Author's note: Guess what? I'm wearing my Wicked shirt! hums "Defying Gravity"
Disclaimer: It's a safe bet that since I wore this shirt yesterday, I'm not making any money off of this (or any other) story.
"…any particulates you might be able to find. And Ange, I need the face as soon as possible. Let's give this girl a name, hmm?" Brennan was back at the lab, with the feet and skull laid out on the table next to a large box.
Zach indicated the box, "And what about the pieces from the bomb?"
"I'm not the one who called 911! I don't want this publicized any more than you do!" Booth was currently on his cell phone in Brennan's office, presumably talking with his supervisor.
Brennan glanced in the direction of her office before answering, "Those, I will be sifting through myself. When you're done with the skull and feet, you can come help."
"Angry? No! I love it when people try to blow me up!"
Zach picked up the feet and left the room while Hodgins picked up the skull and followed Angela out. Brennan broke the seal on the evidence box and peered inside, then turned the box on its side and spread the contents out on the table. She noticed that the yelling had stopped, and she turned to check on Booth. He was pacing her office in silence, jaw clenched and fists flexing and un-flexing.
She turned back to her work. A few minutes passed before she heard his footsteps coming right behind her. She didn't look up as she asked, "Did they see your point?"
He gave an amused grunt and shook his head despite the fact that she couldn't see. He asked her, "Why did they send the bomb pieces to your lab?"
"They didn't. Just what was in the bomb. They're teeth."
"Ah."
He watched her work in silence for awhile, then got bored and walked out the door. She didn't seem to notice. Two minutes later, he came back in the lab. He glanced over at Brennan, who was now scrolling through pictures of teeth on her laptop, trying to match the samples that had been left behind from the explosion.
He walked into her office and opened the disc compartment on her stereo. He placed Mozart in its case and popped in the borrowed CD. A couple seconds of whirring, then crashing orchestrals emanated from the speakers.
Temperance paused in her study, opened her mouth to yell, then reconsidered scolding Booth for touching her precious stereo without her permission. She just hoped he'd had the decency to file Mozart back in the right place.
Booth tossed the Mozart case on the shelf next to the stereo and skipped through the songs they'd already listened to in the car. He stopped on track 10.
"I AM A SENTIMENTAL MAN…"
"We already listened to that one."
Booth jumped at the voice. He hadn't heard Tempe come into her office, but she was standing right behind him.
"We had just started listening to 11," she continued, reaching around him and pushing the skip button on the stereo.
"Elphaba—why couldn't you have stayed calm for once, instead of flying off the handle!
I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY
I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY NOW…"
He turned and tossed her a sarcastic smile to match her smug expression. She turned and walked out of the office, but then tossed over her shoulder, "By the way, I've identified the teeth."
He nodded to himself, then followed her out, leaving the stereo playing.
"SO THOUGH I CAN'T IMAGINE HOW
I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY…
RIGHT…
NOW…"
Angela, Hodgins, and Zach had all gathered around the remnants of the explosive when Booth walked up to the table. Brennan had separated the contents into three different piles of teeth and one pile of extra scrap.
"Okay, from what I can tell, this was not meant to be a devastating explosion," Brennan explained when they were all there. "Just a small-scale pipe bomb containing teeth."
"Any human?" Booth asked.
"No," she answered. "They come from three different animals, hence the three piles of teeth. I matched them up as best I could, and came up with panthera leo, panthera tigris altaica, and ursus americanus."
"Oh, my!" Hodgins said. Brennan gave him a strange look, Zach rolled his eyes, and Angela laughed. Booth looked contemplative for a second, then also burst out laughing.
Tempe shook her head in confusion and said, "I'm sure I've missed something."
Hodgins look at her in amazement and said, "You mean you haven't seen The Wizard of—"
"Okay," Booth interrupted, "so we've got lions, and tigers, and bears—"
"Oh, my," intoned Hodgins, Angela, and Zach.
Booth winked at the trio and continued, "But is there anything else that we have to work with?"
Tempe, still looking mildly confused, said, "Uh, no, not until we know more about the pieces of the bomb that your guys have."
"In that case," Booth said to her, "we're gonna go get you an education."
He grabbed her hand and pulled her in the direction of her office. "Wait, what do you mean? I had an excellent education! Booth, what am I being educated on?"
He had pulled her into her office and over to the stereo. He waved the Wicked CD case in front of her and pressed STOP on the stereo.
"I'M THROUGH ACCEPTING LIMITS
'CAUSE SOMEONE SAYS TH—"
He replaced the disc in its case, then grabbed her hand once more and pulled her out the door.
Once in the car, Brennan made to put the CD back in the player, but Booth instead said, "Hang on, I wanna hear if our case is on news radio yet." He hit the radio preset and they listened.
"—minor explosion. Charles Dawes, our local correspondent, is on the scene with Dr. Crowe, head partner at the office and witness to the event. Charles?"
"Thanks, Dana. I'm here with Dr. Crowe at his clinic—"
"So why is publicity for the case a bad thing?" Brennan asked.
"Because nine times outta ten, the guy doing these things wants the attention, and when he gets it, he usually steps up his efforts." Booth was clenching his jaw again.
"You know that wears down your back molars and causes tearing in the jaw muscles, right?" Tempe said levelly, looking out the window.
He just grunted.
Five minutes later, he was pulling the sedan into the parking lot of a Blockbuster.
"What are we doing here? We have a case," Brennan said.
"Research. I told you, we're getting you an education," Booth answered matter-of-factly.
"Booth, I don't want to watch The Wizard of Oz," she whined. "Can't I just read the Cliff's Notes?"
"I'm surprised you're familiar with Cliff's Notes. I'm not surprised, however, that you don't know they're only for boring books, and not for great movies."
"Regardless of the purpose of Cliff's Notes, I still don't want to watch a movie. We should get back to the lab and run some more tests on the bones."
"Yeah? What kinda tests?" Booth asked as he ushered her inside.
"Well, there's…all kinds of tests," she said lamely.
"Yes, well, while you think of some, we can go retrieve the broomstick."
He jaunted towards the musicals section while she mumbled to herself, "I don't know what that means."
Since Brennan was without a television, Booth convinced her that the best place to watch the movie would be his apartment. They settled onto the couch and he popped the video into the VCR.
"No DVD?" Brennan asked.
"Nope," Booth answered. "Their only copy is checked out."
"Oh." They lapsed into silence as the MGM logo came onscreen.
Five minutes into the movie, Brennan was looking bored. "This girl is so naïve! And annoying!" she complained.
"Bones!" Booth exclaimed, as though she had just affronted him personally. "I can't believe you're gonna insult Judy like that!"
"I thought her name was Dorothy."
"Garland. Judy Gar—you know what? Just watch the movie," he said, annoyed.
She didn't say anything else after that.
"Oh, Auntie Em! There's no place like home!"
Booth stood and stretched, then pushed stop and rewind on the VCR. Brennan fidgeted a little, but otherwise remained where she was. He looked at her, and noticed that her lids were heavy and her eyes appeared slightly unfocused.
"You should probably get some sleep, Bones. You're lookin' a little drained."
"I'm fine," she said thickly.
"Okay," he answered, walking away.
He went to the hall closet and grabbed a pillow and blanket, and when he got back to where Brennan was sitting, he found her head fallen back against the armrest and her eyes closed.
He chuckled to himself as he unfurled the blanket and draped it over her, then lifted her head gently and placed the pillow underneath. She shifted a little, but otherwise wasn't disturbed by the movement.
When the tape stopped rewinding, Booth took it out of the VCR, powered it down, and put the video back in the case, then made his way to his bedroom, turning off the lights as he went.
A man stared up at the apartment, watching the lights go out. When he was sure he wouldn't be discovered, he entered the building and went to Booth's apartment door.
He placed a vase of poppies in front of the door. He straightened, and as he pulled off his rubber gloves, he crooned softly, "Sleep…sleeeep…."
To be continued…
Review…revieeeeewwww….