(Season 1)

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A/N: I got this story idea from 554Laura. This story might be a little OOC. Not much, but a little.

I don't own Bones, not even a little bit.

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"I'm not afraid of you." Zach had studied Booth for the last few days and although the agent appeared to be intimidating, the intern had just received his red belt in taekwondo and he felt like he was a match for the bigger man.

Watching Brennan examine the body on the sterilized table on the platform, Booth didn't really care what Zach thought. "Good for you." Zach gave him the creeps sometimes. Too often, the intern seemed to be emotionless when he shouldn't be and too smart to be good for him or anyone else.

Since that hadn't really been the reaction he was expecting Zach decided to change tactics. "You may be bigger than I am, but I have a distinct advantage over you."

"Good for you." Not sure why the intern was talking to him, Booth was trying to ignore the man. He was obviously trying to pick a fight and Booth wasn't interested.

Annoyed that Booth didn't seem to be taking him seriously, Zach touched Booth on the arm. "You act like a bully and I'm just letting you know that I won't tolerate that in the future."

Not really sure why he was considered a bully, Booth turned to look at the smaller man. "You have no idea what real bullying is if you think I'm a bully."

Brennan was starting to become alarmed with the conversation she was hearing and wanted to stop it before it went too far. "Zach, you should be assisting me, not harassing Agent Booth."

Affronted by Brennan's statement, Zach frowned and moved away from Booth and towards the stainless steel table where the victim lay. "But you were the one who told me how Agent Booth bullied you several months ago and that was why you didn't want to work with him. I'm just informing Agent Booth that that kind of behavior will not be tolerated now or in the future."

Booth remembered that conversation a long with the hard slap he'd received from Brennan for daring to drag her from the conference room. It had been a mistake, but it definitely wasn't bullying as far as he was concerned. After all he had been the one who had been slapped. "Listen Sport, I don't bully anyone. That thing last year was a misunderstanding. The victim's mother was in the room and Bones was sowing doubt in our case. Jocelyn Arrington was getting upset and I needed to shut that down. We don't upset the family of victims unnecessarily if we can help it. We had enough evidence to convict Judge Hasty and that was all that mattered. We need to make sure that those kinds of conversations are done privately not in front of people we're trying to help. I agree that pulling on Dr. Brennan's arm was a mistake. I should have asked her to leave the room, but I was trying to spare Mrs. Arrington, the victim's mother. She was already worried that Judge Hasty might get away with murder and Dr. Brennan wasn't helping the situation."

A little embarrassed that she might have overreacted when Booth pulled on her arm in front of Mrs. Arrington, Brennan realized that Booth had been right. Mrs. Arrington shouldn't have been privy to their conversation. At the time, being pulled from the room seemed to be the mark of a bully in Brennan's eyes, but now that she saw the reasoning behind it she realized that Booth was protecting the mother of the victim. "The past is the past Zach and we're moving on. Booth won't pull me from rooms anymore and I won't discuss cases in front of family members of victims if I have reservations. There is no reason to upset people who are already grieving over the loss of a loved one."

"Thanks Bones." Booth appreciated that Brennan was seeing that the situation had escalated too far over almost nothing.

"Don't call me Bones." Brennan really hated that nickname and wished Booth would reconsider using it.

Slightly amused, Booth turned to look away from his partner and stared at Hodgins as he came up the stairs on to the platform.

Since Zach still considered Booth a bully, the intern felt that the agent should understand that neither he nor any of his fellows were afraid of him. "I now have a red belt in self-defense. I'm quite capable of taking care of myself. Dr. Brennan has also been trained in martial arts."

Bored with the conversation, Booth walked over to where Hodgins was now sitting and studied the screen that was on display in front of the entomologist. He wasn't sure what he was seeing, but the graphs were interesting.

The silence from the agent was very irritating and Zach was certain Booth had moved away because he had been impressed with Zach's status in his chosen field of martial arts. "Agent Booth, would you care to try to physically abuse me? I'd like to show you my skills in self-defense."

His eyes large in his head, Hodgins turned to stare at the intern. "Are you nuts?"

Since Zach refused to behave, Booth moved down the steps from the platform and stood below. "Come here Zach. You've been spoiling to put me in my place since I showed up a little while ago. Let's see what you're made of."

"No, Zach has work to do." Brennan had seen Zach practice taekwondo and she didn't want her intern to hurt Booth. If he did that, that might be the end of her partnership with Booth.

Ignoring Brennan, Zach sauntered across the platform and down the stairs to face Booth. "I must warn you again that I have a red belt in taekwondo. It is not my purpose to hurt you, it is merely to show you that we are all capable of protecting ourselves from people such as yourself."

Not sure why Zach had decided that he was the enemy, Booth took off his jacket and hung it on the rail of the steps to the platform. Once that was done, he stared at Zach. "It's your fight, so you make the first move."

Since he didn't really want to hurt the agent too badly, Zach removed his shoes and without warning, attempted to round house kick Booth, his aim at the agent's left thigh. The attempt was unsuccessful and the intern found himself lying on his back staring up at the agent. "That should have connected."

Snorting, Booth shook his head. "Only if I just stood there and let you hit me. I'm not stupid."

Certain that he had made a technical mistake, Zach stood up and attempted a flying twin foot side kick which also failed. This time when he stood up, he felt a sting on his upper right thigh and realized that Booth must have hit him hard enough to bruise him. "Do you have martial arts training?"

"I do." Booth smiled at the younger man and wondered if he was going to try any other moves. "I was an Army Ranger. Rangers lead the way . . . no one is tougher than a Ranger."

Hodgins leaned over the railing and called down to the intern. "Listen Dude, better stop. The Rangers are like the Ninjas of the United States Army."

Now that he knew more about the FBI Agent, Zach realized that he should have asked more questions of the man before goading him into a fight. "I see. Well, you can see that I am quite proficient in martial arts myself."

"If you call falling on your ass proficient." Booth stared up at Brennan and wondered how much more of this bullshit he had to put up with. "Are we done? Don't you have work to do? A killer to find?"

Brennan nodded her head and called down to her intern. "Zach, we do have work to do."

Grabbing his shoes, Zach placed them on his feet and limped back up the stairs.

Not sure what Zach's point had been unless he had meant to humiliate him, Booth took his jacket and placed it back on. "You people really need to learn what a bully really is. I was minding my own business and Zach insisted on fighting me. In my book that is being a bully." With that, Booth turned around and moved down the hallway to the exit. He had wasted enough time at the Lab.

As they watched the Agent leave, Zach shook his head. "Was I being a bully?"

Hodgins nodded his head and walked back over to his PC. "I think so Dude."

Brennan shook her head and moved back over to the victim. "Zach, you were very lucky that Booth didn't hurt you."

"Yes, I know." Zach decided that from that moment on, it would better to be a little wary of the agent. "I'm not sure how he reflected my attacks. I need to increase my training."

"And not goad Booth into another fight." Brennan had found the whole thing to be a waste of time and alarmingly dangerous. "I have a black belt, but you don't see me goading someone into fighting me. I use my training to defend myself and that is what you should be doing."

"Yes Dr. Brennan." Zach knew that he had a lot to learn about human interaction. "Perhaps Booth wasn't a bully after all. He could have hurt me easily, but he didn't."

Brennan agreed. "I would say he showed remarkable restraint."

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