Sunday, July 15- 9:00am-
Aiden stepped slowly out of the elevator, his eyes scanning down the long hallway to the sliding glass doors that led to the lab. His head felt like his eyeballs were slamming into his brain at a constant rate, his throat was dry and scratchy. He winced at the pain in his ribs as he took a deep breath, and shifted the papers in his arms.
He walked slowly down the hallway, his head down as he approached the doors, he was secretly happy that it was still the weekend, and that the full staff of the lab would not be there. He scanned his card without looking up, watching the doors slide open at his feet, he took his first step inside and looked up.
The conference room light was on, Temperance's office light was on, and some of the lower security lights were on. Otherwise, the space was quiet and darkened. He looked around and continued his slow steps toward the conference room, turning his attention instead back to Temperance's office. He sucked in a deep breath, and let it escape quickly as he walked toward the open door. As he approached the doorway, he could see Temperance sitting at her desk, her eyes focused on her computer screen for a moment as she typed some notes. He stepped into the doorway and stopped.
"Agent Fitzgerald." She said, her voice monotone and disconnected.
"Doctor Brennan." He said softly. "I just wanted to apologize for my behavior yesterday. What I did was not in the best interest of the team, and I can assure you that it will not happen again." He said, noting that she made no move, and no acknowledgement of his apology. "I spoke with Antonia last night." He said, clearing his throat slightly, he winced at the pain in his side.
Temperance looked up at the agent, and her eyes widened just slightly. "Aiden." She said softly, carefully standing up. "Booth didn't say that you were injured yesterday."
"I'm not sure he cared much, Doctor Brennan. Not that I blame him." Aiden said, giving her a weak smile. "It's okay, I'm alright."
She stood up and approached him, reaching her hand out to touch the bruising on his cheekbone, she watched him flinch. "This was from the altercation with Byron Stearns?" She asked, calling the drug dealer by name, he could feel her cool fingertips on his skin.
"Yes." He nodded. "Bruised ribs too." He said, touching his side. He placed his files down on the desk. "I'll be okay though."
"Let me see." She said, watching him shake his head, his eyes wide.
"Doctor Brennan, it's okay, you don't have to…" He started to protest, but before he could say anything further, she had pulled at his tucked shirt, and was looking at the bruising on his side, probing his ribs with her fingertips, his arm went up, and he looked to the ceiling, blushing as she pushed at the bruising on his ribs, looking at it closely.
"Aiden, that bruising is pretty extensive. You could have cracked one of the ribs that you had already injured in December. You may want to at least get it looked at." She said, looking up at him as he grimaced. "Are you alright?"
"Your hands are just very cold, Doctor Brennan." He said, smiling nervously.
"Alright, what the hell is going on in here?" Booth's voice boomed from across the office. It sounded more humored than angry, but that didn't stop Aiden from moving too quickly to pull his shirt down, and with that pushing into his bruised ribs, he let out a pain filled yelp.
"Booth, you startled him!" Temperance said, taking Aiden's arm as he held himself up by leaning on Temperance's desk, whimpering as he tried to breathe deeply through the pain.
"Serves him right for taking off yesterday." Booth said, his humor dropped off. Temperance stood between Booth and Aiden, crossing her arms over her chest as she shook her head at her husband.
"We're done with that. It happened, he's sorry. It's over, move on." Temperance demanded.
"But it's not over. He took off, so he's on a very, very short leash, Bones. Let's go, Fitz." Booth barked.
"Agent Fitzgerald is staying here with me in the lab." Temperance said. "My partner isn't here, and I need assistance." She said sternly, refusing to step down.
"Bones, he's my agent. You have Nichols."
"I don't want Nichols, I want someone who has experience in the lab. Agent Fitzgerald stays here, no arguments." Temperance said, shaking her head.
"Fitz, if you stay here, you're off the team." Booth said succinctly, trying to look around his wife at his agent, who was still leaning against the desk.
"You wouldn't dare." Temperance said, taking a step toward her husband, her eyes focused dangerously on his, her stance tall and strong. Aiden recognized that stance, he recognized that tone. He knew exactly where Antonia received her fire and knew very well that the best thing he could do was stay back.
"Oh, I'd dare, Bones." He growled, stepping toward her, his own eyes blazing with anger.
"Doctor Brennan, I can go." Aiden sighed, standing straight, he picked up the pile of papers that he had placed on Temperance's desk, prepared to go with Booth.
"You will sit down, now." She said sternly, and without thought or care of the pain, he sat quickly, wincing as he landed hard in the seat, grabbing his side due to the pain, he tried to breathe through it. "Booth, you don't have anything you need him for. I need him in the lab. Besides, he's injured. It's not as if he can go out in the field like this. He could puncture his lung if his rib is cracked, and his lungs are already compromised from the last time that happened."
"So you just want to treat him like a porcelain doll? He's a damn FBI agent, he can deal with some cracked ribs and a cracked lip. It's part of the job!" Booth shouted.
Aiden rested his head in his hand, the shouting was radiating through his brain making his headache worse. He pulled his phone out as Temperance and Booth continued shouting, and he dialed a number, waiting patiently as he leaned against his phone.
"Hey." Antonia's voice came over the line, he couldn't help but smile a little. "Oh God, what are they arguing about now?" She asked.
"Me." He said, sighing.
"They're arguing about you?" She asked, letting out a light laugh as she listened to the content of the argument for a moment as they each continued to threaten one another, and Aiden.
"Yeah. They're fighting over me. I don't know which one I should listen to." He whispered. "Your dad is pretty powerful, but your mom is really, really scary."
"Personally, I'd defer to my mother, especially considering that you're in the lab." She said. "Professionally, Dad probably has the upper hand. Honestly? I'd just sit back and take a nap. This could take a while."
Aiden let out a slight chuckle, and suddenly the ire of both Booth and Temperance were focused on him. He looked up sheepishly. "Sorry, calling in backup." He said, pointing at the phone.
"Smooth move, Fitzgerald." Antonia giggled over the line, causing him to laugh again.
"Is that my daughter?" Temperance snapped.
"Oh, here we go." Antonia laughed. "Buckle up."
"Your daughter? Your daughter? She's our daughter, Bones! What is with you and this possessive streak that you have?" Booth exclaimed.
"Feels good to be wanted, doesn't it?" Antonia giggled, listening to Aiden laugh. "Can you please hand the phone to my father?"
"Sure." Aiden said, looking up at the two red-faced, bickering people in front of him. "Uh, Agent Booth?" He said, watching the other agent's eyes snap to his angrily. "Antonia wants to talk to you."
Booth snarled and snapped the phone out of Aiden's hand, and turned completely around as if the other two people couldn't hear his side of the conversation if he wasn't facing them. "Hey, kid." Booth said into the line, his angry voice deflating extremely quickly.
"Just let Mom have this one. He had a rough night last night beating himself up over all of this, and its Sunday. Mom needs someone in the lab that knows what they're doing."
"Mmhmm…" He mumbled into the line.
"Dad, you were going to let her keep him at the lab any way, and you know it. You just wanted to get Mom all fired up. You know that's true." Antonia scolded.
"Well, you know, I come into the office, and his shirt is up around his neck, and she's poking at him like he's some kind of piece of meat, what is a guy supposed to think?" Booth teased, turning around to face Temperance and Aiden, their jaws dropped as he grinned as if he had just won.
"What?" Antonia asked.
"That's right." He said, taking a step back when Temperance reached for the phone. "I mean both of them, right here out in the open." He sighed dramatically.
"Dad, stop fooling around, and let Aiden stay in the lab. We're supposed to work together today." She said with a frustrated sigh.
"Fine." He muttered. "But the shirt thing did happen."
"Whatever. Let me talk to Aiden please." She said sternly.
Booth moved to hand the phone to Aiden, and mouthed 'you are in trouble'. The younger agent took the phone and brought it to his ear. "Hey." He said, knowing full well that Booth could be messing with him.
"Were you injured yesterday?" She asked, knowing the exact reason her mother would be poking at him.
"Uh, some bruises. Nothing detrimental." He replied.
"You failed to mention this last night." She said pointedly, her tone very short.
"Because it's not a big deal." He whispered, turning away from Booth and Temperance, he put his head down as he listened to her sigh. "Just my ribs, and a little on my face, but I'm okay. I'm fine. I was just favoring my side, and your mother was kind enough to check on me." He said, turning to narrow his eyes at Booth, he noted the self satisfied smirk on Temperance's face.
"You're in the lab today with Mom." She said with a finite tone. "I won't be on the live link for a couple of hours, so you should get your notes organized and go over them with Mom, Nichols, and Dad. You're sure you're okay?"
"I promise, I'm fine. I love you."
"I love you." She said softly. "How is your head?" She asked, thoughtfully.
"It feels like there is a big band extravaganza going on in there." He said with a sigh.
"Good." She said. "You'll think twice about drinking again."
"It was a stupid thing for me to do. I am sorry that I disappointed you." He said softly.
"I think you disappointed yourself as well." She said honestly. "I will talk to you soon. Have a good morning."
"You too. Give my love to Shadow."
"I'll let you do that in a couple of hours." She said, a smile in her voice as she hung up the phone.
He listened to the click and looked up at Booth and Temperance as they stood waiting patiently for the call to be over. "So, what's the verdict?" He asked politely.
"You know what the verdict is, don't be an ass. Get your crap and get into the conference room so we can talk notes." Booth said, turning on his heel, he stomped out of the office.
"Thank you, Doctor Brennan." He said, shuffling the folders in his arms, as he stepped out of her office, glancing back at her.
"Don't thank me just yet, Agent Fitzgerald. You've never spent an entire day at the lab with me." She said with a playful wink as she grabbed her notes and walked briskly past him toward the conference room.