A/N: It's time for another Bonesology Summer fanfiction challenge. I am doing 5th challenge from the list of options. The challenge is we're given two character lists, a setting list, and a list of random elements. We're to pick one from each column and use it in a fic. The Challenge runs from May 17, 2021- September 30,2021. The stories will all be one shots of verying lengths unless otherwise indicated
For the first one I'm using FBI Deputy Director Cullen, FBI Deputy Director Stark , a spots bar and an old greeting card or letter...
Current FBI Deputy Director Victor Starke shook his head slightly as he parked in front of the Oasis Bar and Grill, former FBI Deputy Sam Cullen had been retired for two weeks and was already spending his days at the bar. Starke picked the manila envelope from the console and got out of his SUV. He entered the bar and quickly spotted Cullen sitting at the bar. He sat down on the stool to Cullen's left. "How's retirement?"
"Great. I'm enjoying it. I would be home, but we don't get the baseball package…yet…"
Stark laughed and looked at his former boss, "You look good."
"I feel it. So, what did you need to see me about?"
"I found this in the back of your desk…" Stark placed the envelope on the bar.
Cullen picked up the envelope and opened it, he pulled out a slightly yellowed piece of paper with a slightly cartoonish drawing of him sitting behind his desk on the front. "…The last Father's Day card Amy made for me… She came to my office the Friday before and gave it to me because she was too excited to wait until I got home …She got us tickets to the Nationals game for the next day, they were nosebleed seats, but she got them with her own money. That was the last good day she had. If it wasn't for Agent Booth and Doctor Brennan and the squints we would have never known how she got cancer… Knowing didn't change the outcome, but we were able to put the asshole who sold the infected bone graphs and body parts in jail so he can't kill anyone else. He'll be there for the rest of his life thanks to Doctor Brennan knowing the facts didn't add up and being determined to find out why. And Agent Booth not being able to tell her 'no', well he can tell her no, but she works him until give in and does what she needs him to do." Cullen laughed. "Thanks for bringing it to me."
"You're welcome."
"How are you liking being Deputy Director of the FBI?"
"I love it. I can't figure Agent Booth and Doctor Brennan out though; they shouldn't work together at all but they've been together ten and a half years and have a 98.8% close rate."
"Yeah, we captured lightning in a bottle when we put them together. Our original agreement with the Jeffersonian was that Doctor Brennan be partnered with a new agent every time we needed her expertise, but Booth was the only agent that was able to work a whole case with her. The first three agents quit on her after 24 hours, her need for facts and refusing to guess was too much for anyone but Booth to handle."
"Yeah, I can see that. Doctor Brennan is blunt."
"She's mellowed out a little since she's been with Booth… personally and professionally. The easiest way to handle Booth and Doctor Brennan is to not. I could never figure out what made them work, but I knew if I stuck my nose in too much it'd upset their dynamic. I just made sure they didn't go too far out of the lines and let them be."
"That must have added a lot of stress to your plate…"
"Agent Booth was the only agent I didn't worry about a lot. I knew Doctor Brennan would keep Booth in line and he wouldn't let anything happen to her. In fact, putting them together was my last-ditch attempt to save Booth and his career. Booth is a gambling addict and it was starting to get the better of him. His work was starting to suffer and most days he came in in a mess because he'd been out all night. I was thisclose to firing him for it. After the first case he worked with Doctor Brennan he put himself in GA and started turning ,his life and career around. I asked him what made him change a few years ago, and he said Doctor Brennan. He said he knew he wanted to work with her again, but the only way that was going to happen was if he got it together."
"I'm glad he got it together then and that they still work so well together."
"Me too. The two other really important things you should know about Booth and Doctor Brennan is that she will do ANYTHING to protect Booth and he'll do the same for her. If someone or something is a threat to them or their family they will stop at nothing to protect them. If that means working the system or blowing the whole system to hell to make sure their family is safe then sobeit. The other thing is if you need Booth to work without Doctor Brennan she HAS to know about it. She won't like it, but she accepts it's part of his job. A few years ago, Booth got shot and we decided to fake his death to draw out a suspect that he forced underground before he started working with Doctor Brennan. The hardest thing I did in my career was stand in the hospital waiting room and tell Doctor Brennan that despite the surgeon's best-efforts Booth died on the table. It broke her, hell it broke me too, but I knew Sweets would tell her he was fine and recovering in Walter Reed. Only thing was he didn't, he decided to 'experiment' on them. For two weeks Doctor Brennan thought agent Booth was dead, when he appeared at his 'funeral' Doctor Brennan started beating the tar out of him."
Starke chuckled, "I can believe it. Sweets was a piece of work and a so-so agent. He had better than average marksmanship though."
'Because Booth taught him… he said if Sweets was going to be in the field with Doctor Brennan he needed to be a good shot…"
"Thank God for that…"
"Yeah. Why don't you stay and watch the Nationals game with me and I'll tell you more stories?"
"Why not? I was going to go home and watch it anyway…"