"Do you have the injury on an X-ray?" Brennan asked Vincent. Through his debilitating heartache, he was attempting to focus his energy on scrutinizing the bones to find any another anomalies that could help with the investigation, and to his pleasure he managed to notice something peculiar about the victim's unhealed fracture.
"Looks like a small rock," Brennan noted while carefully analyzing at the fracture on the screen.
"Oh!" The mention of rock triggered a jolt in his fast-paced brain as he jabbed Brennan with his pen to get her attention. "Rock was the subject of my only disputed Jeopardy answer."
Brennan turned around with a frown. Unlike Cam, she was not focused on keeping her composure. "Is this relevant, Mr. Nigel-Murray?"
"The category was 'Famous Jameses,'" He continued, unphased by her annoyed expression and dwindling patience. "The question: 'He is widely considered the best rock guitarist of all time.' So, obviously, my answer: 'Who is Jimmy Page?' But no! The response they're looking for- 'Who is Jimi Hendrix?'" His expressive eyes seemed to widen in frustration with every syllable.
"Mr. Nigel-Murray-" She was beginning to grit her teeth in frustration.
"I know! I know, Jimi Hendrix! Okay, first of all, Jimmy Page is a better musician. That's a fact! And Jimi Hendrix's birth name is Johnny so-so he doesn't even fit into the category! L-like how on earth and I suppose to consider an answer when it's not even in the category! The world honestly can't expect me to be quite so intuitive, I am no mind reader! It's like—"
"Mr. Nigel-Murray, I suspect that this passionate—albeit irrelevant—anger over a rock called Jimi Hendrix is somehow...unrelated to a disputed trivia answer." She asserted as his expressive hands stopped in mid-air.
"E-excuse me, Dr. Brennan?" His active face became void of excitement or frustration as he stood there, dumfounded at her shift.
"I do not believe in wasting precious work time on personal issues—especially with those of my interns—but when I suspect that they could be hampering one's focus and temperament, I believe it might be cause to...intervene." She typically prided herself on her cold and reserved approach, but there was always some part of her that sympathized with Vincent the most out of all of her interns. He wasn't stingy, or too hyper, or moody, and she actually found that she could relate to him the best.
"O-Oh, no, no personal conflicts here." He playfully waved his pen around his head as his mood calmed down. It was a lie, sure, but he did not revel in the idea of exposing his innermost insecurities and turmoil to the distant Dr. Brennan. "F-fun fact; Switzerland eats the most chocolate of any country, equating to 10 kilos-"
"While many have noted my poor ability to register emotional cues, I would postulate that you aren't being entirely honest with me and are attempting to distract me from the topic at hand." Though relatively soft, her light-green eyes were digging into him. "You're taking issue with...Dr. Saroyan, aren't you?"
Vincent sweated nervously at the mere mention of her name. "I-I suppose that I am, but of course you know everything that happened on that front…" He acknowledged while nervously turning his gaze away from her.
The look on his face brought a tense, sad expression on her own. "Though I often feel that you and I share similar personalities, I would also say that Dr. Saroyan and I are also very similar. We certainly have our differences, but we are both working women of science before anything else." Registering her uncharacteristically sympathetic expression, he felt a churning in his nerves to pay attention.
"When someone that we care about attempts to supersede that barrier, we may feel off balanced and possibly react in a way we don't intend to…" She trailed off as she felt her own emotions building, her own heartache bubbling to the surface.
He slowly nodded as he felt the full weight the emotional shift. He could register where she was coming from, and it was from a place not unlike his own, though he didn't press her on it and allowed her to continue.
"We may initially think that it is from a sense of annoyance or protocol, but it's deeper than that, Mr. Nigel-Murray." The palpable emotion was a surprise to both of them though it was not entirely unwarranted.
"I think I understand now, Dr. Brennan." He gave her a hopeful smile. A part of him wanted to give her a comforting touch on the arm as he saw a shine develop in her eyes, but he resided himself not to push at the emotional allowance any more than she already had.
It hadn't been really about the drinking or the public humiliation, not entirely anyway. He had managed to disrupt something deeper and more delicate that truly couldn't be mended by a flurry of voicemails, it had been Cam's sense of self.
"What do you want now?" Cam complained from across Sweets, though she wasn't giving to a full sit and was choosing to stand as some kind of power move.
"Please, Dr. Saroyan, sit down." Sweets tried to coax Cam with his most sincere yet professional tone. "Just a while ago, Hodgins had something pretty interesting to tell me about you and Michelle."
Cam's face tensed in panic but she tried to tone it down the best she could.
"He said that he actually saw you writing her college essays for her, quite feverishly, if I might add. Academic dishonesty aside, didn't she already tell you that she was going to a state school and wasn't going to apply anywhere else?" He left the spot open for her to chime in with her flurry of parental guilt.
"Dr. Sweets, Michelle is a teenage girl in love and she had no idea what she wants or what's best for her." She caved and allowed herself to sit, but still with some reservation. There truly were no boundaries between personal and professional in their workplace, she thought bitterly.
"And you just so happen to know what's best for her life?" He questioned smoothly with a phrasing thick with intent and accusation.
"Yes! While I love her, I am an adult woman which makes my judgement and demeanor much sounder than hers." She asserted. This rally of questioning was only managing to agitate her anger further. Was everyone truly out to get her today?
He sunk down into his arm chair, letting the psychological irony wash over him. "Interesting…" There was some side of him that was enjoying this interrogation against her cutting tone. "Because I, along with some of your colleagues, would argue that you yourself don't know what's best for you nor what you want."
Her eyes narrowed in annoyance and she crossed her arms defensively. She wanted her feelings to exist inside a vacuum, unknown to everyone else and exist entirely her own. "Was this just some kind of ploy to get me to talk about Vincent because Angela, Booth, and everyone's mother has already tried that."
"Ah!" Sweets sat up, almost giddy in excitement. "That's interesting that your mind immediately went to Vincent. Considering his adventures in Jeopardy and more, well, explicit adventures in Thailand he still proves to be a source of conflicting emotions for you."
"Well, o-of course it is…" Cam offered stiffly. "But this is about Michelle and I, not my whatever with him. Simply because everyone knows about it doesn't mean that everyone has a right to talk to me about it."
"Y'know, Dr. Brennan claims that she was the first to notice your guys' relationship but I swear, I just knew that day when you came into my office!" He allowed himself to absorb this psychological triumph. "Oh! You know what everyone has been dying to know; does he still ramble about facts when you two are-" Her face tensed in anger at this, forbidding Sweets from prodding any further.
"Ok! Ok! Sorry…" Eyes wide in panic, he retreated and sunk back into his chair. "Just let me say this, alright?"
She nodded, though still with a lingering sense of irritation.
"I would say that there is a part of you that resents Michelle's unabashed love for her boyfriend. She knows that she loves him, she knows that she wants to go to school with him. You, on the other hand, are in a much more uncertain place, and you may even long for the certainly that Michelle places in her boyfriend. Instead of allowing yourself to really be in this relationship with Vincent you're overthinking things, feeling insecure, and taking out your jealously on him."
"But I," Cam began, though still at a loss for words following his statement. "I don't hate him. It's...complicated. It just took a lot for me to allow myself to be with him, and I didn't understand that at the time." Her body language caved inwardly. This was one of those unsettling moments of weakness that she couldn't even handle admitting to anyone, not even to herself.
"How would he know that if you don't tell him?" Sweets asked with his hand against his chin in thought. The familiar phrase hit her hard and unleashed a pounding in her head and her heart. Her mind—scattered and fevered—stirred up the image of his sad, blue eyes, delicate mouth, soft nose, and expressive eyebrows. It had been a compelling and wrenching sight that time he had kissed her out of comfort, maybe even before that, and it still was now.
"I have bubbles to analyze, Dr. Sweets." She quickly stood up to leave without waiting for him to protest.
In the elevator, Cam considered her limited and sometimes frigid heart. Like Brennan, she longed to keep it closed and contained to ward off distracting and potentially harmful invaders. But unlike Brennan, she had managed to let someone in—several someones actually over the past few years—without really noticing it. This was a risk for her reasoned brain, but for her churning heart, it just might be a risk she had to take.
An inexplicable magnetism carried Vincent to the sitting area of the catwalk. Someone like Angela or Booth would argue it was fate and stemmed his connection to this particular place in the lab and to her; Dr. Brennan would claim that it was simply his fallible emotions trying to make up a reason for why he wanted to sit and think here. And what would Cam say? Well, she was in the middle, "undecided" about everything.
He simply needed someplace free of distraction, feet firmly planted on the ground to try and absorb the chaos of his racing mind. His wandering senses fell onto the glittering sunset that had started to glow behind the glass ceilings of the lab. Maybe he wasn't mature enough for this and his passionate sense of youth fooled him into believing that he was. He could have deep feelings for another person, but that didn't apply to being able to understand what the other person was feeling. One could focus all of this time and emotion, fantasize and pine for a real life together all they wanted. This didn't qualify as truly knowing them, though, and it didn't forgive him for what he did to her either.
His untrained eyes fluttered from the warm glow of setting sun to the glint of pink and orange in a familiar set of soft, brown eyes.
"Camille! C-Cam, urm, Dr. Saroyan." His uncoordinated body sprung up when Cam's presence caught him by surprise.
"No no, you can sit, Vincent. I-I think it'd prefer it, actually." His jumpy limbs were typically very cute, but now they were only making her more nervous. She reached out a hand to his chest to settle him, and the contact—though small—made them both jump a bit.
Sitting down next to her, a lump of consternation grew in his throat. Being so close to her he just wanted to hold her and beg for her for her forgiveness, but he forced himself to fester in his mistake and regret.
"I'm sorry about-" They both began at the same time which brought on a stiff laugh from both of them. Vincent nervously reached at his collar. "Y-you can go ahead." His numb muscles pulled together to form a shaky smile.
Cam took a sharp intake of breath with her hands firmly planted on her legs for support. "That night when I showed up at your apartment?" She asked, tentatively given the sensitive territory.
He nodded with a blush across his cheeks. "I remember, yes." A smile crept along his mouth when that night came to mind, but he tried to stay mature and can it.
"I thought that it was all just about the whole, workplace issue, but I ended up…feeling a lot more than I had comfortably bargained for that night, and I wasn't willing to admit that. During the farewell party, I was embarrassed to have given you so much of myself and as a result didn't act in the fairest way." There was a whirring behind her eyes, a lightness in her lungs as a reaction to her vulnerability. "It wasn't about the puking, or the break-up, or even your leaving for Jeopardy, it was...more than that, I think."
"I know…" He trailed off, kneading his delicate hands in his lap. He felt too ashamed to look at her. "But I still shouldn't have let the bloody hooch ruin everything and make it seem like I didn't appreciate your sacrifice, or that I didn't feel as strongly." He took a second to control his breathing. "and-and I shouldn't have escaped to Jeopardy and Thailand; I shouldn't have abandoned you along with everyone else."
"But you had to get over me, I understand that…" She provided, softly. She truly didn't like being reminded of the idea that he not only had all of these exciting experiences away from her, and also the annoying fact that he had proudly canoodled with who knew how many women.
"I didn't, though, that's the thing." Quickly, he sputtered defensively. "I will admit, I attempted to find comfort elsewhere, but I-I backed out every time. I know I sensationalized it a tad to Hodgins, and I only did so just so him and everybody else would think that I was okay and unbothered. But truthfully…it just felt so shallow and-and wrong to be that close with anyone else." He now allowed himself to gaze at her with his brilliant eyes, trying to understand the veiled motive behind her equally brilliant, equally sad ones.
Cam's throat constricted and more warm blood rushed to her face. She had expected that he would be exhausted by her mean behavior—it was what she deserved and all—not an outpour of this intensity and warmth. A small strand of hair fell free of her up-do, but she was too struck by his words to tuck it away.
"But now after gaining some 'insight,' I can quite understand if you can't be with someone who isn't mature enough to understand and respect reservations like that. I-I truly won't hold that against you." Like Brennan, he was choosing to retreat away from his affection, away from what he truly wanted for some kind of greater good.
"Mature enough? No," Cam sat closer to him with a more relaxed posture now. "I can understand if you don't want to be with someone who is too rigid to full accept your…feelings." She offered sympathetically. This was yet another unexpected turn that the conversation was taking.
Vincent's eyes widened and he gave a soft chuckle. "Well," Chin in his palm, he turned closer to her. He lazily, but gently, let his forefinger graze her knee. "If I'm too good for you, and you're too good for me then, what does that mean?"
Considering the glint of pink and orange in his own eyes, she smiled. "I guess we're just right." Gingerly, she placed her hand over his that rested on her knee. She just allowed herself to hold him each other there in a place of pure admiration and care.
He carefully leaned in, fully aware now, and reached for the stray hair gentle hung near her face with the hand that had been holding his chin. Their faces were almost touching as this new, better reality fell around them. The first time they had been this close, in this same place, the air was one of intimacy but colored with a sense of trepidation and unfamiliarity. Now, it was one of complete assurance.
Tucking it behind her ear, he let his delicate palm remain against her cheek, and savoring the fizz in his nerves when he really felt the softness of her face. He always considered that the first time he gave her that electric fizz had been when he saw her with her hair in the autopsy room. But no, that feeling was far more explicit and was more conscious than what he felt now.
This raw feeling Vincent was experiencing had a more implicit origin; it was the very first time she had singled him out. His palm fully resting on her knee now, he recalled the moment after he had finished his first case. He had politely begged Cam to get him out of the internship since he was so turned off by Dr. Brennan's coldness, but as he was about to leave she called him, with her winning smile, "Vinodelectable," and it had sent such a rush to his system that the next day he hurriedly withdrew his request to cancel his internship. All he wanted was to make her smile that that again, and now he was truly grateful that he had returned to do just that.
"Did you know that it's absolutely impossible to kiss your own elbow?"
Cam smiled at this and rolled her eyes in the 'oh you' manner and gingerly tilted her head to finally to kiss him, allowing herself to feel the full weight of their closness now.
It was how he could never falter in making her smile, and how much her smile captivated him and left him completely stupefied in its beauty. Nothing could make him ache as much as her long, flowing hair did; and nothing could make her as doe-eyed and breathless as his beautiful cobalt eyes could. These unsuspecting feelings and others had manifested themselves into something that was almost electric, yet undefinable at the same time.
He had wanted to do better, and so did she. They were many reasons why they theoretically shouldn't be sharing such deep feelings and emotion, though the buzzing feeling of attraction between them didn't care about those flimsy theoretical ideas.
The moment that you tell them's the end of where you're at
And once it's set in motion you will not be looking back
And what they thought was perfect and what they thought was fact
Will uncover a beauty that they never could expect
"Under Wraps," Her's
Author's Note: AH it's so cliché, making up by sunset, but gah I love it.
BIG thank you to everyone who has taken their time to read this crazy story, especially to FictionWriter91 for reviewing every chapter!
I definitely don't think I'm done writing about these two; I'm actually planning on writing a sequel to Sweet Wine to Vinegar and may write one or two AU short stories!
Oh, what could've been. ~~