(Season 3 and season 10)
This was requested by anne1585.
I don't own Bones.
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As Special Agent in Charge at the Hoover, Booth was required to visit Quantico once in a while to give a lecture to agents in training. He didn't mind as it allowed him to observe the new recruits and see what they were like. As always most of them were eager to learn and Booth appreciated that. Sometimes when one of the firearms instructors went on vacation, they would ask Booth to fill in since he was an ex-Ranger and a marksman. The Agent was also good at close quarter combat and his skill with knives and unarmed combat was uncanny and to some of the newer recruits downright menacing.
Booth had been working with Dr. Temperance Brennan for over three years and because his team was solving cold cases that should have been impossible to solve as well as closing new cases almost as soon as they were assigned to them, the agent had had several raises and promotions. He knew he'd hitched his wagon to the right team and he was very proud of his and their accomplishments.
At the request of James Camden, Booth agreed to take over arms training at Quantico for two weeks while the man went to Europe for a much needed vacation with his wife. Brennan hadn't been too pleased with the situation, but Booth had encouraged her to work in Limbo and use her mad skills to identify those luckless souls waiting to be identified. Not at all mollified, she warned him that if a new case came up and he wasn't there, she would do her best to solve it without him. Booth patted her on the arm and wished her luck. He meant it and she knew it.
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As soon as James Aubrey graduated from college he'd been recruited by the FBI. Aubrey had wanted to be in law enforcement since he was a lad when he'd discovered that his father was a thief and someone that deserved to be in jail. The man had stolen millions of dollars from his clients and had been arrested for fraud. Shocked that a judge could be so stupid as to give the man bail, Aubrey's worst fears were soon confirmed when his father fled the country. No one knew where he went including his family.
Aubrey's mother had been left destitute and once she realized her predicament, she had pulled her son from private school and placed him in public school. She had let the bank take back her house and she had found work. The pay barely payed the bills, but she worked hard and her son loved her for not giving up when she could have. Wise beyond his years, Aubrey knew that he wanted to be the exact opposite of his father and that meant honest to the bone and a lover of the law.
By the time he had graduated from college, his mother was dead having died of cancer and he was alone in the world. He had no one in his life that cared where he was and what he was doing, but he didn't let that get him down. He knew he was strong and that someday he'd find a family of his own. In the meantime, he made a few friends and worked hard to learn all he needed to know to be a good FBI Agent. He hoped someday to get into politics and make a real difference in the world, but first he had to prove he could make it in the FBI. James Aubrey was a man with goals and a mission.
Aubrey considered himself to be a good shot with a pistol, but once he witnessed Agent Seeley Booth's skills, he knew that he had a hell of a lot more practicing to do to be considered in the same league as Booth. Honest with himself, Aubrey was certain he'd never be that good. He just hoped he might be in the general area and good enough to protect himself and any team members he was working with in the future. Still that didn't mean he'd give up trying to be the best. During Booth's stint as an instructor, Aubrey had soaked in as much advice as he could absorb. He was never one to turn down an opportunity to learn and Booth was definitely the best at what he did.
Not one to hero worship, Aubrey none the less found himself thinking about what it would take to work with Seeley Booth. The man had a solid reputation, he was considered a rising star at the FBI and no one would be surprised if Booth made it to the Directorship someday.
The younger man definitely wanted to work for Booth's team and he hoped someday to finagle his way into Major Crimes. All he had to do was work hard, pay his dues and wait for the right time to put in for a transfer. Yeah that was all.
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A few years later, Aubrey was called to Washington D.C. and was surprised to find himself in the office of the Deputy Director of the FBI. He didn't know it, but he had been the subject of a search by Dr. Lance Sweets at the behest of Deputy Director Stark. Stark was savvy enough to know that Booth's exoneration was being worked on by Dr. Temperance Brennan and the squints at the Lab. If his former agent was not guilty of the murders he had been incarcerated for he would be back at the Hoover soon enough and that meant that Booth would want to do his job. The fact that Booth had been accused of murdering three FBI agents probably meant that no one at the Hoover would be willing to work with him even if the charges were dropped. It would take more than that for Booth to be forgiven and Stark knew that.
"I'd like to offer you a job in Major Crimes." Stark stared at the young agent and carefully explained what was going on. "Seeley Booth is still in prison, but no trial has been set. As far as I know he hasn't even appeared in front of a judge even though his lawyer has been trying. David Barron is a fine lawyer and since he's being stalled, that tells me that something is going on behind the scenes and I don't like it. I need a man here at the Hoover that doesn't know Booth or has any preconceived notions about the man, not bad ones anyway."
Aubrey nodded his head and kept his face as neutral as possible.
The silence from the agent was surprising, but Stark liked that Aubrey was listening and perhaps not jumping to conclusions. "I don't know what is going on, but I have a feeling that whatever it is, it's possible that it will break in the next few months. They can't keep Booth in prison without a trial. Now I'm starting to think that they don't have enough to go to trial and win against Booth and the prosecutor is playing fast and loose with the law. I don't work for the justice department, so I'm just guessing. What I want you to do is come work here. Study Booth's personnel files, his case files, get to know the man and if and when he is released and I really think that might happen, I need someone to keep him out of trouble. I need you to be that man. It will be a thankless job. Booth will hate your interference and so will the men and women in this building. I have no idea how this is going to play out, but I really need you to be prepared to shadow Booth if he makes it back here and provide him backup. Do you understand?"
"I do and thank you for considering me for the job." Aubrey had been following the case against Booth since the man had been arrested and he thought it was absolute bullshit. There was no way a man like Booth would murder anyone. "I accept, Sir. When do I begin?"
Stark was grateful that Aubrey was willing to do this job and he planned to make sure it didn't hurt his career. "I'll have you transferred here next week. You can work on cases as they come up and if Booth is released from prison I will expect you to make sure he stays out of trouble. There is no way of knowing how this is going to end, but the Director and I plan on being prepared."
Curious, Aubrey asked Stark a question that needed to be asked. "Do you consider Booth to be guilty of murder?"
Filled with uncertainty, Stark sighed deeply. "I did at first, but I've had a lot of conversations with people that don't believe it's true and I've decided to leave it up to the judicial system to see how this plays out."
"Who have you been talking to?" Aubrey felt that he needed to know who Booth's allies were.
Stark rubbed the bridge of his nose and leaned back against his chair. "Camille Saroyan, head of the Lab at the Jeffersonian, Booth's wife Dr. Temperance Brennan, Dr. Lance Sweets, Dr. Gordon Wyatt, Caroline Julian, several agents not assigned to the Hoover that have worked with Booth in the past and the Deputy Director and the Director of the CIA. Not people I can blow off. People that know Booth better than I do or at least have knowledge of who and what he is capable of . . . We'll just have to see what happens next. It's all out of my hands and the Director of the FBI does not have any influence to speak of in this case either. Not to sound crazy, it's like there is a conspiracy going on against Booth, but I don't know why or how. It doesn't make any sense and the Director thought I was being a little paranoid when I voiced my suspicions, but when the CIA is calling bullshit about an FBI agent's problems it makes me and now the Director afraid that things are out of control and not on the up and up. Do you understand?"
"I do Sir." Aubrey felt the fine hairs on the back of his neck rising and that made him very uncomfortable. "I think I'll be looking over my shoulders while I'm here Sir."
"Welcome to the club." Stark was a very worried man and he hated that feeling. He also knew that the Director of the FBI and the Director of the CIA were looking over their shoulders, suspicious of everything and everyone and that made Stark wonder if any of them were safe from whatever was going on. "You can say no if you think this is too much to handle."
Confident, Aubrey snorted. "Not for me." The Agent thought about what he had to do in the next few days to make his move as smooth as possible. "I'll go back to New York, pack up and move back down here in the next few days. I'll be ready if and when Booth is freed from prison. I can handle it and I can handle whatever is going on behind the scenes."
Grateful, Stark stood up and shook Aubrey's hand. "I need to remind you that it will be a thankless job."
Aubrey shook the Deputy Director's hand. "I don't need thanks, Sir." And he meant it. He was certain that Booth was being railroaded and he was willing to help the man clear his name if he got the chance. Booth was a hero and a patriot as far as Aubrey was concerned and he would be proud to help the wronged agent if he got the chance.
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