Title: Deja Vu

Disclaimer: Language, violence

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Twenty-two: Right Where I Belong

The day of the funeral was a cloudy one. There was no rain but it didn't matter, enough tears fell that day. The tests had proved conclusively that the burned remains were indeed those of Agent Stone. When Booth got the news from the lab he'd been left speechless. Who would kill an agent with such hatred? Brennan did her best to hide the mix of emotions that were coursing through her body. It was her job to remain professional in situations like this, but the man had saved her life, how could she just write him off as another body, as another day's worth of work? Much to the surprise of her boss and her co-workers she went to the funeral. Booth wasn't surprised to see her there. It was something they both understood. They knew a side of Agent Stone that others probably never knew existed.

Not many people attended the funeral. Most of them were fellow FBI agents. He hadn't been married, had no kids, and his parents had passed away some time ago. He was a man alone in the world, trying to save lives. Brennan cried, and she didn't care about the show of emotion, the sign of weakness. Instinctively Booth wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close in an attempt to comfort her. No tears came to his eyes. He was more mad than he was sad. They parted ways after the funeral, Brennan returning to the lab and Booth going off to only he knew where.

They didn't see each other for a week. The grief and the realization that life was so fragile kept them apart. Brennan busied herself with her lab work. She had been sent the body of a mummy to authenticate and it took up plenty of her time. Booth was out running around doing whatever is was FBI agents did; most likely he was spending all his time trying to find Stone's killer. Who could blame him? Angela steered clear of the topic, pretending like Booth never existed. She didn't want to hurt her friend; the guys were left clueless to the whole situation.

It was the beginning of another week; exactly two weeks after Stone had been murdered. Brennan was in her office sending emails to her literary agent. They were discussing her next book. There were things the agent wasn't happy about but they were slowly working their way to a compromise. Brennan was just about to shut off her computer when there was a knock on her door. She wasn't expecting anyone; her team was too busy for conversation. Two of them weren't even in the lab at the time.

"It's open," she said, not bothering to get up from behind her desk.

The door opened and in stepped Booth. He looked the way he always did; dressed in a suit, a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "Bones, long time no see. How's life treating you?"

She relaxed when she saw him. "I don't care how life is treating me. I come to work and deal with the bodies of people who got dealt a bad hand. In most cases, there are more questions than there are answers. Nothing has changed, so I guess life is treating me well."

"You haven't been thinking about, well, you know," he said, as he sat across from her.

"No, I haven't," she shook her head. Agent Stone had been the farthest thing from her mind. She planned to keep it that way. "Booth, why are you here? Is there a body you need me to look at? Because two of my team members aren't even in the lab right now, and I have a body waiting for me."

He held up his hands. "I thought that I would check in on you, see how things were going. Apparently I didn't need to do that."

She felt guilty when she saw the look of hurt in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Booth. I've been having trouble with my next book and Dr Goodman has been wanting to say something to me but doesn't have the guts. I think he's afraid I'll hit him again. I've been rude."

"It's okay," he said. He let a few minutes of silence pass before speaking again. "I've been so busy looking for Stone's killer. I keep telling myself that he'd probably still be alive if he hadn't taken that vacation. We would have known he was missing."

"You can't live in a world of 'what if', Booth. It'll get you nowhere," Brennan rationalized. "A terrible thing happened and there's no way you can change it."

He smiled. "That's where you are wrong. I can change it. I can catch the bastard that did this to him. That's the reason I'm here, actually."

"Oh?" Brennan found herself curios. What did he need her for? He knew more than she did about catching the bad guys. She knew her science and that was all.

"I've been digging and digging for days now," Booth began to explain. "I've gone through all his paperwork, checking bank records and phone calls. I checked the cases he worked and found zip there. But one little phone number written on a scrap of paper left in his desk draw gave me a lead. He was working on a big drug bust, undercover, in a way. I took the information to my boss, who took it to the head of the FBI. He knew that Stone was involved in this drug case."

"Booth, what does this have to do with anything?" Brennan asked, thinking of all the work that was piling up.

"I'm getting there, hold your horses, Bones," he replied. "Anyway. Turns out that he was keeping tabs on a guy, some British dude that was here in the states. The guy was known to smuggle drugs from the states into England. They just couldn't figure out how he was doing. They searched him and his luggage countless times. My guess is that Stone was about to get the evidence he needed to put the guy behind bars for a very long time. That's why he got killed."

"And let me guess, he burned the body to hide any evidence he left behind?"

"Precisely. I talked things over with my and it looks like I get to take Agent Stone's place is this undercover operation. He wasn't keen to it at first but I convinced him I wouldn't stop until I caught the bastard," said Booth with an angry edge to his voice.

'What does this have to do with me?"

Booth leaned forward. "The guy isn't in the states anymore. He got on a plane two days ago heading for England. He's on the top of the FBI Most Wanted list. I'm going to England, Bones. I don't know how long I'll be there. I could be gone a matter of days, maybe weeks. Who knows, maybe I'll be gone a month or more."

Brennan wasn't sure how to react to the news so she hid all the emotions that were swirling around inside. "Why are you telling me this, Booth?"

"I want you to come with me," he finally said. "The guy is dangerous and he'll probably kill more people while he's back in England. I'm sure the country has their own anthropologists but I prefer to work with you. I know how you work and can trust you."

The words shocked her. He wanted to go to England, with her? If she said yes she would have to leave the lab behind for an unknown amount of time. Would she be able to do that or would Dr Goodman abject to the idea? Spending time alone in England with Booth would be an interesting experience. When was the last time she had taken a vacation? The more she mulled it over, the more she weighed the pros and cons. Finally she decided on an answer.

"I'm sorry, Booth. I can't go. This is where I belong. My duty is to the Jeffersonian. I won't be going to England with you."