Chapter Thirteen: The surprise in the Envelope
Jack Hodgins woke up in his apartment just like every other day to the same routine, goes into the bathroom to splash water on his face, gets dressed and heads downstairs to pour himself a mug of instant coffee. But this day seemed different, he didn't know how but it just did.
He reaches up into the cupboard above the stove top to get himself a mug when out of the corner of his eye he sees white poking underneath his front door. This is weird he says to himself, heading over to unlock the door and retrieve the white paper envelope from the hallway outside his apartment. He picks it up and looks at it, that's strange, no sender ID, so he takes it back inside, coffee mug in one hand, package in the other, he sits his mug down on the breakfast table and rips open the envelope.
Booth and Brennan arrive at work just like any other day, the cracking of jokes, the flirtatious shove, which Angela always observed, but today she didn't notice them. Something else was on her mind, troubling her deeply.
Tempe sets down her handbag on her desk in her office, steals a quick kiss from Booth before he heads off to the bureau and goes to converse with her best friend Angela Montenegro.
She arrives in Angela's doorway and see her friend staring intensely at a photo on her desk, one of her and Hodgins.
"Hey what's up, I've never seen you this.. serious before, is everything ok?" Tempe asks her friend.
"It's Jack, he's not usually this late, he's the first one here every morning, and he's not answering his phone, either of them, what if something's wrong Tempe!" says Angela, tears start pooling in her lower eye lids, they over flow and trickle down her face, slow at first, then the saline droplets turn into streams, Angela breaks down. Tempe hugs and consoles her friend.
"Why don't we go over there, I'm sure he's ok"
"No he would've called me!" says Angela hysterically.
"Ok let's ok"
Angela grabs her handbag, coat and scarf and Tempe runs to grab hers and they leave to go find Hodgins.
On the car ride over to Hodgins' apartment, Angela grows more and more unsettled.
"When did you last talk to him Ange?"
"Last night, we had dinner at Antonio's and went back to his place for a while and then I left, he asked me if I wanted to stay, but I turned him down, now I feel terrible, I should have stayed Tempe, maybe then I wouldn't be worrying about him so much"
Tempe doesn't say anything and just listens intently. Angela continues.
"He's such a gentleman you know, he always makes me laugh and he's just so cute with everything he does" she pauses and looks down at her intertwined gloved fingers, a lone tear trickles down her cheek.
"Hey will you stop talking about him like he's dead" says Tempe, offering her a hand of comfort on a friend's shoulder.
"Yeah who am I kidding, he's not dead, I bet he just slept past his alarm or his having one of his lazy no work days" pause "But then again, he would've called". Tempe says nothing and shares her gaze between the road and the her upset friend in the passenger seat.
"Drive faster!" says Angela suddenly, it surprises Tempe and she immediately pushes her pedal to the metal and speeds the rest of the way, with the help of Booth's trusty cop siren, she loved switching it on when she was in Booth's car. Booth had dropped his car keys on the couch in Tempe's office when they were 'saying goodbye'. She will return them later.
Five minutes later they pulled up outside Hodgin's apartment block and no sooner had Tempe stopped Booth's SUV had Angela jumped out of the passenger side and was running full speed through the pedestrian gate which was ideally unlocked and towards the elevator. Tempe drove the SUV into the underground car park, parks and heads for the elevators aswell.
When Tempe arrives at Hodgins' apartment she finds the front door wide open and Angela sitting on the floor of the kitchen cradling Hodgins in her arms, he's unconscious and laying adjacent to his limp hand on the lino floor is a plain white paper envelope with white powder spewing from the opening. The events played out in a silent montage just like it did when Booth walked into her office with a gunshot wound in his arm.
Blackness, Hodgin's struggles to open his heavy eyelids and when he finally does bright light makes his eyes water and he wants to close them again, but he doesn't, he wants to see Angela, but all he can see right now are the silhouettes of people, he can't make out who they are, they're just dark shapes moving about the room, then all of a sudden he hears a familiar voice saying his name, "Jack, Jack" it was saying, not softly, but firmly, as if to get his attention,, it did. He opened his eyes fully and what he saw made his heart and stomach do gymnastics, it was Angela, his Angela.
"Hey Hodgie, you're awake, I was so worried about you" she said in her sweet angelic voice, Hodgins was in love with her voice.
"Hey Angie" he said back to her drowsily. "What happened to me, am I in hospital?"
"Yeah you're in hospital, and it seems to me that you were drugged sometime this morning with the same white mystery powder that Booth was drugged with"
"Do you know what it is, what drug?"
"See that's the ironic part, I would normally be asking you this question, seems you're the only one who knows what this substance is"
"Well it was a white powder; it sort of blew up in my face when I opened the white envelope this morning. Have they tested it?"
"Yeah it was weird, it had traces of narcotic mixed with bi-carb soda, citric acid and Anthrax"
Jack Hodgins' eyes lit up.
"Holy… "
"What? What is it?"
"The sonovabitch used my formula but mixed Anthrax in it to make me sick, this is a sicko with brains"
"Most sicko's do have brains" Angela told him.
Just then Booth and Brennan walk into the room, Tempe holding a huge bunch of flowers for Hodgins.
"Hey, and the party's arrived" says Hodgins joyfully, he was so glad to see all of his friends.
"Welcome back to the land of the living" says Booth. He and Hodgins were always poking fun at each other.
"Ha ha Agent Booth, nice try, but I wasn't dead"
"And I wasn't trying" adds Booth with a cheeky smirk.
"Damn you"
Booth chuckles
"I win again, yes!" says Booth punching the air with his fist.
Tempe gives him the 'grow up' look.
"What?"
Tempe keeps staring just to annoy him and starts to laugh.
"Why does everyone always pick on me?"
"Because you always pick on everyone else" replies Tempe, she thought that was an even payback.
"I do not!" complains Booth.
"Ahh I see there's been some development in the romance department" says Hodgins.
Booth and Brennan both look at him at the same time; he was obviously talking about them.
"What?" say Booth and Brennan in unison.
"Don't play dumb guys, Dr Jack Hodgins; Love Doctor knows all"
"Love Doctor?" asks Booth, he quickly glances at Tempe to see if she knows what he's on about, but she doesn't.
"Hey it's ok guys, secret's safe with me and Ange" says Hodgins with a wink.
"It's not really a secret anymore" says Zach Addy, walking into the room "Hey guys sorry I'm late, I got held up"
"Hey man, here's my partner in crime" says Hodgins.
"How about in saving crime, it goes better" says Zach.
"Hey Zach" says Tempe.
"Hey Dr Brennan", Zach was Tempe's Anthropology student and the other fifth of the Jeffersonian 'squints' as Booth liked to call them, or 'skeleton crew', was another name.
"I brought you some photos of 'the crew', coz I didn't know how long you were gonna be in here and a get well soon card and a teddy bear, coz I think you look like a teddy bear" says Zach.
Everyone laughs when they see Hodgins' reaction to Zach's comment.
"Alright, that's it you, I'll get you when I'm strong again so watch out!"
Everyone laughs and Booth grabs Zach's head and gives him a 'noogie'.