Wearing his Army Ranger dress uniform, Seely Booth stood ram rod straight in the hallway that lead to the Secretary of Defense's office. His partner and girlfriend, Doctor Temperance Brennan, stood closely by his side with her hand gently wrapped around his straight elbow.
"At ease, Master Sergeant," the uniformed serviceman assigned to the office said in an authoritative voice, "The Secretary will see you in a moment."
Booth relaxed his posture, allowing his arms to come to rest behind his back, with one hand casually cupped in the other.
"This is not required of you Booth," Bones spoke softly to him, trying to talk him out of doing this.
Turning his head slightly to look at her, "If they are going to make you go, there is no way in hell I'm not going with you," he spoke softly to her.
She smiled softly at him and kissed his cheek gently before slightly scolding him, "You're being irrational."
The door to the outer office opened, "Ten-hut," the serviceman said snapping to attention. Booth did the same.
Booth and Brennan where escorted into the office, she hung back several feet as Booth turned to face what she would imagine some would equate to being a firing squad. Sitting behind and around the office desk he face the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Head of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Ambassador of Tajikistan. But not Booth, he stood tall, looking like the strong, loyal, honest, stoic man he was.
And he was doing it for her. Because he loved her, wanted to protect her, what they had created together. She was being forced to go by her government, and he was more than prepared to fight to go with her.
"Would you prefer we refer to you as Master Sergeant Booth or Special Agent Booth?"
"No disrespect sir, but why don't we decide on that after we reach a conclusion to this meeting," Booth said with as little sarcasm as possible. He had wanted this meeting, and pushed it to the highest level of the government.
Nodding his head in agreement, Secretary of Defense Hagel said, "Very well," and proceeded to review his notes. "I see that you are offering to go with Doctor Brennan to Tajikistan to identify the remains. May I ask why you are offering?"
"Sir, Dr. Temperance Brennan and I have been partnered up for the last 8 years. Our conviction rate is near perfect, as you can see by reading the file in front of you. We have lived through a lot together. No offense to my fellow service men, but I won't feel comfortable knowing she is in a war ravaged part of the world without being there with her sir. You can send me in whatever capacity you wish, whether it be as an agent of the FBI or Master Sargent in the army, just as long as I am with Dr. Brennan sir."
"Agent Booth, it seems your desire to go with Dr. Brennan goes beyond the professional capacity, is that that true?" Secretary of Defense Kerry asked.
Swallowing the lump in his throat, he prepared to trudge forward He was prepared for this to come out, but he was hoping he wouldn't sound so desperate that he let it be known himself, "Yes sir. Dr. Brennan and I have been more than partners for a little over a year now."
The only problem was he didn't know how honest he should be. Maybe if he was completely honest they would change their mind about sending her, forcing her to choose between her civic duty as the leading anthropologist in the world and spending time in prison for things like treason. Of course she didn't see the big deal in the matter; it was 'her job and field of expertise' as she put it.
"I've seen war, devastation and mass graves before Booth," she said in that irritatingly calm, rational and straight to the point tone that she had.
"I know baby, but not like this, not with me," he looked at her earnestly, hoping she understood.
She took a step closer, laying her hand on his cheek, "You know I can defend myself. You want to try to protect me because you love me. What about Parker?"
Sighing, "If anything happens to me, I hope he remembers me as an honorable father, who protects and serves his country and the people he loves."
"You're saying you would like to go with Dr. Brennan because you are romantically involved with her?" the Head of the CIA clarified.
"I'm carrying his prodigy sir," Bones' voice rang out from behind him. They hadn't known that she was pregnant when they had the conversation about Parker, but it had made him just more determined to go with her.
His heart clenched at hearing it, as it did every time since they had found out a week ago. He loved his son, but hearing that Bones, the woman he loved and was going to spend the rest of his life with was carrying his child, made him the happiest man in the world. And even more protective than he already was.
"Excuse me," one of the voices nearly choked.
"Special Agent Booth is my mate and he has impregnated me. I don't understand which part you don't understand," she gave the half confused – half annoyed look she gets.
Booth let a smirk momentarily appear at the uncomfortable looks the panel he was facing had gotten.
A throat cleared, "Dr. Brennan has the personal relationship you and Agent Booth have made your job more difficult?"
"I'm going to need an example," Bones said, coming forward to stand next to Booth.
"Has your working relationship become strained since your partner is now your 'mate' as well?"
"No," she replied immediately, "as you can see by the file in front of you, the only thing that has changed is now we have sexual intercourse and live in the same dwelling."
"Bones," he whispered harshly.
"I'm sure they knew that, how else would you have impregnated me?"
Trying to move past all the inappropriateness, "You feel comfortable enough with Agent Booth to go to a region of the world where enemy combatants may preside?"
"I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, sir, but I trust Booth with my life. I know he would kill and be killed for me. I am aware of how important this is to Booth, and I would also like to request that he be allowed to come with me. Not as my mate, but as my partner. As the woman who has worked with him for years I feel we do our best work together," Brennan said.
"You are aware that you will have your own security team," Secretary of Defense Hagel made clear.
"She is sir, but as the Director knows, I have the experience both within the Bureau and armed forces to be point man, work within a team or do standalone work. My military record is in front of you, and I'm aware that you have the security clearances to find out what other work I have done. You may be concerned with my ability to focus on the task at hand and putting other soldiers at risk with carelessness, and being too worried about Dr. Brennan and my child. But I guarantee, sirs, that if I didn't absolutely know I could do it, I wouldn't have bothered you today. Dr. Brennan wouldn't be standing her with me today if she didn't know I could do it. As I said before sir, I will be fine with whatever capacity you allow me to go, as long as I am with Dr. Brennan and I have a weapon."
The table in front of them sat quiet, except for the flipping of files and paperwork.
"Does anyone on this panel have any further questions for Master Sergeant Booth or Dr. Brennan?" Secretary Hagel asked, "Alright then, Master Sergeant, we will have an answer for you within the next day. You are dismissed."