(The Boy in the Shroud)

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I don't own Bones.

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"I'm with Bones, Cam. All the way. Don't doubt it for a second." The words hung in the air even after Booth had left the room. Cam had known that Booth liked his partner and deep down he might even be infatuated with her, but those words told her so much more. "I don't know if he realizes it or not, but it's possible that he might love her, at least a little bit and where does that leave us?"

They had just renewed their friendship and Cam thought it was possible that they might get back together, but right now that was out of the question. There was too much going on at the Lab and she was trying to assert her authority. She had been hired to run the Lab, but she hadn't counted on running into a proverbial wall of resistance. Dr. Temperance Brennan was the leading forensic anthropologist in the country and when the Pentagon or foreign nations needed bodies to be identified, they used the Jeffersonian because of Brennan's expertise. Add to that fact, in the last year and a half the FBI had started to rely on Brennan to help them solve cold cases or politically sensitive cases and she and Booth had been successful with every investigation. She wanted to work with Brennan, but she needed the scientist to recognize her authority. As chief coroner for New York, she'd had a large staff, much bigger than the one she had at the moment and she'd had to deal with opposition from some of her employees, but Brennan was pushing back too hard. The forensic anthropologist didn't want to abide by any of the rules that the Lab needed to maintain it's reputation. Cam was there to protect the Lab and it's people, but it was a difficult task when those people didn't want her protection or to benefit from her experience.

Reluctantly, Cam had come to the conclusion that she was going to have to look for a replacement for Brennan, but that might mean further complications. She already knew that firing her would mean she might lose Angela, Hodgins and Zach and she was willing to risk that but Booth was another matter. His title at the Hoover was Special Agent in Charge and he ran his own department. The man was good at his job and if he was willing to work with Brennan no matter what her methods were then that was a problem for Cam.

She needed Booth to back her up and now she knew she didn't have his support. Cam was alone in her fight with Brennan and now it looked like the only one who would lose would be her. "Alright, there has to be a way to get what I want while Brennan gets what she wants."

Cam considered herself to be street savvy and fairly intelligent and in this situation she was going to need to be more creative. Obviously ordering Brennan to do something wasn't going to work. Before he had left the room, Booth had mentioned that Brennan had been in Foster Care and she realized that this was coloring her anthropologist's view about the case. With that in mind, Cam decided to wait for the case to be resolved before she made her next move.

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Their case was over and Booth was worried about his partnership with Brennan. He knew that Cam was upset with Brennan's defiance, but his partner was brilliant and sometimes brilliance needed room to operate. He'd learned early in his partnership that Brennan didn't always follow the rules, but she usually had a good reason to ignore them or at least she thought she did.

Leaning against the door frame, Booth stared at Cam and watched her quietly typing on her keyboard. He had always thought that Cam was beautiful and intelligent and when they had broke up their relationship in the past it hadn't been his idea. They had tried a long distance relationship when he had entered the Army, but it had failed and now it looked like he might have a second chance. He didn't know if she was interested in him, but he needed to get through a few things before he thought about trying again. "Cam . . . what are you going to do about Bones?"

Slowly turning away from her monitor, Cam stopped when she was facing Booth. "I know she's brilliant and she likes to control what is going on around her as much as possible, but I am her boss. I need to know she will listen to me and follow procedures when I think it's important to do so . . . Given that, I think I've settled our problem. I have talked to Dr. Brennan and we have worked out a compromise. I'm going to give her three free passes a week to defy me. I think by allowing her some freedom to control some aspects of her job, she will be open to my suggestions . . . We'll see."

"Thanks Cam." Relieved, Booth moved closer to his friend and stared down at her. "She's probably the smartest person I've ever met. She's a polymath and knows stuff that is kind of amazing. I've been working with her for over a year and she's helped me close cases that I thought were gong to end up being cold cases." More relaxed, Booth sat down on the chair next to Cam's desk. "When I started working with her, she kind of drove me crazy because she can be a smart ass, but then again so can I." Chuckling, Booth smiled at the thought of some of the heated arguments that he and Brennan had had in the past. "We really shouldn't work well together but we do. She can read bones and I can read people and between us we've been a pretty good team."

She could hear the admiration in Booth's voice and she understood why Booth wanted to protect his partnership. "I've looked at some of the cases you two worked on. Your results were very impressive. Dr. Goodman had nothing but good things to say about you and Dr. Brennan."

Curious, Booth leaned closer and lowered his voice. "Do you know why Dr. Goodman gave up running the Lab? I asked Bones and she said she didn't know."

"From what I was told, he was tired of being in management. He wanted to get back into archaeology. It's what he trained to do and I think he found herding cats was both annoying and boring." The Director of the Jeffersonian had been sad to see Dr. Goodman leave because Dr. Goodman had been an excellent fund raiser for the department. "Dr. Bancroft felt that Dr. Goodman's position would be better filled with a coroner. He wants Dr. Brennan to have backup and since she specializes in bones and I specialize in flesh we should make a good team. Of course, we got off to a rocky start, but I think once we've worked out our differences we will work well together." At least I hope so.

Satisfied, Booth leaned back against his chair. "The squints are loyal to Bones you know. If you can get her on your side then they'll follow . . . I think if you give this a chance, you're going to find out that working here has it's advantages. Yeah, your job is going to be like herding cats, but when you get those cats moving in the same direction you'll see how brilliant they are . . . Sometimes I feel like I need a dictionary to talk to these people because they like to use dollar words when ten cent words are good enough, but they're a good crew. They know what they're doing most of the time . . . you might want to keep an eye on Hodgins. The guy doesn't trust anyone and he's big on conspiracy theories. He's good with bugs and slime, but he can get sidetracked sometimes with crazy shit."

"I'll keep that in mind." Cam had already heard from Hodgins about Area 51 and his theory that there is a small group of people controlling the world or some such thing, but he appeared to be harmless and she knew she could handle him. "Would you have quit working as the liaison between the Jeffersonian and the FBI if I'd fired Dr. Brennan."

Being honest, Booth knew that Cam needed to know the score. "Yes . . . My job is a supervisory one, but I work with Bones because she's the real deal. She's helped close cases that have been ignored for years. Bones has solved cases with almost no evidence. She's good at what she does and she's helped my career. I know that . . . We make a great team because I understand what it takes to work with Bones. No one else at the FBI wants to work with her because she's brutally honest and she doesn't play word games. She lives in a mostly black and white world. There isn't a lot of gray where she lives . . . I can live with that and I do because she's the best. I don't want to work with anyone else, Cam. You know as a rule I don't play well with others. I never have. I got where I am through hard work but somehow working with Bones is different. If you fire Bones you won't see me around here anymore."

"I get it, Booth." And she did. Booth was a loner and to see him happy working with someone was amazing. Even in the Army he hadn't been much of a team player. He'd had a partner on some missions and on others he'd worked alone and that made him a valuable asset to the Army and now he was a valuable asset to the FBI. "I think that Dr. Brennan and I will work this out. I think we understand each other now."

"Good, glad to hear it." Booth hadn't been happy when Cam had told him she was considering firing Brennan. He didn't want to lose Brennan as his partner or his friend, but Cam was the one that was in control of the situation not him. He was glad that she was making an effort to work with his partner. He knew he'd never find someone like Brennan again. "I don't think you'll regret it." At least I hope not.

A slight smile on her face, Cam placed her hand on his knee. "How would you like to go out for a drink after work? I'm buying."

"Well, if you're buying then how can I say no?" Booth was glad that Cam had accepted the job at the Jeffersonian. It would be nice to have a friend around. Someone he could trust besides Brennan.

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