"The Object of My Affection" - Chapter Three
Title: Object of my Affection
Author: Shannon - shannyfish
Disclaimer: I do not own “Bones” or its characters, Fox does. This is merely for entertainment purposes only.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Booth and Brennan must struggle with not only the Grad Students trying to take Zack’s old position, but also help get through a tragic end.
Warning: Post Season Three - “Pain in the Heart”. Would take place during Season Four, probably mid to late. Warning! Do not start reading this unless you plan on reading all…like…one hundred chapters (it might be that many…might not…). This will be an epic/saga-type fic and shall include all kinds of fun plot twists. The rating of this story will most likely fluctuate, FYI.
Chapter 3 - “The Candidates”
Author’s Note: I know there are going to be like ‘grad students’ of the week in the coming season, so I decided I’d invent my own. So, don’t shoot me if they don’t actually exist currently ;) Not my fault that new Bones isn’t on right now. Five-ish more weeks!
*~*~*
Jeffersonian
“Doctor Brennan, you’re back!” Kensington Hart exclaimed as she and the other two grad students who had been working with Doctor Brennan for the past week entered the medico-legal lab area and headed for the platform. Kensington Hart was a petite young woman in her late twenties and extremely bright. Her face was perfectly framed by her bright bronze hair, bangs swept to the side and her long hair pulled back and up into an elegant bun. She had green eyes that shone with her excitement about what they’d be doing now that Doctor Brennan was back. It meant that they weren’t going to be sitting around twiddling their thumbs or trying to go through Modular Skeletal Storage and trying to identify hundred year old remains.
They all noticed that she didn’t return Hart’s greeting, but that didn’t stop Scott Keller from stepping up onto the platform. Each of the grad students had been given a keycard, though Doctor Brennan hadn’t seemed too thrilled about that fact. The trio approached Doctor Brennan and the skeletal remains that she had on the table. “You found these in New York, right?” Keller asked. New York was where he was from, so the case was bound to hold interest for him. He looked over the bones before looking at Brennan again, “Phalanges are missing… Were the remains found in an area frequented by rodents?”
“The remains were found in a subway system,” Brennan finally spoke up. She took a step back and crossed her arms over her chest. Booth was right, she needed one of them. One of her many grad students would be able to fill Zack’s previous position, she just had to allow them the time of day to prove themselves to her.
Keller was a dark man with a closely shaven head, leaving only a shadow-like form on his head that represented his hair. He tended to be the most thought out of the group before he spoke and the youngest as well. He had excelled and was merely twenty-three years old. His warm chocolate eyes stared down at the remains as he thought about what was in front of him. “Subway system…he didn’t jump in front of it…or get hit by the subway train.”
“No,” Miller chimed in. Mark Miller was the third and oldest the group. He was also the quietest. He didn’t speak often, but spoke when he was asked a question or for his opinion on something. He was in his late thirties and was happily married with two children and a dog. This was one of the rare times he’d chosen to speak up without being directly brought into the discussion. “There’s evidence of possible stabbing,” Miller explained as he pointed to the nicks in the bones.
Hart frowned as she more closely examined the remains as well, “Everything is mainly damaged on one side.”
Miller nodded and his ear length blonde hair softly bounced with his movement. He wore wire rounded frame glasses that framed his light brown eyes as he stared down at the remains trying to make sense of what was in front of him. “They most likely dumped him somewhere where the subway train wouldn’t harm the body. If they wanted to destroy the remains, they could have put it on the track, then we’d be piecing together skull fragments.”
“We work on evidence only,” Brennan reminded. “Not theories. That’s for Booth.”
*~*~*
Brennan’s Office
She’d have to pick one eventually, but she still wasn’t too keen on the three that she was currently working with. None of them reminded her of Zack. They did not have the same sense of logic or emotional detachment from cases. She didn’t feel comfortable around the grad students. They were all too excited to be there; though it wasn’t the passion for forensics…at least she didn’t think so.
Brennan sighed as she sat in her office staring down at paperwork. She was allowing the grad students to work on the remains from the subway on their own. Angela had mentioned that when Brennan was out with the students that she interrupted and corrected them when they should be allowed to freely bounce ideas off of one another. It was hard, though, she knew it was necessary. There was nothing more they could really do until more results came in and Angela was done with her facial reconstruction.
“Knock, knock.”
Brennan couldn’t help, but smile at his voice as she looked up to see Booth entering her office. He had a large smile plastered across his face, one that was contagious. “Hey Booth,” she greeted and looked away from her paperwork.
“I counted three newbie squints, so you haven’t killed any yet?” Booth teased. He took a seat across from her. He folded his hands in his lap and looked up at her, “So, my assistance isn’t needed with a shovel, yet?”
She smiled wider, “Not yet. I’m trying to give them more space. Angela suggested it.”
“It’s a good idea,” Booth told her. “Any more info on the remains yet?”
She shook her head, “Not yet, I’m waiting on Hodgins and Angela.”
“So, why don’t we get a bite to eat?” Booth suggested.
“I’m not really very hungry,” Brennan told him truthfully.
“The diner has coffee,” Booth offered with a bright smile.
*~*~*
Royal Crown Diner
“So,” Booth started as he held his coffee cup gently between his hands letting the hot coffee warm his hands. “Do you have any ideas if these three will work out?”
Brennan shrugged and looked down into her coffee, “Angela says that with Zack…I found something in him that was similar to me…his logic and reasoning. Hart, Miller, and Keller aren’t like Zack. They’re all quite intelligent, but none of them would I consider a favorite in any way.”
Booth nodded, he wasn’t sure if Brennan would be able to choose someone to take Zack’s place. “Why don’t you tell me about them? What are they like? Why do you like them?”
She cautiously watched as he sipped his coffee for a minute before speaking up. “Kensington Hart-”
“Kensington? Who names their kid Kensington?” Booth interrupted.
“The use of surnames as first names is becoming more and more popular,” Brennan informed him. “And,” she told him, “You’re interrupting.”
“Sorry, sorry. Continue.”
She gave him a smile before continuing, “Hart is a very energetic and bright young woman. She knows what she’s talking about, but she always seems…too happy.”
“So happy it gets on your nerves?” Booth asked.
“Yes.”
“I hate that.”
“Scott Keller is the youngest, he’s intelligent, but I don’t think he’s ready for lab work.”
“Maybe he’d be better suited for field work?”
Brennan shrugged, “It’s certainly possible.”
“And the other one?” Booth prompted.
“Mark Miller. He’s the oldest; he has a wife and two kids. I’m not sure if he’ll be ready for how long we’re here sometimes,” Brennan explained. “I’m really not too sure about him.”
“Why not?”
“He’s very quiet. He mostly only answers when he’s spoken to,” Brennan explained.
“So, he’ll probably never interrupt you,” Booth said putting a positive spin on it.
Brennan smiled, “That’s hardly something I consider when choosing a new assistant, Booth.”
“I’m just saying.”
Sweets had entered the diner for a cup of coffee when he’d spotted Brennan and Booth and decided it was perfect timing. He’d intended on getting coffee and then proceeding to the Jeffersonian to check on Doctor Brennan, but this was perfect. “Can I sit here?” he asked politely.
“You know that’s really a rhetorical question,” Booth told Brennan, ignoring that Sweets was even there.
She smiled at Booth and then looked up at Sweets, “Of course. Sit.”
Sweets smiled and sat down next to Booth. “I just wanted to check to see how things were going with the grad students. See if you needed to vent or discuss things at all,” he offered as a cup of coffee was set down in front of him.
“I’m fine,” Brennan told him.
“You are?” Sweets asked confused.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well,” Sweets said, “Normally, given what I know about you - I would think this would upset you. Your world is going through a very big emotional change. You have to find someone to replace Zack - who was not only very good at his job, but also a very good friend of yours.”
“That’s right,” Brennan agreed.
“But you’re not upset?”
“Not right now.”
“You don’t feel like you need to discuss anything?”
“No.”
Sweets was floored. He’d set aside a good hour in order to discuss problems with her grad students and it seemed there was nothing to discuss. “Well,” he started and then clamped his mouth shut in complete frustration. He tried again, “Why?”
“I talked to Booth,” she said matter of factly.
“We’re perfecting the communication between us,” Booth said with a smile.
“Uh huh,” Sweets muttered.
“It was very helpful,” Brennan told him. “I’m learning to let go a little.”
“And Agent Booth taught you that?” Sweets asked floored by the very idea.
“Well, yes,” Brennan said. “Both Agent Booth and Angela.”
“I’m suddenly feeling very unneeded,” Sweets mumbled.
“Hey, I know what you could do, Sweets!” Booth spoke up.
“What’s that?”
“Profile the newbie squints, so we know which assistant will be best for Bones,” Booth suggested.
“That’s not how it works,” Sweets countered quite annoyed.
“I wish it were that easy,” Brennan said as she crossed her arms over her chest. She sighed suddenly and slumped back against the padded bench seat. “I miss Zack,” she whispered.
Booth felt bad. It had seemed like she was doing better…and then Sweets had shown up. His face turned into a gentle and concerned frown as he reached across and grasped one of her hands, “I know, Bones. We all miss him.”
“When Cam hired Zack after he received his doctorate, I never thought I’d ever have to really look for a replacement.”
“What about when he went to Iraq?” Booth asked.
Brennan gently squeezed his offered hand in hers, “I knew he was coming back.”
“Yeah… I figured you’d never let someone take Zack’s place,” Booth said.
“None of them were good enough,” Brennan argued.
“None of them were Zack,” Booth corrected gently.
“That’s what I said.” She stared at Booth for some time. She hated to think of Zack the last time she had seen him. He had seemed so small and far away. She’d been on the other side of the hospital’s intensive care unit’s glass door, he hand on the window and tears forming in her eyes.
“That’s actually-” Sweets started, but was silenced quickly by the glare directed at him.
“It’s going to be okay, Bones,” Booth tried to reassure.
*~*~*
TBC…