Title: Deja Vu

Disclaimer: Language, violence

Chapter Five: Be Like That

The day ended better than it had begun, which wasn't really saying much. Brennan had gotten over the shooting yesterday, waking to nightmares like a little kid crying out for their mother. Only she had no one to cry out to, no one to comfort her when her thoughts plagued her. Instead, she'd found herself unable to fall back asleep. So she spent the night going over the old files that had been long forgotten by everybody but her. Files that should have been in a cabinet at the lab and if Dr. Goodman found them missing she'd be in a world of hurt. But sometimes cold cases were solved with the tiniest trace of evidence.

She flipped through reports of missing people after that, accessing the database on her home computer. Someone had to match the description of the missing woman they'd come across yesterday. Someone had to be missing her. Brennan thought about it, who would miss her if she was gone? Of course, Angela would, and so would Zack; both of them looked up to her. Hodgins would probably miss her too, but she couldn't be so sure about that. He was a hard person to read at times. And then Booth's image crossed her mind and she shut off the computer, tired of thinking.

The night quickly faded into day and she found herself at the lab before everyone else; which wasn't completely unusual. The others laughed about how she practically lived in the lab, working from the wee hours of the morning into the late hours of the night. But when there's no one waiting at home, why bother spending time there? She liked devoting her life to answering the questions that haunted others in their sleep. She enjoyed knowing that she'd helped in giving a family peace of mind, even if it meant telling them someone they loved was indeed dead. It was all part of the job.

Grabbing a cup of coffee from the break room she made her way to her office, the desk still cluttered with information on various cases. A new file sat atop the others. Flipping it open she found the description of a body dug up at an excavation sight, someone wanted her to identify and authenticate the age of the bones. Something else she enjoyed doing. A lot could be learned from history, if only people took the time to study it.

A sheet of paper slide from her desk and in a move to stop it she accidentally spilled her cup of coffee. The nearly black liquid spread across her desk like a flood over a tiny town. Papers in files turned brown on the edges, the manila folders turning darker in color, and everything was soaked. Picking up one file caused the tender folder to tear, spilling its contents all over the floor. She cursed, trying to figure out if working with bad luck was such a good idea. Maybe it would go away before the lunch period. Bending down, she scooped up the dropped papers and straightened up, bumping her head on the edge of her desk. Scratch that thought about the bad luck going away.

Eventually the others managed to find their way into the lab. They talked amongst each other, laughing about their night out, drinking and dancing. Brennan never joined them, she never thought of herself as the dancing and drinking kind. Then again, she had never thought Booth would kiss her. Sure, all the signs were there that he liked her but a lot of guys hit on her. They thought she was hot, until they heard her talk. None of them could get passed her job. Either they were turned off by it or they were so curious that it was unsettling. It would be nice to have someone to talk about work with and know they had no abjections to it or a crazy fascination in it.

At first, going over the bones again had been good. It appeared as though her bad luck had taken a vacation. Until she dropped one of the ribs, causing it to crack when it hit the floor. Thankfully no one said anything to her about it, but that didn't mean anything. She saw the way they looked at each other, like they were trying desperately to hide a secret. Could Angela have told the two guys about Booth kissing her?

Convinced that being around the bones was a bad idea, she came up with a quick idea. Today would be an excellent teaching day. The others would do all the important work while she played at being a supervisor. This way they could learn the ins and outs of their jobs without her guiding them along. Like shoving the proverbial baby birds from the nest. For two hours things flowed along. She didn't have any accidents and the others seemed to be enjoying the day. Thought Hodgins kept bickering with Zack about certain aspects. Most of the time he ended up losing the argument. Zack was a smart kid. Someday he'd probably surpass even the knowledge that Brennan held. And she would let him, standing by with a smile while he took his turn in the spotlight.

Unfortunately for her, her luck was about to go sour again. Booth showed up around the lunch hour. He grabbed her by the upper arm and dragged her off to her office. There he started asking her questions about the body. What did they know about it? Had Angela used her artistic ability to give the body a face yet? Brennan answered as truthfully as she could. It would have been clear to a blind man that Booth wasn't satisfied with their findings.

Not able to contain her thoughts any longer she blurted out, "Why did you kiss me the other night?"

This shut Booth up, taking him by surprise. "What are you talking about?"

"The other night, when I stopped by your apartment to check-up on you," she explained. She could feel her cheeks heating with a blush, something that hadn't happened in so long. "You kissed me before you went to bed. Why?"

Booth raised an eyebrow at her. "I kissed you? Are you sure about that?"

Frustration and embarrassment mixed inside her like she was a giant pot. Either he truly didn't remember kissing her or he was denying it on purpose. Either way, it made her look like a fool and she was none too happy about it. "Never mind, forget I even brought it up."

At that moment there was a knock on her office door. Hodgins poked his head in, a worried expression on his face. "I don't mean to interrupt this private meeting but you guess need to come see this. Angela gave a face to the skeleton and…well…you'll just have to see for yourselves."

Curious they followed after him as he led the way. Brennan was eager to see a face, maybe one of the young women she'd looked up last night was the one on her table. It would be a quick solving and Booth could just get lost. He could take off; doing his part of the job, informing the family about their lost loved one. That was something she would never, and could never, get herself to do. Imagine telling a mother that her son had passed away or that someone murdered her only daughter, just thinking about the strength one needed to do that gave her more respect for Booth. Even if at the moment he was being somewhat of an ass.

They found Zack and Angela staring at the 3D-computer-rendered picture of a lovely woman. Brennan's heart stopped as she realized, looking into the blue eyes of a woman with long brown hair, that she could very well have been looking into a mirror.

"They say that everyone on this planet has a doppelganger, I never believed that until now," Hodgins remarked, staring at the face.

"Honey, if you weren't standing right beside me I'd be convinced that we had your skeleton on that table," Angela told her. Brennan found that she was speechless. What does one say at a time like this? Was there anything that could be said?