(Before 'The Pilot')

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

I don't own Bones.

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The first time Caroline Julian had met Seeley Booth, she found him to be the calm, reliable type that did his job with quiet efficiency.

The eight year old daughter of a Federal Judge had been kidnapped and the FBI and local law enforcement had worked around the clock to find the girl. Due to some clever detective work, Agent Booth had tracked the kidnapper down. The kidnapper, Amos Eder had used his step-sister's farm to hide the child in and Booth had been the only one to see the connection. With the help of another agent, they had arrived at the farm, reconnoitered the farm's sheds and corn crib and then the barn where they found a trap door in the back of the building. Silently, Booth had climbed down the stairs and found the girl bound and gagged lying on a cot near the back wall.

The lantern sitting on the table in the middle of the small room had put off a feeble light, but the girl had seen the agent place his finger across his lips. Understanding what he wanted her to do, she had nodded her head. Once her gag was removed, the agent had cut the ropes tied around her hands and feet, picked her up and carried her up the stairs. As quietly as they could, the agents has walked away from the barn with Cindy Blanchard and once they were in the woods, Agent Harris had called for backup.

After Amos Eder had been captured, Caroline Julian had arrived on the scene and tried to take the child from Booth with the intention of returning the traumatized child to her parents. Hysterical, the child had clung to Booth and refused to let him go. "Ms. Julian, maybe if you can get her father out her or her mother, she might be happier with the situation."

Since the child refused to part from the agent, Caroline had called the judge and in forty minutes Cindy had been reunited with her parents. Once the child was sitting in the ambulance with her parents, Caroline had stood next to Booth and watched the EMT talking quietly to the child. "That was some good detective work, Agent Booth. Not all kidnapping cases end as well as this one did."

Shrugging his shoulders, Booth waved at the little girl and started to walk back to his car. "She's going to be okay."

"Yes, she is because of you." Caroline watched the agent walk away and decided that Booth would be worth keeping an eye on. She didn't have a lot of high regard for most of the agents at the Hoover since sooner or later they disappointed her, but she found Booth to be interesting. "I'll see you later, Cher'."

Oooooooooooooo

A bomber had set off an explosive device at the Richmond Courthouse in Richmond, Virginia and though the FBI had worked on the case for a week, no one seemed to be able to find out who the bomber was. No witnesses had come forward to point to who the bomber was and no images were captured on security cameras of anyone planting a bomb. The bomb had gone off at night in one of the offices and no one was hurt. The device used was homemade, but no clues had been left on the device and the parts that were used to make the bomb weren't special enough to give them the identity of the bomber.

Eight days later, a bomb went off in The U. S. Court of Appeals in Richmond and two people were killed. This bomb had also gone off at night, but a judge and his wife were leaving his office when the bomb went off and now the bomber was not just a terrorist, but a murderer.

While the FBI techs and agents concentrated on the bomb and the long list of people Judge Atkins had sentenced, Booth decided to concentrate on who'd had access to the Richmond Courthouse the day the bomb was triggered and compared that to who might have been at the Appeals Courthouse the day the bomb was detonated. He knew the security footage had been looked at, but he wanted to make sure that no one had been overlooked.

Sitting in a dark room looking over security camera footage of who entered and left the buildings on those two days, Booth hadn't found what he was looking for. Since that search hadn't prove to be useful, he decided to look at the footage from the day before. That move proved to be fruitful when he thought he noticed the same man leave the back entrance of each building pulling a small dolly behind him at around noon, he checked the footage several times to make sure he was right and decided that he had found who he was looking for.

Once he was certain, he called the techs who had collected particulates at the crime scenes and asked them if the bombs had gone off near a printer or a copier. The techs confirmed that each bomb had gone off in a room with a printer and Booth knew he was on the right track. After he had prints made from the security footage he drove to Richmond to talk to the people that worked in the buildings where the bombs had exploded. Once he had the information he was looking for, he contacted his supervisor and told him his theory.

The next day, Daniel Hoffman was arrested and brought in for questioning. The man had used his job working for a supply company to bring bombs into the buildings. He had worked for the supply company for over four years and no one questioned his movements in the buildings anymore. He admitted that he had planted the bombs, but refused to explain why.

Impressed, Caroline had asked Booth to come to her office. "So, you found the bomber."

Sitting in front of the prosecutor's desk, Booth wondered what he had done wrong. "I noticed the same man entering and leaving both buildings. I found out who he worked for and from there it wasn't that hard to figure out who he was."

"I see." Caroline studied the younger agent sitting in front of her and finally nodded her head. "You did a good job, Cher'. Agent Thomas went over the same footage you did, but only for the day of the bombings. Why did you look at the day before?"

"The bombs were detonated with a phone which meant those bombs could have been planted anytime." Booth ran his hand down his tie. "The bomber had to plant the bombs where they wouldn't be found right away, so it didn't have to be that day, but it had to be soon. It made sense to do it the day before so no one would associate his visit to the buildings with the bombings."

It made sense and Caroline planned on talking to Agent Thomas as soon as she finished with Booth. She wasn't sure why Thomas hadn't looked at the previous day's footage and she was going to get an explanation. "I see." Leaning back against her chair, Caroline stared at Booth for a few minutes and decided she liked what she saw. "I'm going to talk to Special Agent in Charge, Mikey Santana over in Major Crimes about you. I think he should bring you on board. You can move up in the FBI and still stay here in the District . . . Interested?"

"Interested?" Booth couldn't believe that he was being offered that kind of move in the FBI so soon in his career. "Yes, of course I am."

Amused, Caroline had noticed the look of surprise and then the look of determination. She liked that hint of ambition. If Booth played his cards right, he might run the place someday and she was willing to help him along the way as long as he continued to produce the results she had seen from him. "Good, I have a few cold cases I'd like you to work on as well as whatever cases Santana gives you. I'll let him know so he won't give you a hard time about your use of time . . . You think outside the box and I like that. We need a little of that around here."

"Thanks." Booth felt excited, but decided to keep those emotions under control. His sniper training came in very handy sometimes. "My son lives in the area, so staying at the Hoover is a plus for me."

"Good. I'll make a few calls, talk to the right people and I'll see what I can do." Caroline knew that Booth could help her career at the DOJ and she needed him on the job in the Hoover to do it. She had a little ambition herself and she knew a good thing when she saw it. "I'll let you know if I can swing this for you."

Curious, Booth decided to ask the question that had been running through his mind for the last few minutes. "Why me? There have to be other agents better than me here."

Pursing her lips, Caroline studied the agent for a moment before replying. "Too many agents have disappointed me, Cher'. I'd advise you not to disappoint me either."

Oooooooooooooooo

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