(After 'The Beginning in the End')

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A few weeks had gone by and Danny Beck asked that Booth meet him at the cemetery once more. Not sure what he was about to hear, Booth showed up in front of Christine Brennan's gravesite with flowers at an agreed time.

Once more, Danny was leaning against the oak tree near Christine's grave making sure that Booth hadn't been followed. He was starting to feel like he had stepped into a potential mine field and he had no choice, but to move on. "Nice flowers."

Ignoring the CIA agent, Booth leaned over and placed the flowers in front of the headstone. After a quick prayer for partner's mother, Booth remained where he was. "What's up? Why the meet?"

Confident that they weren't being watched, Danny removed his sunglasses and placed them in his jacket pocket. "My boss decided to do a little digging into the Kirby case. He has some pretty good contacts at the FBI and the Justice Department and he was told some interesting things. That whole thing with Kirby had been unexpected and it had shaken up the Director of the FBI pretty good. The investigation in to Kirby's activities seemed pretty straightforward on the surface, but my boss decided to look deeper and he didn't like what he found. Using that information, he thought it might be a good idea to use the late unlamented Deputy Director as ground zero to start his investigation into what might be really going on now . . . We're trying not to draw attention to what we're doing . . . or not doing depending upon who you talk to . . . anyways, a protégé of the Deputy Director who was never connected to the Kirby mess or the murder of Gus Harper is a congressman now, Congressman Abbot . . . you know him?"

Booth shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, who hasn't? Former FBI Agent. He was known to be a friend of Kirby which created a lot of suspicion, but the man had an unblemished record. Made it to Assistant SAC before he retired. What about him?"

"He's been making some noise about the FBI's connection to the Jeffersonian. He thinks it's a huge waste of money and he wants the connection to be severed. He's not getting any traction from the other congressman though and the FBI is fighting him. I know the Director of the FBI has talked to several congressmen to try to stop Abbot's activity.

He hadn't heard about it and wondered why. "Does Abbot have any connections to your person of interest?"

"Funny you should ask." Danny folded his arms against his chest. "Yes, he does. I can't tell you what that connection is right now, but let's just say we're interested . . . My boss thinks this is why Colonel Pelant and Dr. Fonte were brought in. If you two were to leave for a year, Abbot could use that as an excuse to shut down the FBI/Jeffersonian partnership. What we want to know is why he wants it shut down. Unfortunately, right now, we don't have a clue what Abbot's motives are. For now, we recommend that you do your job, try not to do anything underhanded that could jeopardize your connection to the Lab and keep an eye open. We don't know what's going on, but nothing seems urgent right now. Abbot is just one congressman and a junior one at that. No one is willing to back him on this idea of his, so your partnership is okay for now. Our person of interest isn't pushing anything at the moment, so it's just a bunch of weird shit and nothing solid to point to."

The whole thing was ridiculous as far as Booth was concerned. "This is nuts. My solve rate at the FBI is phenomenal and that is because of the help I get from Bones and her squints. Why try to shut me down? It doesn't make sense unless he wants revenge for Kirby's death. He knows that Kirby was a murderer . . . My gut tells me your Boss might be onto something, but I'm not sure how to prove it. Abbot was never connected to the murder of Gus Harper or any of the other things Kirby and his gang of traitors did. Getting revenge for Kirby could backfire on him since the Deputy Director murdered several men including an FBI Agent and the Justice Department cleaned house at the FBI after he was murdered. Abbot is practically painting a target on himself."

Danny shrugged his shoulders. "It doesn't make sense now, but it might down the road. We just have to be patient . . . I guess you've talked to Dr. Brennan about this."

"Of course, she's my partner." Booth wasn't keeping secrets from Brennan unless he had to. "She needs to know what's going on."

"Well, don't tell anyone else." Danny placed his sunglasses back on. "Everything is nebulous right now. Nothing is concrete. Just keep in mind that Kirby might still have some people in the FBI that were never officially connected to his dirty business. Be careful who you trust. I just wish I knew what our of person of interest is up to. My gut tells me he had something to do with that murder I told you about. His victim had something on him, but damned if I know what it is and we can't prove he was involved."

Booth watched Danny walk away. He felt frustrated for the moment, but he would make sure to talk to Brennan and make sure she didn't mention any of this stuff to anyone else. At this point, he didn't know who he was supposed to trust or not. "Damn it!"

Oooooooooooooooooooooo

Booth was sitting in the Royal Diner enjoying a cup of coffee when Max entered the building and sat down beside him.

"Booth . . . hey." Max tried to appear as if their meeting was a chance meeting. "It's good to see you. How you been?"

Something seemed odd, but Booth couldn't quite place it. "I'm fine . . . what are you doing here?"

Max shrugged his shoulders, lifted his hand to get the attention of the server behind the counter and ordered a cup of coffee and a donut. "I needed a cup of coffee . . . so . . . you've been to my wife's grave a couple of times in the last month . . . why?"

"You're following me?" Booth wasn't sure whether he should be upset or not. Max had his own agendas and he was rarely forthcoming. "If you are, I'd advise you to stop it right now."

Amused, Max watched Jane set his cup of coffee and a donut on the counter in front of him. "I'm not following you . . . should I be?"

Picking up his cup of coffee, Booth moved over to a free table near the front of the Diner. Max followed him and sat down across from him. "Someone left flowers at my wife's grave. Since they weren't from me, I asked the groundkeeper to keep an eye on my wife's grave. He let me know when you visited Christine's grave, left some flowers and talked to someone that he didn't recognize . . . I want to know what's going on? Is someone from my past causing you or Tempe trouble? If they are then you need to let me handle it."

Annoyed, Booth drank some coffee and tried to make up his mind what to do with Max. "This has nothing to do with you. You need to mind your own business."

Suspicious, Max leaned back against his chair and stared at the younger man. "Once you moved in with my daughter, your business became my business. If whatever is going on can affect my daughter's safety this it is very much my business."

Booth needed Max to back off. "Danny is a friend of mine. He's CIA. He needed some info and I gave it to him. End of story. Now back off."

More than a little alarmed, Max stoically nodded his head. "Alright." There was no way that was going to happen. Something was going on and he was going to find out what it was. "You say back off and I will . . . How's Tempe?"

"She's fine. Call her sometime." Wary of Max's intentions, Booth decided to warn Danny. The last thing they needed was Max sticking his nose into their business and getting killed. "You can come by for dinner sometime. Just call me to see what time we'll be home."

"Thanks, maybe I will." Max ate his donut and drank his coffee in silence. Once he was done, he wiped his sticky fingers with a napkin. "You'd tell me if my daughter was in danger?"

Irritated, Booth exhaled deeply. "Max nothing is going on to endanger Bones. Give it a rest." He vowed the next time he met Danny it would not be at the cemetery. Standing, Booth glanced around then back at Max. "Stop following me around." With that warning he left.

I think you protest too much, Booth. Max was certain that something serious was going on and he was determined to find out what it was. No one talks to the CIA unless they have a good reason to. At least not secretly.

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

"Guess who I saw this morning?" Booth was looking at his menu and debating what he wanted for lunch.

Her mind made up about lunch, Brennan placed the menu down. "Do you really wish me to guess or is this a rhetorical question?"

Amused, Booth looked over his menu. "Max showed up here while I was trying to enjoy a cup of coffee."

"What did he want?" Brennan hadn't heard from her father in several weeks and was a little miffed at him.

He knew that his girlfriend wasn't happy with her father at the moment. "He found out about the flowers I placed on your mother's grave and he wanted to know what I was up to . . . I think he's been following me around. He says he isn't doing that, but I don't believe him. I told him to back off, but Max is going to do what he wants to do."

Worried, Brennan lowered her voice. "His interference is going to get him hurt or killed someday . . . Since we don't know what is going on, he may be jeopardizing his life."

"Bones, Danny said he didn't know what was going on, but he didn't seem to think we're in danger at least not right now. Abbot is trying to screw up or partnership, but that's all . . . Be alert, but don't be afraid. You can't live your life scared."

"I'm not afraid." Brennan noticed the server approach, gave her order to Jane, waited for Booth to give his order and continued their conversation once they were alone. "I just think Max following you around will bring him to the attention of that person of interest Danny told you about. Since Max was tried for the murder of Kirby, he may have enemies that he is not aware of. Congressman Abbott is worrisome and his connection to the person of interest who is interested in us is rather disturbing . . . Perhaps we should tell Max what's going on. After all, he is the one who killed Kirby and Kirby's death may be why we are being targeted by Abbot."

Booth thought about it. "The next time one of us sees Max we'll tell him what we know. You're right, he killed Kirby and he could end up being a target. Danny mentioned the murder of a federal employee and that was why they started to look at the person of interest . . . look that's a mouthful. Let's call the guy Asshole . . . Asshole may be dangerous, but so far, he just seems to be trying to screw with our lives because Abbot asked him to. Abbot wants our partnership broken for some reason and it looks like he's willing to help Abbot to get what he wants. Maybe it has to do with Kirby and maybe not. Danny's friend is going to keep an eye on Asshole and if there's anything to worry about it'll come out sooner or later."

"I wonder why Max has been following you." She found her father to be unfathomable sometimes.

"Who knows." Booth glanced out of the window. "Max may have heard something from someone . . . He did have someone watching you and Russ when we started to look into your mother's death . . . Maybe that person is still watching you. I wouldn't put it past Max . . . Let's just talk to him. I didn't want to get him involved, so I told him to back off. That might have been a bad idea. Maybe we can play a little quid pro quo. He tells us why he's been following me and we tell him about Asshole."

Brennan nodded her head. "Our lives are very complicated . . . but interesting."

"Yeah, interesting." Booth thought he could use a little less complication and a little more boring.

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