(After Season 12)

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I don't own Bones.

Ooooooooooooooooooo

Chester Lyons wondered how this was going to go as he approached Agent Seeley Booth's office. He was considered one of the best lawyers in Baltimore and he did his job no matter who his client is or was, but sometimes he felt that he took on just a little too much. He believed everyone had a right to good representation no matter who they were, but it did leave him open to situations like this one.

Confident that he was doing the right thing meeting Booth in the Hoover, Chester assumed by giving the Agent home field advantage, the man would be more receptive to what was about to happen. Knocking on the office door, Chester waited for Booth to wave him in before he entered the office. "Agent Booth . . . Chester Lyons. I called you yesterday and you said I could see you this afternoon."

Curious, Booth stood up and shook the lawyer's hand before sitting back down. "You didn't really tell me why you wanted to meet with me."

Sitting down on the chair in front of Booth's desk, he placed his brief case on the chair next to him, opened it up and withdrew three folders. "Yes, I thought it would be better if I told you in person." Now facing the agent, Chester smiled and hoped that he wasn't thrown out of the office before he had his say. "One of my clients passed away recently and I was instructed to come to you within a week of his death. Just so you understand what is happening, my client had no relatives or friends. He weighed what was about to happen to him and why and decided that this was the best course of action."

For some reason Booth didn't understand, his senses went on alert. "Who is was your client and what does his death have to do with me?"

"Yes, about that." Chester knew it might get ugly shortly, but he was the best and he would do his job. "My client's name was Jacob Brodsky. As you may know, he was executed three days ago."

A cold chilly hand caressing his spine, Booth sat back. "Why are you here?"

Chester flipped open each folder, checked the top page then closed it. "Last year, when my client lost his appeal, he knew his days on this Earth were coming to an end. He accepted it and he contacted me to help set up his estate. He was worth over $12.5 million dollars and he wanted to avoid letting the state of Maryland get any of it if it could be helped. He left part of his estate, $6.5 million to the Fisher House Military Children Scholarship Program. That left six million to dispose of. Per his request, I set up three trust funds containing two million dollars each in the names of Parker Mathew Booth, Christine Angela Booth and Henry Joseph Booth." He waited to see how Booth would react.

Stunned, Booth stared at the lawyer in disbelief. He wasn't sure what to say or what to think. "I was the one that captured him. I was the reason why he was placed on trial for murder. Why the hell did he give my kids his money?"

"It's complicated as you might surmise, but I do have an explanation." Chester placed the folders on Booth's desk. "He admired you, Agent Booth. He told me that he considered you to be the most honorable man he had ever met. You have a strict code of right and wrong and you never seem to waver from that viewpoint. He did what he did and he was willing to face the consequences of his actions. Brodsky felt that he was ridding the world of dangerous people and that what he did wasn't wrong, but that is neither here nor there. As I told you he had no heirs, so he decided to leave part of his estate to your children. He hopes that will allow them to pursue the future they're meant to have. There is only one string attached to the trust funds. If they choose to go to college, their trust fund will pay for everything including housing and day to day expenses. Once they are thirty years old the rest of the funds will be made available to them to with as they wish. If they choose not to go to college then they will have to wait until they are thirty years old to have access to the money. He was afraid that if they received the money at an earlier age it might corrupt them."

"What if I refuse to accept this bequest?" Booth didn't think he wanted his children to inherit blood money. "He murdered people to get that money. The money is tainted."

He didn't care where the money came from. That had nothing to do with what was happening now. "You have no legal standing in this matter. You may not decline the bequest for your children. The money is strictly in the names of your children. They may refuse the bequest on their 30th birthday, but that is their decision and no one else's. If one of them should die before their 30th birthday then the money will be divided between the surviving siblings. I came to you just as a formality to let you know about the inheritance. If your children go to college then their expenses will be taken care of. If not, I will contact them on their 30th birthday and turn over their inheritance. Parker Booth will be entering university later this year. He reaches his majority this week, so I will be contacting him soon, to set up an expense account for his education if he wants it."

Feeling that the world was spinning out of control, Booth just stared at the lawyer for a few moments. "Alright, you've had your say. I won't thank you since I don't want Brodsky's money going to my kids, but I guess you have that all figured out."

"I do." Chester stood up. "You may keep the folders. They're just copies of the legal documents in my safe keeping . . . Brodsky didn't hate you Agent Booth. He considered you a friend before he started on his missions. Even after you arrested him, he didn't hate you. He felt you were merely an instrument of the state and you were doing your job. It was to be expected. He also wanted me to tell you that he really had meant to kill you in the shipyard before his arrest, but if that had happened, he would have made sure that your son Parker was taken care of financially. He didn't consider himself to be a bad man. He was merely an instrument of God. He removed evil people from this world." With that, Chester picked up his briefcase and left leaving behind a bewildered FBI agent.

Oooooooooooooooooooo

Booth entered the house and handed the folders to Brennan. Moving over to the bar, he poured himself a glass of Scotch and drank it down.

After skimming through the folders, Brennan walked over to the bar and sat down. "This is unexpected."

"Yeah." Booth poured another glass of Scotch, grabbed an empty glass and poured his wife a glass of the amber liquid. "I wanted to turn it down because it's dirty money, but I can't. The money is in the kids' names with the lawyer Chester Lyons as the executor. When they're thirty they can turn it down if they don't want it."

Brennan snorted. "They will not turn it down, Booth."

"No, why should they?" He hated Brodsky and the man had known it. "He did this because he knew I hated him and what he stood for. He thought I wasn't any better than he was and he did this to make a point . . . the bastard . . . He had to have the last laugh."

Their association with Brodsky had taken one bizarre turn after another. "You still own the property that Brodsky bought in your name."

"Yeah, I'm still paying taxes on it." Booth sipped some of his Scotch. "I was going to give the land to Parker as a graduation present, but now that he's going to inherit a bunch of money, I may donate the land instead." Irritated, he leaned against the bar. "I should have killed Brodsky while I had the chance."

"You don't mean that." Brennan knew that Booth was just venting his anger. "You aren't like Brodsky. You're not a murderer."

And that had been on his mind when he had Brodsky in his sites in the shipyard. He was not a murderer and the assassin wasn't going to turn him into one. Now he had to deal with the murderers strange since of humor. "I'm not going to tell the kids about the money until I have to. As soon as Mr. Lloyd talks to Parker, I'm going to ask him to not mention it to his sister and brother. I want them to work hard in school and to get a decent education. If they decide to go to college then they'll find out about the money. I don't want the money to be a crutch."

"Alright." Brennan couldn't find anything wrong in her husband's logic. "I had planned on using my money for their education . . . I find that I dislike Jacob Brodsky more now that he is dead than I did when he was alive. He is manipulating our family . . . I do not like it."

Booth raised his glass and saluted Brennan. "Neither do I Bones. Neither do I."

Ooooooooooooooooooo

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