LAST CHAPTER! Are you exited? Can you wait? Are you even reading the bold text? Let's find out!
CHAPTER 9
Angela sat in front of a mirror with a sketchpad and pencil in her hand. She drew a line, then erased it quickly. Self-portraits never looked right. She sighed and crumpled up the paper, throwing it across the room into the garbage can.
"Nice shot," Hodgins said.
Angela jumped. "Jeez Hodgins, how long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to see you're upset. How's Valentine doing?"
Angela sighed. "Oh, you know…this probably isn't how she expected her internship to go."
"This is nothing. On my first day of work, I accidentally popped a dead guy's boil."
Angela grimaced. "I don't think I want to hear the end of this story."
"It wasn't a boil," Hodgins said excitedly. "It was a nest of just-hatched gasteracantha cancriformis."
"I think I'd be more grossed out if I knew what that was."
"Crab spiders. There had to be at least a thousand hatchlings in there."
"Okay, that did it." Angela shivered at the thought of any number of hatchlings escaping from a dead man's body. "Was that seriously your attempt to cheer me up?"
Hodgins walked across the room and took Angela in his arms. "Did it work?"
"It's the thought that counts," Angela said slyly, kissing her boyfriend.
"I have another thought," Hodgins said holding up strands of gold. "I think it's worth more."
Angela stared at the thing, unable to believe what she was seeing. "Is that Cleopatra's headdress?" she asked, taking it in her hands.
"No, but it's a very convincing replica. And I found a way to turn the cameras off in the Egyptology department."
Angela grinned. "Show me the way, King Tut."
X+X+X+X+X+X
Booth sat on the balcony overlooking the main room of the Jeffersonian. It was empty now, but he could almost see the squints working vigorously, as though the case wasn't closed. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
"Rough day?" Bones asked, appearing with two cups of coffee.
"Weird day," he corrected, accepting the drink. "It's always weird when you guys get involved."
"We're always involved," Brennan pointed out. "We investigate crimes using partially to completely decomposed corpses, thereby directly involving ourselves in the case."
"You know, Bones, sometimes I think you say things like that just to annoy me." Brennan shrugged her eyebrows. "You know what I mean. I mean involved in the case, as in not just investigating. As in getting shot by crazy murderers."
"It never hurts to be corrected. If I made an error like that, I'd welcome any criticism from you."
"Whatever," Booth said, setting his cup on the table. "You're never gonna have a normal conversation if you keep correcting people."
"Perhaps not, but it's probable that I'll eventually have a grammatically, factually, and otherwise correct conversation." Bones looked at the cup Booth had set down. "Did I make the coffee too strong?"
"No," Booth said, happy for a subject change. "You made the coffee perfectly."
"I am quite good at making coffee." She sat down in the chair next to Booth and sipped her own expertly made coffee. "How's Parker?"
Booth smiled. "Still my little boy. He's got a while before he grows up."
"I hear he's been biting teachers."
Booth shrugged. "She deserved it." He stood up. "Come on, let's go get a beer."
Brennan walked with him out of the Jeffersonian. "Beer sounds wonderful."
X+X+X+X+X+X
Valentine lay half asleep in an uncomfortable chair. Her eyes lazily followed the LCD screen as the green line rose and fell. The constant beeping, though annoying at first, soon turned into a sort of soothing lullaby.
Zack opened his eyes, but it didn't take him that much to realize where he was. He turned to Valentine, who remained staring at his heart monitor. "Why am I in the hospital?" he asked.
Teeny turned her attention to her old friend. She smiled, happy to see him awake. "You were shot, Zack. Just in the arm, but you passed out."
"It's my body's natural response to danger," he said sheepishly. "Even though confronting a murderer went far beyond anything my subconscious was willing to do…it was worth it."
"Zack, for being a genius, you really are an idiot. You should have listened to Booth; Dennis knew what he was doing. He almost got the gun from her. You scared her."
"I'm sorry I ruined his moment," Zack said, doing little to suppress his contempt.
"Do you seriously think I care about his moment? You could have been killed!"
Zack didn't speak as he avoided her eyes. The silence was finally broken by a knock on the large glass patrician between the hospital room and the hallway. Valentine turned around to see Dennis standing with a bag in his hand. He waved once and walked away.
"Where is he going?" Zack asked finally.
Teeny turned back to him. "He asked to be transferred. He doesn't want to stay here anymore; I can't really blame him. He's selling his house."
Zack nodded sadly. "I suppose you'll be going with him then."
Teeny rolled her eyes. "Self-pity does not look good on you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
She smirked. "Someone has to keep you honest." It took Zack a moment to understand what she was saying—subtleties in conversation were not his strong point—but once he did, his eyes lit up. "Besides," she said, "this apprenticeship is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I couldn't just let it go."
"Teeny?" Zack said finally.
"Yes Zack?"
"I'd like to kiss you again."
Valentine blushed. "It would be my pleasure."
Fini
