Same disclaimers apply!
"Sweets, why are you looking at our new intern like that?" Temperance Brennan was confused.
"Well, well, well. What have we here?" Angela eagerly tuned in to the situation, ignoring her best friend's cluelessness. Something was up between Sweets and the new intern, and she was going to find out.
"I just…it's just…I didn't," the normally eloquent Lance Sweets was at a loss for words as that night from the bar caught up with him. "Forget it, I'll be back later."
I'm onto you, Sweets, Angela smiled triumphantly to herself.
"Okay, what in heaven's name is going on? This is far beyond ridiculous," Cam marched into the room to break up their unofficial meeting. "Can someone please bring in the remains so we can get to work?"
"The remains were accidentally crushed into very small pieces by whoever was mowing the grass before we discovered the bones," Brennan said apologetically. "We're digging them up right now as we speak."
Right as she finished speaking, several FBI forensic scientists rolled in a large crate with what Kylie assumed were the remains and set them at the foot of the main table.
"What's this?" Cam asked.
"The remains," Dr. Brennan said, pleasantly surprised. "They came much sooner than I anticipated."
"All that?" her boss raised her eyebrows.
"Yes," Brennan replied. "Like I said, they were crushed into several pieces. It would've taken hours to separate them from the soil, so we took the entire surface area. Booth's people are checking the surrounding area for any remains we might've missed. Ms. Wells," she turned to her newest intern.
"Yes, Dr. Brennan?"
"I'd like you to assist Dr. Hodgins in separating the bones from the dirt and grass while he examines the particulates," she instructed. "Once you're done, I'll need you to go ahead and sort them, come up with an ID of the victim, and if you finish quickly, start determining a time and cause of death."
"Right away," she nodded enthusiastically, excited to get to work.
Well this is awkward, Kylie glanced over her shoulder at Hodgins, whom she caught quickly going back to obtaining samples of the soil while handing her any bones he found.
Since he was extremely thorough, often grabbing at least 4 to 5 samples per square foot of the crate, she took the time to examine what bones she already had.
"The acute angle formed in the pubis area indicates our victim was male," she announced, taking note of it in her notebook while piecing together the pelvic bone, which had been crushed into five or six pieces. She looked to her right at his right tibia and fibula bones, which had in turn been broken into three pieces each. "His tibia and fibula suggest he was either really athletic, or large bone mass runs in his family."
Kylie placed her notebook down next to the remains and picked up a small fragment of what she assumed to be a carpal bone. "I think this guy broke one of his hands. Do you have a magnifying glass I can borrow?"
"Just use the one connected to the monitor," Hodgins said impatiently. "It's a little more accurate."
"Have you found any more bones?" she asked.
"Tons. Take 'em all."
She crouched to the ground and swept the pile of bones onto the metal tray, carefully setting them on the table for construction.
"How are the bones coming along, Miss Wells?" Dr. Saroyan swiped her card and stood over her new intern.
"From what I've found so far, which unfortunately isn't very much yet, our victim was male, as you can see here on the pelvic bone, and a really big guy," she pointed out. "I'll have a weight and height estimate when I've sorted through more of these."
"Alright, well that doesn't give us much to work off of. Could you have more for me in an hour?"
"Can't promise anything," Hodgins replied, to which Cam sighed.
"I'll be in my office."
About fifty bone pieces later, a thought suddenly occurred to her. "Where did Doctor Brennan find these remains?"
"A grass lawn," Hodgins replied curtly.
"And she said that they were accidentally crushed?"
"Where were you half an hour ago?"
"The exact same spot that I'm standing now," she replied evenly.
"So what's your point?"
"My point is, the various fractures I'm seeing suggest otherwise. Why are you being rude to me?" Kylie stopped arranging the bones and peered down at Hodgins, who was examining some grass particulates through.
"Why didn't you tell me you knew Zack?" he countered.
"Is that what this is about?"
"Yes, actually. It is."
"Okay, look," she knelt down so that she was level with Hodgins. "That was supposed to stay a secret between Doctor Brennan and I. It just so happened that Cam kind of knew because I bumped into her when I visited him at the hospital."
"You heard me earlier," he bit his lip in frustration. "You heard me lamenting, grieving, hell, you even saw me cry, and you didn't think once to tell me you knew him too?!"
"I wasn't going to tell anyone," she explained. "I knew if I did, y'all would be more focused on comparing me to him instead of working…"
"Did you just say 'y'all'?" Hodgins suddenly interrupted.
"And if I did?"
"Nothing," he grinned slightly, but tried to hide it. "Just would've never pegged you as a Southerner, that's all."
"My aunt's from Texas," she shrugged. "I lived with her in Seattle for 4 years before I came here. Even though she's lived there for awhile, she never really lost the accent, or the Texas slang."
"Okay," he said uncertainly.
"Not everyone who says 'y'all' is from the South. It's just faster than saying 'you all' or 'you guys' if you're talking real fast. In my case, it's a little bit of both that andmy aunt. Going back to what I was saying, I didn't want anyone to form preconceived notions of me based on my association with him," Kylie continued. "I wanted y'all, I mean, you guys…"
"Stick with 'y'all'," he grinned. "That can be your thing around here."
"Really?" she raised her eyebrows.
"Yeah. It'll shake things up a little. In a good way, of course."
"So I wanted y'all to get to know me as an individual, and not just someone who used to be best friends with Zack."
"I'm sorry about Agent Booth earlier," Kylie turned in surprise as Doctor Brennan stepped onto the platform to examine the remains. "I thought I told him very clearly not to bring that up, and he seemed to listen."
"That's alright," Kylie forgave her. "Agent Booth strikes me as the kind of person who gets excited over juicy facts."
"Facts do not excrete juice," she looked at her newest intern with a knowing look.
Kylie blinked twice. Did I hear what I think I heard?
"Miss Wells, is everything okay?"
"Figure of speech, Doctor B," Kylie mouthed a silent 'thank you' to Hodgins for coming to her rescue. "When you say something is juicy, it means that it has a lot of meaning to whatever it's describing, in Kylie's case, that meaning was sentimental."
"That makes sense," Brennan agreed. "So, Miss Wells, are any of these bones…juicy?"
"No, Doctor Brennan, they're completely dry," Kylie replied with a straight face as she tried not to burst out laughing at Brennan's misuse of the term.
Meanwhile, Hodgins' face glowed in delight. Perhaps working with Zack's old friend wouldn't be as depressing as he thought. "Kylie Wells, you and I are going to get along splendidly."
FYI, I have never taken an anatomy class, only basic biology, so I had to google all the bone stuff and reference skeletal charts and different anatomy professors' websites. If any science majors think there's something I could word better, or make clearer/more distinct, please let me know! Also, I hope I didn't offend anyone from the Texas or the South! I promise that joke was all in good fun; I've even been there a few times (not Texas), and the people were really nice! The whole y'all thing I threw in there is actually something I find myself doing sometimes, and I'm a Californian born and raised, haha. People actually say it from time to time in my hometown, but if I say it when I go up to northern California, where I attend university, people look at me funny. Anyway, more Zack coming up in the next chapter (and not just mentions of him)! Sorry for neglecting him these past few chapters, but it was necessary for character development! Plus, Kylie can't possibly spend ALL her time in a loony bin, even if she would be reconnecting with her old best friend. Hope y'all enjoyed!
