To Raise Perhaps, Many Flowers (6/?)
Title: To Raise, Perhaps, Many Flowers
Part: 6
Fandom: Bones
P/C: Zack & Angela friendship, Zack/Angela later
Rating: Hard R (language, graphic scenes, adult references throughout)
Summary: He could have been anybody. Any-body. Any. Body. Zack’s fists clenched at his sides.
Spoilers: None. Season 1 AU.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
“Love is whatever you can still betray. Betrayal can only happen if you love.”
-John LeCarre
Angela was hit by a wave of nausea so strong her knees felt weak.
“Angela? What are they-“ Brennan began but Angela pushed away from her, holding her arm over her mouth. She took four quick strides away from all of them and threw up all over the floor. She kept dry heaving, all of her muscles roiling and aching beneath her skin. Almost everyone in the lab was staring at her.
She felt a hand at the center of her back, between her shoulder blades. She turned to see Zack. He took her face between his hands and, very lightly, blew on her forehead. A fresh outpouring of tears started to run down her cheeks.
“Will somebody please take me home?” Her voice cracked a bit. She couldn’t look at Zack, not right now. Brennan immediately stepped forward. “I will.” She helped Angela up, giving both her friend and Zack a curious stare.
***
They sat in Angela’s car in silence.
“You know,” Brennan began, “you don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to.”
Angela stared out the windshield, mostly at the trees as they rolled by. She didn’t have anything to say. She just wanted to lie in bed and die, as middle school as that sounded. They continued to drive along in silence and Angela felt more and more like an hysterical seventh-grader. “I’m sorry, Bren.”
“For what?”
Angela sighed. “For being so…I don’t know. Hysterical.”
“You aren’t hysterical at all. On the contrary, I find you to be incredibly calm considering your strong reaction to Zack at the Jeffersonian.” Brennan continued her slightly reckless driving, not looking at Angela. “I’m sure that Booth will tell you Bren. I just don’t think I can. Not right now.” She closed her eyes and tried to remember something good, something soothing but all she could see was the bathroom sink, rushing up to meet her face.
***
Hodgins pushed him against one of the rails on the forensic platform. “What the hell did you do to Angela?”
Booth eased them apart, a very bemused look on his face. “Look, dammit, both of you have work to do. Just because Dr. Brennan isn’t here doesn’t mean you guys can act like assholes. Now I will get Dr. Goodman down here to fire your ass,” he looked at Hodgins, “And strip you of your internship or whatever.” He looked at Zack. “Now I need to have a conversation with you.” He half dragged, half marched Zack off the platform, away from the bulk of the people in the lab.
“You never and let me repeat that so I am perfectly, one hundred percent clear, never told me that Angela didn’t know that you had told me.” Zack swallowed and focused on Booth’s shoes (a perfect hundred percent is statistically impossible).
“I just wanted to help.”
He mumbled it to the floor. “I didn’t know what else to do.” Booth took a step back from him. “Yeah. Yeah, I kind of knew that. I just…she trusts you so much Zack. You shouldn’t play around with something like that.”
“I love her.” Still discussing this with the floor. Booth sighed. He put his hands on his hips and looked from side to side, as if to check on their relative isolation. “Isn’t this something you should be talking about with her?” Zack shrugged. “Not anymore.”
Booth sighed again, the look on his face slightly exasperated and completely full of pity. “Well, then I guess you should, just…you know….go tell her how you feel. And apologize. A lot. Then maybe…” he looked Zack over, feeling even sorrier for the geeky looking little kid. He patted his shoulder, open palmed. “Maybe she’ll forgive you.”
Zack looked at Booth, in the eye this time. “Who was it?” “Guy named Trent Hermann. He was there at the Echo the night Angela was raped and I’ve got two eye-witnesses who saw him follow her into that bathroom.” He showed Zack a picture, a skeletal, brown-haired, empty-eyed man. He could have been anybody. Any-body. Any. Body. Zack’s fists clenched at his sides.
“Are you going to arrest him?” Booth nodded. “I have to get a warrant through Caroline first. But after that, it should fall together pretty easily. He’s a repeat offender and is known for drugging and assaulting women rather discreetly. There’s no way to know how many girls have gotten it from this creep.”
Zack wondered if Angela would describe herself as ‘discreetly assaulted’.
***
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Brennan was sitting with Angela on her front steps. “I’m sorry, Bren, but it just would have…” Brennan looked at her patiently, expectantly. No answer I give will be enough for her Angela thought, suddenly exhausted.
“If I had told you or told anyone, it would have made it too real. Not something I could let go of.” Angela paused. “It was like if I thought about it at all I was drowning.”
Brennan pursed her lips and frowned a bit. “I assume you are speaking metaphorically, with the drowning…and I don’t understand. But that doesn’t mean I think you made the wrong decision, Ange. I think that…under the incredibly horrible circumstances, you did the best that you could. And how I feel about your actions is totally irrelevant.”
They continued to sit there, until the sun set and the sky lit up first yellow, then pink, then purple, then deeper and deeper blue.
***
When Brennan finally left, calling a cab and leaving the lemon yellow ‘Stang, Angela went into her building and up to her apartment. She opened the door and was immediately confronted with the sheer emptiness. She saw a large Zack shaped hole in the space. She turned on her heel, gripping her keys tightly in her hand and hurried to the car. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Zack’s number.
It rang.
It rang again.
She heard a click and a sharp intake of breath. “Angela?”
“Zack, where are you?”
“I’m with Booth.”
Angela frowned for a moment. “What are you doing with Booth?”
“I’d rather not say right now…I’ll tell you when I see you. We’re in Ivy City, a few blocks away-”
“From the Echo. You found him didn’t you?” Angela gripped both the phone and the door handle tightly. “Angela, you shouldn’t-”
But she had already hung up. She got into the car, starting it and gunning the engine. She was already gone.
Part: 6
Fandom: Bones
P/C: Zack & Angela friendship, Zack/Angela later
Rating: Hard R (language, graphic scenes, adult references throughout)
Summary: He could have been anybody. Any-body. Any. Body. Zack’s fists clenched at his sides.
Spoilers: None. Season 1 AU.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
“Love is whatever you can still betray. Betrayal can only happen if you love.”
-John LeCarre
Angela was hit by a wave of nausea so strong her knees felt weak.
“Angela? What are they-“ Brennan began but Angela pushed away from her, holding her arm over her mouth. She took four quick strides away from all of them and threw up all over the floor. She kept dry heaving, all of her muscles roiling and aching beneath her skin. Almost everyone in the lab was staring at her.
She felt a hand at the center of her back, between her shoulder blades. She turned to see Zack. He took her face between his hands and, very lightly, blew on her forehead. A fresh outpouring of tears started to run down her cheeks.
“Will somebody please take me home?” Her voice cracked a bit. She couldn’t look at Zack, not right now. Brennan immediately stepped forward. “I will.” She helped Angela up, giving both her friend and Zack a curious stare.
***
They sat in Angela’s car in silence.
“You know,” Brennan began, “you don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to.”
Angela stared out the windshield, mostly at the trees as they rolled by. She didn’t have anything to say. She just wanted to lie in bed and die, as middle school as that sounded. They continued to drive along in silence and Angela felt more and more like an hysterical seventh-grader. “I’m sorry, Bren.”
“For what?”
Angela sighed. “For being so…I don’t know. Hysterical.”
“You aren’t hysterical at all. On the contrary, I find you to be incredibly calm considering your strong reaction to Zack at the Jeffersonian.” Brennan continued her slightly reckless driving, not looking at Angela. “I’m sure that Booth will tell you Bren. I just don’t think I can. Not right now.” She closed her eyes and tried to remember something good, something soothing but all she could see was the bathroom sink, rushing up to meet her face.
***
Hodgins pushed him against one of the rails on the forensic platform. “What the hell did you do to Angela?”
Booth eased them apart, a very bemused look on his face. “Look, dammit, both of you have work to do. Just because Dr. Brennan isn’t here doesn’t mean you guys can act like assholes. Now I will get Dr. Goodman down here to fire your ass,” he looked at Hodgins, “And strip you of your internship or whatever.” He looked at Zack. “Now I need to have a conversation with you.” He half dragged, half marched Zack off the platform, away from the bulk of the people in the lab.
“You never and let me repeat that so I am perfectly, one hundred percent clear, never told me that Angela didn’t know that you had told me.” Zack swallowed and focused on Booth’s shoes (a perfect hundred percent is statistically impossible).
“I just wanted to help.”
He mumbled it to the floor. “I didn’t know what else to do.” Booth took a step back from him. “Yeah. Yeah, I kind of knew that. I just…she trusts you so much Zack. You shouldn’t play around with something like that.”
“I love her.” Still discussing this with the floor. Booth sighed. He put his hands on his hips and looked from side to side, as if to check on their relative isolation. “Isn’t this something you should be talking about with her?” Zack shrugged. “Not anymore.”
Booth sighed again, the look on his face slightly exasperated and completely full of pity. “Well, then I guess you should, just…you know….go tell her how you feel. And apologize. A lot. Then maybe…” he looked Zack over, feeling even sorrier for the geeky looking little kid. He patted his shoulder, open palmed. “Maybe she’ll forgive you.”
Zack looked at Booth, in the eye this time. “Who was it?” “Guy named Trent Hermann. He was there at the Echo the night Angela was raped and I’ve got two eye-witnesses who saw him follow her into that bathroom.” He showed Zack a picture, a skeletal, brown-haired, empty-eyed man. He could have been anybody. Any-body. Any. Body. Zack’s fists clenched at his sides.
“Are you going to arrest him?” Booth nodded. “I have to get a warrant through Caroline first. But after that, it should fall together pretty easily. He’s a repeat offender and is known for drugging and assaulting women rather discreetly. There’s no way to know how many girls have gotten it from this creep.”
Zack wondered if Angela would describe herself as ‘discreetly assaulted’.
***
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Brennan was sitting with Angela on her front steps. “I’m sorry, Bren, but it just would have…” Brennan looked at her patiently, expectantly. No answer I give will be enough for her Angela thought, suddenly exhausted.
“If I had told you or told anyone, it would have made it too real. Not something I could let go of.” Angela paused. “It was like if I thought about it at all I was drowning.”
Brennan pursed her lips and frowned a bit. “I assume you are speaking metaphorically, with the drowning…and I don’t understand. But that doesn’t mean I think you made the wrong decision, Ange. I think that…under the incredibly horrible circumstances, you did the best that you could. And how I feel about your actions is totally irrelevant.”
They continued to sit there, until the sun set and the sky lit up first yellow, then pink, then purple, then deeper and deeper blue.
***
When Brennan finally left, calling a cab and leaving the lemon yellow ‘Stang, Angela went into her building and up to her apartment. She opened the door and was immediately confronted with the sheer emptiness. She saw a large Zack shaped hole in the space. She turned on her heel, gripping her keys tightly in her hand and hurried to the car. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Zack’s number.
It rang.
It rang again.
She heard a click and a sharp intake of breath. “Angela?”
“Zack, where are you?”
“I’m with Booth.”
Angela frowned for a moment. “What are you doing with Booth?”
“I’d rather not say right now…I’ll tell you when I see you. We’re in Ivy City, a few blocks away-”
“From the Echo. You found him didn’t you?” Angela gripped both the phone and the door handle tightly. “Angela, you shouldn’t-”
But she had already hung up. She got into the car, starting it and gunning the engine. She was already gone.