The Face with Two Skeletons

By: Tropicwhale

Disclaimer: Hehehe I wish.....but they're not.

Author Talk: Okay...so I'd rather do this then summer schoolwork so sue me (not really, I'm only worth $60)

Chapter Eight

Booth had decided, five minutes of watching, that this game was intense. The Devils has switched tactics from dirty to a game of keep away. Suddenly, the Devils found themselves corralled on top of the free throw lane and 34 was forced to shoot or give up possession. The ball went in…barely and the Copperhead's 58 caught the rebound and hammered it down the court. The rest of the players chased after him but he doubled back once they all were over the half court line. He paced that line dribbling, looking for an opening and looking at the quickly disappearing time. He suddenly threw the ball across the entire court to the center that immediately turned and sank a three pointer. Booth cheered with everyone else. The buzzer sounded as the Devils took possession. The referee got the ball and the game went into two minute overtime. Booth held his breath. Someone to his left screamed "GO COPPERHEADS!" a little too enthusiastically. Booth understood the sentiment. After fifteen seconds of mad, confused scrambling Zack dribbled the ball hard toward the Devils' basket. The Devils were hot on his heels and Booth grabbed the edge of his seat. It looked like every single Devil was blocking Zack. Zack turned and passed the ball to the three point shooter behind him who then threw an overhead pass to a short blond on the other side of the court. Faster than the Devils could catch up he dribbled hard to the net. He grabbed the ball and made to shot when his two free teammates suddenly lifted him up to the basket and he dropped the ball in. Zack was there to catch the rebound and started to dribble free of the traffic jam that occurred when the basket was made. The buzzer rang and Booth jumped to his feet cheering. That move was straight out of a Harlem Globetrotters game. Booth rushed the court with the rest of the crowd as the Devil's captain walked over to the Copperhead's captain who was still sitting on the bench and shook hands. Booth glomped Zack.

"That was so intense." Zack smiled bashfully up at Booth, still holding the basketball and his hair sticking up at odd angles.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"Where did you learn those maneuvers? That last one…the lift? Oh man!" Booth was enthused. Basketball was his favorite sport. Hockey, baseball, football, and soccer couldn't beat it. Okay, maybe soccer.

"Othello used to be a Globetrotter. He taught us."

"I KNEW IT!" Booth forced himself to calm down. Zack looked a little leery. Zack nodded to 34 as the other man pasted and mumbled

"Good game." Booth then noticed the bandage on Zack's arm.

"What happened?"

"I was sort of pushed down and slid over the concrete. Keg looked it over and said it was fine."

"Doesn't it hurt?" Zack shook his head 'no'. "No?" Booth laughed and ruffled Zack's hair. Another Copperhead joined them and slung an arm around Zack's shoulder and glared at Booth.

"So…this is Zaddy's federal officer." The man had a cocky smirk that made Booth want to punch him. Zack rolled his eyes and thrust the basketball into the other man's stomach hard. "OOMPH!"

"Shut-up Zerbrowski."

"Oh so this is Zerbrowski of the intercom." Booth suddenly knew why he didn't like the guy. Zerbrowski smirked at Booth.

"Yeah? And? You must be Special Agent Booth…of Zaddy's apartment." Zack pushed Zerbrowski's arm off his shoulders.

"Go return the ball, Zerbrowski." Zack did not look pleased at his friend insinuations. Booth smirked and wiggled his fingers in good-bye at Zerbrowski who was looking at Booth like something vile got stuck under his tongue. "Zerbrowski gets a tad overprotective." Booth looked back at the squint.

"Yeah. I got that." The next thing Booth knew was happening-a short blond barreled into Zack making him collide, in turn, with Booth. "OOMPH!" Zack turned to look at his assailer.

"Bailout."

"WE WON!!" The short blond kid practically screamed. "Did you see that last maneuver? Boom! Dropped it in the net. The Devils looked so shocked we could have knocked them over with a feather. Metaphorically speaking, Zaddy." Bailout added as he saw Zack open his mouth to protest. "And who are you?" Bailout suddenly stilled and stared at Booth. The federal officer was reminded of a puppy that wasn't housebroken and had caught sight of a stranger so was deciding between wagging his tail in welcome, barking in defense or wetting the carpet.

"Bailout. Booth. Booth. Bailout." Zack said by way of greeting. The scientist looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there.

"So did you have sex with Zaddy last night or not?" Zack looked at Bailout completely horrified.

"No. I'm not gay." Bailout looked very disappointed at that. He turned around and shouted over to the side of the court.

"ZADDY WAS TELLING THE TRUTH!!" Zack and Booth followed the line of Bailout's sight. The rest of the Copperheads were grouped around their captain that was having his ankle rebandaged at their bench and watching the three men. Bailout looked up at Zack. "Zerbrowski and Keg didn't believe you." Zack blinked at Bailout and Booth smothered a chuckle.

"Excuse me, Agent Booth, but I have to punch Bailout now." Zack said in his robotic tone. Booth nodded.

"I understand, Zack." Bailout's face fell when Zack turned to look at him, serious as the grave.

"Oh sh-" Bailout bolted and Zack chased after him post-haste. Booth took his time to meander over to the rest of Zack's team, keeping an eye on the surprising little squint as he ran down Bailout. Bailout apparently was in fear for his life from Zack which caused Booth no end of amusement. The rest of the men were watching both Booth's advance and Bailout climb up onto the benches in a vain attempt to escape Zack. The older black man of the group nodded at Booth as Zerbrowski smirked, annoyingly.

"So you must be the federal agent that we've heard so much about." A tall, Mediterranean said. "I'm Wineskin by the way."

"Booth. What exactly did Zack say about me?" Booth was slightly freaked at this point.

"Ah…Not so much Zaddy but Zerbrowski's big mouth." the captain said from his sit on the bench. "I'm Robbie." He held out his hand. Booth shook it.

"Othello"

"Keg."

"Seeley Booth."

"Seeley? What kind of name is that?" Zerbrowski said. Booth glared at him. The other man was unaffected.

"It's the name of a guy that carries a gun and a FBI badge."

"Yeah and if you whip it out then you'll have a ton of paper work to do." Booth shrugged.

"Only if I discharge it. If I pistol whip you then there's no paperwork." Booth managed to smile and growle at him simultaneously. Zerbrowski snarled as well and faced off against Booth. Zack was dragging Bailout back to the group in a half-nelson.

"This is quite homoerotic." Othello said. The other men looked over at their older teammate. He looked over at them. "Well it is."

"UNCLE!! UNCLE!! UNCLE!!" Bailout screamed.

"Not good enough." Zack said, shifting as the blond struggled. Bailout choked a little but Zack didn't relent.

"Bailout…it's Zaddy." Keg sing-songed.

"Aw, crap." Bailout said, still struggling. "Uh, 3.1415926535897932384. First twenty digits."

"Correct." Zack let up his teammate. Booth looked at him. Zack shrugged. "Recite the first twenty digits of pi."

"3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751." Zack looked at Booth with wide-eyed surprise. The rest of the Copperheads looked at Booth and Zack and Zerbrowski exchanged a smirk with Robbie. "First fifty. I hang out with Bones too much." he explained.

"Bones?" Robbie asked.

"Dr. Temperance Brennan. My boss, she's the leading expert in the field of forensic anthropology. She helps Booth solve murders…we all do."

"The writer?" Bailout asked.

"Yeah." Booth said. "I'm in the books." He said proudly. "Zack too."

"That's not true." Zack said. "Dr. Brennan said that we weren't."

"You read those books, Zack. She adapted those characters off of all of us." Zack shrugged. Booth stopped talking. It looked like Zack was uncomfortable discussing that stuff. Robbie cleared his throat.

"So who's hosting? I want a beer and pizza." The others looked at each other.

"My house hasn't recovered from last week." Othello said glaring at Zerbrowski, Keg and Wineskin. Keg and Wineskin shrugged. Zerbrowski smirked.

"Anne's at her sister's so that leaves my place out."

"She still pissed about three months ago?" Bailout asked. Zerbrowski nodded gravely.

"Anne won't let me have friends over when she isn't home to supervise." Zerbrowski explained to Booth. "There was an incident with dry ice bombs in the kitchen." He explained and turned back to the group. "ZADDY'S!!!"

"Wait, I-" Zack tried to protest but it was too late. The others cheered and Othello and Keg helped Robbie stand and hobble across the park to the parking lot. Zack hung back to walk next to Booth as the other bounded ahead. "It's going to take me hours to clean up afterwards. Can I borrow your gun?"

"No." Booth said quickly. Then it registered to him that it was Zack that was asking for his gun and not Bones. "Why?"

"In case I need to shoot any wild animals."

"Your friends don't seem that bad."

"No. I mean actual wild animals. Winehouse works at a zoo. Last time we used my apartment there was a zebra….we had to end up putting it down. Apparently it had a disease of some sort and it threw up on my bed. I had to get new bed covers thus the purple room. Originally, it was blue. I'm still not sure how Wineskin didn't lose his job over that."

"You had to redo your entire room?"

"Yes. It was very stressful."

"Tell them no."

"We won. We should celebrate." Zack looked up at Booth pathetically. Booth laughed and slung his arm around the younger man. Zerbrowski looked back at them and smirked. Zack didn't seem to notice but Booth glared back.

"I don't like Zerbrowski."

"He's a good friend."

"Which is why I haven't shot him yet."

"Think of the paperwork."

"I am…it's starting to be worth it." Zack laughed. "Come on. I'll drive you back."

Author After Notes: .....yeah so....the sun hasn't risen yet and its 2 in the morning....I'm counting this as yesterday. There will be three later today.

Tropic