BONES AU - PART FOUR "Princess and the Pear"

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER FIVE

After the accident and Malo was taken care of, Scott called Joe from his office and believe it or not, Joe was fuming with the situation.

"Okay, you know what? I'm coming in. All right? You could've been killed."

"No, you shouldn't move, Joe. With a herniated disc, the splintered cartilage can irritate the nerves and-"

"I'm fine."

"So the-the pain is gone?"

"Don't feel a thing." He tried to get up from the couch. "I might not be moving as fast, but, hey, still haven't lost my edge. So why wasn't Perotta with you?"

"I was with Malo."

"That's like being protected by a Smurf. Not the sheriff, the guy who was in charge. I don't even know his name, but he was blue, small guy-"

"Joe, have you taken more Vicodin?" There was silence on the other end. "Look, Booth, I'm fine. Malo is fine. A little shaken up, but really, we're both fine. Please don't come in."

"If you think so. But I'm ready."

Scott rolled his eyes but nodded. "That's amazing in your condition."

"Well, you know me! When should I come in?"

"I really think you should just take your Vicodin and rest."

Joe grumbled. "All right. Okay. At least let me talk to Perotta?"

Scott sighed and waved her over, then handed the phone to her. She smiled. "How are you, Agent Hobbs?"

"The only reason that I'm not coming in right now is because Bones told me not to. But he is your responsibility. Nothing can happen to him, okay? If anything happens to him, you know, that wavy blonde hair and... those rounded-"

"Yea, yea, yea. I will not let him out of my sight. You have my word." Perotta said in a dull tone as Joe laid down on the floor and turns on the TV to cartoons. "Now, uh, we should really get back to the case, Agent Hobbs."

"Am I stopping you?"

Perotta rolled her eyes and hung up. "All right, I'm gonna go, uh, round up as many Black Knights as I can at ImagiCon. In the meantime, please don't go out in the field without me."

Scott scoffed. "I don't need a sitter. Joe gets needlessly protective sometimes. I have no idea why, honestly."

Perotta looked at him with amusement. "You really don't, do you?"

"Um... No, no I do not."

"All right, just-just call me. Please."

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Mitch watched over Max's shoulder, at a respective distance, as he worked at his station. He liked hearing him think through his process aloud. In a friendly way.

"Matched paint chipth that we lifted from Malo'th car. Copolymer comprithed of ethylenically unsaturated monomerth containg hydroxyl group and other vinyl monomerth."