Chapter 6

Dr Camille Saroyan was annoyed, she had tons of paperwork, she didn't have her coffee yet and they didn't have a case to focus on, so all she could do all day in the office is go through hays of bureaucracy. Not that she completely hated it, she loved her job and she loved being a boss, but usually she had a few distractions during the day, like coffee and small gossip with Angela or some weird conversation with Dr Brennan or one of Hodgins's experiments.

But today she was on her own and it bothered her, it reminded her of the time when all her friends left and she was on her own, underfunded, bored and lonely. Of course, the situation was different now. Angela was on her six-week maternity leave, Dr Hodgins was supposed to stop by for a few hours, but since they didn't have an active case, Cam knew that he will arrive much later today than usual, which was fine, given a new baby and all.

What was odd and surprising that Dr Brennan requested a week off, of course Cam couldn't find any reason to refuse, since Dr Brennan had so many unused vacation and sick days she can easily take a few years off. But this was unusual, to say the least. When Brennan made a request, Cam was very tempted to ask her why, but the professionalism in her won and she decided to give Brennan her space, if she wants to, she will share it later. Cam knew that underneath this stone-cold exterior, her friend was quite sensitive and perhaps she just needed time to get over Vincent's death, God knows, Cam was still struggling herself. She just hoped that it won't provoke another escape and things won't fall apart again.

She briefly considered to call Seeley and ask if he knew what was going with Dr Brennan, but decided against it. Maybe Brennan didn't want to involve Booth in whatever was going with her. Of course, they were close, extremely close, they had this weird symbiotic relationship, filled with anguish and love and something else that was preventing them truly commit to each other in all the aspects, but then again, it was none of Cam's business. She loved both of them, but she knew that relationships were complicated and she wasn't in a position to give advices on the matter.

It was after midday, when a new body arrived. They finally had a case. She called Hodgins who promised that he was already on his way and left to meet the body and Booth who was undoubtedly there, all ready to take on another bad guy, maybe Sweets will stop by as well. She was sure that Booth would be cranky because his partner wasn't here today, but it would be still good to see him. When Cam reached the platform, she immediately noticed Sweets talking quietly with some vaguely familiar young agent, her name was Shaw or something like that and she was working with Booth. Clark, who took over while Brennan was away, was already unwrapping the body.

'Hey, Sweets, Clark, what are we having here?' asked Cam and then turned to the young agent. 'Hello, my name is Dr Saroyan I don't believe we officially met.'

'It's a pleasure to meet you, I am Agent Shaw.'

'Not that I am against new blood, but where is Booth?' asked Cam looking at Sweets, if anybody knew that would be the shrink.

'Agent Booth requested a week off,' said Sweets blushing a little. Boy, he was a very bad liar, something was definitely up. Both Brennan and Booth away at the same time, were they assigned some special case and Cam wasn't informed? 'He has some things to…emh work through.'

'OK, and does this thing has something to do with Dr Brennan's absence?' asked Cam carefully.

'What? No, no, why would you think that?' Sweets's voice now was very high, before Cam could press forward the door opened and Hodgins marched in, he looked exhausted but happy. A new father.

'Sorry, sorry, Michael Vincent wouldn't let us sleep last night, like at all, I promise I will check on particulars immediately, but I can't work very late today, hopefully this one will be easy.'

'Well, from what I see, it could be an accident,' said Clark. 'But I would prefer Dr Brennan to look into this particular fracture to make an assessment.'

'It is all up to you Clark, Dr Brennan will not be here until next week, I will run a tox screen on this part, it looks like a piece of liver, maybe this will help us.'

'Is everything all right?' asked Clark frowning slightly.

'It would appear so, but Dr Brennan asked for a week off, which is a bit unusual, but well, Vincent's death was a lot for all of us.'

'I am pretty sure it has nothing to do with that,' laughed Sweets nervously and everybody glanced at him. 'I mean it does, but there is definitely more to it.'

'What do you know?' asked Cam now completely ignoring the corpse and Clark's disapproving gaze, he hated the work gossip.

'I am not sure I can talk about it…' mumbled Sweets.

'Is it because Dr B and Booth took a vacation together?' asked Hodgins smirking slightly.

'Excuse me?' yelped Cam.

'What?' Clark quacked at the same time.

'Yeah, he and Dr B decided to go to Atlantic city, to…how do I put it, to connect on a new level, if you know what I mean.'

'How do you know that?' asked Sweets.

'I've known for awhile,' shrugged Hodgins looking at the screen already focusing on the work, he turned back noticing all the eyes on him. 'Hey, don't look at me, I wanted to tell everybody the minute I found out, but Ange made me promise not to babble about it, you know how Dr B is. But now that they took a vacation together, I guess it's all out.'

'Let me get this straight,' Cam really wished Angela was here or Seeley, she needed details! 'Are you saying what I think you are saying?'

'If you think I am saying that Booth and Dr B finally became an official couple, then yes,' nodded Hodgins. 'Hey, look at this, Cam it appears that…'

'No, no, no,' interrupted Clark. 'Hodgins, you can't just say something like that and then change the subject to bugs!'

'I agree!' nodded Cam. Sweets, on the other hand, decided to give his shrinky speech.

'Hey, guys, we shouldn't make a big deal of this, Dr Brennan and Agent Booth are extremely private when it comes to their personal lives and the fact that they finally took a new step in their partnership is sure a significant event, but we are their friends and need to respect their privacy.'

'How long have you known?' asked Hodgins.

'Just a few days, the Bureau asked me to do evaluation if they can keep working together, of course Dr Brennan made a firm….ehm request, but they still need an official assessment from me.'

'And what will you say?' inquired Clark.

'Well, from what I observed over the years, not many things will change. Their deep emotional attachment was formed a long time ago, even before I became their therapist, the only thing was missing was the actual sexual…'

'Can you please just cut to the chase, instead of discussing our friends' sex life?' smiled Cam uncomfortably, she did not need these kind of images in her head.

'They will be fine, that what my report is going to reflect. And I think it's a great idea they took some time off together.'

'I concur, they sure deserve it,' smiled Cam. 'But it's a great news and here we were thinking it was never going to happen.'

'They sure did take their sweet time,' agreed Hodgins.

'But how long have they actually been together now?' inquired Clark.

'From what Ange told me, they got together the night Vincent was killed. So about a month.'

'Wow, talking about drama,' sighed Cam. 'But it kind of makes sense if you think about it…Anyway, as fun as it is to gossip, we have a body to work with, Dr Edison, please let me know when you find something…'