(After season 5)
A/N: Queenbee1711 requested this story quite a while ago. My muse finally cooperated.
I don't own Bones.
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Bagram Air Base was big and noisy and the only time Booth got any peace and quiet was when he took his men out into the countryside for training or to go on a mission. Missions usually meant that Booth would be given the name of a suspected terrorist that needed to be found and where they were last seen. Sometimes his orders were to capture his prey and bring them in and sometimes he was ordered to kill them. It was up to Booth to find that person using the Afghan army personal he was training as his backup.
He found the young men eager to learn and he was proud of how fast they picked things up. He had thought he'd be training American soldiers when he'd been recruited by the Pentagon for this job, but when he'd arrived in Afghanistan he'd been told he'd be training soldiers in the Afghan National Army. He didn't really care, but he knew that one lie was probably going to lead to another and shortly after he arrived he found out that the Army was more interested in his tracking skills and his sniper skills than using him as a trainer. Disappointed but not really surprised, Booth had accepted that he'd been lied to and buckled down to do the jobs he was given.
The fact that he was now adding to his cosmic balance sheet caused him many restless nights and the priest he used for confession began to dread seeing Sergeant Major Seeley Booth approaching the confessional on Sunday's after service. Booth knew that he had no choice but to do what he was asked to do, but he was worried that his soul would be forfeit by the time he left the service again. He had counted on this mission just being about training young men for war, he had not thought about what it would mean if he had to use his skills to kill again. He was a good soldier and he would do what was asked of him, but he did it knowing that God might turn him away when it was time for Judgement Day. It was a heavy price to pay, but he would pay it none the less. What choice did he have?
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Booth was moving through an area of the country that was off limits to civilians, including journalists. Two journalists had been ambushed and killed in the area the previous week and it had been traced back to the Taliban. Currently he was trying to track down the leader of the group that had lured the journalists to that fatal meeting in Jorm. Working on a tip, Booth and the men he was currently training were traveling to the town of Jorm when they spied a car pulled over to the side of the road up ahead. Cautiously, Booth had the driver of their vehicle slow down and stop before they reached the vehicle.
Leaving the truck, Booth motioned for everyone to leave the vehicle, to spread out and move towards the car with caution. Alert, he noticed a woman wearing a scarf over her head leave the vehicle and wave at him. Examining the area, Booth noticed a building further up the road and several men standing in the yard watching them. Aware that the situation could go south in a hurry, he moved closer to the woman and noticed a man behind the woman sitting on the road leaning against the car, his eyes closed, a camera resting on his lap.
"What are you doing in this area?" Booth kept an eye on the men in front of the building while talking to the woman. "This is a restricted area, off limits to the press and all foreign civilians."
"How do you know I'm a reporter?" Curious, Hannah Burley stared at the approaching sergeant and wondered what the soldier was doing in the area.
Rolling his eyes, Booth shook his head. "Professional camera, the word 'Press' written on the card propped up in the car windshield and the rear window. It's in Pashto but I know what it means."
Embarrassed, Hannah felt her cheeks flush. "Okay, well not a lot of Americans can read Pashto and I guess the camera did give us away."
"You're not allowed to be in this area." Using his chin, Booth pointed at the men in the building down the road. "Those guys might not like you being here . . . Two journalists were killed in this area a week ago along with their guide."
"Yes, I know." Pointing at the house, Hannah knew that she might not get to the meeting she had set up. "A friend of mine who lives near here arranged for me and my cameraman to meet one of the local leaders. He knows who killed Bill Sanger and Mark Hill and I thought if I got that information I could turn it over to the authorities in Kabul. It would be an exclusive for me and I might get some justice for Bill and Mark . . . my friend is at that house talking to someone that can get me to the meeting."
Unimpressed, Booth shook his head. "You're not going anywhere. You and your cameraman are going to get into your car, turn around and go back. I'm going to escort you to . . ."
Before he could finish that sentence, someone started shooting at them from the hills above them. Pushing Hannah on the ground, Booth made sure she was hidden behind the car while he motioned for his men to move up into the hills. Leaving one of the Afghan soldiers behind with Hannah and her cameraman, he ordered him to keep an eye on the building. The men who had been standing in the yard were no longer in sight and Booth wasn't sure if that was good or bad.
After several minutes, one of the young men under his command worked his way up the hill and behind the shooters and killed them. Booth searched the bodies for identification, found some identity cards and placed them in one his pants pockets. Motioning for one of his charges to pick up the weapons, he moved back down the hill, his troop following him. Once he was on the road, he walked back over to the road. "Miss, you and your cameraman get in your car. You're coming with us." Before she could protest, Booth held up his hand. "I don't care about your friend or your meeting. We're leaving now."
Since she didn't have any choice, Hannah and her cameraman, Karl Kitchen followed Booth back to Bagram Airbase, where they were turned over to the Military Police. Once Hannah was threatened with deportation and told that she'd better not be found in areas off limits to foreigners again, she was released along with Karl. "I'm going to track down that sergeant . . . Sergeant Booth wasn't it? That's what his name tag said . . . Booth."
Shrugging his shoulders, Karl shook his head. "Why look for trouble, Hannah? Let's go back to the press room and see if anything interesting is happening."
"No, I want to talk to Sergeant Booth." Hannah removed a hairbrush from her messenger bag, slipped her head scarf in her bag and brushed her hair. "Maybe I can get him to do an interview."
"Interview huh?" Karl wasn't blind or stupid. Clearly Hannah was interested in the handsome soldier and he, her lowly cameraman was not needed. "Have fun." Watching her walk down the road towards headquarters, Karl knew that Hannah might be missing in action for the rest of the day.
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It had been a long flight and after a good night's sleep, Brennan was shown to the morgue where four bodies were waiting for her. Three of the victims were Army Rangers who had been caught in an explosion when they'd entered a house looking for weapons and the owner of the house had blown it up to prevent being captured. The bodies had been badly burned and mutilated. Because of her contract with the United States Army, Brennan had been brought in from Maluku to help identify the bodies. She had agreed to do it in hopes she'd see Booth while she was in Afghanistan. She'd been in Maluku for four months and she'd had time to think about what she wanted in life and whether or not that would include her partner, Seeley Booth.
She enjoyed his companionship and their partnership and she knew that pushing him away wasn't the answer to her problem. She'd had two fears to deal with and they were both tied to her partner. She had come to fear that Booth might be killed and she would be unable to save him and secondly she had thought that if she ever agreed to a more personal relationship with Booth, he would discover that she really didn't have the ability to connect emotionally with him and he would leave her.
While she was in Maluku, she had come to the conclusion that she wanted Booth as a partner, a friend and possibly as a lover and she was willing to risk seeing him die or to walk away from her. Life was risk and she knew that Booth was worth risking her future happiness for. She knew he loved her and she was certain that he knew who she was. Those facts meant that the risks weren't as great as she had feared before she left for the dig. They weren't enough to keep her from entering a personal relationship with her partner.
The first few days she was on the base, she'd worked to prep the bodies for identification. She wanted to identify the bodies as soon as possible and with the help of two of the corporals in the morgue detail, she had made a lot of headway. On the fourth day, Corporal Truax had invited her to eat with him at the mess hall for dinner and she had accepted. While she was eating, she had spied Booth enter the building with a lovely blond haired woman. Watching them closely, she witnessed Booth lean over and kiss the woman while they stood in line to collect their dinner and she knew that she might be too late to let Booth know about her change of heart.
Feeling a sense of frustration, she continued to eat while she watched Booth and his date collect their food and walk over to an empty table. Before he sat down, Booth looked around spied Brennan and dropped his tray on the table. Moving quickly across the room, he reached Brennan's table, pulled Brennan onto her feet and hugged her. "Bones . . . Bones, I didn't know you were in Afghanistan." Releasing her, he gave her a broad smile. "I thought you were in Maluku."
"I was, but the Army asked me to come here to identify four bodies." Brennan glanced over at the table where Hannah was sitting and saw the woman staring intently at her. "I was hoping I'd see you before I went back to Maluku."
Corporal Truax didn't know who Booth was, but clearly he was now a third wheel and Brennan would probably appreciate it if he left. Standing, he smiled at the forensic anthropologist. "Dr. Brennan, I'll see you tomorrow morning."
Alone at the table, Booth sat down after Brennan resumed her seat. "You didn't write to me, so I didn't know if you were okay or not." Booth has assumed that Brennan didn't want to be his partner anymore, but now that he was in her presence he realized that he might have jumped to conclusions since her hug had been tight and not reluctant at all.
"I haven't written to anyone but Parker." Brennan had been busy at the dig and when she did have time to write, she didn't know what to say to anyone. Parker was easy to write to since he didn't have any expectations. She had left the District under a cloud of depression and it had only been recently that she had thrown that off and had started to think about what she needed to do to be happy. She wanted to be happy like her friends and she knew that meant she had to learn to trust again. It had been a long time since she'd been able to trust anyone and for the last five years she had accumulated friends and a partner that had helped change her life for the better. If she didn't want to be alone for the rest of her life, she was going to have to give up some of her control over her life. "How have you been? Are you alright?"
"Oh, yeah, sure." Booth folded his arms and leaned them on the table. "I told you I was just here to do some training, nothing dangerous about that."
Overhearing that part of Booth's explanation as she approached the table, Hannah laughed. "I wouldn't call being involved in a firefight not dangerous."
His cheeks now flushed, Booth stood up and faced Hannah. "It was hardly a firefight. Hannah Burely this is Dr. Temperance Brennan. My partner back in Washington D.C. I think I forgot to mention it, I'm an FBI Agent assigned to the Hoover."
Holding out her hand, Hannah shook Brennan's hand. "So you and Seeley are close friends?"
"Yes, we are." Brennan shook Hannah's hand then released it. Facing Booth again, Brennan shook her head. "Firefight?"
He knew he couldn't lie to Brennan, but he didn't want to make a big deal out of it either. "I was on the way to Jorm with some trainees when I found Hannah and her cameraman on the road in a restricted area. Two guys shot at us, but me and my men took care of them. Like I said no big deal."
Staring intently at Hannah, Brennan finally shook her head. "Going into restricted areas in a war zone is foolish. I've been in a few war zones and not following the rules can leave you open to kidnapping or being killed. Endangering Booth and his men in the process proves my point."
"Look . . ." Hannah started to defend herself, but Booth intervened.
"She's a reporter, Bones." As if that explained everything and it did.
"Ah, I understand." Turning to face Booth, Brennan leaned back against her chair. "I'll probably be here for two or three weeks. I hope you will have time to talk to me before I go back to Maluku. I think we left a lot unsaid . . . I've been thinking about what we talked about outside the Hoover the night we talked to Sweets about his book . . . I think I am prepared to say yes if you're still interested in a relationship."
Shocked, Booth leaned over and captured one of Brennan's hands. "Bones . . . are you sure?"
"Yes, I think so." She didn't know what was going on between Booth and Hannah, but she hoped it wasn't serious.
Standing, Booth moved over to Brennan's side of the table, took her hands and waited for her to stand. Once she was on her feet, he leaned over and kissed her. "Bones . . . yes, I'm still interested." Kissing her once more, the men and women at nearby tables started to whistle and clap. Ignoring them, they kissed for a few more moments then separated. "We have a lot to talk about."
"Yes, we do." Brennan looked around and noticed Hannah was walking over to the exit. "Your friend is leaving."
Glancing at the exit, Booth knew that he probably had mistreated Hannah in this situation, but making him choose between her and Brennan wasn't up for discussion. He loved Brennan and wouldn't give her up for someone he'd only known for two weeks and that was a fact. "She was just a friend, Bones, nothing more." Grasping her right hand, Booth pulled her towards the door. "Come on, let's go for a walk. We have stuff to get right before you leave for Maluku, plans to make."
Happy that her life was moving in the right direction, Brennan walked beside Booth as they left the building. They had at least two weeks to make plans and she was certain that things would be much different when they both went home.
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