(Season 10)
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Michael Stires was a man with a problem. A personal problem of his own making, but none the less, an annoying one. He was a lonely man. He'd had numerous affairs over the years and for a while they had been satisfying, but in the end, he had grown bored with his lovers and ended the affairs. It always came back to decisions he had made in the past that he now knew were the cause of his problem. He had found someone that challenged him, provoked him and yet fascinated him. Temperance Brennan had been one of several teaching assistants he'd had over the years, but his most unusual one. She was brilliant. She challenged pre-conceived notions about the past and his life's work. She wasn't one to take someone's word about anything. She demanded proof and while she had studied under him they had battled over many things. Most of his fellow professors found the situation entertaining and in a way he did too. She had been first in her class for a reason and he'd had to defend his life's work when dealing with her, but in the end it had been glorious and once she was no longer a student of his, she had become his lover.
Her first lover. He had been surprised at that turn of events, but he found it romantic. They had experimented and they had both enjoyed it and Michael realized that he was falling just a little bit in love with Temperance Brennan. Something he had never allowed to happen before or since. They'd been together until she got her doctorate and began her career as a forensic anthropologist. She had excelled and dare he say it or even think it? She had surpassed the master. She was the leading forensic anthropologist in the country and more than once that had sparked a sense of jealousy on his part.
Unbelievably, due to his taking a job as a forensic consultant for a law firm in the D.C. area, he had come into contact with Temperance once more and hoped to start up where they had left off. They'd had a case that ended up in the same court room. He worked for the defense and Temperance worked for the prosecutor. He had done his job and he had done it well, but Temperance had taken exception to it. It was his job to get his client off, she knew that and what he had done wasn't personal, but she had changed. She didn't distance herself from the case like she should have and she severed contact with him once the trial was done. Over the years, he had come to realize that his competitiveness had made him cross a personal line during the case that he shouldn't have. The case should have been about facts not personalities and he had humiliated Temperance in court. He could admit that now, but not then. If only he had another chance with her. If only she wasn't married.
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Surprisingly, Michael had heard through the grapevine at American University that Temperance was separated from her husband. He had done something foolish and though no one would say what it was, it was enough for her to keep her FBI Agent of a husband out of the house. He thought about it and knew that here was the opportunity he had been looking for to get back together with Temperance.
One bright, sunny morning, Michael drove over to the Jeffersonian and made his way to the Lab. Unlike the last time he had visited, he couldn't just say he was there to see Dr. Brennan, get a visitor's badge and enter that part of the building. Now he had to produce identification which the guard at the desk wrote down in a ledger. Once that was done, he called Temperance and told her that she had company and wanted to know if she was available. He didn't know why the changes had been made, but it seemed to be bureaucratic overkill. With a smirk on his face, Michael leaned against the desk and waited for his former colleague to appear.
"What are you doing here?" Brennan was surprised to see Michael standing at the guard's station. She hadn't seen him for at least 9 ½ years and she wondered why he was at the Lab now.
"Is that anyway to treat an old friend?" Michael straightened up and placed his hands on his hips. The fact that Brennan was obviously pregnant surprised him, but it wasn't going to deter him. "I know it's been a while since we've seen each other, but I thought for sure you'd understand that we're still friends, no matter what happened the last time we met."
Hesitating for a moment, Brennan finally shook her head. "It's been 9 ½ years Michael. Why now?"
Certain that he didn't want to have this conversation on front of the avidly listening guard, Michael smiled and pointed towards the door. "Wouldn't it be better if we had this conversation in private? . . . I assure you I have come with good intentions."
With mixed feelings, Brennan relented, turned and walked to the entrance to the Lab. Swiping her key card, she entered the Lab with Michael following her. As she walked down the hallway with her old lover following her, Brennan noticed that Angela was staring at her from her office doorway and she knew that her best friend would find a way to barge into her office while Michael was there. Since that was inevitable, she decided she would deal with that when it happened. Once she was in her office, she walked over to her desk and sat down. She felt since the office was hers, sitting behind the desk gave her control of the situation. Pointing at the chair in front of the desk, she invited her visitor to sit.
Aware that she was placing him in a subordinate role, Michael walked over to the couch and sat down. "It's been too long, Temperance. I know I should have made an effort to come to see you . . . to apologize for my boorishness during the trial, but I suppose my ego got in the way." He laughed softly. "You know I like to win and you were making my clients look very guilty . . . I had to find a way to save them and I took the low road. For that, I do apologize. It wasn't the professional thing to do and for that I am sorry. I make no excuse except that my competiveness got in the way. It is still a failing of mine."
Surprised, Brennan stared at her old friend for a moment, tried to understand why he was there and decided that she would give him a chance. "This doesn't sound like you, Michael. Apologizing?" It was possible he was being sincere and it wouldn't cost her anything to accept his apology. "I accept your apology if you are being sincere." She chose not to say anything else, forcing Michael make the next move.
"Yes, I am sincere and thank you." Unbuttoning his jacket, Michael leaned back the couch, trying to appear relaxed. "I see you in the papers from time to time. Helping solve gruesome cases, testifying in court for the prosecution . . . Um, some of the trouble you've had over the years with . . . Pelant, that's his name and your husband jailed for murder . . . and exonerated. Revealing a plot against this country . . . that was quite a coup and really quite scary when I think about it . . . You've had a very . . . um, interesting life these last ten years, Temperance. Much more interesting than I have had."
"Interesting?" Brennan wasn't sure her life should be boiled down to interesting. "Why are you here, Michael?"
He had forgot just how blunt Brennan could be. "I've been thinking about you, not just now, but for the last ten years . . . We were good together. You and I speak the same language, we're intelligent . . . dare I say it, brilliant people in the top of our field, we should have never broke up our relationship . . . I've come to see if there is a chance we can renew our friendship, perhaps start where we left off."
"You do know I'm still married?" Not sure what Michael was up to, Brennan found his proclamation to be repugnant. The man had said he read in the newspapers about her and Booth, so of course he knew she was married. "Why would you proposition me knowing I'm married and obviously pregnant with my husband's child?"
Feeling his cheeks warm up, Michael ignored it and smiled at his former lover. It was time to lay out the facts to her. "I do know you're still married, but I also know he is no longer living with you. Married to a man of inferior intellect must be taxing, Temperance. If he's no longer living with you then I can only surmise that you have come to realize that he isn't good enough for you. Marriage should be based on equality. What can an oaf like that offer you? Nothing. He's a policeman with a limited future, limited education limited intellect."
"Why Booth isn't living with me at this moment is none of your business, but you are underestimating Booth." Brennan felt outraged for her husband, but she knew that Michael wouldn't listen to anything she had to say in Booth's defense. He was a snob and Brennan knew that quite well. "Booth is my husband. I am not getting a divorce. We are merely separated and that won't be for too long . . . You have come here hoping I will have a sexual relationship with you again, knowing that I am having some difficulty with my spouse. That doesn't say too much about you does it? It would be one thing to proposition me if I was single, but I'm not. I am married and obviously pregnant and yet you propositioned me anyway."
Embarrassed, Michael stood up. "I came here hoping to renew our friendship. Your husband isn't living with you and clearly your marriage is in trouble. Why you married Agent Booth is beyond me. He has nothing in common with you. Nothing at all."
"We do have something in common, Michael." Brennan stood up as well. "He loves me and I love him. We have a daughter together and soon we will have a son. Our problem is temporary and Booth is living away from home on a temporary basis. Even if my marriage was to fail, I would not turn to you, Michael. You are not my friend and it's been that way for almost ten years. I am not some naïve student, Michael. Far from it. Now, I must ask you to leave, I have work to do."
"You have changed, Temperance. I don't recognize you anymore." Humiliated, Michael knew that there would be no second chance with Temperance Brennan. That had been a fantasy that he would have to let go. It was time to move on. "I wish you well, but I don't see that happening. Not now."
Once he was gone, Angela stepped into the room. "Wasn't that your old lover from college days? Michael Something?"
"Yes . . . he's heard that Booth and I are separated and he wanted to renew our relationship. He thought wrong." Brennan sat down. Leaning back against her chair, she sighed. "I used to admire Michael, but he isn't the man I thought he was. I learned that lesson almost ten years ago and I have not forgot it."
Relieved, Angela smiled at her friend. "Good for you, Bren. Good for you."
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