A/N: oh...my...goodness.

O_O

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"I told you it was too soon to leave the hospital."

Lily nearly groaned. "Yeah, yeah, if the whole world listened to you, world hunger and global warming would never exist, I know."

Angela laughed a little. "Global warming? Maybe global singleness."

Lily had to laugh along with that one. She was back in her hospital bed, surrounded by a hospital of smug nurses who wore similar 'I told you so' faces to Angela's. She was being released in a few days, a Tuesday, she was told—she had been in that shack for two days—while, meanwhile, Squint Squad would start on her brother's case on Monday. Already, she was practically tingling with anticipation. Then again, maybe that was the morphine. Meanwhile, Drew Hecklend's court appearance was scheduled for December 14th, giving them a deadline. If her brother was murdered by Hecklend, there were people who needed to be told, extra charges that needed to be filed, and more paperwork to memorize for the ones preparing for the witness stand.

Ironically enough, that's also my birthday.

"So, apparently, the FBI is considering making you quit your job at the Jeffersonian."

Lily blanched, the color completely draining from her face. "They're…what? Why?"

"You shot Hecklend." Angela smiled sympathetically.

"He shot Zack!" Lily yelled. A nurse poked her head in, but Angela waved her away. Lily stuck her tongue out at the woman as she walked away.

"I know, sweetie, but that was Booth's gun you used. Technically, you weren't supposed to have it. Booth's getting scolded for that as we speak, I bet. You aren't even licensed to carry a firearm. At the very least, they won't let you work your brother's case."

Lily's eyes flashed fire. "If I don't work Caleb's case—"

"There'll be hell to pay?" Angela suggested.

"You better believe it." Lily fidgeted restlessly. "Gah! When are they releasing me?"

"When your side heals, dear."

Groaning wordlessly, Lily flopped back against the pillow.

"So," said Hodgins, grinning. "You and Lily really clicked back there."

"Clicked?" Zack's back was pressed to the seat. Hodge's driving made him nervous, even more nervous than he was just being in a car.

"You guys got along well."

"We always get along well." From his tone, he obviously didn't know what Hodge was getting at.

"I mean," said Hodgins exasperatedly, "you held her hand while she was unconscious, she hugged you. That's called clicking."

"That sounds like what you and Angela do."

Hodgins chuckled. "Angela and I do a lot more than hug and hand-hold."

Zack paused thoughtfully. "What do you think I should do about Lily?"

"You want my opinion, Z-man? Make a move already. You two are getting a little ridiculous with the denial."

Cam looked down at the body and sighed. "We should probably start."

"No," said Zack. Cam looked at him in surprise. His gaze was trained firmly on the corpse of Lily's brother. "We have to wait for Lily."

"We have a deadline, Zack, we need to get to work on this as soon as possible—"

"Lily will never forgive us if we start without her," he said in a rational tone. "She got angry at Booth for interrogating Hecklend without her. We can wait a little while until she's released from the hospital."

Hodgins smiled. "Look at you, being all thoughtful. Our little Zackaroni is all grown up."

When Lily walked into the Jeffersonian Monday morning, a day earlier than planned, she was looking surprisingly chipper.

"What's made you so happy?" asked Cam. "From what I've heard, you've had quite a week. Not exactly one to smile about, however."

Lily stuck her tongue out and giggled. "I tricked the doctor and nurses at the hospital into thinking I'd sue if they didn't release me today."

Hodgins, meanwhile, gave Cam a look that made her think he had something to do with it. Lily ran quickly up the stairs, oblivious.

"So, what do we got?"

Cam shot her a look, partially of concern, and partially apologetic. "Lily…"

Lily's eyes found the body lying on the table and gagged, her hand flying to cover her mouth. "God…"

The corpse looked even worse now with the Jeffersonian lights beating down on it. Decomposing tissue hung off the body like tattered clothing, clinging to the bone in small shreds. The skull looked deformed, lying slack-jawed in a permanent, unvoiced scream, eyeless sockets staring up at her.

Angela entered, her steps heavy. "I got a positive I.D.," she said sadly. "Caleb Whitaker, age 29."

With those words, Lily turned her head and retched into a garbage can.

"Zack just finished removing the flesh from the bones."

Brennan walked into her office, finding Lily in the corner with her iPod on full blast. Brennan had a sympathetic look on her face.

"Cam's doing a tox-screen," she continued. "We won't know much more until Zack does a full analysis on the bones, but…It appears as though your brother was shot."

Lily paused her music and sniffed.

"I'm pathetic," she said, her voice congested from her stuffy nose.

"No, you aren't," said Brennan. "He was your brother, and you loved him. It's not easy to see someone you love in that state."

"Right." Lily wiped at her face. "Right." She was holding a rectangular white envelope, turning it over and over in her hands. She lifted it to show Brennan. "I got a letter." She exhaled through her mouth. "I think it's about Adeline, my brother's kid. They've either accepted or rejected my request to adopt her. She's with my parents in Virginia right now, but they don't want her." Shaking her head, she said, "I'm too scared to open it."

She stood, setting the envelope down on Brennan's couch. "It's, uhm…safe to look at the body now? Is it just…bones now?"

"No, no, no," said Booth, half-running through the door. "Kid, you're coming with me." He grabbed her arm and towed her quickly out of Brennan's office.

"Why?" Lily tried to pull away. "What'd I do?"

"The FBI doesn't want you working your brother's case."

"Why?" she asked again. Her voice drew the attention of the squints as Booth pulled her past them. "Is this because I shot Hecklend? That's not fair, he shot Zack first—"

Zack looked up from the bones when he heard his name. Booth stopped and turned to face her before saying, "This isn't about you shooting anyone, although, kudos on your aim. No, this is about your brother being a murder victim."

"You're pulling me off of my brother's case because the FBI is worried I'm emotionally unstable?" Lily's voice raised an octave.

"I didn't say that."

"You implied!"

"Problem, Booth?" asked Cam.

"You threw up when you saw his body!" Booth yelled at Lily.

She retorted by yelling back, "Oh, and I suppose you've never gotten nauseous when looking at a body that's been dead for a year!"

Neither of them registered Cam's question. They were fully focused on their argument.

"You're on the list of witnesses scheduled to testify against Hecklend on the kidnapping charges," argued Booth with a serious expression. "If we can prove he murdered your brother, you'll be on the witness list for that trial, too. There's nothing the defense loves more than to pull out the old emotional-relative-tampers-with-evidence card."

"I would never—"

"You know that and I know that; the jury won't know that. We'll keep you informed, but you can't be actively on the case."

Lily gaped openly at the FBI agent. "You can't…You can't do that. It's not fair."

"I know it sucks, kid." He searched her eyes, his tone gentler. "But that's the way it's gotta be."

Lily paced Angela's office in frustration. "I hate sitting here and not allowed anywhere near Caleb's body. No offense, but being confined to your office all work-day? Not my idea of fulfilling."

"Calm down, sweetie." Angela watched her. "It'll be okay."

"It will not be okay! If I can't do anything here, I should just go home!" She stopped. "Wait, I don't mean—"

"No, that's a good idea," said Angela. "Go home, get some rest."

Lily snorted. "I can't possibly sleep."

"If you can't sleep, how about a movie?" came a male voice she immediately recognized.

"Zack?" She turned.

The young grad student was holding a DVD case aloft in his hand. "I remembered that you said your favorite book was The Shining. I thought you might enjoy the movie." He paused. "Hodgins drove me home so I could get it. You can watch it while you're here, since Booth took you off of your brother's case."

"Oh." Lily blinked and then began to smile. "That's sweet, Zack."

He smiled back. Feeling suddenly, inexplicably flirtatious, she added, "But you know, that's not really a movie to see alone. Why don't you watch it with me?"

He opened and closed his mouth a few times. Behind Lily, Angela gestured at him, her eyes wide.

"I've already seen it," he said.

Angela's shoulders slumped.

"Then you'll be able to tell me what I miss when I get so freaked out that I close my eyes." Lily grinned broadly.

"I…" Zack looked at Angela again. She moved her hands toward Lily, nodding encouragingly. He looked back at the blonde novelist. "I have to work."

Angela slumped again, putting her head in her hands.

"What about tonight, then?" Lily asked, one hand on her hip, still smiling. "I've almost finished my latest book, but there are some things that need tweaking. I can do that now and we can watch the movie later."

Angela perked up, looking hopeful. She gave Zack a look that more or less told him, If you don't say yes, I will castrate you.

Zack nodded. "Sure. I'll watch the movie with you."

Angela, unseen by Lily, smiled widely and muttered, "Finally!"

Lily looked, distraught, at her laptop, her knee bouncing nervously. This had never happened to her before; not only was she monumentally distracted, but the well of ideas in her mind seemed to have run dry. She had hit a brick wall with her story. Three books published in eight years; her editor April Hart had said she was on a roll. April had said nothing could stop her. Apparently, her roll ended at Book Four.

Her main character, Melinda Brooks, a rookie FBI agent struggling to gain the approval of her superiors while maintaining her uniqueness, had become two-dimensional. There was no depth to her story anymore. Lily scrolled up, reread, and grimaced. This had to be her worst yet. Maybe she should just trash the whole thing, completely rewrite it. Her deadline was in a month, but if she called April and explained the situation, she could probably get an extension. After all, she'd always been good before with deadlines, sometimes getting the finished copy in early. April couldn't refuse her this, could she?

She struggled to focus long enough to get a new general idea. In her first book, Disintegrate, Melinda, frequently called 'Mel', only a few weeks into her new job in the FBI, was plagued by a serial killer who specialized in making their victims disappear. Lily had researched and gone into great detail describing a cold killer who killed, expertly disposed of the body, and sent the hearts of his victims, coated in a strange powder, to the victim's family. The powder was a chemical that caused the heart to literally disintegrate after twelve hours. After the victim's heart was gone, there would be no trace of them.

That book, accurately dubbed the most gruesome of her novels, had been only mildly successful, even though Booth had even admitted he enjoyed it. Her second, Hollow, was about a chain of seamless kidnappings, delving into the secrets of Mel's past. It also introduced Corey Sinclair, Mel's devilishly handsome new boss, and the two circled each other for most of the novel. Hollow was what started Lily's fame, and from there, her third book, Tale of Bones, had simply flowed out. A ritualistic killer reveals a secret society; every conspiracy-lover's dream. Lily had even mentioned some government connections to the society, and the critics had praised her for it. It was easily her best-liked book, despite the fact that she had killed off Corey.

The problem was, now that Corey had gone, Mel had become a whiny simpleton. Chronically depressed, she had lost the interesting spark that had made her so likable. A new love interest had to be introduced, but Lily was more than a little short on ideas when it came to what this newcomer should be like. Corey had been brave, kind, handsome, clever, witty. It would be hard to come up with another man for Mel that didn't seem like a cheap imitation of Corey.

Zack Addy automatically floated to the top of her mind. Successfully distracted, she shut her laptop and set it aside with a huff. Her heart beat in nervous time with her shallow breaths. I can't believe I did that.

"Why did I do that?" she asked aloud.

Angela sighed and glanced at the other woman. They were sitting in Angela's office, since Lily was more or less banned from the rest of the lab. Angela set down her pencil, pausing in her sketch. She knew the panicky novelist was talking about her short flirt-session with Dr. Addy.

"You like him, sweetie. It's really not that complicated."

"That was so embarrassing!" she groaned. She blinked. "Wait a second, Angie, I do not like.." Her cheeks went red. "And now, because of stupid Addy, I can't concentrate!"

Angela gave her a look. "He distracted you. Do you want to know why?"

"Yes."

"Because you like him."

Lily was about to protest when Angela sighed again, and then Lily realized she was annoying the artist. She stood.

"I'm going to walk around," she said in a low voice, her face still flushed with embarrassment.

Lily walked slowly, having nowhere really to go. Hodgins suddenly sped past her, holding a large jar. She watched him in fascination. I should see if he needs assistance, she thought suddenly. It'll give me something to do.

A small voice in the back of her head called her bluff. You only want to help because you know Zack is usually with Hodgins.

She pushed the voice out of her head. "Hodge?" She went quickly after him, curious. "Can I help with anything?"

Hodgins turned around. "Since I wouldn't put it past Booth to shoot me, I'm going to say no." He watched as her face fell. He blinked guiltily. "Fine. You can watch, but don't touch anything. Booth is right about the defense: if you have the opportunity to mess with evidence, they will rip you apart."

A/N: ooohhh what could the experiment be?

and how dare Lily still be in denial about her obvious feelings for Zackaroni?

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