(The Con Man in the Meth Lab)

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I don't own Bones.

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"I'm telling you Bones, this case is going to make me famous." Booth was so excited he could barely contain his enthusiasm. "We're ready to go, I just have a few I's to dot and a few T's to cross and we're going to bust this RICO case wide open. I could get a raise and a promotion because of this and I may be able to afford to take you on a vacation to Hawaii, hmm? Sounds cool, right? We can swim with sharks and drink rum drinks on the beach and visit volcanoes if you want to do that and we can stay in a really nice hotel like the one we stayed in in Houston."

"Booth, I'm happy that your RICO case is coming together, but the trip to Hawaii is unnecessary." This was the first time Brennan had ever seen her partner so excited about a case he was working on and it was so fascinating to watch. "I do hope you get the promotion though. You deserve it, you work so hard."

Unable to contain his excitement, Booth pulled on Brennan's hands until she was standing and then pulled her closer to his body. As he started to dance slowly around the living room, Brennan followed his lead and laughed. "When will your case be ready?"

"In two days." Booth stopped dancing and kissed Brennan. "I'm sorry I couldn't work on the last case with you, but I think Agent Harris did a good job. You guys solved it and that's good."

Her arms moved around his chest and she returned his kiss. "I don't like working with other agents, but I know that you have to work on other cases too."

"You're my partner though, so don't get used to working without me." Booth smiled.

"I just said I don't like to work with other agents, Booth." Brennan shook her head and chuckled. "You're teasing me. You really are in a very good mood."

His feet moving again in a slow dance, Booth was pleased that Brennan followed along even though there was no music playing in the apartment. He loved that she was comfortable enough with him to play along with his silliness. "I'm in a great mood, Bones. Nothing could put me in a bad mood right now."

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His attention focused on warrants for his RICO case, Booth couldn't help but show displeasure when someone dared to knock on his office door. Looking up, he was surprised to see his brother standing outside. Since he hadn't talked to Jared in months, seeing him now was not something he had expected. Waving for his brother to come in, Booth noticed he was wearing his uniform. Navy, I still can't believe he chose the Navy. "Hey Jared, what brings you around?"

With a quiet confidence, Jared walked in to the office over to Booth's desk and reached out to shake his hand. "You are looking at the new head of Strategic Plans and Policy at the Pentagon."

"You mean they let a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy do that shit?" Booth shook his brother's hand and wondered about the changes in Jared. He had obviously found his niche and it was about time.

Used to his older brother questioning everything in his life, Jared shrugged his shoulders. "They sure as hell aren't going to let Army take care of it." Amused at the frown on Booth's face, the younger man laughed. "I just moved in to my new place and I found out I have to attend a cocktail party tonight and I need a date."

"Don't look at me. I hate cocktail parties." Not sure what he was supposed to do about the date, Booth shrugged his shoulders. "You could ask Cam I suppose."

Now that was good news as far as Jared was concerned. He had admired Cam from a far for a long time and considered her a very beautiful woman. He had been totally jealous of Booth's relationship with Cam when he was in college and now he might have an opportunity to date her. Things were looking up. "Well, let's go ask her."

Pausing to look at the stack of paper on his desk, Booth grabbed his gun from his desk and placed it in his holster. "I guess I can take you to the Lab for a few minutes. I have two cases I'm working on and one of them is time sensitive, so I can't stay away for long."

"I appreciate it, Seeley." Jared moved over to the door and waited for his brother. "I dropped by and saw Pops yesterday. He's looking good."

"Yeah." Surprised that Jared had bothered, Booth knew that his younger brother hadn't seen their grandfather for over a year. "Pops said you hadn't written to him lately."

Not embarrassed at the slightly veiled admonishment, Jared followed his brother down the hallway. "You know how it is. I've been busy."

"It only takes a few minutes to jot down a quick note." As he moved to the elevator, Booth knew that his brother might have responsibilities in the Navy, but he was still an inconsiderate ass when it came to his family.

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After his date fell through with Cam, Jared called his brother and once more asked him to find him someone to take to the party.

"What the hell, Jared. Am I your pimp now?" Booth thought it was ridiculous that Jared couldn't find his own date.

He knew he was irritating his brother, but since that was nothing new Jared ignored the sarcasm. "Come on, I'm new in town. I can't show up without a date. It'll look bad."

Overhearing the conversation, Brennan tugged on her partner's jacket sleeve. "Booth I can go with him. I won't mind."

A little surprised with the offer, Booth thought about arguing against it, but he knew that his girlfriend was trying to be nice to his brother. A quick nod and Booth spoke into his phone. "Bones says she'll go with you."

"Your girlfriend?" Jared considered her hot and quickly agreed, "Thanks Bro" and ended the call before he or his girlfriend changed their mind.

Not surprised that Jared hung up on him. Booth slipped his phone back in his jacket pocket. "Thanks Bones."

"You're welcome." Brennan thought about what she should wear and if she had time to go to her hair salon. "He is new in town and I wouldn't want him to think we don't care about him." She had never met Booth's brother until that morning and she wanted to make sure he didn't feel pushed out of Booth's life since she was living with his brother.

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Furious, Brennan left the party and found a cab to take her home. Once she was standing outside her apartment building, she stood on the sidewalk for several minutes while she tried to contain her rage. Earlier that evening, while Jared was sitting next to her at the party, he took the liberty of kissing her. Angry, she had pulled back and let him know she hadn't appreciated his forwardness. "I am living with your brother. How dare you assume that you can kiss me? I am in a monogamous relationship with Booth. What you did is completely unacceptable."

More than a little drunk, Jared shook his head. "Come on, he's not here. What he doesn't know won't hurt him."

Her cheeks a bright red, Brennan stood up and glared down at her date. "I don't know what you must think of me and frankly I don't care, but I love Booth and I will not betray his trust. I'm leaving."

"Oh come on. You can't leave now." Jared stood up and grabbed Brennan's arm which caused her to react in an unexpected manner. She slapped him. A few of the other party goers noticed, but they decided to overlook it. "Bitch."

"You are not allowed to touch me." Now she was debating with herself about whether or not to tell Booth. After considering all of the ramifications, she finally decided not to tell him. She didn't want to cause a rift between the brothers. Brennan loved her partner and she didn't want to cause him any mental anguish.

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Since things were going so well lately, Booth couldn't believe what happened next. He and Brennan were working on their meth lab case while he was waiting for a Judge to sign off on his RICO case. They were out of town when he received a text message from his brother and that meant trouble. Something was wrong and Jared needed his help. Dreading the possibilities, he had driven back to the District and dropped Brennan off at the Lab. She wanted to check on Clark to see if he had made in any progress with the bones while she had been out with Booth.

Before she left the truck, Booth cleared his throat and decided to be honest with his girlfriend about what was going on. "Look Bones, the reason we had to come back is because Jared has a problem of some kind and he wants my help. I don't want to hide stuff like that from you. You're part of the family."

"That's okay, Booth." Brennan opened the door and slid out of the SUV. "You find out what is going on and I will see what Clark and Hodgins have discovered about our victim."

Arriving at the scene of an accident, Booth quickly realized that his brother was drunk and he was in deep trouble. The Virginia State Police were on the scene of the crime and due to some animosity between Colonel Wolchuck and Booth it was likely Jared was going to pay a heavy price for his foolishness. Swallowing his pride, Booth had talked the Colonel into dropping the drunk driving case against his brother in exchange for the RICO case he had been working on with the Virginia State Police. He knew he'd have some fast talking to do with the Deputy Director, but he knew he could pave over the problem. What he couldn't do was forgive Jared. Once more his brother had dug a deep hole and pulled Booth in. When am I going to learn?

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Very suspicious about the RICO case when she heard about it on the news, Cam managed to get Booth to come to the Lab so she could talk to him about it. The minute she saw him she knew that the RICO case had been given to the State Police because of Jared. Since her friend wasn't willing to talk about it, she kept silent, but she knew that Booth had finally crossed a line he shouldn't. It was one thing to bail out his little brother over harmless pranks, but jeopardizing his career was ridiculous and she would never forgive Jared for being so cavalier with Booth's job.

Their case wasn't going well at that moment and Brennan found it hard to concentrate. The moment she had heard about the RICO case, she began to wonder what had happened and was worried that Booth had done something wrong. As soon as she could meet with him, Brennan confronted her boyfriend. "Booth, what happened to the RICO case?"

Embarrassed about the whole thing, Booth debated with himself whether he could tell Brennan the complete truth.

"Booth, this RICO case was important. Please tell me what happened."

Since he had sworn to be honest with Brennan as much as possible, Booth decided to tell her the truth. "Jared was in an accident last night . . . he was drunk."

"Oh Booth." At this point, Brennan wasn't surprised. She had seen Jared the day before drink to excess at the cocktail party and tried to force a kiss on her. Drunk driving just seemed an extension of what Jared was capable of. "Was he hurt?"

"No, not really." Furious that he had allowed himself to be used once more, Booth jammed his hands in his pants pockets. "I had to give Colonel Wolchuck the lion's share of the credit for the RICO case or he would have busted Jared for drunk driving . . . it would have been the end of his career. I had to do something."

Unable to understand how he could jeopardize his job like that, Brennan crossed her arms against her chest. "You shouldn't have done that Booth. Jared made the mistake and he should have paid for it not you."

His anger flaring, Booth glared at Brennan. "He's my brother. He trusted me to help him and I did. It would have been his career if I didn't help him."

Concerned that Booth was willing to let himself be used, Brennan uncrossed her arms and let her hands fall to her side. "Jared is not a very trustworthy person and doesn't deserve your help . . . He kissed me at the cocktail party and when I objected he told me that what you don't know won't hurt you. He didn't care that we're in a relationship, Booth. I took a cab home."

The blood leaving his face, Booth looked as pale as Brennan had ever seen. "And you kept that a secret from me? . . . Son of a bitch!" So angry he didn't know what to say or do, Booth swung around and stormed through the doorway of the observation room, their suspect in the meth lab case forgotten for the moment.

Shocked that Booth would leave her in such a state of anger, Brennan worried that he might be angry enough to end their relationship. Afraid that she had made a terrible mistake, she knew that if they got past this situation, she would endeavor to be completely honest with Booth from that point on. She had thought she was protecting him, but now that Jared's actions had been revealed, she realized that she hadn't protected Booth at all. If her boyfriend had been given the information earlier he might have thought twice about jeopardizing his career for his brother. Sometimes it was hard for her to judge the right and wrong of a situation and this just proved it to her. It worried her, it worried her a lot.

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Booth found his brother in a bar, of course he did. Swinging him around, Booth grabbed Jared by the lapels of his jacket and pulled him closer, almost yanking his brother from his stool. "You kissed Bones? You son of a bitch. You knew she's my girlfriend and that's what you do? What kind of man are you?"

He had never been afraid of his brother before, but at that moment, Jared was very afraid. "I was drunk, I didn't mean it."

Disgusted, Booth released his brother's jacket and jabbed him in the chest. "Drunk at a party in front of your commanding officers? Drunk while driving? Forcing yourself on my girlfriend . . . you're sick Jared . . . you're sick and you need help." Jabbing him once more, Booth felt his anger turn from red hot to feeling nothing at all. Jared was no longer important to him. He had crossed a line that Booth could never forgive. "I'm done bailing you out. No more you hear me? No more."

His eyes glittering with contempt, Jared lost his fear and poked his brother in the chest. "I don't need your help and I'm not sick. I drink a little to relieve the stress and it's none of your damn business what I do or don't do. Kissing Temperance was a mistake, but that's all it was. Get over it. She isn't worth it."

Slashing his hand down, Booth shook his head. "Don't you ever go near Bones again." Abruptly, he turned on his heels and left the bar.

Embarrassed that the other patrons of the bar were staring at him, Jared pulled some money from his wallet, tossed it on the top of the bar and let his eyes scan the room. "Fuck off." Satisfied, he left. There were plenty of bars in the District and he never had to step back into that one again. His brother had gone too far. No one told him what to do and it would be a cold day in hell before he talked to him again.

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Their case on pause, Booth found Brennan in her office and closed the door behind him once he was in the room. "Bones . . . Bones, I'm sorry, I took off like that. I was angry, but not at you. I was angry with Jared and I had to take a walk and clear my head. I don't want my brother to come between us. He's always been a pain in the ass and he always will be. I won't let him destroy what I have with you. Okay? No one comes between us. I love you. You mean the world to me."

Moving quickly across the room, Brennan threw her arms around her boyfriend. "I should have told you about Jared, but I didn't want to hurt you. I know you love your brother."

His eyes closed, Booth held her in his arms and knew she was just as upset with Jared as he was. "Hey, I understand you took care of the situation and you wanted to protect me, but this kind of stuff . . . we can't keep stuff like that a secret. Jared crossed a line that he shouldn't have and he damn well knows it. Drunk or not, he had no right to come on to you . . . I talked to him . . . I told him I won't help him again. If he makes any more messes he has to clean them up. I'm through bailing him out."

Relieved that their relationship was alright, Brennan kissed her boyfriend. "I love you Booth."

"God, I love you so much, Bones. I'm sorry that Jared kissed you and I . . ."

Her lips touched his lips and the conversation stopped. Brennan knew that they would be fine and Jared would play no part in their lives from then on.

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