Thank you to everyone who reviewed. They were all very lovely and all the suggestions were greatly appreciated. Plus, it made my muse feel far more productive so I hope you enjoy the following.

Disclaimer: I hate repeating myself but I don't own them. I do like to play with them.


Ch. 3 - Previous Experience

Deputy Director Cullen sipped his coffee and then grimaced. He really needed to speak to his assistant about the coffee grounds to water ratio. It was unbearably weak and she had apparently decided to make up for it by adding more cream and sugar than any normal human being could safely consume. If he kept drinking this stuff his cardiologist and dentist would be singing his praises all the way to the bank. He considered walking down to the coffee cart just down the street but decided against it. He had a light appointment schedule for the morning and could get away without his normal caffeine fix.

He began flipping through the paperwork on his desk but looked up at the forceful knocking on his door. The frowning face of Agent Seeley Booth greeted him and just behind the glowering agent he caught a glimpse of Mitchell Clark. He sighed. He should have gone to get that coffee after all.

"C'mon in Booth. Nice to see you again Clark," he greeted both men. He gestured for them to sit but only Clark did. Booth, instead, closed the door with slightly more force than necessary and began to pace. Cullen muffled a groan. Pacing was definitely not a good sign. Before the deputy director could utter more pleasantries, Booth exploded.

"Sir, Clark is trying to poach my partner!"

Clark turned around.

"Poach? Booth, need I remind you that she's not an endangered species. Besides, I don't want to work with her permanently, I just need her help on this one case. After that any interactions between the doctor and myself will be purely… personal," he finished with a leering smile.

Booth scoffed, "Dream on, Clark. You lied to her. She'd never consider a relationship with you in a million years."

"Don't be so sure, Booth. I can be quite charming when I want to be and I'm certain I could make Dr. Brennan forget all of my previous transgressions after a few hours alone," Clark said with his eyebrows raised suggestively.

Booth's fists clenched and unclenched, "What I wouldn't do to you if you weren't an agent…"

Cullen interrupted, hoping to prevent bloodstains on his new rug, "Gentlemen! Need I remind you that I am the deputy director of the FBI and not a relationship counselor? I would appreciate it if we could refrain from discussing the likelihood of Clark getting his foot in the door with Dr. Brennan. Now, Booth, what do you mean Clark's trying to poach your partner?"

"Just that. He waltzes in while I'm away on vacation, gets Bone… Dr. Brennan immersed in the cases of the previous victims to the point where she can't refuse participating in the investigation, and then tries to prevent me from working the same case as my partner," Booth replied, although the emphasis on the last word was clearly aimed at Clark.

Cullen frowned at Booth's reply and turned his attention to Clark.

"I didn't say you could involve Dr. Brennan in the investigation, Clark. I distinctly remember saying that you could consult her only if you desperately needed her input."

"Did you, sir? That must have slipped my mind," Clark answered with mock innocence.

Cullen began counting to ten. If Clark weren't such a brilliant profiler he'd have kicked him out of the bureau years ago. Instead, he was forced to tolerate the agent's grating manners, hostility to authority, and inability to follow orders. The deputy director exhaled loudly and returned his attention to Booth.

"She's in too far to pull her out now, I suppose?" he asked.

"Unfortunately, sir," Booth shrugged.

"Well then, Agent Booth, I am assigning you to Agent Clark's investigation. You will work in conjunction with him and assure Dr. Brennan's safety while she works with Clark," Cullen stated.

"Sir, I must object," Clark interrupted, "Dr. Brennan is in no danger while working with me."

"Clark, don't even bother. Everyone in the bureau knows what happened to Kate Mahoney. If you think we're going to let you work alone with a civilian consultant then you're stupider than we give you credit for," Cullen said dryly.

Clark made a face of annoyance and Cullen resumed his speech.

"Neither of you have seniority over the other. If you reach an impasse you will consult me and I will make the final decision. Whenever Dr. Brennan is in the field, Agent Booth must also be present. If at any point either the doctor or Booth feels that she is being unnecessarily endangered, I will have her pulled off the case. Do you understand what I've said?"

Both men nodded.

"Do either of you have any questions?"

Both shook their heads in a negative response.

"Very well. I have paperwork to do so I'd appreciate it if you'd get out of my office now."

Clark lazily got up and sauntered out. Booth lingered for a moment and his gaze connected with Culllen's, his eyes emitting a silent thank you. Then he followed Clark out of the room and down the hall.

Cullen rubbed his temple. He definitely did not envy Dr. Brennan having to work with the two men. Taking another sip of his coffee he winced.

"Alice," he called out, "we need to discuss your coffee."


Brennan barely registered the beep emitted from the post at the base of the platform stairs when Booth swiped his card. She was utterly absorbed in studying the remains before her. There were still large hunks of flesh hanging on the bones lying on her examination table. After she finished her preliminary exam and collected all the necessary evidence she would have to soak the body in sodium hydroxide to clean the bones.

Booth climbed the stairs and stood at the edge of the platform waiting for her to recognize his presence. He watched her as she studied the body from several angles, her blue lab coat billowing slightly as she knelt to be at eye level with the corpse. He found himself torn when trying to decide whether she was more attractive when she was so utterly focused or when she gave him that magical smile that made her eyes light up. Shaking his head, he turned his mind back to the matter at hand. Such musings were better suited for when he was alone in his apartment. He called out her name but received no response. Approaching her from behind he waved his hand in front of her face.

"Hello? Bones?"

She jumped and then turned to face him, swallowing the butterflies that began to flutter in the pit of her stomach when she noted Booth's proximity.

"Booth. You startled me."

"Sorry, I said your name before but you were deep into it."

Brennan nodded and then frowned.

"Where's Agent Clark? You didn't do anything illegal to him, did you?"

"Bones, you know me better than that."

"I do but Angela says that hyperbole is frequently used in casual conversation as a humorous segue into more serious conversation."

Booth swallowed a grin at Brennan's analysis and attempted to give her a straight face.

"More serious conversation, huh? What's up, Bones?"

"I am merely concerned that a previous conflict between yourself and Agent Clark will have undue influence on this investigation. I don't want to have to deal with two grown men bickering about who's in control or who has the rightful claim on me. I belong to neither you nor Agent Clark. Nor the FBI for that matter."

"I've got you covered, Bones. I've already declared a truce of sorts with Clark. Our priority is solving this case so that Clark can go away and we can go back to solving our own cases."

Brennan nodded her appreciation, "Well then, where is Agent Clark?"

"I left him in the middle of Dupont Circle."

Brennan's eyes widened, "What?"

"I'm kidding, Bones. He's at the front desk getting one of these swipe-card things so that he can get up on the platform without setting off all of those great alarms you've got hooked up. Then he was going to call the medical examiner's office and try and convince them to release their findings ASAP."

"Ah, I see," Brennan replied and then immediately dismissed him in favor of the remains on her table. Booth watched her but feeling less business-like thoughts begin to creep back into his mind he spoke again.

"What have you got so far?"

She looked up quickly and then returned her attention to the leg bone she was probing, "Shouldn't we wait for Clark?"

"He's bright, he'll catch up."

Brennan quirked an eyebrow at him but made no other comment and instead started listing her observations.

"Female, twenty to twenty-four years of age. She was severely beaten before she was killed. Based on the abrasions of her wrists and the clean breaks there, I think she was bound in handcuffs. The nature of the breaks in both wrists indicates to me that she was suspended with her arms behind her head. The additional fact that both of her shoulders were dislocated supports my hypothesis. She was in excruciating pain before she died. I'll be able to tell you more about her injuries after we get the x-rays back."

Booth tried to shake the image of this poor young woman being hung from her wrists while her shoulder joints slowly pulled apart. He turned quickly from studying what was left of the victim's face to Brennan, and for a moment the one image was superimposed over the other, frightening him far more than he'd like to admit.

Returning back to the matter at hand, he asked the ultimate question, "What was the cause of death?"

Brennan frowned at the corpse, analyzing the data, and then answered, "I'd wait for the medical examiner's report but based on what I see, I'd say cause of death was exsanguination."

"Very good, Dr. Brennan," a new voice interjected, "that's exactly what the medical examiner ruled. He also informed me that she was sexually assaulted, most likely before she was beaten."

Booth turned and frowned at Clark who was now standing at the top of the stairs. He was annoyed that his former roommate at Quantico, whom he'd informed years ago that he never wanted to see again unless it was in a casket, could just waltz in, try to steal his partner, and throw off the rhythm that he and Bones had established. Before he could snarl at Clark for interrupting when he was unwanted, Brennan spoke first.

"Glad that you could join us, Agent Clark. I was just apprising Booth of my findings so far."

"Pray continue, Dr. Brennan," Clark said, inclining his head.

The way Bones quirked her eyebrow at Clark as if he were an abnormal specimen forced Booth to smother a laugh. Maybe having to work with Clark wouldn't be so awful after all.

"As I was saying," Brennan continued, "she was in excruciating pain due to her dislocated shoulder joints and broken wrists. She also has a compound fracture of the left femur but based on the lack of bleeding in the area it was most likely post-mortem. It's consistent with being dropped from a height of maybe two or three meters."

Booth's mind began to work through the possibilities, "So he abducts her, rapes her, beats the living daylights out of her, slits her throat, waits for her to bleed out, and then dumps her body in with a bunch of vultures so that it's more difficult to identify her. There's no way he's doing this in a residential area unless he's giving them heavy-duty drugs to keep them quiet. But that doesn't feel right, I think this freak enjoys hearing them scream."

"Based on the evidence you're right, Booth," Clark stated. "The tox screen the M.E. came back clean. The FBI forensics team is running her prints but they aren't having much luck. She may not be in the system."

Booth nodded, "Bones can probably find out who she is from her dental records. So where do you think he takes them? A deserted warehouse maybe?"

Clark nodded, "That's a likely place. It also would provide the equipment necessary to hang the victim at the height Dr. Brennan indicated."

"Something doesn't add up," Brennan suddenly stated.

Booth and Clark both turned to stare at her in surprise. Booth almost argued that that was his line but instead seemed to go along with Bones' sudden discovery of her intuition.

"What do you mean, Bones?"

"Well, this is only an extrapolation based on previous experience but if she were a stripper she would know how to defend herself. She would have fought back and she would have been trained to do so effectively," Brennan said, and then turning towards the railing that enclosed the raise platform, she called out, "Zach!"

Booth was startled when a voice immediately below him called back, "Yes Dr. Brennan?"

Booth cocked his head to look over the edge of the platform and spied Angela, Hodgins, and Zach in a suspicious cluster, close enough to hear everything that was happening between himself, Clark, and Bones. He frowned at them but then had to smile when Angela shot him an innocent look. The squints were the best eavesdroppers on the east coast and he had a feeling they heard more than the average FBI wiretap.

"Can you come give me a hand please?" Brennan called, apparently unsurprised that her colleagues were within hearing range.

Zach bounded up the stairs and stood at the edge of the examination table expectantly. Brennan handed him a large, needle-like tool that made Booth glad he was living, breathing and not lying on the table.

"I want you to take muscle biopsies from each of her limbs and then test for anything unusual."

"Unusual, Dr. Brennan? What do you mean by unusual?"

"Something that isn't supposed to be there."

Zach nodded and turned to his task. Brennan watched for a moment and then stripped off her latex gloves.

"Gentlemen, let's retire to my office. We'll be ensured of total privacy there."

Booth chuckled at the two frustrated sighs he heard from the squints standing below him and then followed Brennan off the platform in the direction of her office, Clark trailing behind them.

Once seated in her office with the sliding door shut securely, Booth couldn't resist the urge to tease Brennan.

"You know Bones, if I didn't know you better, I'd say this whole biopsy thing is a hunch."

Brennan frowned at him and retorted, "I told you, I'm extrapolating based on previous experience."

Booth exchanged a look with Clark and then asked, "What does that mean, 'previous experience'? You weren't a stripper at some point, were you Bones?"

Brennan's face smoothed out and she gave Booth a sly grin.

"Not exactly."

TBC


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