Chapter Six: Needles and Masks

Authors Note:

I decided that maybe it was time to shake things up a bit and get #Prooth a little stressed out. So this is based after Booth was taken by the grave digger, only they didn't get her..

Enjoy my beauties xx

 "It's hot, Han. Really, really hot."
"Then invest in an air conditioner. We can't have you turning into the the mascot for Red Lobster. And if you die from heat exhaustion, who else am I going to celebrate my 24th with?" Hannah inquired as she moved the phone to her other ear as she walked into the Jeffersonian. Hodgins gave her a fist bump as she walked past and Angela rolled her eyes.

Aubrey and Hannah had barely had a chance to talk over the last two months. Hannah would call him and he would be out on a case or he would call her and she was on a case, talking to her grandparents or asleep.

"Yeah.... about that." Aubrey coughed awkwardly into the phone. Hannah stopped walking and groaned.

"You can't get over here, can you?" There was a pause on Aubreys side. "Whaaaaaaat  no! I can't turn 24 without my best friend! I'm cancelling my birthday this year." Hannah moaned. She could almost hear Aubreys eye roll through the phone.

"Yeah, turns out that I'll be there but on business." Hannah started walking again but with a smile gracing her face.

"But you'll still be here?"
"I will be." Hannah fist pumped the air. "Did you just fist pump the air?"
"No..."
"Yeah right." They both laughed as Hannah turned into the office and Booth waved at her and motioned to the coffee on the desk. She grinned and grabbed it before sitting in her seat.

"So what business brings you to our side of the state?"
'You remember the Grave Digger case?" Hannah squinted for a moment.

"Oh yeah, I do. Kind of hard to forget."
"I bet you almost did... But we have what might be a grave digger case but my partner says we need to consult with the Jeffersonian." Hannah started bouncing in her seat.

"When do you get here?"
"We're flying out tomorrow night with the bodies and will at the headquarters at 10 am."
"Do you have a place to stay?"
"Yeah, your guest room. That is unless Aslan turned it into a giant toilet."
"It's yours. You still have the key?" Booth looked up at her words and raised an eyebrow. He noted at how excited she seemed and in his head, it didn't seem to compute with anything he knew. Boyfriend? Crush? Ex-boyfriend? Booth shook his head and picked up his phone and dialed a number and waited as it rang.

"I'll see you later then."
"See ya later, alligator."
"In a while crocodile." Hannah hung up her cell and grinned at it before taking a sip of her coffee. Booth put the phone down and made eye contact with Hannah.

"You seem happy."
"Oh, and old friend is coming up."
"Old friend, huh? What would this old friends name be?"
"James. Ugh, I haven't seen him since he got transferred to Texas. But he's here on business so I'm not sure how much I'll get to see him." Booth nodded and passed her a folder from his desk before leaning back on his chair and put his feet on the desk.

"Well,  I'm sure you'll see something of each other." There was a hint of jealousy in his voice that fortunately, went undetected by the young woman. She was already flicking through the thick file with a frown.

"What's all this?"
"I want you to read up on the Grave Digger. Go and see Sweets for his notes as well." Hannah cocked her head before another smile appeared.

"Is this to do with the possible Texas case?" Booth shot her a confused look.

"How'd you know?" Hannah grinned.

"Just a guess. Woman's intuition." He frowned. "Say, do you want pizza?" Booth couldn't help but chuckle.
One  thing he had learned while working with Hannah was that she had a large appetite and it didn't matter what time of day it was, she would eat whatever it was she was craving.

"You're buying."
"Deal."

                   **************

Hannah woke up the next morning to the smell of coffee and bacon wafting through the cracks in her bedroom door. She sat up groggily and rubbed her eyes, pushing the file she had been reading off her chest. She'd learned a lot in the night about the Grave Digger and felt like she could contribute more now than she could ever have in her classes.

From the kitchen, Hannah heard a meow and then the sound of someone sighing.

She frowned and got herself out of bed, running a hand through her long, messy curls. She wondered out of her room and almost let out a squeal when she saw the sight in her kitchen.

"James Aubrey, how dare you not wake me up when you got in!" She yelled and ran at him. Aubrey turned and caught his best friend just in time before she tackled him to the ground. He hugged her tightly and chuckled.

"You were awake when I got in. I even popped my head in but you were so engrossed in your readings that I couldn't disturb you more." Hannah pulled away and grinned.

"I can't believe you're here. Tis the best thing in the world!" Aubrey rolled his dark eyes at her.

"You're a drama queen."
"And you are my jester. And is that bacon?" Hannah was distracted for a moment.  "I didn't know I had bacon."
"Thats because I went and brought it this morning. With coffee." Aubrey pulled away to fill up a coffee cup with steaming hot coffee. He passed it to her and she took a sip and sighed.

"This really is the best morning." Aslan meowed again and Aubrey sighed and looked down at the giant ginger fur ball before grabbing another bacon strip and chucking it at the cat. Aslan, much like a dog, caught it in his mouth and began to chew it right then and there. The two friends watched him.

"He never does that for me but always for you.  Why?"
"Because I'm the bomb dot com." Hannah scoffed.

"So... when are you leaving this morning?"
"In half an hour. Philips and I need to be at the Jeffersonian to meet with Doctor Brennan."
"Oh yeah. Care to give me a lift?" Aubrey nodded and dished two plates with bacon and eggs.

"But why though?" Hannah grinned.

"We're partners on this case." Aubreys eyes brightened. "Booth and Brennan and the rest of the team are so connected that Booth made a  read the whoooole case file series. We will be working together." Hannah confirmed as the two sat down at the table. Aubrey passed Hannah the maple syrup so that she could drown her bacon and smiled widely at her.

"Does this then make up for the fact that we won't be able to party away for your birthday?" Hannah pouted slightly but nodded.

"As does this breakfast." The friends grinned at each other before digging into their food.

                    **************

Hannah and Aubrey strolled into the Jeffersonians autopsy room just as Cam was putting on her gloves.

"Hannah. Pleased to see you're still alive." Hannah raised an eyebrow at Cams comment and noticed how she shot a look at Booth with her lips pursed. "And awake after having coffee." She added, making a quick recovery and Booth relaxed.

"Agent Price, this is Agent Daniel Philips and his partner Agent Aubrey." Booth motioned to Aubrey. Hannah grinned.

"Agent Price. It's a pleasure to finally put a name to a face," Agent Philips offered her a hand and a toothy grin. He looked about Booths age and had Sandy blond hair, grey eyes and busy beard to make him look like a Texan Santa Clause. "Now tell me, how have you manged to deal with his yabbering over the last however many years." Hannah laughed and shook his hand and shook her head.

"Honesty sir? It really depends on how much silence you need. A cookie will buy you 20 seconds. But a candy apple will buy you 30 minutes of silence, 10 minutes of expletives and 3 days of the silent treatment." Philips laughed and turned back to Booth who was frowning as Aubrey shook his hand.

"Why didn't you say she was a riot, Seeley? You got a real good partner here." Hannah grinned and nudged Aubrey in the ribs when he came back to stand by her.

"You two know each other?" Booth asked. They nodded.

"Pretty much since she lived next door. So that's what, 17 years ago?" Hannah nodded.

"This doofus here is like the brother I always wanted." Aubrey rolled his eyes. Cam cleared her throat but the smile she was trying to hide was still trying to come out.

"Are we wanting to get started so that I can give Brennan the body to deflesh?" The group of agents all nodded their heads and watched Cam work, Hannah making notes as she was talking. This was both for Cams benefit and also the FBI'S reference.

An hour later, Brennan had the bones and was running them through the machine that got rid of any flesh. The intern, Daisy, was standing there was a sort of star struck expression on her face and was babbling on and on in Brennan's ear. Hannah was sitting at Hodgins desk as he worked through the particulates that Cam had dug up and was running her hands over face and groaning.

"Does she ever shut up?" Hodgins, who was getting a headache from Daisy's constant chatter, shook his head.

"I'd advise you get out of here and hire a sniper." Hannah snorted.

"Why hire a sniper when I can just take her out myself. She needs a flippen machine gun to make sure she doesn't come back to haunt us."
"Then you'll need to salt and burn the body." The two friends chuckled.

"Do you want coffee?"
"Please. That would great." Hannah finger gunned him and Hodgins rolled his eyes. "You are such an 80s child."

Hannah pushed herself out of her chair and started towards the mezzanine level where Angela was talking to Sweets, who had suddenly turned up, and Aubrey.

"Hey, ya'll." Hannah made it to the top of the stairs and made a mental note to work out more. The stairs in this place were slowly killing her with the amount of times she walked up them.

"Hey, sweetie. Coffee?"
"Please." Angela passed her the coffee pot and she poured two cups. "So what are we all doing up here?"
"Just getting to know Aubrey here." Aubrey smiled and sipped at his coffee.

"Right. Just don't break him. Oh, and does anyone know where Booth went off to?" Angela and Aubrey shook their heads but Sweets nodded.

"He and Philips went off to the basement." Hannah pulled a face.

"Thanks, Sweets." She turned on her heel and walked down the stairs again, wincing at Daisy's chipper voice. She put both the coffees down on Hodgins desk and motioned that her shooting the young intern. Hodgins blue eyes sparkled, evidently holding back his laughter. Hannah walked off quickly, heading towards the bathroom and with the mental note to go see Booth.

She didn't expect it, that was for sure. When she opened the bathroom door and flicked on the light, the feeling of a stun gun pressing into her ribs wasn't great. Her body racked with the pain of the electricity being fired through it. She fell to the floor, her muscles feeling like jelly.
When the stunning stopped, she gasped for air and managed to look up.

"Who..." A foot connected with her ribs. She gave a yelp of pain and forced her arms to wrap themselves around her middle. A hand grabbed at her hair and yanked her up. Whoever it was that was attacking her, was strong. But then again, Hannah was tall, not heavy. Weighing in at only 65kgs, she was like mainly lean muscle as well.

"Hannah Elizabeth Price." The voice came out from behind a mask and was warbled beyond recognition. Hannah coughed slightly and felt the familiar taste of blood in her mouth. She frowned.

The masked figure reached for its pocket and pulled out a syringe. Hannah's eyes widened and the sudden surge of adrenaline that she felt caused her to lash out. Her fists connected with the persons middle. There was a muffled cry and Hannah ripped her head away from the hands, feeling a chunk of hair get pulled out. She ignored that pain and ran head on into the person, pushing them back and into the bathroom wall. Hannah began a volley of punches, most of which were blocked except for two that landed on the right side of the ribs. Just as she pulled away to catcher breath and wipe away a trickle of blood from her mouth, her legs were swept from under her and she crashed to the floor. The person climbed onto her, breathing heavily and the last thing Hannah saw as the needle slid into her arm, was the masked face.

Authors Note
Damn...
So that didn't quite play out the way I thought it was going to but sometimes you just gotta roll with it, right?

So I'm also quite proud of the fact that I was aiming for Thursday and it's Monday that I finished this. And Tuesday when I publish it.

Anyway. I'm going to go get started on the next chapter.

Question of the day: If you could ask Hannah anything, what would it be?

Oh and you can also follow me on Instagram @ireallyamcheese

》Bree《