Day 3 Part 1

"Ugh…. Hodgins? Zachs? Anyone up there?" She clomped along clumsily in her heels- they weren't high, barely half an inch (of which Cherryl had scoffed at, and given her an extra assignment on top of the brochure. Apparently she'd have to start wearing higher heels). Even still, she felt awkward in them and grabbed onto the railing as she tiredly pulled herself up the stairs.

"I have come to annoy you and possibly steal part of your lunch," she called again, and this time Hodgins' head appeared, smiling down at her and swiping his card to grant her access to the rest of the lab.

"Well the annoy part I understand, but stealing lunches? That's rude," he said, turning away from her, back towards the metal table. Today it had bones on it, and she was suddenly no longer hungry or thinking of her forgotten lunch back at the apartment.

She was entirely too excited.

"No, I forgot my sandwich at the apartment; so not rude, just hungry- what's all this then?" She asked, scooting closer to the table, careful not to touch anything. Zach glanced up at her from the other side, and Hodgins frowned momentarily.

"Sorry, forgot to warn you- I'm so used to it that I sometimes forget others aren't," he seemed contrite, but Shilloh just laughed it off.

"Please. It's all fascinating- as long as I don't have to smell anything, we're good. So, like I asked earlier, what's-" she cut herself off when she began to wobble slightly. Scrunching her nose, she slipped off her shoes and kicked them to an unused corner, before turning back around. "What's all this about, then?"

Hodgins was laughing at her, which she couldn't understand, so she scrunched her eyebrows at him, but it was Zach who asked the question, "why did you just take off your shoes?"

"Oh! That's why you're laughing, then, I suppose? Well stop, it's not funny," she frowned lightly over at Hodgins, "Cherryl, my mentor of sorts, has a strict dress code, which includes heels. I'm not very good at walking in them- apparently, my tiny ones that I've picked out aren't good enough for her. But I digress, the reason I kicked them off is because I can't keep very good balance with them on and I didn't want to accidentally fall onto anything. Like whoever this was," she answered, looking back down at the skeleton.

"Mary Whiteland," Zach stated, picking up a rib bone and examining it closer, before going off on some large-worded description of whatever it was he was seeing.

"What exactly does that mean?" She asked Hodgins, a small smile on her face.

"No idea. I'm just the bug and slime guy," he stated, thinking it adorable how excited she was over absolutely nothing but large words and a pile of bones. "Come on, I think I have some food you can steal while I look the other way. Zach, you coming?"

"I am hungry," he stated, placing the bone back where it belonged, and throwing away his gloves. He turned around to make sure everything was in place one last time, and stopped where he was.

Shilloh was standing on the balls of her feet, leaning over the table as far as she could go without touching it, and her head was dangerously close to the bone he had just placed down. She was chewing on her bottom lip, her eyebrows scrunching together briefly before smoothing out.

"Huh," was all she said, before straightening herself out, flattening her blouse, and looking back up at him. "Oh! I'm sorry, was I not supposed to be doing that?" Her hand reached for the back of her head, playing with her short hair nervously.

"You weren't touching anything, there is no need to worry," he reassured her, and when she smiled at him he was glad he made the effort to find the right words.

OOO

"Hey, isn't that what you were eating yesterday?" She asked Zach, poking him slightly to make sure she had his attention.

"Yes."

"Oh," she thought for a minute, "Hodgins, why does everyone call you Hodgins? Why not just Jack? I mean, that is your first name, right? I didn't forget it or anything did I? Because I'm horrible with names, too, and if I forgot your name I'm sorry," she rambled again.

"Yeah, Jack's my first name. I have no idea why no one calls me Jack," he replied, trying not to laugh at her frazzled expression. He seemed to have a very hard time not laughing around her, or more specifically, at her.

"Huh… Would you mind if I called you Jack, then? Hodgins makes me feel so formal," she tried not to blush when she asked it, she really did. She wasn't the type of person to blush normally, because she wasn't the type of person to get embarrassed (worried, panicked, upset, yes- but not embarrassed). But she couldn't help the small blush that formed, and for the first time in a year she was actually embarrassed.

She had just blushed. For no good reason. God, this was so pathetic.

And, unfortunately for Shilloh, Hodgins thought it was the funniest thing in the world, and would spend the rest of the year trying to figure out ways to embarrass her and make her blush.

"Yeah, sure, Jack is fine," he tactfully didn't say anything about her blush, and after a couple of seconds it went away.

"So, Zachs, what is it that you do at the lab?" She asked, trying to get the attention off of her, and wanting to know more about the quiet man next to her.

"I am Dr. Brennan's assistant," he answered mildly, having no real interest in the conversation around him. He finished his lunch and left before Shilloh could think of another question to ask him.

"I don't think he likes me overly much," she stated, but there was no sadness in her voice, just a resignation to facts.

"No, Zach just doesn't understand the concept of small talk; I'm actually surprised he didn't go off on a longer description of what he does at the lab, usually that's something he likes to talk about. I don't know, maybe he's just distracted by the case or something; he's practically been sleeping in the lab this week," with a sigh, Hodgins got up off the couch, signaling that lunch was over.

"Alright, well I suppose I'd better get back to work. Thanks for sharing your lunch with me, I'll bring you some cookies this week to make it up to you," she smiled and headed down the stairs in her bare feet.

"Home made cookies? I demand home made as repayment!" He announced in his best pompous voice, causing her to laugh quietly at him.

"Home made it is. Zachs, I'll make sure to make enough for you, too- Jack's nice for letting me eat some of his lunch, but he's not nice enough for me to be rude and exclude you," she smiled over at him as she slipped her shoes back on awkwardly

"Ok, here we go. Wish me luck, and here's to hoping I don't break anything trying to walk around in these monstrosities!" She called out to them as she made her way down the stairs, clinging to the railing tightly.

"She is making us cookies? Is that a sign that she is a friend of ours?" Zach inquired when she left the lab entirely.

"It means she wants to be our friend- she's trying really hard, but you're not exactly making it easy, Zacho. She keeps trying to talk to you over lunch, and you're not really forthcoming with the details. She thinks you don't like her," Hodgins said, changing out a slide from his microscope.

"But that is not true; and I have answered all of her questions," he looked over at his friend from the femur that he was holding.

"Well, yeah, but they're not exactly answers that could lead into conversations- for example, when she asked what you do in the lab; you said you were Dr. Brennan's assistant, and then you left it at that. You should have given some examples of what you do- you know, take samples, pictures, film clips, examine the remains. From there she would have been able to ask clarifying questions. You see what I'm saying?"

"I see. I will try not give off the appearance of dislike tomorrow, then," he announced, before returning to the femur in his hands.