(The Carpals in the Coy-Wolves)
A/N: this story idea came from a chat I had with several Bones fans. It seemed that most of us didn't believe Agent Andy was killed off in the Kathy Reich books because Brennan was bored.
I really don't own Bones.
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With mixed feelings, Brennan was considering resurrecting Agent Andy in her next book, even though the character had been shot in the sternum and the shot was fatal. After a lot of self-reflection, she found herself questioning the motives she had used to justify killing off Agent Andy. She had thought that killing off the FBI Agent would allow her to introduce a new character that would make her future stories more interesting and give her another character to mold and shape. Now she wasn't so sure that was the real reason.
Dr. Beth Mayer had intimated that she had killed Agent Andy because at the time she was writing her book, she was bored. She and Booth had given up working on murder investigations and they had started a new life. Apparently boredom had inveigled her into killing off Andy and replacing him with a newer younger agent.
Since her grasp on psychology had always been weak, Brennan had considered Dr. Mayer's hypothesis and felt that the woman who was older and wiser with multiple marriages behind her had given her special insight that Brennan might not have realized on her own. She had considered what Dr. Mayer had said to be possible, but now that she had time to think about it, she wasn't so sure. Yes, she had resigned from the Jeffersonian and she had spent time writing a book, numerous articles for prominent anthropology magazines and raising her children at a time when she was at peace, but she wasn't ready to admit she had been bored.
She did love working with Booth and they did challenge each other constantly when working on cases, but that didn't seem to justify killing off Agent Andy because she was bored. She felt there was something else going on and she felt the answer might be her relationship with Booth.
She still loved Booth and felt that her life was complete with him, but there had been trials in the last couple of years and though her love had not diminished her trust had faded for a bit and she felt that may have influenced her into killing off Agent Andy, Booth's literary self.
For many years she had denied that Booth was Agent Andy, but she had known and Booth had known that she had based her character on Agent Seeley Joseph Booth. She had denied it and denied it until she could deny it no longer. Kathy was her alter ego written in fictional stories and Agent Andy was Booth. He had been the impetus for her first book. The FBI Agent had fascinated her and she had wondered what it would be like to work with the man and to get to know him.
Their first investigation together had ended in disaster and they hadn't talked again until almost a year later. During that time, she had written her first murder mystery and it had become a best seller. She had based most of the characters in her novel on people she knew and she had used her imagination to create a world where she worked with Booth. He had fascinated her even if his arrogance infuriated her, but she had also felt a certain attraction towards him and writing a novel had helped her work out some of the sexual tension she had felt towards the agent without actually having to deal with him personally.
When they had resumed their partnership, she had tried to keep him at arms distance. She wanted to work with Booth, but wasn't interested in a personal relationship with the man. He was cocky and self-assured, but he was also bright, intelligent and a great investigator. He was handsome and when he wasn't being irritating and facetious, he could be charming and friendly. Over time, she had grown to like him, to trust him and to count on him. He had saved her life, she had saved his. They were an ideal partnership and she knew that she could trust him when there were so few people in her life she could count on.
Of course, they'd had problems with their friendship too. He tended to be judgmental about the men she dated which she found very annoying. The fact that he was usually right about the men she dated was beside the point. She also found his taste in dates to be bad. The few women she had seen him interested in didn't seem to have anything in common with him. For a while, she had assumed he wasn't dating at all since he never introduced any of them to her. The first one she had met had been Tessa Jankow and she seemed to be standoffish. Their relationship hadn't lasted very long and Brennan knew that Tessa had been the one to break off the relationship. She had seen how sad that had made Booth, but truthfully she felt he was better off without Tessa.
She had fought her attraction towards Booth for a long time. She had been betrayed many times in the past by people who supposedly loved her, so to trust someone like Booth had proven to be surprising and yet enjoyable. He challenged her and she challenged him. They bickered, argued, stormed out of rooms leaving the other behind, worried that their emotions were getting the better of them and sought their partner out afterward. They were stubborn, confident and independent but were willing to bend towards the other. Life was interesting when they were together and both found that they missed the other when they were apart.
Over the years, friendship turned into love and they'd entered a monogamous relationship that had produced two children. They continued to work together and their partnership produced results. They were still the best team in the FBI and Brennan felt pride in being the best.
During this time, Booth was also fighting his distrust of the FBI and his fellow agents. He'd been accused of murder by the FBI and imprisoned for a while. Once she had found a way to get him released and the charges dropped they'd had to deal with the loss of Sweets. He'd been murdered and the Deputy Director assigned a new agent to work with Booth. Brennan had backed up her husband and had encouraged him to accept Agent Aubrey as someone he could trust. It terrified her that Booth didn't trust anyone in the Hoover building and that his distrust would eventually get him killed. The pressure was immense on both Brennan and Booth and something had to give.
Unfortunately, that break had happened in a surprising way. She had known that Booth was a gambler from the beginning of their friendship/partnership. He had been up front and honest about it, but she had counted on him to stay strong and to keep his addiction under control. When he had failed and started gambling again she was hurt because he hadn't told her about it and his secrecy had endangered her and her daughter's life. She had made him leave their home, hoping that would force him to choose between gambling or his family. She would not allow him to choose both. He had worked hard, got his addiction under control and she had allowed him to come home.
In the end, they chose to stop working for the FBI as investigators and Brennan felt calmer and more at peace because of that decision, but something had gone awry when she wrote her next novel. She killed off Agent Andy and though she had thought she understood why, she now felt that she might have been punishing Booth. She knew she could never leave him permanently. She loved him too much to never see him again and her children needed their father, but when she wrote her new novel, she found herself examining Agent Andy's relationship with Kathy and decided that Kathy didn't need Agent Andy to be happy.
Staring at Booth, while he helped Christine finish putting a puzzle together, Brennan felt her heart beat just a little bit faster at the sight of her man sitting next to their child. He was as handsome as the first time she had met him, but she knew that his clothes hid many scars that would be with him for the rest of his life.
Aware that Brennan was staring at him, Booth gave her a bright smile and a sexy wink. He loved his life and though he would have loved to have avoided nearly being killed or locked up in prison, he knew that the path he had walked to get to where he was in life had given him a women he adored, three children that made him happy and a home that gave him peace and comfort.
"I love you Bones." He told her that every day. Sometimes he told her that several times a day, but he wanted her to never forget that she wasn't alone and that someone loved her and wanted her.
"I love you too, Booth." She still felt her heart flutter every time he said that to her and tried to tell him she loved him back, so he knew that their relationship wasn't one sided.
The puzzle finished, Booth clapped his hands. "Look at that Christine. We finished it and we didn't lose any pieces this time. Good job."
Beaming with pride, the little girl stared down at her completed picture. "Thank you for helping me Daddy . . . It was hard and it had a lot of pieces."
"Yeah, it did, but you never gave up and that's why we finished it." Booth smiled as Christine stood up, moved around the table and hugged him. "I think it's time for you to go to bed, Monkey."
"Okay." Rushing over to where her mother sat, the child hugged Brennan. "I'm going to bed, Mommy . . . Can we get a new puzzle?"
After she kissed her daughter, Brennan patted her shoulder. "I'll buy you a new one this weekend."
"Thank you, Mommy." Rushing out of the living room and down the hallway, Christine moved into her bedroom, slammed the bedroom door closed behind her and hopped into bed.
"Goodness, she seems a little too energized to be able to sleep." Brennan laughed, moved over to the couch and sat down. "I'll be here after you tuck her in."
After Booth checked to make sure that Christine was in bed, the covers pulled up and ready to sleep, he moved next door to Hank's room, made sure the child was still sleeping and returned to the living room where he joined Brennan on the couch. "She didn't want me to read her a story. She said she wanted to make up one in her head . . . I guess I need to buy some new books. She has the ones we own memorized." Settled on the couch, he placed his arm around Brennan's shoulders. "This is nice, want to make out?"
Amused, Brennan placed her hand on his knee. "Perhaps we can do that, but first, I think I must tell you something . . . I don't think I killed off Agent Andy because I was bored. I know I told you that was why I did it, but . . . perhaps it was because I was annoyed that you're working with Aubrey so much now and sometimes I feel like our partnership has come to an end."
"What, no way." Booth grasped her hand. "Look you were the one that said you wanted to work less in the field because of the kids and I get that . . . You're still my partner no matter what you think is happening . . . Aubrey is just a substitute for you when I need back up . . . He's not replacing you . . . he's never replacing you. No one is replacing you."
"Alright . . . perhaps I needed to hear you say that to me." Brennan rarely felt insecure about anything, but it didn't hurt for Booth to confirm that he still wanted her as his partner. "A lot has happened in the last two years and we have gone through some major events . . . I still find you attractive Booth . . . you're still the one that I love."
Flattered, Booth lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. "I love you, Bones . . . things kind of went haywire for a bit last year and some of it was hard to take, but knowing that you were there for me . . . that you trusted me and wanted me . . . that kept me alive . . . it made me keep going and not give up. Thank you for not giving up on me."
"Never Booth." Brennan leaned closer against her man. "You and I are connected in a profound way. I wouldn't have it any other way."
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Let me know what you think of my story. Thanks.
