A/N: Don't own, don't sue. Please review!

Chapter 3

"Ha! Mine!"

Alex smiled triumphantly as she slapped the deck of cards and took them for herself, much to the disappointment of the three men sitting in a circle with her. "You've gotten much better at slapping the deck lately, Alex," Andy said suspiciously. "Does it have anything to do with this Zack character we've heard so much about?"

"Yes, it does, and it's your turn," she told him.

"When do we get to meet this kid?" Kevin asked, putting down a two.

"I don't know, and he's not a kid, Kev," she said. "He's a year younger than me."

"Alex, to be honest, none of us are that fond of the idea of you dating someone you met in the loony bin," Seth told her, the corners of his mouth turning downward.

"Guys, he's not a loony," she said, rolling her eyes and setting down her cards. "I'm tired of playing." She gathered up the cards and began reorganizing them into the deck.

"He's in here because he was the apprentice of a cannibalistic serial killer," Andy said, looking scandalized. "Of course he's a loony!"

"Well, then I'm a goddamn loony too. If you remember correctly, I tried to kill myself," she said, setting the deck down angrily.

"Yeah," Seth said quietly. "We remember."

"Even though we wish we didn't," Kevin muttered.

"He's changed, okay?" Alex said. "So please- stop deprecating my only friend in here."

"Okay, fine," Andy said. "We're sorry."

"Yeah, we're sorry," Kevin echoed.

"Me three," Seth threw in, looking a little lost. "I know I'd feel a lot better about this if we got to meet him."

"You will," she assured Seth. "Eventually. He's not very good at socializing, and I don't want to put him on the spot today. Maybe next time you guys visit."

"Yeah, that'll be next week," Andy said. "You know we always visit you every week, Alex. We've never missed one."

"Yeah, I know," she said softly. "Thanks."

"You're our best friend," Kevin said, shrugging. "What else were we going to do?" Suddenly, he brightened and his eyes widened. "Hey, you remember that skiing trip we all took over Christmas break during our sophomore year of high school?"

"Hell, yeah, I remember!" she cried. "That trip was the shit!"

"Well, I found the pictures we took in an old folder on my Mac, so we made an album for you," he said, handing over a thick book.

Smiling, she opened it and began looking at all the pictures. Laughing at a picture of Andy giving her a piggy back ride, she said, "I remember that! We raced down the slope, and whoever lost had to give the winner a piggy back ride. Andy lost, so I got on his back, and then he ran me into the front door of the hotel!" Looking up, she said, "Thanks, guys."

"No problem," Seth told her, shrugging. "We figured you needed something to pass the time in here."

"Yeah," Andy said. "And something to remind you of us."

"Don't worry," she said, reaching out to place a friendly hand on his shoulder. "I won't forget about you. Or any of you guys."

A smile played on Kevin's lips. "'Don't you… forget about me….'"

TLTBTLTB

"So do I ever get to meet this Alex girl you keep talking about?"

Hodgins looked knowingly at Zack over the table, smiling. "Not right now," Zack replied. "She's being visited." Pointing his finger across the room at Alex, he said, "That's her right over there."

Following Zack's finger, Hodgins looked back and seemed to be sizing Alex up. "That's Alex?" he asked incredulously. "Damn, man. She's hot."

"She does have symmetrical features and other indicators that she would be a good mate," Zack replied.

"Can't you be normal for a few minutes, man?" Hodgins asked. "Especially when it has to do with women." Pausing for a moment to glance back at where Alex was seating with the three men, he asked, "Why is she surrounded by three guys? Is one of them her boyfriend?"

"No," Zack said.

"Are you sure, man?" Hodgins asked. "She seems to be pretty close to the one sitting on her right, with the brown hair."

"That must be Andy," Zack muttered, more to himself than to Hodgins. "I'm sure, Hodgins. She's told me about those three men. They're her best friends, and she's close with all of them. I'm fairly certain that the one on her right is Andy, the blonde across from her must be Kevin, and the other brunette is probably Seth."

"If you say so, man," he shrugged.

"I think she might be attracted to me," Zack muttered.

"Let me be the judge of that, my friend," he told him, smiling. "So you two are pretty good friends, huh?"

"We spend almost every moment of every day together," he replied. "For the past several months or so. Since August."

"Damn man," Hodgins said. "You've been in here for almost a year. You're so close to getting out. Just behave, okay?"

"I haven't been doing anything that would give them reason to detain me for any further periods of time," Zack said. "Dr. Sweets will just have to clear me in about a month in order for me to return to work at the Jeffersonian. But I'll be on probation. I won't be allowed to touch remains or alter evidence. For at least six months."

"Yeah, I know," he said. Nodding in his general direction, he said, "Your hands have healed quite nicely."

"Yes, they have," he nodded. "Alex was happy when they were fully healed, because that meant I could play Egyptian ratscrew with her."

"Aw, man, I sucked at that card game," Hodgins groaned. "I always thought too hard about whether it was a slap or not that I always missed the slaps."

"Alex loves that game," Zack informed him. "She is extremely adept at quickly determining whether the sequence of the cards results in a sandwich or a double."

"Dude, you are so smitten," he grinned.

"I don't know what that means."

"It means that you're in love with her," Hodgins told him, rolling his eyes. "Dude, you are so clueless."

"Love is not a quantifiable emotion," Zack said. "It is meaningless to me."

"Whether you recognize it or not, you're still in love with her," he told him, leaning forward on the table. "I know you, Zack. And you don't ever talk about anyone like this, much less a girl you met in the loony bin. Face it, Uriah. You. Love. Her."

Zack said nothing; he only glared at Hodgins. Finally, he said, "It looks like she's done visiting her friends. Would you like to meet her?"

"Hell, yeah!" Hodgins said.

Zack half-stood from his seat and waved her over, allowing a small smile to spread across his face. "Hey, Zack," she said, sitting down next to him. Seeing Hodgins, she extended her hand for him to shake. "Hi, I'm Alexandra, but call me Alex."

Hodgins accepted her hand and shook it before releasing it. "I'm Dr. Jack Hodgins, but you can call me anything you want, babe."

Zack glared at him, but Alex chuckled. "How about I just stick to Hodgins? That's what Zack always calls you when he talks about you, anyway."

"Ah, so Zack talks about me, huh?" Hodgins said, his eyes twinkling jovially at his best friend from across the table. "All good, I hope?"

"Yeah, mostly," Alex said, shrugging. "A lot about bugs and slime and conspiracy theories, though."

"So I hear you like Egyptian ratscrew," Hodgins said nonchalantly.

"Yeah, in fact, I just got through several games with my friends," she said, playing with the deck of cards absentmindedly. "All of which, I won."

"Eh, I was never good at that game," he told her. "I always thought too hard about it."

"It's all about not thinking though, man," Alex told him, chuckling. "The point is to train your reflexes to be so fast that your brain doesn't even register them until after you've slapped the deck."

"Point taken," Hodgins said. "Hey, I know this is really random, but perhaps you can offer me some insight into the female psyche."

"Girl advice?" she said. "Sure, shoot."

"Okay, so several months ago, I broke up with my fiancée-" he said.

"Angela," Alex nodded. At Hodgins' stunned look, she shrugged and said, "Zack told me."

"Right," he said. Continuing, he said hopefully, "I was sort of hoping you could give me advice about this whole thing."
"Let me get my facts straight," Alex said. "You still love her, but she's dating a woman?" Hodgins nodded, and, at his questioning look, she simply said, "Zack told me."

"So? What d'you got for me, loony girl?"

Zack glared at Hodgins when he called her loony girl, but Alex laughed. "I like that, thanks," she said. "Hmmm… okay. Well, it seems to me that the two of you had a pretty strong, intense emotion and physical relationship. And the reason you broke up was because…?"

"Long story short, she felt like we didn't really trust each other any more," he replied.

"So start building that trust up again," Alex advised him. "Start rebuilding your friendship and make sure that the trust is there and stronger than ever. And then just wait for her lesbian relationship to be over with. It doesn't sound like it's very stable anyway."

"Let me guess," Hodgins said. "Zack told you." He smiled at Zack across the table and winked, saying, "Zack has loose lips when it comes to you.

"I do not!" Zack cried abruptly, even though he had been quiet during the whole of their conversation.

"Man, she knows more about me than anyone should about someone they've never met before," Hodgins told him. "Loose lips."

Zack merely folded his arms across his chest and glared at that.

TLTBTLTB

"What are you going to do when you get out of here?"

Alex sat up from her position lying on the floor and looked at Zack curiously, awaiting his reply. "I'll return to the Jeffersonian, if Dr. Sweets clears me to do so. However, I'll be on probation. Meaning I won't be allowed to touch anything, basically. I'll only be an intellectual tool. I don't know where I'll be living, though. You?"

"Seth is freaking rich, since he's suck a computer freak," she replied. "He's already bought me an apartment in the same building as the one he shares with Kevin and Andy. As for a job, I have no freaking idea. I was working temporarily at Seth's company when I tried to commit suicide, just until I could find a real job of my own. But I never did get a chance to."

"It sounds like Seth provides for you a lot," Zack commented. Quickly, he added, "And I don't mean that to be a bad thing; I was just merely stating an observation of mine."

"Yeah, he does," she said, sighing a bit. "He's a really good friend that way." Lying back down, she huffed, "I can't wait to get the hell out of this joint."

"I concur," he agreed, lying down on his bed. "I hate the feeling of isolation, and I miss my work as a forensic anthropologist."

"You sound like you're pretty amazing at it," she yawned. "You speak like a dictionary."

He allowed a small smile to spread across his face. "Frankly, I'm surprised you understand me half the time."

"I'm smart too, Zack," she informed him, chuckling. "I use big words, too."

"I wasn't trying to insult your intelligence."

"I know, Zack," she said. "I was just joking."

"Oh."

"I have my psychiatric evaluation tomorrow," she told him. "The state psychiatrist will have to clear me for release. Wish me luck?"

"I don't believe in luck. It's irrational."

"Right. Wish me… logic?"

"Okay," he agreed, smiling again. "Good logic, Alex."

"Thanks, Zack," she said sleepily. "Good night, Zack."

"Good night, Alex."

When she thought he was asleep, she whispered, "I love you, Zack." Then she turned onto her side and drifted off into sleep.

Those four words kept Zack up all night.