Hodgins pulled the report off the printer and read though the results. He was clearly frustrated that he and his coworkers had been working every angle on Booth's army buddy's case and Booth wasn't around. "I don't understand why we are pushing this case so hard when Booth isn't even around. This was his army buddy, not ours. He's all about loyalty and putting the bad guys behind bars and he's not even here for his friend." Hodgins realized that at his core he was mad because he considered Booth a friend and he knew that he'd never abandon Booth but yet Booth had left them all without saying anything.
Cam sighed heavily as she too was feeling the pressure. With the FBI grunts doing the leg work for the bureau and Booth's lack of involvement in the case, it was almost impossible for them to get a lead on this case. No matter how frustrating a situation became though, she realized she was the glue that had to keep everything together until Booth and Brennan realized that the case wasn't going to solve its self. "We keep working on the case. It's still a murder and we need to give the FBI information they need to solve the case."
Angela swiped her card and had overheard most of the conversation. She was just as upset with Booth as Hodgins, maybe even more so, but her reasons different. She had to see her best friend suffer. Brennan had been abandoned by men throughout her life and now it seemed that Booth was going to be added to the list. "Since no one else will say it, I will. We got used to Booth being around here and making stupid jokes about our IQs. Sure, he gave us a hard time, but he made us feel important. The FBI grunts don't even joke with us they just call us, pump us for information and we don't hear from them again until they're stuck. We're just Squints again." She'd had seen Brennan when Booth had been shot and thought killed. In those two weeks, her long time friend experienced the full spectrum of emotions. Which, intro spec was less heartbreaking than watching Brennan fly to a third world countries to dive into mass grave pits to get over a bad break up.
Booth walked through the doors of the Jeffersonian, his eyes lowered towards the ground. He heard the last part of what Angela had said and for a few seconds doubted his decision to leave. Booth shook off the doubt and brief feelings of hurt as he knew Kera needed him. He ascended the platform and met a mix of angry and confused stares. He swallowed the lump in his throat and looked between three of his closest friends. "Where's Bones?" he asked rather meekly. "I think you all need to hear this at the same time." He mustered up enough strength to keep his voice somewhat non-emotional. For that, he was thankful. He decided that the hardest part of all this was leaving Brennan with a new partner that he knew she wouldn't want. Brennan could rationalize him leaving but he would be just another man in her life that turned his back and that was something that was eating him up inside.
From her office, Brennan saw her long-time partner standing adjacent to the rest of the team. She was hurt and angry at him yet she still cared. As if she was walking though a fog, she made her way from her office and slowly walked up the stairs to join them on the platform. She stared silently at Booth, trying to form rational, complete thoughts but was unable to accomplish the small goal. While she was not great with reading people like Booth was; she could tell her partner appeared very serious. Outwardly, she knew she looked calm and collected but inside her heart was racing. Her mind trying to process the irrational emotions she was feeling about seeing Booth again.
Booth looked around at the four members of his Squint Squad. They had been through so much over the last few years. They were connected on so many levels and what he was about to do pained him. He knew that crying right now wouldn't help, but that's all he wanted to do. He briefly thought back to his military days to gain a sense of focus as he spoke, "You're all right…I know I haven't been around at all during this case." The team looked at him as he spoke. He half expected them to lash him because of his actions, but they all remained silent. The silence made him even more nervous.
Booth didn't want to look at his friends and soon to be ex-coworkers in the eyes. He was trying to distance himself from his emotions, which even after watching Brennan, the world expert on suppressed emotions, all these years he still wasn't any good. His emotions were there, always visible, always important. He took a deep breath before he spoke, "I thought that I could balance things in my personal and professional life and everything would be normal. But, I realized today I couldn't."
Briefly, he looked toward Brennan, his partner, his Bones. He couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes but he was trying to read her expression. He had to know that she was going to be ok with this. He knew it would hurt her in the long run, but hopefully she'd heal with time. After his brief intermission, he went on. "My boss called me in and reassigned me to Quantico. This means I won't be working on cases with you anymore." He spoke quickly to deter any interruptions. "I know that you have questions-questions I wish I could begin to answer but I can't. I have obligations that I didn't have when I became a Special Agent. They are important to me and all I ask is that you try to understand but I understand that won't happen right away."
Again, Booth looked at Brennan. She was now his former partner. He couldn't quite get a read on her expression – probably not a good sign.
In actuality, Brennan's mind was racing with the news that he was walking away from their partnership, from her. She hadn't noticed that anything was that wrong with their partnership. Sure, they had bumps, they'd argued and fought but they had always made it work.
Booth knew she would be the one hurt most by this and he wished he could spare her but he had to do what was right. "Bones, I know you always said I'm the only agent you want to work with but the Deputy Director is giving you one heck of a new partner. Just give him a fair chance."
Angela couldn't believe that Booth would just walk out on her best friend. Couldn't believe that he would give up the partnership they all had. Cases were solved, criminals put behind bars and they did it all together. What could have possibly happened to change Booth in four days?
Brennan couldn't even think of words to say to her partner. She stood and began to walk toward the platform stairs without saying a word. She needed time to rationalize and compartmentalize everything that Booth said. The thought crossed her mind that maybe he was trying to distance himself from her. Lately, their relationship had been trending towards something more but neither would risk taking the step. So they both, without words, decided to keep their irrational emotions in check.
Booth read the confusion in her body language, "I'm sorry Bones." He realized that he'd actually apologized out loud, when he'd really just intended to give her an apologetic look. He paused one more time as he turned to look between Cam's confused and concerned face to Angela's hurt and heartbroken one, "Take care of her. My replacement will be great in the field but you're her best friends." Booth sighed as he pulled out the ID card that Brennan had given him when he'd first joined the team and extended it toward Hodgins, the closest to him, physically. The bug man looked at him with a cold, dark, and angry stare as he took the ID card. Booth walked briskly down the stairs turning one last time to look at his friends before exiting the building. Bones had often said that he was the feelings of the partnership and right now he felt every feeling of guilt, sadness and something he couldn't bring himself to admit.
Hodgins looked at the ID card in his hand and slammed it to the ground as he stormed off the platform. He was furious. He didn't know how to process what Booth just told them. It was as if their years of friendship were simply a business contract that Booth had decided to cancel when he suddenly got a personal life. "You know what?" Hodgins thought. "A business contract is harder to break than this, apparently." To Hodgins, it appeared as if Booth felt there were no strings attached to their little group-come and go as you please.
Each member of the team processed the information they were given differently. Cam's reaction was more of concern and curiosity than anger. She knew something was very wrong with Seeley and she couldn't begin to isolate what would have caused it. 'What is it?' she thought to herself. She knew Seeley and knew that he wouldn't have come to the decision lightly. She sighed, picked up his badge, and walked down the stairs toward her office to gather her own thoughts.
Angela looked at Brennan and just knew that her friend wouldn't show the typical outward signs of being angry or upset. She also knew that inside she felt as if another person abandoned her. "Sweetie, He didn't say it was forever. He just has some things to work out." Angela was trying to sound reassuring though, in her own heart, she suspected that Booth was protecting Brennan and the rest of them from something. 'What kind of trouble could Booth be in to make him run?' she thought as she tried to come up with a theory.
Brennan tried to rationalize why, after everything that they had been through, he would decide that ending their partnership was a better alternative than giving up something in his personal life. They had spent so much time together that sometimes their personal lives crossed over - even when they didn't want it too.
She decided to focus on her work that she knew was important and would distract her. Walking over to the table, she grabbed exam gloves and began to work on the bones, "Angela can you see if you can get the measurements of what angle of entry of the bullet would be?"
Angela knew that this was her best friend's way of dealing and moving on, compartmentalizing as Brennan called it. Angela nodded and walked slowly down the stairs towards her office, concern for friend evident on her face. Angela reflected on everything Brennan and she had been though their rotating boy-friends; the various criminals that had tried to kill them and the overall uniqueness of their jobs. She knew how Brennan processed information and that her friend would take time and while she may not outwardly show the effects they would likely run deep and painful.
*************************
Bryan Nova sat across from his overpaid attorneys with a clenched jaw. He'd spent the last six months tied up in legal paperwork trying to see his daughters. His ex had countered everything that the lawyers submitted to the judge. Earlier in the week the lawyers said the judge was willing to take the custody case and at least hear what he had to say.
Today, the overpaid leeches were telling him the judge had finished reviewing the case end to end. Because of his DUI a year ago and a positive recent test on the SCRAM anklet, the judge was throwing out the request. "So what is the next step? Just because my ex runs a security company doesn't mean I shouldn't have the right to see my kids." Bryan spoke in a sharp and very angry tone toward the attorneys. He knew that he had little to no rights to Peyton and Arianna because Kera and he hadn't been married and for that matter she hadn't even put his name on their birth certificates. Kera had always run things her own way. The only time he'd ever gotten anything past her is when he'd been drunk and verbally assaulted her with every hurtful thing he could imagine.
The blond haired attorney knew this case was a losing battle. Their client was simply ill equipped to go up against his ex-girlfriend and yet he kept trying. If she could have convinced the rest of the partners to drop this man as a client, she would have. She sighed as she mustered her calmest voice, "Your ex is Deputy Director Kera DeWinter of the FBI. If that alone doesn't give her the leverage on this case, the fact that she's an ex-Army Captain and a highly skilled cardiothoracic surgeon does. It's just not something we come up against every day in family court."
Bryan slammed his fists on the table causing both of the attorneys to jump at the sound. Bryan took a deep breath and looked at the man across from him, "Wha...what about the private investigator that we hired? Did he find anything that could make the judge change his mind?"
A gray haired man with short hair looked serious and frustrated with his client. This case wasn't even a case anymore. Most domestic cases like this were tossed out of court long before they had a meeting like this. He sighed softly as pulled out a file and opened it sliding several pictures across the table. "The only thing that the investigator found out is Ms. DeWinter might be in a relationship with this man. From the records we obtained, his name is Seeley Booth an ex-Army sniper and current Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigations."
Bryan took one look at the pictures and didn't need to hear another word the lawyers had to say. He was so angry that he could feel his blood boiling in his veins. "Sergeant Seeley Booth. I know exactly who he is." He felt his hands tighten as he thumbed though the pictures to see Peyton and Arianna on a swing set with Booth pushing them. He was angrier at Kera than at Seeley really. Kera had been the one who took the job at FBI; she'd been the one to tell him the girls were going with her and he had no right to them, and she'd been the one who'd driven him to drink. If Kera died everything in his life would be all the better.
The young women opened her file and looked though the mounds of papers that had surrounded the case. She shook her head, "Special Agent Seeley Booth is currently living with Ms. DeWinter and appears to be a possible boyfriend, acting in…" She jumped back her client slammed his fists on the desk and looked fit to kill.
He had simply heard enough of what his lawyers couldn't do or wouldn't do. Bryan walked quickly over to the door and opened it, "If you won't help me. I'll do it myself." As he walked down the hallway, his anger turned into blind rage. He knew that the only way he would ever see his girls again was to take Kera out of the picture.
********
Special Agent Luke Ryan walked next to his boss, the Deputy Director of the FBI, as they entered the Jeffersonian Institute. It had been four days since she'd told him that he was replacing Agent Booth at the Jeffersonian and that the world famous Dr. Brennan was now his partner. Booth had been his indirect trainer when he'd joined the FBI. He considered Booth more his friend than a co-worker. Booth was the only agent he'd visit and end up having an indoor football game. Well, it wasn't really a full game but they did throw the football around Booth's office.
Luke had always heard Booth telling stories about how big the building was but this was the first time he'd seen it himself. He'd also heard about his new partner, Dr. Temperance Brennan. Agent Booth described her as intelligent, yet serious with a bit of a fun side once you got to know her. He'd decided that if she was as great as Booth described her to be that he'd probably charm her and asked her out. Booth had nicknamed him Cocky because of his direct and confident style when it came to his work. But, he was ok with being cocky because it was the trait that had gotten him this position.
Ryan was also excited to meet the team that Booth called the Squint Squad, which technically meant now that they were his Squint Squad. A group of highly trained and specialized lab rats that helped Booth and his former partner solve the cases. He intended to use this team to boost his career and push them to process cases quicker than in the past. With a team this good, he figured he'd have a promotion waiting in a short few months.
Kera walked with Luke following closely behind her towards Camille Saroyan's office. Kera knew that Booth was doing what he thought was right thing and he had his mind set but she also knew that Dr. Brennan wasn't going to like a new partner and that cases were going to slower than normal. "Dr. Saroyan." Kera spoke in a friendly tone as she entered the office as Luke entered slowly behind her.
Cam looked up at Kera and then behind her to the red-haired, blue-eyed man standing in the door way. She had known Kera for years and when their paths crossed she enjoyed the few moments of laughs they shared. But, they were professionals whose paths were crossing this time because of a man they had both cared deeply for at some point. They both still cared for him, just as a friend now.
Despite her best efforts, Cam hadn't been able to reach Seeley by phone or text since he'd made the announcement that Kera had transferred him. She'd even tried showing up at his apartment unannounced to make him talk to her. Obviously, whatever it was, he had no intentions of sharing.
"Deputy DeWinter, is this our new liaison to the FBI?" She spoke in a clear and crisp tone as she stood up and extended her hand toward the man. She was concerned with the new Agent that Kera had brought. It wasn't over the ability of the man but she knew Seeley and trusted him with her team.
Ryan extended his hand to Dr. Saroyan and smiled, "Special Agent Luke Ryan and yes, I'm the new ring leader of the Squint Squad." He was confident and assertive tone as he pulled his hand back.
Cam's eyes got wider as the young agent spoke. He had clearly decided that he was the leader of her people. She remembered back to the first few days after she'd joined the team at the Jeffersonian and it helped her put into perspective what he was thinking. The conversation with Agent Perotta sometime ago crossed her mind as she prepared her response, "Agent Ryan, we'll work together. The team is solid and a good group of people and they're the best at what they do. But, they are still my team and I'm sure in time you'll come to understand the boundaries even if we do bump heads in the process." She spoke in her familiar, firm and direct tone as to set boundaries before Agent Ryan invaded her lab and starting dictating.
Kera couldn't help but smile and suppress a laugh at the two strong willed people across from her. "Well, I can see you two are going to get along great," she said, hoping it would at least develop into a cordial relationship that yielded good results for the FBI. "Dr. Saroyan, you'll make sure Ryan gets over to Dr. Brennan's office?" She knew that Dr. Brennan and Ryan had to make it work. Booth was under enough pressure with all the problems Bryan had created and the last thing he needed was to hear his former partner was anything but doing well.
Kera remembered the reports Dr. Sweets had provided her about Seeley and Dr. Brennan's relationship. He'd detailed that their interpersonal relationship could have a negative impact on their working relationship as they had unresolved personal issues they were unwilling to address. Even before he'd come to her to request a transfer, she already had plans in motion to transfer him. She knew that the girls would not be able to handle Seeley being hurt and so she planned to protect all of them. In some ways she wished the girl's real father hadn't been scared of the pregnancy but in some ways it worked out for the better.
Cam nodded as she felt a slight, yet annoying, pain inside. It took everything she had not to ask Kera why she'd reassigned Booth. She felt that she deserved a real explanation instead of the cliff notes version that Booth had given them. "I'll make sure he gets on Darin Hunter's case with Dr. Brennan." She was concerned about Brennan's reaction to her new partner. As the head of the department she knew that Brennan really had no choice but to work with him. As a friend she knew Brennan would fight working with Agent Ryan and she would understand why. Seeley wasn't just Brennan's partner but friend, confident and someone she was possibly in love with.
Kera nodded and turned as she left the office. As she walked to out of the Jeffersonian her mind drifted to the case details of the case that she'd reviewed. Darin Hunter was shot and killed by someone with sniper training. The list of suspects was short and the case was becoming colder by the minute as each of the suspects provided alibis. Maybe she should have left Booth on the case and not caved to his transfer request so quickly. Maybe she was wrong to have accepted his offer in the first place. She knew that if anything happened to Brennan that Booth would hold him-self responsible. Kera hoped that Ryan would take care of his new partner and protect her for all of their sakes. But, she also knew Ryan was a good agent but he wasn't the best, Booth was.