This may very well be my last story which deals with the direct aftermath of the death of Vincent, but I think it is one that is important. I hope you enjoy this one. Gregg.
Disclaimer: I don't own, or profit from, these characters or franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Booth was sitting in a pew at the parish church he attended each Sunday for Mass. He often came here to think about anything that was bothering him. The peace and serenity of the empty church was a welcome ambiance, and he took advantage of it to talk to God. He had his Rosary Beads in his hands as he prayed, and his thoughts went to the statue of the Virgin Mary. Over the course of the last few months since he and Bones had become a couple his Faith had been strengthened, and for the first time in a long time he felt like his life was on the right path.
"Seeley?"
Booth looked up and smiled when he saw his friend, Father Mitch. More often than not he would seek out Mitch for confession, or just to talk.
"Hi, Mitch," Booth gestured to a pew. "I was going to come talk to you in a bit."
"You've been here for over an hour, Seeley," Mitch told him. "I was beginning to get worried. Is something wrong with Temperance or the baby?"
"No, no!" Booth assured his friend. "Bones is great, and the OB says the baby is doing fine."
"Are you being too overprotective?" Mitch asked, an amused smile on his face at that one.
"No, Bones nipped that tendency in the bud a while back," Booth replied. "My back is still killing me from wearing one of those pregnancy harnesses for a day."
Bones had told him that if he could go one day with one of those damn things on without complaint, then she would accept his overprotectiveness. He'd lasted six hours before complaining about his aching back. Needless to say he'd kept his Alpha Male Neanderthal tendencies under wraps when it came to Bones and the pregnancy ever since. A deal was a deal.
Mitch chuckled, wishing he could have seen that one. "So what's bothering you?" he asked.
Booth sighed. "Bones is getting a new batch of grad students today, and out of them she'll be choosing her new set of interns," he told his friend. He looked down at his hands, shifting nervously. His whole issue, if that was even the right word, was about how to be around the interns. "I'm not sure I'm comfortable about having interns helping us anymore."
"Have you talked to Temperance about this?" Mitch asked.
"How could I?" Booth asked. "They're her interns, and she can't do it all by herself. Besides, it's how they learn. I can't act like an ass and try and prevent that."
Mitch has a sudden insight. "You're afraid of getting too close and losing another friend," he surmised.
"I never thought I'd ever consider the Squints my friends," Booth admitted, reluctantly. "But then I did. Then there were the Squinterns, beginning with Zack. Look how that turned out. Now this whole thing with Vincent. I was picking him up off the floor and laughing with him when the shot came through the sun roof, Mitch. I'm tired of losing the people I care about."
"We live in a dangerous world, Seeley," Mitch told him. "If we shut ourselves away from acquaintance and friendship, then there's nothing really left."
Booth sat for a while after his friend left him to his thoughts, wondering what he should do. Of course he'd do his job, and solve murders with Bones and the whole Squint Squad, Squinterns included, but he still wondered how he'd handle a new batch of Squinterns. He stood up, though, then he made the decision that no matter how he handled it, he was going to go and let the group know of the risks. That was the least he could do.
The Jeffersonian
"I will expect no less than three fully documented case studies per term," Dr. Temperance Brennan said to the group of twelve graduate students she was going to be supervising for the next two years. Wendell Bray had received his Doctorate and was now the lead Forensic Anthropologist at the Jeffersonian's sister facility in California. Her other Interns had also received their degrees and moved on, including Daisy Wick, much to Sweets' dismay. "They will be subjected to rigorous peer review by your fellow students, and my final evaluation will be based on both how well I consider your work, as well as how you respond to the peer review write ups."
"What about the intern positions, Dr. Brennan?" one of the students inquired.
"I will be choosing a total of five full time interns next term, who will rotate weekly, but for this term you will all do rotations as my interns so I may evaluate your lab work and skills," Brennan informed them.
"Hey, Bones," Booth said from the doorway to the classroom that Bones usually used when teaching her grad students.
"Booth!" Bones smiled at him and walked over to where he stood. Breaking her own rule about workplace PDA, she leaned up and kissed him lightly. His shocked, but very pleased, expression made it all worth it. "Do we have a case?" she asked, feeling foolish at not having her cell phone with her while she was here with her students.
"Nope," Booth grinned, pleased that the pregnancy hadn't changed Bones too much. He could always count on her to be eager to get a case. "I just wanted to drop by and meet the new Squinterns."
"Really?" Bones questioned. Booth was usually one to avoid dealing with her students as much as possible. Wendell Bray had been a glaring exception due to the young mans ability at hockey.
Booth pulled Bones into the hall for a moment. "I was hoping that I could talk to them for a minute and let them know that there's a dangerous side to this, too, if they work with us," he told her. "I want them to know that I'll do everything I can to make sure that they're safe."
Bones looked at him with genuine concern. "Booth, Vincent wasn't your fault," she told him softly. She was concerned that this was coming out again after all these months.
"I know, Bones, but it took him dying to make me see how much these kids mean to me," he told her. "I want them to know that I'm there for them and have their backs if a case gets dangerous."
Bones looked at him thoughtfully for a moment before nodding her head in agreement. But she put her hand on his chest to halt him for a moment. "Booth, you know we all have your back, too, right?" she questioned. "Even the interns."
"I know, Bones, but it's never something I said out loud," he told her. "I blew it with Zack, and I definitely blew it with Vincent. I may be the same old wise-cracking guy, but at least they'll know what's underneath all the smart ass."
Bones frowned at the thought that he was thinking, or that anyone else thought, that he was somehow responsible for what happened with Zack and then Vincent, but she knew that it was something that it would just take time to work out. "Okay," she relented and led him into the classroom. Taking him to the front of the class, she introduced him. "This is my partner, Special Agent Seeley Booth of the FBI," she told them. "As you will doubtless work on cases with us assisting me in my lab work on the cases, we feel it is important for you to get to know him. Booth?"
Booth gave a short wave of his hand. "Hey," he said. "As Bones said, I'm Seeley Booth. You can call me Agent Booth, or just plain Booth. I just wanted to stop by and introduce myself. For the last seven years Bones has been my partner in solving murders for the FBI. I call the scientists Squints, so don't be surprised if you hear the term." He paused and looked at Bones who gave him an encouraging nod. "I also wanted to let you know that what we do can be dangerous. I was a sniper, and an Army Ranger. Last Spring a former sniper who went rogue killed one of the interns when he was really coming after me. You're going to hear about that. I, and everyone here, will do what we can to keep you safe, but you deserved to know what can happen. I don't know you yet, but Bones here does, and I can tell you that's good enough for me. I may not say it much, but I care about my team, and from this point on, you are all a part of my team."
"Are there any questions?" Bones asked, pleased at what Booth had said. She had known all along that he cared, but the lack of expression over the years had made the interns wonder at times. She saw that no one had questions, though she noted the the six women in the group were eying up Booth, which raised her hackles. She would be telling them as soon as Booth left that he was taken. He was hers. She smiled at the thought of Booth being hers, and then smiled wider at the thought that that also meant she was his. She'd come a long way from when she first met him. She turned to Booth. "I was just going to take them on a tour of the lab and the other areas that they will be working. Would you care to join us?" she asked, a wicked smile lighting her face as she looked directly at him.
Booth noticed the smiled and knew that she was daring him to join them and then she was going to do something to get him all flustered. She seemed to enjoy doing that a whole lot more now that they were a couple. He had to get back to work, though, and showing up all hot and bothered would not do.
"I gotta get back to the Hoover, Bones," he told her. He looked out at the new Squinterns. "You're already damn good just by being picked by her to be her Grad Students. Pay attention to her and you'll be even better when you have your degrees. Trust me. She's the best."
Bones heart fluttered as he left. Praise from Booth was something she always took to heart, and always placed in her mental file to keep and treasure. His opinion meant a great deal to her. She turned to the students. "Let's begin the tour, and then we can get to work," she told them.
That Night
Booth slipped into bed next to Bones. He'd had a long day, and when Bones got home he was watching a game on TV. Bones, as she usually did, gave him some space while the game was on and worked on her own projects. When the game ended it was late and she had already gone to bed, but when he found her there she was still awake tapping away on her laptop.
"Anything interesting?" he asked.
"Just a research article on defleshing techniques I am updating," she told him, loving the disgusted look he gave when he heard that.
"I will never understand how you can work on that stuff when you're in bed, or eating something," he remarked. He just knew by her mentioning the damn subject that he would have dreams that night of boiling flesh. Ugh!
"It's actually rather fascinating," she told him, smiling.
"Not at bed time, Bones," he told her. "So how was the tour?"
"It went well," she informed him. "They appear to be a very well balanced group that will be superb specialists when they earn their degrees. Of course, only time will tell. I am very rigorous in how I grade my students performance."
"No surprise there, Bones," he chuckled.
"The women in the group, and one of the men, find you very attractive," she let him know.
"Really?" he perked up, then recalled part of what she'd said. "One of the guys is gay?" He wasn't homophobic, but the idea of a guy being interested in him like that creeped him out a bit.
"Don't worry, Booth, I informed them that you were taken, and like you, I don't share in this relationship," she assured him.
"I'm sorry if I threw you off schedule today," he offered.
"You're welcome any time," she said firmly. "I know how difficult it is to let the Squinterns know how much you care. Is what happened to Vincent still bothering you?" She didn't let him know that she was still having difficulty compartmentalizing what had happened all those months ago.
"A bit," he admitted. "I guess the fact that we never really let kids like Vincent know how dangerous this kind of work can be, and that I never really let the kid know that I liked him is what has me so down."
"He knew, Booth," she told him. "And while the circumstances may not have been ideal, in some small way he helped bring about this," she said, taking his hand and running it along her pregnant belly.
Booth smiled as he always did when he had his hand on her swollen abdomen. "Yeah, he did," he acknowledged.
Hey sat and visited for about another hour before laying down and going to sleep, Booth spooned behind her and holding her close. He fell asleep telling himself that he would not be making the same mistakes with the Squinterns as he had in the past. They may creep him out on occasion, and annoy the Hell out of him at times, but they were part of his team. That stood for something in the mind of Seeley Booth. It always would.
A/N: Maybe just a bit of rambling, but an idea that I've been playing with for a while. I hope you enjoyed this one. I am almost finished with the next chapter of Pregnant? and will be posting it tomorrow. Gregg.