FaithInBones and I greatly appreciate the kind comments to Chapter 1 of our little collaboration. We're having great fun with this.

If you're enjoying our story, you might want to check out some of the other crossover stories between NCIS and Bones (Dyna63 has a great fic that she is posting there right now that's well worth a look!)

We own neither NCIS nor Bones . . . (in case anyone else really thought otherwise) . . . but it's interesting to dream about having that kind of control over Gibbs or Booth, isn't it? ;-D

Chapter 2

Staring at the small pieces of remains lying on the table before him, Ducky continued with his briefing of Doctors Temperance Brennan and Camille Saroyan, "Of course we ran a toxicology screening. It came back negative for illicit drugs and poisons. The only drug our Forensic Technician Abby Sciuto found in the victim's remains was caffeine and there seemed to be a lot of that."

Finished with her initial examination of the body bits, Brennan rendered an opinion, "Once the flesh has been removed from the bones, I believe I should be able to reconstruct the skeleton. The pieces are small; but not so small that I can't put them back together. I know you told me that you ran DNA and were unsuccessful; but, I believe that if I am able to reconstruct the skull, Angela should be able to do a facial reconstruction. If I am able to reconstruct the rest of the bones we may be able to determine cause of death."

Removing her latex gloves, Brennan glanced at Daisy and then back at Ducky, "Ms. Wick will remove the flesh and I should be able to start my reconstruction tomorrow. I will contact you when we've determined the identity of the victim."

Smiling, Ducky remarked, "You seem very confident that you'll be able to reconstruct the bones, Dr. Brennan."

Nodding her head, Brennan replied, "Yes, I am. I'm the best anthropologist in the country. It's what I do. It's what we do."

Gibbs standing over near the staircase, smiled at Dr. Brennan's conviction and apparent lack of modesty. He liked competent people and from the way she was treated by her co-workers, and the information he'd received from Director Vance before they came over, it was obvious that Dr. Temperance Brennan was very competent indeed.

Turning to Cam, Brennan remarked, "Booth will want to be kept apprised of our findings."

Nodding her head, Cam glanced at Gibbs and then back at Brennan, "I'll make sure he's copied when I send out emails."

Clearing his throat, Gibbs stepped closer to the exam table, "This victim was found at Naval Station Norfolk. This investigation is a matter for NCIS, not the FBI."

Shrugging her shoulders, Brennan replied, "Booth is my partner. If I am involved in this case then so is he. If that's a problem for you then I will have to decline my services. It's up to you."

Nodding, Gibbs smiled and met her direct gaze. "Fair enough. This is still an NCIS case; but, if you think Agent Booth would like to be involved in the investigation then I won't object. It won't be the first time we've worked with the FBI."

Nodding her head, Brennan walked across the platform and down the stair case. Gibbs watched as she walked down the hallway and into the office Agent Booth had entered earlier. Turning to Cam, Gibbs smiled, "I noticed that Agent Booth had a child in his arms when he first entered. Are Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan married?"

Smiling, Cam replied, "They live together."

Nodding his head, Gibbs turned to Ducky, "Ready to go?"

Picking up his jacket and hat from the chair where he had placed them, Ducky gestured toward the stairs, "After you, Jethro. After you."

Oooooooooooooooooooooo

Walking into Angela's office, Brennan found Booth sitting on the couch holding Christine and talking to Angela.

Booth stood up as Brennan entered, "So, are you ready to go?"

Smiling, Brennan replied, "Let me go to my office to get my purse and coat and I'll be ready."

Turning to Angela, Booth smiled, "Thanks for keeping me company Angela."

Following Brennan out of the room, Booth stopped and watched Gibbs and Ducky as they walked toward the exit.

Feeling eyes on him, Gibbs turned to see the clearly hostile agent watching him, he smiled, gave a mock salute, and kept walking. Booth squinted his eyes and watched the two men as they exited through the main entrance. Brennan, walked out of her office and observed the look on Booth's face.

"Is there something wrong, Booth?"

Turning to look at her, Booth smiled as he shook his head, "No. Nothing's wrong."

"Are you going to tell me how you're related to Agent Gibbs?

Flicking his eyes toward the empty entrance, Booth replied, "Yeah, let's wait until we get home."

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Christine was in bed and Booth and Brennan were relaxing on the couch in the living room.

Staring at the darkened TV on the wall, Booth grimaced., "Agent Gibbs is my father's first cousin. You've never met him; but Pops has a twin brother named Jackson Gibbs. It's kind of complicated. Pops and Jackson's parents had only been married for a few months when they got divorced. Even though my great-grandmother was pregnant, apparently they had quickly discovered that they really couldn't stand each other; so they divorced. It was really very unusual for the time. When the pregnancy resulted in twins, Jackson stayed with great-grandma Mona Gibbs and Pops went with their father, Joseph Hanks Booth. Mona moved back to Stillwell, Pennsylvania to be near her family and Joseph and Pops stayed in Philadelphia close to great-grandpa's family. Apparently, even though it was the late 1920's, and they had found they couldn't be married to each other, they seemed to be rather progressive in the divorce. Pops told me that Mona and Joseph wanted to make sure that their sons stayed in touch with each other; so, Jackson and Hank would visit each other during the summer and share some holidays. They got along fairly well when they were kids. Pops said it was fun to introduce Jackson Gibbs as his brother and see the confusion on people's faces. He said the fun part was not explaining." Booth laughed and shook his head.

Brennan smiled back at his amused response.

Booth continued, "Pops said he was sure that it created some scandalous stories that went around about them; but, Pops and Jackson didn't care. They liked to upset the apple cart."

Puzzled, Brennan interrupted Booth narrative. "Why would they upset an apple cart?"

Laughing, Booth placed his right arm around Brennan's shoulders, "It's a saying. It means they liked to defy convention."

Smiling, Brennan asked, "Why didn't you just say that?"

Shaking his head, Booth continued, "Ok . . . When Pops and Jackson were sixteen years old they went on a fishing trip with their Dad. While they were out on the boat, Joseph let Jackson drive the boat. I'm not really clear on what exactly happened, but what I gathered from what Pops told me was that Jackson ran over an underwater obstruction and it holed the boat. Pops was knocked unconscious and when he woke up he was in the water with a life vest on and his head being held above the water by Jackson. Their father was missing. Jackson told Pops that their father had drowned. There were only two life vests in the boat and their father had grabbed the vests before the boat sank. He insisted that Jackson put on one and then they put the other one on Pops. Joseph tread water for hours; but, I guess he became exhausted and after awhile he couldn't do it anymore. Jackson had fallen asleep holding Pops and he didn't notice their father was missing until it was too late. Pops told me that he and Jackson were rescued by a passing fisherman. Pops ended up in the hospital with hypothermia and a broken leg and Jackson was hospitalized for hypothermia."

Sighing, Booth hugged Brennan, "Pops said he refused to talk to Jackson after that. He blamed Jackson for their father's death. As far as Pops was concerned, Jackson had killed their father. Pops refused to go live with his mother; so his Dad's brother Henry took him in and he stayed in Phillie."

"Is that why you don't like Agent Gibbs?"

Shaking his head, Booth replied, "Nope. I don't like Gibbs because he's an asshole. . . Hey, it's getting late. Let's go to bed. If you have to put that human jigsaw puzzle back together you're going to need your rest."

Frowning, Brennan asked, "Won't you tell me why you dislike Gibbs?"

Shaking his head, Booth replied, "Maybe someday. But, I don't want to talk about it right now. Ok?"

Nodding her head, Brennan replied, "You know you can tell me anything."

Sighing, Booth leaned over and kissed her, "Yeah, I know. It's just . . . I don't want to talk about it right now . . . maybe later."

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Driving back to NCIS headquarters to pick up Ducky's car, Gibbs told Ducky about the boating accident. "What was weird was the fact that even though Hank Booth blamed my Dad for their father's death, when the Coast Guard interviewed him about the accident, Hank swore that their father was driving the boat and not my Dad. Dad tried to take the blame; but Hank swore that Jackson was just feeling guilty that there were only two life vests and that their father drowned. The Coast Guard believed Hank and they closed the case."

Shaking his head, Ducky remarked, "That's strange. Hank blamed your father for their father's death and yet he lied to the Coast Guard to protect his brother."

Shrugging his shoulders, Gibbs responded, "People do unexpected things."

"Why does Agent Booth hate you? It's patently obvious that he can't stand the sight of you."

Coming to a stop at a red light, Gibbs glanced at Ducky, "I tried to mend fences between Dad and Hank after I entered the Marines. I was tired of the crap; so, I thought maybe I could fix it. When Hank Booth refused to see me, I tracked down his son, Joseph. I was stationed at Naval Station Philadelphia for awhile; so I took the opportunity to find him while I was there."

Seeing the light change to green, Gibbs continued their trip, "That guy turned out to be a real piece of work. He'd been a pilot in the Air Force and he was shot down over Vietnam. He was hurt so badly that his career as a pilot was over. When I met him he was working at his uncle's barber shop in Philadelphia. I visited with him for a few weeks and we seemed to get along pretty good; but, the guy was a drunk and it wasn't too long before I found out he was a wife beater. It pissed me off. One day I was over at his house and he was drunk as hell. His wife did something and I really don't know what it was; but he reached out and slapped her hard . . . hard enough to draw blood. I lost it and I beat the shit out of him. I told him that if he ever laid a hand on her or their sons again I'd kill his sorry ass."

Flicking his eyes at Ducky, Gibbs finished his story, "I was transferred overseas a few months later; so, I couldn't keep an eye on him. Maybe his son blames me for the continued abuse, I don't know."

"Ah, the son is Agent Booth?"

Sighing, Gibbs grimaced, "Yep."

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