milliways_bar | (no subject)

Brennan is putting pieces together.

Not bones, this evening. Or facts of a case. She’s restricted from working on open cases for the time being. Her father’s trial is officially beginning and, as Booth, Angela and the others are witnesses for the prosecution, they are officially not allowed to work together for the duration. Even casual socializing is being frowned upon.

Brennan had anticipated the social discomfort of being on the opposite side of a trial from her friends and colleagues. What she had not anticipated was the feeling of isolation. Or the boredom.

There is plenty of work she could be doing on her own; bones from Limbo, writing and reviewing articles, grading papers, drafting chapter eleven of the new novel. But her usually well-developed ability to compartmentalize and focus on work also seems to have been adversely affected.

So instead Brennan is studying the pieces of a large jigsaw puzzle, laid out on the table in front of her. She’s already gotten the edges together, and patches of Van Gogh’s Starry Night are floating in the center. There’s a lot left to put together, though.

She wouldn’t mind making the project a collaborative effort.

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Brennan nods.

"I'm sorry to have to put off that case I wanted to show you. But with the restrictions I'm under in regards to open cases.... I hope it won't adversely affect your assignment."

It's an interesting one, too. Very unusual striations on the bones.

"I suppose I could ask Zach to show you." Brennan's brow furrows. "Assuming I can ask him personally. I might have to pass the request through a third party."

"It won't affect the assignment."

Generally speaking, freshman are not expected to have access to actual bones.

"I can just wait till you can show me."

Brennan nods.

"Hopefully it won't be more than a few weeks."

She realizes that she's probably bordering on illogical optimism. Trials take time.

On the other (more emotional) hand, she is hoping that the process will not drag out too long.

"Yeah.

"And in the meantime, if you get bored, you can come hang out in my class and argue with Professor Lowell."

"I'm not altogether certain that she'd appreciate that."

Not that Brennan and Professor Lowell have anything approaching an adversarial relationship. But two PhDs in a room full of freshmen can be a bit much.

"Perhaps you could invite Booth," Brennan says, with an amused (at her absent partner's expense) half smile. "It might make explaining certain principles easier if he sat in on a few classes."

"I could do that," Hannah agrees.

"Though I bet he'd try to take over."

"Professor Lowell would spank him down."

Of that, Brennan has no doubt.

Even if her knowledge of metaphors still leaves something to be desired.

Hannah chokes slightly on her ice cream, then breaks out into giggles.

"I'd either pay to watch that, or be scarred for life by seeing it."

Possibly both.

Brennan tilts her head inquisitively.

"Why?"

Seeing Booth be verbally reprimanded might be slightly amusing.

But traumatic?

"It's, um, it's smack down, Brennan. Not spank down."

"Oh."

This? Is why Brennan doesn't try metaphor very often.

"And 'spank' implies a fetishist sexual act."

"I can see why you would find that traumatic."

"Okay, moving on," says Hannah.

"It is SO time for a new subject."

"All right."

Brennan scoops up some more ice cream.

"Would you like to pick this time?"

Taking turns is one of the basic foundations of human interaction.

"Sure.

"Hilary and I are talking about taking a long weekend and going to Lexington. Take a break from all the studying."

"It's well established that a break in routine and mental relaxation can ultimately benefit the studying process."

Brennan grins.

"Going to visit Sam?"

"Well, I'd be going to visit Sam.

"Hilary would be going to flirt shamelessly."

She stops for ice cream, then adds, "I miss him."

Brennan smiles sympathetically.

She understands. It took her a while to quit missing Sully, though the circumstances in that instance were different.

"How's he doing?"

"I think that given he's picked a school where everyone goes out of their way to make you as miserable as possible for the first few months, he's good.

"I mean, I get the occasional pretty down e-mail, but mostly, good."

"From all you've told me about him, I'm sure he has sufficient fortitude to make it through the initiation process."

"I'm also sure a visit will do a great deal to cheer him up."

"That's the idea."

It will probably cheer Hannah up, too.

"And, yeah, I'm sure he's doing fine. He's . . . Sam."

"Depending on his travel restrictions, you should bring him to DC sometime."

"Has he ever been to Washington?"