The Reporter in the Lab Part 4
Title: The Reporter in the Lab Part 4
Author: pretty_bones85
Pairing: Zack
Rating: PG13ish, I guess for innuendo
Spoilers: Not sure, so I'm just gonna say through season 2
Summary: Zack goes on another date with Sarah.
Zack walked up the stairs to his apartment in a daze. Sarah had kissed him. He’s kissed her on the cheek and she kissed him on the mouth. That had to mean something. Could she really like him? So strange. Nothing like this had ever happened to him before. He opened the door and made a beeline for his phone.
* * * * * *
Angela and Hodgins were in bed, spooning. Hodgins whispered sweet nothings into her ear and she laughed as she turned her head and kissed his hand.
The phone rang.
Hodgins groaned and held Angela even tighter.
“You gonna answer that?” Angela asked.
Hodgins buried his face in her hair. “Nope.” was his muffled reply. Angela tried to get out of his grasp, but he held her tighter. “You’re not answering it either.”
“But it could be Brennan.”
“Exactly. She’ll want us to come into the lab and I, for one, am perfectly happy ignoring her until Monday.”
“It could be my dad.”
“It’s not your dad.”
“It could be the government.”
“Yet another good reason not to answer.”
The phone stopped ringing. Hodgins sighed, contentedly, until the phone rang again. Angela burst out laughing. Hodgins let her go and picked up the phone. “You’d better have a damn good reason for calling at midnight.” He listened for a moment. “Zack, shouldn’t you be making sweet sweet love to that reporter by now?” Angela slapped him with the back of her hand. “Fine. Here she is.” Hodgins handed Angela the phone, but covered the mouthpiece. “Better believe you owe me for this.”
Angela rolled her eyes and took the phone. “Hey, Zack. How was it?”
“It was nice, but I have a question.”
“Okay. Shoot.”
“When she dropped me off, I kissed her on the cheek. She then kissed me on the mouth. In my limited experience, kissing someone on the cheek means you like them but want to take things slow, to see how they want to take it.”
“Makes sense.” Hodgins wrapped his arms around Angela, but she edged away from him. She got out of bed and lounged on the window seat.
“Her kissing me. Does she honestly like me, or was she just being polite?”
“Well, how was it? How did it feel?”
“Um, nice, I guess. But what should I do? Should I ask her out? What else could we possibly have to talk about besides math and Star Wars?”
“Zack, calm down.” Angela chuckled. “It sounds to me like she likes you. Wait until tomorrow and give her a call. Ask her out for coffee.”
“I don’t like coffee.”
“You don’t have to drink coffee. It’s just a typical American get-to-know-you date. It’s casual. Don’t over-analyze. Just have fun.”
“Good luck with that.” Hodgins muttered.
“Okay. Can I call you tomorrow for more advice?”
“No problem, sweetie.” Angela replied. “Good night.” She hung up the phone and shook her head. “He’s got such a big family. How can he not know how to act around people.”
“It’s that high IQ thing. You know the higher your IQ, the less common sense you have.” Hodgins replied. Angela walked back to the bed. Hodgins took the phone and set it back in the cradle. “Will he be all right?”
“Sarah’s good for him. I can feel it in my bones.”
“What makes you say that?”
“She’s got two doctorates, yet she’s still completely functional.” Angela smirked. Hodgins stared at her, critically. “What?”
“You’re planning to go to the Astronomy Department to talk to her, aren’t you?”
Angela shrugged. “If she’s gonna be part of the Squint Squad, I’ve got to approve her.”
“You haven’t already? What about the ‘She’s good for Zack’ exclamation just moments ago?”
“But we don’t know if she’s compatible with the rest of us.”
Hodgins groaned and turned out the light. “Good night, Dolly Levi.”
Angela looked at him in the darkness. “I don’t know what that means.”
* * * * * *
Zack’s stool was empty. Angela kept glancing over at it, waiting for Zack to magically appear. Hodgins was sitting nearby, talking over the case with Brennan. He noticed Angela, and rolled his eyes. Brennan looked at him.
“What?” She asked.
“Zack’s not in yet.”
“Yeah, he is.” Brennan replied. “He came in to see me, asked if he could be a little late, and then left. He’s not gone missing.”
“Well, I know he was here once already. I drive him here, for Pete’s sake. But we got here two hours ago.”
“Aw. Do you miss him?”
Hodgins glared at her. Brennan just smiled, smugly.
“No. I just want him to get here, tell Angela all about his weekend, and then she can get to work.”
“Honey, knock it off!” Angela called. “Why should this bother you so much?”
“I just don’t like everyone taking such an active interest. No one was like that when we got together.”
“That’s because they know us. We don’t know Sarah.”
Brennan cleared her throat. Hodgins and Angela looked up to see Zack walking toward them. He was unusually stoic, even for him, but something was different. Angela stared him down, but she couldn’t put her finger on what had changed about him. She jumped out of her chair and walked past him. “Morning, Zack.” She called, over her shoulder.
Dr. Sarah Pierce was widely known in mathematical and astronomical circles for her genius, insight, passion, but most of all, for her sense of humor. Everyone liked her and wanted to work with her.
That Monday, she sat in Dr. Goodman’s office, nervously contemplating her fate at the Jeffersonian. She’d only been in Dr. Goodman’s office once, and that was when she was hired. As far as she knew, she’d done nothing wrong, so she couldn’t be in trouble. This could only be a social meeting, right?
Dr. Goodman finally looked up from his file and smiled at her.
“You’ve been here for just over a year, Dr. Pierce?” He asked, gently.
Sarah smiled, trying to mask her nervousness. “Yes, sir. And it’s been amazing.”
“I’m amazed how you can balance your work here, your work at the college and writing articles. It’s a great deal of pressure.”
“Well, I love helping people learn, and I feel like I get to do that both here and at the college. And the writing is a release, not to mention, interviewing people helps me stay grounded on this planet instead of Venus.”
“Venus?”
“Earth’s sister. She’s my favorite.”
Dr. Goodman chuckled. “You take your work very seriously, and that should be commended. I’m sure you’ve heard Dr. Richmond is retiring?”
Sarah nodded, slightly saddened. “I’m going to miss him. He was a good mentor.”
“Yes. He always had wonderful things to say about you, too. In fact, he told me that it wouldn’t do me any good to interview anyone to take over his job, because you knew more about the stars and planets than anyone else on staff, even him.” Sarah blushed and looked at her hands. “Which is why, I thought I at least owed you the courtesy of offering the job to you.”
“Why do I feel there’s a big ‘but’ coming?” Sarah asked.
“Dr. Pierce, you’re very young.” Dr. Goodman chose his words carefully. “And you have all the promise of anyone I’ve ever met. You’re similar to Dr. Temperance Brennan in that sense. But I’m just not sure that anyone would take you seriously because you are so young. Dr. McGill has been here for ten years. She might think you’re trespassing on her territory if I give you this job.”
Sarah took a deep breath. “It doesn’t matter if I’m more qualified? The fact that she’s older than me takes precedence?”
“And the fact that you have a lot on your plate right now. You wouldn’t want to give up teaching for this, would you?”
“I’d do what I felt was right. I’m sure I could give up teaching if only to secure my place at the Jeffersonian.” Sarah was firm, but hopefully she didn’t sound too pretentious.
Dr. Goodman thought about this for a moment. “Then it’s a good thing that Dr. McGill already insisted that you be given the position.”
Sarah jerked her head up and stared at him, confused. “Sorry?”
“Dr. McGill thinks that you’re the perfect candidate. She’s happy where she is, and doesn’t want to head up the department.”
Sarah sunk into her chair, amazed. “Wow.”
“So, you accept, Dr. Pierce?”
Sarah shook her head in disbelief and laughed. “Damn skippy!” She then sobered a moment. “Sorry…darn skippy.”
Dr. Goodman just laughed. “Go. Celebrate. I understand you and Dr. Addy over in Forensics are an item?”
Sarah eyed him, confused and slightly creeped out, but smiled and nodded. “Thank you, sir.” She stood and exited before he could change his mind.
When the door was safely latched behind her, she jumped up and down, squealing. People in the hall stared at her, but she just laughed and ran down the hall to her desk.
When she got there, she was surprised to see Angela Montenegro-Hodgins waiting for her. “Hey, there!” Angela called.
Sarah looked around to see if Angela was talking to anyone else, but no one else was around. “Hi. What are you doing here?”
“Oh, just came to see another neck of the Jeffersonian. Get to know you a bit.” Angela jumped off Sarah’s desk and pulled a chair over. “So, you and Zack, huh?”
Sarah sat in her chair and crossed her legs. “Well, kinda. He’s a little shy.”
“Was he here this morning? He was late coming to actually work.”
“Forward, aren’t you?” Sarah tapped a key on her computer and a planet formation came up.
“We’re like a family over there in Forensics. Zack lives above mine and my husband’s garage. Has for the last few years, too. It’s huge. You should see it sometime.”
Sarah nodded. “I’m sure.” Sarah paused for a moment. “I’m sorry, Angela. I have a lot of work to do this morning. But perhaps we can have lunch sometime? Or coffee? Then you can interview me to make sure I go along with your brand of squints.”
“Our brand?”
“Squints reign supreme all over the Jeffersonian. And there are different types. We squint at different things.”
Angela laughed. “Makes sense.” She stood. “Maybe Jack and I can have you and Zack over for dinner. That lunch we all had was fun.”
“Yeah. And maybe if we do it again, Zack will actually pay attention to me. He was extremely attentive this morning.”
Angela squealed and widened her eyes. “Did you…?”
“Angela!” Zack yelped from behind them.
Sarah glanced up at the ceiling and rolled her eyes. Angela blushed and walked away, patting Zack on the shoulder. “Bravo.” She whispered.
Zack approached Sarah’s desk. “Did you…?”
“Nope.”
“Then how did she…?”
“She’s your friend, not mine.” Sarah chuckled. “You know her better than me.”
Zack sat down. “She is gifted that way. Intuitive.”
Sarah stopped typing and faced him. “I want to take you to lunch to celebrate.”
“Celebrate us having sex?”
Sarah rolled her eyes. “No! God, you’re such a man sometimes.” She paused. “And for the record, I don’t sleep with men on the second date very often. Or the morning after the second date in the utility closet.”
“Then what are we celebrating?”
“I’m the new head of the Astronomy Department.” Sarah waited for a huge reaction, but it didn’t fit Zack’s demeanor. “Please say something. Preferably constructive.”
“I want to go to the diner.”
Sarah considered this and decided to take it with a grain of salt. She nodded and leaned over to kiss him.
Author: pretty_bones85
Pairing: Zack
Rating: PG13ish, I guess for innuendo
Spoilers: Not sure, so I'm just gonna say through season 2
Summary: Zack goes on another date with Sarah.
Zack walked up the stairs to his apartment in a daze. Sarah had kissed him. He’s kissed her on the cheek and she kissed him on the mouth. That had to mean something. Could she really like him? So strange. Nothing like this had ever happened to him before. He opened the door and made a beeline for his phone.
* * * * * *
Angela and Hodgins were in bed, spooning. Hodgins whispered sweet nothings into her ear and she laughed as she turned her head and kissed his hand.
The phone rang.
Hodgins groaned and held Angela even tighter.
“You gonna answer that?” Angela asked.
Hodgins buried his face in her hair. “Nope.” was his muffled reply. Angela tried to get out of his grasp, but he held her tighter. “You’re not answering it either.”
“But it could be Brennan.”
“Exactly. She’ll want us to come into the lab and I, for one, am perfectly happy ignoring her until Monday.”
“It could be my dad.”
“It’s not your dad.”
“It could be the government.”
“Yet another good reason not to answer.”
The phone stopped ringing. Hodgins sighed, contentedly, until the phone rang again. Angela burst out laughing. Hodgins let her go and picked up the phone. “You’d better have a damn good reason for calling at midnight.” He listened for a moment. “Zack, shouldn’t you be making sweet sweet love to that reporter by now?” Angela slapped him with the back of her hand. “Fine. Here she is.” Hodgins handed Angela the phone, but covered the mouthpiece. “Better believe you owe me for this.”
Angela rolled her eyes and took the phone. “Hey, Zack. How was it?”
“It was nice, but I have a question.”
“Okay. Shoot.”
“When she dropped me off, I kissed her on the cheek. She then kissed me on the mouth. In my limited experience, kissing someone on the cheek means you like them but want to take things slow, to see how they want to take it.”
“Makes sense.” Hodgins wrapped his arms around Angela, but she edged away from him. She got out of bed and lounged on the window seat.
“Her kissing me. Does she honestly like me, or was she just being polite?”
“Well, how was it? How did it feel?”
“Um, nice, I guess. But what should I do? Should I ask her out? What else could we possibly have to talk about besides math and Star Wars?”
“Zack, calm down.” Angela chuckled. “It sounds to me like she likes you. Wait until tomorrow and give her a call. Ask her out for coffee.”
“I don’t like coffee.”
“You don’t have to drink coffee. It’s just a typical American get-to-know-you date. It’s casual. Don’t over-analyze. Just have fun.”
“Good luck with that.” Hodgins muttered.
“Okay. Can I call you tomorrow for more advice?”
“No problem, sweetie.” Angela replied. “Good night.” She hung up the phone and shook her head. “He’s got such a big family. How can he not know how to act around people.”
“It’s that high IQ thing. You know the higher your IQ, the less common sense you have.” Hodgins replied. Angela walked back to the bed. Hodgins took the phone and set it back in the cradle. “Will he be all right?”
“Sarah’s good for him. I can feel it in my bones.”
“What makes you say that?”
“She’s got two doctorates, yet she’s still completely functional.” Angela smirked. Hodgins stared at her, critically. “What?”
“You’re planning to go to the Astronomy Department to talk to her, aren’t you?”
Angela shrugged. “If she’s gonna be part of the Squint Squad, I’ve got to approve her.”
“You haven’t already? What about the ‘She’s good for Zack’ exclamation just moments ago?”
“But we don’t know if she’s compatible with the rest of us.”
Hodgins groaned and turned out the light. “Good night, Dolly Levi.”
Angela looked at him in the darkness. “I don’t know what that means.”
* * * * * *
Zack’s stool was empty. Angela kept glancing over at it, waiting for Zack to magically appear. Hodgins was sitting nearby, talking over the case with Brennan. He noticed Angela, and rolled his eyes. Brennan looked at him.
“What?” She asked.
“Zack’s not in yet.”
“Yeah, he is.” Brennan replied. “He came in to see me, asked if he could be a little late, and then left. He’s not gone missing.”
“Well, I know he was here once already. I drive him here, for Pete’s sake. But we got here two hours ago.”
“Aw. Do you miss him?”
Hodgins glared at her. Brennan just smiled, smugly.
“No. I just want him to get here, tell Angela all about his weekend, and then she can get to work.”
“Honey, knock it off!” Angela called. “Why should this bother you so much?”
“I just don’t like everyone taking such an active interest. No one was like that when we got together.”
“That’s because they know us. We don’t know Sarah.”
Brennan cleared her throat. Hodgins and Angela looked up to see Zack walking toward them. He was unusually stoic, even for him, but something was different. Angela stared him down, but she couldn’t put her finger on what had changed about him. She jumped out of her chair and walked past him. “Morning, Zack.” She called, over her shoulder.
Dr. Sarah Pierce was widely known in mathematical and astronomical circles for her genius, insight, passion, but most of all, for her sense of humor. Everyone liked her and wanted to work with her.
That Monday, she sat in Dr. Goodman’s office, nervously contemplating her fate at the Jeffersonian. She’d only been in Dr. Goodman’s office once, and that was when she was hired. As far as she knew, she’d done nothing wrong, so she couldn’t be in trouble. This could only be a social meeting, right?
Dr. Goodman finally looked up from his file and smiled at her.
“You’ve been here for just over a year, Dr. Pierce?” He asked, gently.
Sarah smiled, trying to mask her nervousness. “Yes, sir. And it’s been amazing.”
“I’m amazed how you can balance your work here, your work at the college and writing articles. It’s a great deal of pressure.”
“Well, I love helping people learn, and I feel like I get to do that both here and at the college. And the writing is a release, not to mention, interviewing people helps me stay grounded on this planet instead of Venus.”
“Venus?”
“Earth’s sister. She’s my favorite.”
Dr. Goodman chuckled. “You take your work very seriously, and that should be commended. I’m sure you’ve heard Dr. Richmond is retiring?”
Sarah nodded, slightly saddened. “I’m going to miss him. He was a good mentor.”
“Yes. He always had wonderful things to say about you, too. In fact, he told me that it wouldn’t do me any good to interview anyone to take over his job, because you knew more about the stars and planets than anyone else on staff, even him.” Sarah blushed and looked at her hands. “Which is why, I thought I at least owed you the courtesy of offering the job to you.”
“Why do I feel there’s a big ‘but’ coming?” Sarah asked.
“Dr. Pierce, you’re very young.” Dr. Goodman chose his words carefully. “And you have all the promise of anyone I’ve ever met. You’re similar to Dr. Temperance Brennan in that sense. But I’m just not sure that anyone would take you seriously because you are so young. Dr. McGill has been here for ten years. She might think you’re trespassing on her territory if I give you this job.”
Sarah took a deep breath. “It doesn’t matter if I’m more qualified? The fact that she’s older than me takes precedence?”
“And the fact that you have a lot on your plate right now. You wouldn’t want to give up teaching for this, would you?”
“I’d do what I felt was right. I’m sure I could give up teaching if only to secure my place at the Jeffersonian.” Sarah was firm, but hopefully she didn’t sound too pretentious.
Dr. Goodman thought about this for a moment. “Then it’s a good thing that Dr. McGill already insisted that you be given the position.”
Sarah jerked her head up and stared at him, confused. “Sorry?”
“Dr. McGill thinks that you’re the perfect candidate. She’s happy where she is, and doesn’t want to head up the department.”
Sarah sunk into her chair, amazed. “Wow.”
“So, you accept, Dr. Pierce?”
Sarah shook her head in disbelief and laughed. “Damn skippy!” She then sobered a moment. “Sorry…darn skippy.”
Dr. Goodman just laughed. “Go. Celebrate. I understand you and Dr. Addy over in Forensics are an item?”
Sarah eyed him, confused and slightly creeped out, but smiled and nodded. “Thank you, sir.” She stood and exited before he could change his mind.
When the door was safely latched behind her, she jumped up and down, squealing. People in the hall stared at her, but she just laughed and ran down the hall to her desk.
When she got there, she was surprised to see Angela Montenegro-Hodgins waiting for her. “Hey, there!” Angela called.
Sarah looked around to see if Angela was talking to anyone else, but no one else was around. “Hi. What are you doing here?”
“Oh, just came to see another neck of the Jeffersonian. Get to know you a bit.” Angela jumped off Sarah’s desk and pulled a chair over. “So, you and Zack, huh?”
Sarah sat in her chair and crossed her legs. “Well, kinda. He’s a little shy.”
“Was he here this morning? He was late coming to actually work.”
“Forward, aren’t you?” Sarah tapped a key on her computer and a planet formation came up.
“We’re like a family over there in Forensics. Zack lives above mine and my husband’s garage. Has for the last few years, too. It’s huge. You should see it sometime.”
Sarah nodded. “I’m sure.” Sarah paused for a moment. “I’m sorry, Angela. I have a lot of work to do this morning. But perhaps we can have lunch sometime? Or coffee? Then you can interview me to make sure I go along with your brand of squints.”
“Our brand?”
“Squints reign supreme all over the Jeffersonian. And there are different types. We squint at different things.”
Angela laughed. “Makes sense.” She stood. “Maybe Jack and I can have you and Zack over for dinner. That lunch we all had was fun.”
“Yeah. And maybe if we do it again, Zack will actually pay attention to me. He was extremely attentive this morning.”
Angela squealed and widened her eyes. “Did you…?”
“Angela!” Zack yelped from behind them.
Sarah glanced up at the ceiling and rolled her eyes. Angela blushed and walked away, patting Zack on the shoulder. “Bravo.” She whispered.
Zack approached Sarah’s desk. “Did you…?”
“Nope.”
“Then how did she…?”
“She’s your friend, not mine.” Sarah chuckled. “You know her better than me.”
Zack sat down. “She is gifted that way. Intuitive.”
Sarah stopped typing and faced him. “I want to take you to lunch to celebrate.”
“Celebrate us having sex?”
Sarah rolled her eyes. “No! God, you’re such a man sometimes.” She paused. “And for the record, I don’t sleep with men on the second date very often. Or the morning after the second date in the utility closet.”
“Then what are we celebrating?”
“I’m the new head of the Astronomy Department.” Sarah waited for a huge reaction, but it didn’t fit Zack’s demeanor. “Please say something. Preferably constructive.”
“I want to go to the diner.”
Sarah considered this and decided to take it with a grain of salt. She nodded and leaned over to kiss him.