Thank you for everyone's patience. My husband is doing better, as is my ankle. I have some family issues I have going on as well, but I'm working hard on the last couple chapters of his arc and my next arc.
So, Angela has been revealed. What happens next?
Everyone was quiet as Angela's words reverberated throughout the empty lounge area. Booth and Aubrey gave each other another look before the latter spoke. "You've been the one sending me those inappropriate gifts with the sexually explicit messages?"
"Inappropriate and sexually explicit? You're being a bit of a prude, Aubrey." Angela shook her head when the agent's face remained hard. "Relax. Those notes were meant to be Jessica sounding cute and sexy."
"Angela, you may think they're cute and sexy, but those notes, and their contents are considered sexual harassment under FBI guidelines." Booth replied sharply. "You're lucky he didn't report them and start an official investigation"
"Quit getting over dramatic, guys." Angela chuckled. "You know that I didn't sexually harass you, Aubrey. I've also sent to nice presents to Jessica as you and I don't why they were messed with. I'd specified the cookies from Alistair's to be raspberry and blueberry only…the roses were not crushed when I bought them, and the hat wasn't supposed to say 'bitch.'. It was supposed to say—"
"Love your melon." Booth finished, satisfied that the artist was stunned into silence. "That was what it was supposed to say, right?"
"How…how did you know that Booth?" Angela stammered.
"Glad you asked, Angela." Booth turned to his wife, who pulled a set of papers out of her messenger bag. "Thanks, Bones…I have your order from the company that made the hat. I've also got your online order form for the roses, including the note you sent with them."
Brennan stood by her husband. "Booth also has your online receipt from the bakery for the cookies and a fruitcake with ingredients that matched what was in Aubrey's. There's also the receipt for Aubrey's holiday undergarment and for the coffee cup he received today as well as all of the notes accompanying the gifts."
"How…how did you get into my computer, Brennan?" Angela was shocked. "That is my property in my office-"
"That is the Jeffersonian's laptop in your issued office and I gave Booth the authorization to search your computer, Angela." Cam stated. "You know that non-lab related activities on those laptops are restricted per Jeffersonian guidelines."
"Oh, come on. Brennan works on her novels during down time and Hodgins works on his science journals. You've never cared before…"
"You're right, I haven't, but those activities are approved and are part of their work. You playing secret admirer which led to one of our interns and an FBI Liaison distress and a trip to the emergency room is not approved and part of your work."
Angela saw the serious nature on the pathologist's face. "Cam, I was just having a little fun so Aubrey and Jessica would get back together for the holidays. What's so wrong with that?"
"You sent Jess and I all these stupid gifts for a little amusement and to get us together?" Aubrey retorted in frustration. "Why?"
Angela could see Aubrey was irritated, so she put on her friendliest smile. "Aubrey, they were not stupid gifts. My plan was for you to send Jessica a beautiful bouquet and it's not my fault they were crushed before she got them. It's also not my fault that she got the wrong hat you were meant to give her and the cookies weren't my fault. You know that I wouldn't intentionally order her strawberry cookies that would make her sick. I didn't intend for her to get hurt."
"But she did get hurt, Angela and your gifts embarrassed the hell out of me. Karen and I had just reached an understanding and that inappropriate gift made me think she lied to me." Aubrey was irritated that she wasn't taking what happened seriously. "What was next in your plan? I was going to get into some sort of accident, and we were going to spend Christmas in the hospital together?"
"No. I was going to leave the last gift tomorrow on your desk and Jessica's workstation, which was an invite to a romantic dinner where you two would meet up…sparks would fly…then you would get back together." Angela crossed her arms. "You talk about doubting Karen, but you must not have been that upset with her since you boinked her at your place Saturday."
Hodgins was confused. "Angela, you said that Aubrey wasn't home when we stopped over to drop off his cookies."
"I know and I'm sorry, Hodgins. The truth is Aubrey had Karen over and I…got a little upset about it."
"A little bit upset about it…that's rich." Aubrey sarcastically responded.
Angela gave him a look before turning back to her husband. "I confronted him on his stupidity and Aubrey kicked me out. I wasn't going to leave him any Christmas cookies after that."
"Why does it matter who Aubrey is with, Angela?" Hodgins asked. "It's his business."
"Because he's meant to be with Jessica…like Booth was supposed to be with Brennan when he lived with Baghdad Barbie…"
"Leave Hannah out of this, Angela." Booth said.
Angela caught the look in Booth's eyes and wisely turned her attention back to Hodgins. "If I told you what happened, you would have gone to Aubrey to smooth things over. I mean, yes technically, he has a right to screw that shrink ho, but he's supposed to be with Jessica."
Angela waited for the agent's response but grew puzzled when he merely pulled out his phone and began dialing a number. "Who are you calling?"
"I'm Skyping the 'ho' I was with on Saturday, you know, the one who dropped her slut panties on my floor…hey, Angela is ready to talk to you." He held out his phone. "Here, Angela."
Taking the phone, she was shocked when she saw Jessica in her hospital bed. Putting the pieces together, she stammered for a moment. "Jessica…you were at Aubrey's?"
"Yeah, I'm the ho who dropped her slut panties when I grabbed my clothes and hid in Aubrey's bedroom." Jessica replied.
Angela grew red when she saw everyone's stunned and annoyed reactions. "You had to have heard Aubrey and I arguing. Why the hell didn't you say anything? Hell, why didn't you say anything today when I told you what happened…and why did you lie about going to your brother's on Saturday?"
"I heard the nasty things you said to him and decided that you didn't deserve to know. You had no right to yell at him on Saturday or no place telling me that stuff. As for me lying about my plans, you didn't need to know where I was." Jessica saw the shocked artist's face. "Oh, and Superman and I had gotten back together before your little scheme started, so you wasted your money for nothing."
Aubrey noted that the artist remained speechless. "What, Angela? Aren't you happy for us that we figured things out ourselves?"
Angela looked up. "Aubrey, why did YOU let me think it was Karen you were in bed with?!"
"Angela the nurse is coming for vitals, so I'm going to go. Have a nice night."
Jessica ended the call, and a humiliated Angela gave the device back to Aubrey. "Why should I tell you what was going on after the way you carried on in my apartment? You were the one out of line, not me."
"Fine, I'm apologizing for hurting your precious feelings, but …why did you let me make a fool of myself? Why on earth wouldn't you tell anybody you two were back together?"
Booth stepped forward. "Bones and I knew."
Shocked, Angela turned to Brennan. "Bren, you kept this from me. Why?"
Brennan didn't understand Angela's hurt attitude. "Because it wasn't my place to tell you or anyone else that Aubrey and Ms. Warren had resumed their relationship, and both expressed a wish to keep things private. The only ones who should have told you was Aubrey and Ms. Warren."
"But I'm your best friend…you tell me everything…"
"Yes, you are and yes, I do usually confide in you, but as I've just stated, they did not want you or anyone else to know, so the right thing to do was for Booth and me to respect their request." Brennan was genuinely puzzled. "Why should you be an exception to that rule? You were not a direct participant in their relationship."
Angela stiffened at the very blunt point her friend made and turned to Aubrey. "I just…why did you think you had to hide things from me? It's pretty hurtful."
Aubrey was reluctant to state what he wanted to say, but he looked at Booth, who nodded in support. "Because Angela, you mean well, but you don't know everything and just because you had a certain experience means it applies to anyone else. Jess told me that she was so frustrated with your constant advice to her about us when we were together the first time that she eventually tuned you out and turned to Karen. Her advice led her to dump me the way she did, although some of the blame was on me."
The agent saw the artist's mouth drop open. "Yes, Angela, your pushiness succeeded in pushing Jessica towards Karen and her bad advice. I know you love and care about us, but you don't know when to back the hell off and let us run our own lives."
"How can you say that?" Angela yelled back. "I'm not being pushy. I've had a lot of experiences and I'm just trying to keep my friends from making bad decisions."
"Your thoughts and experiences, such as your opinions about my relationship with Wendell, are not always called for, but you seem to think otherwise. You know, like last week when you told me I should cut back my class schedule next semester so I could be more available and supportive of Wendell."
A stunned Angela turned back to Andie. "Excuse me Andie, but he's been my friend longer than he's been your boyfriend."
"He's also your former boyfriend that you broke up with seven years ago, Angela. However, you have this weird territorial thing with him, like only you know what's best for him and that I need your help to keep him happy." The nurse bit back. "Guess what…I don't."
"My friend was upset he wasn't seeing you very often, Andie. I wanted to help him."
"I made a comment that she and I had difficulty making time for each other these last few weeks, but being the end of the semester, that's typical." Wendell didn't want to embarrass his friend, but his girlfriend had to come first. "You had no right to tell Andie that."
"Do you all feel like that? Like I'm some old lady busy body?" Angela looked around and saw her friends all watching her. "You do…it's nice to know how little my friends value my friendship."
"Angela, come on…" Wendell said. "Don't be that way."
"I will be that way, Wendell. I just want to help my friends, but no one appreciates me. That's fine. I'll just stop bothering you all." Angela went back and grabbed her purse. "Hodgins, are you ready to go home?"
"Yeah, I am." Hodgins turned to Aubrey. "Give Jessica my love, Aubrey. We'll see you soon."
"Thanks." Aubrey watched the entomologist wheel behind his wife, who was heading for the elevator. Hearing a beep, he checked his phone and saw the message. "That went well."
"Aubrey, she'll come around, all right?" Cam put her hand on his shoulder. "She got called to the carpet and she's embarrassed. It'll be fine."
"Cam's right. Angela is in the wrong and she knows it. Hopefully, you will soon get an apology from her." Booth put his arm around his friend. "I'm assuming that message you got was Jessica letting you know that she's settled in her room. Go be with her."
Aubrey told everyone good night and headed for the elevator to the 3rd floor. Getting off the elevator, he found Room 312, where Jessica was watching TV. "Hey, how are you doing?"
"All right." Jessica turned off the television. "How did it go with Angela?"
"She wasn't happy and stormed out, but Booth thinks she'll come around once she gets over the fact everyone called her out."
"Everyone?"
Aubrey took the chair by the wall and set it by the bed, sitting down in it. "Yeah. Andie called her out, and Cam said that she could be disciplined for doing personal business on her work computer…"
"OMG, they're not going to fire her, are they?" Jessica's eyes grew larger. "You know she wasn't intending to sexually harass you, right Aubrey?"
"I know she wasn't, but Booth says I have to document what happened and give a report to Cam. She won't fire her, though." Aubrey was quiet for a moment before coming some of Jessica's hair back from her forehead. "You scared the hell out of me today, Jess."
"I scared you?" the redhead chuckled. "I haven't had to use an Epi-Pen in years. I should have been more careful with the cookies."
"Jess, the order form said raspberry and blueberry. It's like you said, it was probably grabbed by accident. Angela didn't think of telling them that you were allergic. I don't know if I would have thought to say anything."
Jessica sighed as she looked at the agent. "Are you okay I told her about us already being back together? I was only going to confront her about calling me a ho, but I was so mad at her for yelling at you and tattling to me about it."
Aubrey smiled and held her hand. "Yeah, I'm good with that. If we get anymore unsolicited advice, we will just walk away."
Jessica squeezed his hand back. "Aubrey, do you really want to spend the night with me?"
The agent heard the tone in her voice and knew what she was really asking. "Jessica, when I was stuck out in the waiting room wondering what was happening to you, and when you had that second attack a few hours ago, the only thing I kept coming back to was…if you for some reason you didn't make it, I would never see you again."
"I was thinking the same thing when they started giving me all those steroids. I was scared…"
"I'm really, really scared about what's coming next, but I think, if we're going to take a chance, let's do it together. I think that would be the best Christmas gift we can give each other, you know?"
Jessica visibly relaxed. "So, you're spending the night with me…what about tomorrow?"
Aubrey kissed her forehead. "If it's acceptable to you, Ms. Warren…I would like to spend tomorrow night with you, too because I don't want to drive home in the snow."
"Brat!" The redhead smacked his arm before the couple shared a small kiss. As they let go, Jessica began to yawn. "I'm getting sleepy."
"Well, that's not surprising." Aubrey stood up. "I'm going to go downstairs and grab my go bag quick from my SUV and I'll be right back."
"Okay. I'll wait up for you, Superman." The redhead muttered sleepily before she fell asleep.
Aubrey watched as her eyes closed. Kissing her one more time, he quietly walked out, and after letting the nurse know he'd be right back, headed back to the elevator, smiling.
This Christmas was going to be the best one ever.
Next chapter...Christmas!
