A/N Thanks to everyone who read and mostly reviewed last chapter! OMG! I never thought I'd get over 30 posts! Amazing! You guys rock! Thank you so much!
I have to apologize to you for not posting before, but I had an AWFUL week at work, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about: I had one of those days where you just want to QUIT, say Adios! and never look back. Sometimes, you just get sick of blood baths, and when I say 'blood baths' I really MEAN blood baths…I have the proof all over my shoes. And then the shooting at Dawson College happened in downtown Montreal (East of Canada), and it was insane around here. I really didn't feel like writing, and I'm sure you can understand.
Thank you Gayle for the beta'ing.
This chapter is an In Between…to get to the good stuff. Hope you enjoy!
XxXxX
Not In This LifeChapter ten: Human Wreck
It was almost 4:00am when Booth, Brennan and Angela arrived at the Jeffersonian Institute, ready to start to work since Dr. Goodman had called the Squints almost an hour ago to tell them that another body had been discovered in a dumpster behind The George Washington High School building. Booth had gotten the exact same phone call from Cullen.
Brennan ran into the lab to get her tools, then she and Booth drove together to the site. When they got to the high school, almost twenty people were there, Hodgins and Zach were already searching for clues on and around the body.
"Nobody touches the body!" Brennan yelled as she quickened her pace to get to the remains. "You'll destroy evidence!" She said, annoyed.
"We COLLECT evidence Dr. Brennan, we don't DESTROY them." Zach replied to the forensic-anthropologist.
"I wasn't thinking about you guys, I know I can trust you. When you work, you actually USE your intelligence, which is more than I can say for some people around here." She answered, putting on a pair of latex gloves and bending over the remains. "I was speaking of the FBI boys over there." She pointed out the men who were standing not five feet away.
"I heard that!" Booth yelled at her.
"I'm just stating the facts Booth, and you are not part of that fact as I have already told you that I think you're smart." Brennan said to him before returning her focus on the skeleton. "Female, Caucasian, around 30 years old." She said, as she turned the skull in her hands to see the right side of it. "She has a deep wound at the right temple that resembles the other victims. It also look about 2cm deep."
"The Cruise Ship Serial Killer's 4th victim." Stated Hodgins.
"We'll be sure when we have a complete examination of the remains." Brennan said to the guys. "ALRIGHT!" She yelled to the boys. "Be careful not to touch anything! Bag the remains, and send them to the Jeffersonian!" She stood up and walked towards a grimacing Booth, who had put his tie over his nose to breathe.
"I don't know how you can stand the smell Bones." He told her, wishing he had a jar of the white mint paste they used in morgues to put under his nose.
"You get used to it." She answered, walking back to his SUV, pulling off her latex gloves and scratching her hands. That itch is getting worse every week!
"Looks like you had to get used to a lot of things." Replied Booth, opening the door on the driver's side to get in behind the wheel. She looks mad, why is she mad?
"Welcome to my life." She said, not really smiling. It's full of 'getting used to'…
"What's with your hands?" He asked, seeing they were red from what looked like a rash.
"Latex allergy." She told him as she looked at her hands. "Once you start to get an allergic reaction to latex, you're doomed. It can develop from too much latex exposure, and then it only gets worse." She turned to face him and saw that he was grinning. "My WORKING GLOVES are made of latex Booth!" She told him, negatively shaking her head. Men...always thinking about sex.
Twenty minutes later they arrived at the lab. Brennan clicked her ID card and walked up the stairs, followed by Booth not far behind. She put on her lab coat and a pair of latex gloves.
"Shouldn't you stop using those?" Booth asked, pointing at her hands.
"I should, but the order I made of latex-free gloves won't come in until later this week.The original order was wrong and I had to reorder the latex-free ones." She said, walking toward the remains that was being laid on the table. "I'm lucky you just got your CPR certification!" She told him with a false smile on her face. "Zach has bee allergies, so he always carries his epinephrine syringe on him. You know, in case I get anaphylactic shock..."
"Not funny Bones." He told her seriously.
"It's nice to know you care if I LIVE or DIE." She said to him, avoiding eye contact.
"Hey!"He said with anger seeping into tone as he walked closer to her. He then spoke in a low forceful voice that only she could hear, even though they were the only ones in that part of the lab, he didn't want everyone to hear their discussion. "Of course I care! What's wrong with you? We left home and everything was fine! Now you're pissed at me?"
"I'm sorry, you're right." She told him as she let out a deep breath. "I think I'm more angry at myself than I am at you." This seemed to take him by surprise.
"Why?" He asked.
"Because." Her answer sounded like one of a teenager lacking argumentation.
"Because? That's not an answer!"
"You don't get to HAVE a legitimate answer Booth." She said as she faced him and held his stare. "I definitely have issues with what happened, and you obviously don't." His face suddenly changed. "So, I am the one who has to work with them, on them, over them, whatever I have to do to get past them." It's all Angela's fault! Why did I ever listen to her?
"Who the HELL do you think you are to tell me what I should or shouldn't feel?" He snapped, now definitely angry and trying to keep his voice down.
"I…just…assumed." She answered, babbling. Why do I feel so insecure all of a sudden? I've NEVER felt insecure in my relationships!
"Don't assume anything Bones, because you don't know shit." Booth had took a few steps closer to her as he said those words, so his face wasn't three inches away from hers. He saw her lips start to curl up to a smile. "What?" He incredulously asked.
"It's just that…Why are we fighting Booth?" As she asked the question, he took a step back from her. "I don't like being angry at you. Why am I so angry at you?" I usually am not like this with men. It's got to be HIM. You're making me a human wreck Seeley Booth!
"I think it's because you…we…are confused about our feelings, and it's easier to let them out in anger than to start analyzing them." He told her as he passed a hand through his dark hair.
"I don't want to fight with you." She said after she let out a sigh.
"Me neither."
"I also hate psychology." I really hate psychology.
"I know." He said, smiling.
"Lets just get this case over with." She suggested. "After that, we'll have plenty of time to…figure things out."
"Deal." Another one. "Now, lets put this bastard where he belongs!" He said as he rubbed his hands together, getting in the mood to catch the killer.
"In a coffin?" Brennan asked, looking as innocent as a child.
"No Bones…" Booth said to her in a low and serious tone of voice. "In JAIL." Let a jury decide if he should get death penalty or not.
"Huh…right."
XxXxX
Brennan, Zach and Hodgins worked all night on Jane Doe IV and found that all the evidence led them to the Cruise Ship Serial Killer once more. "She has the same injuries as the three other victims." Brennan said to her assistant. "Same M.O."
Booth hung back, actually enjoying watching her work as her eyes intensely focused on each bone, analyzing them, as her fingers delicately touched them, and then replacing each of them where they belonged on the skeleton. "The same temporal wound, 5mm wide and 2cm deep, situated on the right side of her skull. The parietal and mandibula bones are also fractured, which indicates that the head was immobilized with a metal device."
"We didn't find a ring Dr. Brennan." The young assistant said to his mentor. "But she WAS wearing white."
"We still have enough to connect her to the Cruise Ship Serial Killer." She walked around the table and took a small piece of bone that was peanut-like shaped. "Zach? Take this and find out what it is." I know what it is; I just want the proof of what I think it is.
"Sure Dr. Brennan." Zach said as he took the tiny piece and put it on a metal plate. "I'll go run tests on it right away." He then turned around and walked away from them.
"Spill it Bones." Booth said to his partner as he walked closer to her, knowing perfectly well that she didn't need tests to know what it was.
"I just want to be sure before I say anything." She said, her eyes still focused on the remains. She took a step away from him.
"Tell me." He demanded as he took another step closer.
"It's just that you usually get all sensitive about that sort of thing, I just want to be sure." Her eyes never left the remains as she took another step back from Booth.
"I don't get sensit-" He started to say to defend himself as Angela walked towards them, a smile on her lips since she had just seen the little game of cat and mouse they had been unconsciously playing.
Brennan looked up at Booth when she saw Angela and gave him a crooked smile.
"Can I be of any help?" Angela asked, as she was desperate to find something to work on. "Please, tell me I didn't get up at 3:00 am just to be a witness to your weird behaviors." She said as she gestured the two of them. Booth and Brennan looked at each other, surprised.
"What are you talking about?" Booth asked, not seeing that Brennan had started to blush slightly and was avoiding her friend's gaze.
"You guys KNOW what I'm talking about." Angela started to say to them when Dr. Hodgins appeared, a file in his hand.
"What is it Hodgins?" Brennan asked, happy to focus the subject of conversation on something else.
"Zach and I found out who Jane Doe IV is." He said smiling. "Her name is Kelly Anne Foster."
"Hey! It's MY job to tell you guys that!" Booth yelled out, looking hurt as Hodgins was grinning.
"Dude, don't take this personally. We found it faster only because we're smarter than you." Jack said with a smirk on his face.
"Hey!" Booth indignantly exclaimed, just before the entomologist returned his focus on Brennan.
"We found traces of SEROQUAN on the bones of Jane doe IV." Hodgins told the anthropologist.
"And THAT would be WHAT exactly?" Booth asked questioningly, eyes shifting from Hodgins to Brennan.
"It's a medicine used to replace LITHIUM in bipolar diseases." Brennan explained to Booth, whose face lit up at the revelation.
"And the only person who was bipolar and disappeared while boarding a cruise ship is Kelly Anne Foster." Booth said. He had read the file so many times of the women who were possible victims of the Cruise Ship Serial Killer that he had remembered it easily.
"She disappeared last December while boarding a cruise ship, and died about two weeks ago." Hodgins added.
"And-" Zach started to say as he walked towards them with the metal plate containing the tiny piece of bone. "She was pregnant, as I'm sure Dr. Brennan, that you already knew." He looked at her acquiescing and then at Booth, who seemed to have trouble with his digestion.
"Fucking son of a bitch!" The FBI Agent angrily cried out.
"See?" Brennan started to tell him as an I-told-you-so. "I knew you'd get sensitive about it."
Booth opened his mouth to say something but his cell phone started to ring. Saved by the bell!
"Booth." He said gruffly, and then his jaw clenched tightly together. "Yes sir." He took a deep breath and Tempe saw the vein on his left temple pop out as he was listening to what she thought probably was Cullen, and she immediately knew something was wrong. He walked away from the Squints and Brennan to go sit down on a chair in the coffee break room.
"That call doesn't look pleasant." Hodgins stated as he saw Booth start to massage his neck with one hand, and then the tiny muscle between his eyes a few seconds later.
"Well." Angela said, turning her face toward the anthropologist. "Looks like it's going to be a long call." She grabbed her friend's arm, ignored the protests coming from Brennan, pushed her into her office and closed the door behind her. "We need to talk."
"What was that for?" Brennan asked as she took off her lab coat and put in on the back of her chair.
"I'm sorry Sweetie, but I had no other choice but to kidnap you!" Angela said as she sat down on her friend's couch and crossed her arms under her breasts. Tempe stared at her with wide eyes. "Speak." Angela ordered. I'm gonna get this out of her whether she likes it or not!
"When you say it like that, so kind and polite, I really feel like sharing things with you." Brennan sarcastically said to the artist, imitating her posture.
"You're being sarcastic! How sweet…Booth is really starting to rub off on you!" She happily stated, but it didn't make her friend more incline to talk. "Oh! Come on Brenn!" Angela exclaimed as she got off the couch and walked closer to her. "I KNOW something happened with Booth. Don't even try to deny it!" She added as she saw Brennan open her mouth to object. "You KNOW I will eventually find out what it is! Wouldn't you just feel better if YOU were the one telling ME?" Angela manipulatively said, grinning from ear to ear, which made Brennan smile.
"I don't know how you do it Ange." Brennan said to her friend. "You read people like an open book."
"I'm getting better at reading YOU, but it's Booth's behavior that first alerted me." Angela said, thoughtful. I'm not forgetting you answering the phone where you sounded out of breath at 3:00 am!
"What did he do?" Brennan asked out of curiosity. I didn't notice him do anything unusual.
"First of all, in the car, he kept glancing at you in ways that I had never seen him glance at you before. Not that intense anyway." She saw Brennan smile. "And then when you were examining Kelly Anne Foster earlier, his eyes were focused on you, on ONLY you. They didn't leave you for a second, and he seemed in VERY deep thoughts while staring at you."
"And you saw all that from your office?" Brennan suspiciously asked.
"Yes, I'm THAT good." Angela seemed hurt by the lack of confidence from her friend. "I also saw the beginning of a smirk, but a good smirk."
"A good smirk?"
"Yes, a good smirk."
"Hum…" What the hell is a good smirk?
"And then, when you explained to Booth how Jane Doe IV was related to the Cruise Ship Serial Killer, you kept staring at his hands."
"I did not!" She said as a defense. He really has soft hands…
"Yes, you did. It wasn't long looks, but there was something about that look. You seemed…uncomfortable." Brennan put her hands in her pockets and felt herself blush. "And then THIS is what really alerted me..."
"What?" She asked. Oh! Shit! What did I do?
"I'll tell you if you let me speak!" Angela replied, eager to tell her view of her keen perception since she wanted to hear what Brennan's explanation would be. "You two were around the table, you know, looking at the skeleton, and then Booth walked closer to you, and you stepped back."
"I did not!" Did I? Oh, my God! I did!
"Yes, you did. And then he took another step closer, and you took another step back. This isn't like you Brenn. You DON'T step back from ANYONE." Angela stated. "That's when I knew something had happened, but I wasn't sure what exactly, because of all those mixed signals."
Brennan wasn't sure where to start, so she extended her left arm and showed her the ring on her hand. "It started with a proposal." She simply said as Angela let out a scream of joy and took her hand in hers to stare closely at the gold ring.
"Oh my God! This ring is gorgeous!"
"Calm down Ange!" Brennan said laughing. "It belonged to his grandmother. It's just on loan."
"Holy SHIT! He gave you his FAMILY ring!" Angela looked at her with a stunned face and an open mouth. Oh! This is deep!
"It's just borrowed. He didn't give it to me. It's only for the case." She said, looking at it and turning it between her fingers. "Anyway, it was very awkward when he gave it to me, and then he told me not to lose it after kissing me-" Angela let out another squeal.
"He KISSED you!" She was clapping her hands, which made her friend let out a laugh.
"On the FOREHEAD!" Brennan added, as she took Angela's shoulders between her hands. "Would you stop being so childish! I'm not even finished with what I have to tell you! What will you do by the time I'm done? Faint?"
"OH MY GOD! YOU'VE SLEPT TOGETHER!" Angela exclaimed, a wide smile on her lips. Temperance secretly thanked Angela for having closed the door of her office, although she was pretty sure everybody had just heard everything.
"We didn't…" Brennan seriously said and then she saw her friend's happy face fall. I sure wish we had…
"Oh…" Damn! Just when I thought it was getting good!
"But we almost did." And now I'm filled with the memory of his hands on me.
"What happened?" Angela asked, trying to steady her composure and looking like an anxious child about to embark into an amusement park.
"You called." Brennan stated simply, the beginning of a grin spreading on her lips.
"This is MY fault? Oh my God! I'm so sorry!" Angela genuinely looked crushed by what she had done. "I'm the one wanting this to happen, and I call you right in the middle of IT? This is so like me to do something like that! Will you ever be able to forgive me?" She suddenly stopped questioning Brennan, realizing that they must have kissed. "So you kissed him? Or he kissed you? Is he a good kisser? I'm sure he is. He sure looks like he is-"
"Angela! Shut up!" She ordered, putting a hand on her friend's mouth. Angela nodded without a word. "You are unstoppable!"
"How was it?" She asked, immediately closing her lips tight to let her friend talk. Brennan stared at Angela and sighed.
"Tender and sweet, but passionate." She told the artist as she remembered the feel of his lips and hands on her. "Amazing." She finally said, having dreamy eyes for a moment before stepping out of it and coming back to reality. "I don't remember EVER being kissed like that."
"I knew it!" Angela joyfully said. "I'm so jealous of you right now!" But so happy!
"When the phone rang, it was like a slap in the face: we were back to reality. And then, he said he didn't know why it happened."
"He said that? Unbelievable!" Men! They're all the same! "Sorry...go on." Angela added when she saw the sad look on her friend's face.
"I was pissed off at him for acting as if it had not meant anything..." Because it did, for me it did.
"Oh! Sweetie, I'm so sorry, but it's all bullshit! You know that, right? He cares for you." He truly does.
"Right. Anyway, I'm not done with my story."
"Sorry…go on." Angela said before she mimicked her lips being zipped.
"I was getting dressed in the bathroom when he walked in on me…wearing only my bra and panty."
"WHAT!" Fuck me! It's getting better and better! I should have popcorn!
"Yeah…I was wearing the Lejaby set we bought together last month."
"SHUT UP!" And he didn't jump you right there? What's wrong with him!
"What?" Why is she telling me to shut up?
"It's just a figure of speech Brenn!" Angela said, suddenly jumping to her feet and pacing in her boss's office. "What did he say?" She anxiously asked.
Brennan looked thoughtful for a moment. "At first, nothing. He just stood there with his mouth open."
"I bet!" I can just picture it: mouth and eyes wide open, and Little Booth probably doing the military salute…
"And then, he said 'WOW." She said, simply stating the fact.
"Wow?" Angela asked. He said Wow?
"Wow." Brennan repeated again.
"Wow…" Angela murmured to herself more than to Brennan.
"What 'Wow'?" What do you mean by wow?
"Wow 'Wow'!" Angela answered.
"You're not making any sense!" Brennan annoyingly exclaimed.
"You're the one who said he said 'WOW'!" Angela snapped.
"He did!"
"Wow." Angela murmured.
"WHAT 'WOW'?"
"Just wow!" Angela started to get angry. "I'm saying 'WOW ' because he said 'WOW'!"
Brennan just stayed there, not saying anything. "You're not very articulate right now Angela."
"Sweetie." She was now smiling. "For Booth to have said 'WOW' means that he must have been speechless. That's why I repeated the word, because it just dawned on me that you probably looked FABULOUS and he wasn't prepared to see a half naked Temperance Brennan wearing French lingerie and looking stunning."Only minutes after kissing her to death!
"Thank you…" I'm not so sure.
"I didn't mean to say that you usually look like crap. It's just that you usually have more clothes than skin exposed." Angela said back, laughing, and wanting to explain her thoughts to her friend. "You probably knocked the wind out of him." And then he realized he felt more for you than what he thought.
"You have too much faith in me."
"I'm sure you did! I was there when you tried it on, remember? I've seen you wearing it." Angela told her, a cocky smile on her lips. "You looked HOT!"
"You think?" Brennan was embarrassed by her friend's comments about her.
"Don't be shy! Now…What are you going to do about it?"
"About what?" It was so Temperance Brennan to ask for specifications that it sometimes was exasperating to the artist.
"About the KISS! The almost LOVE making! The NAKED parade!" Angela enthusiastically enumerated.
"I did NOT parade!" Tempe indignantly said back. He's the one who walked in on me!
"Of course you didn't Sweetie. It was just me being me. But there IS attraction between the two of you!" The brunette was happy to have seen it first. "I've always known it. I'm so good at reading people. So, again, what are you going to do about it?"
"Nothing." I can't do anything about it.
Angela looked horrified. "What do you mean by NOTHING!"
"We made a deal that we would figure out where we stand before doing anything irrational." Brennan told her friend with the most serious face Angela had ever seen her wear. "There is an attraction Ange, but it's a physical one. We want to see if there's more to it."
"You guys are so full of shit!" Angela angrily told her friend.
"Hey!" Don't talk to me that way!
"Don't HEY Me! You're the one living in the Land Of Denial!"
"The what!" I never heard of a place called Land of Denial!
"Just another expression Brenn! You HONESTLY want me to believe that what you two feel for one another is only PHYSICAL!" Do I look stupid?
Brennan stared at her friend and decided that she didn't want to answer that question. "You really are too emotional about this Angela." She calmly said to her friend, who sighed.
"I know. Sometimes it scares me too." Angela answered as she calmed down and sat back on the couch. She's right, I'm more emotional about this than my own relationships! This has to stop.
"There's no need to fight about this, we're on the same side."
"I know." Angela got closer to Brennan and took a deep breath. "I just want the best for you. You know that, right?"
"Yes, I do." I really do.
"Can you please just do me a favor?" She asked Brennan as she took her hands in hers for emphasis.
"Okay…" She was reluctant to say yes. Oh! My God…what is she going to ask me to do now?
"Just don't run away from whatever you are feeling for Booth." Angela said as she stared into the big blue-green eyes of her best friend.
Brennan stayed silent for a moment, because she WAS afraid of those feelings and she didn't quite know what kind of label to put on them yet. She knew they were strong, and that they were real. She also knew those feelings were new to her, but had yet to define them.
"Sweetie, promise me." Angela asked for a second time.
"I promise." Brennan finally said. But Booth could be the one running from them…
"Good." The artist seemed satisfied with the answer, and let go of Brennan's hands.
A few seconds later they saw Booth walk towards Brennan's office followed by Zach, Hodgins and Dr. Goodman. Brennan and Angela stood up and walked out of the office to join them as they saw the worry in Booth's face.
"What happened?" Tempe asked him. I know that look…something bad happened.
All eyes were now focused on Special Agent Seeley Booth as he started to explain the situation. "Another newlywed got kidnapped two hours ago in New Jersey." He wasn't very happy to be the one telling the news.
"Oh my God…" Angela said, secretly wishing for a stool near by to sit on. "Isn't it ever going to stop?"
"What do we do?" Tempe asked him after a few thoughtful moments.
"We can't wait anymore Bones." He said to her. "We have to do something, like right now."
"I agree." She said and then she looked at her watch, it was 10:30 am. Damn! I have lunch with Russ! Booth stared at her and seemed to understand what she was thinking.
"It's fine. Go have lunch with your brother." He told her as he took his set of keys out of his jacket pocket. "I'll go interview the husband by myself, the poor guy is probably hysterical and not very coherent anyway." He took a key out of his set and gave it to Brennan. Zack and Hodgins turned and gave each other an odd look then turned back to Brennan and Booth. "Go home after your lunch with your brother, and I'll meet you there."
"Home?" Hodgins murmured to Zach, a huge questioning look on his face. Zach shrugged.
"Okay." She said as she put Booth's house key on her key set and watched him turn his back and walk towards the stairs. He suddenly stopped and turned around, wanting to say something to her but changing his mind when he saw the weird look on the Squints faces.
"Wear something nice." He simply said to her, a smile on his lips. The killer has to notice you.
"I can do nice Booth. Actually, I can do 'WOW'!" She had an evil grin on her face and Angela had to put a hand on her mouth to stop from bursting out laughing.
He nodded to Brennan as he tried to suppress a smile and walked out of the Jeffersonian. Point taken.
Brennan walked back to her office and closed the door behind her. She had one hour left before going to lunch with her brother and she would have loved starting to write her new book, but too much was going on for her to be able to really concentrate. She sat behind her desk and decided to call Russ to ask him if it would be okay with him if they met at 11:30 am instead of noon to eat lunch.
XxXxX
As Brennan busied herself in her office Hodgins and Zack began questioning each other in the lab. Hodgins looked at Zach and asked: "What day of the week is it?"
"Friday." Zach answered, looking at Jack as if he was from planet Mars.
"That's what I thought." Hodgins said before he exclaimed. "She has a WEDDING ring Zach! And Booth gave her his house KEY!" Hodgins then turned to Angela as Dr. Goodman coughed and walked away from the Squints. "Can someone PLEASE tell me what happened between Thursday and Friday for Brennan and Booth to suddenly look like an item?"
"They got married." Angela said nonchalantly, and then she quickly walked away from them. Zach and Hodgins stood there, eyes and mouths wide open and staring at one another. Jack was the first to come out of it and react to the news.
"WHAT!" The entomologist yelled, seconds before running after Angela. "WAIT a minute! Come back HERE! We're NOT done! ANGELA!"
(TBC)