Booth, Ace, and Aiden walked into the Royal Diner just a little after noon. Booth glanced around and caught sight of Temperance and Angela sitting at a table in the back, so they moved their way through the lunch crowd to the table. The ladies moved over, and Booth sat next to Temperance, and Harding next to Angela, with Aiden pulling up a chair to the end of the table. "Did you guys order yet?" Booth asked, catching the eye of the waitress, who nodded back, pointing at Aiden. "What do you want, Fitz?"
"Just a burger and fries is fine." He said, looking over at the waitress as Booth just held up his two fingers, and she nodded and moved toward the kitchen. Aiden looked to Booth. "I figured it'd just be easier that way." He said, looking back to the table, he immediately sensed some tension, but it couldn't really be identified, so he just kept quiet.
"How is Gracie?" Angela asked, seemingly oblivious to the tension. "I'll be going to see her tonight. JV said when he saw her this morning, she looked upset."
"She's probably bored out of her mind." Booth said, sighing, thanking the waitress as she brought their beverages. "Poor kid. She did well today, and when she's out of the hospital, she'll be in the lab to talk to you, Ange. We'll need a sketch."
"She's welcome any time." Angela said softly, sharing a small smile with Temperance, who lifted her eyebrow at her friend, which made Angela laugh just a little, as if they had shared something silently.
After a moment, everyone's food was delivered, and the table was filled with idle chatter while they settled with their plates, passed ketchup, and just talked quietly. "So where's Antonia?" Booth asked, glancing up as Angela and Temperance shared a look. "She's always here when you two come to the diner for lunch."
"Oh, she stayed at the lab." Temperance looked across the table at her partner, and over to Aiden, who was staring at his burger as he prepared it to eat. "She said that she felt that she should focus on her work there."
"Something about being an undisciplined, brazen, snot-nosed brat with a big brains and zero social skills that likes to make everyone around her feel stupid." Angela tossed in, moving slightly away from Ace, to give him a disgusted glare.
Aiden coughed a little, staring into his fries as he tried so hard to hide his laugh. Everyone looked at him, and he just shook his head and coughed again. "Sorry, sorry." He sighed, looking up, he caught the sparkle in Temperance's eye, which quickly turned to fire when she glared at her partner.
"Aw, come on! She told you!" Ace exclaimed in a whisper.
"Of course she told me!" Temperance said quietly. "And you should be ashamed of yourself making her feel so self-conscious." She shook her head. "She looks up to you, and you made her feel like garbage."
"She wasn't supposed to hear it." Harding defended himself. "I was just venting."
"Still doesn't make it right." Aiden said, shaking his head, still looking down, he looked up and saw Harding and Booth glaring at him, as Temperance and Angela shared a proud smile. He looked between Booth and Harding. "What? I'm just saying. You really shouldn't vent in public, and if you're going to vent, you really shouldn't make it personal. She caught the bad guy, okay? Just be happy she's not hurt, and move on." Aiden took a big bite of his cheeseburger and noted that he was still being glared at by the other two FBI agents.
"You're a damn suck up." Booth said, glaring at Aiden, who was promptly elbowed by Temperance, he sighed.
"You're the one that called her crazy." Harding said, trying to toss some blame at Aiden, he took a bite of his own hamburger.
"Actually, I called her a psychopath." He said honestly. "And the difference is, I called her that to her face, not in a random rant outside of the hospital that she overheard." Aiden said, popping a french fry into his mouth.
"Whatever." Ace sighed.
They continued to eat their lunch in silence, when Temperance's phone rang. She looked at the familiar number of the lab and lifted it to her ear. "Brennan." She said into the phone, listening for a moment, she nodded her head. "I'll be right there." She said, ending the call. "We have to go."
"We? You and me, or…"
"You and I, we have to get to the lab, Jared is there, and he's extremely agitated." She said, pushing her way from the table, as Booth got up and moved out of her way, he glanced at his food, and over to his wife as she grabbed his hand. "Ace will get it boxed up and bring it over."
"You got it, Doc." Harding said.
Booth grabbed another fry and pointed it at Ace. "I counted the fries."
And with that, he was pulled from the table by Temperance, and they disappeared out the door.
Aiden glanced to Harding and Angela as he moved over to where Booth had been sitting to put their food in the containers that the waitress brought over, "Jared, that's Booth's brother? Seeley's father?"
"Yeah." Ace said, glancing to Angela. "He's not exactly what you would call a stable individual. We should probably get over there."
With that, they gathered their lunches, and made their way after Temperance and Booth, and back to the lab.
When Ace and Aiden walked into the lab with Angela close behind, they could already hear the raised voice of a man in Temperance's office. Angela made a beeline for her own office with the containers of food, and Harding walked over where the yelling was coming from. Aiden stood back, listening to the ranting voice, he didn't want to get into the middle of it. As he stood there, he caught the eye of one of the young interns who had been working with Temperance. She beckoned him over to the platform, and happy for the reprieve of the drama, he walked over toward the platform, scanned his card and came up.
"You're Agent Fitzgerald, right?" She asked, smiling politely at the agent, he nodded, and sighed. "I'm Emma." She smiled. "Doctor Brennan said you know your way around a body." She said, her voice strangely provocative, making Aiden give her a confused look, he noted that the body of their victim was lying on the table.
"Oh, right." He shook his head. "Yeah. I was in medical school before I went into the FBI." He said, rattling off the fact. "What do you need?"
He walked over to the body, which had been covered but for the victim's head, and she indicated the process that they would be going through to remove the skin and muscle to get it down to bone. They were also working on finding bullet fragments to ensure that the weapon they found was the same as the weapon that killed the victim, and was involved in Grace's shooting. "You're really tall." Emma said, the words coming out awkwardly as they stood over the victim.
"Uh, thanks." He said, completely unsure of what was going on. "Did you have a question?"
"Kind of." She said, leaning over to his ear, she whispered. "Do you have a girlfriend?"
Aiden's eyes widened, and he gave her an incredulous look. "What?" His voice was kind of high and confused, he was not expecting that at all.
"Emma?" Antonia's voice came from below the platform.
Emma rolled her eyes, when she heard Antonia's voice, it was very clear that she had a great deal of disdain for her boss's daughter. "What? Can't you see that I'm having a conversation here?"
"Aiden?" Antonia said, he looked over the side of the platform, his green eyes were wide and clear, and he could see the laughter in Antonia's eyes.
"Hey, Tex." He said, swallowing hard. He mouthed the word 'help'.
"Emma, we don't discuss personal relationships on the platform, for one." Antonia said, sliding her card and ascending the platform. "Secondly, Agent Fitzgerald is an FBI contractor with the Jeffersonian. It would be improper to fraternize with a contractor." She said, reaching up to touch his shoulders, she winked at him and turned him around. "And thirdly, Agent Fitzgerald isn't wearing gloves, so he shouldn't be on the forensic platform." She said, giving him a small push, he climbed down the steps to the bottom and turned around, just as she got right into his face. "I know he's got that new FBI agent smell, but he knows better." She said with playful glare. She nodded her head in the opposite direction, and he paused for a moment, looking up at the stunned intern. He then followed Antonia toward one of the other rooms in the lab.