I had a few requests that Robert Tiller be brought back into this story. I hope you like it.

I don't own Bones.

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It has been three years since Christine had last seen Robert Tiller and she was finally going to meet him again. They had first met at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden when she was sixteen years old and visiting her brother in New York City. That year had been a crazy one for her and her life had been a little calmer since then.

The last time she had seen Robert he had told her that his leave was over and he was going back to Fort Campbell. He was getting ready to be deployed overseas and he wouldn't see her again. They had exchanged email addresses and they had kept in touch off and on for the next three years. Robert had been wounded on one of his missions in the middle east, though he wasn't allowed to talk about it and had fully recovered. Christine had fretted about the injury, but Robert had assured her that it was little more than a scratch. Christine had wanted to come and see him while he was in the hospital, but Robert had talked her out of it. He knew she was taking final exams that week and he knew he would be out of the hospital before her exams were done.

Those three years had been busy ones for Christine. She had graduated from high school at the age of seventeen and started attending Georgetown University later that fall. College had been a little over whelming at first but talking to Robert about it had steadied her. He had given her advice about how to handle unwanted attention from the older male students and that advice seemed to work. She didn't mind boys flirting with her, but she was going to school to get her degree and not to party. She knew that she seemed like an oddball to some of her classmates, but she didn't really care. Her education was being paid for by an inheritance she had been given upon graduating from high school and she didn't want to waste her opportunity. Her mother and father had planned on paying for her education if she wanted to wait to collect her inheritance, but she didn't want them to pay for it if they didn't have to.

Her mother and father had been surprised when she turned down an invitation to a sorority, but she had explained to them that she didn't have time for nonsense and they had both excepted it and backed her decision. Her mother had actually been quite pleased that her daughter was taking her education so seriously.

She didn't know why, but Christine had never mentioned Robert to her family. The fact that Robert was six years older than her might have influenced that decision. The thought of her father going off the rails about it was enough for her to remain silent. She knew her mother might have questions and would more than likely support her, but she didn't want to tell one parent and not the other. It seemed unfair, so she had kept her friendship a secret.

"Oh my God, Robert is going to be on leave and he's coming to see me." Christine was in the living room checking her email when Robert's message popped up. "He'll be here in two weeks."

Curious, Booth placed his newspaper down and stared at his daughter. "Whose Robert?"

Realizing that in her excitement she had spoken out loud, Christine placed her phone back in her jacket pocket. "He's a friend of mine. I met him three years ago when I was in New York visiting Parker. We've kept in contact ever since. He's a really nice guy. I think you'll like him."

"Why haven't you mentioned him before?" Booth found the whole thing rather odd. "You always introduce us to your friends or at least tell us about them."

Shrugging her shoulders, Christine stood up. "I don't tell you about all of my friends, Dad. Come on . . . Robert is in the service. He's in the 101st Airborne Division. Weren't you in that division?"

"Yeah, I was." Now suspicious, Booth frowned and stood up as well. "How old is this guy?"

Since she didn't really want an argument with her father, Christine started to walk down the hall towards the front door. "Tell Mom I'm not going to be able to make it for dinner tonight. I'm meeting Claire and we're going to study at the library. Mid-terms tomorrow."

"Christine! Robert who?" Booth watched his daughter hurry out the front door and slam it behind her. "Damn it! . . . Bones! Bones where are you?"

The sound of the front door being slammed a surprise, Brennan left Hank's bedroom carrying the vacuum cleaner. "Did Christine leave already? I didn't get a chance to talk to her. I wanted to give her some advice about her mid-terms."

"Whose Robert?" Booth met her in the hallway near the front door. "Christine says she has a friend named Robert who's serving in the 101st Airborne. Do you know who that is?"

"No, I don't." Brennan carried the vacuum cleaner into the living room. "Did she go to high school with him? I don't recall a Robert in her group of friends."

Following his wife into the room, Booth watched as she plugged the machine into the outlet near the fireplace. "She said he's someone she met in New York . . . I don't like this. She didn't tell me his last name and she wouldn't tell me how old he is . . . She did say the guy is coming for a visit in two weeks."

"Well she is nineteen and an adult." Brennan attached a brush to the end of the hose and paused before turning on the vacuum cleaner. "I suppose if she doesn't answer our questions now, Robert will answer them when he arrives. You're very good at interrogating suspects."

"Suspects . . . well not a suspect . . . yet." Booth rubbed his chin. "I'm going to call Parker and see if he knows who this guy is. He probably doesn't since he's never mentioned him."

Starting the vacuum, Brennan ran the brush over the bricks on the side of the fireplace. "Well, it's too late to put the jinn back in the enchanted lamp. If she has known him for three years, then we will just have to accept their friendship."

"We'll see." Booth moved into the kitchen and filled a glass with water. "She's too young to know someone in the 101st."

"But she is nineteen and is an adult." Brennan felt that she needed to reiterate that point. "We cannot control who her friends are . . . Well, not legally."

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Robert had been warned that Christine's parents might not be as welcoming as she would be, but he really wanted to see his friend and since his mother was on a cruise in the Mediterranean with her brother and sister-in-law he didn't have a reason not to see her. A little nervous, Robert ran his hand through his hair, cleared his throat and knocked on the front door. After a few moments, a boy that appeared to be 13 years old opened the door. "You must be Hank."

A slight smile on his face, Hank nodded his head. "And you must be the mysterious Robert. Come in mysterious Robert. I hope you enjoy the visit. Plead the fifth if Dad gets too nosy."

The boy's sarcasm wasn't lost on Robert. "I'll remember that, thanks." Entering the house, he spotted a young woman walking towards him. "Wow Christine. You didn't tell me that you grew some inches since I've seen you last. I like it."

Glad to see her friend, Christine stepped closer and threw her arms around him hugging him. "Just four inches . . . Gosh, I'm so happy you could come and see me. Did you check into your hotel yet? Why aren't you wearing your uniform? I wanted to see you in it."

Returning the hug, Robert chuckled. "Yes, I have and why would I wear my uniform? I wear it enough when I'm on duty. I like civie clothes." Releasing her, he noticed a tall man standing near the end of the kitchen island and knew that he must be Christine's father. "Mr. Booth, it's good to meet you. Christine has told me a lot about you and Dr. Brennan." She had warned him to never call her mother Mrs. Booth.

Now Booth knew why Christine would never tell him how old Robert was. The man was clearly six or seven years older than his daughter and they'd met in New York when she was sixteen. Sending her to New York was a big mistake. Damn it! "I'm Christine's father. Her mother has gone to the store. She'll be back in a few minutes . . . So, you're in the 101st Airborne?"

"Yes Sir." Robert held out his hand to shake Booth's hand, but the man didn't reciprocate. Lowering his arm, he smiled. "5th Special Forces Group . . . Christine told me that you served too, 75th Ranger Regiment . . . Rangers lead the way."

"Yeah, we do." Booth was interrupted by the front door opening and closing.

Carrying a few grocery bags in her hands, Brennan handed them to Hank who was standing near the front door watching his father talk to his sister's friend. "Hank, please put these groceries away while I introduce myself to our guest."

Brennan noted the nervous look on her daughter's face and smiled at her to encourage her. "I assume that you are Robert." Brennan held out her hand to shake as she approached the younger man. "Christine has refused to tell us your last name and your age. I think she did that to protect you from my husband who would have done a search on you through the FBI database if he had been given that information."

Annoyed, Booth shook his head. "I would not. That would be unethical."

Unable to help it, Hank sniggered loudly while placing the grocery bags on the counter near the refrigerator.

Glaring at his youngest child, Booth shook his head and turned his attention back upon Robert. "What is your name? Unless you have a reason to keep it a secret."

"No secret, Sir. Corporal Robert Tiller. I was born in Fort Bragg in 2006 and moved a couple of times when I was a little kid." He didn't really want to give out this much information, but he felt he needed to assure Christine's parents. "My father died in Iraq in 2009 during 'Operation Iraqi Freedom'. He was serving in the 82nd Airborne Division . . . After that my mother moved us to Indianapolis to be near her brother and that's where I stayed until I joined the Army."

Clearing his throat, Booth held out his hand to shake the younger man's hand. Pleased when Robert shook his hand, Booth gave the man a grim nod of the head. "I was in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm and I was in Afghanistan in 2010. What was your father's name?"

"Sergeant First Class James Tiller, Sir." He knew that the older man was warming to him and he was grateful.

"I never met your father, but it's an honor to meet his son." Booth cleared his throat, turned and walked back into the living room. He hadn't thought about Iraq or Afghanistan for a while. He tried to live in the present since thinking about the past just made him sad when he did. He'd seen young men die, civilians die and sometimes it had been hard to take. Afghanistan had been a lonely uncertain time for him. He'd made a few poor personal decisions at around that time, but thankfully they hadn't ruined his future.

Passing Robert and Christine as she walked into the living room, Brennan pointed towards the front door. "Why don't you two go for a ride? Christine can show you some of the tourist sites in the city. Hank can go with you, if you don't mind . . . I plan to serve dinner at six."

Taking the hint, the three younger people left the house while Brennan stepped into the living room to be with her husband. "He has a lot in common with you Booth."

"Yeah." Booth turned from facing the window and smiled at his wife. "Well, he was a surprise . . . It seems like I can never escape my time in the Army. I hope Christine understands what it means to have a friend like Robert. His job isn't easy and being in Special Forces . . . She may not to get to see him very much."

Moving closer to Booth, Brennan stood near him without touching him. "You won't interfere in their relationship?"

"I may run a background check on him . . . come on you knew I'd do it once I found out what his name was, but I don't think I'll find anything to object to." Booth moved closer and placed his hands on her wrists. "Our little girl isn't a little girl anymore. We have to accept the fact that she gets to choose her friends and we don't get much of a say in it."

"No, we don't." Brennan moved closer and kissed him. "We have the house to ourselves. Would you like to take advantage of that?"

Booth pointed at the juke box. "How about a dance or two?" He was feeling a little melancholy and he loved to dance with Brennan when he was in that mood. She helped him to get past the sadness and he loved her for it.

"Dancing . . . just what I had in mind." The sadness was apparent in her husband's face and she knew that she could help cajole him into a happier frame of mind. "Afterward, perhaps we can have some sex. That would make you and me happy. Wouldn't it?"

"You bet." Turning on his juke box, Booth waited for the music to begin to play before he took her into his arms and started to dance. "The past has a way of sneaking up on me."

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