Brennan's Apartment, Washington DC

[dr_temperance]

Brennan cuts off the burner and lifts the tea kettle before the whistle can do more than cough and sputter. Not that she really thinks that the noise will wake up Hannah, who is asleep in the living room. Hannah had dropped off to sleep the moment she'd curled up on the sleeper sofa, arms wrapped tight across her chest, around a small pink and gray stuffed mouse. And by the look of it, nothing short of a demolition crew is going to wake her up.

Hannah's stint in Milliways had apparently involved very little sleep.

Brennan pours the water into a pair of mugs, and carries the steeping tea over to the kitchen table, handing one to Angela. Angela had been waiting on the doorstep when Brennan had returned from the Jeffersonian with Hannah.

"You know you didn't have to leave Hodgins and come all the way down here in the middle of the night," Brennan says. She smiles faintly. "But I have to say, I'm really glad you did."

Comments

[dr_temperance]

Except that those what-ifs lead to places that Brennan would just as soon not think about.

Hannah in the place of April. Or Sarah. Or one of Epps's other victims.

"She was stuck in Milliways for a long time. Certainly it was preferable to being here. But she had to deal with the situation a lot longer."

[bringonthewonder]

Angela turns and looks into the living room again.

"Explains the dead to the world thing, and I really wish I had picked a different analogy. Sorry about that, Bren."

[dr_temperance]

Brennan shrugs. An analogy is just an analogy. It doesn't carry any sort of prophetic weight.

"I don't think she got much sleep."

Well, none of them had during Epps's game. But for them it had been a matter of a day or two.

It had been a lot longer for Hannah.

"She was pretty worried. About all of us."

[bringonthewonder]

"We were all worried," Angela points out. "She just won the worry-longer-and-with-less-information lottery.

"She seems pretty okay, all things considered."

Angela only talked to her for a minute or two, but Hannah seemed like a solid qualified okay to her.

[dr_temperance]

"Yes. She has a great deal of mental and emotional fortitude for someone of her age."

Of course, Brennan knew that before all of this happened.

[bringonthewonder]

"Probably behaved better than I did."

There was, at no point in the past 24 hours, a moment at which Angela wanted to be dealing with what she was dealing with. She did it, she helped with what she could help with, but there's still a selfish part of her that wishes she'd taken that sick leave and gone to . . . anywhere but here.

[dr_temperance]

Brennan raises her eyebrows.

"There was nothing wrong with how you behaved."

[bringonthewonder]

Angela shrugs, then gives Brennan a wry sort of look.

"I scream like a girl," she points out.

[dr_temperance]

Brennan smiles. "Well. Obviously."

"You didn't want to be there. Well, of course, none of us did. But you stayed. And we may not have figured out the significance of the spices if not for you. Or if we did, it would have taken us a lot longer, and that was time we didn't have to lose."

[bringonthewonder]

Angela nods. This is a world of not the time to tell her best friend that she's still not sure how much longer she can keep the surrounded-by-death thing going.

"We're a good team," she says instead.

[dr_temperance]

"We are. Probably the best I've had the opportunity to work with."

It feels odd now to remember her initial resistance to Booth, and then to Cam. While Brennan would once have considered their habit of using conjecture and motive secondary to hard science, she had to admit that the team benefited from it.

[bringonthewonder]

"Probably the best you'll ever have the opportunity to work with," Angela corrects.

"And on that topic, I should get back to one of my fellow squints. Unless you need me to stay, sweetie."

[dr_temperance]

Brennan shakes her head with a smile. "I'm fine. Tell Hodgins I said hello."

On a whim she adds, "Maybe you two should take Monday off. Provided there are no more emergencies at the lab before then."

Brennan can't imagine that the Jeffersonian would begrudge any of the squints a little time off after the last day or two.

[bringonthewonder]

"Yeah, but then who keeps you and Zach in line?" Angela asks.

She stands and smiles.

"I'll call you tomorrow," she says, then looks at her watch. "Or later today."

[dr_temperance]

"Zach should be at home resting anyway." Brennan shrugs one shoulder. "And I know my way around."

Brennan gets up to walk Angela to the door, and her eyes automatically flick to the kitchen clock.

"I should really be more tired."

Actually she is tired. But she probably couldn't sleep if her life depended on it. Not surprising, given the amount of adrenaline that's been pumped into her system.

[bringonthewonder]

"Try to sleep," Angela advises.

"Talk to you tomorrow."

[dr_temperance]

"You too. And drive carefully."

"Good night, Ange. Thanks for coming over."