Title: For the Greater Good

Rating: T

Spoilers: The Pain in the Heart

Characters/Pairings: everyone plus an OC

Disclaimer: I do not own Bones. I do, however, own Dr. Vivian Foley

Summary: He had done it for the greater good-the greater good of five people.

Author's Note: I thought I would have one more chapter, and this is it. I'm summing it up in an epilogue. So, I hope this doesn't read badly and that you enjoy it.

Chapter Five

Zack had not questioned Dr. Foley's ability to get him out of the high security mental facility. Instead, he had followed her hurried footsteps down the hallway of offices with his head bowed and his hands still by his side. His eyes passed over each crack in the tile. The jagged edges tore at the ends of his pants, and he dragged his left foot along the floor at an awkward pace to try and straighten out the scratching material without using his hands. He focused on the cracks and forced the blurry metal tips of his fingers out of his mind as they flashed into his line of vision with each step.

'One, two, three, four…'

She had beckoned him up with one hand while her other reached out for the door and opened it. He had learned long ago (had it only been six days?) to read the body language of the men in white and the women with clip boards. It was the difference between free reign and locked doors with slits for food. So he had learned to follow.

'…fifteen, sixteen, seventeen…"

He had only listened to the whispered conversations over the phone and then at the security office until he had felt the touch of the Doctor's hand on his shoulder. Zack Addy was not accustomed to physical contact, and he flinched at the gesture but stopped the shuffling of his feet.

'…twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five.'

"Zack, I need you to show them your hands." His eyes avoided the guards at the door as he raised his hands up palms down and revealed the damaged scar tissue and metal. "Grip this with as much pressure as you can." The presence of some foam stress ball in his hand almost went unnoticed by the damaged nerves in his skin.

Zack did not watch as his hands managed to barely apply enough pressure to hold the ball, but he heard the sigh of the officer as he took it back.

"No handcuffs?"

"No use, Doctor."

"Thank you."

'Twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight…"

The walking continued, and Zack followed their progress by the change from white tile to the hardwood of the entry way. The clicks of a security code against a plastic number pad, the opening of an automated door, and the gust of cold air were the only other signs of his exit as he journeyed into the dim light before the exit doors. It was only when he heard the chirping of some night bird behind wood that he brought his eyes up from the ground.

'…Thirty-three, thirty-four.'

Dr. Foley watched him stare at the hard wood doors before him.

"Zack, if this works you'll never come back as a patient."

It was then that he found his voice.

"He said he would hurt them if I disobeyed."

"He cannot know that we're going tonight or that I know. He is not an all powerful being, Zack. He is human-as human as possible after what he's done-and he can be stopped. You just need to trust me."

"What if it doesn't work?"

"Trust me Zack."

He could hear them in her voice, and he could not force his eyes to hers. If this didn't work he wouldn't be able to ever again, but he couldn't bear to see the betrayal of friendship in their eyes.

"Yes, Dr. Foley." She smiled.

"Would you like to do the honors?"

"Honors of what?"

"Opening the doors?" His hands managed to twist the knob half way, and it was only when he forced his shoulder onto the door that he saw a crack of the night sky. He stood in the doorway with his eyes up until Dr. Foley's hands fell onto his shoulders. "Now, Zack, I think you'll enjoy a visit to the Jeffersonian."

It only took those words to get him into her car.

"Bones, tell me you own a tape player."

"Booth, I own a tape player."

"Well, snap to it! Let's find out what these tapes are."

Cam pressed her hand onto Booth's arm before he turned around. "I don't think that's a good idea. You're forgetting something-Zack kept things from the people he came in contact with every day."

"Honey, we've noticed." Angela held up one post-it note as she continued. "None from Naomi, I see."

All but Cam smirked until they were brought back to reality by a knock on the door and the memories of a man none of them could previously bring themselves to think of again. Hodgins was the first to pull back a window covering and look outside.

"It's your marriage counselor." He let the cover drop. "Where's his box?"

He had spoken without thinking, but his words forced them all to raise their eyes to Cam, and she nodded once as she watched Brennan's eyes widen with understanding. Angela brought one hand to her mouth as Booth uttered the words they were all thinking in the back of their minds.

"Little fucker!"

It took them all a minute to realize that they should stop him as he moved towards the door.

She didn't allow him to try and buckle and unbuckle his seatbelt, and pushed his hands away when he tried to open the doors to the Jeffersonian. Zack did not protest. She glanced back at him and nodded as he eyed security.

"I called ahead to work it out." They passed through, and Zack blushed as his hands set off the metal detectors but he didn't look down. Instead his eyes stayed focus on the hallway ahead. Dr. Foley pulled him along when her summons failed to pull him along after she reminded the guards of her name. She had been surprised at their readiness to admit their Dr. Addy before admitting an unfamiliar doctor, but she remembered her own reluctance to believe the reports on her new patient after meeting him.

As soon as she beckoned him to follow her, running was all she could do to keep up as Zack found his way to the doors of the lab. Her body collided with his as she turned the final corner and found him still before the final turn that would take him to the glass doors of the lab. He wasn't moving, but his eyes were moving across the opposite wall.

"You can go in there, you know."

"He's there."

"What?"

"He'll be in there. He always is, and if he sees me he will not hesitate to protect his experiment's results." Zack turned back towards his doctor. "Could you go in there without me first?" She nodded.

"Stay right here. I'll explain that I wanted you all to sit down and discuss your problems to help with therapy or something equally psychiatric because you were being unresponsive. Is that all right?"

"It sounds believable."

"I know." She pushed through the doors anticipating seeing The Master, but she had not expected to see him first thing upon entering. She watched him knock once on an office door before walking up beside him.

"I'm sorry, but do you know where I could find Dr. Temperance Brennan?"

He turned and met her eyes. "I think she's in here."

"Thank you. Are you waiting to enter?" She gestured with an awkward smile, and watched as the man's lips turned upwards.

"Yeah, but I need to head out." He gestured over one shoulder with his left hand, glanced at his watch, and looked back up at her she nodded. "If you could just tell them I was here and that I had to run. I have to be in court, but I need to run back to the other office to get my notes."

"Will do."

"Awesome. Thanks."

Another awkward smile with the hands clasped in front of her before she dropped one and held out the other. "Dr. Vivian Foley." His hand caught hers, and she felt him grip her hand. She smiled.

"Dr. Lance Sweets."She watched him run off in the opposite direction of the doors and knocked.

Brennan managed to stop Booth in one fluid movement of slamming her heel into the back of his knee as he dove for the door. Cam spoke over the noise of Booth climbing to his feet as he groaned.

"We need to go see Zack first to see what's going on. If we confront him with this he'll have to explain it." She grimaced at Booth's struggle to get up. "And I think he'll enjoy the company."

"Why didn't you let me kill him?"

"Have any of us actually been to visit him?" Hodgins and the others spoke over the conversation of the taken down and the taker.

"I didn't think it would do any good for you to get arrested too."

"I went once, but I ended up crying and Zack looked pretty upset."

"I wouldn't get arrested-it would be justifiable."

"I just couldn't see him."

"Anyways, I wasn't going to let you hit him first."

"Cam, we can go see him now."

There was silence as they all glanced around at each other in the slow realization that they would see him again. Cam looked down at her hands, and Brennan cleared her throat.

"Before we go we should discuss the possibilities of what may be on those tapes. They could get Zack in more trouble."

"Sweetie, he's locked in a ward for the criminally insane forever after having his hands blown up while trying to save his friend who was a part of a larger group of friends who couldn't help him. It can't get much worse."

"Thank you, Angela, for making the rest of us feel awful." Cam darted her eyes to one side as she spoke to avoid looking at the others in the room. Brennan nodded.

"Of course, there's the other possibility: it could clear him."There was a slight upwards turn to her lips as she spoke. Hodgins curled his hand over his mouth to hide his smile, Cam forced her eyes back to the desk, and Angela just went ahead and grinned in plain view of everyone. They were all silenced again as the knocking on the door broke through to their ears, and Hodgins glanced out again.

"It's a woman. Sweets is gone. She's got a visitor's pass." There was silence before she knocked again.

"Do you know her?"

"No, she's…" Hodgins pulled back the cover over the window and shook his head. He pulled the cover farther back. "Right there." Their eyes were pulled to the window and the paper pressed up against the glass. One pale hand held up the small piece of paper torn from a pocket notebook, and the handwriting slanted towards the floor. Cam leaned forwards with her lips forming the words she read. The woman holding the paper looked at them over her finger tips. Booth reached for the door knob while Angela read the words aloud.

"I'm Zack's therapist, and we need to talk."

Opening the door, Booth glanced around the edge of the door before his view was blocked by the woman's face. "Dr. Sweets just ran off in the direction of the other doors. I'll be right back." Booth kept the door opened, eyeing the path to the other side of the lab, while those behind his back exchanged a series of looks and frowns. Hodgins shook his head.

"That was seriously good timing."

"Where is she going?" Brennan turned away from Angela's question and peered out through a gap between Booth's arm and the door.

"Zack."

"Yes, creepy, we know. We were talking about him and he shows up."

"No, she went to get Zack." They all turned to look at the door as Booth took one step back and let them peer out for themselves. Watching, they moved away from the door as the woman pulled Zack into the room, glanced over her shoulder and tapped the edge of the door for Booth to shut it. None of them moved. Zack kept his eyes down, and he pulled his arms in against this body hoping that he could somehow pull himself in enough to vanish to escape the eyes of his once colleagues. Dr. Foley cleared her throat.

"We need to hurry, and I have a feeling that all of you would prefer to keep this short." She placed a hand on Zack's back. "But this might be beneficial for my patient." She pushed Zack towards the stunned and silent Dr. Brennan, and his body fell towards his mentor. Brennan wasted no time in responding to the movement and reached for him. "So I'll talk while you catch up." Zack was passed from the arms of Brennan and into Angela's grip as Dr. Foley continued speaking. "And before you hesitate to hug him, his actions were to save your life." Hodgins grabbed the back of Zack's robe and pulled him out of Angela's arms as she bit her bottom lip.

"Save our lives?" Booth patted Zack on the back while Foley answered his question.

"He was led to believe that were he not to take action his colleagues and friends would be killed." Zack kept his head down as Cam stepped in front of him, and Booth shoved the poor boy into his former 

boss. "That is the least of our worries. Your Dr. Sweets planned the entire thing to test a theory on human reactions, and he needs to be taken into custody as soon as possible. From what I've heard, Sweets will do anything to protect the results of this experiment. He should be on his way to court right now if he was telling the truth." Cam eyed the woman speaking over the top of Zack's head. She glanced at Booth as she let go of Zack. The younger man kept his mouth closed and eyes down as Booth pulled him towards the desk.

"Are these tapes recordings of Dr. Sweets telling you what to do?" Booth bent his body to the side and tilted his head so that he could see Zack's face. "Zack, we can't help you if you don't speak."

"He said that if I told anyone he would kill you." Zack's voice barely carried to Booth's ears, but the FBI agent was sure that everyone in the room had heard it. Booth nodded at Cam, and she reached into her pocket for a cell phone. "He said he would kill Angela and Dr. Brennan first, then you Agent Booth, the Hodgins, and then Dr. Saroyan."

"And you were scared because he would kill us if you didn't do as he said? That he would hurt you too?" Zack shook his head.

"I was scared because he didn't specify how he would kill you." Booth sighed, and Hodgins spoke up.

"Zack, buddy, just say yes, and Booth can go get Sweets. We'll be fine." Zack swallowed.

He lifted his head up and looked to Dr. Brennan. She raised one eyebrow.

"Yes. I felt threatened." He rolled his lips together and then spoke again. "I hoped you would find them, but that it wouldn't be so soon so that Dr. Sweets wouldn't still be on the alert."

Booth clicked his teeth and glanced at Cam. She nodded.

"Well then…" Booth placed his hands on Zack's shoulders and then moved away towards the door. "…I will just go arrest the lovely Dr. Sweets and get back to you guys." Zack watched him leave, and then looked to Dr. Brennan.

"I had no choice. I had to save you-all of you."

She smiled at him. "Zack," she opened her arms and used her left to pulled him into a hug. "I'm proud of you."

-END-

Well, there's an epilogue that I'm writing, and I hope this ended well. I had an alternate ending, but I ended up liking this one more so…It won. Thank you for reading all of the chapters and reviewing.