Summary: He can feel gravel lodging under his fingernails, tearing at the skin of his hands. He doesn't care. Zack in the quarry in "Aliens in a Spaceship."

Disclaimer: Not mine. I'm just playing for the sake of playing. I'll put everyone back (relatively) unharmed when I'm done.

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He's never been so scared in his entire life, not when he was exposed to the lung fungus last Christmas, not when Agent Booth played them the Gravedigger's message, not even when he didn't think he'd be able to decipher Doctor Brennan's text message. This is pure, unadulterated terror, terror that Doctor Brennan and Hodgins might die because he can't find them in time.

It's past the deadline. They should be dead. They could be buried anywhere in this quarry. He's trying to look everywhere at once, knowing it's impossible, but he's running on pure emotion right now, not logical thought. He's too scared right now for anything resembling logical thought. Doctor Brennan would be horrified.

He sees the puff of flying sand from an explosion out of the corner of his eye and then he's racing after Agent Booth without a second thought. Angela's only half a step behind him. Doctor Saroyan is barely able to keep up; Zack knows her heels must keep sinking into the sand, but he can't spare more than a passing thought for his boss.

Agent Booth already has Doctor Brennan halfway out of the ground by the time Zack skids to a halt at the edge of the newly created sink hole. Doctor Brennan is fine; Agent Booth will take care of her. Agent Booth always takes care of Doctor Brennan.

Hodgins is still buried.

Zack begins to dig.

He can feel gravel lodging under his fingernails, tearing at the skin of his hands. He doesn't care. Zack would gladly sacrifice his hands completely if it meant saving Hodgins.

It's Agent Booth who first gets a hold of Hodgins, but soon everyone is pulling him from the ground. Zack and Doctor Saroyan have one arm, Angela has the other, and Agent Booth has his arms around Hodgins' midsection, heaving with all his might.

Hodgins is flat on his back before he begins to cough and then Angela is kissing him and Zack's cheeks hurt from how widely he's grinning. Hodgins is alive.

But because Zack is running on emotion, he finds he can't believe his eyes. He reaches out and his left palm comes to rest against Hodgins' hair, his fingers against the other man's beard. And, suddenly, it's real. Zack finally believes what his eyes have been telling him.

Hodgins is alive.

And Zack has never been so happy in entire life.

end