-No One POV-
The enter the vault as Cam says, "Security had the entrance to this wing locked and the vault itself was secured." They then see the skeleton not there anymore as Brennan asks, "The skeleton." Booth adds, "Where'd it go?" Hodgins shrugs, "We don't know. I came down to see if the screws matched the silver in the skeleton, and the skeleton was gone." Sweets then adds, "But there's security cameras and sensors covering every inch of this place." Cam then speaks, "They all failed." Booth then asks, "All of 'em?" "When Zack's explosion set off all the alarms, every security camera in the building failed." Hodgins add, "The door to the loading dock was unlocked." Brennan then says, "Someone stole the skeleton."
Cam adds, "Ten minutes before the explosion?" Hodgins then says, "Everything is working perfectly." They were looking a the security footage as Cam says, "Fast forward, Hodgins passes Zack the container of tricyclic acetone peroxide." "I thought it was the monomer." "The explosion occurred at 12:03 and 22 seconds. At 12:03 and 22 seconds..." Booth then asks, "Aren't there any backup systems?" "All dead, too." Brennan then asks, "Where were the guards?" "There was as chemical accident. That takes precedence over any other security issue. All personnel went to secure the lab or to secure any point that went to the museum proper, so there'd be no loss of life."
Brennan was looking through Venus file as she explains, "During that time, the vault and the skeleton would be unsecured." Cam nods, "Yes, until the security system was brought back up at 12:18 and 41 seconds. The explosion was a diversion set up by Gormogon." Brennan then says finally finding something, "Ven had also found some suspicion about this too." Everyone looked at her as it hit Hodgins, "Yes! She told Zack and I earlier on how she was looking into this case herself on the sidelines. She said that she was close in figuring out the apprentice." Brennan shakes her head, "No she did figure it out."
Cam and Hodgins asks, "What?" "She has recorded every second the security system went down. It starts from something as small as five seconds that would've gone unnoticed. But it shows it gradually started to get longer." Booth then says, "He's here in the lab and Blueberry figured it out that it was an inside job. Gormogon works at the Jeffersonian." Brennan then says, "Ven said that it was his new apprentice." Sweets then says, "That is a totally freaky thought." Booth then gets on the phone, "Yeah, it's Booth. Listen, I need a full forensic team sent to the Jeffersonian- mobile labs, computers, analysis, the works. No, their equipment could be compromised.
It has been a few hours later and Cam has been coming down to the vault to see if there has been any progress as she asks Marc the FBI Forensic, "Hair, prints, anything?" "Not since you asked five minutes ago, no." She then hears Caroline, "Dr. Saroyan, please don't bother the techs. You have a problem you see me." "It's my people you suspect here. Since Venus is not here, I am the one in charge of these people. So, I want to make sure you're doing your job. After all, you're a prosecutor not a forensic..." "You have been breathing down our necks for two hours, cherie. Why don't you go get a latte or something? You shouldn't be here anyway." "This is my department." "I know, and you have full security clearance and complete access to the lab and the vault." "Are you saying I'm a suspect now?" "I'm saying someone's gonna put your name on the list. You were a cop. Wouldn't you?" "You've got over 30 agents here. Find something."
Booth and Brennan are eating at the dinner as she says, "The Medico-Legal lab has over 100 employees." "And all their records are being looked at, including yours, Blueberry and mine. I just want to know what clue Venus discovered to figure out who this apprentice is." Brennan shrugs, "I went through all of her file and couldn't find any hints. She possibly found the last clue before the explosion." Booth sighs and nods, "Yeah, we just have to figure it out ourselves or the possibility of her waking up soon will be of help." Brennan nods, "Well, you're just having coffee? Don't you want pie?" "I'm fine." "You always have pie." "Can we stop talking about pie?" "Because of what Sweets said?" "I'm just going pie-less, okay?" Sweets then comes over to them, "Can we talk for a minutes? I have a profile of someone I feel could be Gormogon." He then looks down on Booth's side of the table, "No pie? You always eat pie." "Enough with the pie. Will you just sit down?" "All right."
Brennan sees files of the team as she asks Sweets, "Whoa. You've been spying on us? More experiments?" Booth then asks, "What experiments?" Sweets then quickly says, "I'm just being thorough. The dynamics of our work environment play a role in how I treat you, Venus and Agent Booth." "Sweets, can we just get on with it? Who is it?" "I believe it's Dr. Hodgins." Booth whistles as Brennan was confused, "What is Dr. Hodgins?" Booth answers, "Gormogon. He thinks Hodgins is Gormogon." Sweets nods, "Hodgins exhibits clinical paranoia as well as a rationalized feeling of superiority." Brennan restates, "Paranoia." "Yeah. He's consumed by numerous conspiracy theories. My observations today, he's even suspect of the FBI, with whom he works closely." "It's all supposition. There's no concrete evidence." Booth then says, "No, no, no. Go on." "Booth!" "What? Hodgins knew all about the secret societies. I mean, he figured out the patterns Gormogon used that led us to the vault." "Yes, he was doing his job. Puls, Venus had also helped on it to." Sweets then says, "Or he was justifying himself. He had access to all the chemicals Zack was using. He could have changed the labels." Booth adds, "He and Zack are friends."
Brennan then adds, "Venus and I also had access to the chemicals Zack made. Why am I not a suspect? And Ven is also friends with Zack and Hodgins. The three of them are the closest with each other. Why isn't she a suspect either?" Sweets then says, "Well, you have a reverence for life that belies the cold calculations of a killer, and the emotional connection you share with Agent Booth and with your sister. While Venus has no desire in hurting others at all. She would rather avoid that after she got out of the military. The only time she would resort to violence is if she feels that someone is threatening the ones she loves." Brennan shakes her head, "No, I don't have time for this. No." She leaves as Booth turns to Sweets, "Don't you know by now you can't rush her?" He stands to follow her as Sweets then says, "We're trying to catch a killer. I thought it best not to waste time." Booth leaves as Sweets sighs.
Booth and Brennan are in the walking towards her office as he says to her, "Look, he's just trying to help, Bones." "Well, his opinions won't get you conviction. He doesn't have any evidence." "Yeah, but he's a profiler with a great track record." Cam comes in asking, "Who?" "Sweets." Brennan then tells her, "Sweets says that Hodgins is the killer." "Well, that makes sense." "What?" "Well, it throws suspicion off him." Booth asks, "Who?" "Sweets." "You think Sweets is the killer?" "Well, he shows up right after you find the Gormogon vault, when Gormogon's at his most vulnerable, and in therapy he plays you two like a cheap piano until you ask for his help with the case." "Wait a second. Nobody plays me like a cheap piano." "Hey, we all trusted the 'brilliant, young profiler.' Venus got him security clearance because he was going to help us." Brennan asks, "He was here. He had the opportunity to switch Zack's chemicals." Booth then adds, "Except he's not a chemist." Cam adds, "He's the only one we can't account for after the explosion."
Brennan then scoffs, "Great, now we sound like Sweets. We have no evidence." Cam then says, "I was a cop for ten years, Dr. Brennan. I can smell it on him." "I'm sorry, but we need more than your gut feeling. And the only one who knows of the evidence is Ven." "Well, then find it. Cause trust me. Sweets is your boy." Cam is now in her desk going throw some documents as Hodgins walks over to her. She looks at him getting startled, "Dr. Hodgins, knocking would be appreciated." "Right. Sorry. So rumor is one of us is a suspect. Who is it?" "I can't say. You know that." "Of course not. And since it's a rumor, it might not even be true, right?"
"Do you have a legitimate reason to see me, or... are you just here to squeeze me for information?" "I found something." He goes over to her computer and explains, "Zack said he thought the mandible had been boiled." "To remove tissue." "I pulled trace elements from the mandible and ran them through the mass spectrometer to see what the bone was boiled in. It was tap water. But see this spike here?" "Lead?" "Yes." "I thought the city had to replace all their lead pipes." "They did, but individual homeowners didn't. I focused on neighborhoods with the highest lead levels. Older homes are the worst offenders. This neighborhood matches the level of lead found on the victim's bone." "Isn't that your house?" "Yes, it is. But there are other people that live in the area, too." "Yeah, of course." "I'll pass this along to the investigators." "Good." "Is there anything else?" "I could have fudged the facts. I could've left my neighborhood out." "Yes, but that would have raised suspicion if someone had double-checked your results." "If you need me, I'll be at my station... helping." Cam nods as Hodgins leaves.
Booth and Brennan had came back from visiting Venus and Zack as they enter the dinner seeing Sweets was in there as Booth says, "Hey." "This is a surprise." "Yeah." "Hey, Sweets, uh, where were you after the explosion?" "I was with you." Brennan then says, "No, you were with us when the explosion occurred." Booth nods adding, "I mean after." "Uh, let's see, I ran to call 9-1-1." Brennan asks, "Where?" "In your office. Why?" Booth asks, "Then what?" "Then I went to the door to show the EMTs where to go." Brennan then says, "Hmm. You didn't come in with them." "No, I find it's best to stay out of the way of the professionals in those situations. Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot one thing." Booth asks, "What's that?" "I went down to the vault, and I stole the Silver Skeleton because I'm... I'm Gormogon's apprentice."
Booth then says, "That's a confession. You know, I can lock him up for 72 hours." "You'd lock me up for sarcasm?" Brennan nods, "I think you should." "Wait, you guys actually think that I'm Gormogon's apprentice?" Booth then says, "Well, somebody is. That way, I can lock you up, check out your story and not worry about you running off to Bolivia." "This is fierce wretched." Brennan adds, "Better safe than sorry." Booth nods, "Yeah." Sweets then says, "No, you're projecting, Agent Booth. You have a reasonable hostility toward Gormogon. But you have no outlet for those feelings, so you're using me..." Booth grabs his shoulder, "Am I gonna have to break out my cuffs?" "You know what? Yeah. You are gonna need your cuffs. 'Cause I'm not about to make this easy for you."
Back with Zack and Angela as they were both asleep. Hodgins had gone over as he kisses her on the cheek. She gasps gently waking up as she smiles at him, "Hi..." They give each other a loving kiss for a brief second as Hodgins looks at Zack, "I just went to check up on Venus and she still looks stable, but no since of waking up. How's Zack?" "Well, he's in a lot of pain, but he won't let me push the painkiller button." "He's scared of polka dots, but screaming agony is just an interesting phenomenon." They then hear him say, "Drugs give me bad dreams." They look at him as Hodgins says to him, "Oh, hey there, Zack." "I'm walking somewhere, and suddenly someone takes me by the hand. And I look and it's a skeleton. And the skeleton's on fire, and my hands hurt."
Hodgins takes the painkiller button in his hands as Angela says to Zack, "Take the painkillers, sweetie." "I've been thinking about the explosion, Hodgins. No one could have switched the chemicals. I locked up the container when I left the room." Hodgins presses the painkiller button as it makes Zack start to go sleepy as he continues, "I had the only... key." Hodgins presses the button again as Zack sighs, "You... would know, but... you... I'm afraid the painkillers, while pleasant dull my intellect." "Sometimes your friends gotta step in..." He presses the button again, "Dumb it up for you." Zack is asleep as the two watch him. Angela gets up, "I am going to stay with Ven for a bit... keep her company..." Hodgins nods, "Yeah. Go ahead, she might enjoy you voice better than mine." They both chuckle a bit as Angela goes over to the room right next door opening it seeing Venus in bed with a bandage around her head and in a sleep state.
Back at the lab in Brennan's office she is looking through the case as Cam comes inside, "Don't you think it's time to go home?" She didn't know that Cam came inside as she sighs from fright and chuckles a bit. "Sorry, Cam, I... seem to be a bit anxious." "Don't worry about it. It's going around. Hodgins came to talk to me, and I almost jumped out of my skin. What's keeping you so late?" "Looking at the tissue we used for the DNA tests... the victims' DNA alleles in the roots were destroyed. And the marrow alleles were altered. Then I remembered when I first looked at the jawbone, it seemed lighter in color than I expected." "It was treated with ultraviolet light?" "I think so." "Who would do that?" "We would. Standard procedure for skeletal remains when we put them away for storage. We have over 10,000 sets of remains waiting to be identified. I think Venus had also figure this out as well. What better place to hide a skeleton?" "How do we sift through 10,000 sets of remains?"
It was the next morning as there were people in the bone room as Angela says to them, "I'd like to welcome all of Dr. Brennan's grad students to Limbo." Brennan then says, "It's Modular Skeletal Storage. I don't like the moniker 'Limbo." "Over 10,000 lost souls remain here, honey, unidentified, waiting. It's a good name. Let's just go with it. Each of these boxes contains the skeletal remains of one person." Brennan shows an example, "In this case, a skull, two femurs, five vertebrae, miscellaneous phalanges and three molars." "What we want you to do is conduct an inventory, making sure that what's in the box corresponds not only to the card in the box but also to the computer record."
A grad student then asks, "Does this count toward our final grade?" Caroline then says, "Listen, Brennan's grad students, what we're trying to do here is catch a serial killer not get a gold star from 'teach." Angela continues, "We think that he's hidden the remains of one or more of his victims here." Brennan continues, "Bones tucked into boxes where they don't belong." "And I think it's fair to say that if you help us catch a serial killer, that you'll pass your precious course." "That's not necessarily true. If anyone shows up down here indicating an interest in what you're doing either tell Ms. Montenegro or shout for Security." Another grad student asks, "Why?" Caroline asks, "Because serial killers get mean when you get close to catching them." He nods as everyone starts getting to work going through bones and boxes for an hour already. Carlone was looking at one of the boxes as Brennan comes over to her and she says, "This is just creepy." "Well, it's the natrual order of things. We all end up this way." "Thank you, cherie, now you've made it creepy and depressing."
An intern comes up to them, "I found an extra femur in one of the boxes and an extra fibula in another." Brennan asks, "You sure?" "The remains in the box were of a four-year-old child. The femur was from a man in his mid-40s to early 50s." "And the fibula?" "Also from a middle-aged man. It had recently been boiled. Three other people found extra bones, as well." Another grad student comes from behind them and clears her throat, "I found an extra manubrium, a male ulna and a humerus in a box of female remains." Brennan nods, "Okay, lay out all of the extra bones anatomically." "It's already done. Over here." They follow her as Brennan says, "Nice job." "I'm third in my class." "I'd like the names of the two students in front of you. 45 to 50 years old. Fibula and femur show a height of approximately 180 centimeters." Caroline asks, "How tall is that in English?" "Approximately 5'8. Have Dr. Saroyan take DNA samples and compare them to all of Gormogon's known victims."
Caroline then asks, "You suspect something, don't you?" "I have no facts yet. My opinions are not relevant." "Let me make the call, cherie Give me some of that big brain of yours." "Someone removed the mandible from the skull." "It's the one that was sent to your little boss sister." "I can't say that with certainty. Dr. Saroyan should see if the DNA matches." Caroline turns to the grad student, "Didn't you hear her? Get this up to Dr. Saroyan. Now." The grad student quickly leaves as another grad student calls Brennan over, "Dr. Brennan, I think you should take a look at this." It was a row of skulls if canines missing as she asks, "All of these canines have been removed from these skulls. Just the canines." Caroline then says, "I want the security tapes from this room for the last six months." "This room isn't covered." "Why not?" "It's Limbo. I need to reexamine the mandible Zack was working on before the explosion. I think this is the clue that helped Venus discover Gormogon." "Of course you do." Brennan left hurrying back upstairs.
Cam was checking the dental records on the skull missing the mandible as she says, "It's the lobbyist that disappeared. DNA's a match and so are the dentals. Dr. Brennan's gonna want to take a look at the markings on these." Caroline asks, "What's that? More cannibal teeth marks on the bone?" "Gormogon went after this like Henry VIII after a chicken leg." Caroline chuckles while shaking her head. They make their way up the platform to Brennan who was examining the mandible. Cam tells her, "These appear to have been gnawed on, too. They'll probably match the denture marking Zack found." "They won't." "You haven't looked at them yet." "Zack said these markings on the mandible were made by artificial dentures made from polymethyl methacrylate and other polymers." "And...?" "They were not made by artificial dentures. Zack should've known that." Caroline then says, "He made a mistake. It happens." Cam then says, "Not often." Brennan gets up to her office.
She is looking through documents thinking if her information that she discovered was actually right and the same as Venus. Booth comes in, "Hey. I heard Zack was wrong about the dentures." "No." "What do you mean? Cam and Caroline said..." "He knew they weren't artificial. Any first-year student would know that. The dentures were made from real teeth. All canines. And Venus knew that too." "Oh, whoa." "Canines are a symbol of the wolf, which appears on the Gormogon tapestry in the vault. Certain ancient sects revered the wolf as a symbol of freedom- as a representative of the forces that will deliver us from persecution." "Okay, Bones, enough about the wolf. What's going on?" "Zack lied." "Why?" "He... he took the teeth from bone storage and he made Gormogon's dentures." "Zack has complete access to the lab. He arranged for the explosion himself." "It's Zack. He's the killer, Booth. It's Zack."
-Venus POV-
I wake up groaning grabing my head. I look around seeing someone grabbing my shoulder. I look seeing it was Cam with a sad face. "Where are we?... Wait! There was an explosion before I got to... Zack. Are they okay Cam? Are Hodgins and Zack okay?" She nods, "Yes, they are fine. But Zack did sustain 3rd burn degrees on both hands... but he... he..." I sigh, "I know. I need to go to him right now." "You shouldn't... you've been asleep for 3 days." "I'm fine Cam, but I need to know where he is." She sighs, "He's in the room next to yours. Booth and Brennan are in there right now with him. They are about to talk to him." I nod getting up stumbling a bit as Cam helps me. I thank her and go out of the door and go towards Zacks room as I then hear Temp say, "You had to know I'd see it eventually." I stop to listen as I hear Zack say, "I didn't foresee the extent of my and Venus injuries. I was going to sneak out of here, but..." "Your friends never left your side and Venus still hasn't woken up." I hear Booth add, "And you intended to steal the jawbone and add it to the silver skeleton." Temp adds, "But you designed the explosion. You must have known exactly how big it would be." "Hodgins argued with me and Venus was right behind me. They stood to close. The delay allowed the thermoplastic to reach the boiling point. And as a result, the explosion was three times more powerful than I calculated."
I start feeling tears roll down my eyes as I touched my face as I hear Temp say, "You must have known how badly you'd be injured." "Yes. But I didn't expect Venus to be right behind me at that moment." Booth then asks, "Who's Gormogon, Zack?" "That's not what he's called." "Then what is he called?" "The Master." Temp asks, "And you're his apprentice?" Booth ask, "I need a name." Zack then says, "I can't tell you. The apprentice is expandable. I'm expendable." "Who is he?" Temp then says, "Zack responds to logic, Booth." "Really? 'Cause I'd love to hear the logic of killing and eating people to change the world." "The Master's logic is irrefutable." "Irrefutable?! I saw him choking a child at the bottom of a pool." "If you knew what I know, you'd understand. Both you and Venus would be proud of me." I decided that I heard enough as I wipe my tears away from my eyes and enter the door of his room saying, "We've always been proud of you, Zack." They all looked at me surprised that I had woken up as I start walking over to Zack, "I've never met anyone more rational or intelligent. You're my best friend Zack. Someone that I trust with whatever is going on."
As I make my way to him Booth stops in front of me with his arm out, "You shouldn't go near him Venus. He killed people and hurt you." I gave Booth a small smile, "I need to speak with him Booth. He listens to me, plus... I have killed people before too..." He looks at me for a moment and sighs letting me go past him as I look back at Zack, "I always loved your way of thinking Zack, but this time there's a fault in your logic." "With all due respect, you aren't cognizant of his logic." I chuckle a bit as I sit in the chair in front of him, "Yup, your still the same Zack I know. All right then, assumption number one: secret societies exist." "Accepted. Hodgins has been explaining this to us for years."
I nod, "Yeah he has. Assumption number two: the human experience is adversely affected by secret societies." "Accepted." "Assumption number three: attacking and killing members of secret societies will have an ameliorating effect on the human experience." "Accepted." I then put my hand on his cheek, "All of your assumptions are built upon a first principle, Zack. To wit: the historical human experience as a whole is more important than a single person's life." He nods in my hand, "Yes." I give him a small smile, "Oh, my Zackaro. You say that but yet you risked it all so you wouldn't hurt Hodgins or I." Zack and I stay looking at each other as he processes my words as realization hits as both of our eyes start tearing up again. I lean in connecting our foreheads together and we close our eyes as tears come out from both of our eyes. Zack then starts speaking as we stay in our position, "There's... You are correct, there's an inconsistency in my reasoning."
We then hear Booth, "Blueberry, I need a name." "We know Ranger." Zack then says, "He first approached me three months ago at a symposium on burning plasma diagnostics." Booth then says, "Zack... I need to know who this guy is. I need to go get him. Now." "I don't know his name. I've never known his name. But I've been to his house." I nodded and kissed him on his cheek backing away sitting back down while holding his hand as he continues, "I was blindfolded when he first took me there, but I remember every turn he took and I was able to estimate his speed, so when he brought me home, I found it on a map. It's in Benning Ridge, on a street called Savoy Crescent. It's a big place. Almost as big as Hodgins house but run down. There's a flight of stairs at the back, outside. There's a blue door. It will be locked, but there's a key hidden in a crevice to the left of the door just above eye-level. You will see a hallway. If he's found someone, you will smell meat cooking and that's how you'll know you're getting close. One last door- and you'll have to be fast. He'll be at the bottom of an incline in the floor. He'll have a knife. He's very fast, and he's very strong." Booth nods as he leaves us to call it in and take him down.
I look at Zack, "You did a very good job Zack." Temp adds, "You did the right thing. I'm very proud of you." Zack nods as I then look at Temp, "Hey, Temp?" "Yes?" "Do you think you could bring me some clothes from the apartment? I don't want to wear this hospital gown for another day." She smiles, "Sure." She comes over to me and hugs me while whispering in my ear, "I'm glad you're, okay?" I chuckle, "Thanks. It's really tough to get rid of me that easily." We both chuckle as she takes her leave as it was Zack and I left. I look at him and smile, "I'm sorry about your hands." He shakes his head, "I calculated for myself to get injured... I'm sorry for hurting you."
I chuckle "I had already forgiven you right at the moment I woke up. I can never stay mad at you Zack." He nods as I then stand up, "Could you scoot over a bit, so I could lay down with you?" He nods as he does so asking, "Why do you need me to scoot over?" "So, I could lay down with you. Things are going to change after this, you know Zack and we won't get that opportunity to do this again." He nods, "Yes, I do know." I lay down next to him facing him as I then ask, "Is there anything that you want before Booth comes back?" He nods, "Could you give me a kiss and stay like this for the rest of the time together?" I smile and nod, "Sure thing Zackaroo." I grab his face and lean in and kiss him on the lips. We stay like that for a few seconds as we pull apart as I give him one more kiss on the nose. I chuckle seeing him in a daze state as I lay back down next to him enjoying our time together before his time is up.
It was the next day as Zack and I fell asleep the whole night together as I wake up hearing a knock on the door. It was the team there looking at us. I wave a high at them as they smile and wave back. I then see Caroline with two other people with her as I sigh knowing what it was for as I turn to Zack seeing that he was already awake. I gave him a kiss on the forehead and get up walking over to the team as Caroline and the two people came walking in. We gave each other a brief hello as the door closes and I stand between Temp and Angela as we watch the four having a conversation as I lean on Temp. I gave Angie a hug as well as she tells me how she is glad that I am getting better. Booth then walks in as we looked at him as Cam asks, "Did you get him?" He nods, "Got him." Temp then asks, "Who was he, Booth?" Sweets then says, "Nobody. Am I right? He was nobody. An invisible man angry at history for not seeing him."
Angie then says, "For a nobody, he sure wrecked a lot of lives." We then watch as Caroline and the two people walk out as she closes the door and looks at all of us, "Zack confessed to killing the lobbyist. Stabbed him in the heart." Angie asks, "He never ate anybody?" "No." "So how did this happen?" Temp then says, "Logic." Caroline shakes her head, "No. I'm sorry cherie, that might cut it with you eggheads, but this happened the way this always happens. A strong personality finds a weak personality and takes advantage. I hope we fry the guy." Booth then says, "That's not going to be necessary." I nod as Cam says, "Good riddance, I say." I then say, "I agree with that. If you didn't Booth, I would've done it myself and go with Zack wherever they are putting him." They all stay silent a bite frightened from hearing me say that as murder was the last thing in my mind. Hodgins then asks, "What'll happen to Zack?" "I cut a deal." "He pleads guilty, cooperates, and we find him non compos mentis. That way, Zack is moved to a secure psychiatric facility instead of going to prision."
Sweets then says, "No, it won't stand up. Zack isn't actually insane." We watch as Booth grabs him taking him to the side for a minute as they whisper something to each other. We all turn to the glass door looking at Zack as he looks at us as well. We all had to leave to get his things as Booth wanted me to stay in the hospital for another day, but they let me go as... well... they know me well since I always manage to get hurt some way. So we went back to the lab as we all sat upstairs around the conference table as Hodgin puts down a box filled with Zack's things. Booth then says, "I probably could have spent more time with Zack. You know, get him to see the world a bit more." Hodgins then says, "All those things I say about secret societies, and conspiracies... I never knew he was listening."
I then say, "Of course he listens Hodgins. We both listen and put our attention to what you say, even though he shows it differently. But we listen because that's what friends are for. We listen to what the other person has to say." Angie then says, "I should have gotten him a girlfriend... I should've played his wingman and have him hook up with Ven." I blush furiously as I say, "We're just best friends Angie." Cam then says, "You know what? The hell with Zack. He's an adult. He made his choices. People are who they are. There's nothing any of us could have done for the guy." I shake my head as Temp says, "We love Zack, Cam." "Yeah. Well, he killed someone. And he deserves to be locked up for the rest of his life." Sweets then says, "I feel I must point out that what Dr. Saroyan just said is obviously her way of handling grief. She doesn't mean it. Quite the opposite in fact." Cam then says, "I knew the day I met Zack, he'd cause me pain." I chuckle and nod looking at the ceiling, "You could say that again. He really is special..."
Booth then says, "So what do you got there, Hodgins?" "This is, uh... Zack's favorite stuff." Angie asks, "What are we going to do with it?" Cam then says, "Where he's going, they may actually let him have it." She then sees something and pulls it out, "Oh... I got him that." It was a trophy saying 'King of the Lab'. Hodgin then says, "Yeah, thanks. He waved that in my face every day." I chuckle nodding, "Yup. He'd always show it off to me every opportunity that he got. The pocket Kama Sutra. I gave him this, so he'd stop asking Booth sex questions." We all chuckle as Booth plays the Harmonica for a bit, "I got Zack this before he went to Iraq." I add, "I also gave him my neckless to remind him that he wasn't alone."
Angie then says, "Hey... I drew this for him." I then peak over seeing pajamas, more specifically a matching set to mine of bones. I chuckle taking it out, "I have a matching set of this. We would wear it when we had sleepovers together." Sweets asks, "You still do sleepovers?" I nod, "Yup. Now that I think about it, our first sleepover was with each other. We did many of our first-time things together. Like our first pillow fort, movie night, eating competition... We did many things together." The group gives me a sad smile as Hodgins takes out a notebook smiling, "I remember giving him this after I had enough of him telling me how many times, he failed to get Venus to kiss him on the lips. I told him to tally it up instead of telling me."
I blush as he opens it reading, "He has a different page of a place that you kissed him other than his lips... Here it is lips reading zero." I blush furiously as I walk over to him grabbing a pen looking over the notebook and putting a single tally mark on the section marked lips. Everybody freezes looking at me as Hodgin just stares down at the tally mark saying, "No way... He finally did it..." I hide my face behind hands as I say, "I could no longer refuse or avoid him this time." Everyone just stood there shocked as Sweets decided to break the silence first, "It's interesting that all of his favorite things are objects you people gave to him." Temp then says, "I never gave him anything." Angie then says, "Brennan, he totally loved you just right behind Venus. I mean, as much as he was capable." We watch as Temp stands up, "But I never gave him anything." She walks away as Booth and I look at each other as I stand up with Angie as he stops us, "Angela, Blueberry." He gives us a look saying that he got this as I nod sitting back down and let him handle it. I sigh thinking how things won't be the same without Zack and how each one of us have a new perceptive of life.
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DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN "BONES". IT IS OWNED BY JOSEPHSON ENTERTAINMENT, BY HART HANSON. I ONLY CLAIM MY CHARACTER VENUS BRENNAN. I ALSO DON'T OWN ANY OF THE IMAGES. THANK YOU.