(no subject)

[argyle_princess]

Hannah slept till late afternoon today. Which is not that unusual for a teenager on a Saturday, though it's unusual for this teenager, who usually runs three miles before breakfast. But this is hardly a usual Saturday, and Hannah slept though both breakfast and lunch.

And now Brennan has gone to pick up Chinese food for dinner, and Hannah has had a very long and very hot shower and put on her own clothes for the first time in two and half weeks.

She's busy painting her toe nails a rather vivid shade of green, and watching Legally Blonde on her laptop while she waits for Brennan to get back. She's not especially concerned with the trials and triumphs of Elle Woods today, she just wants the background noise.

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[argyle_princess]

"Helping is good," Hannah says.

She looks at her hands again.

"My first boyfriend asked me out so he could trade dumping me for my dad dropping testimony against him."

She looks up with a weak smile. "Not my first trip around the board as a pawn."

And before that, there had been the divorce.

[paladinsuitsyou]

Booth's eyes widen. "No, I guess not."

Pause.

"I can see why you're not so happy about this round."

Another pause. "Bastard. Did it work?"

[argyle_princess]

Hannah nods. "Yes."

Simple and matter-of-fact.

"It worked very well."

[paladinsuitsyou]

"Makes it worse somehow, doesn't it?"

Booth wants badly to ask what the charges were, what the guy was involved with, whether Hannah thought he was guilty. Whether he ever went to trial. But it seems sort of tactless and beside the point.

[argyle_princess]

Hannah would answer all those questions (manslaughter, a knifing on a bridge, no, and no), if he asked.

"Yes. Though I don't know that there was a better. Just different worses."

[paladinsuitsyou]

Booth is also tempted to ask what kind of town do you live in? but that, and all the others, can wait.

"I know how that is," he says seriously. "This whole Epps thing was pretty much a best-case scenario thing. Nothing seemed like a good option from the start."

[argyle_princess]

Would it cover it to just say, "Neptune"?

"'It could be worse' isn't much of an answer," she agrees.

"I'm just glad it's over. I can focus on having dinner, seeing my mother, and finishing high school."

In that order.

[paladinsuitsyou]

It might, actually. Booth doesn't follow pop culture fanatically, but he does know about Aaron Echolls. And Logan Echolls. And Woody Goodman. And Beaver Casablancas. He also sort of thinks it's a case of people with more money than sense.

"That sounds pretty nice," he says, smiling. "I plan on getting back to work, playing with my son and maybe getting a new car to fix up or something."

[argyle_princess]

He's right. There's a lot of money in Neptune. Sense is rarer.

"That sounds like a good plan," she says.

"You gonna stick around for dinner? I'm pretty sure we over-ordered."

[paladinsuitsyou]

"Of course," Booth says, mildly affronted. "As if I'd miss it. Bones is an awesome take-out orderer."

He settles back on the chair. "So, we gonna finish watching your movie before she gets here?"

He can deal with Elle Woods for awhile. Reese Witherspoon is pretty cute.

[argyle_princess]

That gets a smile.

"Sure," she says.

And somehow, eventually, everything will work out.

After all, if a fashion major can get into Harvard Law, anything is possible, right?