(The Verdict in the Story)

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I don't own Bones.

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

He was so angry, Booth was beside himself. Brennan had used herself to sow doubt with the jury about her father's guilt. Her lawyer had woven a tale that made Brennan appear to be the one who had killed Deputy Director Kirby and Booth was terrified what the outcome of that might mean. He had tried to stop it when it came time for him to testify, but the lawyer had forced him to admit that he had been away from Brennan long enough to pick up Parker from school that day. He had tried to explain that he had been on the phone with her and that she had never left the apartment the evening that Kirby had died, but he had slept and the lawyer had painted him as an exhausted agent who had slept hard that night. Barron had led the jury to believe that Booth had slept so hard that there was no way he would have known if his girlfriend had left the apartment or not, so she could have easily taken Kirby's body to the hotel, gutted him and burned his body. Booth had found the whole thing ludicrous and had tried to bring up the weight difference between Kirby and Brennan, but was stopped before he could get too far.

Once the trial was ended and the jury was handed the case, Booth had tracked down Caroline Julian as fast as he could. "Caroline, you know that Bones didn't kill anyone."

"Her lawyer has intimated that she has." Caroline was upset with her ex-husband and her adversary in court. "Someone murdered Kirby and if it wasn't Max then who else is there?" Caroline knew that Brennan hadn't murdered the Deputy Director, but at the moment she wasn't in a forgiving mood. "Listen Cher', let's see what the jury has to say about all of this. Hopefully they can see that the slight of hand show presented by David Barron is just that and that Max is guilty of murder."

Booth was afraid and he wanted assurance from Caroline that she wasn't going to try Brennan for Kirby's murder. "Caroline, Bones values life. She'd never take a life like that. She just wouldn't."

"She's killed a man in the past." Caroline was sitting in the Royal Diner trying to drink a cup of coffee, but her heart burn was acting up and the coffee made her feel sick. "She killed Gil Lapin and you can't deny that."

"To save my life, you know that." Booth was sitting at the table across from Caroline and was trying to keep his voice down, but he knew it wasn't as quiet as it should be. "The man was trying to kill me. What was she supposed to do, let him? Please Caroline . . ."

Caroline reached across the table and placed her hand over Booth's fist. "Listen Cher', I know she isn't a murderer alright?" Her chest and throat hurt from the heat of the acid reflux, which made her realize that the coffee wasn't helping. Disgusted, Caroline pushed her coffee cup aside, grabbed her purse and looked for some antacid she usually kept inside. "Merde, I must be out of Tums." Closing her purse, she waved at the waitress and placed an order for a glass of Sprite. "Your girlfriend and that bibitte of an ex-husband of mine had to find some way to make the jury ignore all of the evidence against Max Keenan and they found a way."

Still not sure what Caroline was going to do if she lost the case, Booth licked his lips and lowered his voice even further. "If Max is freed, what are you going to do?"

She didn't want to be cruel to someone that she liked, so Caroline sighed and placed her purse on the floor next to her feet. "I won't do anything. The case will be closed."

Relieved, Booth reached across the table, took her hand in his hand, pulled it up, leaned over and kissed the back of her hand. "Thank you."

Embarrassed over Booth's open display of gratitude, Caroline pulled her hand away. "I'm not doing it for you. If I were to convict Dr. Brennan of murder it might open a flood gate of litigation by people that have been convicted using her as an expert witness. Since I know she didn't kill the Deputy Director I am not going to go down that road. I'm not Couillon."

Booth could tell how upset Caroline was by her extensive use of Cajun words and he knew that he wasn't helping ease her mind about the trial. "I didn't know Bones was going to do what she did. If I had I'd have tried to stop her . . . Of course we both know she wouldn't have listened to me. When she wants to do something she just does it."

"Yeah, I know." Caroline was thankful when the waitress handed her the glass of Sprite and drank some of it. She hoped it might help her reflux until she could find some Tums or other antacid. "Just so you know, if Max walks Dr. Brennan will be on my shit list for a long time. Just so you know that."

Not sure what that meant, Booth just wisely nodded his head. "Okay."

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

The trial was over and Max had indeed got away with murder. Booth had followed Brennan outside of the courthouse when she left the courtroom. He knew she was too nervous to stay and hear the verdict and he couldn't let her be alone. Not saying anything, he placed his arms around her and they waited on the steps until they noticed Max come down the stairs a happy and free man.

Booth knew that now wasn't time to raise hell with Brennan, so he stepped aside and let her hug and kiss her father. Max was pleased that his lawyer's tactic had worked and was unaware at the anger that Booth was feeling towards him at the moment and toward Brennan. Turning towards his daughter's boyfriend the con man held out his hand towards Booth and grinned. "Thanks, Booth."

Coldly, the FBI Agent turned on his heels and marched down the steps to the sidewalk below. After glancing back at his girlfriend for a brief moment, Booth hurried down the sidewalk, his aim to go back to work as soon as possible.

Worried about Booth's reaction to Max's overture, Brennan watched her boyfriend's receding figure until she could no longer see him. Once he was out of sight, Brennan sighed and shook her head. "He's angry with me."

"He'll get over it." Max was confident that Booth loved his daughter too much to stay angry too long.

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

After working late that evening, Booth stopped by the gym at the Hoover and took his anger out on a punching bag. His fists pounded the bag until his knuckles were raw. His body glistening, sweat pouring down from his forehead into his eyes, Booth swiped the back of his hand across his forehead and stood in front of the punching bag staring at the dirty sweat stained bag.

"Are you alright?" Lance Sweets had come into the gym with the intention of using the treadmill, but had been concerned when he'd seen Booth beating a bag with quiet ferocity. Once the agent had stopped the man had simply stood there breathing hard and not moving. The therapist was afraid that Booth was having a crisis and he might need help.

Slowly, Booth unwound the tape he had used around his hands and wadded up the tape to be disposed of. "Yeah, I'm fine." His response was wooden and filled with little emotion.

His concern rising for the agent, Sweets followed Booth to the locker room. "The trial went well. Dr. Brennan's father was exonerated."

His emotions once again boiling over, Booth turned and snarled at the younger man. "It didn't go alright. Bones used herself to get Max off. If Caroline wants to she could try Bones for murder."

"But Caroline won't do that. I asked her." Sweets spoke softly trying to cool down the temperature in the room. "Caroline knows that was just a defense tactic and that Dr. Brennan didn't kill anyone."

"That's beside the point." Booth wasn't ready to let his anger go. "She set herself up to take the fall for her father. A father that abandoned her when she was fifteen years old. A man who she hasn't heard from for fifteen years until he showed up and killed the Deputy Director. She didn't owe Max a damn thing and certainly not her reputation and her freedom."

Sweets wasn't sure what he could say to calm down the older man. "Love makes us do strange inexplicable things. Dr. Brennan loves her father and probably hates him at the same time. She has mixed feelings about her father, but Max is her father and she has maintained a small amount of loyalty to him. She didn't want to see the state kill Max, so she did what she could to save his life. It was a crazy thing to do, but it's who she is isn't it? Loyal?"

Booth slumped down on one of the benches, placed his elbows on his knees and rested his face in his hands. "I don't know what I would do if Bones was arrested and tried for murder. How could I save her? I don't know if I could and then what? Would I have to see the woman I love die at the hands of the state for something she didn't do?"

"But that's not going to happen." Sweets sat down next to Booth and was careful not to touch the man. "Caroline says she's not going to go any further."

"I know that." Booth swallowed and sat up straight. "Bones makes me so damn mad. She risked her freedom for her father's life and his life isn't worth Bones' life. Not by a long shot."

Sweets was certain that he would need to see the couple in the near future. He had known that Max's trial was going to cause the couple trouble, but not this kind of trouble. "She loves her father, Agent Booth."

"Yeah, I know." Booth turned to face his locker, opened it and removed a towel, a bar of soap and some shampoo. "Go away, I'm going to go take a shower."

He was dismissed and Sweets knew it. "My office is open anytime you want to talk."

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Booth arrived home late. Careful not to make any noise, he poured himself a glass of Scotch and sat down on the couch. After drinking half the liquid in the glass he held it and stared at the closed bedroom door. He wasn't sure what he wanted to say to Brennan, but right now he was still angry and he knew that wasn't a good thing for either of them. She had given him a fright and he wasn't easily frightened.

He just couldn't understand why she would risk her life for her father. Booth hated his father and he knew he would shed no tears for the man when he died. He just didn't understand how Brennan could do what she had done for Max. The man had abandoned her and she had almost died because of his neglect in Foster Care.

Brennan had heard her lover come home and had waited for him to come into the bedroom, but when the door remained closed she felt she should find out why. Slipping a robe on over her pajamas, Brennan opened the door and stood in the doorway. "Are you coming to bed?"

Finishing his drink, Booth placed the glass on the coffee table and leaned back against the couch. "I'm mad, so I'd like to sit out here for a while if you don't mind."

"You're angry because of the alternate story the jury was given?" Brennan had known that Booth was upset when he had been forced to testify against her, but she had thought he would understand. "Max is my father, Booth. I needed to try to save him if I could."

So tired of being upset and angry, Booth felt drained as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. His hands were throbbing from his workout at the gym and he knew that his anger wasn't going to solve anything. If anything he was risking losing the woman he loved and it wasn't worth it. Still he needed her to understand the reality of the situation. "I know you wanted to save him, but you placed your own freedom in jeopardy to do it . . . Bones, I love you and I back you up no matter what you do, I try to anyway, but this thing that you did today, it could have gone wrong. If Caroline hadn't been the one prosecuting Max, if it had been that vindictive bastard Bud Gilbert, it wouldn't have turned out so good. He would have had you arrested for the murder of Kirby and then what? How would you have got out of that? What if you had gone to trial and you'd been found guilty. You took a big risk, Bones and yeah I'm angry that you did it, but I guess it's who you are."

Booth stood up and moved over to where Brennan was standing. "I have your back, I do, but I could have lost you doing what you did today. You could be sitting in jail right now."

"But I'm not." Brennan was trying to understand why Booth was still upset and it confused her more than anything. "It was a successful ploy."

Booth pulled her into his arms and held her tightly in his embrace. "I love you Bones. Don't ever do this shit again. Your father is a murderer and if he ever kills someone again, I'm not going to stand by and let you risk your life and freedom for his. This stunt you pulled worked this time, but I can assure you it won't work a second time."

"Yes, I know that." Brennan held her arms around her lover and rested her head on his shoulder. "I warned Max that he must follow the law from now on if he wants to earn our trust. He says that he is retired and he's moving to the District to be near me. I think he knows that if he breaks the law once more, his trial might not end up like he wants it to and I promised him that I would not involve myself in any future trials. He is on his own."

Relieved to hear her words, Booth pulled a little away from her to look into her eyes. "Really?"

"Yes, really." Brennan meant what she had told her father. She would not help him if he broke the law again. He had to walk on the right side of the law and if he couldn't do that then he couldn't have a relationship with her. "I'm sorry that I upset you, it wasn't my intention to do that."

She looked so sad and Booth's last bit of anger melted away. "You had to be you, Bones. I get it." Booth leaned down and kissed her. "I guess that's why I love you so much. You're definitely not someone that I understand very easily, but I love a mystery and I love you."

Oooooooooooooooooooo

Let me know what you think of my story. Thank you.

A/N: Merde is Cajun French for shit, Bibitte is Cajun for male genitalia (a dick). Couillon is Cajun for stupid.