Wednesday 20th, 2009: 2:30 pm; The Apartment of Doctor Temperance Brennan
When Brennan and Lila arrived back at her apartment building, Brennan quickly paid one of the two men at the front desk in the lobby to take all of their bags and boxes out of her car and bring them up to her apartment. Normally she would have done it all on her own, but considering the fact that she was in charge of taking care of Lila now, she decided it would be best to not leave the little girl alone in her apartment for an extended period of time.
Lila, like any curious little girl slowly walked the apartment deciding on whether or not she liked it there as Brennan prepared an organic Jelly sandwich on a plastic plate and a cup of milk to go with it. When she came back out of the kitchen and set the sandwich and drink out on the table, she found Lila staring at a small picture on the end table near her couch. Brennan knew this picture well. It was one that Angela had taken when Booth and Parker visited the lab. Parker was wearing his small grey lab coat that matched her father's perfectly. Brennan had been holding Parker up on her hip and Angela couldn't pass up the opportunity to force them to pose with Booth and Max for a picture.
Lila turned her head towards Brennan and gently, but quickly placed the photo back in its place, with a look on her face as though she had done something that she shouldn't have.
Brennan smiled and walked over to the little girl, "It's okay to look at the picture Lila." She said, picking up the frame and showing it to her, "That's me and Booth." She said pointing them out, "And that's my dad, Max and Parker, Booth's son, whom you will be meeting later today."
Lila studied the picture for a moment and then looked up, "I'm hungry." She said, patting her stomach.
Brennan replaced the picture on the table and took Lila's hand in her own and led her to the kitchen table, "I made you a sandwich."
Lila looked at the sandwich sadly and then climbed up on the chair, "No broccoli's?"
Brennan laughed and sat down in the chair next to hers, "No, not right now. But for dinner, I promise I will make you broccoli, okay?" Lila nodded and then began eating the sandwich, and then there was a knock at the door.
Wednesday 20th, 2009: 2:30 pm; The Oval Office
Booth looked at his watch for what felt like the hundredth time. He had been escorted to the White House half expecting for the whole thing to be a prank of some sort. After the initial shock and excitement of being taken to the White House to meet the president of the United States wore off, he became completely nervous and down right pissed that they had the audacity to search him for weapons and explosives; as if he knew that while shopping in Target with Bones and his newly adopted daughter, the President was going to request his presence in his private office.
He had tried to calmly sit and wait for the president to arrive, but opted instead to pace back and forth trying to think of some reason that he would be here. It all seemed unreal. The Oval Office looked almost exactly like it did in the movies. If he didn't know any better then he would think that he were actually on a movie set.
As soon as he could hear voices outside the door, Booth wiped his sweaty palms on his pants and straightened out his shirt. He looked down at the graphic on his shirt and rolled his eyes; of course the day that he meets the president he had to be completely caught off guard and dressed down wearing his Oregon Trail, 'You died of dysentery' t-shirt.
And then it happened. The door swung open and in a flash, the President of the United States, Thaddeus Edwards walked into the office and bee-lined it for the desk, not even looking up or acknowledging Booth in any way.
The president sat down behind the desk and buried his face in a file and cleared his throat. Booth didn't know what to do. Should he wait for him to notice his presence? Should he say something? Maybe he knew that he was there and just wanted to get this file out of the way before speaking to him. Or maybe that was the file containing all of the dirty little secrets of one Seeley Booth. Did they really keep files like that? Without any thought behind it, Booth cleared his throat and nearly jumped when the file flinched. Over top of the fresh manila file folder appeared two vibrant blue eyes. Booth smiled hesitantly and kept himself from raising his hand and waving.
Then, and arm appeared from behind the folder and hit a button on the phone. It beeped, "Yes, Mr. President?" A woman's voice called over the intercom.
"Celia, who is this man in my office?" he asked.
"It's your two o'clock, Special Agent Seeley Booth, Mr. President."
The folder dropped onto the desk and the president looked at his watch, "Two o'clock?" he asked in a surprised tone, "Hold my calls Celia." He said then disconnecting the intercom. He then stood up and walked around his desk, "Sorry to keep you waiting, Agent Booth." He said shrugging, "But I'm sure that you understand."
Booth smiled, "It's quite alright, sir. Running the country must be time consuming."
"Please, have a seat." The president said, gesturing to one of the plush couches and then taking a seat on the couch across from him, "Would you like something to drink?" he asked.
Booth shook his head, "To be honest, sir, I'm interested in why it is that you want to see me? It's not everyday that the President requests an audience with a regular guy and my girlfriend and I have just adopted a little girl, so I'm anxious to get back to them."
"That's wonderful, Agent Booth. How old?"
"She's six years old, Sir." Booth responded stiffly.
The president nodded, "She was in the foster care system. This country could use more people like you and your girlfriend; Temperance Brennan, if I'm not mistaken?" he asked.
Booth tilted his head to the side, "Um, yes. How did you know that?" he asked warily.
The president smiled, "I know a lot of things about you, Agent Booth. That's partially why I brought you here today."
Wednesday 20th, 2009: 2:43 pm; The Apartment of Doctor Temperance Brennan
Brennan stood from the table where Lila ate and went to the door. She looked through the peephole and found a young man standing outside the door. Curious, she opened the door, but left the chain on just in case; after all, she couldn't be so reckless anymore now that Lila was around, "Can I help you?" she asked.
"Doctor Brennan?" The young man asked.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Flower delivery." He smiled, holding up the bouquet of roses so that she could see.
Brennan furrowed her brow. She knew that they were most likely from the man who had been contacting Booth, but why would they be sent to her home? She sighed and reluctantly shut the door to remove the chain from the lock.
She opened the door again and extended her arm for the flowers, but the delivery man brushed past her and into her apartment without initiation, "Hey!" Brennan yelled.
But the man closed the door and locked it, tossing the flowers onto her coffee table and removing a device from his pocket and switching it on, "Where is the Sergeant?" he asked hastily.
"Sergeant?" she asked, "Are you the man who has been contacting him?"
"Where is Agent Booth?" he asked, more aggressively.
Brennan shook her head, "He's not here." She said, placing her body between his and the kitchen table, "You need to leave." She demanded.
The young man shook his head, "I have to talk to him. If you kick me out right now, you're practically signing my death warrant."
Wednesday 20th, 2009: 2:43 pm; The Oval Office
Booth was becoming very uneasy about this whole conversation. The President seemed like an okay enough guy, but why was he here? He couldn't comprehend it. He hadn't done anything wrong, he hadn't received any requests from the military to rejoin active duty, he certainly didn't have any in demand skill set that may be useful to the president. Booth sucked in a breath, "Sir, am I here because you want me to get out my sniper rifle again? Because I really don't think that…" he started.
The president laughed and waved his hand in the air, "No. No. Nothing like that Agent Booth. Hey, but don't tempt me!" he said in a joking manner. Booth let out an uncomfortable chuckle and shifted in his seat. The president's laughter died down and he unbuttoned his suit jacket to be more comfortable, "I received a rather alarming phone call, though and I thought that I should talk to you in person about this situation as it has been a reoccurring problem. By any chance, Agent Booth, do you know a man by the name of Nathan Davidson?"
Booth thought about the answer before he gave it to the president, "No, sir. Should I have?" he asked.
The president shook his head, "No. I guess that you wouldn't have considering that the young boy likes to keep his anonymity." He shrugged, "He has been contacting certain people who have served in the military; making up stories and getting them worked up over nothing. Has he contacted you, Agent Booth?"
Booth nodded his head, "Yes, actually. I've received some vague messages and a couple of phone calls from him."
The president nodded and his face turned serious, "I can assure you Agent Booth, nothing that this man says has any credence. This man is a traitor to his country and is being pursued in accordance with the crimes that he has committed against his country. There is no validity to his claims what-so-ever. Do you understand me, Agent Booth?"
Booth cleared his throat and nodded, "Yes, sir. To be honest, I didn't think that anything he said was true." He lied.
The president smiled, "Glad to hear it." He said standing up, "Well, I have to get back to business." He smiled, "Agent Jones and Agent Andrews will take you home."
Booth gave him a tight smile and stood up, "Just out of curiosity, who told you that Nathan was contacting me?" he asked.
The president turned and smiled at him, "A magician never reveals his secrets."
Booth laughed and walked out of the room after saying goodbye to the president and was met by the two Agents who brought him in. They turned and walked him out of the building and Booth picked up his cell phone as they left and dialed Brennan's cell phone. It went straight to voicemail, so instead he tried her landline.
"Hello?" she answered.
"Bones, it's me. Why is your cell phone off?" he asked.
Brennan sighed, "It's not. Are you on your way back?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'll get the Secret Service guys to make a stop at Parker's school before bringing me to your place." He said, giving the Agents a wide smile when they turned and gave him an appraising look.
"Hurry though Booth. We have company." She said.
"Company? Could Angela really not wait to see her?" he asked.
"It's not Angela, Booth. Or anyone that we know personally. You just… you need to hurry here, okay?"
Booth wracked his brain trying to decode her words, "Uh, sure. Be there soon."
"Bye." She said before hanging up the phone.
Brennan hung up the phone and walked back out into the living room where she found Lila and the young man sitting together, coloring in her newly acquired Tinkerbelle coloring book. Still wary of the young man she motioned for him to follow her into the kitchen. The young man stood up and patted Lila on the head and told her he would be right back. Brennan walked into the kitchen and turned to face the young man, "What is your name?" she asked.
"Nathan Davidson." He answered, "I'm not going to hurt you ma'am or Lila either." He said.
"How do you know her name?" Brennan asked, immediately stiffening.
Nathan crinkled his nose, "Aside from the fact that she just introduced herself to me? I've been following you and Agent Booth for some time now, Doctor Brennan."
Brennan's eyes bugged out of her head, "You've been following us?" she exclaimed.
The boy closed his eyes and huffed, "I needed to know that you were trustworthy." He explained.
"Trustworthy?" Brennan scoffed, "Don't you think that's for him to decide?"
"Booth isn't the only one that's in this thing. There are others too, Doctor Brennan."
"WHAT THING?" Brennan yelled, then quickly poked her head around the corner to see Lila staring at the kitchen door, "Are you okay, Lila?" she asked softly. Lila hesitantly nodded and turned back to her drawing. Brennan turned back to Nathan, "You've been so God damned secretive that neither of us knows what it is that we're involved in. It could be something horrible or for all we know you could be upset about the trans-fat content in the MRE's."
Nathan laughed, "I can assure you that this has nothing to do with the MRE's, Doctor Brennan. I will tell you both everything, but not until the Sergeant returns. Please trust me."
Brennan exhaled and crossed her arms, "Turn around and put your hands on the counter." She ordered. Not willing to have another argument, Nathan did as she asked, "Spread your legs, please." She said, and then began frisking him to make sure he had no concealed weapons, "I'm not going to let you stay here armed with my child in the house." She said, pulling a four inch blade out of his shoe.
"I understand, but just so we're clear, the knife is for self defense." He said. He turned around and smiled at her.
Brennan held onto the knife and looked the young man up and down, "Well since you're here, you might as well do something useful." She said, walking over to the array of boxes that would soon make up Lila's bedroom furniture, "Second door on the left, start constructing the furniture. The old bed frame can be taken down to the trash and the mattress can be moved into my bedroom at the end of the hall."
Nathan smiled, "Yes ma'am." And then proceeded to take the boxes to the designated bedroom.
Brennan looked at the knife again once he disappeared into the guest bedroom. She wished that none of this was happening. It was really unfortunate that on the day that was meant to be spending time with her new adopted daughter that this boy would show up and put a major damper on it. She walked to her bookshelf and pulled her first novel down off of the shelf and stuck the knife between the pages, just in case he might go looking for it later on.
As she turned away from the shelf, Lila was standing right behind her looking up at her with her strikingly green eyes, "Why were you yelling?" she asked.
Brennan sighed and smiled. She picked up the young girl and positioned her on her hip and stroked her curly blonde hair, "I was frustrated, Lila. Do you understand?" she asked.
Lila nodded, "That's what Jenny said after she yelled at me."
"Jenny?" Brennan asked and then bit her tounge, realizing that Jenny was Jennifer Morris, their murder victim from mere days ago, "Oh, yes, Jenny."
"When is Mr. Booth coming home?" she asked.
Brennan smiled, "He'll be here soon, Lila, and he's bringing Parker with him. Would you like to meet Parker?"
Lila nodded her head vigorously, "I've always wanted a brother!" she said enthusiastically.
