Zack never had a girlfriend.
He was too smart, too socially inept. But he never had a problem with it. Until now, at least. He couldn't help but watch his boss (his boss!) whenever she leaned down to examine his work, cleaning those damn bones. He wasn't upset about his work, really, just the fact that because of his work, he was now distracted out of his mind by the most beautiful, most intelligent woman he'd ever met. Too bad she was pretty much... unattainable.
"Zack, the humerus has a hairline fracture.. How come you didn't notice?"
Dr. Temperance Brennan looked up from the cleaned set of bones that he had set out only minutes earlier.
"Sorry, Dr. Brennan. I guess I was just...zoned out?" He said this as a question, not knowing if it was the right word. But then again, neither would she.
"Are you okay, Zack?"
He licked his lips and pointed at the leg bones. "If you noticed, there's actually another hairline fracture here, on the fibula."
Brennan nodded and moved closer to Zack.
"Do you ever get the feeling that you don't belong here?" asked Brennan quietly.
Zack looked up. "What do you mean?"
"You know... That you're different from everyone. And it's just... you don't fit in."
"Do you mean just me? Or people in general?" Zack inquired.
Brennan straightened up and walked over to the computer, lightly tapping the keys, not really pressing them. She tapped her pen against her chin, looking lost in thought.
"I guess just us two. I haven't met many people as intelligent as either of us. So... just us two," she replied.
Zack found this amusing. To an extent. On one hand, she was calling him intelligent, as intelligent as her. On the other hand, she was calling him weird. He thought.
"Well... When you put it that way, it sounds very bleak. Almost as if we're not fit to be on this earth. But we must be here for a reason, right? So there must be a reason why we're so...'strange' as you put it."
She seemed to contemplate his response as she gathered up the stray files lying around.
"Interesting thought, Zack. Now, can you help me clean up for tonight? It's already 11 o'clock and I'm feeling quite exhausted."
Zack quickly began gathering up the files that she hadn't yet gotten to. "Of course! I live to serve, Dr. Brennan." He grabbed a tray and began to pile cleaning instruments onto it.
"You can call me, Temperance. By the way."
He almost dropped everything he was carrying. "But...I've always called you Dr. Brennan. Always. I've never even called you Ms. Brenn-"
"Why do you seem nervous, Zack? Your vocal range seems like it got higher in the last five minutes. And there's that flush you have all over your face and neck." She scrutinized him carefully. "Wait a minute. Mr. Addy. Do you...do you find me...attractive?"
A still silence hung in the air as Zack and Temperance made their way to the storage room for the cleaning instruments Zack had gathered earlier.
"Are you going to answer my question, Mr. Addy? Or will I be forced to conclude that your answer is a definite no?"
His mouth opened and closed. It almost seemed like she was flirting with him. Wait, Dr. Brennan...Temperance...knew how to flirt?
"Well. To be quite frank, Dr. Brenn- Temperance, I think you've got all the best biological traits to bear offspring that is most likely to survive..." He trailed off as Temperance raised an eyebrow at him.
"That wasn't exactly what I meant..." She sighed. "It feels like I intimidate people. Do I intimidate you, Mr. Addy?"
She had started calling him Mr. Addy. What did that mean? Did that mean she was upset with him? His other professors had always started calling him Mr. Addy whenever they were angry at him. Was she the same way? Why was he reading so much into her words? Maybe he should focus more on her subconscious signals. His psychology teacher from high school had always said that the subconscious was always the strongest, and no matter what, it would get its way.
She was watching him, what did he do? What should he do? Was there something wrong? Wait, she just moved closer to him. What was she doing? She just adjusted her hair. Did that mean she was self-conscious around him? Did she care what she looked like around him? What was going on?
"Zack?"
She had called him Zack again!
"Are you...zoned out again?"
He snapped out of his thoughts and began nodding. "Yes. I was lost in my mind, and I'm sorry. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be putting these things away. Good night, Dr. Brennan. Have a pleasant sleep."
Did he just say what he thought he said? And why was he walking away? Why did she look disappointed. He sped away, clutching the tray close, as if it were going to jump from his arms.
__________________________
"I don't get it, Angela. I did all those things you told me to do. I acted...what was it again? Coy? Yeah. I did all that. And all he did was wish me a pleasant sleep. Doesn't that mean something?"
There was a pause.
"Okay. Well I kept you up long enough. Good night, Angela. Yeah. See you tomorrow. Bye."
Zack knew she was talking about him. He remembered that the words 'pleasant sleep' were the same words he had said to her fifteen minutes ago. Did Dr. Brennan like him? As Zack paced, Brennan stepped out of her office, absorbed in the case file she was reading.
"Zack! What are you still doing here?" Temperance said in surprise. Zack raised his eyebrows. She sounded pleased.
"I...uh...noticed you were still here...and I was...I was going to speak with you about a matter that has been plaguing me for quite some time now."
Brennan gestured to her office door. "Please, come in."
Zack hurried nervously into the room, plopping down on the couch. "The thing is...I've been..."
Brennan perched on the couch next to him, with barely an inch between their knees.
"I- uh...I've been...Um...I've tried...I lost my train of thought," he breathed, staring into her eyes.
She could barely control her own breathing as she urged him on. "What are you trying to say, Zack?"
He took a deep breath before steadying his trembling knees. "Dr. Brennan. I think...I think then term is...I think I have a crush on you."
There. The cat was out of the bag. Hodgins better be pleased. And now he owed Zack twenty dollars. Jack had claimed that he was too 'pussy' to tell a woman that he had feelings for her, when the time arrived, of course. Zack studied his mentor. Her face was a mask of surprise, her eyes as big as quarters.
In a moment, Zack found himself in the middle of an embrace, one in which his lips were pressed up against the woman of his dreams'. He closed his eyes, thinking that quite possibly, this was a better moment than his own graduation from both university and postgrad school.
In another moment, he was released, Temperance's flushed face mere inches from his own. She smiled, a blush lightly dusting her cheeks with a rosy color.
"Wow." Her breath was sweet and warm, brushing against Zack's chin and lips.
"Dr. Brennan."
Temperance looked confused. "Why are you still calling me that, Zack?"
"Sorry...Temperance. I...I'm a big...befuddled at the moment."
Her laughter rang in the quiet office.
He captured her lips this time, feeling her warmth spread down his body. He was aroused, there was no doubt, but he had been told by Naomi many times that he was...a failure in bed. Instead, Zack continued to kiss Temperance, his lips gently caressing hers.
"Zack," she said breathlessly, "I think I might love you."
And with those words, his world just might simply have exploded. He took her in his arms once more, finally taking charge for once in his 26 years of life. Granted, she was six years his senior, but what did age have to do with love?