"The Object of My Affection" - Chapter 31
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 31 - “Targets”
Author’s Note: Okay, I need to put a SPOILER alert on this chapter. So, stop reading if you haven’t seen season four of Bones. Although I haven’t mentioned it, I’m taking advantage of the knowledge that Zack did not kill who he pled guilty to killing. I’m just figuring that Sweets and Zack already had that heart to heart. You have been warned. Remember that your reviews help me write, so you may get more than the 30th & 31st chapters if you review more before the end of October! Happy Halloween!!!!
Trailer #1: http://shannyfish.livejournal.com/64366.html
*~*~*
Jeffersonian’s Lawn
Booth grabbed the person he was pursuing as soon as he could and pulled her into his arms. He looked around and noticed the only people there were people looking at them and F.B.I. agents hurrying in…a little too late. Booth held up his hand to get them to stop. They got the clue and retreated back into their vehicles and various other spots. He heard Max stop beside him and then he realized that she was crying.
“Sweetheart, you dropped your phone,” Max said and bent over to pick it up. He closed it and held onto it until she was ready to take it back.
“Bones, what did he say?” Booth asked quietly. It had to be the Gravedigger. Why else would she leave the safety of the Jeffersonian? She’s sacrifice herself, Booth knew she would, but he couldn’t let her do that. He’d threatened her, Booth thought. It was the only thing that made sense.
“I can’t let him,” Brennan mumbled through her tears and pushed away from him. “You shouldn’t be outside.”
“Whoa! Calm down,” Booth told her as he held up his hands in defense and then motioned towards where the F.B.I. agents had been before. “The F.B.I. is all around us right now, I’m fine,” he told her and decided that there were too many F.B.I. eyes on him. He didn’t want any blackmail or teasing or taunting going on later. He turned Brennan around and guided her back towards the Jeffersonian with Max at her other side.
“Why are you outside?” Max demanded.
Brennan shrugged, “I realized that if he got what he wanted, then he’d leave everyone else alone. He hadn’t originally planned to take Hodgins, just me.”
“So, if you got yourself caught, then you thought that he’d leave everyone else alone,” Booth summed up.
Brennan sniffled and shook her head, “He doesn’t want me anymore.”
“Who does he want?” Max asked, obviously they’d established that the Gravedigger had called; he had to have told her what he wanted.
“He said that he wanted the ones who foiled his plans,” Brennan said. “Booth, you found Hodgins and I and pulled me out of the quarry.”
Booth stared at her as he thought over the ultimate discovery and then realized something else, “But I didn’t break the code…”
“Zack,” Brennan spoke up and her eyes widened.
“Where is he?” Max asked. “Shouldn’t he be in the lab, too?”
Booth frowned, “Zack sort of…joined the dark side… He’s in a mental hospital.”
“It’s a mental institution for criminals,” Brennan explained as she wiped her tears. “Booth-”
“I’ll have him brought to the Jeffersonian,” Booth told her as he continued to walk her further into the Jeffersonian. “Sweets can bring him…and while he’s at it, he can bring us all breakfast.”
“It’s eleven, it’s practically lunch.”
“I’ll be excited just to have food,” Booth told her and then pulled out his cell phone to call Sweets. He didn’t want to loose a moment of time.
*~*~*
Jeffersonian
Sweets walked slowly into the Medico-Legal Lab of the Jeffersonian. He carefully took in the people as he approached. He was supposed to be delivering Zack Addy and lunch, but he had neither. He was hoping that Zack had somehow gotten out and made his way to the lab on his own, but that didn’t look at the case. So, not bringing lunch like he was told wasn’t going to be the only reason why people were going to be irritated with him. He was starting to think that looking for Zack and then coming back was going to be the best idea.
“Sweets!”
He cringed, Booth had seen him. There was no escaping now. He turned and saw Booth and the rest of the Jeffersonian’s scientists were quickly coming together along with a few small children and other people he recognized as being members of the Brennan family. “Uh, hi.”
“Where’s Zack?” Booth asked.
“See, I was hoping that he was here.”
“You lost Zack?” Hodgins asked incredulously.
“No, the institution lost him,” Sweets corrected.
Cam had only heard Hodgins when she’d noticed a crowd coming together, “How could you lose Zack?” she asked.
“The Gravedigger might already have him,” Brennan said aloud.
“No, I don’t think so. He could have just gotten out,” Sweets said. “He’s probably the most intelligent patient.”
“That doesn’t make him any less a target,” Angela pointed out.
“What if Zack is in league with the Gravedigger?” Booth asked aloud.
“That’s impossible,” Sweets told him.
“How is it impossible?”
“Booth-” Brennan started, but was quickly interrupted.
“Come on, we all know that he worked as an apprentice to a cannibalistic killer who liked to build a skeleton from his victims. Doesn’t the apprentice eventually become the master?”
“There’s no way that Zack could possibly be involved with the Gravedigger, it’s just not in his mental make up,” Sweets argued and then quickly stopped. He couldn’t divulge what knowledge he’d gained from their sessions.
Cam frowned and was about to say something to Booth when she noticed how uncomfortable Sweets was getting. There was something wrong. “Is there something you want to tell us, Doctor Sweets?” she asked putting her hands on her hips.
“No,” he said shortly.
“There’s something you’re not telling us,” Cam pressed.
“Is there?” Angela asked.
“Sweets has a protection of patient/doctor privilege,” Brennan spoke up. “He can’t tell us anything about what he and Zack talked about in their sessions.”
“But what if it could help us find Zack?” Booth asked.
“Booth has a point,” Hodgins spoke up.
“I can assure you,” Sweets told them. “Nothing that I know could possibly give you any clues as to Zack’s location…”
“I really don’t think that we can trust your opinion,” Hodgins said. He was pissed off that his best friend was not only missing, but could be in the hands of a serial killer.
Before anyone could realize what he was doing, Max decided to take matters into his own hands. He launched to Sweets and put his hands around his throat strangling him. He could hear people yelling at him to stop, but Max whispered into the young doctor’s ear, “You’re going to tell us what we need to know. I don’t care if you don’t think that we’ll get anywhere from what you know. You’re going to tell us.” When Sweets didn’t speak up, Max increased his grip around Sweets’ neck. He could feel arms on him, but he didn’t stop.
“Zack…Zack…” Sweets tried to get out.
Max lightened his grip for the moment.
“Zack didn’t kill the man he said he did,” Sweets spoke up.
“Then why did he say he did?” Angela asked shocked that Zack would confess to a murder he didn’t do.
“He felt guilty for the murder because he located the victim,” Sweets said hoping that he’d be released.
Brennan nodded and put her arm on her dad’s shoulder. “Let him go. He’s telling the truth.”
“How do you know?” Max asked his daughter.
“Yeah…he could have made that up,” Booth told his partner.
“No, it’s logical…Zack felt responsible because he gave Gormagon the information he needed to kill his victim, so in turn Zack was responsible for the death of the victim,” Brennan told them.
“Really?” Max and Booth asked in unison as they stared at Brennan.
“Really.”
“Damn,” Max cursed quietly and dropped Sweets.
“Dad,” Brennan complained.
“What?” he asked and then stared down at Sweets who was in a heap on the floor rubbing his neck. “Thanks kid.”
*~*~*
TBC…