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]

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.