A/N: Good day fellow Bones fans! I am so glad I made my own imposed deadline for this next chapter. Saved by an inspiration streak XD. Once again I'd like to thank Monique Sampson for leaving a review, it means the world to me :).
"Come on, Cam, this isn't fair. I don't want to babysit an intern that doesn't even have a degree in science". Hodgins whined, standing next to his boss's desk. "Besides I don't trust her, she is all dressed up like a regulation FBI agent."
Cam looked at Hodgins from her chair, weaving her fingers together to manage her frustration with this conversation. It was always hard to decide which type of answer would settle the scientist's mind the quickest. It was like tossing a coin and it often seemed to land on the wrong side, making her have to fight with the stubborn doctor. A fight that usually ended with her pulling rank on him. She hated these little confrontations. In the beginning she had held back from telling dr. Hodgins off. After all, he was the number one sponsor of the Medico legal lab, but when she learned he loved his job too much to lose it, it thankfully balanced out their mutual relationship. Pointing out again that Lilly wasn't more affiliated then the lab itself would probably be useless.
"Dr. Hodgins, this program is very important to me personally and the Jeffersonian's board of directors, which makes it an important program for us all to make successful as well. You volunteer at the Woodchuck program, you are perfectly capable of working with non-PhD in Science people. Just see Lilly as the adult version of a Woodchuck, with knowledge of legal aspects and only beginner's knowledge of the science part of the job. She sure has as much enthusiasm to learn the science as the Woodchucks do."
"Now for her clothing, I can't help that you are feeling uncomfortable around a woman in a pencil skirt and blazer." Cam said dryly. "I am sure she has more clothes than FBI regulated pieces." Cam remembered the lovely office chic dress Lilly had worn for the third interview for the position. She still hadn't been able to find it in the stores, yet. But it would be weird to ask her,right? "I guess she just tried to look sharp and representative for now, I am sure she'll ease up on the dressiness when she is around here longer." Cam would choose a new coworker showing up in FBI regulation wear over the sometimes sloppily underdressed new personnel any day. She could hardly reprimand Lilly for dressing too representatively.
"You're just going to have to get over it and play nice with miss Johnson. It that is everything? I have to get to the Archeology department to iron out the wrinkles you and Wendell caused last month by stealing away their portable X-ray machine." Cam got up from her desk chair. That one always worked, throwing in one of the experiment problems back into Hodgins' face to silence him. Not waiting for Hodgins' answer Cam made her way out of her office.
Hodgins looked at his boss walking out on the conversation. "Hey! That isn't fair, we totally left them a notification where it was. Like you told us to do!" He shouted after dr. Soroyan after a few seconds of stunned silence to defend him and Wendell. Cam smirked as she confidently kept walking. Yeah she got these little confrontations with Hodgins down like a science. She liked and respected the bug man, but sometimes his mind ran too far with his conspiracy theories. Now if only he would just behave around the new intern today. Or this would turn into a long long day for her.
Looking around him, he felt silly, still standing in Cam's office without her being here. He could try to hide out here from having to spend a day with Lilly. Instantly he imagined Angie's reaction to him hiding from Lilly. She would laugh him out the door and probably scold him for being mean to Lilly. Angela really liked the newest team member and he usually trusted her people instincts. But it was hard to trust people in suits, right? At the very least they were hiding their individuality and in his experience hiding individuality was just the tip of the iceberg. No, if he was going to hide, he better not keep standing in dr. Soroyan's office all day. A field day would be a good way to keep himself busy, he decided. All he needed were the directions to the crime scene.
When he arrived at his Ookey room Lilly was already inside, looking at his prize worthy collection of bugs. That is if there were competitions for bugs, which there totally should in his humble opinion.
"Hi", Hodgins stretched the greeting. He had not expected Lilly to be in already. "Good morning, miss Johnson", he added as he quickly made his way over to his desk, trying not to show the jolt he had felt. "I am so sorry, but I have to go out to a crime scene and look for some bugs and faeces." Picking up the paper with the address of the crime scene he planned on taking with him from the opened file on his desk. "Feel free to spend the day with Angie or whatever." He waved his hand around dismissively while he tried to look busy as he looked for his car keys.
Lilly looked up at him through the glass of the terrarium, observing the hastily way in which Hodgins was moving around his office. Was he seriously trying to avoid her? It was almost as flattering as it was sad. How could he be afraid of her? Physically she was almost the same height as the curly scientist, so she shouldn't even be a match for him, it that was what this was about. "Do you think I would slow you down in the field?" Lilly skipped the good morning greeting.
Hodgins looked up, catching her studying look. "No. I just assumed you don't want to get dirty and as this might take the whole day I thought I'd be so kind to offer you another way to observe the team today."
Lilly raised an eyebrow. "How did I give you that impression?" She moved closer to dr. Hodgins' desk so she didn't have to look through the glass and past the shelves to see the scientist.
"Well, you are wearing fancy clothes and you are a justice department intern. In my experience interns and people in suits hate dirtying their clothing."
Lilly smiled. "You wear a jumpsuit out to the field right? And dr. Soroyan ordered me one, so wearing that, I could totally join you. Also I do keep walking shoes in my locker here you know." Hodgins looked surprised. "You really want to go?"
"Yeah sure. If you think you could use an extra pair of hands or at the least that I wouldn't be bothering you. I am not afraid of a little dirt. There's this thing in bathrooms", Lilly pretended to think deeply. "A shower, you ever heard of it?" Hodgins smiled, appreciating her determinateness followed by light sarcasm. It was always a good sign when someone wasn't afraid to go out and do some field work. "Well then by all means, let's get changed and hit the road."
It took a little time to get them on the road, because of the stuff Hodgins wanted to take into the field. It had been quite the challenge to get everything to fit into his tiny classic Mini Cooper.
"I have to say I am surprised I found you looking at the bugs when I walked into my office this morning. Most people who walk in there for the first time make a U-turn and practically run out of there." Hodgins started a conversation. If Angela liked her, it probably was worth it to give Lilly a fair chance.
Lilly smiled, enjoying sitting shot gun in the what normally would be the driver's seat. It really gave her a whole new perspective of the world. "I looked up the term entomology when I knew I was going to be working here. So I knew I probably was going to see bugs and other insects. I am fine with the little crawlers as long as they stay in their cages." Turning her head back to Hodgins while she was talking. "I also looked into the forensic value of botany and that was pretty interesting in my opinion. Would you say you use your knowledge of botany as much as your knowledge of geology?"
Hodgins looked at her. "How much research did you exactly do on me? Where did you learn about my PhD's? The FBI gave you some secret file right?" His mistrust back at full force, almost causing him to slam the breaks on the little car just to show his displeasure. Lilly smiled. "Sorry to disappoint you dr. Hodgins, but your credentials are on the Jeffersonian website. I do have a pretty high clearance level though, I believe one below Caroline's and agent Booth's actually. But I don't have access to personnel files. Only when it is pertinent to a case, that type of information could find its way into my papers, but I can't just type in random names into some type of database to check out people."
"You know", Lilly continued, "if there is a file about you, you could always try to ask for an inspection copy of it." Maybe she should try and get one of her own file, it would definitely be interesting to know through how much trouble the FBI went when doing background checks. Hodgins nodded. "Yeah I know, already tried that, but I am sure there is another secret file they weren't willing to hand over." His conviction so audible it made Lilly smile. "So I take it that is the reason why you don't like the FBI and other federal government institutions? Because of the secrecy?" Hodgins nodded. "Damn right it is, arguments like 'national security' were designed to keep us citizens out of the loop and in the dark. It is undemocratic to keep some information unavailable for the public. The criteria on which they decide which information becomes public and which information won't, are completely arbitrary and in most cases: also secret."
As they hiked up the woody hill. Hodgins looked behind him to check if Lilly was able to keep up with him while carrying two bags with material in case they would find the evidence. "Well you definitely aren't slowing me down", Hodgins concluded. "Where did you learn to hike? Girl scouts?"
Lilly laughed. "As much as I learned to appreciate suits and uniforms, I sure didn't when I was a kid, I hated the idea of wearing those dresses and the same clothes as the others. Already did that enough in high school", she scoffed. "No I learned hiking on my grandfathers grounds during school holidays. My grandfather would take my cousins and me out there in the morning, hike up the mountains, teach us about the trees and birds and what not, have pick nicks and we'd turn back to his home late in the afternoon."
"That sounds nice", Hodgins said. "Where does your grandfather live?"
"In New York State", Lilly answered proudly as she had grown up in New York City herself. Hodgins nodded, understanding Lilly's enthusiasm for the nature there. "It is a really beautiful state with a lot of green. Wait", he said stopping dead in his tracks before turning around fully this time. "Johnson, New York, are you by any chance part of the Johnson incorporated family?"
Lilly nodded turning a little red. She had hoped she could have kept that bit of information to herself for a little longer. However, she did not see the use in lying about it. "Yes, I am, my dad is the CFO and my grandpa is still an advisor on the board. My uncle is the CEO."
Hodgins nodded, turning back to the trail and continuing their path. "Yeah I know Edward, Arthur and Paul. They are good people." Lilly nodded, already composed herself again. "Do you know that we actually met like ten years ago at some gala?" "Really?", Hodgins asked. "No sorry, I don't remember that."
Lilly grinned. "I kind of figured that when you didn't comment on it when we met. Which is good, because I didn't remember much of it either, but my father said we both were present, he even had a group picture as proof." Hodgins grinned too. "I hardly remember any of those gatherings, I just attend them because it is expected of me but I rather work on a case or something." Lilly nodded in understanding. "Yeah I didn't like it much either. I do remember how much I wanted to go because my parents made me wait until they found me old enough and then when we got there I was so disappointed because it was mostly butt kissing and not even nearly enough dancing." Hodgins laughed, imagining a 15-16 year old girl being bored out of her mind at a high society gala.
"Does the rest of the team know?"
"Know what?" Lilly asked.
"That you're rich. Does Booth know?", Hodgins added as he was mostly curious to how the special agent would have reacted to learning about Lilly's family. He remembered all too well how angry Booth had been with him during the Bancroft case and how Booth had attributed his mistake to being rich and uncaring of rules. But then again, Lilly had done nothing but abide the rules.
Lilly shook her head. "Well maybe agent Booth does know, I mean he is FBI after all, but I didn't tell him and I am not planning to start bragging about my grandfather or parents anyways. Besides, I am not the one who is rich, my ancestors are."
Hodgins snorted at the classic defense. "You do know that is a distinction only rich people make right?" Lilly smiled. "Perhaps, except for me it is the truth, I suppose you know about the legend?" Hodgins looked surprised. "That is real? I thought it was a cooked up story by the marketing department to make the business sound even more family rooted." Lilly shook her head. "Nope it is true, although I am sure that if marketing actually believed it, they would have found a way to give it a nice spin."
"Does the team know you are loaded?" Lilly returned the question. Hodgins nodded. "They do, but I was able to keep it silent a little longer than you were", he teased. "I am just kidding, I won't tell the others", he added to settle Lilly's worries in case she had any. "I had been working on the team for about three years before Booth and Angela came along and figured it out. Thankfully it didn't change things, well okay the first two weeks were kind of awkward, but after that everything turned back to normal."
Lilly nodded, wondering what would happen if and when other team members would find out. "So you are the Jeffersonian's experiment enthusiast right?" Hodgins eyes lit up, "Hell yeah. I drive Cam crazy with my requests for new experiments. I love applying my knowledge of science to experiment set ups. Hey! If you want you can help me when I get to do a new experiment." Hodgins stopped walking again to turn around to look at Lilly, all excited of the prospects of another experiment fan. "I could always use an extra pair of hands."
"Oh sure", Lilly smiled. "But I have to warn you, I don't do that well with practicals. I used to love the science demos, but I didn't like doing it myself. I was pretty much afraid I would burn the school down." Hodgins looked at her a little disappointed. "Well, I guess that makes sense considering the carreer path you've chosen. And yeah, that definitely can happen when you miscalculate." Hodgins chuckled at the memories of the times he had almost blown up the lab. It was probably better not to tell Lilly about those times or she would be too scared to even be near his experiments ever again. "But you could still help me with the set up and writing down results. You could be my lovely assistant." Lilly smirked. "That, I am good at." Hodgins grinned. "Great, than at least we won't have to fight who gets to do the experiment."
A/N: That was quite the turnaround for Hodgins right? I hope I did his character justice even though this story is AU. Hodgins has been known to dislike or tease interns at first, because they aren't at his level yet. At the same time I thought he wouldn't be able to stay evasive fro long when confronted with enthusiasm to learn from him. Please let me know what you think about this chapter/story.