A/N: Hopefully I'll get "Mayhem on a Cross" up before the new episode tonight. Hope you like this installment!
The Black Hole's Look at "The Cinderella in the Cardboard"
Sully was leaning so far forward in his chair it was a miracle he didn't land on the floor. He shook his head. "I still can't tell. Anybody have a clue?"
A chorus of "no's" answered him. "Sid, can you run it one more time?" Cam asked.
Sid nodded and rewound the scene in question. All the patrons of that place called "The Black Hole" studied the figures on the screen as it played out in marvelous detail on the plasma screen TV (sadly, their benefactor Bookwormlady was watching the episodes on her computer monitor or Ipod, no plasma television in her life, alas).
"Nope," Jared said, sitting back in his seat with a sigh. "I'm still not sure."
Perotta started swearing, which had her spitting out pretty soap bubbles instead of the points she meant to raise. Tessa jumped into the silence. "Well, did Hodgins click "Hate" or just hang up?"
"Definitely clicked 'Hate,'" David said. "I mean, the girl dropped him like a bad habit!"
"No, he hung up," Rebecca argued. "He's totally in love with her – no way he'd click 'Hate.'"
"Unless it was his way of letting her know that he won't hold her back from future relationships with other men," Michael said.
Sid sighed and shut off the television. "Bookwormlady isn't sure either. She was hoping you guys could help."
Perotta spat out yet one more soap bubble and wiped her mouth. "I don't know. But there's more to the episode than that scene, right?"
"Yeah," Sid said. He began pouring drinks for the group. "Nice of them to remember Booth is religious."
"But of course Brennan has to run it down," Rebecca sighed.
"She was correct," Michael said with a frown. "The woman was murdered – it wasn't an image of the Virgin Mary."
"That was an awful looking corpse," Will said with a grimace. "And Angela's reenactment? I cringed."
Everyone in the room grimaced at the reminder of the reenactment. Michael spoke up. "And once again, the victim is a rather unsavory person. Does that bother anyone? "
"Not every murder victim can be a saint, Dr. Stires," Cam said as she sipped her iced tea. "It did give Booth and Brennan a number of suspects."
Rebecca shook her head. "That bridal shop…wow, those women were crazy. And this episode they talked about Dr. Brennan's resistance to marriage again. That shop could hardly encourage her."
"Can we talk about the whole Daisy Wick/Lance Sweets thing?" Jared asked. "I would've accepted Seeley's argument about not saying anything a LOT better if he'd said something like, 'we don't really know what's going on, maybe we should talk to Daisy first.' Just saying Tempe should mind her own business? Not so cool."
"For that matter," Michael spoke up again after swallowing his double chocolate chip cookie, "Temperance prides herself on not jumping to conclusions. She accepted the situation at face value, rather than investigating. That's rather unlike her."
Everyone, even Sid nodded. "It did make for a nice ending though," the bartender said as he handed Tessa a taco salad. "Dr. Brennan all, 'I so want to fall in love,' and Booth just sitting drinking with her…"
Sully shook his head. "It would've been a perfect time for him to make a move. The fact he didn't? I need to go back there and steal her away!"
"After the wrap-up," Sid sighed. "You can get yourself killed on your own time."
Sully started to reply and started gagging on soap bubbles. While he was silenced Sid spoke up. "Okay, people! Anything else you think needs to be said?"
"Angela was Queen of the Lab this episode!" Cam said, raising her cup of green tea. "She pegged that the last photo was a composite, did that brilliant but cringe-worthy reenactment, fixed the cell phone – she was amazing!"
"Agreed," everyone chorused. Even Sully chimed in, albeit a beat behind everyone else as he choked out a final bubble.
"Okay!" Sid said, clapping his hands. "Bookwormlady has some work to finish up but she wants us back soon for the next review – and that means you, Sully."
"Yeah, yeah," Sully said, already heading for the door.
Sid shook his head as the agent exited. He did not participate in the betting the others did. But even he knew that with the fans so primed for Booth and Brennan to get together any attempts by Sully to stop that would result in a quick and messy death by at least one fanfic writer…
