A Bride of Booth

By LizD

Written May 2010 - July 2010

Chapter 10

A/N: Gonna be a mini-crossover with NCIS, but not to worry if you don't watch the show. It really won't matter.

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Booth walked into the lab several hours later. "We lost it," he announced to the room. "NCIS claimed jurisdiction." The squints kept working including that one terrified kid he saw at the crime scene.

"Beg to differ with you Big Man," said Cam. "You don't have the latest intel."

"What am I missing?"

Hodgins laughed. "Dr. Temperance Brennan," he stated from behind his microscope. "Kind of scientist meets pole dancer."

"What?" Booth was confused. "Where is Brennan?"

Cam walked over to him so she could keep her voice down. "You will probably be getting a call any minute."

"What happened?"

"She was incredible. She convinced NCIS to let us keep working the case."

"How did she do that?"

"She charmed him. I have never seen her like that. She convinced him that we were the best and by moving the evidence to his labs he would lose valuable time; time that he didn't want to waste."

"He bought that?"

"I think he liked her. She was - as I said - charming."

"We got played."

"Maybe, but we are still working the case."

"You are."

"Oh no ... we're a package ... the Jeffersonian and the FBI - namely one Special Agent Seeley Booth."

He noticed a couple of new people on the platform with visitor badges. "Who is that with Clark?"

"NCIS ME," Cam replied. "Dr. Mallard. And that is Abby Sciuto with Hodgins ... not sure what she does ... kind of everything."

"NCIS sent their squints to work with my squints?"

"Well, actually they are my squints, but I like your attitude."

He didn't believe it. "Where is Brennan?"

"She went to the Commander's house ... with the agent in charge." Booth pulled out his phone to call her. "I think he let her drive," Cam added with a grin.

"What?" Booth's phone rang while he was dialing. He really needed to put her back on speed dial.

"That will be Tempe, telling you to meet her at the house."

He clicked over to take the call. "Booth ... I'll be there in 10." He snapped it closed. "I don't get it."

"You will ... have fun. Play nice with NCIS."

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Booth rolled up on the scene and Brennan was talking to that scared squint again. Didn't he just leave that kid in the lab? It was about time Booth found out who this kid was but it would have to wait until he found out just what the hell was going on. He was about to call her name when someone clapped him on the shoulder.

"You would be Special Agent Booth, FBI, correct?" Booth turned to looked at a man about 20 years his senior. There was a sly smile on the old man's face. "Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS." Booth took his hand and firmly shook it. "So, this is your squint squad, huh?" He nodded toward Brennan and the kid who had just exited the house. "I have my own techs, but after meeting your Dr. Brennan, thought I would see how the other half lived." He tapped his note pad with a pen. "She is something alright: smart and focused."

"Yes, the Jeffersonian gets the best of the best."

"Loyal to you too," he stated.

"We have been working together for six years."

"Except for last year," Gibbs stated. "You went active again ... got blown up and you just got back on your feet ... I mean literally, this is your first case back." Booth didn't respond but he didn't like that this Gibbs person had checked him out. "Your girl over there has been back for a while now ... guess she didn't discover the missing link or she wouldn't be doing forensics for the FBI now would she?"

"You've been busy," Booth commented.

"I do my homework," he said. "Don't like to share jurisdiction - and never with anyone I don't know."

"So why did you?"

"To be honest, I couldn't pass up a chance with your girl. One of the most beautiful women I have ever met in real life. I normally go for red heads, but for her I'd make an exception. Think she is ready to join the Navy? It's not just a job, it's an adventure, and she looks like she would enjoy adventures."

Booth didn't like the way Gibbs was talking about Brennan. He didn't like that Gibbs kept referring to as 'your girl' but he also knew that Gibbs was just pressing buttons. "Dr. Brennan is the best there is," he said proudly knowing Gibbs didn't stand a chance in hell of luring Brennan away from the Jeffersonian or the FBI.

"We'll see. Don't think my people won't be backstopping your people. In fact they are at your lab now."

Booth nodded. "Why do you want this case?" Booth asked. "Commander Barr was retired."

"Was he?" Gibbs said enigmatically. Gibbs was not about to give away too much.

"Booth!" Brennan called over to him. "Booth!"

"Excuse me," he said.

"What's yours is mine, Booth." Gibbs reminded him.

"Same to you." Booth walked slowly over to her making notes on his pad. He really wasn't writing anything, but didn't want Gibbs to know that. "Dr. Brennan," he said loudly. "What have you got?"

"Why are you shouting?" She lowered her voice, "I assumed that you don't want him to overhear -."

"I don't, it was for show," he hushed his voice. "What are you doing?"

"You wanted to keep this case, didn't you?"

"I didn't want to take on NCIS as a partner in this."

"Trust me, we are not partners." She smiled over at Gibbs. "You will need to hear this too," she said to him.

Gibbs pretended like his phone rang, answered it and turned away.

"What the hell is going on here?" Booth asked.

"That NCIS agent thinks he is playing me, he doesn't know me very well."

"Maybe I don't either."

She pulled him further away. "Commander Barr didn't retire, he was dishonorably discharged. Angela found all kinds of information about him. He was the subject of an open investigation by NCIS and NSA. In fact, he was probably on your Terrorism watch list."

"She needs to be careful with that stuff." He glanced back at Gibbs quickly. "Investigated for what?"

"I don't know," she whispered. "Angela just told me in the car and since Agent Gibbs was sitting next to me, I couldn't ask."

"I'll make a call," he pulled out his phone and dialed. "Did he really drive over here with you? I mean he let you drive." Booth realized that that did not come out the way he meant it so he tried to recover. "He doesn't know you very well," he grinned awkwardly.

She shook his comment off. "I can tell you something else that Agent Gibbs doesn't know ... Commander Barr probably didn't know. He was dying." She dropped into her SUPER SQUINT mode and described all the things she found in his body that added up to the fact that he was riddled with cancer but showed no signs of being treated. "He would have been dead in a month."

"So now you think it is suicide?"

"I don't speculate, I gather evidence. You do the speculation." She smiled. "That's what we do."

"No, we gather evidence and we posit hypotheses," he corrected. Her smile broadened. "What?" he asked confused by her apparently joy.

"This is fun," she whispered.

"Fun?" He was confused. "Six people are dead and how many more in the hospital, we are fighting over jurisdiction and you think a pissing contest with NCIS is fun?"

"I'm sorry," she relented. "I just meant piecing the clues together and working ... you know ... together. I mean out of the lab."

"Yeah?" He was encouraged that she was encouraged, but he was still annoyed.

"Look Booth, I know that this is serious and not a game." She dropped her smile. "I have six bodies in my lab to prove that." She took a deep breath. "The main reason I want this case is that I don't believe that NCIS cares about anyone but their commander. Agent Gibbs just wants to save the face of the Navy. I believe something else happened here. I believe that it involves Charlotte Barr and Jacob Edwards and I think they deserve our full attention. So I am sorry if you thought I was making light of the situation. I am sorry if you thought that I thought that this was a pissing contest. I know better." Her eyes wet with unshed tears. "There was a time when you knew that about me."

Booth felt slapped. He did know that about her. He was just so out of step, so off his game and the case was rapidly getting out of his control. "Temperance ..." He didn't know how to apologize.

"Let's just go back to work, OK?" She shook her head getting herself back into work mode. "We will find nothing here, NCIS has already been here. They took the computer and anything else that pertains to Commander Barr. But I think we should focus on the wife and the Jacob Edwards - Hodgins and Clark Edison will be there as soon as they can get a warrant."

"Warrant? Where? Who?"

"Edwards house. We called Caroline when we couldn't get a hold of you."

"No, No, no … call them back. They don't go out into the field. All squints stay in the lab unless accompanied by me, OK. It is the rule … Booth's rule. You know that." She nodded. Scolded twice in one conversation, it wasn't much fun anymore. He softened his approach. "Ok look ... no going around me any more OK?"

"Ok."

"You just keep passing information only to me, and I will be the gatekeeper of what NCIS gets or doesn't get, OK?"

"Doesn't NCIS have a legal right to what we find?"

"Yes … so … answer pointed questions, give nothing more than what is asked."

"Fine." She turned to walk away.

He stopped her with a touch to her arm that sent shock waves though each of them. Their eyes met and he quickly pulled his hand away. "Temperance ... I'm sorry. I am a little off kilter. I'm sorry."

"There was a time when we didn't need to apologize so much," she observed.

"We'll get there too, OK ... just a little time. OK?" He smiled sweetly. "Just to get back in the swing, it has been awhile." She nodded.

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The sun was well up on the West Coast. Elizabeth had been up all night with the baby to give her poor sister-in-law one night of sleep. She had been there for three weeks. It felt like home. She felt safe, loved and happy. She had barely seen her own mother and sister, spending most of her time with the Darrow family - her husband's family. When she told them about Seeley they were all happy for her - genuinely happy. They did not view the relationship as forgetting William. They all knew how much Elizabeth and William loved each other - it was a fairy tale story that ended tragically. She deserved to try to find some happiness with someone else. When she told them that she had broken off the engagement, they all seem genuinely sorry. They loved her too much to see her keep her life so unfulfilled because of her love for their dead son & brother.

"So who are you running from?" asked Clancy Darrow Lee, William's sister.

Elizabeth thought for a moment before she spoke. "I'm not sure."

"Will wouldn't have wanted you to spend your life alone."

"I don't feel alone," she protested. "He is with me all the time – and I have all of you."

"Must be hard to be with your fiancée if Will is in bed with you."

"It is not like that ... and we are no longer engaged." It hadn't occurred to Elizabeth before but her sister-in-law had a point. Booth wasn't the only one to bring baggage to bed.

"You will be going back in a couple of weeks - or sooner - regardless of what you call yourselves, you are still sleeping in the same bed."

"Only one of us sleeps," she said sadly. "He was not ready to make a life time commitment and I should have known that. He is still recovering."

"What about you? Have you recovered?"

"Sometimes I think I have, sometimes I think I don't want to. I won't ever forget William - he is still my husband. Is that fair to do to any other man?"

"It would take someone pretty special to accept that - so maybe you should try to let that go." Elizabeth shook her head. "You can't move back here with your new husband, it wouldn't be fair to him."

"Are you saying that you wouldn't accept him?"

"Of course we would ... we love you, and if he could make you happy ... then he is part of the family. But it would put him in a very awkward position. You need to put him first."

"I don't know if I can do that. I don't know if I will ever be ready to do that. I had ten years with William - ten glorious years. It is more than most people get. Do I have a right to ask for that again?"

"Yes."

She shook her head. "I just wish -" She let her thought go. She never wanted to regret not having William's child. It was the right decision for them to make the number of times they made it. Even when he deployed to Iraq, they both knew that he might not come back, but Elizabeth didn't want to raise their child alone. That decision she did regret.

"You have almost had that much without him."

"I know ... and someday I will find someone, but Seeley is going through some stuff."

"Why not Seeley?" she said. "He asked and you said yes ... there has to be something."

"I'm just not convinced that Seeley is the right one - or it is the right time. There is something else that I can't put my finger on. He never told me why he went back into service. I think something motivated him more than to serve his country and given what happened while he was there, I can assume that there is more crap to deal with now that he is back."

"You said he was seeing a therapist - let them work it out."

"I am, but if working it out means he needs to deal with what came before, where do I fit in? He barely tells me anything about what went on before. I have to figure it out. And won't my being there complicate his recovery? It is not fair to him."

"What about fair to you? He made decisions before he met you. Fine. He can deal with them; he can live with them. But he also made decisions with you. He will live with those too. I want you to be very selfish. Can you see spending the rest of your life with Seeley?"

"He is a very good man. He is an excellent father. I am not sure how good a husband he would be." She looked at her sister-in-law. "He would never cheat on me, but he is petty focused on his job and that job can be pretty time consuming particularly because he has gone back to major crimes."

"Cops get married. Cops have families."

"And Cops divorce - at a higher rate than most and there is a reason for that. I am not sure I want to be a cop's wife."

"What about that partner ... the scientist ... is she an issue?"

"Dr. Temperance Brennan," Elizabeth said with a smile. "She is the one who writes those books. You know the Bone books – serial killers and the like."

"Not much into those kinds of novels."

"Me either. I have only met her a couple of time. Very odd Duck that one. She doesn't seem like Seeley's type - kind of cold, analytical, distant."

"Were they - involved?"

"No ... at least they both say no, but there is something between them if only in Seeley's mind. I still think she bats for the other team."

"Seriously?"

"She says no, but it wouldn't be the first time someone lied about being gay."

"What went on between them?"

"They were partners for five years - and they both say it was nothing more. They are close or were close - very close."

"How close?"

"Says that she was his partner and that has lifetime implications that I wouldn't understand. Says that if she were ever in trouble, he would help her." Elizabeth left out the killing and dying part. "But I don't think she will be invited to dinner anytime soon. I don't think she will be his best man at the wedding."

"Sounds like more than partners to me, but then again, I am not a cop and don't know what they have been through together. What about her? Is she going to be an issue?"

"She already is - but it is not really her fault." Elizabeth had some time to think about her conversation with Brennan. She reinforced her opinion that it wasn't Brennan's fault that Seeley was distracted by her, it was his. Something else he needed to deal with. "That is why I believe they never slept together." Elizabeth laughed. "I pretty much gave her permission the last time I talked to her. Told her it was something that Seeley needed to get out of his system."

"How did that go over?"

"Not well. I was pretty mean."

"I find that hard to believe."

"I was very mean."

"Do you think she will do it? I mean will they?'

"No, I doubt it. Seeley is really not the one night stand kind of guy and after years of focusing his energy on one person, one night won't resolve it."

"So you gave them permission and left town ... do you really think he will be there when you get back?"

"That is the question isn't it?"

"You are playing with fire, girl. If you think you can make a life with him, if you want that life - go fight for it."

Elizabeth considered for a moment. "You're right."

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"Thanks for dinner," Brennan said as she walked toward her car. She hadn't expected to be with him all day. The only reason she left the lab at all was to keep an eye on Gibbs. But as the day wore on she found that she liked working with him again. It felt right.

"Absolutely," he said casually. They had spent the day together working the case following leads up on Charlotte Barr. The warrant for Edwards place took a little longer than expected. They would hit that in the morning. It became much less awkward as the day went on. They were hitting a good stride. Dinner wasn't much really - some Moo Shu, hot and sour soup and a beer. It was quick and enough. The conversation at dinner was mostly about the case with only small safe topics like his son, her father, the heat that was too oppressive for September in Washington. "Good day, though huh?"

"Yes, very good. NCIS seems to be following their own leads and leaving us alone."

"Good," he smiled. "I don't like to share."

"You were pretty possessive with that Moo Shu tonight," she smiled.

"It was the first thing I ate all day," he defended. "They are still open; we could get you some to go." She shook her head. The smile on her face lit up her eyes. She was beautiful. "I don't think I told you, but I really like what you have done with your hair."

She nodded a 'thank you.' "I am going to head back to the lab."

"You aren't going to work are you?"

"No, just need to pick up my laptop."

He stretched and yawned. "I am wiped out. Think I will actually sleep tonight."

"Good, work seems to agree with you."

"You were right ... as per usual," he said in a friendly manner. "Should never doubt you."

"I'm not always right," she said with a tinge of remorse. They needed to take their leave but they didn't know how. It took them all day to find the good feeling they were sharing, if they separated anything could happen to disrupt that. "I should go," she said.

"Yeah, me too." He hesitated. "Can I drop you some place?"

"No ... I mean I have my car."

"Right, right ... of course." The both laughed nervously. "Guess it is gonna take us a while to get back into the swing of things."

"Seems that way."

"Right, well ... I have faith in us ... we are good together. Today proved that."

"Yes it did." She was glad that he said it first.

He needed to touch her. He wanted to hug her, hold her ... kiss her (just a kiss on the cheek or a chaste kiss on the lips), but that feeling was not right. He put his hand out to her. It was the safest thing. She took it easily. He pressed her fingers it and rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand. "See you in the morning, huh?"

"Yeah, the morning."

He released her hand and stepped back taking in a full view of her. He smiled and nodded and turned and walked away. She watched him go. She was sorry she didn't say something else.

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FBI Special Agent Andy Lister sat by Reichs' bed. He was still hooked up to IVs but he wouldn't leave her. Reichs opened her eyes slowly. The pain in her head and the pain in her leg were unbearable. She groaned. Lister was by her side in a moment.

"Hey, hey ... don't move. Let me get the nurse."

"Salt ... Salt is alive," she said. It hadn't registered that Lister was awake or more mobile than she was at the moment.

"We know. We got guys on it." He smoothed her hair back off her face. "You shot him though, and that is a fact. He lost a ton of blood."

"Three ... right in the ten ring," she told him. "He should be dead."

"Probably is." He stroked her face. "Bastard probably crawled away into a hole to die."

"Pain," she croaked out.

"Let me get the nurse." He reached over to hit the call button for the nurse. "You just lie still." He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the lips. "Thank God, you are going to be Ok."

"You too," she returned.

"Nothing is going to take us down, babe. Nothing." He kissed her again and leaned his forehead on hers. He said a little prayer thanking the powers that be for saving her.