A/N: I ran out of time for a full-fledged update on a Bones-less Bones Day but I wanted to finish this episode off. Thanks for all the reviews. I'll update soon.
-Gum :)
Cryptic Interlude
For some reason it didn't surprise her to meet Micah as he was going off duty when she went into the lab the next morning. He and Booth met, shook hands, and parted with Booth excusing himself to talk with Hodgins.
"How'd it work out?" Micah asked as lab personnel milled around them.
" I listened to the universe. I felt something." Brennan's voice was softer than usual, "I'm happy, but I'm also sad."
"That's so much better than dead," his easy smiled quelled the nerves that still hadn't settled. "Or even dead inside."
She tilted her chin, regarding him, "You hear that in a lecture?"
"I got my own story, Dr. Brennan," Micah told her. "Just like you. Just like everybody. I got my own sad story"
A look of understanding passed between the two of them and he gave her the smallest of smiles before going his own way. Brennan watched him slip the sliding glass doors and disappear, then walked back to her own office. The case file she'd so hastily discarded last night on her way out the door was on her desk and she picked up the picture of Lauren Eames. This time, she didn't see nearly as many similarities as she had for the past several days and she sighed in quiet relief as she tucked it back in the file and sat down at her desk.
There was a soft rap just before Booth appeared in the doorway.
"I should head over to the Hoover," he said. "Break it to Caroline that there's no bad guy to prosecute."
"Hodgins didn't find any car paint particulates?" she deduced.
Booth shook his head and shrugged, "It was worth a shot, at least."
Brennan nodded, accepting the quick kiss he offered and shooing him out, claiming she had work to do. When the door shut behind him, she picked up the lone sheet of paper on her desk and fingering it lightly, her eyes alternating between the paper and the door. "Three days," she whispered to the empty room. "Three days for the world to turn right side up again."