To Raise, Perhaps, Many Flowers (9/9)
Title: To Raise, Perhaps, Many Flowers
Part: 9
P/C: Zack/Angela
Rating: Hard R (sexuality, language and adult themes throughout)
Summary: The less then staggering conclusion to To Raise, Perhaps, Many Flowers. Angela is brutally attacked and she attempts to cope. She gets all the unwanted help she needs from Zack.
Spoilers: None. Season 1 AU.
the future's uncertain and the end is always near.
-Jim Morrison
Booth sat with his legs propped up on Bones’ coffee table. He was eating a donut and reading the paper. He’d slept through his alarm and had had to rush out the door this morning, something he hated, especially when he had to meet Bones straight away at the Jeffersonian: it meant he had to shave in the men’s room next to Archie Bunker’s chair. Now, however, that Bones had elected to show up late, he had a bit of free time to enjoy. He flipped leisurely through the sports pages, sipping the cup of coffee he’d bought from the little café in the east wing.
A few minutes later Brennan breezed in, not even glancing at him. “Please don’t put your feet on my coffee table.” She set down her bag and sat down behind her desk, all business as usual. Booth stood up and stretched, putting his hands behind his head and twisted side to side from the waist, stretching. Out one of the windows, he caught a glimpse of Angela and Zack, who were just now coming in for work.
They were walking towards Angela’s office, talking. They were standing too close together for the conversation to be anything but private. Booth narrowed his eyes at them, suddenly determined to somehow hear what they were saying while being completely inconspicuous. Brennan looked at him and looked outside. “Sit down.”
Booth looked at her. “What?” She gave him a look. “You’re going to go out there and try to find out if they’ve had sexual intercourse.” Booth tried to give her his most incredulous look.
“Wha-How could you accuse me of something like that? I am offended that you would-” She gave him another look.
“You are a control freak. I know that you talked to Zack and I know that you probably encouraged him to try and express his… feelings to Angela. Which you should not have done.”
“Oh really? And why is that?” He raised an eyebrow. Brennan looked down at her desk, continuing her paperwork. “Angela would never sleep with Zack. He’s just not her type.” Booth stared at her. “Really?”
Brennan looked up at him. “Really. Angela has always been into artists and musicians and, frankly, men who are more physically attractive then Zack. Every man she has ever dated has been completely beneath her due to her need for excitement and unpredictability.”
“I think you’re selling Angela short.” Booth chuckled. He watched the pair of them talking, while they inched closer and closer together.
Brennan sighed. He could tell she was irritated that he wasn’t immediately accepting her opinion as absolutely true. “Zack is inexperienced sexually and emotionally. Any kind of relationship between them would be purely ephemeral. Besides,” she said, laughing a little, “Angela is my best friend. How well do you really know her?”
Booth walked over to her. “Bones,” he pointed out the huge glass wall. Angela and Zack were kissing, not having noticed their two colleagues in Brennan’s office. “Oh my God.” Brennan’s mouth fell open. Zack and Angela broke apart and went their separate ways. Angela walked into Brennan’s office.
“Hey! How are you Bren? Booth?” She held the manila folder she was carrying out to Brennan. “Here’s the reconstruction you asked for. There’s about three different faces in here because of the odd placement of the flesh markers. I couldn’t make a clear I.D., I’m sorry.” Brennan was staring at her.
“What? Oh! Oh, I…I’m sure that you did the best you could, Ange.” She reached for the folder. Angela snatched it back for a moment.
“Wait. You’re acting really weird.” She looked at them. “What’s going on?” She kept looking back and forth between them, peering at their faces. Suddenly, her eyes widened and a grin bloomed on her face. “Did you guys have sex?”
Booth immediately exploded with denial. “What? No! I….she…God, why would you say something like that?”
Brennan had not stopped staring at Angela. “Um…I…um…” Angela looked at her, growing increasingly uncomfortable.
“I’m…I’m just going to go now. I’m going to go back to my office and work. And I guess I’ll see you around. At some point today.” She nodded and left, giving them one last suspicious look.
Angela walked to her office, covering her mouth to stifle her giggles. She approached her desk and began the long, hard road of filing all the paperwork from her last three cases. The outside world quickly fell away.
Angela watched her pen glide across the paper, filling in names, dates, procedural mumbo jumbo, recording her hours, re-recording the way she had handled the evidence...it was dull, mindless work and Angela’s mind, in accordance with that, began to drift. She did this kind of paper work day and day out and so, she indulged herself in the type of hardcore zoning that is usually impossible without marijuana or deep habit.
Her mind was serenely orbiting Neptune and headed towards Alpha Centauri, when a hand dropped onto her shoulder. Adrenaline rushed through her and she snapped around, letting her fist fly.
Hodgins yelled and cupped his nose, where she had landed a blistering right hook, stumbling back a bit. “Jesus Christ, Ange!”
Her mouth fell open. “Oh…oh my God! Fuck! I am so sorry!” She put her hands on her hips, completely flustered, jittery and shaking. “Why the hell did you sneak up on me like that?” Hodgins glared at her, albeit not very angrily. “I didn’t mean to sneak up on you! I came…well…I came over here to tease you.”
Angela gave him a look. “Tease me? Tease me about what?” Hodgins looked up at her, still clutching his now slightly swollen nose. Amazingly, he was smirking. “You had sex with Zack.”
“What? You-oh my God, you’re such an asshole! You know that?” Angela flopped down on to her couch. She sighed, crossing her arms. “How did you find out?” Hodgins sat down next to her, grinning. “I could just tell. Everyone could just tell. Except Doctor Brennan, of course. But, uh, you kissing Zack in front of her and Booth took care of that!” At that he began to giggle. Angela rolled her eyes.
“Trust me, when Zack gets laid, I can just tell.” Hodgins gave her a lopsided smile. “You should have seen him, he’s all klutzy whenever someone mentions you and he keeps staring into space, all smiley. It’s hilarious. Do you feel better now?”
Angela sighed again. “No, not really. But tease away.”
Hodgins started to laugh. “You had sex with Zack. You had sex with the dorky intern. You had sex with Brennan’s dorky intern!” He pointed at her, laughing even harder. “You had sex with Zack!” He doubled over, laughing so hard that he hit his nose on his knee.
“Aw! Fuck! Fuck, that hurt so bad!” He was still laughing, cupping his nose and pointing at her. He looked so ridiculous that Angela started laughing, just a little bit at first and then harder and harder, until her head was tipped back and tears were coursing down her cheeks.
“You had sex with Zack!” Hodgins choked out between howling laughs. “I know right?” Angela replied, her voice cracking with hilarity. And they kept laughing, until eventually they couldn’t anymore, and just sat there, trying to get over their giggles.
*
After work, Zack stood in the parking lot, leaning against Angela’s lemon yellow Mustang. Hodgins had been giving him looks all-day and giggling. Doctor Brennan had been her usual self, but Booth had acted very friendly towards him, winking at him occasionally and, once, giving him a sly thumbs-up. It was all very weird.
He saw Angela. She walked to the car, smiling a little when she saw him. “Hey.” She kept smiling. He smiled back at her. She got into the car and unlocked the passenger door. Zack stared, not sure what to do.
Angela rolled down the window. “Well? Are you going to get in or not?” She didn’t need to tell him twice. He bounced into the car and looked down at his hands. He had no idea what to do. The last woman he’d slept with hadn’t spoken to him in months. He hadn’t even known the girl he’d had sex with before that, which, admittedly, had been the girl he’d lost his virginity to. He was completely out of his depth. He waited for Angela to say something, anything; he had no idea what was going to happen next. “So…what now?” She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
His face fell. He looked at Angela and realized she wasn’t looking at him either; amazingly enough, it seemed like she was even more confused than he was. “Um…beer, pizza, movie? My place?” She looked up and looked him right in eyes. Zack was suddenly a lot less confused. It wasn’t the thought of the last six months that was keeping her here, it wasn’t pity and it wasn’t any obligation.
Zack leaned closer and smoothed her hair back. He was incredibly nervous. He had never kissed a girl in his life; it was usually them that did everything. But still, he leaned even closer, realizing that being shy at this point was a bit ridiculous. He didn’t wait for Angela to cross the space between them.
When they finally broke away from each other, they were both smiling. “So…pizza, beer, movie? Your place?” Angela’s smile widened. Zack thought she looked more beautiful then he had ever seen her. “Absolutely.” She started the car, looking back at him for a moment, still smiling. “What movie?” Zack shrugged. “Anything.”
They drove away, the future bright, but never certain. But that was normal.
Author's Note: I am so happy to have finished this story. It has brought me a lot of happiness writing it so that you all could read and (hopefully!) enjoy it. It's been a very long road and I hope that I did this story justice. Thank you all, so much, for reading.
Part: 9
P/C: Zack/Angela
Rating: Hard R (sexuality, language and adult themes throughout)
Summary: The less then staggering conclusion to To Raise, Perhaps, Many Flowers. Angela is brutally attacked and she attempts to cope. She gets all the unwanted help she needs from Zack.
Spoilers: None. Season 1 AU.
the future's uncertain and the end is always near.
-Jim Morrison
Booth sat with his legs propped up on Bones’ coffee table. He was eating a donut and reading the paper. He’d slept through his alarm and had had to rush out the door this morning, something he hated, especially when he had to meet Bones straight away at the Jeffersonian: it meant he had to shave in the men’s room next to Archie Bunker’s chair. Now, however, that Bones had elected to show up late, he had a bit of free time to enjoy. He flipped leisurely through the sports pages, sipping the cup of coffee he’d bought from the little café in the east wing.
A few minutes later Brennan breezed in, not even glancing at him. “Please don’t put your feet on my coffee table.” She set down her bag and sat down behind her desk, all business as usual. Booth stood up and stretched, putting his hands behind his head and twisted side to side from the waist, stretching. Out one of the windows, he caught a glimpse of Angela and Zack, who were just now coming in for work.
They were walking towards Angela’s office, talking. They were standing too close together for the conversation to be anything but private. Booth narrowed his eyes at them, suddenly determined to somehow hear what they were saying while being completely inconspicuous. Brennan looked at him and looked outside. “Sit down.”
Booth looked at her. “What?” She gave him a look. “You’re going to go out there and try to find out if they’ve had sexual intercourse.” Booth tried to give her his most incredulous look.
“Wha-How could you accuse me of something like that? I am offended that you would-” She gave him another look.
“You are a control freak. I know that you talked to Zack and I know that you probably encouraged him to try and express his… feelings to Angela. Which you should not have done.”
“Oh really? And why is that?” He raised an eyebrow. Brennan looked down at her desk, continuing her paperwork. “Angela would never sleep with Zack. He’s just not her type.” Booth stared at her. “Really?”
Brennan looked up at him. “Really. Angela has always been into artists and musicians and, frankly, men who are more physically attractive then Zack. Every man she has ever dated has been completely beneath her due to her need for excitement and unpredictability.”
“I think you’re selling Angela short.” Booth chuckled. He watched the pair of them talking, while they inched closer and closer together.
Brennan sighed. He could tell she was irritated that he wasn’t immediately accepting her opinion as absolutely true. “Zack is inexperienced sexually and emotionally. Any kind of relationship between them would be purely ephemeral. Besides,” she said, laughing a little, “Angela is my best friend. How well do you really know her?”
Booth walked over to her. “Bones,” he pointed out the huge glass wall. Angela and Zack were kissing, not having noticed their two colleagues in Brennan’s office. “Oh my God.” Brennan’s mouth fell open. Zack and Angela broke apart and went their separate ways. Angela walked into Brennan’s office.
“Hey! How are you Bren? Booth?” She held the manila folder she was carrying out to Brennan. “Here’s the reconstruction you asked for. There’s about three different faces in here because of the odd placement of the flesh markers. I couldn’t make a clear I.D., I’m sorry.” Brennan was staring at her.
“What? Oh! Oh, I…I’m sure that you did the best you could, Ange.” She reached for the folder. Angela snatched it back for a moment.
“Wait. You’re acting really weird.” She looked at them. “What’s going on?” She kept looking back and forth between them, peering at their faces. Suddenly, her eyes widened and a grin bloomed on her face. “Did you guys have sex?”
Booth immediately exploded with denial. “What? No! I….she…God, why would you say something like that?”
Brennan had not stopped staring at Angela. “Um…I…um…” Angela looked at her, growing increasingly uncomfortable.
“I’m…I’m just going to go now. I’m going to go back to my office and work. And I guess I’ll see you around. At some point today.” She nodded and left, giving them one last suspicious look.
Angela walked to her office, covering her mouth to stifle her giggles. She approached her desk and began the long, hard road of filing all the paperwork from her last three cases. The outside world quickly fell away.
Angela watched her pen glide across the paper, filling in names, dates, procedural mumbo jumbo, recording her hours, re-recording the way she had handled the evidence...it was dull, mindless work and Angela’s mind, in accordance with that, began to drift. She did this kind of paper work day and day out and so, she indulged herself in the type of hardcore zoning that is usually impossible without marijuana or deep habit.
Her mind was serenely orbiting Neptune and headed towards Alpha Centauri, when a hand dropped onto her shoulder. Adrenaline rushed through her and she snapped around, letting her fist fly.
Hodgins yelled and cupped his nose, where she had landed a blistering right hook, stumbling back a bit. “Jesus Christ, Ange!”
Her mouth fell open. “Oh…oh my God! Fuck! I am so sorry!” She put her hands on her hips, completely flustered, jittery and shaking. “Why the hell did you sneak up on me like that?” Hodgins glared at her, albeit not very angrily. “I didn’t mean to sneak up on you! I came…well…I came over here to tease you.”
Angela gave him a look. “Tease me? Tease me about what?” Hodgins looked up at her, still clutching his now slightly swollen nose. Amazingly, he was smirking. “You had sex with Zack.”
“What? You-oh my God, you’re such an asshole! You know that?” Angela flopped down on to her couch. She sighed, crossing her arms. “How did you find out?” Hodgins sat down next to her, grinning. “I could just tell. Everyone could just tell. Except Doctor Brennan, of course. But, uh, you kissing Zack in front of her and Booth took care of that!” At that he began to giggle. Angela rolled her eyes.
“Trust me, when Zack gets laid, I can just tell.” Hodgins gave her a lopsided smile. “You should have seen him, he’s all klutzy whenever someone mentions you and he keeps staring into space, all smiley. It’s hilarious. Do you feel better now?”
Angela sighed again. “No, not really. But tease away.”
Hodgins started to laugh. “You had sex with Zack. You had sex with the dorky intern. You had sex with Brennan’s dorky intern!” He pointed at her, laughing even harder. “You had sex with Zack!” He doubled over, laughing so hard that he hit his nose on his knee.
“Aw! Fuck! Fuck, that hurt so bad!” He was still laughing, cupping his nose and pointing at her. He looked so ridiculous that Angela started laughing, just a little bit at first and then harder and harder, until her head was tipped back and tears were coursing down her cheeks.
“You had sex with Zack!” Hodgins choked out between howling laughs. “I know right?” Angela replied, her voice cracking with hilarity. And they kept laughing, until eventually they couldn’t anymore, and just sat there, trying to get over their giggles.
*
After work, Zack stood in the parking lot, leaning against Angela’s lemon yellow Mustang. Hodgins had been giving him looks all-day and giggling. Doctor Brennan had been her usual self, but Booth had acted very friendly towards him, winking at him occasionally and, once, giving him a sly thumbs-up. It was all very weird.
He saw Angela. She walked to the car, smiling a little when she saw him. “Hey.” She kept smiling. He smiled back at her. She got into the car and unlocked the passenger door. Zack stared, not sure what to do.
Angela rolled down the window. “Well? Are you going to get in or not?” She didn’t need to tell him twice. He bounced into the car and looked down at his hands. He had no idea what to do. The last woman he’d slept with hadn’t spoken to him in months. He hadn’t even known the girl he’d had sex with before that, which, admittedly, had been the girl he’d lost his virginity to. He was completely out of his depth. He waited for Angela to say something, anything; he had no idea what was going to happen next. “So…what now?” She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
His face fell. He looked at Angela and realized she wasn’t looking at him either; amazingly enough, it seemed like she was even more confused than he was. “Um…beer, pizza, movie? My place?” She looked up and looked him right in eyes. Zack was suddenly a lot less confused. It wasn’t the thought of the last six months that was keeping her here, it wasn’t pity and it wasn’t any obligation.
Zack leaned closer and smoothed her hair back. He was incredibly nervous. He had never kissed a girl in his life; it was usually them that did everything. But still, he leaned even closer, realizing that being shy at this point was a bit ridiculous. He didn’t wait for Angela to cross the space between them.
When they finally broke away from each other, they were both smiling. “So…pizza, beer, movie? Your place?” Angela’s smile widened. Zack thought she looked more beautiful then he had ever seen her. “Absolutely.” She started the car, looking back at him for a moment, still smiling. “What movie?” Zack shrugged. “Anything.”
They drove away, the future bright, but never certain. But that was normal.
Author's Note: I am so happy to have finished this story. It has brought me a lot of happiness writing it so that you all could read and (hopefully!) enjoy it. It's been a very long road and I hope that I did this story justice. Thank you all, so much, for reading.