I have three words. I. hate. Norton.
As it appears, Norton does not deem appropriate for New Age and Occult content. Finally figured out how to modify the settings!
I am your humble servant. Please review. I live off of your reviews.
Also, if you have not read Chapter 6, yet, please do so. I understand that there was some confusion because, when I released the chapter, it was Chapter 7. But then, I deleted the Author's Note and it became Chapter 6, screwing up the automated emails that Fanfiction sent you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Hodgins cradled his fiancé in his arms as she tried to stop herself from crying.
"It's my fault, Hogdie…" she sighed, "I should have realized it earlier…the mask. That should have given it away."
"Come on babe…" the man responded gingerly, "…you know it's not your fault."
Brennan halted her pacing around the lab and turned to her best friend, "None of us could have seen it coming, Angela. Well, maybe I would have seen it coming if I had inspected the crime scene more, but no. Booth had to take me out for pie," she glared at the agent who was sitting down behind her.
At this remark, Seeley Booth stood up and put his left hand on his hips, "You're blaming this on me?!?" he gestured at himself wildly with the other hand.
His partner craned her neck upwards to meet him eye-to-eye, "I could be."
Booth was about to explode in fury when Angela spoke up.
"Sweetie…" she looked at her female friend, "…Booth did the right thing. You needed to get out. I'm the one who should be taking the blame."
"Angela, I didn't inspect the crime scene thoroughly!" the forensic anthropologist pointed to the yellow tape that was still roping off the other half of the lab, "There might have been some evidence that Booth could have used to arrest Zach's shooter!"
"Before he got to Zach, again?" Booth asked in a grumble.
"Well…" Temperance began.
"Booth is right," Angela nodded towards her friend's partner, "The guy would have been gone to the hospital, before you got anywhere near him. That's if you even found evidence."
"See?" the FBI agent exclaimed throwing his hands up in the air, "Angela is taking my side!"
"Now wait a minute," the artist pushed Jack's arms aside, "I didn't say anything about-"
"Your side?" Bones snorted while cutting Angela off, "She's trying to protect you, not taking your side. What you did was inexcusable."
"Inexcusable? Bones, I-"
"Sweetie, I'm not protecting him," Angela frowned, "I think that he's right. You shouldn't-"
"Yes, Booth. Inexcusable," Bren continued, "I didn't tell you to take me to the diner. In fact, I told you not to take me out to lunch. Your alpha-male tendencies are simply infuriating! Can't you see that I can take care of myself?"
Booth pointed his finger at his defiant partner in mockery, "Yeah, like that time you got captured by the gravedigger? Or how 'bout the time that you-"
Angela stood up, "Now wait a minute. Booth, that wasn't necessary to bring up. Apologize."
"I'm sorry, Angela. I don't think you're my mother. You can't tell me to-"
Now Hodgins was standing, "Hey! Don't speak to my wife like that!"
"Booth," Ange sighed, "All I'm saying is that what you said wasn't…wait…" she turned to her fiancé, "Did you say wife?"
Before Hodgins could answer, Temperance spoke, "My gosh, Booth! You are such a-!"
"I don't know what you want for me, Bones! Truly, I don't know!"
She raised her eyebrows, "It's clear what I want! I want-"
"Guys," Angela started but the two continued bickering, "Guys?"
"I know you want to spend every waking hour of the day in the lab looking at particulates and bones and samples of…whatever! But I think that sometimes you need to eat. It's something that we humans do, you know, to live." Booth sneered.
"I can't believe you! You have such-"
Angela shook her head in exhaustion, "Would you two just…just…guys? Guys, listen to me. How is this getting us anywhere? Can't you just say it was my fault and get over it?"
The two partners didn't hear her over their full throttle argument.
"How about we all just hold hands?" Hodgins sat back down on the couch and plugged his ears, "And then we'll sit in a circle, admit our sins, and sing. Lalalalalala!"
"ENOUGH!"
All four rambling co-workers silenced turned to the entrance of the room to see a dangerous looking Camille Saroyan gripping the doorway with her fingernails.
"That's better," their boss smooth her slightly mussed hair and slowly walked into the room, each step in rhythm with the next, "Now that you are done giving the word pointless a new meaning why don't I tell you what you should do to solve this dilemma. Dr. Brennan?"
Out of the corner of her eye the anthropologist looked embarrassedly at her superior, "Yes?"
"I'd like you to go do what you think Booth prevented you from doing. Instead of arguing, shouldn't you have been inspecting the crime scene? I'll forgive you for your mistake," Cam said coldly, "Go now and report to me immediately if you find anything."
Bones blushed a little but nodded and ducked under the yellow tape to examine the place where Zach was shot.
"Dr. Hodgins?"
"Dr. Saroyan?" Jack retorted in an equally cold tone.
"I would like you to assist Dr. Brennan. Go."
The entomologist stared at her defiantly for a few moments before hopping over the yellow tape to join his colleague.
"Booth," Cam sighed, "It would be best if you just stuck it out in Dr. Brennan's office until possible evidence is found. If I see you anywhere near her, you're gone. Back to your office."
Booth grumbled something that resembled a, "Yes ma'am," and moped over to his partner's small office.
"Angela?"
The artist closed her eyes and mentally prepared herself for a difficult task.
All Dr. Saroyan said was, "Come with me," and motioned Angela to walk with her.
A slightly puzzled Angela followed without question. The two women walked into Cam's office and sat down on the couch.
Dr. Saroyan looked down at her feet, then up at Angela, "I need to talk to you."
"Well, you already told me that much," the other woman said before realizing how curt it sounded, "I mean, what do you need to talk to me about?"
Her boss paused before answering, "It's about Zach."
"If you are going to suggest that it was your fault for what happened..." Angela placed a gentle hand on Dr. Saroyan's knee."
"But it was, Angela. If I would have come with you…I'm sure the two of us could have figured it out sooner…" Cam closed her eyes, "If I wasn't so cold and bitter maybe…maybe…"
"He said that he hurt you the most," Angela whispered.
The eyes of her superior shot open at that comment, "What?"
"He said that he didn't blame you for not coming because he didn't deserve your kindness. He said that you were very close. I'm sure Zach isn't blaming you right now. He really cares for you."
Cam bit her lip, "I'm not going to cry. On the day that he admitted his apprenticeship, I told myself that I would never cry for him. I tried to think of him as just a regular murder and not someone I cared for."
"Sometimes…" Angela took a deep breath, "…you need to block out feelings of love and care to stay strong in the beginning. But, now, you really need to accept that you still care about him or you'll end up building a cage around yourself. You'll do what Bren did when we all though Booth was dead. As much as I love her, I think that there could've been a much better way to handle things."
The other woman only nodded and the two sat there for what seemed an eternity of silence.
Dr. Jack Hodgins broke through the heavy silence, "Guess what we found!"
Cam's head twisted around to see the panting entomologist holding a scrap of paper in his hands.
"What? What did you find?"
The man held out a miniscule scrap of paper with some horrible excuse for handwriting on it, "We found this."
Cam grasped the shard of paper and scanned it over, "Edd? Is that it? You give me a scrap of paper with the letters E-d-d scrawled on it, but what is this supposed to show?"
Hodgins cast a nervous glance to his fiancé and then turned his attention back to Cam, "We don't…know…yet," he frowned, "But it could be the name of the murderer…or a place. A store, maybe?"
His boss let out a slow sigh, "One…two…three…four…five…" she counted to ten in her head before answering Jack's inquiry, "Thank you, Dr. Hodgins. Good work," she looked to the doorway and saw a certain female anthropologist leaning in, "You too, Dr. Brennan."
"Hmm?" the forensic anthropologist questioned.
"She said thanks, Dr. B," Jack Hodgins explained quickly.
"Oh," the woman in the doorway said furrowing her brow, "You're…you're welcome."
"Hey Bones!" Seeley Booth hollered, running from his partner's office to Cam's.
Cam turned her head to the man breathing heavily in her doorway, "I thought I told you to stay put," she warned him, while wondering why he had come running to her office.
"I would have stayed put, Camille, but I got a call from a man half an hour ago who said four words and hung up. More like whispered, actually. It's good that I heard him."
Bones walked over to her partner and stared him in the eye, "What did he say?"
"Three hours," Booth said looking at the floor, "He said 'You have, three hours.'"
"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Hodgins piped up with a doubtful look on his face.
"I can tell you don't see the importance of this call, Hodgins," the agent grumbled, "It could mean two things. One, Zach has four hours to live," Angela let out a sharp gasp after that theory was mentioned, "Or two, he's gonna call back in three hours."
"Well, we don't know that," Temperance Brennan crossed her arms over her chest, "How did you come to the conclusion that this man was indeed the said apprentice that has taken Zach?"
Booth looked at her sideways and rolled his eyes, "I know you don't like me to jump to conclusions, Bones. But I have some pretty good evidence that it was the apprentice."
"Yes?" Dr. Saroyan asked, taking a stance next to the forensic anthropologist.
"I called the bureau and we were able to track the call."
"And?" an impatient Dr. Brennan tapped her foot, telling Booth to go on.
"It was coming from the room above Hodgin's place," he let this disturbing news settle in before continuing, "Otherwise known as Zach's house."
"Oh," Angela half whispered, "Oh god."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Two hours and fifty three minutes later, the whole team was crowded around the phone in Temperance Brennan's office.
"Ok," Booth started, striding into the room, "I got my cell phone and Bones' cell phone hooked up to the office phone. They will temporarily receive all phone calls from the office phone. Cam," he said tossing his former girlfriend his partner's cell phone, "You can have this phone, I'll listen on my phone, and Bones will talk to the man on her office phone. We also have the tape recorder hooked up to the office phone. It will record the whole conversation. The men over there..." he pointed to three FBI agents standing outside the door talking, "…will be tracking the call. They also checked Dr. Hodgins' mansion a little while ago. There was no trace of anyone, though a few people are still dusting the place for fingerprints."
"Great," Hodgins sighed, deadpan, "Tell us something we don't know."
Booth rolled his eyes and was about to answer when he was cut off by the ringing of his partner's office phone. He checked the clock. It read 8:56.
"He's early," a narrow eyed Angela glanced at her best friend's phone.
Bones picked up the phone and spoke calmly into the receiver, "Dr. Temperance Brennan speaking."
"Hey Tempe!" and all too familiar voice greeted her, "I was just calling to check up on you. I just docked my boat on this island in the Caribbean. How are you there?"
The woman sighed, tremendously annoyed, "Sully…Booth and I are expecting Gormagon's apprentice to call any minute now."
Booth banged his head off the wall of his partner's office.
"Oh," the voice on the other end of the phone grunted, "Sorry. I'll call…umm…later," and with that he hung up the phone.
Booth cursed under his breath, "Him and his bad timing…"
Angela bit her lip and grinned a little bit, "If my friend's life wasn't in danger, I'd be in a fit of hysterics, right now."
The phone rang, yet, again. Angela glanced at the clock. 8:59, it stared her in the eye.
"Places everyone," Booth commanded and gestured for Bones to pick up the phone.
The forensic anthropologist took a deep breath, and picked up the telephone once more, "Dr. Temperance Brennan speaking."
"Dr. Brennan," the young man said her name like it was something sacred, "Hello."
"Zach," the woman breathed into the phone.
"I don't have much time to talk to you," her former student spoke, "But I have called to tell you that I am alive."
A rustling of papers was heard on his end, and Bren smiled. Zach was trying to tell her that he was reading off of a script.
"My captor has only one demand," Dr. Addy slowly continued, "And that is, you do not come looking for me."
Temperance's act was fading, she was slowly unraveling, "But, Zach…we-"
She caught sight of her partner shaking his head at her, and she composed herself, "And those are his only demands?"
"Yes," Zach answered, and it sounded like he had thrown the papers aside.
"Away with the script?"his former mentor pondered, "Is he just talking to me, now?"
"Dr. Brennan," he began again, having almost a pleading tone, "Do you despise me? Do you think I should be dead, right now?"
The woman's mouth dropped open and she shook her head back and forth as she spoke, "Never, Zach. I think you were…confused. Never would I wish you dead. I care about you. Everyone here at the lab does."
"Well," Dr. Addy struggled on, "Sometimes…in the asylum I wished myself dead," his teeth chattered, "It's so warm, but I feel so cold," he put emphasis on two of the eight words.
"Zach, none of us wish you dead," Bones said staying composed, while still letting a single tear roll down her face.
"But, I wished myself dead," Dr. Zach Addy paused before continuing, "It would appear I am going to get my wish shortly."
After that, there were a few bleeps and then one droning beep that signaled that the call was over.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Well, what can I say? I was pleased how this ended, although, I think I gave myself shivers.
Sorry if Hodgins sounded a little OOCish during the argument. I didn't know how to put him in and add a little humor to the situation at the same time.
Also, what did you think of Sully? lol
Review?