Disclaimer: They're just on loan to me for a while. Did you know you can rent characters at the library?
The next morning Booth woke up feeling a bit fuzzy headed but otherwise not to bad given the amount of alcohol he had consumed. All around him he could hear the sounds of quiet even breathing. His neck and back were feeling sore, and his eyelids felt sticky from sleep.
He could feel a warm weight on his chest. He cracked an eye open with effort and found that it was Bones's head. She was curled up next to him on the couch like a cat with her head on his chest. He didn't mind very much. He filed this away into his fact database that said that a sleepy Bones was a cuddly Bones.
He yawned and stretched as best he could without jolting Bones and looked around the room. Everyone had conked out on the couches were they had been sitting before they had fallen asleep. Sam and Cam were lying on the couch a few feet away from he and Bones. Ziva and Tony were on the other couch.
He looked for Michael and Fiona and found them curled up in one of the chairs. Fiona was asleep but Michael was awake watching her and playing with a few strands of hair. He looked up, almost like he felt Booth watching and gave slight smile. He held a finger to his lips for Booth to stay quiet and then turned his attention back to Fi.
Booth mouthed, Charlie? He didn't see the baby anywhere and he didn't hear any crying so he figured someone had to be looking after him.
Michael mouthed back, My mom.
Time ticked by slowly and the sun came creeping in the windows. Michael checked his watch and sighed. Time to call up the cavalry. "Fi," he called softly. "Fi it's time to wake up."
Fiona grumbled and curled further into the chair. "Oh come on Fi!" he whispered in slight exasperation. "It's morning and I need your help to blow up Chechik and Dead Larry."
"What? huh?" Fiona said with a start. She looked back at Michael, "I'm up," she told him. When all Michael did was try to hold back a smile, Fiona gave him a sleepy glare and crashed her head back into the couch cushion.
Michael grinned and shook her again. Fiona grumbled louder, "Michael I swear to god unless you need me to shoot and or run away from something I swear to god I will handcuff you to your chair until it is a descent time of the morning to get up at."
"It is a decent time Fi." he told her.
Fiona grabbed Michael's wrist to check his watch. When she saw that the time shown there was 6:22 she rolled over and glared up at him. "I know you were in the morning Michael. Where the privileged of sleeping until five o'clock is considered sleeping in, but for us regular people, 6:22 is not a reasonable time to be waking up in the morning!" she hissed. "Try again at 7:30, or better yet 8 o'clock." she rolled back over and Michael raised his eyes to the ceiling.
Booth laughed silently for a bit until he remembered that he now had to wake up Bones. He looked down at her and shook her slightly. "Hey, Bones. Wakey wakey." Bones sat up and rubbed her eyes yawning. "What time is it?" she asked him blearily.
"About 6:23," he informed her.
"Coffee," Bones muttered. "Need some coffee," she tried to stand several times but was still to stiff from sleeping and on the last time Booth had to catch her and sit her back down. She looked at him, "Will you go get me Coffee?"
He gave her a grin. "All you had to do was ask Bones." he told her. Then he stood up and stretched, then went to go get coffee for everybody.
When he returned Michael had managed to get everyone else was dispersing to change into new clothes. Several people were half way between being dressed and wearing pajamas. Michael was the only one who looked fully awake. He had already changed into a new set of slacks and a blue button down shirt.
Booth handed Michael one of the cups of coffee. Michael nodded in thanks. Sam was the next person into the room and was also rewarded with a cup of coffee.
"Cheers buddy." he said clinking the plastic cup against Booth's and Michael's.
Everyone else came in after a bit wearing fresh clothes and looking much more awake. Booth handed out coffee to people as they came through the doors and soon everyone was watching Michael expectantly.
Sam turned and asked, "So what now brother?"
"Now we go find the others and go get rid of the bastards who have been giving me hell for way to long of a time."
"That plan is nuts." Tony informed Michael. It was about an hour and a half later and Michael had just finished explaining his plan to get rid of both Larry and Chechik. It made sense form a military standpoint so Booth, Ziva, and Gibbs had no problem with it, and Fiona, Sam, and Jesse were used to trusting Michael's judgment when it came to planning. However, most of the general con census was with Tony.
"It makes sense actually," Jesse told them.
"How does putting yourself out in the open for two guys who want you dead plus all of their heavily armed friends make sense as a good plan?" Cam asked.
"Sometimes their's no way to be out of the line of fire," Michael explained. "When that's the case then the only thing you can do is control the firing range and make sure the people shooting hit each other before they can hit you. By drawing Larry and Chechik out, I'm controlling the firing range."
"So your picking were you get shot. How does that help?" Hodgins asked somewhat grouchily. He had drunk a substantial amount more than the others, and was nursing a hangover.
"If I pick the spot I can set up back up."
" I get the principal behind the plan," Booth said. " I'm just wondering how they are going to know where to find you."
"With this," Michael said. He held up his cell phone. "They'll be trying to track this, which is why I need you three," he looked at Angela, Abby, and McGee. "To boost the signal on the phone so that Larry and Chechik can pick up the frequency when I need them to. Don't make it to obvious, I don't want them getting suspicious."
"This is all fine Michael," Maddy interrupted "But you still haven't explained how you plan on getting out of this without getting shot!"
"I'm not." Michael said simply. He held up a hand to stop the protests. "I don't mean actually get shot. I just need a fake to look convincing. Your the marksman right?" he addressed Booth. "I'm counting on you to realistically fake shoot me."
Booth nodded easily. "I'm going to need to know distances and the type of rifle."
"Done."
"What do you need me for Mr. Westen?" Ducky asked.
"I need you and Dr. Soroyan to work with Fi to make a specific type of shell. The idea is like a water shell only you're not going to use water."
"What are we using instead Michael?" Fiona asked.
"Blood." Everyone spluttered in protest. "Look okay. Larry and Chechik aren't going to buy just a squib and I need them to get close and think they've won. The shell won't hurt me, and the blood will replicate the gunshot wound."
"Where are we getting the blood from?" Cam asked. "I highly doubt we can just ask any old donor."
Michael shrugged, "It might as well be mine. I'm hoping it never gets to that point anyway."
"What do you mean Mike?" Sam asked.
"Rig me up with a dead mans switch. Not an actual one, but I hope it'll keep them from getting to the point were they shoot me."
"What do you need the rest of us to do?" Gibbs asked.
Michael turned to him, "I need you guys to get rid of all of the back up, and if things start to go wrong, I'm trusting you guys to take down Larry and Chechik before they can hurt anyone."
Michael turned away and fixed his gaze on a point none of the rest of them could see. Fiona knew he was seeing the angles. Watching all of the lines of motion come into play and intersect with each other in a diagram that only made sense to him.
Michael sighed as he felt the last pieces clicking. One way or another, this whole thing would end today.
A/N: Okay so you see that little button down at the bottom of the screen? The one that says review? Well I am begging you for the love of yogurt just freaking click it! Okay, I'm done now. Reviews are rainbows and lollipops.