Hey everyone!
I'm GoldenNinde (or just Ninde)! ;) This is my first Bones story, I hope you like. The timeline would be five months after the end of Season 3. Mid Season 4.
The good stuff is in the next chapter, but this one is necessary to understand what happens.
Freshly baked chocolate chip cookies are good.
Reviews are freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.
Reviews are good!
The End of the Partnership – By GoldenNinde
CHAPTER 1: Beginning of the End
"It is my duty to inform you that the Brennan-Booth partnership is officially severed, and that you, Special Agent Seeley Booth, will be required to assign another Agent amongst your department for handling consultations to the Jeffersonian Institute through Forensic Anthropologist Dr Temperance Brennan, in the future."
The letter was long. It was full of details and other meaningless things his mind couldn't comprehend. The only sentence he read over and over again was the first. The rest meant nothing. Nothing at all.
A week eariler…
"Agent Booth, Dr Brennan, good evening. Please sit down."
They exchanged a glance, and neither complied.
"Where's Sweets?" Booth asked. The man sitting before them in Dr Sweets' office was certainly not Dr Sweets. Both partners had come on Wednesday as usual, dressed casually as usual, five minutes late as usual. Only to find this man instead of the twenty-two year old therapist. He was rather short and slightly overweight, with dark hair flecked with silver and large blue eyes. He looked calm and relaxed, as though this was his office.
"Dr Sweets no longer works for the FBI, he has been reassigned."
"You mean fired."
"I mean reassigned, Agent Booth."
Brennan was looking at the man in a silent, calculating manner. Her eyes assessed the situation as she let Booth ask the questions and came to conclusions of her own.
"Who are you, then?"
"I am your new therapist. My name is Dr Alfred Lenney."
"We don't need an evaluation anymore. Sweets already said we could keep on working together, and we meet with him because of another thing that has nothing to do with you." Even though his words were hostile, Booth didn't let his tone become so. He was simply questioning, used to getting answers he wanted. And he didn't like not knowing the answers, something he had in common with the woman standing beside him.
"Actually, Dr Sweets' reassignment had to do with malpractice, Agent Booth, and his evaluation was judged to be flawed and incomplete. You and Dr Brennan" here he nodded towards Brennan, who still hadn't spoken "will have to undergo another, although shorter, process with me."
A second glance was exchanged, and this time it was Brennan who spoke.
"Why were we not informed of this sooner? And short is not an accurate enough adjective. How long will this process take?"
"I will try to finish in three meetings. One with each of you, and finally one with you together. I can't begin until tomorrow, I'm not free today, but maybe you could meet with me first, Dr Brennan?"
"Tomorrow?" she involuntarily looked at Booth, a question on her eyes. He nodded imperceptibly, there were no cases waiting. "Yes, all right."
"Excellent. I will call with the time later today."
"I'll be working today, probably until around six or seven."
"Bones."
"Probably six."
"Very good, I'll see you tomorrow Dr Brennan. Agent Booth, I will contact you tomorrow about our meeting."
"Okay. You have both our office numbers?" Booth raised his eyebrows. There was something about this man he didn't like.
"Of course."
