As I promised, Zack is back in this chapter. Enjoy, my pretties!


"Kylie," Zack looked up from his seat in the visiting room, pleasantly surprised. After her outburst two weeks ago, he was sure she wasn't coming back.

"Hi," she smiled giddily, scooting in her chair slightly.

"I take it things are going well for you?"

"I don't know, are they?" she teased as she retrieved her new Jeffersonian intern card from her purse.

"I was confident that Doctor Brennan would accept you," he smiled proudly.

"Thank you, Zack," she held his hands.

"You shouldn't thank me. You got in based on your own abilities," he stated with a grin. "I only discussed you with Doctor Brennan. You still had to prove yourself."

"Well it worked, right?"

"It appears so, yes," he agreed. "How's the case going?"

"Well," she began, "we just finished reconstructing the skeleton. Some parts were crushed into annoying little pieces when Doctor Brennan and Agent Booth recovered them, so you can imagine it took awhile."

"Interesting," he commented.

"It was kinda cool, actually, putting the skull together. It felt like an art project, in a way. Wait, am I allowed to talk about this with you? I really want to, but I don't want to get in trouble with Doctor Brennan…"

"You won't," he assured his friend. "Hodgins has brought me an entire case file before. Though I'm not sure that Doctor Brennan was aware of that when he did. Besides, I'm stuck in here, remember?"

"Yeah," she nodded with a sigh. "Doctor Brennan thinks the bones were accidentally crushed by whoever was mowing the lawn before they found them, but I don't think so."

"Why?" he asked, his curiosity piqued.

"After I finished putting together the skull and arranging the bones accordingly, I noticed that some parts bore more damaged than others. Some even appeared deliberate," she explained.

"Such as?"

"Numerous fractures in his sternum indicate suggest he was struck repeatedly with a heavy, blunt object," she explained. "His right tibia and fibula were broken into three pieces apiece, while his left ones were completely in tact. Those were one of the few whole bones we found. Also, he suffered multiple fractures in the ankle bones, but I haven't encountered any fractures, micro or otherwise, in the feet."

"Have you discussed your findings with Doctor Brennan?"

"Not really, no," she shook her head.

"Why not?"

"I came to this conclusion without having any idea of how it happened. All I can tell is that it wasn't accidental. I'm going off this gut feel that I got while taking some notes on the bones. And Cam told me Doctor Brennan hates gut feelings as bases for proving a point."

"Doctor Saroyan is correct. I can't vouch for your findings as I'd have to see the bones for myself, but from my experiences with you, your observation skills have generally been accurate," he said thoughtfully.

"Okay, I'm sensing a 'but' after that," Kylie chuckled. "Spit it out."

"But in order to convince Doctor Brennan, you will have to come up with a plausible, alternative scenario to the one that she has provided. You'll need a murder weapon and time and cause of death to support your argument and provide strong factual evidence to back up your observations. What else have you found?"

"Um," Kylie pulled out her journal and turned to one marked with a pink flag. "Approximately twenty soil samples that Hodgins is currently analyzing, a few scraps of clothing, and some grass. Hodgins had a bunch of fancy names for them, but I like to keep it simple."

"You need the rest of the victim's clothing," Zack advised her. "Then you'll have something to compare Hodgins' samples and particulates to."

"Find the clothing," she wrote in her notebook, drawing a cloud around it. "Got it."

"Are you and Sweets together?" he abruptly asked, recalling Angela's excitement during her last visit with him.

"What did he tell you?" Kylie asked slowly, unsure if Lance was one of those guys who exaggerated the truth to promote his own masculinity.

"Nothing. He didn't mention you at all, actually. It was Angela," he admitted. "She tends to find things out before everyone, and she can't really keep secrets unless you ask her to."

"Why does she think that Lance and I are together?"

"I don't know," said Zack. "But she didn't seem to have any real proof."

When noticing his friend's silence and averted eye contact, he went on, "You're not saying anything. Is there something I'm missing?"

"Zack," she began. "Remember how I yelled at you the last time I was here? And how upset I was?"

"Yes, very well," he nodded. "I'm sorry for upsetting you."

"Well, after I left, I stopped by a bar to have a drink or two to clear my head. And, um, Doctor Sweets was there, too."

"Go on," he prompted.

"After talking for awhile, I, um…we kind of, um…"

"You kind of what?" Now Zack was confused.

"We made out in the bathroom," she confessed. "You know, um…kissed. A lot. With tongue and everything," she added as an afterthought.

When Zack didn't answer right away, she went on, "I totally understand if you feel weird about it, with him being your psychologist…"

"You provocatively exchanged saliva at the bar…in the bathroom?"

"Um, yeah…" Kylie giggled nervously. "But all our clothes stayed on, so I wouldn't say it was provocative."

"How unsanitary," he furrowed his brows slightly, which prompted her to burst into an uncontrollable giggling fit of laughter.

"Why are you laughing? I was stating a fact."

"I just hooked up with your psychologist," she raised her eyebrows still giggling, "and the first thing you comment on is how unsanitary it was to do it in a bathroom and not that I, well, hooked up with your psychologist."

"Oh," he agreed. "When Angela and Hodgins used to be together, they were never discreet about their…personal activities. Yours was rather mild compared to what I've unwillingly heard from them."

"I see," she inhaled and exhaled. "I haven't talked to Lance since that night, and whenever he's around, it's very…tense."

"You should talk to Angela," Zack said quickly, becoming uncomfortable. "I don't have much expertise in that area."

"I love Angela, but I don't know her very well yet," she shook her head. "Not like you."

"Okay, then," he went along with her, "I suppose you could talk to me."

"I'm reminded of that night at the bar every time he comes to the lab," she said, "and I think he is, too, from the way he doesn't acknowledge me whenever he's around, or the fact that I'd catch him looking at me when he thinks I don't notice, when I do. He's not the only one who knows how to be sneaky."

"If the tension bothers you, the most logical thing to do would be to talk to him," Zack said.

"I was afraid you'd say that," she sighed, twisting her hands in her lap.

"I believe he feels the same way, if that makes you feel better," he added thoughtfully.

"Really?"

"Yes," he replied. "It would help clear things up between you two, so that there will be no misunderstandings."

"I miss this, you know," she changed the subject. "Us talking about stuff, kicking ass in debate competitions. We made an awesome team."

"That we did," he smiled. "I think I still have some of our old trophies."

"I'm sorry I didn't come see you last week. I just needed a little time to think."

"Of course," Zack nodded. "When you left, it bothered me to see you so upset like that, and that I was the cause of that. But Sweets assured me you just needed some time and that you'd come around. Clearly, he was correct."

"Yes, he was," she agreed. She checked her phone before standing up and making her way around the table to stand at his side. "They're gonna kick me out anytime now."

"Will you come back soon?" he asked, getting up along with her.

"Of course I will." She stared into his deep chocolate brown eyes and reached up, affectionately ruffling the mop of hair on his head.

"We're standing very closely together," Zack looked down at the twelve-inch gap between the two of them. "Angela has told me that a hug would be appropriate in this situation."

"So should I give you a hug?" she asked coyly.

"If it's okay with you," Zack tapped his fingers nervously against his sides, "I would like to give you a hug."

"Oh, Zack," Kylie smiled through her watering eyes as Zack closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms around her petite body, with one arm encircling her waist and the other around her shoulders.

"Miss Wells, visiting hours are over," one of the guards popped in. "I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave."

"I know, but could you give me a minute?"

"Fine," he grumbled. "One minute."

"You really need to get out of here," she whispered in his ear.

"I know," she could feel him nod into her shoulder.

"You don't belong here," she sniffled.

"I know," another nod.

"Have you thought about what I said before?"

"Yes, I have."

"Good," she smiled contentedly, resting her head against his shoulder.


So I just realized as I was working on this chapter that I've been spelling "tibia" as "tibula." Talk about science AND spelling fail! I'm surprised nobody noticed after the last chapter, but I'll be sure to fix that before anyone else does. I typed up this chapter and the next one almost at the same time, so the next one should be up soon after I've edited it. Hope y'all enjoyed! Thanks for reading!