Dead Like Me is owned by Bryan Fuller, Showtime, and their affiliates.

Bones is owned by Hart Hanson, Fox and their affiliates.

No money what so ever is or will be made from this fanfiction.

If anyone would like to beta this fanfic, please feel free to contact me.

Steve the UPS delivery guy dreaded his route. It wasn't that he had a particularly hard route. D.C. was D.C. and no matter what part, the streets were going to be hell and people were going to be pissed or happy to see him. Now certain areas were safer than others but all carriers had parts of their route in the unsavory parts of the city. It was because of the Jeffersonian. He hated to deliver to the Jeffersonian. It wasn't that it was full of pompous college educated scientists that thought they were better than him because he drove a truck while they looked through books and or microscopes every day. No he dealt with those kinds of pricks all the time. He was proud of what he did. He made a good honest living with benefits, so he didn't care what the others thought. No it was the stuff he had to deliver to the Jeffersonian. He's had a range of body parts to ancient artifacts. He especially hates delivering to the Medico Legal Lab as the scientists there were mad. Like tv bad guys mad scientists. He's heard stories about one of the very attractive carriers that said the scientists were fighting over who got a package of bear feces once. Another said he delivered a murdered man's jawbone.

"Who does that?" the delivery man thought to himself as he went through the Jeffersonian.

He could only hope that he got in and out of there in time to not see what was in the package. He knew that if he ever delivered anything like murdered human remains he'd have to get another job.

Steve would be applying to other jobs that very afternoon.

Temperance Brennan was looking aptly at a set of lumbar vertebrae, studying every facet to determine all that she could from the bones. She was just as passionate and obsessive about details as Zach was, perhaps more so since she was his mentor. This was menial busy work from Limbo as there wasn't anything else to do that day. She could be worried about Zach but without any proof that anything was wrong, she did not worry. All the hypothetical situations he could be in were locked away in a box somewhere in her mind where she would never have to deal with it. Losing Zach was not something she could tolerate so she didn't. She didn't understand other's inability to put things away where they belonged. The workplace was not a place to show inordinate amounts of emotion. It was for work; cold, clear, scientific work that needed complete focus and attention. Dr. Brennan was confused at Hodgins' worry. There was no evidence that Zach was fine or in danger, so clearly it was a moot point till other evidence presented itself. It was puzzling that someone as smart as Hodgins could only focus on the worst case scenario. So it was prudent to keep their heads about them till something came along. While Zach's absence was abnormal, it didn't necessarily mean he was in danger.

Any foreboding she had about the subject was separated from her thoughts and she went stoically about her day.

Despite receiving many unsavory items in the postage lately, Brennan didn't think to be afraid that this package had anything terrible in it. Statistically speaking, the number of packages with ill intent versus packages relevant to their job were negligible and therefore not worthy of consideration.

This was one of those times where the exception proves the rule.

She opened it slowly and methodically as she did with everything else. Inside was a perfectly preserved and cleaned human skull. Still, she wasn't worried as she dealt with human skulls on a daily basis. She did think it was a bit odd that she got one through the mail in a plain box packaging but there was nothing exploding nor was there any note to suggest that there was anything malevolent about the package.

The whole team was looking at her and she wasn't sure why. It was a package; nothing new and exciting. Unless it was about the bones itself then she was more than happy to tell them all she knew about it.

First off she knew that the skull had perfectly symmetry and something about it seemed familiar. The bone structure suggested Caucasian male and before she went any further into her investigations, she checked the box for anything else. She stopped still as she saw a shiny silver screw. She had seen screws like it before. It belonged to Gormogon and he wanted her to place the skull on his masterpiece. So it was not a skull for the Jeffersonian.

Brennan immediately composed herself and started to think of all the necessary steps to take to figuring out who the skull belonged to and what to do with it. She knew she needed to contact Booth and the FBI to let them know there was more evidence for their case.

As she continued to think over all the precise steps she needed to take, she gave the skull another once over and Angela had collapsed to the ground.

Unlike Temperance, Angela had always dreaded getting packages. They were always things she didn't want to know about, such as material for Zach and Jack's insane experiments. Or as of lately, awful things from serial killers like bones or hearts. This was by far the worst package of them all.

As Brennan had turned the skull to study its back, Angela got a clear view of the front. Quickly her brain was able to pick out the markers and put a face to the skull. The ghostly image she saw superimposed on the skull simultaneously stopped and broke her heart. The sheer anguish that hit her brought her to her knees. She knew would know that bone structure anywhere.

The team had rushed by her side but she could only see Zach's face on that skull. Tears blinded her eyes but she could still clearly see Zach's face.

All of Jack's worries were justified but not in the way he thought.

Jack was at Angela first and he didn't understand what was wrong. What would affect her so?

"Ange. Ange. Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

He questioned his girlfriend over and over again. All thoughts of work and Zach banished as he saw his lover in pain.

Angela was sobbing at this point and she couldn't get full sentences out.

He did his best to sooth her, rubbing her back and holding her in an embrace as she cried and cried.

Finally she was able to say "It's Zach."

Those two simple words shattered their world. The entire team seemed to be working in slow motion as Angela's words sunk in. They all stared at the skull and comprehended the meaning of it. Time stopped and the awful news worked its way into their reality at a dead slow pace to continue the grief for what seemed forever.

Zach was not kidnapped by The Gravedigger.

It was much, much worse than that.

It was Zach. Angela knew it from the skull as if he had been standing right in front of her. The human face she gave to the skull was someone she loved dearly like a brother. He was gone. Really gone and a monster had killed him. Emotions had never been hard for Angela to express but now it seemed that was all she felt was the sorrow of knowing her friend was dead. Not just dead but murdered. He was never going to ask her questions about the female sex ever again. She'd never get to see his smile as he took the moniker of "King of the Lab." There'd be a definite hole in the heart of the team that could never be filled. She let out all the pain and agony of loss she was feeling and she didn't care who saw her.

Brennan quickly put the skull down as if it was red hot and she couldn't stand touching it any longer. It was no longer an anonymous skull. It was a remnant of one of her team. Logically she knew that a skull was a skull no matter who it had belonged to but she couldn't bring herself to touch it anymore. She knew that she should keep touching it as it could have clues but it was one story of the bones that she didn't want to know. A familiar pain had risen in her chest, an ache she hadn't felt in a really long time. Not since her parents disappeared and she was left at her first foster home; the pain of loss and caring about that loss. She did her best to put it in a box and put it away but it was too great to ignore. Her breathing became heavy and her heart pounded in her head. She could literally hear the blood flow in her head as all senses fell away and all she knew was heartache. She suddenly felt dizzy and did her best to keep standing. Temperance had no idea what to do with these sudden symptoms. All she could do was stand and stare; pushing down the onslaught of emotion that welled into her.

Cam was a forensic pathologist which meant she had an iron stomach when it came to dealing with dead bodies in all manners of decomposition. She had seen bodies turned into soup and all sorts of foulness when she worked as a cop. But this was the first time she had ever been sick. The thought of what happened to someone so close to her made her stomach cramp and suddenly she could not hold her lunch. She went to the nearest trash can and emptied the contents of her stomach. Still that did not make her feel any better as the reality of the horrors the skull told pressed her mind. She knew something had been off. She'd felt it all day. The creeping coldness that crawled under her skin when she knew something bad had happened. That something was haunting the Jeffersonian. She never thought it would be someone so close to her heart.

"Oh God. How could this happen? How could this happen to poor Zacharoni?"

Tears fell from Cam's eyes as she thought of her personal nickname for Zach. He would never eat mac and cheese for lunch ever again. It was a thought too painful to bear.

This was the worst news Jack had ever received. He held tighter onto Angela as his own tears fell for his best friend. Nothing felt safe anymore except for Angela and he didn't know what he was going to do. His house wasn't safe. Work wasn't safe. Where could he go where Gormogon or The Gravedigger couldn't get to him?

Suddenly The Gravedigger seemed the better alternative. Now there was no saving Zach. Hodgins couldn't use his genius to solve this problem. He couldn't throw money at it if his abilities failed him. There was nothing he could do as Gormogon was a psychopath. The Gravedigger could be swayed with money but Gormogon didn't want money. There was no reasoning with that type of madness. Gormogon only wanted his masterpiece. The masterpiece Gormogon had already made Zach a part of.

Jack would be damned if he was going to let his friend's remains be part of that monstrosity Gormogon called art.

Guilt tore through him as his last words to him were "Not even if you're being murdered; do not ruin this night for me. Do you understand?"

His chest ached at the thought of last night with Angela. How could such a perfect evening held such horrors? How could he say that to his best friend when he knew there were serial killers on the loose? Regret pounded through his body as Jack knew he would never tell Zach how much he meant to him.

Zach was totally still through all of this. He saw his own skull in the hands of his mentor. He saw the tears of his best friend and his lover. He saw Cam become ill at the thought of his fate.

He was surprisingly calm about it all. His first reaction to seeing his dead body was hysteria then he told himself it was a dream. When dreaming wasn't a valid option he again became somewhat hysterical but then told himself it was a delusion. Now faced with this new evidence he knew he was dead. There was no denying it any longer. The reality of it all was too much for Zach to process so he shut down emotionally. It was a comforting reaction as he's felt that way most of his life. In his death feelings were much clearer to him. But even in death, one could be overwhelmed with emotion to the point one must shut down or else be swept away; possibly never recovering.

He slowly walked out of the Jeffersonian into the nearly empty outside world. His death didn't stop the world from going on as it had been. People were still at work, toiling their lives away much as he did. It all felt so different but he knew nothing had changed with his death in the big scheme of things. What was his life among millions?

He didn't know where he was going, if anywhere. He guessed he had to wander the earth now that his Reaper was gone. He had run away from Death and now he wasn't sure what he was going to do with himself. At the moment he didn't care; he was dead. What was there to care about?

"Hey you! Dead guy."

A loud voiced shouted to him across the street. Zach turned with no emotion to where the voice was coming from. It was a natural reaction to turn one's head to a loud command even if it wasn't directed at them. But it was intriguing to Zach that the term "Dead guy" was used. His brain processed that as a command aimed at him even if he didn't feel anything in terms that someone else could see him. An hour ago that would have been a great discovery but now he couldn't make himself care at all.

Zach saw a guy in an obnoxious red jacket casually eating popcorn across the street, starting directly at him. He wasn't sure if the male was talking to him so he stared at the stranger, not sure what to do.

The male pointed at Zach and the scientist was still not totally convinced the he was talking to him. So Zach looked behind him to see if there was anyone there that the guy could be talking to. There wasn't and when he turned back the male had lost his patience and ran across the street to where Zach was standing.

"Yeah I'm talking to you."

"You can see me?"

"Heh. Yeah I can see you. Kind of hard to miss a guy with no shirt on. I'm Jerry."

Jerry had gone back to eating his popcorn and people passing casually by were giving him strange looks as it seemed to them he was talking to nothing but thin air.

"I'm dead."

The way Zach said it had the male feeling sorry for him. He's had those kind of Reaps before, where it's was actually heartbreaking to hear them accept their death.

"Come on kid, you don't belong here."

Those words cut deeper than any Zach's ever known. It was the hardest thing to accept, that he didn't belong at the Jeffersonian any longer. All Zach could do was nod and look down. He followed Jerry quietly and the Reaper wondered how Zach would do as a Reaper. The kid was as sad as sad could be. If he thought being dead was hard, how would he take having to be a civil servant to the afterlife?

The ride was silent as was the walk through the Department of Integrity building. Normally Zach would have admired the engineering that had gone into building such a structure and terrified of the unsafe conditions the elevators were in but none of it seemed to matter any longer.

Other Reapers stood and stared at the soul following Jerry. It wasn't everyday that souls came to the office, much less with no shirt on. Zach didn't notice anything he just saw the ugly carpet and wondered how dirty it was.

Jerry led Zach to Howard's office where he and Alana were waiting.

Alana could not explain how relieved she was that Zach was ok. Not that anything terrible really could have happened to him since he was already dead but she was concerned nonetheless.

She saw the vacant look in his eyes and instantly worried about him all over again.

"Hey, Zach. How're you doing?" she asked as gently as she could as she walked up to him; took his hand and led him to sit down.

"I'm dead."

It was all he said but the emotion in his voice broke her heart. It was of complete loss. Not just of his own life but everything that was in it. He lost his job, family, and friends. Everything that ever mattered to him was now gone. He didn't know his fate as a future Reaper, so he had no hope for what was to come.

Zach felt the loss throughout his whole body…or what felt like his whole body. He still wasn't sure what souls were all about and didn't know how to describe what he was feeling. Not that he ever knew to begin with. This was one of the times he wished he was normal and could identify what he was going through. He thought perhaps it would have made it all easier.

"What made you finally accept it?"

She wasn't sure why she was asking him this. He was in enough pain already but she couldn't help but want to help him. The psychiatrist in her thought that if he talked things out it would help him move on.

"Their…their faces." He swallowed hard, remembering the look on his friend's faces when Angela saw the skull. "I could never imagine that kind of hurt or anguish. Not in dreams or delusions…or anything. I could never imagine it…so it must be real."

And that was it. That was what it took Zach to accept that he was dead; nothing that could be explained or shown to him. It had to be felt through the ones he loved and left behind.

Zach took his hand and put them to his eyes, trying to hold back the tears that welled up in his eyes but he couldn't stop them from overflowing. Once the first tear dropped, then another after another fell. He couldn't stop them and at this point he wasn't going to fight it. He had been fighting things all morning and it wasn't in him to continue. He let them fall and his shoulders shook from the emotion. He's never felt this much in his life and it consumed him completely. He didn't know how to control it so he let himself ride it out. He wasn't bound by the constrictions of Asperger's any longer. He could let himself truly feel something completely.

Alana couldn't help as her own hand went to brush away his tears. No one should have to be alone at a time like that. She cupped his face and he didn't pull away from her. He went deeper into her touch because it was the only other thing that he could feel. It felt nice and comforting and it was what he needed. He had never needed hugs or human contact like he needed them that moment. He didn't struggle when Alana pulled him close and he wrapped his own arms around her, getting as much contact as he could. He didn't know why but having someone hold him while he was hurting was one of the most comforting experiences of his life…or unlife.

All Zach could do was continue to cry for all that he had lost and would never get back.

All Alana did was hold him as his tears fell, not caring that he was wetting her shirt or that Howard and Jerry were watching them. She held him and would hold him as long as he needed.

It was enough.