After taking a few hours the day before to celebrate the arrest of the hit man who had allegedly shot Stephanie Morrison, Booth sat at his desk, finalizing the transfer of the old case files to the cloud. Finally, he thought. Maybe things can get back to normal around here. The only thing that still bugged him about the Morrison case was the lack of a concrete connection between Michael O'Rourke and Adam Haynes. That would be the cherry on the sundae...but I guess we can't have everything…

A quiet cough came from the direction of the office door. "Good afternoon, Agent Booth. May I have a word with you?"

So much for things being back to normal… "Of course, Director Jamison. Please come in." Booth stood up behind his desk and gestured to one of the armchairs in the corner of his office. "Can I get you a cup of coffee, sir?"

"Oh, no, thank you." Jamison carefully eased himself into the chair. "I just wanted to check on your progress with the evidence from the Stephanie Morrison murder. I know there were several boxes to go through. It must be quite tedious..."

"The team members at the Jeffersonian have been going through all of the papers the Lincoln field office sent us, and I have the computer expert there going through all of Adam Haynes' personal computer files. She says they're encrypted, but she thinks she'll be able to figure out the encryption program by the end of the week."

Director Jamison nodded and pursed his lips slightly. "I see. Well, I'm glad they're making progress. What a remarkable group of people they are, and how fortunate for us that you have such a good working relationship with them. Geniuses can be difficult to work with, you know. However, as I'm sure you are aware, we do have a problem with getting Adam Haynes back to Maryland to stand trial."

"I know he's fighting extradition from Nebraska. His lawyer is concerned that he won't get a fair trial here in the area, correct? Too much publicity about the crime and the jury will be biased?"

"That's part of it, of course, but I think it also it's also a stalling tactic. His lawyer knows the man is guilty and is putting off going to court as long as possible. There isn't any other advantage for him to stay in Nebraska as compared to Maryland, especially since Nebraska has the death penalty. Has the Lincoln office been able to tie Haynes to any open cases in their area?"

Booth shrugged as he looked through some of the emails he'd received from the Lincoln field office. "I'm not sure what progress they've made on that, sir. The Agent in Charge in that office said she had put some people on doing a search through unsolved cases, but I haven't gotten their results yet. She's supposed to email me later this afternoon."

Jamison furrowed his brow as he thought about the situation. "I tell you what, Booth. I'd like you to fly out to Lincoln and interrogate Adam Haynes personally. We need to get him to tell us who ordered the hit...whether it was O'Rourke or someone in the Guardians' hierarchy. If we can link him to a murder in Nebraska, maybe he'd give up the information in exchange for being tried in Maryland, where there is no death penalty. How soon can you leave?"

"I need to check with my wife to be sure, but I think I can leave tomorrow morning. Would that be soon enough, sir?"

"As long as you can go some time this week, I'll be satisfied. Do you think Dr. Brennan would be available to accompany you? Her expertise might be very valuable…"

"If we can arrange for someone to take care of our daughter, I think Dr. Brennan would be willing to assist me. I'll call her and discuss it with her. However, it may take some time to make childcare arrangements. Would you mind if we wait until the day after tomorrow to leave?"

"That should be acceptable. Adam Haynes isn't going anywhere soon as far as I can tell…" Jamison smiled at his own joke. "Alright. Check with Dr. Brennan and let me know how things work out." Jamison rose to leave, but he turned back to face Booth. "Your work on this case has been exceptional, Booth, and I'm extremely pleased with how you've handled things. It was a difficult case, but the way you ran the investigation was exemplary. I want to recommend you for a promotion to deputy director. I'm going to be promoted to director soon, and it would make me very happy to know that someone of your caliber would be taking my place."

"Thank you, sir, but…" Booth stammered around for a minute, unsure of how to respond.

"You don't have to accept the position today. Finish your case and we'll go from there. I'll let you get back to work. Let me know about your availability for a trip to Lincoln." The men shook hands and Jamison left.

Booth called his wife as soon as Jamison left his office. "Hey, Bones...ever been to Nebraska?"

Oooooooooo

Booth glanced at his wife as he steered their rental car out of the airport parking lot in Lincoln, Nebraska. "We'll be at the field office in about thirty minutes. It's downtown, so we might get to see some of the city on the way. I've never been here…"

"It's been a long time since we've been on a trip together to work on a case, Booth. Too bad we couldn't go undercover...although I think Tony and Roxy would be a definite anomaly in Nebraska, don't you?" They both laughed at the idea of the Scalias making an appearance in the Corn Belt. Brennan hesitated slightly, and then continued. "Booth, when Director Jamison called me to thank me for accompanying you on this trip, he mentioned your possible promotion as well. I'm very pleased that he's noticed how proficient you are at your job."

"It's not a big deal, Bones. I haven't even given it that much thought. Let's wait to talk about it until we get home, okay?" It was obvious from Booth's tone of voice that, as far as he was concerned, the discussion about his promotion was over.

Brennan gave her husband a sidelong glance before looking out the passenger window. "I'm surprised that you had your office book our return trip for tomorrow afternoon, Booth. This interrogation really shouldn't take very long...we would've been able to get home tonight." She arched her eyebrow as she turned toward him. "Do you have some sort of hidden agenda I'm not aware of?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "I didn't want us to rush the interrogation with Adam Haynes just because we needed to catch a flight. This way we can take our time to get all the facts. Plus, we would've gotten home late, and that would be hard on Christine, you know? We'd have to wake her up when we got to Angela's house to take her home, and then we'd have to get her to go back to sleep again. Angela said she didn't mind keeping her overnight, and I thought it made more sense that way."

"I see...but why aren't we leaving tomorrow morning?" Brennan smirked as she watched her husband fidget. She knew the reason, but wanted to hear him say it.

"Well….I thought that since Angela was willing to keep Christine until tomorrow evening, we could take advantage of the time away from home...just the two of us. I made us a reservation at a nice hotel...on my credit card, not the FBI expense account...so we can spend some quality time together this evening, and sleep late tomorrow morning. What do you think?" Booth grinned and winked at his wife.

"I think it's a very good thing I packed the appropriate sleepwear for such an occasion.", Brennan said primly, winking at him in return.

Booth chuckled. "Actually, for what I have in mind, you don't need any sleepwear at all…."

Brennan smiled as she turned to look out the passenger window again. "I was hoping you'd say that…"

Oooooooooo

Special Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan joined Special Agent Guinn at the interrogation room table. Adam Haynes and his lawyer were already present. The well-dressed man representing Haynes looked at the people across the table from him with a mixture of what seemed to be disdain and boredom. Haynes sat slumped in his chair, staring at the ceiling as he fidgeted with the snaps on his dirty orange prison jumpsuit.

Special Agent Guinn cleared her throat as she began the session. "Mr. Gray, Special Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan are from the Major Crimes unit in Washington, DC. They need to speak to Mr. Haynes about a murder there…"

"My client has nothing to say. You're wasting your time. We'll fight extradition for months...years if we have to. Good day. Come along, Adam." Mr. Gray rose from his chair and patted Haynes on the shoulder. "Let's go."

"Just a minute." Haynes sat up in his chair and looked across the table at Brennan, licking his lips as he winked at her and grinned lewdly. "Hey, Sugar...wanna come with me for a tour the men's room? It's been a long time since I've had someone as cute as you...maybe a quick little blow job? Or maybe you'd like it rough up against the wall…" Haynes cackled loudly until he felt a large fist grab the front of his jumpsuit.

"Back off, you mother fuc…"

"That's enough, Agent Booth!" Brennan pulled her husband's arm away from Haynes. "Sit down, please." She glared at Booth a bit until he returned to his chair. "Actually, Mr. Haynes, we have a different kind of proposition for you." Pulling a file folder from her briefcase, Brennan continued. "You may not be aware that we were able to run ballistics tests on the rifle that has your fingerprints on it."

Haynes smirked as he gestured toward the files. "Of course it's got my prints. It's my own fucking gun, ain't it?"

"Adam, please don't say anything to incriminate yourself further." Mr. Gray was beginning to look nervous as he saw Brennan leaf through the papers in the folder.

"What you may not know, Mr. Haynes, is that we can reverse engineer gunshot wounds. We can now examine gunshot striations on bullet wounds left on bones and use computer programs to tell us what striations the gun would leave on a bullet. Therefore, we can prove which bullets came from your rifle."

"What the hell are you talking about, girlie? You can't prove I shot anyone with that gun…" The bluster was slowly starting to fade from Adam Haynes as he realized what Brennan was telling him.

"Actually, Haynes, she can." Booth smiled proudly at his wife as he looked over the file. "Dr. Brennan is the best forensic anthropologist in the world. So when we showed her this file she was able to use the computer program to prove that State Police Captain Jason Hargas, who was working on a anti-gang task force in Omaha, Nebraska, was shot with your Lapua, and yours were the only prints on that rifle." Booth leaned back in his chair. "I was a military sniper, dude. I didn't let anyone mess with my rifle. That's the way it is with you, too, isn't it? No one fires your gun but you." Booth tapped the folder as he nodded toward Brennan. "She can prove without a doubt that the bullets that killed this guy came from your rifle."

"Bull shit! Goddamn cops are just fucking with me, ain't they, Gray? Ain't no way this would hold up in court, right?" Haynes looked at his lawyer with a panicked expression. "Tell me this don't work…"

"I've actually used evidence like this at criminal trials many times, Mr. Haynes. It's usage is widely accepted in courts of law all over the country." Brennan closed the folder, returning it to her briefcase as she calmly addressed Haynes again. "There were convictions in every one of those cases where I presented this sort of information to jurors. Your fingerprints on the rifle will simply add to that body of evidence."

Booth looked over at Special Agent Guinn. "Murdering a state police officer...that's the death penalty in Nebraska, isn't it?"

Guinn nodded solemnly and frowned at Haynes. "Automatically. No chance of any sort of life without parole sentencing. Mr. Haynes would be a dead man, alright. With the mitigating circumstances...not much of a chance on appeal, either."

Mr. Gray, the lawyer, started to sputter. "Can't we work out some sort of deal? What do you want? Maybe Adam has some information you need."

Leaning forward with a predatory look at the lawyer, Booth pretended to laugh. "Give me one good reason why I should try to keep this sorry excuse for a human being alive? I'd just as soon they fry his ass…"

Brennan cleared her throat softly. "Perhaps, Agent Booth, Mr. Haynes could help us with that information we need about the Guardians, and then, perhaps, he would allow himself to be extradited to Maryland, for trial in Stephanie Morrison's murder." She turned to Mr. Gray. "The trial would take place there because that's where she died. Maryland does not have a death penalty, by the way…."

"Let me confer with my client a minute." Mr. Gray leaned over and spoke quietly to Haynes, who sighed loudly and nodded. "My client would be willing to share some information with you if you will try him in Maryland."

Booth rose from his chair and glared down at Haynes. "Let's see what he knows, first. Okay, Haynes...who ordered the hit on Stephanie Morrison?"

"I don't know his real name. I got an email with a request for my services from someone who said he was familiar with other work I had done for the Guardians because he worked for the feds in some sort of anti-terrorism group. We haggled on line back and forth over the fee, and when we agreed on the price, the guy sent me the particulars and wire transferred half of the fee to my bank account. I got the other half when he confirmed the kill. I never met the guy personally, but I can give you his email address…"

"Fine." Booth watched as Haynes scribbled some words out on a sheet of paper. "We'll check this out. If it leads somewhere positive in the Morrison case, we'll arrange for extradition. We'll be in touch…"

Oooooooooo

It was about eleven the next morning when Brennan's phone alerted her that she had a text message. Groaning, she picked it up and smiled as she poked Booth in the ribs. "Hey, sleepyhead! Wake up! This is good news! Time to come out of your post coital haze for a few minutes."

Booth rolled over and growled playfully. "It better be worth waking up for, since you kept me up all night with your sexual demands on my body!" He threw his arm around her and pulled her close. "And I loved every minute of it, Bones. Okay...what's the good news?"

"Based on the information Haynes gave us yesterday, Aubrey had enough probable cause to get a search warrant allowing him to look at Michael O'Rourke's email correspondence and his computer files. Angela was able to work with the FBI techs to recover some of the deleted email messages."

"Hmmm?" Booth kissed her lips gently. "You better hurry and tell me the rest of it. I'm getting distracted…"

"Booth…" she giggled. "Just a minute. The messages to Adam Haynes requesting the hit came from one of Michael O'Rourke's email addresses. He was the one who ordered the hit on Stephanie Morrison. Aubrey went this morning to arrest Michael O'Rourke on conspiracy to murder a federal law enforcement agent. You did it, Booth! You closed the case. Angela says Aubrey wants us all to have lunch together tomorrow to celebrate."

"Wow! That's great! It looks like O'Rourke will never be able to get out of prison. Stephanie was right. She told me nothing we do on the internet is really private." Booth kissed Brennan passionately. "You know, I don't see why we have to wait 'til tomorrow to celebrate. I know just how I want to celebrate today. Three hours until we have to be at the airport...lots of time for making love…"

Brennan pulled away playfully, texting Angela as she pretending to be scandalized. "What about lunch this afternoon and getting ready to go to the airport? We need some time for that, too. I'll be hungry…"

"We'll order room service. I'll give you fifteen minutes for lunch, and we can shower together to save time…"

"Does it ever save time if we shower together?" Brennan grinned as she shook her head at her husband.

"Well, no...I guess not. Okay, we skip that part just this once and take separate showers...but we're wasting time. C'mere, Baby…."

oooooooooo

Booth came into the kitchen where Brennan was cleaning up after dinner and put his arms around his wife. "It was great celebrating the end of the case with the team from the Jeffersonian today, but I'm glad we're finally home. Christine's had a bath, a story, and now she's in her bed snug as a bug in a rug…"

"Do bugs really crawl into rugs, Booth?" Brennan chuckled reached up to caress her husband's cheek. "Are you trying to tell me that we have the rest of the evening free?"

"That's right. We can do anything you want…" He winked broadly at her, leaving little doubt about what he wanted her to choose for the evening's entertainment.

"Okay…" She took his hand and led him to the sofa. "I want to spend some time talking to you."

"Talk...you mean you want me to talk dirty to you?" He leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"Maybe later…" She grinned at Booth. "Right now I want to talk about whether or not you want to be a deputy director…"

"Jesus, Bones...way to ruin a romantic evening." Booth sighed in frustration. "I haven't decided yet. Do we really have to talk about that tonight?"

"Yes...we need to clean the atmosphere between us. You've been avoiding the topic and procrastinating about making your decision. We need to discuss this right now."

"You mean clear the air, right? Oh, okay. Let's hear it." Booth knew there'd be no way around it. If he wanted to spend a romantic evening with his wife he had to have this discussion first.

"So, Booth...do you want to be a deputy director?" Brennan tilted her head to watch his reaction to her question.

"I don't know, really." He shrugged as he walked over to the bar and poured himself a Scotch and a glass of wine for her. "I guess it's the next logical step of my career…"

"What exactly does a deputy director do?" Brennan sipped her wine and sat back on the couch. "Would you still get to do field work?"

"I doubt it...I'd assign other people to do field work and I'd supervise them...I'd make sure cases were closed properly, that the chain of evidence was maintained correctly, and I'd check to see if cases were ready to go to trial….things like that. I'd be in charge of work schedules, and I'd have to hold meetings to make sure everybody is on the same page about rules and protocols. Jamison says it would be a smooth transition from being a Special Agent in Charge to being a Deputy Director. I'd have more responsibility, but I'd make more money, and my hours would be more eight to five...I wouldn't get called in at all hours…and there would be less physical wear and tear on my back and feet." Booth took a drink of his Scotch and sighed. "It sounds like a good deal to me."

"We don't really need any more money, and I'm not sure you'd be happy if you couldn't go out into the field any more. You've also complained quite vociferously about all the paperwork you've had to do over the last few weeks as the files were converted for storage on the cloud, Booth. Do you really want to have a position where you have to do more paperwork?"

"Not really, but it seems to me that the responsible thing to do for my family is to be able to provide the best life for them that I can, and this might be a way of doing that…"

"Booth…" Brennan moved against him so his arm was around her. "You've already provided us with a wonderful life. The only thing that could make our life better is for you to be absolutely certain that you are happy in your career. You don't seem excited about making this change. If you have any doubts about taking the directorship, I'd say that you shouldn't take it."

He pulled his wife closer and kissed her gently. "All I need to be happy is to have you in my life, Bones." He chuckled softly. "Poor Jamison. He's spent all that time grooming me to take his place, and now I'm gonna turn him down."

"I'm really glad you've made that decision, Booth. Now, since that's settled…" She whispered something softly into his ear.

"Oh...time to talk dirty, is it?" He twitched his eyebrows at her and grinned as he pulled her up from the sofa. "Listen...I've got something I need to tell you, too..."

Brennan stood up and embraced her husband. "All I really need to hear is that you love me…"

Booth laughed out loud as he took her hand and led her toward their bedroom. "Actions speak louder than words…."

A/N: this is the end of my little story. Thanks for reading it and leaving all the nice comments. Laura