The Face With Two Skeletons

by Tropicwhale

disclaimer: Not mine.

Warnings: Bad words and ALL of the feelings.

Author Talk: I had always planned to kill off Bradley but it was suppose to be in the face of truth and gun blazing as Booth once again played the hero. But just as I didn't plan on killing off Zerbrowski or Bradley fighting so hard for his own humanity...I did not plan his confession nor his final moments. He was a surprisingly complex character and I hope to write his like again some day...now if only I could write original protagonists as well...I'd be set. I regret nothing in this story except for several misused commas, some weird word usage early on, and some deleted dialogue.

Chapter Fifty One

The hours after the shooting passed like a dream for Zack. He supposed it was the shock. The medics wanted to treat him but he waved them off. The medical examiner wanted him to leave Bradley but he had refused, escorting his dead friend to the morgue. He had promised Bradley that he wouldn't leave him. He used his credentials and did the autopsy himself; carefully cutting open the chest cavity, breaking open the sternum, locating the first projectile where it had lodged in the arch of the aorta, tearing it vertically. This was the first shot when the gun had been aimed but not properly brought to bear due to the shooter's cuffed hands. It was, most likely, the cause of death. Zack pumped blood from the chest cavity. Then, he filled out the form up to a point.

He had to hunt for the second projectile. He found it in the pulmonary trunk. He drew it out and threw it into the stainless steel bowl with its match. He then, carefully, sewed up the body. He said a prayer to a god he didn't quite believe in to watch over Bradley's soul which he wasn't sure existed. He covered the body, finished the forms and disposed of his gloves and dealt with the bio-hazardous waste. He carefully cleaned the borrowed tools and walked past the coroner on his way out. The other doctor stopped him.

"I'm not good with people...but, I'm sorry for your loss."

"I-" Zack looked at the stranger. It was the first time anyone had offered him condolences over Bradley's death. His family was too overwhelmed with new data the first time and… "Thank you. He was a good friend...I promised him that I would take care of him. If you would..." There was a vague gesture back toward the body "uh, I'll fill out the correct processing forms on my way out."

"I believe that was taken care of by your friends...they are waiting for you in the lobby." Zack realized he was crying, probably had been for some time.

"Is there a back way out of here? I really don't want to see them right now." The man nodded and lead him to the loading dock. He offered Zack a cigarette which the scientist took with shaking fingers. "I don't really smoke." He said after he inhaled. "I understand exactly how bad they are for you."

"So do I. See the result almost everyday. Had a lung cancer victim the other day. Still smoke." The man pulled one out for himself. They stood in the humid D.C night, surrounded by the sounds and smells of the city, smoking. "I figure-I figure if I'm going to die...and I will...I might as well die of something that gave me relief from everything...and not from playing it safe."

"I only see the remains of murder victims….or horrible accidents or people no one claimed."

"I get to see them all. Old, young, bad, good. They all end up on my table." The medical examiner said. "Its a cold comfort. That we all end up the same." He smiled at Zack who nodded at him. "At least he-" and he gestured back into the building. "had you to claim him. He had someone in this world who gave a shit. That's better than most of us." He stomped out his cigarette and headed back in. "I'll tell them that you left. You can walk out this alleyway or wait and go through the front." He disappeared.

Zack stood. He stared down at the remains of his cigarette that was crumbled on the cement dock. He jumped down, headed out the alleyway, and hailed a cab. He was thankful he still had his wallet from this morning. The cabbie looked at him as he delivered the address. "I was working in the morgue today. Blood happens." The driver nodded and Zack spent the drive in silence. He paid the man way too much. He turned the key in the lock and realized he forgot to buy dinner. He felt lost. Had this day actually happened? Was Bradley a dream? It had felt like a dream. He got to say goodbye this time so that was something.

He dropped his wallet and keys onto the table and walked a few feet into the apartment. The sheets-the sheets were still in the dryer. He went to get them and put them onto the bed before Seeley got home. He reached for the dryer door and caught sight of his face in the distorted metal. No wonder the cab driver gave him a look. His face was covered in blood. His mouth and cheek where Bradley had grabbed him. It was old now, dried but still clearly identifiable...his hands were the same...dyed with the blood of….Zack stared at his warped reflection for what felt like forever and jumped when the door opened. He pulled himself away from his morbid self reflection to see Seeley walking into the apartment. "So, am I going to be charged?" the federal agent blinked. Zack guessed that Seeley wasn't expecting him to be so functional and practical. Which was a strange reaction. He had lost Bradley before. He had practice.

"For what?"

"For Accessory-"

"No. God, Zack, no." Zack nodded, suddenly at a loss again.

"I didn't want to see them. I think Dr. Saroyan and the team came to pick me up at the morgue. I didn't want to see them."

"They did. They were worried when you slipped out the back. You should have called somebody."

"I didn't want to see them." Zack held up his phone. It was broken. "It's been broken all day. I think Bradley broke it when he abducted me." Zack looked at the crack pattern. "By accident" he clarified "not design. You can tell by the crack pattern." He stepped back when Seeley stepped forward. "I forgot the sheets and-and dinner. Getting kidnapped was very inconvenient."

"I'll bet." Seeley laughed. Zack smiled, briefly.

"I was being serious. It wasn't meant to be a joke. I think I am in shock."

"Probably. Suffering a little of that myself."

"Why?"

"Zack-"

"You didn't...have the day that I did." It overwhelmed Zack's knees and he sat against the wall. Seeley joined him, careful not to touch him. "You have training for this sort of day. I don't. I am meant to be in a lab; not in multiple situations a day with guns pointed at my head."

"We nearly lost you today. I am in shock from that."

"I would have talked him out of being stupid. I almost had when you barged in. I am definitely in shock. That thought process made no sense. It wasn't your fault that Hector Oscarmann shot his son...just as it wasn't mine the first time. At least this time he paid for his crimes...they both did, I guess."

"Bradley-"

"Shut up. You don't get to say bad things about him. Not today. Not to me. Not ever. OK?" Zack's voice was robotic and demanding. He was staring at the floor.

"Ok."

There was a beat of silence.

"Zack?"

"What?"

"Shower."

"Ok." Zack allowed himself to be pulled up and into the bathroom. Seeley sat him on the toilet and started the shower. Seeley undressed, checked the water, went and got towels, checked the water again and then helped Zack undress. Seeley led them, carefully, into the clawed tub and wrapped his arms around the younger man who was near catatonic. Seeley carefully washed the blood from Zack's face and knew that the tee shirt and jeans were a lost cause. They would have to be thrown out. There was blood on Zack's hands so Seeley carefully washed the palms and got the blood from under the fingernails. From there he washed everything. Unlike that first time they had shared a shower there was little to no reaction from Zack, sexual or otherwise.

Suddenly, as Booth went to turn the water off Zack grabbed his arm. Seeley looked at Zack and Zack looked at Seeley. Zack started to wash off Booth, as thoroughly as Seeley had washed him. When he was on his knees, washing Seeley's right cafe he spoke. "I think I should move."

"Yeah?"

"I don't want to face people at the lab. I don't think I could face Dr. Brennan or Hodgins nor Angela again. Maybe I'm move to Canada. I don't mind the cold."

"You're not moving. You'll face them on Monday."

"Why Monday?"

"That will be after all the paper work is wrapped up and all the bodies buried."

"Not all. Zerbrowski..."

"We'll find him." Zack nodded and stood. He turned Booth around and started to wash his back. "Zack, you're not leaving."

"I bring nothing but grief to the people around me. It's irresponsible to stay anywhere for too long."

"That's life. Get over it." Seeley shifted as Zack washed his ass, thoroughly. He turned quickly and grabbed Zack around the waist. "And I am certainly not letting you go. We have a date, remember?" Zack nodded his head. Seeley kissed him because Zack needed to be kissed, needed to be ground back in the here and now. The kiss was sloppy; full of tongue and teeth. Zack pulled away.

"The first morning we had sex together...You were going to run late to work if you didn't move faster. Although now I think that you just hate to get ready for work."

"Or I prefer sex in the morning."

"No."

"No?"

"No." Zack said; then got out of the shower. Booth turned off the shower and got out only to find Zack not in the bathroom. Zack's clothes were gone too. Booth went out into the apartment to find Zack tossing his jeans into the washer and turning it on, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. He threw out the shirt.

"Those jeans are probably done, Zack."

"I know. I just….needed to try and clean them.."

"Ok." Seeley hugged Zack from behind. "Sleepy?"

"Not really. I know that I should be but I'm not." Booth nodded.

"Lets order pizza and we'll curl up in bed and-"

"The sheets are still in the dryer." Zack interrupted. Booth nodded and reached around Zack to open the dryer.

"So they are." Seeley led Zack to sit down on the couch and disappeared for a few minutes. When he came back he was holding the comforter and his cell phone. "I called Tony and it'll be about twenty minutes. I ordered the same pizza as last time, ok?" Zack nodded. "The sheets are on the bed but I figured that you would be cold so I...uh..." He wrapped the comforter around Zack. Zack noticed that he had put on a pair of jeans. Zack supposed that was logical...due to the fact that the pizza would be coming soon. Seeley joined him on the couch and they spent the next twenty minutes in silence. The pizza boy came and went with another twenty dollar tip. Seeley coxed Zack into eating at least one slice of the overtopped pizza. Seeley put the pizza in the refrigerator and suggested that they go to bed.

"It's still early." It was two hours past Zack's normal bedtime. He didn't seem to notice. Seeley stood in his living room, looking down as the scientist who was staring off into space. "I don't want to talk about it." He said after 4.2 minutes of Seeley staring down at him. "I am just having difficulty processing all of it. I gained a lot of new information today and I am just having difficulty processing it."

"If you start speaking in computer-"

"Binary."

"What?"

"Binary, it's computer language."

"Ok, then," Seeley put his hands on his hips. "If you start speaking in binary I am calling Angela to translate." Zack scrunched up his nose. "That joke didn't translate, did it?"

"Not even a little."

"You are speaking more and more robotically...if you slip into binary I wouldn't be able to understand."

"Don't worry," Zack said, staring pass the television. "I'll start speaking proper technical language and then in Latin before I hit binary. You'll have time." Seeley huffed out a laugh.

"That was funny."

"It was meant to be. I am trying to prove you don't need to babysit me. You should go to bed. I'll be in later."

"No." Seeley sat down next to Zack.

"No?" Zack looked over at Seeley.

"No." They sat for what seemed like forever. Zack staring at the wall, Seeley staring at Zack.

"It's not like last time. Last time I didn't know what happened. No one could get Hector Oscarmann to say...He deflected. I asked him once and the words out of his mouth were rude and offensive. He didn't tell me. It was assumed he buried the body somewhere in the forest. The cadaver dogs never found it. Now I know why. So that is something."

"Marsters and Brennan got Oscarmann to crack. He said that he shot, missed, and Bradley ran out the window after you."

"I wonder if he thought I was hiding him. It would make logical sense if he did."

"But he didn't."

"Bradley told me that he was in shock. The he ran for three days, naked, before stopping. He said he stole clothes, food, hunted to survive. Made it to Detroit. Stole, sold drugs, and engaged in prostitution to stay alive. He said a rich client gave him a car and he came looking for me. He saw me once at the courthouse."

"Yeah?"

"I didn't notice him."

"He was arrested in Detroit for prostitution and drug trafficking. Served time."

"He must have went back. That explains why he didn't….."

"Come find you." Seeley finished.

"I can understand why he killed his mother and Zerbrowski. Is that weird?" Zack finally, finally looked at Seeley. "I am wrong to understand why he'd kill?"

"No, Zack. You aren't wrong. I understand why he did it too."

"He-he just wanted to help me. He was just being an idiot." Zack's eyes were tearing up.

"I know, Zack. It wasn't your fault." Seeley said evenly. Zack sobbed.

"It feels like it was. It feels like I failed him, somehow. I just…" Seeley scrambled to take Zack in his arms. Zack curled into the other man, taking huge sobbing breaths. He was determined, however, to finish processing today tonight. He refused to not understand today. "I feel like I failed him. I-I should have...figured out something….but he needed help and Mrs. Oscarmann and the Zerbrowskis needed justice. I did not stand in the way of him going to prison for his crimes. I would have figured out a way to get him psychological help. He was scared of his father finding him. He said that if Hector ever found him then he was a dead man. He was right. Bradley always understood the actions of people. He was always explaining why people did things I never understood." Seeley brushed back Zack's hair. "I am going to miss him."

"Not yet, though?"

"No. Not yet. Still processing. I am lucky, I suppose."

"Why?"

"I have been informed that many times people wish they could spend one more day with a dead loved one. I got that one more day. I spent it the way I would have chosen to spend it; in bed with him, talking like we used to...I really wish he hadn't kidnapped me. I would have brought him here and introduced you over dinner...but then...no...I got to see and talk with him again and now that he is dead his murder victims have justice. He won't hurt anyone else...and thanks to you neither will his father. I am grateful for that. Hector could have shot me as well...or tried to hurt other people..and Bradley can finally be at peace. He isn't scared of his father finding him, he doesn't have to hook anymore or sell drugs or any of it...he's finally safe. That's all that I can ask."

"Yes." Seeley agreed. Zack nodded then smiled briefly. "Bed now?"

"Yes. But no sex." Zack glared suspiciously at Seeley who laughed.

"Of course not. What kind of man do you take me for?"

"An alpha male with a healthy sexual appetite who-gah!" Zack squealed as Seeley tickled him. "Stop!" He giggled "Gah! Stop!" He slipped free and fell on the floor. He scrambled to get away, trying to take the comforter with him and was scooped up by one Seeley Booth.

"Bedtime." Seeley declared and marched to their bedroom. He tossed Zack onto the bed then bounced on top of him. They wrestled for a minute or two until Seeley succeed in being the big spoon with the comforter cocooned around them. "Sleep. We'll deal with everything else in the morning." Seeley was a man who believed in living by example and was asleep in a minute or two. Zack smiled when he heard the snores in his ear. He didn't sleep for the rest of the night.

Author After Notes: So...this entire chapter is an author writing what she knows. I've had a lot to grieve in my life...some of it in a very short time, nothing as fantastic as the day that Zack had but still grief. I've learned to process very quickly. I practically fly through my grief now and I do so very, very privately. Not my sorrow. Grief is the processing of tragedy. Sorrow, and guilt...these things last a lifetime. They are, in Sophia Loren's words, my scars, my beautiful scars. So, you'll have to pardon how quickly Zack worked through his day. He is, after all, very smart and has me to guide him.

Love from the Dorkside;

Tropic