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Chapter Two – Two is Better than One

"Good morning, everyone," Brennan said to the assembled crowd. "We have a shipment coming in from the dig in Turkey. I believe Dr. Thur's find to be significant, and for us to have a hand in authenticating it would be considerable, both for the Jeffersonian and for whomever gets to publish the results…."

She left that thought hang in the air. She felt that since she had taken over the day-to-day operations of the lab three years ago, there had developed a level of healthy competition among her students and anthropological staff members that had them all striving for excellence in academic pursuits.

"Everyone should get plenty of time to assess the remains and compile his or her own findings. We have no open FBI cases at the moment, so when you are not working with Dr. Thur's subject, I expect to see everyone working on a historical case from Bone Storage."

She stopped speaking and assuming the meeting to be over, the team began to stand and disassemble.

"One more thing," she said, stopping them from leaving the conference table. "Due to personal reasons, Agent Hanson will be leaving us. I am meeting today with Directors Cullen and Booth to create a plan to decide upon an agent to take his place. I may be unavailable in the afternoon."

This time when she stopped speaking, the assembled team was slow to vacate the room.

"You may go," Brennan told them.

Angela followed Brennan back to her office.

"Thank you for coming in for the meeting, Angela."

"Of course," Angela replied. "I do still work here. Although, sometimes it doesn't feel like it," she added with a smile. "What's going on with Hanson?"

"He's moving to Colorado," Brennan answered.

"Just like that?"

"I told you, Angela. His reasons are personal. He will tell us if he wants us to know."

"But you know," Angela said.

Brennan acknowledged with a quick nod.

"Because Booth told you," Angela stated rather than asking. "That's not fair."

"Angela," Brennan said the warm but scolding voice she used with the children. "After all these years, you still find it necessary to get involved in everyone else's business?"

"What can I say?" Angela asked with a sheepish shrug. "It's who I am."

"Well, who I am is the Administrator of this lab and I cannot engage in this conversation…"

"All right, all right. I'll change the subject. How did Mia's first day of school go?"

"She loved it," Brennan said, smiling. "When we picked her up, she went on and on about her teacher and the children in the class and all the different activities she'd taken part in. She was so excited. I think I was more apprehensive about it than she was. You should have seen her saying goodbye to Matthew. She was instructing him not to miss her and that Booth and Kelly and I would take care of him. She even made me promise to play with him while she was gone."

"That's cute! She's such a good big sister."

"She learned from Parker."

"Oh, and speaking of the junior studmuffin, how was his first day of senior year?"

"It also went well," Brennan answered. "He got the section of Advanced Physics and the Anatomy class he wanted to get into. Because they are advanced placement, they will count toward his college credit."

"That's awesome."

"He plans to go out for football," Brennan went on. "Tryouts are next week, but he's been conditioning all summer, so he's not worried."

"He was the backup QB last year," Angela said. "With the Brock kid graduating, he'll be starting this year. Of course he's not worried."

"Principal Tanner assigned him to work with a new student who transferred this year from California. He said he would be showing her around the school and helping her to get acclimated."

"Her?" Angela asked. "I'm sure Steph didn't like that."

"Why not?"

"Hello, Brennan… you know what it's like to be in love with a Booth man. They just ooze all that studly charm. I'm sure this new girl is gonna be all over that like white on rice."

"Yes," Brennan said with a smile. "Like his father, Parker is both charming and very good looking. But also like his father, he is a gentleman. I'm sure he would never do anything to make Stephanie feel uncomfortable."

"Do you remember high school at all, Bren?"

"Of course I do," Brennan replied. "However, I did not have the experience of dating the quarterback. Nor did any of the boys in my school resemble Booth—physically or in demeanor. So, I fail to see what my high school experience has to do with any of this."

"Nothing, Bren," Angela replied, holding back a chuckle. "You're right. It has nothing to do with it at all. When are you meeting Booth and Cullen? Can we do lunch? I don't have to pick the twins up from preschool until 2 today, it would be nice to have a little grown-up time."

"I'm actually meeting them at Booth's office at 2, so that would work out perfectly."

Booth looked up as he heard a soft tap on his door. It was very unusual for Karen to let someone in without announcing them. He smiled when he realized who his visitor was.

"Hey, Babe."

"Hi," Brennan replied, walking toward his desk.

Booth looked down at his watch.

"Not that I'm complaining, but what are you doing here? Our meeting with Cullen isn't for almost forty-five minutes."

"I had lunch with Angela," she answered. "Rather than going back to the lab and then having to turn around and come back out here, I just decided to come here and wait for the meeting."

"I'm glad you did," he told her.

"How is your day going?" she asked.

"All right," he answered. "Missing Persons has a big case. There was a little kid missing from the Mall today. He's about Mia's age. His Mom said she just turned away for a minute to get a soda from the hot dog vendor and when she turned back, he was gone. It's a tough one."

"I'm sorry," she said, reaching out to cup his cheek. "I know how hard the cases involving children are for you."

"And I have to replace the SAIC of Major Crimes along with the liaison to the Jeffersonian."

"Along with?"

"Yeah, I know that both Hanson and I did both jobs, but we think we're going to separate it out to two guys this time. We want the guy running the department actually here- running the department. And we want the guy working with the lab to be one hundred percent available to the squints. I'm even thinking of assigning a two-man team to the Jeffersonian. It gives you guys more resources and gets more of my guys used to working with squints."

They both looked up as they heard a knock on the door.

"Seeley, do you think Dr. Brennan would mind postponing our meeting? I'm double booked this afternoon…" Cullen said, walking into the office without looking up from the file in his hand.

"No, Sam," Brennan answered. "That's fine. I'd be happy to reschedule."

"Temperance," Cullen replied. "I'm sorry, I didn't expect to see you."

"I had a lunch meeting on this side of town and just decided to come early."

"That works out great," Booth's boss said. "Why don't we just do it now?"

"Fine with me," Booth replied. "Bones?"

"Of course," she answered.

"Sam, I was just telling Bones that we'll be promoting a new SAIC and assigning a different agent as the Jeffersonian liaison."

"Right," Cullen said. "And I what about assigning a two-man team to the Jeffersonian?"

"I was just getting to that," Booth answered.

"Why would we need two agents?"

"Agents usually work in pairs, Dr. Brennan," Cullen supplied. "Booth was always a bit of a lone wolf, so I was actually pleased when he wanted to work with you…"

"Hanson and Perotta were partners when they worked with the squints while we were gone," Booth went on. "The past couple of years, it's worked with Hanson alone because he's also the SAIC, so whenever he needed a hand he'd just pull another agent. It works best that way. You know that you and I both prefer when Clark stays out of the field."

"Squints in the lab, agents in the field," Cullen added.

Before Brennan could object, Booth spoke up.

"Of course, as usual Bones, you were the exception to the rule."

"I suppose that is logical," Brennan agreed. "So, do you have an idea who these two agents would be?"

"I was thinking about Perotta because she's already got the experience," Booth said. "But she's partnered with Wade and I don't think that he'd be a good fit for the Jeffersonian, at all…"

"That wouldn't work, anyway," Brennan reminded her husband. "We'd end up with the same problem you and I ran into. Did you forget Peyton and Wendell are getting married in November?"

"Oh, crap," Booth said, then glanced at his boss. "I did, actually. Sam, what are your thoughts?"

"I'd really like to assign the new kid, Sparling. She's got a good head on her shoulders and she's tough. She's quick to pick up on things… she just needs some experience. She was top of her class at Quantico."

"You're right," Booth replied. "She's good. You know she's worked a couple of cases with Sweets… now that he's a full-fledged agent…

"I can't believe we gave him a gun," Cullen said, mostly under his breath.

"I agree. I fail to see how it's okay for Dr. Sweets to carry a gun, but not for me…" Brennan interjected.

"So, we assign Sweets and Sparling until we can find her a permanent partner?" Booth suggested, quickly changing the subject.

"That works for me," Cullen answered. "Dr. Brennan?"

"I think that is a reasonable solution," she answered. "Dr. Sweets is familiar with our team and how we work. He will be beneficial in helping Agent Sparling to acclimate and then she will be able to do so when she is assigned a permanent partner."

Dinner in the Booth household was family time. They had established long ago that it was the best time for everyone to spend some time together and share whatever had happened in their day.

Mia took it as yet another excuse to 'hold court.' She may have her mother's personality, but she definitely had her father's way with telling a story.

Matthew wasn't old enough to share… or to talk, really… but he still found his ways of getting and keeping everyone's attention.

Parker shared bits and pieces…enough to let his parents feel that he was still engaged in the tradition, but most of the time he was perfectly happy with letting Mia hold the limelight.

He had told his parents about the fact that Principal Tanner had asked him to show the new girl around school. He didn't tell them that she was gorgeous… or that she'd asked him out. He couldn't tell them because he was really tempted to hook up with her. He was almost eighteen and he'd been with the same girl since Freshman year. Steph was great… she was cute, and super-smart. She liked his family and was great with Mia, which was really important since he always said his little sister was the most important girl in his life. But there was just something about Laci. She was gorgeous… hot, even. She had a good head on her shoulders, but she wasn't really into academics. She had been head cheerleader at her old school, and planned to go out for the squad. His parents loved Steph, and his dad was always going on and on to him about being a gentleman, and the right way to treat a girl. No… he couldn't tell them about Laci.

He'd stick with the easy subjects: football with Dad and science with Bones.

"Dad, are you going to make it to tryouts on Monday?"

"I don't know, Parks," his father answered. "I hope to. It just depends on what comes up between now and then. I had Karen mark out my afternoon so that I'm out of the office by three. But if something crazy comes up…"

"Right," Parker replied. He understood the demands of his dad's job, but sometimes it was still disappointing when he couldn't make it to stuff. Not that football tryouts were really a big deal… especially this year. He'd been the back-up QB for two years and the starting QB graduated, so it was pretty much a done deal that he'd be starting this year. "It's cool, Dad. I don't think it's gonna be too big a deal, anyway."