Walking quickly through the Hoover, Agent James Aubrey was a man on a mission. He had news...news that couldn't be delivered by anyone but him. He was grim as he stood in the doorway of Caroline Julian's office.
She looked up from her desk and seeing his expression, she knew what he had to say. "Oh, Sweet Jesus…"
"Booth just called." Aubrey drew a shuddering sigh as he came in and gripped the back of a chair, his hands shaking as he tried to control the overwhelming wave of emotion that flooded through him. "Max...Dr. Brennan's father...he passed away about an hour ago…."
Wiping her tears away, Caroline shook her head. "But they said he'd survived his surgery...what happened?"
"Booth didn't say...I guess they'd moved Max from recovery to his room. Dr. Brennan was with him, talking to him, and he just sort of fell asleep…" Aubrey exhaled slowly. "I can't wait until we find out who's behind this thing. I swear, I'm gonna take those bastards down…"
Caroline grimaced as she rose from her desk. "Listen, Cherie...I know you wanna get those guys in order to help Booth and his sweet wife, but we gotta make sure you follow protocol on this thing, okay? No good going off half cocked and getting the case compromised…"
"Yeah, okay, I get that...but I gotta do something, you know?" Aubrey began to pace the small office. "I mean, Booth and Dr. B...they're my friends, and I wanna help them somehow…"
"I know, and we will...we'll be right there working on the case while Booth tends to his wife and their kids, okay?" Caroline gave Aubrey a pointed look. "This isn't the time for freelancing, okay? Strictly by the book...we don't want anything overlooked, but we don't want to make procedural errors and have the case thrown out…"
"Right." Aubrey nodded as he gritted his teeth. "By the book."
Sitting on the edge of her desk, Caroline dabbed at her eyes with her handkerchief. "I never thought something like this would happen to Max Keenan. He was a tough old bird, Cherie. It didn't surprise me one bit when I heard that he'd protected his grandkids and took out those men who'd stormed the safe house. I really thought he'd outlive us all…"
Nodding, Aubrey agreed. "I know Booth respected Max a lot. I guess they had more in common than Booth actually cared to admit...more than just Dr. B, you know? Max had a sort of badass gunslinger mentality, and Booth has some of that, too, right? I mean, maybe they were on different sides of the law from time to time, but you know...nobody was gonna mess with either one of them and come out ahead very often. I guess in some ways, Booth has lost a father figure as well."
"I think that's true." Smiling ruefully, Caroline sighed softly. "We tried to arrest Max several times, but he always managed to slip away somehow, up until the time he decided to let himself get arrested. He was a wily fox, that one. He told me once that Booth was a good man...the only man he trusted with his daughter. That was high praise…a cop good enough for his daughter..."
"Yeah." Aubrey glanced toward the office door. "I need to go see Director Stark and tell him what's going on. We've got Mark Kovac in custody, but we've gotta make sure there's enough to close the case on him, and Booth wants to take some time off to be with his family…there's still a lot of work to do..."
"Did Booth say when the funeral would be held for Max?" Caroline sniffled a bit as she tried to compose herself.
"No, they hadn't gotten that far yet. He called me and gave me a list of people to inform about Max's death, and said he'd send out more information tomorrow." Aubrey paused slightly, walking over to pat Caroline on the shoulder. "You were on the top of the list, you know? Even above his boss…"
"That boy's got his priorities straight, don't he?" Caroline smiled through her tears. "Thanks for tellin' me that, Cherie. I appreciate it. You'd better go see Stark…"
"Okay. I'll call you as soon as I hear anything else…" Aubrey waved as he quickly left the office.
Caroline sat heavily in her desk chair, wondering what the world was coming to if old men were being shot at while they were trying to protect small children. Leaning back in her chair, she stared up at the ceiling and smiled faintly. "It was nice knowing you, Max. Be sure to ask the Lord to look out for your family over the next few months, okay? I'm afraid they're gonna need some help, especially since you've moved on…" She sighed as she turned back to the work on her desk, hoping that the Lord would help her wrap up this case quickly as well.