Zack never had a girlfriend.
He was too smart, too socially inept. But he never had a problem with it. Until now, at least. He couldn't help but watch his boss (his boss!) whenever she leaned down to examine his work, cleaning those damn bones. He wasn't upset about his work, really, just the fact that because of his work, he was now distracted out of his mind by the most beautiful, most intelligent woman he'd ever met. Too bad she was pretty much... unattainable.
"Zack, the humerus has a hairline fracture.. How come you didn't notice?"
Dr. Temperance Brennan looked up from the cleaned set of bones that he had set out only minutes earlier.
"Sorry, Dr. Brennan. I guess I was just...zoned out?" He said this as a question, not knowing if it was the right word. But then again, neither would she.
"Are you okay, Zack?"
He licked his lips and pointed at the leg bones. "If you noticed, there's actually another hairline fracture here, on the fibula."
Brennan nodded and moved closer to Zack.
"Do you ever get the feeling that you don't belong here?" asked Brennan quietly.
Zack looked up. "What do you mean?"
"You know... That you're different from everyone. And it's just... you don't fit in."
"Do you mean just me? Or people in general?" Zack inquired.
Brennan straightened up and walked over to the computer, lightly tapping the keys, not really pressing them. She tapped her pen against her chin, looking lost in thought.
"I guess just us two. I haven't met many people as intelligent as either of us. So... just us two," she replied.
Zack found this amusing. To an extent. On one hand, she was calling him intelligent, as intelligent as her. On the other hand, she was calling him weird. He thought.
"Well... When you put it that way, it sounds very bleak. Almost as if we're not fit to be on this earth. But we must be here for a reason, right? So there must be a reason why we're so...'strange' as you put it."
She seemed to contemplate his response as she gathered up the stray files lying around.
"Interesting thought, Zack. Now, can you help me clean up for tonight? It's already 11 o'clock and I'm feeling quite exhausted."
Zack quickly began gathering up the files that she hadn't yet gotten to. "Of course! I live to serve, Dr. Brennan." He grabbed a tray and began to pile cleaning instruments onto it.
"You can call me, Temperance. By the way."
He almost dropped everything he was carrying. "But...I've always called you Dr. Brennan. Always. I've never even called you Ms. Brenn-"
"Why do you seem nervous, Zack? Your vocal range seems like it got higher in the last five minutes. And there's that flush you have all over your face and neck." She scrutinized him carefully. "Wait a minute. Mr. Addy. Do you...do you find me...attractive?"
A still silence hung in the air as Zack and Temperance made their way to the storage room for the cleaning instruments Zack had gathered earlier.
"Are you going to answer my question, Mr. Addy? Or will I be forced to conclude that your answer is a definite no?"
His mouth opened and closed. It almost seemed like she was flirting with him. Wait, Dr. Brennan...Temperance...knew how to flirt?
"Well. To be quite frank, Dr. Brenn- Temperance, I think you've got all the best biological traits to bear offspring that is most likely to survive..." He trailed off as Temperance raised an eyebrow at him.
