(no subject)

[argyle_princess]

Temperance Brennan's apartment is, at this moment, more or less silent.

This is because Hannah is the only person here right now, and she is still fast asleep, curled up on the sofa bed with the stuffed mouse she no longer cares that Brennan knows about, sleeping the dreamless, motionless sleep of the exhausted.

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[dr_temperance]

Brennan quietly keys into her apartment, and closes the door softly.

Hannah is still sound asleep, and Brennan doesn't want to wake her.

She ought to sleep herself, something more than the light nap she caught in the wee small hours. But she's wide awake. No doubt due to the combination of adrenaline and caffiene still working its way through her system.

So she turns on her desk lamp and pulls out a draft of an article she's editing. Wide awake she may be, but she's not up to diving into case files just yet.

[argyle_princess]

It's some time still, before Hannah wakes up, with the brief mild panic of a person who has no idea where she is, before she remembers.

"Brennan?"

[dr_temperance]

"Right here," Brennan replies promptly.

Brennan looks up from her papers with a smile. "I was starting to think that I'd have to wake you up to take you to catch your plane."

[argyle_princess]

Hannah shrugs a little, sitting up.

"Didn't sleep much last night, or the night before last, whatever it was. Most nights, actually."

She yawns.

"Is there coffee?"

[dr_temperance]

"I kind of got that impression." Regretfully.

Brennan goes into the kitchen area, pours out the cold, stale liquid in the coffee maker, and puts on a fresh pot.

"Are you hungry?" she calls into the living room. "I have..." Brennan opens her refrigerator and makes a face. "...not a lot, actually." Grocery shopping had dropped significantly in the hierarchy of things to do. "I seem to have tuna salad, eggs, and cereal."

[argyle_princess]

"Just coffee for now," says Hannah, getting up and following her into the kitchen. "Maybe cereal later. No tuna salad."

She shrugs.

"My brain tends to go all hyperactive when I try to sleep, if I'm stressed. I didn't really sleep for about a month when my parents split up."

[dr_temperance]

Brennan nods. "It's a pretty common physiological response to stress."

Her mind had gone on a similar sleep-strike when her parents had disappeared.

"The worst is waking up and thinking for just a moment that everything is normal. And then remembering that it's not."

She gets two mugs down from the cabinet and sets out the milk.

"Are you feeling better now?"

[argyle_princess]

Hannah associates that feeling with Vermont.

She nods. "Yeah, much better. Sleep helps. Talking to Mom helped."

Hannah takes her coffee black, with half a spoon of sugar.

[dr_temperance]

Brennan associates it with a string of foster homes longer than she cares to dwell on.

She sets two full mugs, the milk, the sugar and spoons out on the kitchen table.

"I'm sorry your visit had to end on this kind of note."

[argyle_princess]

Hannah pours the half spoon of sugar into her coffee very slowly, watching it disappear into the cup before she answers.

"So does this sort of thing happen often? Being targeted by serial killers, I mean. Because this is the second time for you since I've met you, and it hasn't been that long."

[dr_temperance]

Brennan pours a carefully measured dollop of milk into her coffee before she answers.

"Honestly, it is the exception rather than the rule. But I'd be lying if I said that this was a perfectly safe line of work. It's become less so since I started working so closely with the FBI."

[argyle_princess]

"I'm not sure there's any such thing as a perfectly safe line of work," says Hannah. "But this seems . . . this might be more than I want to sign up for. I don't know. I mean, it's interesting, it's really interesting, but, I don't know, on the other hand, I really hated being powerless in all this. And you and Dr. Hodgins and Dr. Addy could do something. Figure stuff out. And you weren't a target just because you happened to be a blue-eyed blonde, or whatever."

[dr_temperance]

"It's definitely a valid concern."

"I spent most of my career as a lab rat, but even then the work took me to parts of the world that weren't exactly stable. I'd conservatively estimate that there are hundreds of criminals that would like me to stop examining evidence. And over the last couple of years, being partnered with Booth and spending more time in the field...things get hairy sometimes."

"I'm not trying to sound discouraging, but it's good to have as many facts as you can. As you said, I decided, for my part, that the benefits were worth the risks." Brennan smiles lopsidedly. "And I'm still alive and working."

[argyle_princess]

Hannah nods. "It's a lot to think about, and there's really no rush. I have years before I have to make any sort of final decisions, right?"

[dr_temperance]

Brennan nods and takes a sip of coffee before she continues.

"You do. There are dozens of fields in the sciences, and those are only the ones related to what we do in the medico-legal lab."

"The decision about what to do with your life.....well, it's something that by its very nature requires a lot of thought. It's not a decision that should be made quickly or lightly."

[argyle_princess]

"And, you know, I don't have to go into a science. I could . . . take up opera singing, or raise emus, or move to Dubai and become the third wife of a sheik. Not that I will, but I could."

There's a slight pause.

"Do you ever wish you did something else? Even just on days like this?"

[dr_temperance]

"No. I've never wanted to do anything else. Not even on days like this." There is no hesitation in Brennan's response.

A small smile turns up the corners of her mouth. "If you do decide to marry a sheik, find one who hasn't married yet. The position of first wife is generally preferable to that of subsequent wives."

[argyle_princess]

"I'll keep that in mind," says Hannah. "I'm pretty sure I'd make a bad sheik's wife, though, first or third."

Hannah looks down at her coffee for a second.

"It's kind of hard to feel, you know, certain about stuff right now. Everything's kind of . . ." she trails off, and one hand flutters vaguely.

[dr_temperance]

Brennan shrugs, understanding.

"You're sixteen. Adolescence and young adulthood is by nature a period of great uncertainty."

"It's okay to not be sure."

[argyle_princess]

She gives Brennan a wry sort of smile.

"So when's the period of great certainty come along?"

[dr_temperance]

"That can vary. Some people find their purpose earlier than others."

Brennan had found a purpose for herself earlier than most. Finding a purpose had made up for not having anything else.

"And for some people, it can change throughout their lives. At least, that's what I've observed."

[argyle_princess]

Hannah nods. It's nothing she hasn't heard before.

There's a short glance to the balcony and then an abrupt subject change.

"Does it bother you? That he died here, I mean."

[dr_temperance]

Brennan deliberately does not look at the area of floorspace where her father had left a very large pool of another man's blood.

Epps is not the first person to die in the vicinity of this apartment, but she's not going to tell Hannah that.

"No. Why would it?"

Brennan does not believe in hauntings or ghosts or 'negative residual energy' that people tend to ascribe to areas where death has occurred. No matter what she's seen in Milliways.

Milliways is Milliways. Things like that don't happen in the real world.

[argyle_princess]

Hannah shrugs.

"It would bother a lot of people. Associating a memory like with a place they consider home.

"I mean, homes are supposed to be safe, right?"

[dr_temperance]

"Anthropologically speaking, yes."

Brennan smiles slightly and offers a shrug of her own.

"But I still feel safe here."

"Would you like some more coffee?"

[argyle_princess]

Hannah thinks for a moment, and then grins.

"Given the fact that I just slept for something like fourteen hours, I guess I must feel pretty safe here, too.

"And, yeah, more coffee would be good."