Jail Visit -- Booth

[bringonthewonder]

No one said taking a stand was going to be fun. But Angela expected it to be a little less . . . boring than this.

There's just not much to do in a jail cell.

Which is probably why she is, at the moment, doing something that very vaguely resembles the Charleston.

Comments

[paladinsuitsyou]

Booth furrows his brow.

"Um. Hi Angela."

[bringonthewonder]

Angela stops.

"Oh, hi, Booth."

[paladinsuitsyou]

"Was that - were you-"

He pauses, because it's a question he's never asked anyone in jail before.

"Dancing?"

[bringonthewonder]

Angela shrugs.

"Killing time."

[paladinsuitsyou]

"Fair enough," Booth says.

He looks down, then, because what do you say to the woman who's jeopardizing your case against your partner's father? The case you're pretty sure you don't want to win, anyway?

"Um. What you did on the stand. Was really brave."

Stupid, but brave. (And also right, for a given definition of right.)

[bringonthewonder]

"Thanks," Angela says.

She'd object to stupid. She'd also object to the given definition part.

But she'll take the comment in spirit in which she hopes it was intended.

[paladinsuitsyou]

That's why they went unsaid.

Booth also can't totally say he wouldn't have done the same, if his job weren't in the way. The FBI doesn't really give you the option of not testifying in a case you broke.

"You're welcome."

Another uncomfortable pause.

"You, um. Need anything?"

[bringonthewonder]

The Jeffersonian doesn't really give you a choice, either. Sometimes, you make one regardless.

"Hodgins brought some stuff by.

"How are you doing, Booth?"

[paladinsuitsyou]

There is that. But Angela has some wiggle room, being best friends with Brennan, and being generally amazing at her job. Booth...has none at all.

Should've figured. Hodgins is a good egg.

"I'm OK, you know. As OK as in anyone can be, in this situation."

Which means: Not really much at all.

[bringonthewonder]

Angela also has the wiggle room of not being as defined by her job as most of her friends are. If she has to leave the Jeffersonian over this, then she has to leave the Jeffersonian over this, and she'll move on.

"So . . . not really much at all?"

[paladinsuitsyou]

There is that. Booth does not have that option. The FBI is not just a job. It's a lifestyle. (Or something like that.)

"Not even a little," he says, giving her a rueful smile. "No one is actually OK. Which is how it should be. Except..."

He trails off, shrugs. "Except we can't afford not to be."

[bringonthewonder]

"Yeah."

Angela sits down.

"So did Caroline rupture anything?"

[paladinsuitsyou]

This smile is a little more amused, a little less rueful. "Not visibly. Anything internal is between her and her doctor."

"I thought the judge was gonna have a coronary, though. I don't think he gets people like you on the stand very often."

[bringonthewonder]

Angela grins.

"Well, there really aren't a lot of people like me, Booth."

They definitely broke the mold after they made Angela.

[paladinsuitsyou]

"I've noticed," Booth says, returning the grin. "I might even go so far as to say that you're unique."

Shattered the mold into a million pieces, definitely.

"And you're - doing the right thing here. You know that. But we know it too. Even Bones, even if she says otherwise."

He's still not so sure Zach knows it, but he's giving the kid the benefit of the doubt.

[bringonthewonder]

"You're still going to win," Angela says.

She's seen all the evidence, after all.

[paladinsuitsyou]

Booth nods, lips pressed tight together.

If he says anything, it will be, "God, I hope not." And that's not OK, under the circumstances.

It's also more of a prayer than he's really comfortable with. It's best that it stays in his head, all things considered.

[bringonthewonder]

"I'm sorry, Booth."

She's not entirely sure what she's apologizing for. Maybe all of it -- that he can't decline to testify, that she can, that her coworkers are good at their jobs, that the whole bitch of situation exists anyway.

[paladinsuitsyou]

"Me too," he says.

Booth sighs. "But there's always a chance, isn't there?"

It would be much easier to root for that chance if he weren't a hundred percent sure that Max Keenan had killed Kirby.

[bringonthewonder]

"Not much of one," Angela says.

"I mean, there'd have to be one hell of a curveball coming. Like . . . oh, I don't know, like a sweeps month stunt on a TV show sort of curveball."

And how likely is that?

[paladinsuitsyou]

Booth laughs, but there's little enough humor in it. "Well, you never know. This group of witnesses has already proved itself full of surprises, right?"

[bringonthewonder]

"Yeah. And Clark knows his stuff, so . . . I guess the whole point of the trial is to let a jury make the decision, right?"

Regardless of what a group of experts thinks should happen, who wins, what the outcomes are.

It's the legal system, after all, not college football rankings.

[paladinsuitsyou]

"It is. Reasonable doubt, etc., etc."

He shrugs. "I think we're just so used to winning. And being on the right side. If that makes sense."

[bringonthewonder]

"Well, we're used to being right. We almost always are.

"We're good, Booth. We're good at what we do."

They don't go to court without pretty strong cases.

[paladinsuitsyou]

"This is probably the first time I've wished we weren't," he says, his tone glum. "It would be a lot easier to be optimistic."

[bringonthewonder]

"Yeah. This time it would, wouldn't it?"

She pauses, and then gives Booth a wry smile.

"Hey, I'm the incarcerated one, here. Aren't I supposed to be the glum one? Shouldn't you be cheering me up or something?"

[paladinsuitsyou]

Booth matches her smile. It's a little forced, maybe, but genuine.

"I thought I was just supposed to keep you from being bored to death."

[bringonthewonder]

"That'll work, too.

"Death by boredom has got to count as cruel and unusual."

[paladinsuitsyou]

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's unconstitutional," he says. "It's my job as a law enforcement officer to keep that from happening."

[bringonthewonder]

"Better be entertaining then, Booth. Or I'll die and you'll get fired."

And those would be bad.

[paladinsuitsyou]

"As long as you don't ask me to to dance."

That is so not going to happen.