A/N: This installment is a little different. No Booth or Brennan to be seen, but as usual, it's all about them anyway.

And thanks as always for reading along. You guys are fantastic. Everyone who's in the US, enjoy the finale tonight!

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It doesn't happen very often, but every once in a while, Hodgins gets bored with a case.

Sometimes the details are just a little too mundane or there's not much evidence that falls under his expertise or he's just had a crappy week and he remembers that Angela tastes as sweet and ripe as a peach. Soil samples and Symphyta larva just don't seem all that interesting in light of that.

He's bored now, leaning over the railing at the lab and watching the worker bees buzz around the forensics platform. He needs a vacation, he thinks. He needs a woman. He needs something interesting to happen in the next five minutes or he might just lose it. He glances over at Wendell who stands beside him with a vaguely sick look on his face, and he thinks of Zack, how after all the years together he'd gotten so good at reading the kid, at knowing when something was wrong. All the new interns, all these new kids, are more or less strangers to him, and while he thinks he likes some of them more than others, he still doesn't have any clue about what really goes on inside their heads. He likes Wendell, but he's not sure he's ready to play amateur shrink for him just yet.

Best to leave that brand of bullshit to Sweets.

Hodgins looks back down at the platform where the FBI forensics team is dropping off evidence collected from a second crime scene. He usually has no use for those guys, with their stupid jackets that seem like wannabe letterman sweaters and their astonishing lack of care when it comes to handling evidence, but there's one right now, standing back from the crowd, that catches his eye.

Well, she's young and blonde and pretty, so it's not really a surprise. She's even got a swingy little ponytail going on and he watches as it breezes back and forth behind her as she moves her head.

"Check it out," he says, elbowing Wendell.

The kid looks down and manages to zero in on the subject of interest in an instant. Guys have a sixth sense about these things.

"Something else, huh?"

Wendell nods.

"She's hot," he says automatically.

"She definitely is," Hodgins murmurs, but he's trying hard not to think of Angela and how she's in this very building, within reach, because this woman is beautiful and that's all he really needs – one beautiful woman. "I should go introduce myself," he says, and he's not sure if he's trying to convince Wendell or himself. "Ask her out…"

Wendell bobs his head again.

"You should. Why not?"

Something in Hodgins snaps and he turns to the kid in a panic.

"Why not?" he repeats frantically. "How about because I'm in the middle of the longest dry spell in my life and women are running from me when they see me coming because they're all convinced I'm just looking for some kind of rebound, despite the fact that it's been months - *months* - since Angela and I called it quits and I'm totally over all of that…"

Wendell looks taken aback by the outburst for a moment, then seems to adjust, like it's not the strangest thing he's seen at work today, and shrugs.

"Well, then there's no time like the present to get back on the horse," he says. "What's the worst that could happen?"

Hodgins smiles, eyeing the woman one more.

"Yeah, yeah. You're right." He straightens up, gathering courage. "I'll just go down there, introduce myself… see if maybe she wants to come up here for some coffee. Nice and easy. Simple. Right?" He nods to himself. "Right."

But he doesn't even take a step before he sees Agent Booth striding across the platform, confident and determined. He pulls the blonde aside and she hands over an evidence bag. She smiles then and Booth pats her arm, like they know each other fairly well.

"Oh, forget it," Hodgins says sullenly. "It looks like Booth's already got dibs on her." He slumps back over the railing once more. "I should have known he was seeing somebody. He's been walking around here lately like he's a freaking rock star or something…"

Wendell snorts, shaking his head in amusement.

"You think this is funny?" Hodgins demands. "Come on, man. I'm no slouch with the ladies, but Booth's got it so much easier. I mean, first of all, he's taller than I am… and he's a freaking FBI agent. You know how much sexier women think that is than a scientist who's up to his elbows in mud and maggots all day?"

"Listen, Hodgins. I really don't think you have to worry about Agent Booth and this woman, okay?"

Hodgins narrows his eyes skeptically.

"Why not?"

"Because I just don't think Booth is interested. That's all."

"Why not?" Hodgins says, looking back as Booth strides off the platform, probably headed in the direction of Dr. Brennan's office. "Why wouldn't he be? This chick is hot."

"She is," Wendell agrees. "But I just think that… you know. I don't think he's looking for… I just don't think he's interested, all right?"

The kid seems nervous now, fidgeting anxiously and refusing to look Hodgins in the eye.

"I just don't get how you can be so sure about that," Hodgins says. "I mean, it's not like Booth is the most open person. He's not going to run around advertising the fact that he's sleeping with some forensics hottie."

Wendell laughs again, almost despite himself, and now Hodgins is really confused – and interested. He turns, facing Wendell directly, and raises his eyebrows in expectation. The kid looks antsy again, like he's realized that maybe he's given too much away. His eyes dart away from Hodgins, and he blows out a frustrated breath.

"Look, man. I'm not a gossip, all right? I just want to keep my head down and do my job, okay?"

"No one's calling you a gossip, Wendell. I just don't understand how you can be so sure about Booth and this woman. That's all."

Wendell nods, frowning.

"It's just that… I kind of overheard a conversation this morning and I really wish I hadn't but I did and now, no matter how much I try, I can't get the damn thing out of my head. It's like stuck on this loop in my head and it's a fucking nightmare…"

"O-kay," Hodgins says, utterly confused. "Who did you overhear? Booth?"

Wendell shakes his head.

"I went to Dr. Brennan's office. To let her know that I'd finished cleaning the bones."

"Okay…"

"And she was in there. Talking to Angela."

"Okay. But I'm still not seeing why you're so freaked out…"

Wendell glances over his shoulder, as if he's worried that he might be overheard. He leans in toward Hodgins, but still lowers his voice, and in that moment, he's the one who seems to have a problem with paranoia.

"They were talking about Agent Booth. About things he likes."

Hodgins laughs.

"What? Like hockey and chicken wings?"

"No," Wendall snaps. "You know. *Sex* things."

For a moment, Hodgins just stares back at him blankly, trying to make sense out of what the kid has just told him. It doesn't make any sense, though, not really, so he frowns in confusion and shakes his head.

"Wait. What? Sex things?"

Wendell bobs his head affirmatively.

"Sex things," he repeats.

"That Booth likes?"

"That's what I said," Wendell grits out irritably.

Hodgins takes a deep breath, cocks his head, and considers the information.

Nope. Still doesn't make sense.

"Okay," he says after a moment. "You probably just misunderstood. Angela's been trying to hook up Booth and Brennan for years so she's probably at it again, speculating about Booth and sex in order to pique Dr. Brennan's curiosity. That's all."

Wendell shakes his head.

"No. No. Dr. Brennan was doing most of the talking," he insists. "And she was clearly speaking from firsthand experience, okay?" He runs a hand through his hair and sighs again. "I don't know why it freaked me out so much. I mean, when I first started here, I pretty much assume they were sleeping together because … let's face it … they're all about each other. But then I realized that wasn't the case and all of you acted like it was completely normal for them to be totally in love with one and totally in denial so I guess I just sort of figured that it would never happen… but now, it obviously has and I don't know… it's just weird. Weird to hear your boss talking about her sex life. Weird to know that the guy I skate with every weekend is doing all sorts of kinky shit with her…"

The kid's rambling now and Hodgins is finding it difficult to keep up, his mind going a million miles a minute as he tries to process this information. It seems impossible that something could have happened between Booth and Brenna and no one in the lab noticed, that after years of standing back and waiting for the inevitable to finally explode in their faces, they all could have missed it.

Well, not Angela.

Of course, she's all mixed up in this.

"Wait a second," Hodgins finally says. "You're sure about this?"

Wendell crosses his arms against his chest, looking almost defiant.

"I know what I heard, man."

Hodgins nods.

"So what you're telling me is that Booth and Brennan are bumping uglies? For real? Finally? After all this time?"

"Yep."

When he laughs now, Hodgins is nearly breathless, the surprise of it all a little overwhelming – because even though it has always seemed so inevitable, enough time had passed that maybe he'd started to think it wasn't ever going to happen. They were both too stubborn and Booth was too noble and Brennan was too dense and they'd never get on the same page.

He wonders what it took to finally make that happen. Booth did have a brain tumor a few months ago, Hodgins thinks, and near death experiences have been known to make people reevaluate. But they've both been in life-and-death situations before and nothing ever changed.

What could it have been, he muses. What could finally bring four years of sexual tension to a head?

He cuffs Wendell on the arm, smiling.

"Thanks, man. You're just a wealth of information, aren't you?"

He starts to walk away, trying to figure out what exactly to do with this news, but then Wendell calls after him, sounding slightly panicked.

"Hey, Hodgins! Don't go telling everyone what I said. I really didn't mean to say anything… and I don't want Dr. Brennan or Booth to-"

"No worries, Wendell. My lips are sealed."

But he's utterly insincere and he suspects the kid knows it. It's virtually impossible to sit on this kind of information so he probably won't. He smiles as he jogs down the stairs because it's almost lunch time and his day just got a whole lot more interesting.