Sorry about the delay, folks. I hope this chapter lives up to the wait. I do love writing Booth and Aubrey chapters and I felt this day was appropriate for both men. Rated 'T' for language and sexual innuendo.

A/N: This chapter, as have a few, will reference either a character, items, or a storyline from Love & Carbonite or Aubrey Chronicles. I've also spelled 'donut' the other way in the title. However, that is the official name of the holiday, so that's why you see 'Donut' and 'Doughnut'.

June 3

"I need a gallon of coffee and a donut this morning. Dare Day is still kicking me in the ass." Aubrey muttered as he left the DC gridlock and entered the Jeffersonian parking garage. Peeking back at the two infant carriers, he didn't hear any crying and was grateful. "At least they get to sleep."

Yawning as he pulled his infant son and daughter out of his SUV, Aubrey hefted their diaper bag on his shoulder before walking his children inside to the Day Care Center. This was usually Jessica's task, but a last-minute call to a body dump out on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway put him on drop off duty today. It also made him pressed for time as the weekly Major Crimes division meeting was scheduled to start in 20 minutes.

Unfortunately, what he hoped would be a quick errand turned into an unexpected never-ending stream of parents talking the workers' ears off. Looking down at his children, he sighed. "Daddy needs to leave…"

After several minutes, he was finally able to get his kids signed in and left. Climbing in the SUV, he barely resisted the urge to turn on the siren as he hurried to work. After ten frustrating minutes stuck behind traffic on G Street, he pulled into his designated parking spot at the FBI and jogged inside, desperate to grab a macchiato and a long john donut before the meeting. Making his way onto the 4th floor, he hurried towards the break room. However, his excitement died when he saw that not only were all the long john donuts were gone, but the box was completely empty.

Unhappy, Aubrey muttered to himself as he waited for his beverage. When done, he rushed over to Major Crimes' conference room and his waiting agents. Entering, he greeted everyone, but his eyes focused on three half eaten long johns that lay in front of Major Crimes' newest agent, Sean Peters, who was also finishing off a jelly donut. Eyeballing the room, he noted the dirty looks of several of his agents focused on the oblivious rookie.

'Fucker! He did it again.'

Keeping his temper to himself, he began the meeting. As he listened to Genny start the morning's roll call of fugitives, he thought back to a few days earlier.

[*]*[*]*[*]*[*]*[*]*[*]*[*]*[*]*[*]

May 30

Aubrey got to work at 7:30, chugging his coffee as he took the stairs to the 4th floor. It was a long night as the twins woke he and Jessica up at what seemed like every hour. However, a cappuccino and a long john would help make the morning a better one.

Heading into the break room, he went to get a donut and was once again greeted with mere crumbs on the box where three dozen donuts usually sat daily. He sighed to himself. "Damn it…"

"Aubrey, we need to talk."

As he started his coffee, he turned to see an annoyed Booth. "Hey Booth. What's up?"

"What's up, Aubrey, is that your rookie agent stole all the good donuts again! When I put the order in for today's donuts, I'd even added three more long johns and two jellies, and he still took all of those." Booth growled. "I have a pile of paperwork to do all morning with no grape jelly donut for breakfast. You know I need my coffee and a jelly donut when I'm stuck with Month End crap."

Aubrey sighed. "How do you know it was him?"

"He's munching on five donuts in your bullpen. He took three bites of a custard long john and tossed it in the damn trash." Booth replied. "Bower, Haggarty, and Thompson are there as well and look pretty pissed. You need to nip this in the bud, now, Aubrey because if he takes all the good donuts again, I might have to put a cap in his rookie ass."

Aubrey knew his friend and mentor was certainly capable of that. "Don't worry. I'll take care of it. Dr. B would kill me if something happened to you and she had to get a new partner."

"Thanks." Booth poured a cup of coffee into his Steelers cup. "Still on for lunch today?"

"Yeah, sounds good." Aubrey smirked. "You should try the cappuccino machine one of these days, Booth."

"I don't do foamy crap, Aubrey." Booth headed out. "I'll see you later."

Grabbing his cappuccino, an annoyed Aubrey headed into the bullpen, where he was greeted with Agent Peters taking a couple of bites out of a vanilla frosted long john. "Peters, my office."

"Sure Boss." Licking his fingers, the agent followed Aubrey into his office and sat down when the SAC closed the door.

Aubrey sat down on his chair and sized up the younger man. He was bright and eager, but also a food thief. That was not allowed on Aubrey's watch. "Peters, I've noticed that you enjoy the donuts that we get delivered here every morning."

"I sure do. These long johns are the best ones ever. The jelly donuts are amazing, and the chocolate sprinkle ones really kick ass. It's why I try to get here early every day so I can get a bunch of them before anyone else does." The blonde man smiled as he looked past Aubrey onto the credenza. "Is that your family, Boss? Your wife is really pretty. She's a bone doc who works with Dr. Brennan, right?"

"Yes Jessica works for Dr. B and thank you." Aubrey replied quietly before putting his game face on. "Agent Peters, in case you didn't know, the daily donut order is for everybody on the 4th floor. I'm sure your fellow agents would like some, too."

"Hey, where I come from, first come first serve, right, Boss?" Peters took another big bite before tossing the last 3rd of the donut in Aubrey's nearby garbage can.

Aubrey saw his beloved morning treat sitting in the trash and was infuriated. "Peters, why are you tossing out that donut?"

"I just wanted to try some of the cream one. I wasn't planning on eating all of it."

Tired, out of sorts, and hungry, Aubrey counted to ten before continuing to speak. "So, you steal several donuts but don't eat all of them?"

Oblivious to Aubrey's irritation, the young man took a big bite and talked with his mouth full. "I like trying different things, but I will only eat until I'm full. I have to keep myself in tip top shape."

Aubrey counted to ten once more to muster up enough patience to be professional. "Peters, I like you. I really like you…"

The agent smiled. "Thanks, Boss."

"…but don't take all the donuts, especially if you're not going to eat them all. Sharing with your fellow agents usually gets you friends faster than being a food hog."

"Okay." Peters got up and walked out the door.

Aubrey watched the man sit down and went back to work. Hungry, he checked out the Royal Diner menu online. After checking with Genny and Booth for any requests, he made the online order and left the FBI to go pick up their breakfasts.

[*]*[*]*[*]*[*]*[*]*[*]*[*]*[*]*[*]

For the next hour, Aubrey managed to pay attention to his agents' case updates and after discussing a few minor issues, concluded the meeting. As he was about to head back to his office, he heard his name and turned around to see Agent Peters munching on a custard filled long john with chocolate frosting.

"Agent Aubrey, when did you want to go over my expense report? You said you wanted to meet with me before I turned it in since it's my first one."

Aubrey took a deep breath to keep his murderous thoughts to himself and smiled. "How about now, Peters?"

"Sure!" The agent pulled the sheet out of a folder, covering it in custard. "Sorry…these long johns are just amazing, you know?"

"I know." Aubrey barely held his smile as he examined the document. "Everything looks good, Agent, except you're missing your dates. Update that, attach your receipts, and turn it in to me by tomorrow. When it's all set, I'll go ahead and transmit it to Pay Management and your expenses should be reimbursed with your next paycheck."

"Cool. Thanks."

Before the agent could leave, Aubrey stopped him. "Wait, Agent Peters. We have something else to discuss." When the younger man turned back, the SAC began speaking again. "It looks like you took several donuts again."

"Yeah, I didn't take all the donuts today, though. I only took the long johns and the two jelly donuts. Can you believe that there were six long johns today! I couldn't believe my luck!"

"Agent Booth ordered more so that everyone who wanted a donut could have one." Aubrey crossed his arms. "I thought last week that we'd agreed that you would limit how many donuts you took to be more courteous to your fellow agents."

"Yeah, I know, but there were vanilla and chocolate frosting ones today! They were so good…I'm sorry. I just can't help myself."

'Shit, he's about as oblivious as Beau Pixler is sometimes.' Aubrey thought. "Peters, last warning. Quit taking all of the donuts. You're antagonizing your fellow agents, including myself, and SAC Booth of Homicide. He is not someone whose bad side you want to get on."

Peters grew petulant. "Boss…come on. They're just donuts. They can just bring their own in or come in early like I do."

"Donuts for all the agents, not just you." Aubrey felt like he was going to blow a gasket, but he maintained his decorum. "Now, get back to work."

The SAC watched the young man walk briskly out of the room and stomp to his desk like a child. Apparently, the lesson wasn't learned, and the 26-year-old agent made his already shitty morning worse than it was. Since talking to him didn't any good and there was nothing in the FBI handbook about inconsiderate agents, what could he do?

At that moment, Aubrey got a large smile as a plan formed. Quickly, he sent a message to Booth for his opinion. His response was quick.

I'm in.

Tomorrow was National Doughnut Day, and Agent Peters would learn what happens when SACs James Aubrey and Seeley Booth are denied their donuts.

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

June 4

At 4:30 AM, the initial whimper of two hungry babies came through the baby monitor on Aubrey's nightstand. Like clockwork, Jessica got up and saw her husband do the same.

"Aubrey, are you and Booth seriously going to do this today?"

"Jessica, I counseled Peters and he didn't listen. It's time for more drastic measures or else Booth will just shoot him. Protecting an agent's safety under my command is part of being a Special Agent in Charge."

"Oh, so you're protecting him from Booth's wrath?" Jessica drolly replied before rolling her eyes. "I call bullshit, James."

Aubrey grew petulant. "Jess, he stole my long john yesterday! That is unacceptable."

"I know." Jessica put her arms around Aubrey and gave him a quick kiss as the whimpering grew into cries. "Good luck with your mission, Special Agent Aubrey. If you'll excuse me, I have to feed your youngest children and then get our oldest around so I can take them to preschool and day care."

"Hey, if I'm successful today, do I get a reward?" Aubrey smirked. "Like since you'll be home today, maybe I can come home for lunch and we can do page 26 of the Bad Girls Bible after the twins go down for their nap?"

"Page 26 gets a little noisy, Aubrey."

"You're right…how about Page 67?"

Jessica chucked as she headed out the doorway. "We'll see."

"Yes!" Aubrey pumped his arm before grabbing his suit and going into their en-suite bathroom.

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

Agent Peters arrived at work at 6:15 AM, excited for today's delivery of donuts. He heard from a few agents in International Operations that Agents Burns, Booth, and Aubrey did a special order every June 4th to celebrate National Doughnut Day and he couldn't wait to gorge himself in whatever long johns came with the order. Recalling yesterday's conversation with Aubrey, he shook his head. Obviously, today didn't count because it was a holiday. Honestly, people just needed to get her earlier like he did and they would have nothing to complain about.

Whistling a happy tune, he got off the elevator and almost skipped to the break room. However, he was in for a surprise when he looked on the counter to see no donut box. Quickly, he looked around, but his search was unsuccessful.

"Where are the donuts?" He thought about walking down to the other side of the floor to Homicide or stopping at International Operations, but he didn't want to look desperate. "Maybe the order is just late. I can be patient. I'm an FBI agent."

Entering the still dark bullpen, he was surprised to see a light on in Aubrey's office. He headed over and saw his boss at his desk with Agent Booth in the other seat drinking coffee together. Not wanting to be rude, he knocked. "Morning, Boss. Morning Agent Booth."

Aubrey looked up. Seeing it was Peters, he picked up his chocolate frosted long john and took a bite. "Morning, Agent Peters. Looks to be a nice day today, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, they say 75 and sunny skies all day. I might go eat lunch with Bones outside at the Jeffersonian courtyard." Booth took a large bite of his jelly donut. "Damn, these jelly donuts are amazing. Did you get one, Aubrey?"

"Yeah, I've got one with my long johns." Aubrey took another bite. "So good…"

Peters saw the two men enjoying their donuts. Growing forlorn, he couldn't keep his disappointment to himself. "You got a long john, Boss? From where?"

"Oh, the donut delivery." Aubrey turned to his credenza and pointed to the large box from Alistair's Bakery. "Booth and I took your advice and came in early to snag all the donuts we wanted."

Peters stood and watched as his boss pulled out three more long johns in front of him and took another bite out of one covered in maple frosting and bacon. "Hey, a Squealer. Boss, are there any more of those?"

"Nope." Aubrey picked up another long john. "Booth, want the other Squealer?"

"Yeah, sounds good. Thanks." Booth accepted his friend's gift. "Just don't tell Bones. She's got me on a diet again. I can only have bacon three times a week and it has to be baked."

"We'll see how long that lasts, Booth."

Peters watched the two men chuckle as they ate and conversed before his attention went back to the other uneaten donuts. "You're not going to eat all of those long johns, are you, Boss?"

"Uh, yeah, I'm going to eat all these. That's why we came in early." Aubrey took a large bite and chewed slowly. "Damn, these are good."

Peters couldn't hold back anymore. "But…what about me?"

Aubrey licked the cream off his fingers. "What about you, Peters?

The rookie gulped. "Well, I wanted one when I came in."

"Maybe you should have come in sooner." Booth gave his straightest, most Special Agent in Charge face as Aubrey held back a chuckle. "Finders Keepers, right, Sean? Isn't that what you said to SAC Aubrey a few days ago?"

"Yeah, but…" Peters groaned inwardly as his words came back to bite him.

Aubrey and Booth waited a moment before the younger man turned back to his agent. "Something else, Peters?"

"Well…" Peters shuffled his feet. "Are there more donuts coming?"

Aubrey took another bite of his long john. "We'll see. Your colleagues are starting to arrive today and after they stop in here and pick out what they want, we'll see what's left over for you."

Booth sipped his coffee before standing up. "I should get back to my office, Aubrey. Can you hand me Homicide's box?"

"Yeah sure." Aubrey took a closed box from the credenza. "Hey, can you drop off Charlie's box off to him on your way back? I got him the extra chocolate donuts with sprinkles he requested for today."

"Yeah, I can do that." Grabbing his load, Booth stood up. "Don't work too hard, Peters."

Aubrey held back a smile as Booth walked away while whistling 'Hot Blooded'. "Is there anything else, Peters?"

Peters stared at the donut in Aubrey's hand. "No…"

"Good." Aubrey waited until Peters had taken two steps before speaking up again. "Oh, before you go, if I hear about you taking all the donuts again, the daily order will be canceled and all of the Major Crimes, Homicide, and IO agents will be made aware of why it happened."

Shocked, Peters' jaw dropped before responding. "But everyone will hate me."

"Yes, they will. Since you misunderstood what I said a few days ago, I'll be more blunt. " Aubrey set down the vanilla long john down. "Alienating your fellow agents, particularly seasoned veteran agents who could help you learn how to be successful, is not something I recommend. Don't do it again. Understand?"

Agent Peters nodded his head. "Understood."

"Good. Now get to work." Aubrey saw Peters' partner Agent Deborah Satterlee waiting outside. "Come on in, Deb. I've got plenty of donuts."

Peters left the office and sat back down at his desk and observed the line outside Aubrey's office, each agent coming out with one or two donuts. Steve Bower was the last one out and he stopped at Peters' desk.

"Boss wanted me to let you know all the donuts were gone."

Peters watched as all the other Major Crimes agents enjoyed their donuts and croissants. His stomach was growling as Aubrey's words finally hit home. Turning to his partner, he observed her taking a bite of her vanilla long john.

"Hey, Deb—"

The agent turned to her new partner. "Sean, I'm not sharing my long john with you. You mess with the donuts, you pay the price. Remember that."

Observing his boss enjoying his long johns, Sean Peters sighed before starting his paperwork. 'Lesson learned.'