Chapter 12 - No action without consequences
Bones crossed her arms but did not say anything. Booth kept pressing his arms at both sides of the door as if now, while the lift was moving, a journalist could still pass him and enter the elevator.
"Ding" The doors of the lift opened sweepingly and they could see the floor of the lab in front of them.
Booth let his arms drop and stepped slowly out of the elevator, while Bones passed him in a hurry and rushed towards her bureau. She didn't wait for him, when she stormed up the stairs and did not even slow down, as she had to avoid some assistents who were standing in the middle of the way and talked.
Booth sighed, but didn't pick up speed. When he had reached her office, he leaned against the door frame and watched Bones, who walked around the room like a flushed chicken, sorting files, checking something in the computer, only to stand up again and get some documents from another cabinet.
Booth put his hands in his pockets and looked so relaxed, as if the confrontation with the press a few minutes ago did not account him at all. Bones was driven nuts even more by this. It was bad enough that there was obviously someone who sold information about their case to the press, no, now her partner behaved like nothing had happened as well.
She knew exactly that he was observing her. She could feel his glance at her back, while she collected the results of several tests, but right now she didn't feel like starting a conversation with him. She had to think about what had happened last night before that.
As she seemed to have everything together, she let herself drop onto the chair in front of her computer and leaned back. Booth hadn't moved a centimeter and looked at her directly when she lifted her eyes.
"Calmed down again?" Booth asked and grinned impishly.
Bones breathed in deeply first, in order not to explode immediately. "The meeting is in half an hour. I still have to go through everything we have on this case before."
Booth nodded, but did not seem to get or want to get the broad hint.
„Could you..." Bones made a move with her hand, which was supposed to tell him to leave.
Booth pushed himself from the door frame and went to the couch. He shortly pointed at it and said "You won't even know I'm here."
With this words he sat down on the couch, leaned back and closed his eyes.
Bones couldn't believe it. With a shake of her head she turned her attention to the file again and started to take some notes. She looked up from time to time and glanced over to Booth, who kept his eyes closed.
After about 10 minutes Angela knocked at the door. Bones looked up and smiled for the first time since she had arrived at the Jeffersonian, when she saw her friend. Angela didn't return the smile and pointed at the motionless Booth instead.
"Booth?!" Angela said loud and caused that Booth winced and opened his eyes.
"What...oh..hi Angela."
Angela smiled at him. "Hi, ...ehm...would it be a problem for you to leave us alone for a sec ?"
"Mhm..no, not at all." He got up and left the bureau, not without earning an enraged gaze from Bones. At the thought about how much she got enraged that he followed Angelas plea immediately, but stayed when she had asked him to go, let him grin.
Angela slowly sat down in front of Bones, who noisily closed the file.
"This can't be true!"
Angela crossed her legs and looked at her friend with surprise. "What's wrong ?"
"Booth!" Bones started to gesture wildly. "A few minutes ago I told him to leave and he stayed. Now you come in, ask the same and he leaves within a second !"
„Well, honey, maybe you have to become more dominantly." replied Angela, not without an undertone.
Brennan sighed and shook her head again. Then she took a better look at Angela for the first time, since Booth had left. She had never been good at noticing moods from other persons or knowing how to behave, but something in Angelas face told her that something was wrong.
"Ange?" Angela avoided Brennan's glance, when she looked at her suspiciously. Then she took a deep breath.
"The private investigator Hodgins had hired found him.§
Bones pushed the file to the side and bowed forwards. "And? Did you talk to him?"
Angela stopped avoiding her. " I didn't. But Hodgins' lawyer." she tilted her head to the side. "He doesn't agree to the divorce."
Astonishment was displayed on Brennan's face. "He doesn't want to get divorced although you neither live with him nor did you see him since the wedding?" she asked disbelieving.
Angela had grimaced by the word "wedding" as if she was reminded of torturous pain. "That's exactly how it looks like. And now I have a fiancé, who already had to let our perfect wedding fall through and a husband on the paper who holds on to our wedding. Brilliant, isn't it ?" Angela tried to be funny, but even Bones realized that it was everything but funny.
Brennan crossed her arms and supported herself on the desk. "What are going to do now?"
"Mhm...good question." she shifted her weight to the left side to pull a fotograf out of her right pocket. "I wanted to call him and talk about it, but Hodgins was against it."
Bones took the picture that Angela had pushed over the table and took a closer look at it. The man on the fotograf seemed to be a little bit older than Booth, was sportive and his posture was suggestive of him getting being used to get everything he wanted. As she noticed herself comparing him to Booth she quickly gave the picture back to Angela.
Angela didn't seem to have noticed Brennans sudden change of mood and put the picture back in her pocket without a word.
"Why was he against it ?" Bones asked and fought against the confusion of her own actions at the same time.
"Mhm... it seems to be man's business to talk with the current husband of your fiancé." Angela replied.
Bones lifted her eyebrows critically.
"Although I rather believe that he doesn't want me to see him again." Angela continued.
"Why? What should.." Bones fell silent when it began to dawn on her what Hodgins might be afraid of. "He thinks you would...with him ?"
Angela folded her hands in her lap. "In his opinion there had to be a reason why I went through this ceremony with this guy. Even if I did not know how serious this really had been in the end."
Bones thought of the fotograf of the man again. "Are his reservations legitimated ?" she asked, not without remembering the trained arms of the man.
Angela looked her her with a perplex expression on her face. "No! Of course not. I told Hodgins that I was definitely more than just mellow that evening."
In that moment Booth knocked at the door. "Sorry, ladies, but Cam wants to start with the meeting."
Bones and Angela looked at each other for a second. Then both stood up calmly and Bones grabbed the file. Booth waited for them before he turned around and walked towards the meeting room.
Angela and Bones followed at small distance. Bones bended over to Angela to whisper something in her ear. "Well, I would not have needed the alcohol with this guy."
Angelas lower jaw dropped down by astonishment. When she saw Bones wide grin, she shook her head laughing.
„Brennan, you're unbelievable."
Booth seemed to have heard their whispering and turned around while walking and looked at them questioning. "What..?"
Angela and Bones did their best to look as innocent as possible. „Nothing." Bones said, pressed her lips together and opened the file in her hand to avoid looking at Booth directly.
In the meeting room Angela and Bones sat down in front of themselves, Booth pushed himself past Zack to get the seat next to Bones and pointed at the left seat next to Hodgins, to shoo away Zack, who actually wanted to sit down on this seat.
Bones put down the file on the table and went through the pages which she knew by heart by now.
Booth leaned over to her. "When are planing to start to behave normal again around me ?" he said as quietly as possible, so that the other scientists, who kept entering the room, could not hear it.
Bones acted like she hadn't heard him for a moment. Then she turned to him. "I don't know what you mean." she said.
Booth wanted to reply something, when Cam rushed into the room, closed the doors behind her and built herself up in front of the table. All seats were taken, although the number of attendants had been hold as low as possible.
Cam stemmed her arms onto her hip. „Well, people,...I doubt that someone did not see the reporters in front of the building..."