Booth surreptitiously made his way over to the sinks to wash his hands.
You got Bones back. Screw Angela's deadline. You did the right thing.
Glancing at Brennan out of the corner of his eye as he dried his hands, Booth contented himself with watching her work. Granted, the majority of their partnership was spent looking at her study human skeletons. But Booth had drawn a measure of peace from her activity. That furrow she would get in between her eyebrows, that narrow gaze of utmost concentration – it had soothed him immensely to know how connected she was to her work. How connected she was to their partnership perhaps.
'You didn't tell Gibbs you were coming.' Tony worded it as a statement.
'No. I was…more interested in other things,' Booth remarked, flashing his eyes towards his girlfriend. Tony caught his line of sight and gave a short chuckle. Clapping him firmly on the shoulder, the Italian let his grin widen.
'This will probably be the most entertaining thing that will happen this week that doesn't involve McGee. My short attention span salutes you,' Tony said.
'Why is the FBI in my building?'
Booth grimaced, slowly turning around to face Gibbs. The older man stood with his Sears sport jacket and polo shirt, blue eyes fixed squarely on the former Ranger.
'Agent Gibbs,' Booth started.
'Oh good, Jethro. I was just about to page you about my findings,' Brennan cut in smoothly, appearing at his side. Gibbs cut his gaze back and forth between them, a moment of contemplation elapsing before he gave a curt nod.
'This guy is Corp. You take my lead, got it?'
Booth felt himself instantly bristle in response. 'You offered a joint investigation-'
'Which you refused,' Gibbs pointed out somewhat lightly.
'Well, I've decided to take you up on that offer now. We closed the Dalton case. We can close this one too,' Booth told him, ignoring the whispers emanating from Tony and McGee. The doors to the pathology lab gave a metallic whisper to reveal Ducky and Ziva.
'Ah young Agent Booth!' Ducky greeted him affably. 'What brings you to our humble government-run facility? Aside from the delectable Dr Brennan of course.'
Ziva merely inclined her head in greeting, insinuating herself beside the rest of her team.
'Booth is here to assist us,' Gibbs said, letting some of the tension out of Booth's shoulders.
'As they say, two heads are better than one. Temperance has mentioned your infallible gut Agent Booth,' Ducky continued, leaning over the table alongside Brennan. 'Perhaps I should rephrase: two guts are better than one, yes?'
'What've you got Doc?' Gibbs asked, brushing past Booth to get a closer look at the charred bones.
'Well these bones were burnt days or weeks, rather than months,' Brennan started, putting on a fresh pair of latex gloves together with Ducky.
'Yes, I can see the accelerant pour pattern. Our young Marine would have been doused post-mortem,' Ducky commented.
'I haven't been able to ascertain cause of death yet due to the limitations presented by the remains. But I did find an anomaly,' Brennan told them, flicking on the X-Ray board. 'The victim suffered a compression fracture sometime between three to six months prior to his death,' she pointed out.
'Compression fractures are normally associated with osteoporosis, but the sacral vertebrae haven't even undergone final fusing,' Brennan murmured.
'Meaning what exactly?' Tony asked.
'Well, the victim would be in his twenties. With a bad back.'
'Succint summary Temperance,' Ducky said with a smile.
'Calvin Warren was Force Recon. The toughest of the tough,' McGee interjected.
'The kind that jump out of airplanes and get fractured vertebrae?' Booth clarified.
'What do we got on this guy?' Gibbs demanded.
'Warren was discharged three years ago. Marines tried to track him down, see if he wanted to re-up,' Tony answered.
'They checked his credit cards and bank accounts but he's totally off the grid,' McGee continued.
'Would his back be painful enough for medication?' Ziva put in.
'Oh most definitely my dear,' Ducky chimed.
'DiNozzo-'
'Order a search of the controlled substance database. On it boss!'
'You two recheck the paper trail. See if the Corp missed something,' Gibbs barked out, sending McGee and Ziva out the door as well. Booth resisted the urge to shuffle his feet.
'Agent Booth. A word?' Gibbs jerked his head towards the elevator.
Crap.
'I'll be right back,' Booth forced himself to be reassuring, but stopped seeing the amused look on Brennan and Ducky's faces. Straightening his shoulders, he entered the lift where Gibbs stood impatiently. A floor up and the older Marine flicked the emergency switch.
Huh. That's why DiNozzo was so freaked when I did that.
'Something on your mind Agent Gibbs?' Booth ventured when the older man simply stared at him.
'You get your head outta your ass yet, Ranger?'
'Excuse me?' Booth shot back defensively.
'When you died,' Booth didn't miss the sarcasm colouring that word, 'your girlfriend showed up at my door. Rambled on about whether you'd like the woman she's become. Whether she deserved you. She was drunk, lost that control she loves so much.'
Booth remained silent while Gibbs thinned his eyes.
'I like you Booth. You're what some would call good people. But the fact of the matter is, I like Tempe a whole lot more than I do you. I told you to take care of her and you blew it. The only reason why I haven't shot you yet is because Tempe wouldn't like it. You've made her want to toss a nine iron at your head,' Gibbs repeated the words he had said that night at the Blue Oyster.
'I love her,' Booth said forcefully.
'Yeah. I know you do. Another reason why I haven't shot you yet,' Gibbs tossed back. 'I was hitting targets before you graduated high school Booth. Don't screw up again. This was your first strike. You don't get another one. Got it?' They were almost nose to nose now. Booth expelled a breath but didn't speak, instead choosing to convey what he wanted to say through his eyes. Gibbs seemed to find what he was looking for.
The lights came back on and the elevator whirred to life. They stepped out, the two snipers shoulder to shoulder, as they entered the bullpen. Tony, McGee and Ziva stopped, gawking unabashedly.
'Going for coffee. Keep Booth posted.'
Gibbs left, leaving Booth behind with a trio of rabidly curious NCIS agents.
What the hell just happened?
a/n: soooo sorry for the extremely late update! It's assignment time and my mother has been in hospital.
But could we maybe hit 45 reviews? Pretty please?
