A/N: So my rehearsal was canceled tonight on account of the snow and so.. Another chapter way earlier than I was thinking of writing or submitting it. I appreciate all of your reviews and it's because of how many that I'm getting that I'm updating this so soon. If you're reading/subscribing please review so I know that you're enjoying it and know what you like. It tickles me pink. And a few of you have been bugging me for some Zack so... Here you go! Enjoy.. I hope.))
11CHAPTER ELEVEN
Jack Hodgins barely acknowledged the Psychiatrist on the drive to the Mental Institution. There was a reason he took this trip alone. He wouldn't even come with Angela, though that situation was weird enough as is even without his best friend being in the looney bin for murder. Jack liked being alone with his thoughts and not weighted down by how anyone else might feel. Perhaps that made him selfish. Well, better than with his feelings than with his money. If the opposite had been true the Jeffersonian would be near broke and everyone would be rich in hugs, and no matter how much Cam would lecture him on his attitude no one would want that. And so, he stuck to what he knew best.
"Don't." Came Jack's short warning to Sweets as the younger man reached to turn on the radio. Jack liked the quiet, and the only thing to make this little field trip worse would be being subjected to listening to whatever this kid's music of choice was. Probably some boy band or something teenie bopperesque. Leave it to his sour demeanor to diminish Lance Sweets to something so low and trivial.
Doctor Sweets blinked and refrained from pressing the button, choosing instead to sit back in the passenger seat. He couldn't help but notice how hard Hodgins was staring at the road. He hadn't even looked in his direction when he snapped. "Another attempt to distance himself from the world so he doesn't have to lose anyone." Sweets thought with a bit of a sigh. Jack didn't even flinch. He was getting rather good at this playing coy thing.
Lance eventually found himself looking out the window and watching the scenery go by. It was a nice change to all of the problems the direction they had come from provided. The serial killer, all of the paperwork, babysitting, Daisy calling him every ten minutes to 'say hello', Booth's insults, that data analyst. Sweets found himself reaching out subconsciously to turn the radio on again, this time his hand was hit with a loud smack.
"Hey!" A surprised gasp escaped the psychologists lips and he held his hand close to his person, shooting the driver's seat and accusatory look. Did he really have to be so mean?
"I said: don't." Hodgins repeated in a very calm, low voice, still not removing his eyes from the road. This was enough for Lance to look down at his lap in silence, defeated.
Sometimes Lance got the feeling that these people, these scientists, just didn't want him around. But it wasn't like he asked to be placed here! He was just doing his job like any of them. But since the loss of Zack, the search for a new intern, and the serial killer fiasco everyone's tensions were on high, and Jack Hodgins seemed to be working overtime with his own bitterness. "If only he knew what I knew." Sweets thought to himself with a sad little exhale, knowing that he had to keep that secret about Zack to himself (doctor/patient confidentiality), and looked up just in time to see them pull into the parking lot.
The exiting of the vehicle was purely procedural. Neither one spoke to each other and Lance noted how Hodgins seemed to shut down even more as they walked to the front door, showed their Ids, were cleared of having anything potentially dangerous, and were led by a nurse to the floor that Zack was on. Because of his good and often docile behavior he had been moved to a community floor with his own bedroom and shared common room. He was also able to have visitors in that space as long as a guard or a nurse weren't too far off.
The rather round lady in a white dress with a pink shawl jingled with her keys until she found her ID badge and swiped it through. A little light turned green and the door opened to reveal the institution common area where a few patients sat with friends/family at different round tables. It was actually rather alive and bustling, and Sweets caught Hodgins taking a short breath of preparation out of the corner of his eye.
"Mister Addy seems to be quite popular today. You two make three visitors today." She admitted giving the two a pink cheeked smile while they both furrowed their brows in question.
"Three?" Hodgins beat Sweets to the punch as they walked through the common room and down a small hallway to a room with an open door. Above the open door was the name Zack Addy made in colored popsicle sticks. No doubt a trivial arts and crafts activity forced on him by the staff.
The nurse flashed them both another kind smile and then moved back toward the common area, leaving them to their business. Lance and Jack both stepped in the open doorway blinking with confusion they looked inside and were absolutely shocked at what they saw.
"Blackjack is really run by the law of ratios and averages." Zack Addy spoke from the floor where he sat wearing his official Institution uniform of a white button up shirt with his last name in black print on the chest, white pants, and white slippers. "By me remembering what happened with the last hand, plus factoring in what hands you have had, I am able to win the last fifteen hands with no trouble." He announced matter of factly, flipping his two red cards over revealing an Ace and a King as he took the fake 'pot' of M&Ms that they had accumulated on a napkin.
"That's called card counting, Zack. And it's cheating." A form that was obviously Krys Robin seated indian style on the floor across from him. With a sigh she reached out and dealt another hand.
"Since when is intelligence a flaw?" Zack questioned, looking up at the brown haired girl with a frown that showed he didn't understand her logic.
"Since it got you in here." Came the quick swap from Krys as she flipped her cards over again. Once more, losing to Zack Addy she moved to deal again. The rounds were becoming more rapid now, thanks to Zack's logic and his ability to keep creaming her.
"Accepted." Zack nodded, even he could admit when a piece of logic was actually relevant. Looking up mid-hand he spotted his two friends at the door and his doe eyes widened with excitement and surprise.
"Hodgins!" He called out, pushing himself to his feet. Krys meanwhile glanced over her shoulder from where she sat, and then went about her business picking up the cards and stacking them. "You came." He smiled happily like a little boy, like Parker, at his best friend, practically bounding over to him. "Bring me anything?" He asked with eager prying eyes as he searched for a piece of paper that Hodgins usually brought containing a complicated (or what he thought to be) math problem for Zack to figure out.
"Sorry buddy." Jack chuckled, though it was hard for him not to be startled by the data analyst on the floor who had been hanging out with his best friend. "Just Sweets today." The scruffy man nodded toward the psychologist who was staring at Krys, having a more difficult time hiding his surprise than Jack was.
Zack suddenly appeared rather sullen, disheartened by this news. "I'd prefer the math equation." Zack admitted, before looking over toward Sweets. "No offense."
"None taken." Lance nodded, holding up a hand to affirm the point before looking back to Krys. Hodgins did the same.
"What are you doing here?" Jack asked, stepping into the room and right beside his best friend which always felt right. If only he could sneak him out under his coat and back to the lab. Then everything would be right again, even without Angela. But sometimes you couldn't get what you wanted, even with all of the money in the world, which is something Jack had.
"She's playing cards with me." Zack spoke up, tilting his head curiously at his best friend like a little puppy. His brow furrowing. "Isn't that obvious?"
"I know that Zack. What I meant was: How often have you been visiting?" Hodgins shook his head, trying very hard to focus on getting an answer, even with Zack acting like a little boy at his side. Suddenly sneaking Zack out tucked under his coat didn't sound like a half bad idea. He missed him.
"Three times this week since I found his file." Krys moved to her feet, sliding her hands into her jeans pockets. Sweets couldn't help but notice her changed appearance from her work attire of pajama pants and a hoodie into regular clothing where you could actually see the flesh of her arms. "If someone actually filled me in I wouldn't have had to come here."
"To do what?" Lance spoke up, studying her closely, once again trying to figure her out. She certainly was an odd one. One that he couldn't figure out.
"Board games." Zack spoke up again with his usual childlike eagerness, moving back to the floor and showing them a stack of five brightly colored boxes with various game names on the sides that he kept in the corner of his room.
"Boardgames?" Hodgins eyed the stack with a confused sort of look.
"Yeah." Krys nodded her head and dealt a few cards to both herself and Zack, preparing to start another card game. "So far he's beaten me at Chess, Risk, and Scrabble. I've beaten him at arm wrestling, Guess Who, and The Game of Life. Both metaphorically and board game wise." Zack nodded his head and picked up the cards as though nothing was wrong.
The two began setting cards down one after the other before racing to slap the pile. The two other men could only watch in awe as the two 'kids' had their fun. Leave it to Sweets to break the silence with a less than stellar question.
"Why?" The psychiatrist asked in a bit of a gasp, his fair cheeks turning a bright pink from the sudden rush.
Krys sighed exasperatedly and looked up, momentarily diverting her attention from the card game. "Listen, I like Zack. He says what he's thinking and doesn't cover it up with any pretense. He doesn't pretend to like me.. Right Zack?"
"Actually I find you pretentious and your tone very wearing at times."Zack commented, slapping the growing pile of cards with his hand while Krys was looking away. Reaching out and collecting the cards they began the cycle again, though Zack was noticably more focused than Krys was.
"I hate you too buddy." Krys smiled as though the comment hadn't even hurt her feelings. Turning back to the game the two played in quiet while Jack and Lance stared at them in disbelief. Once again, Sweets was the one to speak up, obviously not understanding the concept like Zack and Krys seemed to have a mutual understanding of.
"You.. like that?.." Sweets asked his eyes filled with confusion.
"People telling you they don't like you." Hodgins finished, back from his state of delusion.
"No I like people saying what they think." The analyst sighed as Zack beat her to slapping yet another pile.
"I think you vocalize too much." Zack spoke up without even looking at the group, slapping yet another pile.
"Just say 'talk' Zack. It's the same dang thing and saves precious milliseconds." Krys commented flatly growing quite weary of being beaten by Zack over and over again in this game.
"And you've been doing this all week?" Sweets questioned, eying her. He was no longer paying any mind to the game which now had Hodgins smiling at how focused and content Zack looked. After all, all Jack wanted was for his best friend to be happy in any way that he could be. Why ruin it? Jack moved to sit on the edge of Zack's bed, folding his hands he bent forward watching them, already picking up on how to play.
"All week." Krys agreed with a nod and finally she slapped the pile. Grinning triumphantly at her first win she reached right out and grabbed the few cards that she had won.
"Someone you've only read a file on..." Sweets began, not at all understanding her mind set. "A convicted killer." He added for affect and Jack threw a glare in his direction. True he knew of Zack's confession, how he didn't actually kill the lobbyist and how it was the master's other apprentice, but Krys didn't know any of that. How could such a smart, sassy young woman be so... Stupid?
"Agent Booth has killed people before. It's his job. No one looks down on him." Krys shrugged her shoulders and stood up, facing Lance. "Because for some reason, killing under that guise is accepted but not under any other. Zack here has killed one person and he of course, should be penalized. Yet, you all still visit him. You all still speak highly of him. I've never heard a single complaint." Brown eyes looked at Sweets with a genuine honesty that he couldn't quite put his finger on nor harness. "He reads as a good guy on paper, by word of mouth, and even now that I know him in person." A bit of a smile as she tilted her head to the right. "So I visit him. We play board games." Her hands stuck themselves further into her jeans pockets. "Nothing irrational about it."
"I find that reasoning sentimental and mockish." Zack spoke up again, only to be fwapped against the back of his shoulder by Hodgins who seemed far too wrapped up in watching the exchange between the young psychologist and even younger data analyst. Like a little pay-per-view movie. Something wasn't right about this.. And Hodgins was all the more intrigued to be viewing Sweets for once, instead of the other way around. Zack turned around to look at Jack with a frown. "It's not at all rational."
Lance could only stare at the woman in disbelief. That logic shouldn't make any sense, in fact it was downright dangerous and yet, as he stood there looking at her, he almost wanted to believe it. Just a part of him. Unfortunately that part was disturbed by the ringing of Krys' cell phone alarm. She fished her hand into her pocket and pressed a button to silence it.
"I have to go. Agent Booth wants the progress report on those numbers and if I don't have them done by morning I'll probably get my butt kicked." Krys smiled, gave a wave to the three men, and left but not before Zack could call out: "Now that sounds rational!"
Lance stared at the door for a few long moments, that Hodgins picked up on and shook his head chuckling to himself. Zack then stood up, moving to Sweets' side now, his hands in his own pockets he looked up at the taller young man. "She's very loud and has an uncanny ability to twist words, not to mention an excessive amount of stubborness..."
"You're telling me." Sweets sighed, shaking his head he brought his hand to rub his brow as if soothing a headache.
"I like her." Zack stated simply, looking at Sweets as though he knew the answer to a puzzle that had taken him only precious seconds when it took Lance years.
"Yeah, well, no offense Zack but you've been locked up for way too long. You don't know the half of it." Lance grumbled shaking his head he looked down at the floor, now rubbing the back of his neck as the room suddenly got very warm.
Zack, never one to take a hint very well, not to mention any display of common sense just looked up at his doctor with a simple expression of pure honesty. "I know that you do too."
And leaving Lance with that, Zack turned back toward Hodgins, returning to his game of cards with his best friend. He wasn't about to let this visit go to waste. Not with his best friend. Not ever. Lance stood at the door and gave another heavy sigh as he stared at the vast emptiness. As smart as he was, he needed to go back to school on this one, especially when Zack (the social awkwardness king) was able to pick up on something that he couldn't.
Maybe spending so much time with Booth and Brennan was having it's affect.