A/N: Oh boy, this is the longest chapter thus far. So sorry haha. I had to get it out of my system so I can focus on the following chapters. I promise, I'll get to the more essential parts of the story soon. Not that I think you all will like that any better XD. Only time will tell, right haha. I'd like to thank F.H. Blake and kareneb for reviewing. Special thanks for kareneb for further explaining the thought process behind the review, I appreciate it. And before I forget; WARNING; a little swearing here and there :).
Lilly was starting to get into the rhythm. Now she knew all the team members, it felt much more real to be a federal justice department intern than back when she was at Uni cramming for her exams. Okay, there were a few squinterns she still hadn't been able to meet, but she had a face to go by the name for 90% of the team.
She had got her week planning down pretty nicely. On an average week, she would be at the Jeffersonian for at least a whole day, which she usually split up into two half days. One week she would be three whole days at the FBI, the other week at the federal justice offices. The final workday Lilly filled with whatever crossed her path and where she was needed or of most use. Trial and error had proven this was the most efficient way to divide her time for now. Thank god all the buildings were relatively close together.
Every other morning there was the work out with agent Booth. Every Tuesday afternoon Lilly attended Dr. Brennan's and Dr. Norman's classes at the American University. The Anthropology department at American U was definitely different than the university crowd Lilly was used to. Where she was practically obligated to wear a suit to class and only go for sweatshirts and jeans during exam weeks, here Lilly had really stood out when she had been dressed like she had court after class. After having received some odd looks during the first class she had quickly learned and decided to make Tuesday's semi-casual work attire days. Which was great, she hadn't been allowed to wear comfy-clothes to class after getting out of middle school. It was only incredibly inconvenient when she was due in court that day.
Apart from the wonderful clothes difference, there were a couple of serious creapsters in the methodology class Dr. Brennan taught. Like Mister Fisher, Dr. B's intern, who always seemed to be capable of turning a fun conversation at the forensic platform into a story of death and decay. Hodgins had joked about how Fisher loved to brag about his sex life and that the junior squint had told him and Dr. Sweets how he was closing in on having slept with a 100 different woman. Who knew hookers came in bulk, right?
Stopping her train of thought, Lilly got out of the metro car. Dr. Saroyan had asked her to come in this morning. Maybe the chief is regretting the permission she gave Hodgins and me to conduct that experiment next week. That would be a shame. Because Lilly was looking forward to seeing bug man in action (instead of leaning over a microscope) and she knew Hodgins was excited for the anticipated BOOM they were going to create as well. They had been texting almost daily with minor adjustments to the plan.
"Thank you for coming in", Cam said, pointing to the chair on the opposite side of her desk.
"Not a problem", Lilly said, brushing down her skirt before sitting down. "I do have to say; I feel like I've been called into the rector's office." It was only Lilly's third time in Dr. Saroyan's office; the first time was during the interviews and the second time was to receive her security card and lab coat. Thus far Lilly hadn't been able to see the doctor in action in the coroner's room. As much as she wanted to see the successful career woman in action, she didn't necessarily look forward to standing close to a decomposing body.
Cam smiled. "Well that was not my intention, but it is good to see you also do sometimes get rattled."
Lilly nodded, giving a little smile. "Yeah, I am still human." Lilly internally debated if she should ask about the upcoming experiment or to just wait to make sure that was why Dr. Saroyan wanted to see her. Under no circumstances did she want to jinx the standing approval for the experiment.
Cam was very happy with having Lilly around. This type of internship was proving to be a valuable insight into her own organization. Cam was glad Caroline had been such a driving force behind getting this program from idea to reality. I should probably take a trip to see Caroline and ask her how she is feeling about the program and Lilly's progress. Lilly asked questions that made Cam herself and the team rethink their ways of working and the differences and similarities between their functions. It was good to have someone around with a fresh gaze.
Dr. Saroyan had been leading the team and the whole Medico Legal Lab for five years now and everybody had gotten comfortable in their ways. Of course, she herself had made changes when she had just arrived here (like being kept in the loop and asking permission before potentially blowing up the lab), but these last few years the team had just done their jobs without trying to revolutionize their processes. With Lilly's almost childlike curiosity and interest in the proceedings, she had been welcomed into the team quickly. And she actually had the people skills Cam sometimes secretly missed those skills in her people. Although, if Lilly didn't like you, you'd better stand out of her way. She had no problem with burning down offensive people. But then again, Cam couldn't really blame her for that; those people always had it coming. Besides, Lilly didn't hold grudges for long; when they would come around so would she.
"I just wanted to ask how you were doing. You've been so busy showing up everywhere I haven't had a chance to ask you in person yet. Did you run into any problems?"
Lilly visibly relaxed now she knew what Dr. Saroyan wanted to talk about. "I have been showing up everywhere, haven't I? It has been great to see so many different sides of forensic science and law enforcement. No problems thus far, pretty much everyone has been really welcoming, or turned welcoming within the first hour." Lilly smiled, thinking of Hodgins and Daisy.
Cam nodded. "Good, I am glad and yes, for some people here, change of personnel is quite a challenge. It is good to hear you aren't having any problems thus far. Like I told you before, if you have any questions, even if it is just about the science, feel free to ask me."
"Thank you, I appreciate that, but don't you think your time is a little too valuable for that? Besides, Mister Bray has been very insightful so far. I doubt I'd be able to get through the material for the classes with this kind of ease without his help."
Cam liked having Lilly around the platform. Like Angela, Lilly helped to keep the Medico Legal Lab an as-happy-as-can-be-place. So far there hadn't been a case where she had been able to show Lilly her trade. Was she really wishing for a fleshier corps just so she could show the intern her profession? Maybe, Dr. Saroyan concluded, however crude that might be. The thought leaving her with a tingling of guilt. But that had to be human, right? She was getting really frustrated with just being on administrative duty and consulting with Dr. Brennan on x-rays and possible correspondence to tissue damage. Paperwork had never been her favorite part of any of her jobs. In fact, she had hated it when she was a cop, a coroner and still did, now as a forensic pathologist and head of the lab. For the first time since years, she was actually on track with all of it.
"That is good to hear. And yes, normally I am rather busy, but it seems all these murders are very light on flesh and heavy on the bones. But regardless of busy-ness, you're always welcome to ask everyone what you need to know." Cam knew she could say that safely. If she said something like that to Daisy, the squintern would bombard her with questions at all hours of the day.
Lilly nodded. "I'll keep that in mind and since I am here now, I have been wondering about the similarities between Dr. Brennan's and your job. Obviously, Dr. Brennan's area of expertise is the bones and as a pathologist, you must have knowledge of bones as well."
"Well, we both focus on the bodies of the victims, Dr. Hodgins, for instance, focuses on the surroundings of the victim and on the bugs and particulates around the body. We are both trained to read X-rays. So on every case, we consult each other on the X-rays and compare our views. Also, teeth are part of both our expertise so we are both able to follow the procedure to get dental prints to search for dental records.
They talked a little about the team roles and what Lilly had noticed about it all. Remembering the Lab's lunch plans Cam changed the subject. "If you have time for lunch today, maybe you can join us all for lunch at the diner. So far everyone is joining, except Dr. Edison and agent Booth hasn't yet RSVP'ed."
When Cam had started as the successor van Dr. Goodman she had started a lunch every Thursday. In the beginning, no one had wanted to come because - and in hindsight, Cam had to admit that - she had been quite the bossy helicopter boss. It wasn't until Cam had offered to pay lunch for everyone for three months straight that people had started to warm up to the idea of a group lunch and warmed up to her being the new sheriff in town. No one was obligated to meet at the diner but most members of the team tried to get there every week to chat or discuss the case.
Flattered that Lilly was invited to the apparently whole team attending lunch she nodded. "Sure, that sounds fun, I'll be there.
Lilly knocked on the closed office door at the FBI and waited until she heard a faint come in before she opened the door. "Hello agent Booth, Caroline asked me to bring this over for you." She handed Booth a small stack of files.
Booth sighed, glancing around his desk. "Great, more paperwork." His bureau was already filled with open files with the FBI emblem popping out from everywhere. Booth straightened his back, cracking some vertebrae and winching from having sit in the same place for too long. Placing his hands on his desk in front of his keyboard he refocused back on Lily. "But thanks anyway, Lilly, I was waiting on those papers." He smiled politely.
"You're welcome. Do you need any help?" Her eyes fell on the clock on the wall. "Or maybe I can drag you away from your desk for the group lunch, it sure seems like you need it."
Booth cracked his neck and let out another sigh, "I really don't have time to leave the building today, Hacker would have a field day if I did."
Lilly nodded in understanding. "Have you had anything to eat in the last couple of hours?" Lilly asked. It seemed to her he really was burning out with the large amounts of work he still had to do. And skipping lunch worried her. In the short time, she had been around she already had heard agent Booth give Dr. Brennan his speech about the importance of eating on time multiple times.
Booth shook his head. "No, I haven't had the time, I don't like skipping lunch, but I really have to finish this paperwork."
Lilly looked at him and the piles on his desk, understanding his mood and desperation to just get it over with. "Okay, you know what, I'll bring you back some lunch and then you can have a bite to eat here in your office and I'll help you with the paperwork."
He smiled, Lilly was very generous, always happy to help. "You really don't have to and I am sure this isn't that interesting for you. And even though you are an intern, that doesn't mean I should let you do the uninteresting work, it's just a lot and boring bureaucratic nonsense."
Lilly grinned at the audible hate that sounded through in Booth's words. "No, it is not bullshit. You have a lot of privileges and as an FBI agent, you are in a position of power over your suspects. So, therefore, it is only logical that you need to report back what exactly you did with that power."
Booth raised an eyebrow, "You almost sound like the squints in the lab."
"Well thank you", Lilly took the statement as a compliment, either oblivious to the undertone or choosing to ignore it. Not going to risk opening that can of worms again. "But I'll leave you to it - for now, see you in about an hour."
Lilly returned with a bag from the dinner and dropped it in front of Booth. She enjoyed the time she got to spend with the team out of the lab. They all had so much fun. She felt so welcome in the group. It was weird to think she'd only been around for a couple of weeks. It was fun that Wendell was around today as well, he had the ability to make her snort her drink out of her nose if she wasn't as careful as she was about it. Although she was sure that she would be snorting her drink all over the place soon enough. It would be inevitable that there would come a time where she wouldn't be prepared while taking a drink. All I can hope for is that I'll be wearing black when that happens.
Booth looked up from his computer screen as his peripheral vision noticed someone standing in front of his desk.
"Delivery of one steak with a side of fries and some complimentary pie on the house," Lilly announced. "Oh and Dr. Saroyan asked me to ask you if you could give her a call before the end of the business day."
Booth nodded, barely listening as soon as Lilly stated the contents of the bag. With a longing look, he stared at the bag. Smelling the food he was secretly glad that Lilly had insisted on bringing him a lunch. He was starving after this boring stuff. "Thank you, it smells amazing." He opened the bag to take out the warm contents. He felt a hand on his arm and looked up to Lilly wondering what was wrong.
"Are you thinking about eating while working?"
"Yeah, kind of", Booth answered, feeling like it was something so obvious it did not need mentioning.
"Multitasking isn't productive and like I said I'll help. So if you could scoot over I'll continue typing out your handwritten notes and you can eat in the mean time."
"You really don't have to, you already went out of your way to bring me lunch." Booth resisted. "I can't ask you to also do my work for me."
"Hey, we are part of the same team, right? Besides I already finished my work for Caroline, I can't continue with it until she takes a look at it. The only thing left for me today, is preparing next week's classes, but Wendell is going to help me with that tomorrow. Okay - and my research project, but I am not in the right mindset to dig into literature midway through the day. So I got plenty of time to help you beat that stack of papers and get home before the sun rises again. Furthermore, I've been reading about the FBI systems a couple weeks back so I am actually looking forward to seeing it all in function. Also, you didn't ask me, I offered to help you."
Smiling at her perseverance, he got up from his desk chair. Only a true desk jockey could be happy to see an information system in action. Placing the bag from the dinner further to the side so Lilly could take his place. "Well have at it", he pointed to his seat as he stepped aside so Lilly could sit down in his chair.
"Thank you", Lilly smiled as she shuffled past Booth to sit down.
"Ah you really have been sitting here too long, this chair is all warm." Lilly pulled a face.
Trying to get the visitor's chair between the desk, wall, and cabinets he looked at back at her. "Oh, so basically you think I have a hot ass?" Booth asked her jokingly, showing off his cockier side. As he sat down next to Lilly so he could still look at his screen, Lilly snorted.
"I don't know, but ass-sweat isn't much of a turn on." Responding in a tone of voice that amusedly told him to hold his horses. "And if you expect me to check out your ass, you are going to have to stand up again."
Booth smiled, keeping in a chuckle as he sat down and pulled open the packages the bag with his food to him. He sniffed up the aroma. "Hmm thanks, it looks great huh?"
Lilly looked at the screen and found where Booth left off. She started typing the notes in front of her. Booth stared at her hands that gracefully flew over his keyboard and digitalized his written case notes in record time. He took a bite of his steak and relaxed a little. As always, the food from the dinner was amazing. He was glad Lilly pushed him to eat. Hacker had been busting his chops about his reports for a while and now for some reason, he had to finish them today. That man really held a grudge, it was becoming unprofessional.
Not that it mattered much these days; it wasn't like there was someone waiting for him at home. Being at work was much easier than sitting home alone, drowning in his thoughts and self-pity.
Binging on his fries he noticed that Lilly's eyes were mostly focused on his handwritten notes and not on the computer screen. After watching her work for a little while he broke the comfortable silence. "Where did you learn to type like that?"
Lilly looked at him, "Type how?" She continued typing until she finished typing the words she had down from memory.
"You know, look at the page in front of you instead of the screen and type without mistakes at that pace?"
Lilly grinned, almost amazed that touch typing would be something that he found to be impressive. "Oh that. I got a lot better at it when I was a paralegal at a law firm. Typing is a big part of your day there so I learned to be fast at it. I taught myself a lot more productivity tricks to make computer life easier. Which is probably why I already got through all my stuff for the justice department and the other interns didn't."
Booth nodded as he popped another fry in his mouth. "Paralegal huh?"
"Yes, didn't you get my resume?"
"Not really. I let Caroline decide who she thinks will be a good fit. And then she and Cam shortened down the list further."
"Oh", Lilly said, "so essentially you didn't care who became the first multi section intern?" Mild disappointment sounding through in her voice. She had briefly met the agent during the second interview round, and he had seemed interested enough in the whole process while he had been there.
Booth playfully shoved Lilly's arm. "Oh no, I do care. I am really glad the one we have is helping me do my paperwork." He smiled a kind toothpaste shiny smile, trying to make her disappointment disappear.
Booth looked at the bag, moving the plastic out of the way a little to get a better look at the containers still inside. Next to his favorite pie stood the salad. "You really didn't have to get me a salad." Booth groaned, still staring at the food container.
Lilly smiled, already having moved on. "Dr. Brennan told me to get it for you and she predicted that you would complain about it." Dr. Saroyan had told her not to mention it to the agent before he had noticed it himself to prevent a word struggle about not wanting or going to eat it.
Booth nodded, "That sounds like Bones, Bones is always commenting on my eating habits. I should have known she put you up to this." Booth rolled his eyes.
"Well, I figured since Dr. Brennan is your partner, she knows what you normally get for lunch. The rest of the order was the usual right?"
Booth smiled, Lilly sounded worried that this wasn't the type of lunch he preferred. "She is and she does know, and because she knows my lunch preferences, she pushed the salad." His smile turning into a grin at the quizzical look that appeared on Lilly's face.
"Why? You never eat salad or vegetables?" From a man with his fitness level, Lilly expected a whole lot of healthy meals. Obviously, she had seen him eating unhealthily but she had figured he treated himself to the crappy stuff when out.
Booth shrugged. "I eat vegetables every once in a while. Always when I have Parker and my pizzas have something green on it." The last sentence sounding like Booth was getting a little bent out of shape.
Lilly grinned at the defensiveness in his voice. "Okay, prove it and save your image, pretend I am Parker and you need to eat your greens. Impress me with your healthy habits." Lilly exaggerated mockingly.
An immediate look of disgust crossing Booth's features. "Nope", Booth said with an open mouth filled with French fries.
"Ahh gross!" Lilly pulled up her nose. "I guess you are pretending to be your 10-year-old son now."
Booth chewed and swallowed. "Yeah well, you started it." Smirking like that same 10 years old. "But if you're so into salad", Booth opened the package and picked some salad and a piece of tomato on to his fork. "Here, have a bite of healthy stuff. Ahhhhhh, open up."
Lilly smiled, "Only if you'll also have some, Dr. Dentist."
Booth put on a serious face and placed his hand over his heart. "I promise, cross my heart and hope to die, scouts honor. Do you need airplane noises?" He zigzagged the fork close to Lilly's mouth and held his hand underneath it to prevent spilling on either of their clothes.
"Oh, so I have to go first?" Lilly asked, leaning back in his office chair, moving out of the reach of his fork.
Booth nodded cheekily. "Yes, I already promised to die if I don't, soooooo." He moved the fork closer.
Lilly rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to let Booth feed her a bit of the salad. Lilly carefully chewed her salad while Booth was watching her amusedly. "Dr. Brennan does have great taste, though, this salad tastes amazing," Lilly said, licking some excess dressing for her lips.
Booth grinned, "So you want another bite? There is loads of salad left", reloading the fork.
"Nuh-uh", Lilly said, already turning back to the papers in front of her. "I did my part and I already ate, you enjoy your salad". From the corner of her eye, she noticed the small sulk on Booth's face before she continued typing. According to the crunchy chewing sounds coming from beside her, he cleaned the fork and quickly swallowed his dose of green. Lilly laughed, muttering under her breath, "only the rest of the salad to go."
After finishing the lunch (including almost half of the Bones prescribed salad) Booth dictated some not yet written parts and after a while, they got into a nice rhythm. Slowly, but surely, their progress was becoming visible, the to do stack lessening while and the done stack grew. For the first time, today Booth felt confident he would be able to get home at a reasonable hour and get some sleep in before he would have to be back at the office tomorrow. Suck on that ADD Hacker.
"So why don't you have a secretary to help you out with this kind of stuff?" Lilly asked as Booth sifted through a file to get the next matter on hand. She was curious why an agent in charge didn't seem to have access to office support staff. A big part of the paperwork they had done today could have been delegated in her opinion.
"I am a field agent, we don't have secretaries."
Lilly shot him a weird look, "Yeah James Bond also doesn't have a secretary but I also never seen him doing paperwork", her tone telling him she didn't agree with his reasoning. "You're also the head of Major Crimes, that should mean you would be entitled to get some help.
Booth shrugged, "Apparently it doesn't. It would be nice though. We are really working through this stack like a couple of conveyor belt workers." Sighing before continuing. "After we finish, let me take you to dinner as a sign of my thank you."
Lilly internally grinned, keeping her voice as neutral as she could manage. "Lunch wasn't up to your standards huh?"
"What? No, lunch was great, but it was dinner time was a long time ago. And I really appreciate you making time to help me with this paperwork."
Snorting she nodded. "I was just kidding and sure I'd love to go out for dinner. Do you have a place in mind? There is this place I've been wanting to check out, it's supposed to be all BBQ'ed dishes and my friend assured me it is all to die for."
Booth smirked at the way Lilly said to die for. Like she found the assumption to be a stupid exaggeration, but not exaggerated enough to not trust that friend's judgment. "Sounds good, for a second you had me worried you wanted to drag me to a salad bar." It would be great to not go to the diner for a change. How long had it been since he went somewhere other than the Royal diner, Founding Fathers or Sid's?
Lilly grinned, raising her arms as a don't shoot the messenger sign. "Hey, for lunch I was just following Dr. Brennan's orders. Just because I don't hate my dose of greens, doesn't mean I hate well-prepared BBQ meat."
The restaurant was located in one of the more upcoming parts of Washington DC. The buildings were old and the yuppies were trying to stop them from turning into ruins by turning the locations into the more prime party, dining or shopping locations. To find the place Booth had accidentally driven past it a couple of times.
The front of the restaurant was pretty small, but after going through the door Lilly and Booth were welcomed by an elongated space filled with wooden tables, chairs, and booths. Their noses immediately concluding that this was indeed the place they had been looking for."Wow, this is larger than I expected." Lilly muttered. The ambiance was relaxed and there was country music playing in the background. Wooden decorations on the walls.
After being seated by a friendly waitress, they were looking over the menu. Lilly smiled at one of the small dishes. "They do have chop salad, in case you've got a craving." Her eyes sparkling from behind the menu book, looking for Booth's reaction.
"Funny", Booth said, looking up long enough to be able to imagine the hidden smirk that would go with her eyes. "But I am seeing all sorts of lovely small dishes like steaks, ribs, lamb, and hamburgers on the menu, so I am going to pass on the green crap." His enthusiasm and contentment for the large meat selection rather obvious.
"Yeah, I suppose you're right, we didn't come here for vegetables. Although, I neeeeeeeeeed the side dish of grilled corn, potatoes, and peppers." Pointing out the dishes on the menu as she read them aloud.
Booth smiled, "I thought you said you wanted meat, all I am hearing is healthy hipster stuff."
"Come on", Lilly whimpered, "you can't call the classics hipster stuff?! And who says no to grilled peppers? Meat-wise I do intend on ordering the chicken burger..."
"…Why chicken? Are you on a lean, mean, green diet?" Interrupting Lilly to continue the lighthearted teasing of her food preferences.
Lilly raised her eyebrows. "What? Who do you think I am? You've seen my discipline in sports, so there is no way I could even stick to a diet long enough to see results. And I do love red meat so I think I'll be going for that mini steak as well." Snorting, thinking of the new information she learned about the agent today, Lilly added; "I'd probably be able to out-eat you in crappy things."
"Is that a challenge? Booth countered, loving to bring out the competitive side in himself and others.
"Nope", Lilly smiled. "I don't think anyone should encourage you to eat any more poorly, however, if you want to do some sort of a hipster salad challenge I am all in." Knowing, that would shut him up with a loss for words for a few seconds.
Scrunching his nose Booth shook his head no.
Lilly snorted, savoring the moment that agent Booth was too stunned for words. "When you do that, you look like ADD Hacker when we dropped off the paperwork."
Booth laughed, "Yeah that was quite something, wasn't it?"
Both remembering the tantrum-toddler-face ADD Hacker had pulled when Director Cullen had walked in and commented that it was good for agent Booth to be finished before night time and that Booth deserved a quiet night at home.
Hmm-hmm, Lilly hummed. "He was so annoyed that it wasn't even 8 pm and then Director Cullen putting Hacker in his place was golden." Lilly laughed at the memory. "I actually liked Director Cullen," Lilly said. "He seems like a man with the right kind of attitude. And I was pleasantly surprised that Director Cullen was so kind - okay at least to us."
The D.C. Field office director had a name for being a notorious hardass, not tolerating slackers and agents that didn't follow regulations.
Booth grinned, knowing Lilly long enough now to know she enjoyed seeing Cullen setting Hacker straight, in the most politically correct way possible. Not that he could deny having enjoyed that as well. "Your people radar is pretty spot on, but I got to tell you, a couple of years back Cullen scared the crap out of me. He's a real stickler for the rules." Remembering who he was talking to he rolled his eyes. "Which is probably something you really like."
"But then when his daughter got terminally ill he changed and softened up towards the good guys, which is most of the FBI and he got a lot easier to deal with. Bones and I actually caught the organ dealers that caused his daughter's cancer."
"So why is Hacker so scared of the man then?"
"Didn't I say Cullen likes the good guys in the FBI?" Booth smiled. "Also, you're not the only one who doesn't like suck ups." "Hacker is okay, but he was a field agent for two years max and Cullen doesn't like that. Cullen himself has worked in the field for almost 15 years before moving to a desk job."
Lilly looked impressed. "Wow, and all I was seeing was another suit, most likely a butt-kisser senior."
Booth chuckled, "Don't tell Cullen that, he was actually starting to like you for being a team player."
"What's not to like, right?" Lilly said before taking a sip of her iced drink, halfway grinning.
Booth grinned. "Yes, you are pretty likable, but Cullen doesn't like desk jockeys whose rules make his work day a lot harder to deal with."
"Wait. I thought you just said that Cullen was all for rules and regulations." Lilly smirked at the mention of the nickname he had given her.
Booth rolled his eyes. Precision, always go for precision around squints *correction: half-squints aka desk jockeys. "He is, at least for agents following rules, he isn't when it means more bureaucracy for himself."
"Ah, I take it Cullen is your role model then?" Lilly said, reveling in the fact that she had made agent Booth rephrase his statement.
The agent nodded. "Well yes, in some ways he is a like role model to me. I don't really want to leave field work behind, but when I can't pass the psychical requirements anymore I'd probably want to be a director. I love working for the FBI and serving my country. But apart from all that, Cullen always made time for his family and his daughter and even though he and Julia lost their little girl, they're still married and a very strong couple."
Seeing the seriousness in agent Booth's eyes, Lilly nodded at his explanation. She had heard that the agent was a true family man with the belief that love was the cornerstone of human existence.
Even though they were spending quite a lot of time together, they hadn't talked about the agent's crudely ended relationship since that conversation in the car almost two weeks ago. Hearing Booth talk about the relationship of his superior she could hear the anguish and covetousness in his voice.
Usually, they talked about the cases they were working on or Booth would be so kind to answer Lilly's seemingly never ending questions. Sure, they did also talk about personal stuff on occasion, but that was about happy things, not the sad and serious stuff. Feeling like they were in the right vibe to have that kind of conversation Lilly looked at the man sitting in front of her.
"You'll have a relationship like that too. I am sure of it. How are you holding up these days?"
How easy would it be for him to shot the intern down? He had done it countless times before when people wanted to know things about his personal life. However, the fact that it was Lilly's asking him, stopped him from closing up. Lilly didn't look at him like he was a wounded animal in need of help, no pity, no judgment that he still wasn't over Hannah, just plain old honest interest in his well being. Shrugging he gave a weak smile at her kind words.
Before he could answer, the agent's phone buzzed. Lighting up, the phone showed a picture of a blonde, smiling woman. Taking a quick look at the name Booth looked at Lilly apologetic. "I am sorry, I have to take this."
Lilly nodded. "Sure thing." He probably feels saved by the bell. She probably shouldn't have butt in. Or maybe the woman calling him was his new girlfriend or something. Maybe a rebound girl, it would be really good for him. He seemed very eager to pick up, so – if that wasn't because she had tried to butt into his personal life - that was a good sign. Or maybe that was his ex, Hannah, she's a blonde, isn't she? Hannah calling him, that would be bad. Lilly had only seen the picture for a good second and because the phone was upside down she hadn't been able to see the name. From what the agent had told her about Hannah, she hadn't been impressed with the war zone journalist. Who walks out of a relationship that lasted over 8 months to practically disappear into a war zone in the same breath?
Would it be a new girlfriend? From what Lilly could tell, not much had changed for the agent since they had had that car talk almost two weeks ago. He did seem a little more at ease, but still, she could tell he was still struggling, trying to work through it all. Regretting that she hadn't paid more attention to agent Booth's facial expressions when his phone started to ring.
"Sorry, that took a little longer than expected," Booth said as he sat down, interrupting Lilly's thinking. "Parker is coming down with the flu or something and he didn't want to go to sleep before he had spoken to me."
Taking in what agent Booth was telling her, an undeterminable look crossed Lilly's face.
"What?" Booth asked suspiciously, not understanding why she looked troubled/preoccupied.
"Nothing", Lilly said, "I let my mind run free for a second there. That sucks for Parker, hopefully a good night of sleep will help him feel better." Hoping, that would be enough to push the conversation into another direction.
Booth nodded, retaking his place. "Are you sure there wasn't something on your mind?" When Lilly answered no a little too quickly he knew she wasn't being truthful. "Come on", he complained, " if you want me to believe you, you have to do a better job at lying."
Lilly turned red, blushing rapidly as she tried to hide behind her drink. Lying wasn't something she usually resorted to. Where is that menu card when you needed it, right? Looking up after taking a sip she saw that the agent wasn't going to let this go.
"Fine, okay if you have to know. Before you picked up the phone we were talking about how you were holding up. First thought; maybe I shouldn't have been such a nosy. Second thought: maybe you decided on having that rebound after all or maybe that it was Hannah calling." She rushed out, trying to get it over with, feeling ridiculous for having thought it at all. Especially since there was like a whole world between rebound or Hannah.
Booth snorted, laughing, amused that this was what was troubling her. "And you thought Rebecca was the rebound? That's rich, Becca would love to hear that one." Trying to get his face back in check. "Sorry, that's cruel of me." He appreciated her honesty in her answer. "No, I haven't gone out on rebound-hunt. In fact, before she called I was going to tell you that I don't feel like much has changed in a couple of weeks. I don't feel different from two weeks ago. As for being up in my business; I actually appreciate you asking me how I am doing. It sometimes feels a little like people think I should be over her by now." A little doubt sounding through.
Recovering rather rapidly, she didn't feel worried about interfering in his personal life anymore. Now, who's lying now? 'nothing changed'. Lilly looked at the agent. Dryly she responded. "Uh-uh, now you are lying. What did change?"
Booth shrugged, sighing. "I honestly don't know what exactly changed. It's just… I don't know. On the one hand, I feel like I am doing better, even though the wound still feels rather fresh. On the other hand, I don't feel like going out, it seems like all I want is to sit in front of the TV at home failing to drown out my dark thoughts. So basically you are saving me from another night of drowning in my sorrows."
Lilly nodded, fully understanding the contrariety of it all. "Sorry to hear that. Are you still as angry?"
"No, that is actually getting a little better. I went boxing a couple of times in the morning and that definitely helped. I guess it is just more disappointment and emptiness now."
"Don't you just hate disappointment? Personally, I prefer anger over disappointment any day." Lilly said. "Then at least you're feeling something that has fire in it, disappointment feels so depressing."
Booth smiled at her candid description. "I get what you're saying, but I hate it both. I wish I could just move on, skip all this sadness and chastising myself and just try and be happy again. I am sorry, I am ruining the fun evening we were having. This food is great by the way, your friend has great taste.
Lilly waved his apologies away, not letting him kill the conversation like that. "Don't worry about that, I told you before we could talk whenever and there is no way you could ruin this day, I enjoyed myself a lot actually."
Booth raised an eyebrow. "Doing paperwork?"
Lilly smiled. "Yes is that so weird? You call me desk jockey for a reason, don't you?"