(After The Man in the Mansion)

This story was requested by anne1585. I hope this is what you wanted.

I don't own Bones.

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He'd been reinstated as a field agent after his little melt down on a city street and he'd shot a clown head sitting on top of an ice cream truck. Not that it had been easy, but Booth was back behind his desk and he was grateful that the FBI hadn't fired him. His conversation with Dr. Gordon Wyatt had helped him see why'd he'd had the melt down and he was still required to see the psychologist once a week for the next month or so, but Booth could handle that as long as he still had his job and his partner. Once he had realized what he'd done, his biggest worry had been that he'd lose his position as liaison with the Jeffersonian and therefore his partnership with Temperance Brennan. Now that he was on probation he was going to be very careful and not jeopardize his partnership again.

Timothy Sullivan walked into Booth's office and sat down with a huge grin on his face. Wary, Booth knew he really wasn't interested in why the man appeared to be so happy. "Don't you have something to do?"

"Tempe and I are seeing each other." Sully was so happy he wanted to spread his happiness around and he expected his friends to appreciate his good fortune. "She . . . "

"Stop." Booth held up his hand and interrupted him. "I don't want to hear about you and my partner. She's my friend and gentlemen don't . . . she'd my friend, Sully and what you two do in private needs to stay private."

"Sure." Sully was disappointed that Booth didn't want to share his good news, but he also understood that Booth was Tempe's partner and maybe he was right. "Okay, you can be happy for me, though."

His emotions warring inside, Booth gave Sully a weak smile and felt that was good enough. "Yeah, I'm happy." Before Sully could comment further, Booth's phone rang and the agent answered it. "Booth . . . I'll be right there." The call ended, Booth stood up, grabbed his jacket from his coat tree and slipped it on. I'm wanted upstairs." With that, Booth hurried across the office and out the door leaving Sully staring after him.

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Booth hadn't been in the Deputy Director's office for several weeks. After Sam Cullen had retired once his daughter Amy had died of cancer, the new Deputy Directory Robert Kirby had made it known to his department heads that he didn't want to see them unless there was a problem and they needed his expertise. Booth had taken that as a sign to stay out of the way of the Deputy Director as much as possible and had accomplished that until Brennan's father had murdered a former FBI Agent named Garrett Delaney thereby bringing to light an organization of corrupt FBI agents led by Robert Kirby.

It had been rather ironic that Robert Kirby had been killed by Max Keenan since Kirby had turned out to be a murderer and assassin. Booth still couldn't get over the fact that it had taken a con man to bust open so much corruption at the Hoover. Corruption that Booth had been unaware of until Delaney had been killed.

Now here was Booth standing in the outer room of the Deputy Director's office waiting to meet the new Deputy Director. I sure as hell hope it's not another asshole like Kirby was.

Gladys Jackson smiled at Booth as he paced the office. Gladys had dealt with Booth before and she knew he had a tendency to pace when he was forced to wait before any meetings he was involved in. The phone rang on her desk and the personal assistant answered the phone. "Yes Sir, I'll send him right in." As she lowered the phone back onto the cradle, Gladys pointed at the door leading into the inner office. "You can go in Agent Booth."

Suddenly nervous, Booth smoothed down his tie, checked to make sure the buttons on his jacket were buttoned and opened the door leading into the new Deputy Director's office. As he entered the room, Booth noticed a man standing in front of one of the windows, his back towards Booth. "Sir, I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth."

Slowly turning, Deputy Director Sam Cullen faced his head of Major Crimes and frowned. "So, your partner's father killed the late unlamented Deputy Director. I guess I should be grateful that Dr. Brennan didn't do it. That would have been awkward."

Surprised, Booth stood rigidly near the door, actually stunned to see his old Boss back in the Deputy Director's office. "Sir? . . . Are you the new Deputy Director?"

His face an unemotional mask, Cullen solemnly nodded his head. "I thought I was retired, but the Director called me and told me about what had happened . . . It was quite a shock I can tell you . . . Right now the Director is trying to fill in the positions that suddenly became open in our organization and . . . well, he didn't want to promote anyone to this position until the Attorney General has finished going over the material you turned over to him . . . God, Booth, a Deputy Director and a former Agent dead at the hands of your partner's father? Really?"

His mouth dry, Booth now wished he'd popped a stick of gum into his mouth while he'd had the chance. "Sir, Max Keenan uncovered a pretty serious threat in the Hoover. He helped exonerate Marvin Beckett for Agent Harper's murder and provided a list of corrupt FBI Agents still active here in the Hoover and in some of our field offices. Yes, he murdered two men and in no way do I condone that, but he also did the FBI and the Justice Department a big favor helping us get rid of traitors. I . . ."

Before he could say anything further, Cullen smiled and held up his hands in a placating manner. "Relax, Booth. I understand what happened. I just found it very strange that it was your partner's father that caused all of this upheaval. Like you, I don't condone murder and I sure as hell don't condone bodies being eviscerated and burned on hotel roof tops, but I do understand why he did it. Just relax. I'm not holding what Max Keenan did against Dr. Brennan or you . . . How is Dr. Brennan? She has to be shook up about what happened."

Booth shrugged his shoulders. "She's tough, Sir, but yeah, her father was in town long enough to kill two men, hand over information to expose a bunch of crooked Feds and then left. That's hard to take, but Bones is pretty independent and she has friends to help her through this mess."

"Good, good." Cullen moved around his desk and sat down. "Well, I just wanted to meet with you and let you know I'm back. Hopefully once the Justice Department gets this mess settled and everything is back to normal we can get back to our jobs."

Curious, Booth glanced at the picture of Cullen, his wife and daughter Amy before he turned his attention back on Cullen. "Do you plan to stay Sir?"

"I'm not sure yet." Cullen leaned back against his chair. "I've had time to grieve and so has my wife. She's gone back to work and she thinks it's a good idea that I do the same. I might stick around for a while. Someone needs to be here when Max Keenan turns back up and the shit hits the fan again."

"Yes Sir." Booth saw the smile and he knew that Cullen seemed to be happier than the last time he'd seen him. "We can probably count on that."

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