I am incredibly excited about this chapter. I really hope it doesn't upset any of you…just...read it. Ok?
Disclaimer- I don't own Bones, ok! Hart Hanson does! If you think that I am he, then you have probably suffered a head injury as of late.
Author Says- I have a whole speech outline that I just neglected to bring you this, so READ! Please. xD
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"Sign here, here, initial here, here, and here. Done! He's yours for the day!" the secretary exclaimed over the 10 pages of paper work.
"Thank you," Dr. Brennan commended the woman for her work, "Come along, Zach."
Zach stood still, "Where are you taking me?"
"To the lab. You just confessed that Gormagon had another accomplice. You're the only one that could possibly solve the case."
Zach ran to catch up with her, leaving the Oakland Mental Facility behind him.
"Dr. Brennan, are you allowed to take me out of here?"
Bren almost laughed, "I work for the F.B.I. Of course, I am."
The two slowly made their way to the car. Temperance Brennan opened the back door open for her colleague seeing that he couldn't possibly get in the car, himself, and then hopped in on the passenger side.
"A stowaway?" Booth chuckled darkly, "Hello, Zach."
"Agent Booth," Zach Addy nodded, genuinely intimidated.
They began to drive away from the mental hospital, and Zach looked back. He had always imagined the moment that he was set free as a magical one, but he didn't feel magic. All he felt was grief.
"Now," Booth started, "Can someone explain to me why there is an Oakland mental patient in my car?"
Zach curled up into a defensive ball on the car seat, looking very much like a scared 5-year-old.
"I believe Zach can tell you exactly why he's here. Zach?" Bones spoke up.
"I'd rather not," he mumbled into his arms.
Booth rolled his eyes, but Dr. Brennan decided to take matters into her own hands.
"Fine," she said to Zach, but then turned to face Booth, "Zach just admitted that he wasn't Gormagon's only apprentice."
"There's another one?!" Booth exclaimed incredulously.
Bones just nodded.
"You mean there was another person working for Gormagon, Zach? And you didn't tell us?"
"The Master, actually. Not Gormagon."
"Zack!"
"Yes, Agent Booth. He had another apprentice."
"A very dangerous one?" Brennan hinted for Zach.
"Yes. Extremely."
The rest of the half an hour ride was spent in awkward silence.
"We're here!" Booth finally called and Zach looked up at the place he had once called his second "home."
"I can't go in," he whispered.
Dr. Brennan's eyes narrowed in confusion, "No one is mad at you, Zach. Honestly."
"It's not that…it's just...it's too dangerous," he tried to explain.
Booth was tired of the hold up. He opened the door and grabbed Zach by the collar, "Let's go."
Zach Addy followed, nervously stumbling over his feet.
The first person to see him was Angela. She covered her mouth to stop herself from crying out.
Cam saw him next. She walked over to Angela and whispered in her ear.
"I'll give you ten minutes to compose yourself."
Angela nodded and ran to her office for some tissues.
Hodgins was the only one who looked relieved to see him.
"Zach! My man!" he shouted and bounded up to greet Zach by smacking him on the back in a friendly gesture.
"I don't deserve your friendliness, Dr. Hodgins."
Hodgins backed away, with a hurt expression on his face. But, he brushed the coldness of young Dr. Addy off, and went over to the examination table to continue his work.
"What do you have for me Hodgins?" Dr. Brennan questioned.
Hodgins shook his head, "Nothing. The sliver of bones that you carved off for me…it was boiled in bleach. No evidence."
"That's what I said," Zach muttered, stepping closer to the examination table.
"You ran everything? Blood tests? Fingerprint tests?" Temperance demanded an answer.
"Yes, yes. Everything."
"Zack," the female doctor pleaded, "Is there anything that you can tell me?"
Dr. Addy turned away and shook his head, "It's too hazardous. You shouldn't have brought me here."
Brennan scrutinized his stance and furrowed her brow. "What on earth does he mean?"
"Jack!" Angela called through her office door, "We're going to be late!"
Hodgins cursed under his breath.
"Late for what?" Booth inquired of him.
"Therapy. Ange got us a psychological session with Sweets."
Booth burst out laughing as Dr. Jack Hodgins trudged away to meet his fate.
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"So…" Sweets smiled, "Let us begin."
Angela pursed her lips and Hodgins slumped deep into his chair.
"First of all, Angela tells me that you have seemed distant to her, Jack. Care to explain?"
"First of all don't ever call me Jack again. Secondly, my best friend is in the mental ward, and I can't marry my beautiful girlfriend because her husband refuses to sign the divorce papers!"
"You know this is more about Zach than it is about my marital issues, Jack," Angela sternly warned, "Don't blame it on me. You were fine with searching for my husband, until Zach got hurt and…went to Oakland. "
"Do you have anything to say to that, Dr. Hodgins?" Sweets asked.
"No," Hodgins hissed instantly.
"Why not?"
"Because, this is just a conspiracy. You work for the government, trying to get people to spill their guts and give you their personal information."
Angela nudged him, but Sweets just laughed.
"Suit yourself. Angela, what draws you to Dr. Hodgins?"
Hodgins sat up immediately. He had to hear this.
"Well," purred Angela, "He's extremely romantic, with the roses and stuff, and he's sensitive, which is a hard trait to find in a guy. Plus, I think his conspiracy theories are completely adorable."
Hodgins and Angela shared a brief kiss, while Sweets cleared his throat.
"Well, then. I'm glad we got all that out on the table. I'll see you two the same time tomorrow."
Hodgins leapt up from his chair.
"What?!"
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Zach Addy bit the inside of his cheek. He was so sick and tired of lying to himself about the whole ordeal.
"See anything, Bones?"
Bones groaned and gave him a sideways glare, "For the last time, no."
"Well then. I guess we'll have to wait until Pinocchio here…" Booth jutted his thumb at Zach, "…decides to tell the truth."
"I don't know what that means," both Dr. Addy and Dr. Brennan complained in unison.
The two anthropologists shared a confused glance.
"My god!" exasperated Agent Seely Booth pounded his fist on the investigation table.
Angela sauntered over to the table, "Hi, Zack," she almost whispered.
"Hello, Angela" Zach managed to shoot her a sideways smile.
"How are your hands," she questioned, concerned.
Zach stared down at his bandaged hands.
"I'll manage," he finally answered.
"How bad are they?"
"I'm getting three prosthetic phalanges, two on my left hand and one on my right."
Angela pulled him into a warm embrace, "I missed you, Zacharoni. All of us have."
Zack pulled away and shrugged his shoulders.
Dr. Brennan wished more than anything that she could show that kind of affection to her young former student, but she wasn't that kind of person. Maybe that's what had gotten Zach into the whole mess. "Maybe I wasn't there for him enough…"
"Where's Hodgins?" Booth grunted.
Angela waved her hand, dismissing his absence, "Jack and Sweets are arguing over whether the government keeps secret cameras in the bathrooms of historical museums or not. He should be back, soon enough."
"Could you bring him back now, please?" asked Bones, apprehensively.
"Why, Sweetie? Did you find something?" Angela raised her eyebrows.
"Yes. Yes, I did."
Angela ran halfway to Sweets office and shouted so loud that everyone in D.C. probably heard her.
"JACK! COME HERE! BREN FOUND SOMETHING!"
Soon enough both Dr. Hodgins and Dr. Sweets were standing around the table, as well. They were joined by Cam who was reprimanding Angela for yelling halfway across the Jeffersonian.
"What did you find, Bones?" Booth tilted his head to the side.
Brennan cleared her throat, "I cracked apart one of the phalanges…by sheer accident, mind you. I would never harm the specimen. But, I found this."
She held up a tiny shinning piece of gold that couldn't have been bigger than a pencil tip.
"Dude, is that gold?" Jack reached out for the object between Dr. Brennan's right pointer finger and thumb, but she swatted him away.
"As a matter of fact, yes."
Zack spoke out, "It's a filling."
The whole team stared at him and he pointed to the gold in between the older anthropologist's fingers.
"It's a molar filling made of pure gold. Am I correct?"
Dr. Brennan stared at the fleck of gold and gasped.
"Y…yes. You are correct."
All of a sudden a shot rang out through the Jeffersonian, then another and another.
The team screamed and most of them crashed to the floor covering their heads.
And then the gunshots ceased.
The special agent and the rest of the squint squad looked up, trying to see the intention of the person who had suddenly started shooting at them.
And everyone knew who the target had been when they looked up to see the wounded Dr. Zach Addy tumbling to the ground.
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I'm sorry. I shot him! I can't believe I did, but I shot him! He's not dead, though. I guarantee that. Not dead. God, no. Hope you enjoyed, yet, another cliffy!