while Cam looked at the sheet.
"He's not a fink, he was right. And you didn't check the experiment with me," she told him, reading the report.
"I thought I could just charm my way out of the consequences," he grinned at her.
"Good luck with that," she snorted. "You're staying here and we'll leave after I talk to Angela and Brennan?" she asked him then.
"Yup, make myself at home," he said and put his feet on the table what she only commented with a raised eyebrow but didn't say anything.
"Hodgins and Arastooo have an estimate of how far the victim fell," Angela said when she entered her office.
"1.37 meters onto a hard surface, Cam nodded.
"You know what this means, don't you?" Angela asked and Cam flinched, because she had hoped that she could just go home.
"Yup! Dr. Brennan is gonna stare at the bones until they speak to her," she nodded.
"So, rock, paper, scissors to see who stays to baby-sit her?" Angela asked and Cam was relieved that she had a slight chance to get out of this.
"Ok," she agreed and lost the first round.
"Yess!" Angela said in triumph.
"Best two out of three!" Cam decided, still wanting to go home already. She lost the second try as well though.
"Damn!" she exclaimed and knew that she had to tell Hodgins that he would have to go home without her.
"That means I'm leaving right now and wish you a nice night at the lab," Angela said gleefully and grabbed her bag. Cam sighed and followed the artist out of the office so she could lock it.
"Good night Angela," she said and walked to the 'Bone room' where she found Brennan already staring at the bones. Quietly she walked back to her own office and closed the door behind her.
"You have to go home alone tonight. I lost rock paper scissors against Angela and have to stay and watch Brennan," she said with another sigh and sat down next to him on the couch.
"Mh, everybody else is gone?" he asked and pulled her towards him, knowing that the blinds were drawn.
"Yeah, Angela just left. I have to call Michelle and tell her I'll probably spend the night at the lab," she said and wanted to get up to walk to her desk. He held her back though and handed her his cell phone.
"This is comfy," he shrugged when she shot him a questioning look and slid further down on the couch and leaned his head against her shoulder.
"You still have some work to do or you're staying here?" she asked him once she was done talking to Michelle.
"I always have work to do but as long as you're not throwing me out I'll just stay here," he replied and was surprised when she kicked off her shoes and then snuggled against him.
"Sometimes when I'm sitting here late at night for whatever reason I just want to go home, take a bath and wash the smell of death off of me," she said.
"You don't smell like death but like some expensive perfume," he replied and wrapped his arms around her. "Aren't there cameras in here?" he asked when it struck him again that she wasn't as opposed to them hugging or kissing in her office.
"Sure there are. But it's late and the only one seeing this tape will be the security guy and probably me if he sends it over for whatever reason," she replied.
"But if there are cameras in here why can I kiss you here and not in my own lab?" he asked her curiously.
"Because people are scared of me and would never walk into my office without knocking and waiting for a reply while usually everyone just waltzes into your lab," she explained.
"So, you're not actually worried about the cameras but about someone walking in on us?" he asked.
"Yes. Although I have seen some really compromising videos already and I am not really keen on staring in one myself," she smiled.
"I know, Angela showed me the storage area video," he said and an awkward silence spread between them. "Hey, I'm gonna visit Zack tomorrow. Do you wanna come?" he asked her then because he didn't know how to end the silence.
"No, I think I'll finally clean my apartment then but say hi to him from me," she replied and he could see that she was drawing back from him, not physically but emotionally.
"He knows. I told him," he said then and hugged her a bit tighter.
"You told him?" she asked and turned her head so she could look at him.
"Sure, no matter how nutty he is, he is still my best friend," he replied honestly.
"What did he say?" she wanted to know, the curiosity stronger than the awkwardness.
"Not much, something about anthropological factors, possibilities and so on," he smiled and kissed her neck when she turned her head back around.
"What is it with these anthropologists and their inability to act like normal human beings?" she asked him.
"Maybe they have to pass a test in college in social awkwardness?" he grinned and she laughed quietly.
"You really want to wait here with me? Knowing Brennan this can take all night," she asked him then.
"Would be the first night we spend together at the lab," he grinned and kissed her.
"Don't forget the cameras," she mumbled against his lips.
~*~
"Don't fall asleep," she said another two hours later when she felt his head getting heavier and heavier while he was leaning with his cheek against her hair. She was still in his arms and they had spent the time talking and cuddling on the couch.
"Mmh," was his only reply and when she looked up she saw that his eyes were closed and he was somewhere between here and dreamland. Slowly she got out of his arms and pressed a kiss against his forehead when he started to mumble something. She walked to the closet in her office, got a blanket out of it and took off his shoes before she covered him with it. She decided that she should check on Brennan and stopped by the coffee machine on her way and poured the anthropologist a cup of coffee. She was still working of course and didn't acknowledge her when she entered. So she let her work her way and left the bone room, stopped by the coffee machine again and poured herself a cup before she walked back to her own office. She left the door open this time, knowing that Brennan wouldn't come in and no one else was around. Looking at Hodgins she saw that he was still sleeping and so she decided to get some more of the paper work done that Hank Riley's case needed. It wasn't easy finding formulations that weren't exactly a lie but hid the fact that they had stolen a body from a wake. She twisted and turned the words, changed a word here and an expression there until she was certain that no one could guess from that report that they had stolen the body. She had just finished and wanted to start something else when she heard Brennan calling her.
"Cam?" Brennan called and Cam got up and quickly made her way to her, so she couldn't wake up Hodgins. "Booth'll want to know, I found cause of death," Brennan said and Cam was happy that she could finally go home.
"Alright!" she nodded and hurried back to her office where she picked up the phone and dialled Booth's cell phone number.
"Yeah?" came the sleepy reply.
"Hey, sorry I had to wake you but Brennan wants you to know that she found cause of death," Cam said with a smile.
"You're still at the lab?" he asked.
"Yeah, someone had to baby-sit Brennan while she was here and I lost rock paper scissors against Angela," she replied.
"Do I need to come in tonight?" he asked with a sigh.
"No, go back to sleep, you can't do anything at this time of night anyway," she said, looked at her watch and saw that it was more like early morning. 2 AM.
"And you send Bones home and then you leave yourself," he ordered.
"I will do that. Good night Seeley," she said.
"Good night Camille. Sleep tight," he replied.
"You too," she said and hung up. When she turned back to the couch to wake up Hodgins she saw that he was already up, sitting on the couch and looking at her. "We can go home, she found cause of death," she told him and couldn't really read his expression.
"You told Booth?" he asked and rubbed with both hands over his face like that could wipe the sleep away.
"Yeah, but he won't come in tonight. We really should go and get at least a few hours of sleep. I am so tired," she said, walked over to the couch and held her hand out so she could help him up. He took it but pulled her down in his lap instead and kissed her before she could protest.
"Now we can go home," he said breathlessly once they broke the kiss but she couldn't find anything teasing in his eyes. Actually quite the opposite, his expression was serious and slightly angry.
"Good, then let's go," she replied and looked questioningly at him which he just ignored and put his shoes on and folded the blanket.
~*~
"My car is that way," Cam said when they reached the underground parking space and pointed to the left.
"Mine's that way," he said and pointed to the right and yawned. "Sleep well," he said then, gave her a small wave and wanted to walk away but she stopped him by speaking.
"You're not coming over tonight?" she asked him quietly.
"I thought you were tired," he shrugged, his eyes looking to the ground.
"I am but you can still come over if you want," she said.
"Ok, I'll meet you at your place," he replied and it was more a question than a statement.
"See you at my place," she just nodded and walked off to her car with a small smile. Hodgins stayed for a moment and watched her walking away from him to her own car, which she wouldn't need if they would just drive together already. He knew that Booth had driven her to the lab more than once. With him it hadn't been a secret for weeks. He thought about just driving to his own place for a moment, but knew that it wouldn't help his mood. Maybe she was right and all they needed was some sleep.
TBC