TITLE: Second Chances
CHAPTER TWO: Stay Awhile
SPOILERS: "The Skull in the Desert"
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This wasn't proofread particularly well by me seeing as how I was excited to get another chapter up, so apologies for any and all typos. Hopefully they won't distract from the Hodgela-ness ;)

Hodgins and Angela were silent on the way to her apartment. She had turned her face toward the window and leaned her head on the passenger seat while Hodgins stared straight ahead, pretending to focus on his driving -- though really he was thinking of her. When they pulled up to her building, he finally spoke. "Alright, here we are. Need me to carry you up?" A smirk curled his lips and he turned to look at her.

She was fast asleep, curled against the passenger seat with dried tear tracks on her face. Hodgins smiled sympathetically -- even a bit lovingly as no one was around to see him do this -- before he shook his head and restarted the car. Without knowing where her key was, or without knowing her security code, he had no way of getting her to her apartment without waking her. And he knew she needed her rest, as she probably hadn't gotten any while Kirk was missing.

So he took her back to his mansion, bypassing the garage as well as the tennis courts and the pond, pulling up to the main house instead. He cut the engine and jumped out as quietly as he could, jogging up the steps to punch in his security code and open the front door before going back for Angela. He opened the passenger door and considered his options -- he could wake her regretfully, or...

"I got it," he whispered to himself while carefully reaching across her to unbuckle her seatbelt.

He stealthily slid one arm under her knees while wrapping the other around her back, scooping her out of the car. She stirred, but only slightly, and buried her face in his neck while she draped her arms around his shoulders. After carefully kicking the passenger door shut with his foot, he carried her up the front steps and through the open front door, deciding to leave her bags in the car for the time-being.

Hodgins nodded a greeting at his housekeeper, who was wearing a surprised expression while eyeing the woman in his arms. He smiled sheepishly. "My friend, Angela," he explained.

The short, salt-and-pepper-haired woman smiled widely. "Are you sure she's not more than a friend, Jackie?"

He chuckled. "It's a long story, Rosalie. For right now, I have to get her up to the master bedroom so she can rest."

She nodded. "As you wish." As she headed out of the room, she gave him a wink. "But I'll be pressing for details later."

He chuckled once more. "You got it."

Angela blinked slowly, trying to assimilate herself to the unfamiliar surroundings. She reached up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, looking around for a clock as she wondered how long she'd been out. The digital alarm clock on the nearby mahogany nightstand displayed a garish red 4:38, and Angela groaned, flopping back against the plush pillows as she wondered just where the hell she was.

The last thing she remembered was Hodgins agreeing to drive her home after she'd struggled with him, and then cried all over him, in her office. Just a few minutes after they'd pulled out of the parking structure at the Jeffersonian, however, it went hazy.

And now she found herself on her back on a king-sized, four-poster mahogany bed, staring up at a canopy that could only be classified as a mixture of the colors champagne and gold. She looked down and found the satin sheets to be the same color. She frowned to herself again and her eyes panned around the room -- the warm tones of the walls, the extravagant fixtures -- and she gasped when she looked to the left and saw the beautiful balcony beyond opened French doors, complete with brick-red Mexican tile and high, adobe-looking walls rimmed by wrought iron.

Angela sat up and made her way toward the glass doors, inhaling deeply when the spring breeze caressed her and ruffled the champagne-colored curtains. She stepped out onto the balcony and took a look around, unable to stop her eyes from widening at the sight.

Below her was a beautiful sparkling pool with an infinity edge that looked out upon the foliage beyond the house -- mansion, she silently amended. Mansion.

And then she suddenly knew where she was. Her suspicions were confirmed when, just as she moved to turn around, his voice behind her made her jump. "Hey."

She spun on her heel and met Hodgins' eyes, slightly amused that they were watching her hair flick around her shoulders. "Hi."

His blue eyes raised to hers, assessing her silently before he asked, "Sleep well?"

Angela nodded, and rubbed the back of her neck -- a nervous habit. "Yeah. Yeah, I did." She averted her eyes to the Mexican tile beneath her feet briefly, her brain still a little fuzzy as she asked, "Um, what... exactly... am I doing here?"

"Oh." He exhaled a chuckle and displayed two perfectly-aligned rows of white teeth as he did so. "Sorry. I uh, I brought you here. I didn't want to wake you at your place to ask for your keys."

"Oh," she echoed his previous statement, wondering absently when the sight of his smile started to do things to her stomach. "Thanks. You really didn't have to do that. I wouldn't have hit you or anything for waking me up."

"I know, but... you needed your sleep."

Memories of his incessant badgering in her office came back to her, and she rolled her eyes. Moment over, she brushed past him to go back into the bedroom. "I told you, I'm not an invalid."

"I'm still well aware of that," he intoned in an almost patronizing fashion. "But I'm also aware of the fact that, knowing you, you probably haven't slept more than a few hours in the past several days."

Angela stopped at the bed, her back still turned to her companion. It struck her that she'd never realized before how well he knew her at times. "I should probably get home, Jack." She turned to face him again, putting on a brave smile that she didn't feel past her lips. "I really appreciate you allowing me to nap here for a bit."

"Actually, dinner's almost ready. I was thinking you could stay while longer, if that's alright with you."

She drew in a deep breath through her nose and sighed it out. "Look... I know you're trying to help, but I really--"

"Would you stay if I promised not to bug you about... y'know...?" Hodgins tilted his head side to side in a silent indication that there was more to his sentence he'd rather leave unsaid.

Angela saw the look in his eyes and recognized it as being very near to desperation... but about what? And she nodded. "Sure. I'll stay."

TBC

MORE AUTHOR'S NOTES: Thanks to all those that reviewed the first chapter, whether you wanted a continuation or not -- the muse seemed to want a continuation. And thanks to those that left suggestions on where to go with it -- you've all seemed to come to a consensus as far as pacing goes, and I'm right there with you ;)

To SleepDeprived07 goes a special thank you (and a couple shirtless Hodginses) for constant muse-stimulation and always witty banter :D