(The Feet on the Beach)

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I don't own Bones.

Ooooooooooooooooooo

While Booth stoically stood by while Brennan examined feet in shoes on a beach on the American/Canadian border, Lester did his best to keep from looking unprofessional and doing something stupid like throwing up. He'd served in the United States Army as a Ranger before he'd joined the FBI and he'd served overseas twice, once in Iraq and once in Afghanistan. He'd seen bodies blown up and bodies shot, but he'd never seen a bunch of shoes filled with feet. No bodies, just feet and for some reason he didn't quite understand, that was freaking him out. "Doesn't this mean we have someone killing people and cutting off their feet? I mean . . . who does that and where are the bodies that belong to the feet?"

Although Booth found this crime scene to be bad, he'd seen much worse. "Let's not jump the gun there, Lester. We need to find out who these feet belong to before we decide we're dealing with a serial killer . . . I've seen a lot of strange stuff while working for the FBI and there might be a non-serial killer explanation for this."

Brennan agreed. "I prefer to wait until we have more information before I declare this the work of a serial killer. For all we know this could be medical waste . . . although such material is usually incinerated." She was kneeling by one of the shoes containing a foot and after careful observation decided that the foot didn't appear to have been cut from its leg. "I don't see signs of amputation, but I'll have to deflesh the feet to get a better look . . . There are three types of incinerators, controlled air, excess air and rotary kiln . . . I am partial to the rotary kiln method since the carbon footprint is smaller . . . That wasn't a joke by the way . . . As a rule, surgeons don't keep the shoes on the feet of their patients when amputations are done . . . so, probably not hospital waste."

"Yeah, okay." Lester watched as Brennan placed the shoe down and picked up a rotten human foot. Holding the decayed foot next to a nearby empty shoe, she estimated that the size of the foot matched the size of the shoe. Swallowing hard, Lester looked away. "But it seems nuts that it's just feet wearing shoes. That's all I'm saying."

Amused, Booth tried not to laugh. "We found a body once that looked like Chili Con Carne. Turns out some one stabbed and killed the victim with a pencil, froze the body in nitrogen and then shattered the body. The killer swept up the freeze dried chunks into garbage bags and dumped them in a vacant lot for birds to eat . . . the worst bodies we have to deal with are the liquid bodies." Booth hated those and he usually fasted for the rest of the day after dealing with one of those.

"We'll need to take the feet back to the Lab." Brennan stood up and counted the shoes in the area. Before she could instruct the techs to begin the removal process, a man approached and introduced himself.

"Dr. Douglas Filmore . . . I'm here to examine the feet." Filmore recognized Dr. Temperance Brennan immediately and felt his blood pressure rising. "Dr. Brennan it's been quite a while." He wasn't sure what to say, but it was his plan to remain civil, even if she had repudiated his work in a prestigious magazine. He was professional and he could work with anyone. He was also Canadian and he was determined to keep the Canadian feet in Canada. He didn't care what Dr. Brennan did with the American feet. Canadian feet belonged to Canada. It was a matter of national pride.

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Once they were back in Booth's SUV, Booth turned to look at Brennan while Lester unbuttoned his jacket and leaned back against the passenger seat behind Booth. "You wrote an article about the guy and now his arm is paralyzed? We'll be lucky if we ever see the feet on the Canadian side again. Dr. Filmore didn't act like he was going to cooperate with us at all."

"He wants to call himself a forensic podiatrist, Booth. That's ridiculous." Annoyed, Brennan stared straight ahead not carrying to look at her partner for the moment. "And I am not responsible for Dr. Filmore's health issues. That's ridiculous too."

After a few minutes of bickering between the partners, Lester sighed and tried to break up the show in the front seat. "So, how do we get access to the feet that Dr. Filmore has?"

"I have some contacts with the RCMP. I'll make a few phone calls." Booth kept his eyes on the road. They were on the way back to the District and they were still on a dirt road. "If I can't swing it Caroline can." He knew how passionate Brennan was, but he wasn't so sure she was right this time. He didn't see why there couldn't be a forensic podiatrist, but he also didn't want to argue about it either. "Bones, if we can't get the feet back, you may have to go to Canada and ask Dr. Filmore to let you examine them. I hope you're prepared to do that?"

"I am." Irritated with the interference in her case, Brennan crossed her arms against her breasts. "The feet should be brought to the Lab since I work there and I am the leading forensic anthropologist in the world, but I understand that this is politics. I will do what I have to do in order to work on our case."

Grateful that Brennan was being reasonable, Booth smiled. "Thanks Bones. I appreciate the teamwork."

"You're welcome." Her irritation dissolving, Brennan shook her head. "I hate politics, but I do understand that there must be some capitulation when dealing with foreign governments. That doesn't mean I have changed my mind about Dr. Filmore's belief that there should be a forensic podiatrist. If he won't bring the feet to me then I will go to the feet."

Amused, Lester laughed. "I should get that printed on a t-shirt." Since Brennan and Booth decided to ignore him, Lester turned to look out of the side window and at the trees and bushes they were passing. "Mountain . . . feet . . . close enough." Quietly chuckling, Lester couldn't help but think that this case was a welcome diversion from Brodsky. It worried him that no one knew where Brodsky was, but one thing was certain, he doubted Brodsky was hanging out in the woods on the American/Canadian border.

Oooooooooooooooo

The trip to the body farm was everything Lester hoped it wouldn't be. After they had arrived and entered the grounds, Brennan had become as excited as a young schoolgirl. He thought the words giddy and bubbly would apply, but who would believe him if he told them that Dr. Temperance had been giddy and bubbly? No one, that's who. Bodies rotting in the sun, in dark barns, in a water tank, hanging from a rope and Brennan had to point out why each scene was so special.

What Lester found most upsetting was the body that exploded as they passed it. Though Booth and Brennan managed to get away from the awful eruption, Lester hadn't and some of the body fluids and torn flesh had landed on his jacket and in his hair. "Claire is going to have a major cow when she sees my jacket. I just bought it last week." Running a comb through his hair, he combed out the bits of flesh clinging to his hair and knew that the comb was going in the trash as soon as possible. "They should have signs up warning you that bodies may explode."

"Stop complaining, Lester." Booth was growing tired of the muttering behind his back. "Go back to the truck and wait for me."

"No can do, Booth." Lester moved closer and looked around. "I'm not supposed to let you out of my sight . . . I got a text message from Harris a little while ago. He says that Brodsky was spotted in the Dallas, Texas area yesterday. Someone on the Dallas police department reported it, so it's plausible."

It made sense to Booth. "His parents are buried in Dallas, so maybe he went to visit their grave site. I think the anniversary of their death is this month. They were killed in a car accident along with Brodsky's sister. He's been on his own since he was nineteen."

"That's tough." Lester sent a message to Harris with the information that Booth had just given him. "Maybe he'll make a mistake and he'll get caught down there."

"I wouldn't count on it." Booth was certain that Brodsky would be careful while he was in Dallas. The man was a professional and he wouldn't make a rookie mistake. "I'm pretty sure Jake will be back."

While they walked around the body farm, Lester kept an eye on Booth. He didn't know if Brodsky was in Dallas or not, but he wasn't going to let his guard down. He had a job to do. He was Booth's backup and he wasn't going to relax until Brodsky was either dead or in prison.

Oooooooooooooooo

The killer had been caught and Lester was disgusted. "Weed? The guy was killed with a lawn mower because he was a weed grower? If it had been me and the guy had ruined my experiment, I'd have sued him and made him pay for another semester. Running him over with a lawn mower was just . . ." People were killed for the dumbest reasons and this was just one more example. "Now we have one guy dead and one guy going to prison because they both made foolish choices."

Used to the vagaries of people, Booth shrugged his shoulders, picked up his glass of beer and stared at the foam on top. "You'll get used to it . . . either that or you'll quit. It's not going to get better. Being an FBI agent means you get to see the crazy ass things people do when they're mad or upset, or greedy or just plain mean. It never ends."

Sounding a little too fatalistic for his taste, Lester threw a bill on the table and stood up. "Agent Johnson is here, so I'm going home."

Once Lester was gone, Brennan took a sip of beer from her glass and glanced at Agent Johnson who was sitting at the bar. "It's hard to relax when we're under constant observation."

"You don't really relax Bones. Well, not most of the time." A sly smile on his face, Booth glanced at Johnson then leaned closer towards Brennan and lowered his voice. "Although you were very relaxed last night."

"I was, Booth. You were very good at satisfying me and I slept very soundly." Brennan loved to tell Booth how much she appreciated his abilities in bed. It pleased him and it pleased her. She knew she could count on him when she needed him and she knew that he knew he could count on her. "We are very compatible when it comes to our private life."

Finishing his drink. Booth sat back and smiled. "Yeah, we are. I'm going to be glad when we get Brodsky. Having Lester around is a pain in the ass . . . still, he's getting a lot of experience in the field and he'll be a good partner for Harris . . . I don't think Sweets likes Lester that much. I'm not sure why . . . So, Dr. Filmore is cured. We still have a good relationship with Canada. We caught our murderer and you got to visit a body farm. We had a pretty good week."

"Yes, we did." Brennan had enjoyed visiting the body farm. It had been a new experience for her. "I plan to send my interns to the body farm so they can see it for themselves. I think they will find it as fascinating as I did."

"Yeah, fascinating. That's what I would call it . . . fascinating." Booth just hoped he never had to go back there again.

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