Chapter 5. the man in the fallout shelter.
December 23rd. 6 PM. Angela followed Brennan up the steps onto the platform.
"Sweetie!"
"Angela, I don't want to go."
"Sweetie, could you stop galloping for, like, two seconds?" Angela asked smiling.
"Better able to withstand peer pressure when you can't catch me." She said picking up a file
"Call it a favor, okay?" she said desperate to have her friend go with her.
"How is me going to a company Christmas party doing you a favor?" she asked curiously.
"Remember what happened last year?" angela asked raising an eyebrow.
"I didn't go last year." She pointed out.
"Yeah, exactly. And it took me weeks to collect all those photocopies. I need you. Friends don't let friends photocopy their butts at company Christmas parties. Hey, there's a Secret Santa." She said hoping that would sway her.
"I don't like Secret Santa."
ANGELA: Yeah, yeah, I know. Oh come on sweetie" she said stomping a foot. "don't make me beg.I've already had an eggnog, if you can't tell. How am I gonna enjoy this party knowing that my best friend in the whole world is in the lab, eyeball to eyeball with… Skeletor? "
"did you just stomp your foot?" brennan asked raising an eyebrow.
"yes…would you please just come to this party?"
Brennan exhales. "Twenty minutes."
"yes! Thank you." She said greatful hugging her.
"Bones!" Booth called walking in carrying a suitcase.
"Merry Christmas, Seeley." Angela said a hand on the hip smiling.
"Oh, wow. Ooh, what are you, an elf?" Booth asked placing the suitcase on the table
"Yes. What's wrong with a little Christmas spirit?" Booth smiled at her.
"What's the context?" brennan asked taking the file from him.
"A federal property on Dupont Circle where Congress puts up visiting agricultural specialists, or- or something like that, they're digging to put in a solarium, and they find a fallout shelter with… a skeleton inside."
Brennan looked at the pictures of the body "It's not a suicide."
"Why not? Hole in the head, you see the gun, it's a suicide." Booth said simply.
"He shoots himself in the head and somehow his arm ends up across his chest? Bring the skeleton in, I'll prove it wasn't a suicide." She said doing exactly what he kknw she would.
"Merry Christmas, Bones." He said whistling loudly."Come on, boys, bring it in." he called as two FBI men carry in a stretcher with the skeleton and bring it up onto the platform.
"Oh, no. We are going to the company Christmas party." Angela objected.
" Well, you go ahead. I'll do a cursory examination and I'll meet you in a few minutes." Brennan suggested.
"All right. There you go." He said turning to leave. "Booth, will you escort Angela to the Christmas party and make sure she doesn't photocopy her butt?"
"Oh, no, no. I can't do that. I got some really last-minute important Christmas shopping that I gotta do." He said explaining his excuse.
Angela took his arm. "It's not last-minute until tomorrow."
"Come on, Bones. Bones… " he called as he was dragged away. "Geez." He sighed.
Brennan looks up and sees Zack and Hodgins walking across one of the catwalks on the upper level, a beaker of clear liquid in Hodgins hand "Is that pure alcohol?"
" Yes, Dr. Brennan." Zack admitted panicking and Hodgins shot him a dirty look.
"You really think Goodman's gonna let you spike the eggnog after the Fourth of July fiasco?" they didn't answer. "Zack, I need you to clean these bones."
"Now?" he asked his face falling.
Hodgins laughed "Burnt." He said turning to walk away but Brennan calls out to him, too
"And I need you to search the clothing for insect evidence."
"dang Bones! Merry Christmas." Booth said surprised.
"come on lets go to the party" Angela said knowing she wasn't going anywhere.
A few minutes later.
"Put on a mask. I'm gonna take a couple core samples." Zack said already masked and holding a bone saw.
"Okay." He said frustrated and bitter holding a mask over his mouth as Zack begins to cut. After a moment Hodgins pulls his mask away from his mouth to sneak a sip of eggnog and dust fills the air and a loud alarm begins to go off and they dash to the decontamination shower.
"What's that?" Booth asked concerned.
"Biological contamination." Goodman said calmly as the sliding doors begin to shut. Booth tries to make a run for it, but fails.
"The doors seal automatically. Don't worry about it." She said examining her fingernails.
"what do you mean, don't worry about it?"
" There's no use panicking until we know what it is."
" What what is?"
Hodgins and Zack enter, wet, with towels around their waists. "Uh, we might know."
"I cut into the fallout shelter bones and the biohazard alarm went off." Zack explained.
"Were you conforming to autopsy protocol?" Goodman asked.
"One of us was." Zack said looking at Hodgins.
"The other was… drinking an eggnog." He admitted with a sigh.
A little while later everyone was seated in Brennan's office as a man on the screen explained what was going on.
"The pathogen is coccidioidomycosis." The man said.
"Valley fever?" Goodman asked confused.
"It was picked up in the scanner in the discharge vent at Mr. Addy's station."
"What's valley fever?" Booth asked confused.
"It's a fungus that can lead to pneumonia, meningitis, spontaneous abortion, death."
"We have no choice but to impose quarantine. Valley fever can be fatal, and we can't risk a pandemic. Just remain calm and let us handle things from this side." Said the man from the screen and shut off.
"Okay, you know what? If this is fatal, I will shoot both of you." Booth threatened Zack and Hodgins frustrated.
"Maybe you guys could go get dressed." Angela suggested. And they get up and leave.
A few hours later everyone is lined up to get a shot in the butt from men in protective suits
"This is a cocktail of four antifungal drugs, including amphotericin B. Orally, you'll be taking ketoconazole, fluconazole, and itraconazole." He explained as one by one they got their shots.
"That's great. Then we can leave?" he asked unbuttoning his pants
"We won't know for a couple of days if the fungus took hold in your system."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're saying that we're stuck here over Christmas? Look, you know, I have… places to go, you know? I have obligations." Booth said annoyed.
"We all have obligations." Goodman said looking at him.
"I'm supposed to go to Quebec." Hodgins pointed out.
"Hey, whose fault is this?" Angela accused.
"Who forced me to go to the party where I drank too much and had to hide from Crystal?" He shot back.
"Who never should have cut into a bone with a drunken fool in the room?" Angela redirected it to Zack.
"Who brought us human remains just to ditch a little paperwork?" Zack to Booth.
"Oh, you're saying this is my fault?" Booth asked offended.
"You knew Dr. Brennan could not resist." Goodman pointed out.
"I'd have been able to resist if I was in Niger, where I wanted to be." She shot at Goodman.
"You're blaming me. " he scoffed.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we'll have sleeping bags delivered. Please have your loved ones call me and we'll set up some kind of safe, quarantined visit on Christmas Eve. Oh, and be prepared for side effects." The man said packing up the gear. "Nausea, fever, insomnia. In very rare cases, euphoria, dream state, mild hallucinations."
"I'll take that, please." Angela saif raising a hand.
"Early symptoms mimic a common cold." He informed them.
"What if it manifests?" Goodman asked.
"First treatment protocol involves extremely painful injections into the base of the brain." Zack informed them.
"You know what?" Booth said staring at the ceiling and everyone looked to him. "I never realized how pretty all this shiny stuff is."
"That is so not fair." Hodgins said bummed.
December 24. 1 am. Brennan is on the platform working while everyone sleeps.
Booth jumps onto the platform arms in the air and elf hat on his head. "bones, its after midnight. Christmas eve. Both an eve and a day. …it's a Christmas miracle." He said smiling widely.
Brennan laughed. "still enjoying your medication I see." She said smiling as he sat next to her.
"I'd rather be enjoying you." He said smirking his eyes locking in hers as he kissed her.
She smiled pulling away quickly. "not where everyone can see." She said turning red in the cheeks.
"everyones asleep." He said smiling and going in for another.
She laughed pushing his face away with her hand. "you don't know that."
"ah. But I do." He said pointing a finger at her. "I checked." He said smiling triumphantly and kissing her neck.
"not here." She took his hand. "come on." She said leading him to her empty office, locking the door and closing the shades. He crossed the room in three strides and took her in his arms.
9 am. The gang wandered out into the main room finding a cart of food with coffee and juice all set up.
"Booth. Food." Angela called around the corner where he was doing push ups.
"working off the hangover?" Hodgins asked as Booth came over and looking at the food.
"yup." He said pouring some coffee.
"coffeeeeee" Angela said grateful as her and Brennan walked out.
"I've never been so glad to see bad coffee in my life." Brennan said pouring some.
"me too." Booth agreed shooting her a little smile.
"did you work all night Sweetie?" Angela asked biting into a danish.
She nodded. "I didn't get much sleep last night." She said peeling an orange.
"me either. Those damn hallucinations kept me up all night" Booth said smiling.
"oh shut up." Hodgins said still mad he got shafted.
Booth laughed.
11 pm.
"alright I'm going to Bed" Angela said standing. "don't let her work too late." She told Booth as she walked out leaving Booth and Brennan alone together.
"…why didn't you tell me you had a son?" Brennan asked hanging up the phone and giving up on calls for a few hours.
He shrugged. "I don't know. It never really came up." He said honestly. "back then we were all wine and sex. We didn't really talk."
She nodded. "we still are."
"ah so this morning really did happen." He said smiling. "I knew it."
She nodded. "3 times… how could you not remember any of it?"
"I've got bits and pieces." He smiled. "wanna fill the holes?" he asked looking in her eyes. " and I'm not talking about my memory." He said kissing her.
She laughed. "you are shameless"
"is that a yes?" he asked wiggling his eyebrows.
She smiled. "its not a no."
He laughed standing taking her hand and leading her into her empty office.
December 25. Afternoon. They were finally released.
"you coming Tempe?" Booth asked as everyone else ran out.
She shook her head. "nah. Go see your son."
"I'm at Wong Fu's if you change your mind." He said walking out. She nodded walking back up onto the platform.