First of all, profuse amounts of apologies for the ridiculous delay in my posting of this update… that writers block is a serious condition, and without new episodes of Bones on air inspire me I just couldn't think of what to say about this word. And I know how cruel it is of me esp. cause this is the last word, so I beg for forgiveness… and hey, now you get to read a new chapter!

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"Good Morning Agent Booth." The Assistant Director greeted Seeley warmly as the younger agent opened the heavy oak door.

"Good Morning Sir, I understand you wanted to see me?"

A.D. Cullen motioned to one of the chairs in front of his desk, fondly dubbed 'the hot seat' by his subordinates; "Yes, yes, have a seat Booth. I've got news for you."

"Good news?"

"I hope you see it that way." Cullen opened the blue personnel file on his desk labeled 'Booth, Seeley SA'. He glanced over it in silence and then up at Booth.

"I see that you have been with us for nearly ten years Booth. You are an outstanding agent with a good personality and good instincts, rare for a man who comes with the military background that you have. As you know, Special Agent In Charge Richard Lidard retired earlier this month, and his position became vacant. The Deputy Director and I looked through a few candidates to take over his assignment, but you were the one who stood out for this promotion. Congratulations SAC Booth."

Booth was almost speechless; he had spent most of the last decade thinking that the man sitting on the other side of the desk thought he was an immature goof. "Wow Sir. Thank you so much. I'm honored, when does this assignment start? And what exactly is it?"

"Your assignment begins this afternoon. You will be the official-unofficial FBI liaison to the Jeffersonian Institute. Your main responsibility is to their Medico-Legal unit specializing in Forensic Anthropology. It is a prestigious partnership that dates back nearly five decades. The squints in their state-of-the-art lab over there take all of our cases that deal with remains that are too decayed to identify using normal channels. You will be investigating these homicides with the evidence they provide. Your office is down the hall; I took the liberty of putting your name up on the door. You have about an hour to move your things in, and then you are expected at your first crime scene. Your contact is their newly appointed Chief Forensic Anthropologist: Dr. Temperance Brennan." He stood and looked for Booth to follow. "The switchboard has the location for you. That's all. I expect your first report soon Agent Booth."

Booth shook his hand vigorously and backed towards the door. "Yes Sir. Thank you Sir. Goodbye."

As soon as the door clicked behind him he threw his fist into the air with an exulted "Yes!" He'd handle those squints. How hard could it be? Especially now that he was Special Agent IN CHARGE Seeley Booth.

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Booth squinted through the summer haze in the large park, swarming with cop cars and in a general state of uproar. He recognized the Jeffersonian's logo from some of Agent Lidard's files that he'd begun to read. He headed over and flashed his badge at the nearest state trooper who pointed him to the officer in charge.

"The bones were discovered buried in the baseball diamond. The wacko squints showed up and they've already got the body and the evidence on its way back to the Mother ship. The kids who discovered it don't know a thing. You can talk to 'em if you want, but there's not much to know. Don't know how they expect to ID the guy. So you're the new Jeffersonian go-between right?"

"Yea, I'm supposed to meet a 'Dr. Brennan' here."

"The Bone Lady? Yea, she's over there, underneath that tree with the white flowers."

Booth turned to look and saw a shadow underneath the tree, but it was too far away to see clearly. He turned back to the officer and shook his hand. "Thanks for your help."

He made his way across the field slowly, wondering what kind of woman this 'Dr. Brennan' would be. Probably unattractive, with big huge glasses, like the ones Molly Pickford wore in the fifth grade. She was a geek if he'd ever seen one. He stared at the grass passing by his shoes, and then up at the cloudless sky. She's probably got a ridiculous IQ and like buckteeth or something. He chuckled to himself at the image that he was conjuring up in his mind. She probably wears a lab coat and pocket protector all the time… He snapped out of his daydream after nearly tripping over a rock and realized that he was just a few yards from the tree.

"Dr. Brennan?" He called to the tall woman staring up in to the leafy branches full of sweet smelling flowers.

Booth's head nearly exploded as she turned around. Forget about squintishly unattractive and buckteeth, she was the most attractive woman he'd seen since, well, forever. I sure hope she's annoyingly smart, because otherwise I'm in so much trouble. He'd had no idea that squints were allowed to be this hot, or else he'd have lobbied for Agent Lidard's job. She stepped a little closer to him. And ohGod, she's got gorgeous eyes too. Definitely trouble.

He regained consciousness and held out his hand. "I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth. I've been assigned as the new Jeffersonian liaison."

She smiled politely and shook his hand. "Dr. Temperance Brennan. PhD in Forensic Anthropology. Nice to meet you." She seemed a little cold in her manner of address. Well, at least I don't have to worry about her personality. The doctor then turned her eyes back up into the tree.

Booth decided to try a little bonding. He sidled up next to her. "So, what'cha looking at?"

"Magnolia grandiflora." She deadpanned in reply.

"Ok… cool… any reason you're looking at the magnolia grandfather tree?"

She looked over at him with an annoyed sigh. "Magnolia grandiflora, and I don't really know why, they're nice to look at, and I was waiting for you to show up. Are you always late?"

"No, not always. I'm usually on time."

He looked up at one of the large white blossoms. "They smell nice."

"Yea, they do. The Magnolia is actually one of the oldest flowers that still grows today. Fossilized specimens have been discovered from nearly 95 million years ago."

Annoyingly smart: check. "Thanks for the botany lesson." He said with a sarcastic lilt to his voice.

"Anytime." She replied sincerely.

Booth would have been astonished, but he had already guessed from her correction earlier that she took things quite literally.

"So what's been established about the case so far?"

"Not much. The remains we uncovered belong to a young man, perhaps 18- 25, Caucasian, well muscled. Preliminary cause of death is blunt force trauma to the frontal bone."

"You call that not much? That's more than I've ever heard anyone get from a pile of bones."

"Bones are an excellent source of evidence, you just have to know what to look for. I've been working with skeletal remains for a while now, and haven't found any that can't tell us something about who the person who lived inside and around the bones. Sex, age, race, cause of death, diet, previous injuries, there are so many possibilities."

"Wow… that's interesting… and weird. But hey, if it helps my murder investigation, who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth?" He said with a facetious grin.

Her blank stare returned none of his joviality. "I don't know what that means."

Was she serious? ...Apparently so.

"Well we aren't getting much done standing here and talking now are we? C'mon Bones, you can give me a beginner's tour of that state-of-the-art lab I've heard so much about."

Her face finally held an expression: annoyance. "You absolutely may not call me Bones."

Aha! Something that annoys the gorgeous genius. Excellent.

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