Chapter 9
"Morning, why don't you look like a woman who has been thoroughly ravished" Penelope commented while critically eyeing Buffy's outfit and the almost well covered hickey on her neck.
"Morning" Buffy greeted the group gathered around Emily's desk, in response she received a short nod from Morgan, a wave from Spencer and Emily.
Before Emily or Penelope could further comment about the way she looked, a worried looking JJ came over. "We've got 4 dead, in a home invasion."
"Where are we headed?" Morgan asked with a concerned looked.
"Southeast DC" replied JJ
Hotch walked up to the gathered group overhearing the location of their next case, asked "Do we know the cause of death?"
"Blunt force trauma, there id no sign of the weapon."
"Have we been invited in?" wondered Emily, JJ gave her a sharp nod, confirming that the police had already called to request their support.
"Southeast DC. Isn't that where there has high number of vandalism cases recently?" questioned Buffy, remembering a recent report on the news.
"Yes" JJ and Hotch said in unison.
"Do you think that there is a connection between the vandalism and the home invasion?" Buffy asked the group wondering their opinion.
Morgan shook his head, "I don't think so, the M.O. doesn't fit a home invasion killer."
"It is worth considering, especially if the vandalism has escalated towards violence" Hotch said thoughtfully.
"There has been a lot of anger in the neighbourhoods with the working class in Southeast DC, especially now that the area is being gentrified."
"Were the victims wealthy?" Buffy turned to ask JJ.
JJ confirmed the notes that she had on the case and nodded, "Yeah there were two couples."
"Was there anything missing?" asked Spencer.
JJ shook her head and said "The police don't suspect anything is missing."
"JJ can you let Rossi know that we are heading out in five minutes, and let the detectives know that we are on our way. Reid you are working with Penelope from here" Hotch commanded, ignoring the smirk on Penelope's face and the look of dread on Reid's face.
While JJ had had left the group and headed off to look for the missing agent. The rest of the team headed to gather their bits and bobs. Buffy headed to a silent corner for some privacy and messaged Seeley to let him know that she was heading out on a case but it was a local one. She then also messaged Bea to let her know that she was headed out on a case, and that if she could take Conner back to her place as their kitchen was still flooded. Buffy headed back to her desk and gathered her gun and newly required credentials, and followed the team to the elevator.
/-/-/
Seeley yawned, he tried to hold it in, but couldn't, it had been a long night. Conner had nightmares the whole weekend, they seemed to stem from the fact that Seeley was headed back to work. It didn't help that Conner had gotten used to having Buffy around if Seeley wasn't, and Conner became more anxious when he realised that Buffy was starting her new job that same week. On top of everything else the plumbing in his flat had decided to give up this morning. So, this morning he and Buffy had woken up to a flooded kitchen, which triggered a late start to the day. He and Buffy cleaned the kitchen up, then while he helped Conner get ready, Buffy was temporarily able to fix the pipe. He never thought he say this but seriously Thank God for Xander for ensuring that Buffy and the rest of girls knew the basics of plumbing.
Temperance glanced at Booth after seeing him yawn for the third time. Seeing Bones staring at him in concern, Seeley thought it would be a good idea to redirect her thoughts.
"So, A Rolex? They just gave you a Rolex?" Seeley exclaimed, restarting their previous conversation.
"They're showing their appreciation, After all my book sold 630,000 copies" Temperance held up her hand to show Seeley the watch.
"Wow, so that means you made…." Before Seeley could even try to figure out how much Bones had even made, the beeping of his phone distracted him.
Hi Angel, I am heading out for a case, will be at Southeast DC. I also messaged Bea and she is taking Conner to her place for dinner, she has promised us a homemade pizza if we finish work on time. 3 xx -B.
Hi Gorgeous, I heard about the case, I know you can but take care of yourself. Thank you for sorting Conner and dinner out. Love you -S.
Love you too xx. -B.
Seeing the smile on Booth's face, Temperance could only guess that he was messaging Buffy, this for reason sent a weird feeling down her spine. It felt strange to her, this woman who name had never even up, suddenly came into Booth's life and he didn't even blink. But she couldn't help but wonder more about Buffy. Before she could bring Booth back to their conversation, his phone starts to ring.
"Booth, What?" Seeley snapped, "That's extortion, right there, pal. What? No, you can forget it" Seeley snapped his phone shut and threw it in the back seat.
"What was that about?"
"Some plumber, can you believe he charged me 800 bucks to fix the plumbing" Seeley grumbled as he got out of the car, and headed to the crime scene with Bones on his heels.
"That shouldn't be a problem for you. Afterall, you have told me many times how skilled you are as a repairman" Temperance stated, pulling on her gloves, as they got closer to the crime scene.
Seeley sighed in frustration, "Well since the coma, it seems that I have forgotten a few things."
Before Temperance could say anything to comfort Booth, she noticed the look of frustration on his face was slowly replaced by a look of admiration.
"Luckily Buffy knew how to temporarily fix the pipe. Never thought I would say this but thank goodness for Harris."
"Harris?"
"An old friend, Bones." Lamented Seeley, "Anyway, I am goanna have to figure something out, relearn how to fix it myself."
"I could lend y….."
"Uhhh" Seeley butted in, "Thanks Miss Rolex but no. We'll be fine, this has nothing do with money, it's about the principles of things."
Seeing the look of stubbornness on his face, Temperance decided not to push the subject. Instead, she decided to focus on the skeleton in front of her, that was currently being devoured by cats. She ignored Booth's not so muttering about his hatred for cats. She had Seeley get the animal control sort the cats out while she continued to examine the skeleton.
Temperance observed, "The victim is an adult male, Caucasian. There're bullet wounds to the sternum and to the third left rib. The left hand has been severed just below the radius."
"There barely anything left of the guy. How long do you think he has been out here?" Seeley wondered as he walked over to Bones.
"I'd say about two days."
Seeley walked over to the man, who had found the victim and started to question him on why it took so long to find the body, "Hey you, my partner here says that the victim has been kitty kibble for the past two days. Why wasn't he noticed earlier?"
"The structure is for long term parking. People rarely use the roof."
Booth walked off with the man, while questioning him about the cameras and security that the structure might have. When Temperance noticed something on the victim's femur, "Hey Booth, he has fractures on his femur. That mea….."
"I get it Bones, he broke his leg" Seeley called back, while examining the specks of paint on the space bump that he noticed while he was questioning the witness. Seeley quietly called the nearest forensic examiner over so that they could get some samples of the paint and send it over to Angela. While heading back to Bones, Seeley noticed one of the cats meowing almost purring while licking their lips as they stared at him, causing him to shudder slightly.
Just as they walked back to the car, his phone buzzed. He pulled it out, to find a message from Caroline telling him that someone from the State department wanted to speak to him.
/-/-/
While Seeley was finding out more information about his victim and the growing national threat, Buffy had just walked into the crime scene along with Morgan, Dave and Emily. Buffy observed the crime scene, she looked at the covered bodies that lay in the front room. Buffy couldn't help but feel a slight chill of horror that went through her after seeing the amount of blood that coated the walls. Even though she has seen so many similar scenes over the years, it still affects her, but Giles has always said that the way it affected her showed her humanity.
As she observed the scene, she didn't notice the way Emily was watching for her reaction at seeing the bodies of the victims and the crime scene. Even Morgan and Dave noticed that she hadn't even blinked at the sight of the blood, the bodies or sheer amount of destruction. The three trained agents didn't see a physical reaction that most trained agents and officer usually give the first time they see this amount of carnage, but three noticed the horror growing in her eyes as they tracked the blood trailing across the room.
To Buffy the scene showed the sheer violence, and destructive way the victims had been killed just showed the pleasure that killers got from this. The scene also showed that there were at least three or four killers, they just killed similarly to a newly formed pack of Cambions. She couldn't be helped but remind of the first time she and a small group of slayers first saw the wreck that the Cambions attack had left behind.
It was middle of the night when they landed in Estonia, the group included her and two other slayers. The day before a friend of Giles had reached put and asked for help when an unknown entity had been seen near the edge of a woods by multiple people in a small town in Estonia. It seems with the amount of people that called, the police decided to investigate. What they found shook the police to their cores, they had found a trail of body parts that looked like they had been torn apart, riddled with teeth marks and claw marks. They then called Giles's friend to help them with their investigation and he in turn called them.
Giles's friend had met them along with the chief of police and they had been taken straight to the trail where they had first seen the monster and where the trail of body parts will be starting from.
"With the amount of body parts that were found, how is it that no one reported these people missing?" asked Amber a newly qualified slayer asked after listening to Giles's friend Jen who was a historian and professor of Demonology.
"The local people never tend to go this area as there are old legends about these woods, the only people that go the woods are travellers, hikers and trill seekers. From what the medical examiner has found these body parts are old. So, I theorise that because of the winter months there haven't been people hiking in the woods so the monster must have been hungry enough to come so close to town. Buffy and her team just nodded, they agreed after seeing the pictures of strewn body parts.
They soon stopped at the edge of the woods, her team stepped out of the car, as the rest of the group started to head out their cars, Buffy shook her head and signalled for them to stay in their cars. Slowly, Amber led the team up the trail, with Max in the middle and Buffy bring up the end. They could easily smell the disgusting stench of rotten human flesh not to far from where they were.
"EWWW" were the first things out of Amber's mouth.
Following her gaze, Buffy looked up at the trees and there hanging from one the branches, was the long intestines from one of the victims and under that they could see a pool of congealed blood. There further along, she could see the trail of body parts, leaving the girls to get over their horror, Buffy headed to a torso. Looking at the torso, she took in the amount of bite marks, claw marks and torn claws imbedded in the torso. Just from looking at the torso, she could tell that there were more than one of the monsters that the locals had seen. She could tell that Max had come to the same conclusion that she had, before they could share their conclusions with Amber, she heard a loud growl from the trees ahead of them. That was the first time she went against Cambions, both Max and Amber had died that night, and she had just survived by the skin of her teeth.
"Whoever did this isn't human" mumbled the officer as he walked out of the room. Hearing the man's mumbling revived Buffy into the present. The other three agents hadn't seemed to notice that Buffy was miles away from the present, as they were bent down observing the victims.
"It looks like the first victim was dropped here, while the second victim comes around the corner to see what is happening and the unsub attacks him."
Emily walked into the dining room, raising her voice so that the group could hear her, "The females were probably here when the first attack happened" looking at the table which was still covered with half eaten food.
"There must have been more than two unsubs, that's the only way the unsub could have subdued the men and kept controlled the females" Buffy pointed out. "They behaved like a pack, there is one unsub that has a alpha mentality over the rest of the group."
"How many do you think there were?"
"Two men to move the body, one or two to attack the second victim and at least one more to subdue the females" Rossi guessed.
"Vandalism does breed pack mentality" states Morgan.
"So, we are looking for a group of 4 to 5 unsubs."
Buffy looked thoughtful, something in this crime scene just said that these unsubs had done this before, "Whoever did this is experienced, this isn't the work of kids."
Dave and Morgan nodded in agreement they noticed the same thing in the details of the crime scene. "She's right, there's an element of control and precision." As the agents headed back out to meet the rest of the group. JJ was talking to the detective in charge to ensure that they would share any information that they find, so they headed to Hotch who was standing by the car. Together they discussed the crime scene, what they observed and how they feel the unsubs operate.
It wasn't long before the team was back at Quantico, the team sat in the briefing room, while JJ went through the first known cases that involved the unsubs. Buffy couldn't help but wonder what caused the unsubs to jump from attacking property to murdering four people without any cause. Spencer thought that the unsubs may have been residents who are unhappy with the recent developments that were taking place in the neighbourhood. Hotch sent the team to look into similar events in D.C., to look into the financials of the victims and to interview the owner of the businesses that were vandalised. As they walked out Emily said something that stuck with them, "We are looking for a group of men with an incredible amount of anger and rage between them."
After she finished up messaging Seeley, Buffy walked over to JJ, who was going through the reports that the police had sent over in regards to the vandalisms. JJ pointed Buffy to the man that was waiting to speak to her about the vandalism that took place in their shop. So, Buffy headed to the room that JJ had set up, all the owner could tell her was that there were no cameras set up. They hadn't seen anyone suspicious and they didn't suspect anyone. The rest of the day was spent talking to the families of the victims and the rest of shop owners whose shops were vandalised.
/-/-/
After dropping Bones back at the Jeffersonian, Seeley headed back to Quantico to meet the guy from the State Department.
Seeley looked at the young man in front of him that was sent by the State Department, just by looking at him Seeley could tell this man was out of prove himself. He ignored the man in front of him and looked at the file that was handed to him, it looked like the State Department had done part of his job for him, by identifying the victim, Yuri Antov, for him. They had also provided a background of the victim, it looked like the victim was a carrier for a diamond manufacturer in Ukraine. The thing that Seeley didn't get was why this had the State's panties in a twist.
"I was told to assess whether you'd be the best agent to entrust some very sensitive information"
Seeley stared ate the man, making sure to keep his face blank, Buffy had recently mentioned how when he kept his face like a blank slate it tended to make Xander more nervous. This man made an aura about him that reminded Seeley of Xander when they first met. "This is my case" he said quietly.
"This may be your case however State will be supervising and I will be approving the lead investigator"
Seeley scoffed, "An ex-army ranger with multiple commendations and a pristine record at the FBI isn't good enough for you?"
"You shot a clown"
"It was mechanical clown, don't act like you haven't wanted to shoot one of those"
"Right, ok"
After hearing exactly why the State Department had their panties in a twist, Seeley knew that the main thing would be to find the briefcase. After the State's agent left, Seeley spent the rest of the time, trying to contact the company that the victim worked for.
Within a couple of hours, a representative from the company turned up to talk to Seeley, it looked like the company believed that everything was in order from their end. It seemed that on top of everything else there were also diamonds worth 2 million were missing. Seeley went through the information that the representative had brought down with them, they had provided the import and export information, the psychological profile of Antov and previous employers recommendations. Seeley made sure to send Sweets a copy of the psychological profile of Antov to help build a profile. He heard the chime of his phone, letting him know that he had a message.
Do you want to join me for lunch? – Bones
I will meet you at the Diner. – Seeley
Seeley headed out to meet Bones for lunch, while on the phone with yet another plumber, even though he knew it was pointless.
Seeley and Temperance were sitting at the counter, waiting for their food when Sweets came in and sat down besides them, with a massive sigh. Seeley turned to look at him and asked, "Sweets, have you been able to come up with a profile on Antov yet?"
"No not yet, I am still piecing it together" Sweets picked a menu and started to browse through it.
"You do realise that whatever that he says is just a guess" Bones said instantly.
Sweets scoffed, she always had the same argument, "Its not a guess, its an evaluation that is based on a number of psychological markers. Though I can say that all of Antov's answers were too perfect, believe me no one is too perfect."
Seeley looked thoughtful as he pondered on what Sweets just said, "Add on the fact that he had an unexplained diplomatic cover and he was killed by a professional clearly means that he is a spy."
Temperance rolled her eyes, "He's not a spy."
Just like that Sweets and Bones started to argue about whether Antov was a spy or not, before Seeley could join them in their argument, his phone started to ring. So, instead he ignored the arguing pair and picked up his phone. "Booth, oh great. I'll pick up later this afternoon. No…. no its not Pilates for dummies. It's plumbing for dummies, right, thanks."
Bones and Sweets had stopped their disagreement t listen in on his conversation and the moment he hung up, Bones asked, "Why won't you let me help you?"
"Look all I want to do is fix a leak in my kitchen. That's all, I am perfectly capable of doing it myself" snapped Seeley.
"With a dummies book? Is that wise?"
"Since the coma, Booth can't seem to remember how to fix the plumbing. I offered to lend him some money for a plumber" explained Temperance.
Instead of focusing on the two interfering people next to him, Seeley picked up his phone and messaged Buffy, to find out her first day was going.
Hey Buff, how is the case going? – S
Hiya, the case is interesting, it looks like the work of a pack. But it's going to be process to find the unsubs. How was Conner when he left this morning? – B
Tired mostly, but keeping to his normal routine will help him get back to normal. By the time that Bea picked him up, he seemed back to his normal self again. I messaged his teacher to let them know that they should contact me or you if anything happens. – S
Good, hopefully he will be ok. Have you caught a case? – B
Yes. It looks like James Bond is in town and he killed the Victim. – S
James Bond huh? – B
Oh yeah and there are diamonds involved – S
Diamonds? Now I am jealous. -B
I spoke to a few different plumbers but they are charging way too much. So, the plan is to fix the pipes myself. – S
That's fine, we'll figure it out together. I've picked up a few things from Xander ;) – B
I love you – S
I love you too – B
Seeley smiled as he read Buffy's message, after all these years the love that he had for her never faded or went away. Now that he had her the love that he felt for her seemed to just grow day by day, He knew that for everyone else they were moving too fast, but they had so many years without each other, he didn't want to waste any time without her now.
Before he could put his phone down, it started to ring, it looked like the police were able to find the car. He clicked his fingers, to get Bones attention and motioned that they were heading out. In the car they found another body stuffed in the trunk of the car. This just increased Seeley's intrigue since they found out that the victim in the car was in the CIA. Once he contacted a associate who worked for the CIA, Seeley contacted Caroline to get a warrant to make sure that the CIA cooperated with him.
A few hours later found him at the CIA headquarters, he smirked as Bones was kicked out of the conference room, that pretty much made his day. As he listened to the bullshit that the assistant director of the CIA fed him, he could almost hear Buffy voice in his head saying, "Ding ding the award for unbelievable bullshit goes to" he didn't believe a word the man said. In the end he asked to see the victim's office, he followed Dorit's assistant to Greg Dorit's office. Seeley quietly questioned the assistant about her relationship to Dorit and about Dorit's job at the CIA. Thanks to the information, they finally had a lead, as he headed back to Bones, he called in to the office to have uniforms pick up Pedro Marques.
By the time he got back to Quantico, uniforms had already picked up Pedro Marques, and was in custody. Seeley and Bones interviewed the suspect, by the end of the interview Seeley could tell that this man was not the killer. This case made no sense and if wasn't for the intrigue of it all, Seeley would have lost his mind by now, sometimes he missed the simplicity of fighting demons and vampires. After sending Pedro Marques back to holding so that he could be sent home, Seely went back to his office, going through the profile that Sweets has sent about Antov. As he was reading, he heard his phone chime letting him know that he had message, looking at the screen he could see that it was Buffy who messaged him.
Are you ready to head home? – B
God yes, I will meet you downstairs – S
Ok – B
Seeley put on his suit blazer, and closed the lights in his office before heading downstairs to meet Buffy. Downstairs at the reception he found Buffy chatting with two other women, he instantly recognised agent Prentiss but he didn't recognise the woman with the pink highlights. He walked over to the trio and instantly slipped his arm around Buffy's waist and he pressed a kiss on the top her head. Buffy just glanced at him and got on to her tiptoes and pecked him on the mouth.
As she pulled away, she introduced Seeley to the two women in front of them, "Seeley meet Emily, she works with me. This is Penelope, she is our technical analyst. Ladies this is my partner Seeley."
"Hello. Ladies it's a pleasure to meet you both."
"Well, hello there handsome."
"Ah agent Booth, it good to meet you."
Buffy sone said goodbye to her co-workers and the two of them headed to the car. Buffy lightly pulled on Seeley's hand to get his attention. "I spoke to Bea a while ago and she has promised us a homemade pizza to take back with us when we pick up Conner."
"Hmm, that's sounds good" groaned Seeley, as he unlocked the car, the two of them got in and headed to Bea's place to get Conner.
/-/-/
The next morning Buffy woke up to her phone buzzing with a on slaughter of messages from JJ letting her know that the unsubs had killed two people during the night. Morgan messaged her to tell her that he will picking her up. So, with a groan she got up and got dressed, before she left the room, Buffy kissed the still sleeping Seeley. She checked on Conner, and found him sleeping with half his body hanging off the bed. Laughing lightly Buffy gently moved Conner back on to his bed and covered him back up. Buffy made sure to leave a note for Seeley letting him know that she was working and that she would see him later on. She headed downstairs once she got a message from JJ letting her know that they were waiting for her downstairs.
At the crime scene, they could tell there was a major jump in the unsubs MO, while before they were targeting rich people, but now it was all about showing their power and giving into their anger. JJ went to go speak to the manager who had found the bodies. While Hotch and Morgan bent down to examine the area around them, Buffy asked the officer, "Any idea who the victims are?"
"Judging by the drivers license one of the victims is Jessica Miller, she is waitress here and the drivers license says Doug Taylor."
Morgan looked at the officer confused, "You can't tell for sure."
The man just shook his head sadly, confused Morgan slowly uncovered the closets victim, looking at the state of the face Buffy could understand why they couldn't identify the victims. the faces of the two victims had been complete smashed, the arms of one of the victims was set in an unusual way. Buffy listened to the manager, as she spoke to JJ about how she came to find the victims.
"They are getting bolder; they are killing in public now" stated Hotch.
"This isn't symbolism anymore, these people are blue collar, one of victims is a waitress."
"This is about violence and power"
Hotch made sure to try and calm down the detective, to make that the officers were keeping a level head in this investigation. Buffy understood their sentiment for revenge better than most people but she knew that Hotch had a point.
In the car they decided that the best way to go about this was to split up, Hotch, Dave and Buffy were going to debrief the officers. While JJ and Morgan were going to go back to Quantico and start looking into how the unsubs met. Morgan dropped Hotch and Buffy at the station where they were going to meet Dave.
Together, they gave the officers a working profile on how to best they would identify the unsubs, they stressed that the unsubs would be violent more so than normal, they would try to provoke a confrontation. Dave mentioned that the unsubs would have a connection the Southeast DC, that they come prepared even though their murders are not planned. Buffy suggested that the officers look at bars and clubs or interview people who work there to see if any groups match their profile.
While the riots made things worse, half the team still went to interview the rioters to see if they had a connection to the unsubs, even though the tea was positive that the riot had nothing to do with the unsubs. While the police had asked the team to leave the case, thanks to Penelope they would be able to get the same information as the police. Buffy was glad that Hotch was staying practical and planning on the cases because cases like this could go wrong if they take their eye of the ball. Buffy took one of the names that Penelope had come up with and started to run background while the rest of the team split to work on other names.
A couple of hours later the team met up at the conference room, getting up to speed on what they had found. Dave stated what they were all thinking, "Andrews has to know that none of the kids are the unsub."
"Then he will add more security in the Southeast," said Buffy.
Hotch nodded in agreement, "We should be there too. The faster we react the more we can help."
"The unsubs will know about the riots by now, seeing as it made the front-page news. If our profile is correct then they will react quickly and in the most brutal way possible," said Spencer.
With that said the team, split into two groups and headed out to patrol the Southeast DC, within an hour they heard about the latest murder. Hotch's team headed to the crime scene while the second team continued to patrol the area. It was at the latest crime scene where the team made the connection to the contractors and area, also the connection to another crime scene where Morgan thought the unsubs first killed someone.
Buffy and JJ headed to the townhouse that had been vandalised, it took some time to convince the owners to let them have a look around. JJ sat with the owners and got more information about the contractors who worked in the home. So, while JJ talked to the owners, Buffy looked around the nursery, as that was the only room that had not been destroyed. Buffy searched the room, to see if there was any place a body could have been hidden. Unable to think of where else the unsubs could have hidden the body, Buffy started to knock on the walls of the nursery, it wasn't until she got to the wall nearest to the door when she heard the hollow sound. Without thinking Buffy reacted and kicked the wall, causing a hole in the wall, with her bare hands Buffy continued to rip into the wall. Hearing all the noise, JJ and the owners had come up, just as Buffy discovered the body that was stuffed in the wall.
"Oh my god" gasped the owners.
"I'll call Hotch" said JJ as she pulled out her phone.
Buffy first encouraged the owners to go downstairs and let them take care of the body, once they went down, she also pulled out her phone to call the crime scene techs, to see if they could get any evidence tying the unsubs to this murder.
It was when Emily and Morgan got to the crime scene, that they agents started to brain storm what unsubs would need to rebuild the wall. With some help from Penelope, they were able to narrow down the list and find the names of unsubs.
Once they had the location of the unsubs the team joined the local police in capturing the unsubs, Morgan broke down the door, where they found one the unsubs watching videos of their crimes, Buffy was more than happy to manhandle the unsub onto the floor and cuff him for Hotch to question. While Emily got the vehicle information from Penelope, so they could send out an APB on it. Buffy and Emily into custody while Hotch, Dave and Morgan went with the tactile team to capture the last two unsubs. The information about the shootout came through from dispatch, Buffy knew that if she had a choice, she may have taken the same choice that the police officers had. She watched as Dave and Emily joined Hotch in his office, while she and JJ headed out after filing the reports for the case. She was so ready for her bed; she was looking forward to spending some time with Seeley and Conner. Instead, when JJ invited her out for some drinks, with Penelope and Emily, Buffy agreed to join them as she knew this was a chance for her to get to know the female side of her team.
/-/-/
Seeley was in his office when Temperance walked in to find Seeley bandaging his arm. Temperance looked worried after seeing the blood rolling down his arm, "Booth you, ok? Don't tell me Mandy fought back when you brought her in?"
"I'm fine, Bones. I just cut myself trying to fix the pipes again this morning. I woke up to a slightly flooded kitchen again this morning, the temporary fix must have worn off. Anyway don't worry about that now, Mandy is waiting for us in the interrogation room."
"Didn't your book tell you how to avoid injury?"
"No, the bookstore ran out of copies, so I tried to fix it myself thinking I could remember how to fic the pipes. But obviously I can't."
"I am sure that is difficult, I don't think I am capable of fixing my own plumbing."
"Yeah, because you would rather pay a plumber."
"I'd rather have someone teach me."
"I could teach you, or could have taught you. Hey maybe we can learn together" he wondered out loud as he walked in to the interrogation room.
Putting their conversation on hold as they sat in front of Mandy, as they questioned her, they found out that she and Greg were seeing each other. Mandy also mentioned that Greg had broken up with he could wonder was how earth did this mean they were broken up. "This is how he broke up with you? With a picture of waving good-bye in an email?"
That was when Mandy informed them that she thought Greg was going to propose her to her after she had overheard Greg and Rutledge talking about diamonds. Seeley and Temperance glanced at each other after hearing this, it looked like Rutledge knew more than he let on. After letting Mandy go, they sent the file that Greg had sent to Mandy over to Angela so that she could check the file and see there is anything more to the file. Meanwhile, Temperance had gone out to find the book that Seeley needed for his plumbing, only for them to argue about them whether Seeley should pay her back or not. Not long after Seeley was in a meeting with the agent from State department and with Sweets as they started to assess Rutledge previous history. It was then they found out that Rutledge was known for effective interrogation techniques, and one of them matched the torture signs that was found on Greg Dorit's body.
Once they found their smoking gun, Seeley was able to bring Rutledge in for interrogation. It was then that they found that the diamonds were being brought in to the country which were then shipped over to Pakistan in exchange for political prisoners. It was when Seeley proposed that there was something else being smuggled into the country along with the diamonds.
A few hours later, Rutledge had claimed a national security threat, and were planning on taking over the investigation. Seeley and Bones were at the Jeffersonian were trying to get more information before Rutledge could bury everything. It was Seeley that inspired and encouraged Wendall to make the connection to the techniques that killed Dorit, but it was when he made the connection to the holes that were left on the bones to the diamond laser cutter.
"Lena Brodsky is the head of the diamond firm; she would access to the diamond laser."
"Dorit was able to get to the case before her. She is the one who killed and tortured Dorit" summarised Seeley, just as CIA walked into the room, Seeley convinced Rutledge that he knew he was innocent and that Lena Brodsky is the murderer.
With the support from the CIA and State department, they were able to bring in Lena Brodsky for interrogation.
"What was in that case that was more valuable that millions in diamonds?" asked Temperance.
Lena tried hard to stick to her guns and not say a word, as the Seeley, Temperance and Rutledge pressured her into giving up her secrets. "I don't know where the case is. Dorit never talked even after everything I put him through, he still didn't talk."
Angela called Seeley, once she cracked the code on the picture that Dorit had sent Mandy, it turns out that in the picture he had included the codes of where he hid the case. They all headed out with the back up to the area were Dorit had hidden the case, the bomb squad had also been notified. Once the bomb squad had cleared the case for any threats, they found a USB drive. Both Rutledge and Seeley now understood why people had been killed, after all information is the one thing that people would kill for, as information meant power.
Later that day, Seeley and Temperance is watched as Greg Dorit was honoured for his bravery and sacrifice. Before they headed back to the Jeffersonian to say good-bye to Wendall, when a miracle occurred and Cam came in to announce that they had been able to secure funding for Wendall for the next couple of years. With that announcement they congratulated the young man who they had all become friends with.
That night found Seeley and Temperance camped in Seeley's kitchen in front of the leaking pipe, Temperance was reading from the book, while Seeley attempted to fix the pipes. Conner had been put to sleep by Bea before Seeley got home and Buffy had messaged him that she was joining JJ, Emily and Penelope for a drink before coming home.
"You need to attach the elbow pipe using the PVC" instructed Temperance.
While Seeley slowly dipped the brush into the mix and slowly attempted to fix the pipe in to the cement as he applied some pressure to ensure it didn't move, when he heard the door open and Buffy called out "Hey, I'm home"
"We're in the kitchen", he could hear the distinct sound of her taking her shoes off, before she came into the kitchen.
"Oh Hello, Dr Brennan."
"Hello"
Seeley popped up form under the kitchen sink and instantly pulled Buffy closer to him and pressed a kiss to her, "Me and Bones here are learning how to fix the pipes" he informed her with a bright smile.
Buffy smiled at the look on his face and asked, "How is that working out for you?"
"Great, I think its really fixed this time."
"That's great" Buffy said brightly.
Temperance was feeling slightly uncomfortable with Buffy home now, so she decided the best thing would be to leave, "Right I should head home. Thanks for the lesson, Booth." And she gathered her things and left before Seeley or Buffy could say Good-bye.
"Huh, she was in a rush"
"Yeah, wonder what that was about. Anyways I am glad you are home. I missed you this morning."
"Mm, I missed you too." Buffy whispered as she pulled Seeley's face down and kissed him. Seeley instantly pulled Buffy up so that she could wrap her legs around his waist, "Lets go to bed." She whispered against his lips, Seeley groaned in agreement and held on to Buffy tightly as he headed to the bedroom.