Shrink

6

I could swear my jaw was lying dislocated, and probably entirely detached from my body, on the floor. I made a mental mess of picking it up, opening my mouth and closing it again like a fish.
Sweets stared at me expectantly, his face unreadable.
"Y-you can't be s-serious," I managed, laughing uncomfortably.
"Serious as a heart attack," said Sweets, seeming undeterred.
His gaze, direct and sharp as a razor, cut into me, and I could feel myself squirming like an insect under a microscope.
"Uh, can I think about it?" I inhaled sharply, hoping beyond hope.
Sweets put his hands up like the two sides of a scale. I noticed suddenly that his long slender fingers cut him out to be a pianist.
"Well," he said. "we could go out tonight, and our meetings last two months, or we have sessions in my office, and we continue to meet for six."
He tipped back and forth, and I bit back a chuckle. He reminded me of Lumière, the candelabra in Beauty and The Beast. All he needed was the accent.
I sighed.
"Alright."
Sweets nodded professionally.
"I'll pick you up around 8," he said, then turned heel and sauntered away.
"You don't even know my address!" I called after his receding form.
"It's all in the file," he called back, grinning as he shook the folder.
I gasped and released a frustrated huff.
What a creep!
Once I'd wrung my body from the odd, intense shivers that had wracked it, I returned to Doctor Hodgins' office, where he was putting something into a blender.
"Lunchtime?" I asked, sidling in to peer into the contents.
My stomach tumbled into my toes as I realized that the ingredients were not in fact edible, but the maggots that had been feasting on our victim not four hours ago.
Before he could answer, Hodgins had already pressed the button, sending the maggots into the roaring blades, turning them into a goopy grey mess as my innards seemed to reel the same kind of way.
"To test to see if any other toxins or anything wound up inside this guy," he said happily, shaking up the goop, making horrid noises erupt inside the jug.
"Oookay, I'm out," I breathed, backing into a different corner of the office to calm my rising nausea levels.
"What did Sweets want?"
"Uh, he followed up on some psychological file."
I found myself kicking at the immaculate floor.
"What else? He didn't just call you away to say, "hey, I have a file on you, bye.""
"Who has a file on who?"
And in popped Angela.
Hodgins grinned as he removed his gloves and wheeled over to her. She bent to allow him to kiss her cheek.
"Sweets is doing a psych analysis on Pap, here," began Hodgins for me. "but it seems there's more to it, isn't there?"
He eyed me, smirking as Angela shifted, also gaging me.
"Well, he said we have to do routine social gatherings, and I'm supposed to meet him tonight," I spilled, feeling a little uncomfortable under the motherly and fatherly gazes they were giving me.
"Sweetie," said Angela. "don't let Sweets get under your skin. I'm sure it's just a new technique."
"So no one else has actually done this before?"
"Not that we've heard," said Hodgins.
"Wonderful," I sighed. "anything else I should know before I see him? Maybe he has an alter ego?"
"Well no," began Angela.
"He is kinda touchy since Daisy left him though," finished Hodgins.
"Daisy?" I swallowed, trying to imagine Sweets with a woman other than the kind that wore straight jackets. A small knot formed in my stomach. This feeling was alien to me, so I forced it back down.
"Yeah, they dated, even got engaged a couple times. Hell, they were all over the place, I caught them in our Egyptian exhibit, you know, Cleopatra's bed," rambled Hodgins, getting gesticulative and cheeky.
"Jack, stop it, look how pale you've made her," cut in Angie, gesturing at my profile. "here, why don't we go to our place and I'll get you ready for tonight. And if it goes terribly, I'm your way out."
At this, I realized it was almost the end of the day, and that 8 would roll around faster than I'd prefer.
"O-okay," I swallowed the turmoil building in my throat. "let me just finish up with the work Doctor B. assigned me."
Angela nodded, allowing me to go.
I stumbled out to the platform, and inhaled sharply.
"God, you really don't get used to that smell," I sighed, staring at the array of bits that had once been a whole person.
"Sad thing is, you do."
I physically jumped, inhaling sharply.
"Oh, Doctor Saroyan, I didn't hear you"—
"That's okay," she said gently, holding up a hand. "you and Brennan both get pretty immersed, so it seems."
"Did you need me?" I asked warily, bracing myself against the railing.
"Yes, actually, some tissue I extracted from the mandible shows a clear slice mark, and I'm wondering if you could find a corresponding marking on the bone."
She produced a tray with a petri dish holding a bloody red pulp that had once been the lower jaw.
I scanned the area of the extraction, and lo and behold, a nick about two inches long stemmed from the left lower side almost up the premolars.
"Yes, I see it," I confirmed, sliding a thumb across the wound. "a slice as deep as this, it could've severed the carotid, allowing the victim to bleed out in less than a few minutes. I found cause of death."
"Good job, Ms Antoine," breathed Doctor Saroyan. "now rest easy, you just have to think about your date tonight."
I looked up, her face also inches from the remains.
"How..?"
She shrugged, a look of empathy flitting over her delicate features.
"News travels fast."
"And so do we," interrupted Angela hurriedly. "we need to get you home and ready."
She grabbed my arm, and dragged me off the platform.
Soon enough, we were speeding off down the main-streets of Washington, as I prayed for dear life to survive the night.