Chapter 13 – The Verdict in the Story

Booth had just met up with Brennan as he showed her to the crime scene. He still couldn't believe what he had seen when he came there. "Bones, you are not going to believe this one."

Brennan followed Booth up some stairs as she told him, "Well, you said that about the guy who was stuffed inside a huge truck tire. I believed that."

Booth shook his head as he opened the gate to where the body was. "Yeah, that was a good one. This is a whole new level of weird."'

Brennan looked at the skeleton and was speechless. Its feet and hands were tied together behind its back and it was resting on a pile of bricks almost like it was doing a yoga move. "Whoa. I don't believe it."

Booth smiled at her as he nodded. Their jobs were so awesome sometimes…not to say that being murdered was awesome, but… "Mhm. What did I tell ya?"

Brennan walked up to the bones and asked in stunned disbelief, "How could this happen?"

Booth thought aloud, "Whoa, well, um…Maybe he was rolled up in a carpet."

Brennan laughed a little at that. Her husband could honestly be unintentionally very funny at times. "Where's the carpet?"

Booth shrugged as he told her, "Well, it rotted away. You know, with the meaty parts." Brennan couldn't help her laughing now. She knew that Booth wasn't trained in her field, but she still found it highly amusing to think of the scenario he told her. Booth looked at as if she were losing her mind a little. "What? It's possible."

Brennan tried to control her laughter as she saw his face. She didn't want to offend him, but sometimes he was so hilarious. "That - that would've, that would've taken thousands of years. Um, uh. The bones should be in a pile but," she started to laugh again, "something is holding them together and…" And then she couldn't hold her laughter in anymore.

Booth looked at her and shook his head. He hadn't seen her react like this in a long time to something he said. "What is with you?"

Brennan shook her head as she tried to talk through her laughter, "Rolled in a carpet! Meaty parts!"

Caroline walked up to them then. She for one, had never seen Brennan laugh so hard. Or ever really. "Excuse me?"

Brennan straightened up as she recognized that voice. She tried to control her laughter again. "Ah, uh…oh."

Caroline looked at Booth and then Brennan. "What is so funny?"

Brennan shook her head as she held back another bout of laughter. "Nothing."

Caroline gave her a stern look as she said, "I should hope not because there's a dead body deserving of respect right in front of you." She then looked at the body, "What happened to him?" That just set Brennan off again into a fit of laughter. Caroline looked at Booth and told him seriously, "I did not know she could laugh."

Booth was still trying to figure out what Caroline was doing there. She never came onto one of their crime scenes. "What are you doing at the crime scene?"

Caroline sighed. She didn't know how to put it in a nice way, so she said it bluntly and to the point. "Dr. Brennan is suspended from all crime-related duties."

Booth's jaw dropped a little. His heart rate spiked as he thought of all the possibilities and reason why they were being split apart. "What?"

Brennan asked in confusion, "What? For laughing at Booth?"

Booth only hoped that that was the reason. "That really doesn't bother me."

Caroline could see Booth's rising panic and quickly alleviated his worries, "We have a date for your father's murder trial. Booth is the arresting officer. You can't work together until it's over."

Brennan shook her head, "This is not necessary."

Booth didn't like that idea anymore that Brennan. "They don't need to separate us."

Brennan told her honestly, "I'm very compartmentalized."

Booth knew that to be true. He was still amazed that his wife hadn't even yelled at him for arresting her father. "Very compartmentalized."

Caroline raised her hand to stop the onslaught of defenses. She knew that, but she had only volunteered to tell the duo since she knew them so long. After all, Booth was like a son to her, which meant that Brennan was like a daughter-in-law. She hated to see them being separated and she had tried to voice her opinion at the meeting, but her hands were tied. "Take it up with the FBI, Cherie." She walked away, leaving the two of them looking at each other dejectedly.

Booth sighed as he looked back at the body, "Well, that sucks."

Brennan pouted slightly as she said, "This one looked really interesting."

Booth agreed with her, "Yeah. Really, really interesting. Well, I'll let you know what happens."

Brennan looked at him, then at the body, and then back at him again. "You're not going to solve it without me."

~BONES~

Booth, Brennan and Sweets were sitting and eating at the Royal Diner. They had been trying to figure out a way to persuade Sweets to stop their sessions with going into great detail, but the kid wouldn't accept it. So Booth told him honestly, "I mean, there's no use in doing partners' therapy when we aren't partners."

Sweets looked at them in shock. "What? You split up?"

Booth sighed heavily. It had been a long night of him making phone calls to his supervisors. None of them listened to him of course. "We got split up."

Brennan huffed in aggravation as she told Sweets, "The FBI says we can't work together."

Sweets didn't get it. "Why?"

Booth leaned forward and explained, "Brennan's dad murdered the deputy director of the FBI."

Brennan nodded and informed to boy, "His trial begins next week."

Sweets looked at Booth as he said, "I should have been informed."

Brennan was very confused by that, "Of the trial? Why?"

Booth leaned back again as he draped his arm across the back of her chair, "Oh, because Sweets did the psychological profile of Max for the prosecution."

Brennan looked at her husband in shock. "What? Why didn't you tell me before?"

Sweets had been so wrapped up in his own thinking that he didn't even notice Booth's possessive gesture of draping his arm over Brennan's chair then. He just wanted to keep his clients. "Why is that important to you?"

Booth couldn't believe the kid. "Sweets! No therapy! Didn't I just – listen…because while it wouldn't matter to say – a normal person – I just figured you wouldn't care." Booth knew her, and he knew that she wouldn't have really wanted to know about it either. After all psychology was a soft science.

Brennan thought about that for a few seconds before she nodded her agreement, "You're absolutely right."

Sweets sighed as he told her, "Dr. Brennan. Everyone you work with, including your therapist…"

Booth added quietly, "Former therapist."

Sweets ignored that as he continued, "Is endeavoring to imprison your father. That's wicked stressful."

Brennan shrugged as she told him plainly, "Booth is right, it doesn't bother me."

Sweets shook his head. "No, Booth is wrong. Yes, it does. May I suggest that this is a golden opportunity for you to feel a situation rather than simply rationalize it?"

Brennan told him sternly, "I'm fine."

Sweets said in aggravation, "If you were fine, you'd be balled up in the corner, weeping, or semi-catatonic."

Brennan looked at Booth and asked, "Does that sound fine to you?"

Booth knew her, yes, which also meant he knew how she coped with things. Not about the semi-catatonic part, but the part about her not being fine. She was hurting and he didn't know what to do to stop that pain. "I'm sorry, Bones, but I'm gonna have to agree with Sweets on this one."

Sweets told her, "I think it's important that you know that we know that the colder and more objective you appear on the outside, the more pain you're feeling on the inside."

Brennan leaned back as she told him even more sternly, "I'm fine."

Sweets wasn't giving up though, "No. You're not."

Booth could see that this was upsetting Brennan and that it also was going to go nowhere real fast. So he stood up and tried to diffuse the situation. "Well, Sweets. I'm – I'm gonna miss you. It was a real pleasure working with you."

Sweets took the bait just like Booth wanted him too. "Really? You are?"

Brennan saw Booth's maneuver to leave and followed in suit and stood up. "I, too, find him intriguing in a non-rigorous, pragmatically irrelevant kind of way."

Booth nodded as he placed a hand on her hip to guide her out into the walkway. "I agree with what she said."

Brennan smiled down at him and said, "Thank you for trying to help Booth and me work together."

Booth nodded at Sweets as he squeezed Brennan's hip as she walked past him. "Thanks, Sweets."

Sweets nodded as he watched them leave, "You're welcome…but honestly, guys…we…"

Booth asked as he walked by, "Will you pick this up? The tab?" He heard Sweets agree, but he wasn't paying attention anymore to that. He needed to think of a way to comfort Brennan.

~BONES~

Brennan sighed as she walked into their new apartment. They had just finished unpacking the last box a few days ago. Thankfully after their second move from the apartment that Epps tried to kill her in, they decided to leave all her books and artifacts there. They still owned the place, technically. But it only contained her various items that she collected over the years as well as all her books. It was basically a very big office for her. It also helped to have a second address to give to her publisher. This way any stalker/killer/psycho couldn't find her as easily. But this new place had a little bit of both her and Booth in it.

Brennan placed her bag on the floor by the coat rack and shrugged out of her coat, before heading straight to their bedroom. Brennan looked around and saw that Booth hadn't come home yet. Which meant that he was still at the briefing with Caroline. To convict her father of murder. Which would probably lead him to his death sentence. Brennan once again felt the sting of tears collect in her eyes and she sniffed slightly as she made her way to the bathroom. What she needed was a nice, hot shower to clear her head.

She had just finished rinsing out the shampoo from her hair when she heard the door open and then close. She had her back turned to the curtain when she felt a rush of color air hit her skin as Booth stepped in behind her. Without even saying a word, Booth took her body wash and started to lather it before lovingly gliding her luffa across her back. He continued to wipe her body until he covered every inch. By the end of it, Brennan had her back leaning against his chest and her head lulled to one side. He kissed her gently on her exposed neck before he silently handed her, her conditioner and they traded spots. Booth started to shampoo his hair and then wiped down his own body while she let her conditioner settle.

Just a few minutes later, Booth drew her to him again, bringing her underneath the water and glided his fingers through her hair. He did that a few times before the conditioner was fully rinsed out he then turned off the water and silently opened the curtain before handing her a towel. They dried off in relative silence; the only sound being heard from one another was their breathing. Brennan had just finished drying her hair and slipped on one of Booth's many Flyers' t-shirts, when Booth walked over to her and scooped her up without warning. She made a startled sound as she instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck as he carried her to their bed.

He gently placed her down before he went to turn off all their lights. Brennan watched as he walked back into their bedroom, in only his boxers, before he slipped under the covers to join her. She then realized that they hadn't even said one word to each other through this whole time as Booth grabbed her hand and tugged her over to him as he whispered, "C'mere."

Brennan snuggled deeply into his side as he wrapped his arm around her, resting his hand on the swell of her hip. He gently stroked her skin as he whispered, "It's okay to feel sad Bones. Just remember that I'm always here for you. Even though it may seem that I'm not. I always will be on your side."

At his words, Brennan felt the sting of her tears return. She snuggled a little bit closer to Booth before she said in a small, vulnerable voice, "He'll probably get the death sentence."

Booth squeezed her hip as he placed a kiss on her head before whispering back, "I know." At those words, she finally let the tears fall. And Booth wiped them away and showed her that, if only for tonight, she could be 'not fine'.

~BONES~

Brennan was sitting on the bench alone while everyone else was down the hallway as Booth approached, whistling, with coffee in his hands. He handed one to Brennan and sat down beside her as he said loudly for everyone to hear, "It might not be good coffee, but hey at least it's lukewarm."

Brennan looked at him confused. "We're not supposed to talk." They had been told not to talk with each other while the trial was taking place, at least at court. Caroline had also told them privately that they couldn't talk with each other about the trial either, even at home.

Booth whispered, "We can't talk about the case," he then said loudly, "but we can talk about crappy coffee." He whispered to Brennan, "Put the cup in front of your mouth when you talk."

Brennan did as she said, "I didn't see Angela today."

Booth whispered back to her, "Angela refuses to testify."

Brennan asked in shock, "Why?"

Booth told her honestly, "Probably because she's your best friend…"

Brennan didn't understand that. "Well, you're my friend and husband, and you don't mind."

Booth sighed as he shook his head, "I mind. We all mind. Except for Zach."

Brennan told him with slight exasperation, "Well, in that case, Zach is the only one thinking clearly. I had to give Hodgins permission. I don't know what's wrong with everyone."

Booth sighed again, "It's not what's wrong, Bones. It's what's right."

Hodgins, Zach and Cam wave to Booth and Brennan. The two waved back and Caroline saw that. "No. No. Y'all cut that out."

The deputy court officer called out, "Court will reconvene in 30 seconds."

Booth sighed before he said, "Good luck, Bones. Oh, and remember I'm the one who gave you this delicious coffee."

Brennan was confused by that statement, "Why?"

Booth sighed as he said, "Why? Because I'm the first prosecution witness against your father."

~BONES~

Booth was sitting on a bench outside the courthouse. Brennan walked up with coffee and nudged Booth to take his cup as she sat down next to him.

Sweets walked up to them then and told them excitedly, "I'm writing a book. Taking a clinical approach to efficacy and focused outcomes. You shouldn't work well together, but you do. I'd like to study it further."

Booth looked at Brennan confused, "I don't get it."

Brennan scrunched her face as she told him, "He wants to study us."

Sweets had thought that this had been a great plan. "Once a week, nothing changes."

Booth ignored Sweets and looked at Brennan as he said, "Now why would we want to do that?"

Brennan shook her head as she smiled at him. "I can't think of a good reason."

Sweets pointed out, "Okay, see. That thing you do when you talk to each other while excluding the third party, namely me, it's an adaptive mechanism for, uh, disparate entities to bond together against their own individual impetuses to dissociate. It's, um, it's what…"

Booth went back to ignoring the kid as he asked his wife, "What does that mean for us?"

Brennan said honestly, "Nothing useful."

Booth thought of something then that could be useful, "Tell you what. Why don't we make a deal with him where we allow him to study us. In return, he gives us psychological profiling on demand."

Sweets was game for that. "Okay."

Brennan shook her head. "No, you like that sort of thing but I don't see the point."

Booth then started to joke a little, "I just think he doesn't want to admit that he likes us."

Brennan looked at Sweets as she asked smiling, "Do you like us?"

Sweets looked at them pensively as he asked, "What?"

Booth added as he saw Sweets face, "And he wants to spend time with us. Time with us."

Brennan couldn't help but ask, "Is that true, Sweets? You like us?"

Sweets shook his head as he lied, "No."

Booth and Brennan started to say in a sing songy tone, "He really likes us."

Sweets huffed in irritation. "Alight, you know what. I'm sorry I made the offer. I take it back. Forget it." He walked off as the couple watched.

Brennan then looked at Booth as she said, "Sweets is pretty good in the interrogation room."

Booth agreed with that. "Yeah. Profiling on demand, interrogating back up…"

Brennan thought back to when Sweets was on the stand and said, "Well, and to be honest, I was impressed with his credentials."

Booth nodded his head, "I'll tell him okay."

Right then Clark walked up to them. "Dr. Brennan? I found something." The couple looked at each other. Booth saw immediately hope flare in Brennan's eyes. He hoped for her too.

~BONES~

There was a knock at the door of their old place. Brennan looked through the peep hole and then answered it, allowing Booth and Zach to walk in. Booth said quietly, "Bones, I have a warrant here to search these premises for any weapon or implement congruent with the murder weapon."

Brennan sighed as she told him, "I could save you some time."

Booth shook his head, "No. Zach is, uh, gonna be the bone expert on this one. He'll be doing all the looking."

Zach looked at his mentor and asked, "Where did Clark Edison learn that trick with the food dye? I don't know that trick."

Booth snapped his fingers and told the kid, "Zach. Focus. Okay?" Zach nodded before he went off to search while Booth went over to where Brennan sat down and asked her, "How ya doing there, Bones?"

Brennan shook her head in confusion, "When it looked like my father might go free I got…This is very confusing for me."

Booth sat down on the armrest of the couch as he told her, "You liked the idea of him beating the murder charge."

Brennan nodded her head, "Yes. But he did it. We both know my father did it."

Booth whispered to her, "Bones, wanting your father to come home instead of going to prison, that's- that's okay."

Brennan didn't like feeling this conflict inside her. "But what I do – what we do is put murders like him away."

Booth tried to think of a way to explain this to her. "Okay. You're not Dr. Brennan today. You're Temperance."

Brennan was confused by that. "I don't know what that means."

Booth tried another way. "The scientist part of you got sidelined, temporarily."

That didn't help her at all. 'I still don't know what that means."

Booth decided to go another route, "Bones, just, take the brain, okay, put it in neutral. Alright? Take the heart – pop it into overdrive." He then imitated a car engine revving and pretended to drive. He got what he was looking for from her too. She laughed.

Brennan shook her head as she said amusedly, "Sometimes I think you're from another planet." Booth stopped 'driving' and sat back up as he leaned toward her. She then whispered as they grabbed each other hands, "And sometimes I think you're really very nice."

Zach yelled out, breaking their solitude, "I found it."

Those were the two words Booth had been hoping not to hear. Damn.

~BONES~

Brennan walked into their apartment after having just left from eating with her father. She had a thought come up and needed to think it through. She had wanted to talk with Booth about it, but as she had been driving home, she realized she needed to formulate a plan first.

Booth noticed her arrival from the couch and how she was pacing a little by the door. She had that look on her face. It told him that she was getting something sorted out that would be very big. "Hey Bones. How'd the dinner go?"

Brennan looked up from where she had been pacing and said, "Good." After a short pause she told him suddenly, "How about we go out tomorrow for breakfast, I'll buy."

Booth looked at her, slightly confused by her sudden topic change, but nodded, "Okay." Brennan nodded her head before she slipped off her shoes and jacket. She then slowly made her way over to him and sat down.

She leaned her head against his shoulder and whispered, "You would do anything for family, right Booth?"

Booth nodded slowly. "Yeah. Why?"

Brennan shook her head. "My father stayed for me. He did that even though he knew he could very well die. I think I know what I need to do."

Booth looked down at her confused, "What are you talking about Bones?"

Brennan shook her head. She still needed to think some things through. "I'll tell you tomorrow." Booth was a little concerned, but let the subject drop. This whole week had been hell for her and he wasn't about to push her even more.

~BONES~

Booth and Brennan were having breakfast at the Royal Diner when Brennan finally started to ask, "If the truth can't be proven, is it still the truth?"

Booth didn't understand the woman sometimes. "You invited me to breakfast to talk philosophy?"

Brennan rushed forward so she could get Booth's opinion. "A theory isn't even really a theory until it's challenged. It's just simply a hypothesis. I don't believe that a man should die based upon a hypothesis, do you?"

Booth leaned forward and told her seriously, "If you have a question, just ask it."

Brennan sighed before she whispered, "I have a way to lodge reasonable doubt in the jury."

Booth shook his head, "We can't talk about this."

Brennan looked at him and pleaded, "Please? You're the person I talk to about things like this."

Booth sighed, already knowing that he would help her. "No perjury involved. Just an interpretation of existing facts."

Brennan nodded her head, "An alternate story."

Booth finally told her the one thing that he knew she hadn't thought of. "You don't know that he did it, you know, your old man."

Brennan looked at him as she said, "Well, we both know he did it."

Booth shook his head, "No, not the way that you define 'know'. You know, with proof and all that."

Brennan understood what he was saying. "It's going to be enough for the jury."

Booth told her, "Jury's are a human factor in a trial, alright? You never know what they'll do."

Brennan nodded again. "You think it's alright for me to take advantage of that?"

Booth whispered again to her, "Brain and heart, Bones. Brain and heart." This was family, you do what you can to protect them.

~BONES~

Barron asked Booth, "Was anyone else present at all three locations?"

Booth answered, "Me. But I didn't kill the deputy director of the FBI."

Barron nodded, "You had motive. He fired you that day and threatened Ms. Julian. By the way, was she at all three locations?"

Caroline stood up at that. "Objection! It's just rude to accuse me of murder."

Barron told the judge, "I count three people in this courtroom, besides my client, who had motive to kill Kirby."

Haddoes nodded his head, "I'll allow it."

Booth shook his head, "Ms. Julian was never at the crime scene, so you're stuck with me."

Barron smiled at Booth as he said, "And Dr. Brennan."

Booth leaned back in his chair and whispered as he looked at Brennan, "I see where you're going with this."

Barron asked him, "Was Dr. Temperance Brennan at the seminary?"

Booth answered, "Yes."

Barron asked the key question, "But did she have a motive?"

Booth sighed as he nodded, "Yes, she had motive. Kirby tried to kill her brother."

Barron nodded his head as he started to walk away, "Thank you."

But Booth couldn't let her put herself out there like that. She was not a killer. "Bones was with me all day."

Barron looked at him and asked, "She didn't have time to commit this murder?"

Booth shook his head. "No, she did not."

Barron smiled as he recalled what Brennan had said. Booth had jumped to her defense and now he was going to use that to his advantage. He asked him the one thing that only Brennan could have known. "How did your son, Parker, get home from school that day?"

Booth looked at her in shock. She had known that he would do this. She was prepared. Brennan looked at him, telling him silently to answer the question. Booth shook his head, "Forty five minutes we were apart, but we talked on the phone."

Barron jumped on that, "Plenty of time, wasn't it Agent Booth?" Booth looked at Brennan as he tried to think of her killing Kirby. He knew she couldn't have done it. Barron said, "Dr. Brennan could have burned the body hours later when you were safe at home."

Haddoes saw Booth's hesitation and told him, "The witness will answer the question."

Booth looked at his wife and said quietly, "That's a lot of heart, Bones."

Barron needed that answer, "Your Honor…"

Haddoes told him again, "Answer the question please, Agent Booth."

Booth never would have thought that Brennan could offer herself like that. But there she was putting her name, her life on the line for her family. And he was not about to let the woman he loved give her life up. "Could Bones have killed Kirby? Temperance Brennan – I've worked with this woman. I've stood over death with her, I've faced down death with her. And Sweets, he's brilliant, he is, but he's wrong. She could not have done this."

Barron shook his head. "I didn't ask you your opinion of Dr. Brennan's character. I asked you, did she have time?"

Booth looked to Brennan and knew then that she needed him to tell the truth. What he said, could save her father. Booth hated this. He hated having to risk her life for her father's. "Yes. She had time."

~BONES~

Brennan was standing on the steps of the courthouse and she turned around to see Booth coming out towards. He walked over to her and hugged her tightly. He whispered to, "That's a lot of heart, Bones. I'm proud of you." She hugged him back silently thanking him for going along with it. Angela came down the stairs behind them then and touched Brennan's back. Brennan was happy to see that her friend was out of jail. At least now, she had the two people that could provide her the most comfort if her plan didn't work.

She then turned to see Caroline and Sweets heading out. Shortly thereafter, her father and brother came walking out. Brennan smiled widely as he father walked over to her with a matching smile on his face. He hugged her for a long time. Sweets watched from the top of the stairs and asked Caroline, "So are you gonna charge her?"

Caroline shook her head. "You gotta go back to school on this one. That's a fine woman there." A fine one indeed. Seeley did good with himself with that one.

Booth had stepped off to the side to all the two to reunite. He smiled as Brennan looked up at him over her father's shoulder and she smiled back. Everything was going to be okay now.

Oh, if only they knew what was to come.