The Face with Two Skeletons

By: Tropicwhale

Disclaimer: Mine? Who's been saying that wonderful lie? oh...ignore them, they lie like rugs. Bones and all things associated with the show belong to other people...dammit.

Author Talk: It's going to speed up now. :) Enjoy!!!

Chapter Fourteen

Zack knocked on the door of Zerbrowski's house with Booth standing off to the side and behind him. That made Zack nervous. Zerbrowski opened the door and grinned when he saw Zack. "Zaddy! Hey!" He opened the door wider to let Zack in and saw Booth. Zerbrowski's face fell. "What's going on?"

"Mr. Zerbrowski, may we come in?" Booth was all business and flashed his badge. Zerbrowski was immediately on edge.

"Yeah. Sure. Come on it." He opened the door fully to let Zack and Booth inside. Zerbrowski shut the door as Zack led Booth down to the living room.

"It's interesting that you'd be home at two o'clock in the afternoon on a Monday." Booth observed. Zerbrowski caught up with Zack and Booth and sat on his favorite brown leather Lazy Boy recliner. Booth sat on the couch and Zack walked into the adjoining kitchen to grab a soda from the refrigerator.

"I work from home on Mondays and Fridays. Unless I have a case that's going to trial I find the comfort of my own home helps with my research and stuff."

"Technical terminology." Booth grinned.

"I hate lawyers that use the big words to describe simple stuff. It took me months to convince Zaddy and Keg to use the small words when talking about body parts."

"It still hasn't worked on Zack." Booth observed. Zack sat on the love seat and sipped at his can of diet Sprite. Zerbrowski looked over at Zack who looked back at his friend.

"Yeah, well, Zack's special." Zerbrowski observed in what Zack assumed was suppose to be a secretive seductive look. However, it was ineffective given the present circumstances and, more importantly, Booth caught the look and how it caused Zack discomfort.

"Look, Mr. Zerbrowski, there's a reason for us being here as I'm sure you're aware-" Booth started, trying to stick to professional behavior.

"Yeah, I figured when you started calling me 'Mr.' and flashed a badge. " Zerbrowski shot out sarcastically. Booth looked at Zack. Zack figured that was his cue to tell the truth.

"Anne's dead." Zack said. Zerbrowski took a long beat of silence. Booth looked at Zack, annoyed.

"What?" Zack shrugged.

"A body was discovered in Baltimore this morning, Mr. Zerbrowski. When it was brought back to the Jeffersonian for examination….Zack identified the body as your wife's. I'm sorry." Zerbrowski looked between Zack and Booth.

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" Zerbrowski started to stand.

"No. You know I don't joke about this sort of thing." Zack said. Zerbrowski collapsed back into the seat. "Angela sketched the face of the skull that was found in a none gender specific way. I recognized the picture as Anne."

"What?" Zerbrowski was hyperventilating. Zack was next to him in a second helping him to bend over and place his head between his knees to increase blood flow to his brain and slow his breathing.

"Did your wife have any enemies? Any reason to fear for her life?" Booth asked. Zerbrowski shook his head.

"She was suppose to be at her sister's." Zerbrowski said.

"She doesn't have a sister." Zack said told Booth, again.

"Why would she lie?" Booth asked

"She hates my long hours and gets bored stiff someti-I guess it's hated and got….oh god." Zerbrowski covered his mouth then ran his hands over his face to cover his eyes. "She hated that I was working all the time and really had nothing to do so she would take these constitutionals. I hired a private detective at one point because I thought she was cheating on me. She probably was but he found her at a spa for the full three weeks she was gone so I dropped the issue."

"Three weeks at a time?"

"More or less. She would come home with new energy so I never called her on it. She had her own money. Trust fund…so there was no paper trail on my books and we kept separate accounts." Zerbrowski shrugged. "She wasn't due home for another week."

"When was the last time you saw your wife?" Booth asked.

"Uh…day she left? The night before? She left early in the morning...I try not to wake up before eight…."

"You invited me over later that day….it was the fifth. You made guacamole and drank that Mexican beer with a lime wedge." Zack said. Zerbrowski nodded. Booth made a note in his notebook.

"What did you invite Zack over for?"

"Watched a game." Zerbrowski answered quickly.

"So it wasn't for sexual favors?" Booth asked. Zerbrowski looked up at him, enraged.

"I told him once I knew it was Anne." Zack said. "I'm not going to be able to help with the case….it would have come up sooner or later that we were having an affair, Zerbrowski...and I had something to gain if she died." Zerbrowski looked at Zack, furious.

"What are you saying? That you killed Anne?"

"No. But you know that the defense would go for it. You would. The entire trial and investigation would be impeded if I withheld information and we would have gone to jail for it."

"And after all the stink you made Saturday about hiding it from him." Zerbrowski pointed at Booth. Zack shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Circumstances-" Zack started.

"Whatever Zack." Zerbrowski cut him off then looked at Booth. "I didn't kill my wife over Zack." Booth glanced over at the squint that seemed to have shrunken in his seat in further discomfort. "She was probably cheating on me too. I can give you the name of the private investigator that I hired so he can tell you the name of the spa she was at. I suggest you start there." Zerbrowski stood and indicated the way out.

"Thank you, Mr. Zerbrowski. We'll be in touch." Booth stood, grabbed Zack and let themselves out. Booth shoved Zack toward the passenger side of the car and stormed over to the driver's side. Zack let himself into the car and buckled up as Booth slammed the door, shoved on his seat belt, and ripped on the ignition to get the SUV working. They were driving out of the neighborhood before the federal officer said anything. "WHAT A JERK!" Zack flinched and shrunk in on himself. Booth slammed on his breaks to stop at a stop sign which would have slammed Zack into the windshield had the scientist not been wearing a seatbelt.

"He isn't usually." Zack defended his friend. "Studies show that anger is part of the grieving process."

"Don't defend him, Zack."

"I'm sorry. I feel obligated because he's my friend and just lost his wife."

"He's also your boyfriend."

"We're not dating. It's a purely physical aspect of our relationship." Zack corrected. He was feeling nauseous. "Agent Booth…please pull over…I feel sick." Booth spared a glance at Zack. The kid looked green. He pulled the car over. Zack barely waited for the car to stop before he was unbuckling his seat belt and opening the car door. Zack fell to his knees and vomited up his incomplete lunch. Booth was by his side after he put the car into park and got out.

"Zack? Are you okay?"

"No." Booth exhaled through his nose. Alright, stupid question. Booth patted Zack's back as he dry heaved a few times. Booth stood and went looking for an unopened bottle of water to give to Zack. He found one in the back seat of the truck.

"Here, use this to clean out your mouth." Zack opened the bottle and rinsed his mouth out. Booth put his hand back onto Zack's back.

"Thank you, Agent Booth. I don't know why I suddenly felt so sick." Booth helped him stand and move away from the puddle of vomit.

"I think I do." Zack looked at him. The kid still looked pale and drawn. "Your lover just got angry at you for identifying your wife and said that you weren't worth killing for. That's got to hurt."

"It's illogical for me to feel upset about that. It's a good thing that I'm not a reason to kill for."

"Zack, you're worth killing for." Booth said honestly. "Now whether or not people should kill for you is the question."

"I don't understand."

"Let me put it another way. I'd kill for Parker, my son, but that doesn't mean I go around all the time shooting people that try hurt or threaten him."

"You shot that clown."

"It was an ice cream truck and that wasn't about Parker...that was about a serial killer that threatened Parker and Bones but you get my point."

"I think so. What you're saying is that murder is wrong but my worth…no, I change my mind, I don't understand." Booth smiled.

"Murder is wrong but people care enough about you to go to extremes. Look at your basketball team…look at the squint squad. They all care about you. If your life was threatened…I might even be persuaded to kill for you myself."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Zack. And if Zerbrowski really cared about you he would have left his wife to be with you."

"I probably wouldn't have liked that. Anne was nice and if Zerbrowski left her she would have been upset. I don't like to upset people. Besides, I don't understand the monogamy impulse. Statistically-"

"Zack." Booth shook his head. "It's a management thing. Can you imagine your parents having multiple lovers and not knowing who your biological parents were?"

"I would probably be able to figure it out with DNA testing."

"But what if they all didn't want to do that and just all claim you equally as their child? What if one of them had a family history of heart disease and another had diabetes and another had a history of mental deterioration and you didn't know which history to protect yourself from?"

"That would be frustrating."

"Not to mention remembering all those birthdays and multiple anniversaries? You wouldn't have time to do anything else."

"That makes sense."

"And, you don't have to have one person fulfill all your needs but doesn't a donor only need to have the majority of qualifications to lower the chance of organ rejection?"

"Yes."

"Same thing with love. You just need a majority. It doesn't need to be perfect…but it needs to be a match." Zack nodded.

"Agent Booth?"

"Yes Zack?"

"You just won an argument against me." Booth grinned. "I'm also tired….would you mind taking me home? I'm not feeling well."

"I actually have to work…but I can call Angela and see if she will take you home. I know her job is kinda done."

"Okay. That would be acceptable."

"Zack?"

"Yes, Agent Booth?"

"If it's any consolation….I don't think it's in you to kill anybody."

"Thank you Agent Booth."

Author After Talk: There. I promised and delivered. Interaction....I hope you enjoyed it.

Tropic