With the venomous kiss you gave me, I'm killing loneliness

AN: A thank you goes out to Time and Fate for the review. This chapter is for you!

With the venomous kiss you gave me, I'm killing loneliness. With the warmth of your arms, you saved me. Oh I'm killing loneliness with you. I'm killing loneliness that turned my heart into a tomb. I'm killing loneliness.

Zach was curled up in the passenger seat of Hodgins' car. His arms were crossed over his chest and his head was against the glass of the window. Normally, the man drove like a maniac, but these quiet times in the morning, it always seemed to Zach like he slowed down. He'd never admit it, but it was probably so he didn't wake up.

He only half slept really. He could tell when they were getting nearer to the Jeffersonian. Hodgins would slow down through the parking lot, ever vigilant against other drivers. He couldn't bear to have that tiny little car scratched up. They cruised around for about ten minutes before Hodgins got to his spot.

Today though, they stopped suddenly. Zach was unprepared for the sudden halt. His head flew off the glass. Had the seatbelt not been quite so tight, his forehead would have met the dashboard quite intimately.

"Hey!" he protested, opening his eyes. Hodgins threw him a look and then nodded at a figure walking just behind the car. She was wearing white knee-highs, a pair of Mary Janes, and a plaid shirt that fell just above her knees and a white button down blouse. There were familiar looking ear buds in her ear, and Zach could make out an iPod attached to her hip.

She was walking a strange way, almost to the beat of the song. Her lips were moving ever so slightly, and if you squinted, you could almost make out words. Hodgin's rolled down his window.

"GIRL!" he shouted. The girl jumped and spun, glaring. She yanked the ear buds out of her head.
"Do you want a ride closer to the museum?"

"No, thanks." She said coolly. Zach could hear the wailing of some singer. It was a band he didn't think he knew about.
"I've heard plenty of stories about kind looking men in cars offering rides to young girls like me. I do watch the news, you know."

"I'm not a pervert."

"I'm sure they all say that." She rolled her eyes. Hodgins laughed. He leaned back. Zach leaned forward. Their eyes met. She had brown eyes that seemed to drink in everything around her. Her hair was long and dark brown, in a braid down her back.

"Why don't you take the shuttle?" he sputtered after swallowing a few times. The girl looked at him strangely as though he had just asked her how many UFOs she had spotted.

"Have you been on that thing? It smells--,"

"Like feet." He finished for her. She looked at him strangely again before breaking into laughter.

"So you do know then." She plugged herself back into the MP3 player and started walking. The conversation was clearly over. Zach sat back and looked out the window.

"You like her," Hodgins said suddenly. The younger man blinked and then turned to look at his companion.

"I talked to her for a grand total of three seconds."

"Aaah, love at first sight." The bug man placed his hand against his chest and fluttered his eyelashes in a mock flirty way.

"What? No, that's not even logical. Love isn't logical." He grumbled. Hodgins pulled into their spot. He turned and smirked at Zach.

"You liiiike her." He sang.

"I do not! Maybe you like her. You're the one who stopped the car and asked her if she wanted a ride. Something I, by the way, never would have done." He added quickly.

"But I was being a gentleman." Hodgins shrugged. Zach stammered fruitlessly for a few minutes. The curly haired man turned off the car. He undid his seatbelt and opened the door. Zach was still sitting in the seat, looking dumbfounded. He turned and grinned.
"You so totally like her."

"So, Zach." Angela purred later that afternoon. "I know her name."

"Whose?" he looked up from the bones he was cleaning. "Her's?"

"No! HERS!"

"I'm confused." He sighed. Angela rolled her eyes. She dropped into the stool next to Zach and watched him work for a few minutes.

"The girl in the white stockings with the iPod?" Angela winked. Zach felt his face heat up.

"I'm going to murder Hodgins and then crash his car."

"Relax honey! I know her name. She's volunteering here for the summer. Her mom works in children's outreach. She's a tour guide for the children's section. Human anatomy,"

"What's her name?" he whispered as he stopped. He had been reaching for a metal pick to chip away some of the caked on mud. But he had to hear this. He had to know.

"Glory,"

"Gloria?" he turned and looked at her quizzically.

"No, just Glory. Glory Hallelujah is her full name. Her mother was in some sort of haze caused by the painkillers when she named her. It suits her though. I just had lunch with her." Zach dropped his pick.

"You what?"

"I had lunch with her. She's perfectly charming. We had a lovely discussion about how your bone structure determines some of your facial features and plastic surgery." She paused and shrugged. "I tried to get her to talk about movies and books and music, but she wasn't interested."

"Really?" he said as evenly as he
could. He picked up the little piece of metal and began chipping meticulously away at the dirt.

"She asked about you."

"What did she want to know?" he stopped again.

"Who you were. Where you worked. How old you were. Just the normal things," she shrugged. Zach nodded.

"I want to know that about her."

"She's sixteen, Zach. Too young for you. Too bad, too. She's wonderfully charming. You'd really like her." She hopped up off the stool.

Zach spent the rest of the day thinking about it. He was twenty-four. Was that really such a difference? Reason told him yes, but something else inside of him screaming that it wasn't.

Hodgins had to stay late to examine some dirt and feces from the latest crime scene. He tossed Zach his keys and told him to go ahead and go on home. There was no reason he had to stay and try and sleep on the hard couch if he didn't have to.

It was raining when he stepped outside. He put his arms up over his head in an attempt to keep the wetness out of his hair. It always got so curly when it was wet, something his mother lamented over.

"Glory!" he called out. She was trying to run on those high-stacked Mary Janes to the bus stop. She stopped, almost slipping to the ground on the wet blacktop. She squinted until she recognized him in the rain. Her hair was loose, soaked by the rain. She was shivering. Her blouse was wet right through, and he could make out the lacy cami she wore beneath it.

"Zach?"

"Come on; let me give you a ride. You're going to get drenched in the rain. You'll get sick." He realized this made him sound like an older man, who was what he really didn't want her to think of him as, but if it got her in the car, maybe it was worth it.

She hesitated for a minute and then ran over to him, her shoes splashing in the rain. Soon she was right next to him, and he could smell her scent. She was a mix of the falling rain and something sweet and fruity that was familiar, and yet Zach couldn't quite place it.

They walked in silence to the car. Zach opened her door for her. She quickly sat down and closed the door. He could see her shake the rain from her hair and sit back, looking up at the rain thoughtfully.

"How did you know my name?" he asked as he put the key in the ignition.

"Angela told me."

"Of course she did," damn her. Why was she constantly interfering in his life like this? Hadn't she said herself that Glory was too young for him? He put the car in gear and they began to drive.

"I know she didn't tell you the whole truth about our conversation."

"Oh?" he felt his guard go up. What was he going to hear now? That s he thought he was perverted? That she was a lesbian? That she was in training to be a nun? Any of these sounded pretty terrible indeed.

"When I told her that I liked you, her face sort of fell, you know? She said that you were too old for me. She said that I should probably just stay away from you. But I wasn't going to do that." He was shocked. He took his eyes off the road for a second to look at her and noticed the blush creeping up onto her cheeks.

"What?" he said dumbly.

"I like you. I know it's really strange, because I talked to you for like, two seconds this morning, but I even liked you then." She was bright red. Zach cleared his throat and drove on. After a moment, he reached over, hand trembling and covered her cold hand with his.

"I like you, too, Glory."

"Good," she smiled then. Zach drove on in the rain. After a mile or so, he couldn't take it anymore. He pulled into a fairly abandoned parking lot. He cut the engine, and without dropping her hand, he turned to look at her.

"Glory, listen…" he stopped and started again. "I don't think I could ever feel about anyone again."

"Of course you can!" she scoffed in a sweet way. She undid her belt. His heart began to thud in his chest as he undid his. She slid across the seat, her lips parted slightly. Her small hands gripped his shoulders, and she pulled herself so her head was level with his.

Gently, she pressed her lips against his. Zach gasped against her mouth and found himself returning her kiss. His tongue found its way into her mouth. Her arms wound around his neck. She was so soft and warm.

He knew he shouldn't be doing this. This was wrong wrong wrong, right right right! Nothing had ever felt so perfect to him before. When they parted, the stone that had surrounded his heart seemed to shatter.

"Don't tell a soul," he said sternly. She nodded solemnly.

"Take me home, Zach." She slipped back into her own seat and buckled up. Without a word, he started to car to take her home.