The next morning, Brennan was the first to wake up. She yawned, and wandered over to make coffee. They had all had nightmares, and the caffeine would do them good. As the coffee percolated, Brennan decided to check on everyone. She was beginning to feel a sort of responsibility for everyone since the threat came in. Everyone was still sleeping soundly.
She looked back to the coffee machine, and ascertained that it still had a few minutes to go before completion. She lumbered up the stairs to Sweets' office, to check that he had not had too many nightmares. The door to his office was wide open, which aroused suspicion straight away. As Brennan walked into the office, she noticed the couch tipped over, a spilled chemical that smelled strangely of chloroform, and a large picture of Sweets with a knife pinning it to the wall. Under it, written in blood, was the number two.
Brennan took several deep breaths, then ran down the stairs. In her early morning drowsiness, she tripped and collided with the person at the bottom of the stairs – Zack. "Doctor Brennan, I heard you wake up. Is everything alright?" Zack asked, not phased in the slightest that Brennan was on top of him, in what Angela would call a suggestive position.
She rolled off him onto the floor, and she could not evade the tears streaming down her face. That bastard had taken another one of her friends. She covered her face with her hands, as she shook with silent sobs. Zack sat up, shaking his head clear.
He looked down at Doctor Brennan sobbing. He had no idea how to deal with this sort of situation. Should he go and wake up Agent Booth? He settled with not leaving her, as people rarely want to be alone when in such a state, and pulled her into another awkward hug. He had seen Agent Booth hug her often enough, and he tried to reciprocate the action, and eventually had her in his arms.
"Did my body hurt you with the fall?" He asked, unsure of what was making her upset. She shook her head slowly. Obviously feeling vulnerable, she burrowed her head into his chest. He was feeling very uncomfortable, but at the same time wanted to make her sadness go away, in sort of a brotherly feeling. "Is there something in doctor Sweets' office?"
She nodded, gasping for breath. He stroked her hair, fearing the worst. He suspected that the kidnapper had gotten Doctor Sweets, and left some sort of grisly message for Brennan to find. This stalker definitely had a pattern. But more importantly, he could get into the Jeffersonian. He was picking them off one by one, just like he had promised.
He scooped up Doctor Brennan, and took her back to where the others were still sleeping. She was calming down now, but she still had tears welling up in her eyes. She was rather light, lighter than he expected her to be – but then again, he was deceptively strong. He sat down on the lounge he had been sleeping on, to hold her until she stopped crying.
"Thank you Zack." She sniffed. She was finally calm, and Zack was relieved that she was alright, He hated to see his mentor so distressed.
"Anytime Doctor Brennan. Are you able to stand?" He asked. She nodded, and he let her out of his arms, so that she could get shakily to her feet. Zack held her about the shoulders for support. "Is Doctor Sweets gone?" He said softly, so as not to wake the others.
Brennan nodded, still feeling shaken by his disappearance. Zack went over to Agent Booth, with Brennan in tow. "Agent Booth?" He asked in a whisper. Booth didn't stir. "Booth." Brennan prodded. Booth moved a little, then opened his eyes.
"Bones… what time is it… you squints…" He said in a voice as menacing as the time of day would allow him. Then his eyes widened, and he threw off his sleeping bag. "Is something up?" He said noticing Brennan's eyes, which were red rimmed from crying. Brennan nodded and led him over to the stairs up to Sweets' office.
"Doctor Sweets has gone missing. I heard Doctor Brennan wake up and thought I might assist her with making coffee, then I saw her fall down the stairs. She fell on top of me, she was quite distressed."
"Sorry about that Zack." Brennan said, attempting to integrate herself in conversation so that she could take her mind off… other things.
"Well, I'm gonna go up there and take a look around Sweets' office, see if there's anything we can do. I saw Angela waking up, you should go and talk to her Bones."
"I'll go up there with you." Zack said. Booth looked at Zack. "Really Zack, 'cause the kidnapper could still be around, and you don't really look like the kind of guy that could defend himself."
"I am deceptively strong." Zack insisted. Did he really look so weak that he could not even defend himself against some sort of attack? It would be insulting, were it not for his stance on how illogical this emotion would be.
Even so, Zack followed Booth up the stairs and into Sweet's office. They saw the words on the wall, and the chloroform that had seeped into the carpet. Zack looked around the room, then to Agent Booth, who was calling the authorities.
Zack was left to wonder just how a kidnapper had managed to get into the building without detection. Or, in an even more difficult feat, managed to leave without tripping any security alarms. It was very possible that the kidnapper had not yet left the building with Doctor Sweets. Perhaps they should check the security tapes. The a hand grabbed Zack's shoulder.
Zack swung around and decked his opponent across the jaw, watching with satisfaction as he fell to the floor. "Ah, Zack, what the hell?" The opponent had been Hodgins, who had come after Brennan had woken up Angela and him to inform them of what had happened.
"Oh Hodgins, I must apologise, I am rather on edge at the moment. You should not have tried to sneak up on me like that." Hodgins glared as he held his hand over his mouth.
"Oh, so this is my fault now that you decided to become abusive?" His mouth was pumping blood by now, and Zack went over to the desk to get him some tissues. That is when he noticed the other tissues, doused with chloroform. This must have been used by the kidnapper to subdue Doctor Sweets. Perhaps it had some of his DNA attached to it…
"Hey, Zack buddy, I could really use some of those tissues right about now." Hodgins reminded him, bleeding all over the floor. Zack nodded and handed him some tissues. He rushed down the stairs and grabbed some latex gloves and returned to carefully pick up the tissue and take it to the Forensic platform.
Brennan came over, her steely demeanour active once again. "What do you have Zack?" She asked, looking at the tissue he had under the high intensity microscope.
"I may have found the tissue that the kidnapper used to subdue Doctor Sweets… if I can isolate a DNA sample from it, we may be able to identify the offender." Brennan nodded.
"Good work. Call out if you find anything. Is Booth still up there?" Zack nodded, already immersed in his work. Brennan departed from the platform and back up the stairs. Booth finished a phone call and turned to Brennan. "The experts are on their way. I saw Zack with his gloves on – does that mean he's found some sort of evidence on this guy?"
"Well, that is still being tested, but if the kidnapper was unprotected while taking Doctor Sweets, then there should be some sort of fingerprint at least." Booth nodded, then studied her for a moment. He then pulled her into his chest for a tight hug. She tensed at his sudden action, and then wrapped her own arms around him as well.
When they broke apart, Booth said simply, "You looked like you needed that." Then he turned away, to go and see how Hodgins was after being punched in the face. When he reached him, Hodgins was sitting in Sweet's chair, holding a large bunch of tissues to his face.
"How does it feel to be brought to your knees with a single punch from Zack?" Booth asked as Hodgins looked up to glare at him.
"Well, not as bad as it feels to suddenly be number one target on a kidnapper's list." Booth raised his eyebrows.
"How did you know that you were the next target after Sweets?"
Hodgins shrugged. "Brennan told me when she was down there with me and Angela. Now I saw that display you pulled on Brennan out there. There is a window on the door you know." Hodgins smirked at the FBI agent, who scowled at the shorter man.
"She's been through a lot, and looked like she could have used a hug." Hodgins nodded.
"Right, but just answer me this. You've known Brennan for a few years now, and she has been shot, stabbed and threatened many timed before, and you have never shown her as much care for her as this time, where she has not been touched." Booth rolled his eyes.
"Adding to that, she doesn't really look like someone who likes receiving hugs from just anyone, huh?" Booth turned to leave the room.
He said to Hodgins as he left. "That may be true, but I'm not just anyone."
Sweets is gone now! That leaves Zack without a safety buddy, and everyone without an annoying psychiatrist. Leave more reviews and suggestions, and I will post on Monday or Tuesday. HodginsH