Chapter Text
"Damn it!" I yelled, waving the smoke above the toaster with an oven mitt.
I ran over and opened the window above the sink, the smoke started leaving the kitchen in big wafts, slowly ventilating the area. As I walked away towards my room, I heard my phone ring. I picked my phone up off the counter and glanced down at it to see who was calling. Looking at the phone, "MOM" in big bold letters was at the top of the screen. I clicked to answer and brought the phone up to my ear.
"Hey honey!" Mom chirped.
"Oh, hey mom!" I say, as I stumble over the dog. Molly looks up at me expectantly, panting with her tongue sticking out. I breathe out a sigh, "Molly, I can't play right now!" Molly whines in response.
"Sorry mom, Molly almost tripped me."
"That old Molly. So hun, are you excited about your new job?" She asked enthusiastically.
"If I can even make it there.." I mumbled, walking over to my bedroom and opening the door.
"What's that sweetie?"
"Oh nothing..." I paused, trying to regather my thoughts. "Also, it's an internship, not a job. I'm only being paid part time wage."
"So see, it's a job!"
"Yeah, I guess your right." I say, holding the phone up to my ear with my shoulder. I reach up to grab a box from the top of the closet, straining to grab it.
"Oh and sweetheart, don't forget to pack yourself a lunch." She added.
You finally grabbed the box and froze once you heard your mom. Shit. That's right.
"Yeah, mom, don't worry, I've got it all covered." I say, lying. I immediately start digging through the box.
"Alright sweetie-"
As my mom was responding, I asked her a question in a rush. "Hey mom, do you remember what happened to that little fan you got me for my dorm a few years ago?" I ask, switching the phone to my other ear as I get back up and kick the box back into the closet.
"Oh sweetheart, don't you remember? We got rid of it because those movers broke it." She said.
"Right." I huffed in response. "Hey Mom, I think I'm gonna have to let you go. I've got to get going or I'm actually gonna be late."
"Alright sweetie! Call me later and tell me how it goes! I love you!"
"Yeah, will do Mom. Love you, bye." I say, hanging up afterwards.
I sigh as I look around at my messy room. With no ride, no lunch, and no coffee, how am I going to get through this day?
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I arrive at the Jeffersonian Institute by Uber, the place where my internship was located.
"Thank you so much!" I slam the door behind me as I start speed walking towards the front door of the building. As I reached the entrance, I take a deep breath and enter, making my way to the front desk.
"Hi, I'm looking for Doctor Temperance Brennan." I say once I approached the front desk, articulating the name carefully in order not to mess it up.
"Alright, can I get a name for you?" The lady asks, looking up at me, smiling, and positioning her hands above her keyboard to type.
"Ada Brooks" I reply, returning the smile. Right after giving my reply, suddenly, a voice from behind me rings out.
"There's no need for that, Irene. I've got it from here."
The lady at the desk looks around me and I turn around to see who was talking. The lady who was behind me had warm colored hair, a blue lab coat adorning her figure. After scanning her outfit, I look up to her face to see she was already looking at me. She walks towards me, taking one of her hands out of her lab coat, and offers it to me.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Temperance Brennan." She says, shaking my hand.
I stand there dumbfounded for a second, not processing the information at first. For a few seconds, there was just silence, and then I realized she was waiting for a response. "Oh! My name is Ada Brooks, as I'm sure you already figured out. I'm your new intern from the George Washington University!" I manage to spit out.
"Well it's nice to finally meet you, Ada." She says, letting go of my hand. "Why don't you follow me so we can get you settled in."
"Yes, of course!" I stammer, following her to wherever she was leading me to.
I followed her down a few corridors before she finally led me to a big room with a raised platform in the middle. It was a few feet off the ground and had a security guard on the side of the stairs leading up to it.
"This-" She said, presenting the platform, "is where we examine and work on the bodies. Would you like to have a look?" She asked, tilting her head.
"Yeah, sure!" I said excitedly.
When we approached the stairs, Dr. Brennan gave the security guard a quick nod before we began to walk up the stairs. When we got to the top, I finally saw the lab in its entirety. I looked around at all of the desks before my gaze hit a table in the middle of the platform. There was a man working on a body that was lying on the table. As I examined him, I observed that he had curly hair and was a forensic entomologist, just by the way he was swabbing dirt off of the body. A few feet away from him was a woman with dark hair. She was sketching a face on a piece of paper attached to a clip board as she leaned against a desk.
"Brooks, I would like you to meet your new colleagues, Dr Jack Hodgins, and Miss Angela Montenegro. Hodgins is our entomologist and Angela specializes in facial reconstruction."
Hodgins looks up and gives me a welcoming nod. "Nice to meet you!" He says loudly before going back to his work.
"I'm Angela, It's nice to finally meet you. Brennan has been talking about her new intern all week." She tucks her clipboard under her arm, then stretches out the other to shake my hand.
I shake her hand. "It's nice to meet you guys too. I'm really glad to be here." I smile, letting go of Angela's hand.
I turn around to look at Dr Brennan and see a guy walking suspiciously behind her, almost like he was trying to sneak past her. I tilt my head a bit in confusion.
"Zack, you're late." Dr Brennan remarked, singing out.
Zack froze and his face grimaced. "Apologies, Dr Brennan. There was traffic." He said, continuing to walk over a rolling chair, sitting down in it.
Dr Brennan sighed as she looked over at him. "There's always traffic, Zack. It's Washington D.C., when is there not?" She paused for a moment before looking over to me. "Zack, I want you to meet our new intern from the George Washington University."
I looked over to him and he gave me a nod. "I'm Ada Brooks." I stated, giving him a quick nod back. "Nice to meet you, Ada Brooks." He leaned back in the chair, still looking at me. "I'm Zack Addy, Dr Brennan's assistant."
"This might be a good time to mention-" Dr Brennan paused as she looked at me, then to Zack. "You guys will be sharing an office."
"What- Dr Brennan-" Zack began to protest as he stood up from the chair, throwing his arms up.
"I don't want to hear it, Zack." Brennan put her hand up. "It's only temporary. She was supposed to be getting Eric's office but he extended his contract for another three months, so until then, you guys are just going to have to make do. I'm sorry, but that's the best I can do." She glared at Zack. "Please show her to your office." She demanded gently. As she walked past me, she stopped and put her hand on my shoulder. "Zack can be a bit... unhinged sometimes, but I promise he means no harm. Take everything with a grain of salt." She whispered, offering me a small smile.
I forced a smile and nodded. She walked away, leaving me with Zack, Hodgins and Angela. I began to zone out as I thought about my standing with Zack. He seemed so upset that he had to share and office with me which lead me to think he didn't like me.
"Follow me." Zack broke the silence. He was now standing right in front of me. I noticed how much taller he was then me and how he smelled like clean linen. I looked up at him and nodded.
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As we walked, the silence between us was awkward- almost unbearable. I was about to make an effort at small talk- something I'm not good at what so ever- before he broke the silence for me.
"Here we are." He said, stopping at a door. He put his hand in his blue lab coat's pocket and pulled out a keycard. I watched as he slid it through the keycard reader carefully. After the keycard reader flashed green, he twisted the nob and opened the door. He held it open for me and I slid past him into the office. I stood there, looking around at the office before I heard the door slam behind me. I jumped and turned around- bumping into him.
"You okay?" He questioned, putting his hand on my shoulder as I backed up after I had bumped into him.
"Are you mad at me?" I blurted, looking up at him, continuing to back away until he let go of my shoulder.
"No, why would I be?"
"Because you have to share an office with me? Because you're slamming doors, or- or maybe you just don't want to work with me... I get it, you're her assistant... I'm not here to steal your thunder or anything like that, I just want to learn." I huffed out, rambling. My face heating up in a fit of frustration.
"Ada-"
"I'm sorry. I could see if I could share an office with Angela- She seems pretty nice." I continued on.
"Ada, stop!"
I finally looked back up at him. His gaze was gentle as he spoke. "You don't need to change offices, okay? I'm not mad that I have to share with you... I just have my own way of organizing things- that's all. And I'm not slamming doors. You'll learn soon that the door to this office is heavy and will slam close. Also, I'm not worried about you 'stealing my thunder,' I'm actually glad that you're here." He reassured, his voice gentle when he spoke.
"Really?" I choked out, stunned at his confession.
"Yeah..." He brings his hand up to his neck and looks to the side before focusing his eyes back to mine. A moment went by before he continued. "You kind of remind me of myself when I first started this job."
I nodded before looking down to gather myself. How could I be so unprofessional- letting myself lose hold of my emotions like that over just one interaction between this guy? Why did I care so much about what he thought about me? Out of this interaction, I knew one thing was for certain. This wasn't going to be the last of it.