A/N: JBCFlyers19 came up with an idea to add to this story. I think it's very interesting and I am going to incorporate it into my story. Thank you.
Thank you for all the great reviews. I really appreciate them.
I don't own Bones.
Ooooooooooooo
As he entered the Founding Fathers, Booth looked around and finally saw a hand waving at him. Weaving through the lunch crowd, Booth quickly arrived at the occupied table and sat down. "Chief Benson, how're you doing?"
Metropolitan Police Chief James Benson reached over and shook Booth's hand. "Booth, glad you could make it."
Releasing the Chief's hand, Booth picked up a menu. "Thank you for meeting me here instead of at the Jeffersonian. It's the only free time I have today."
Picking up his cup, Benson smiled and then sipped his coffee. Setting it down, he started to speak when the waitress came by to take their orders. Once their orders were written down and the young lady walked away, Benson finally spoke. "I was pretty shocked when I heard the FBI let you go for a medical. I heard about your injuries and I know you're quite capable of doing your job so it seems like utter bullshit to me."
Not sure what the Police Chief wanted, Booth sipped some water and then rested the glass on the table in front of him. "I couldn't pass the physical and I wanted to give up certain parts of the job. It was just better to take the medical retirement and move on."
"I see." Moving his cup to the side, Benson leaned on the table. "So you took a job at The Jeffersonian as head of security."
He liked the Chief, but he was starting to get a little wary of the man. "It's a great opportunity for me. I couldn't turn it down."
Glancing at the bar and then back at Booth, the Police Chief pressed on. "I heard that Dr. Brennan is no longer contracted with the FBI. Do you know if she plans to renew her contract with the Metro Police?"
Finally enlightened, Booth shrugged his shoulders. "I can truthfully say she's still thinking about it. She really hasn't made up her mind yet. I think she plans to renew her contracts with the CIA and the Army. They don't send a lot of work her way, but when they do she thinks it's pretty important and I agree."
Biting his lower lip, Benson nodded his head slowly. Noticing the waitress returning with their orders, Benson and Booth sat back and waited for the lady to leave again.
"I'd like to run something by you." Hungry, the Chief picked up his fork, cut off a small piece of salmon and tasted it. Smiling in appreciation of a well cooked piece of fish, the Chief cut off another piece. "I love the salmon here . . . Okay this is the deal. The Metropolitan Police Department doesn't want to lose the services of Dr. Brennan and the staff at the Jeffersonian. She has really come through for us several times and she's just too valuable to let slip through our fingers. When it comes time to renew her contract, which I know is expiring in two weeks, I would like her to renew it. Metro police would also like to offer you a contract as well. We'd like to hire you as a part time consultant. Now I know you have a full time job and we won't interfere with that. My thinking is, when we get a case that requires Dr. Brennan, you would be our civilian liaison. You've been the FBI liaison for years and you know how to get the scientists at the Lab to do their jobs with a minimum of fuss. Your job working for us would be similar. You wouldn't be investigating crimes of course, but you would go to the crime scenes that require Dr. Brennan and make sure that proper procedures are maintained when it comes to the bodies. Your job would be to make sure that communication between the Lab and Metro police are clear and concise. You would have final say as to when bodies could be removed from the crime scene and where the body would be sent."
Eating more of his salmon, Benson swallowed it and picked up his cup to sip some coffee. "From past experience, you know that sometimes we've butted heads with the FBI as to who has jurisdiction over crime scenes. In the past, those little battles usually ended up the property of the FBI because they had Dr. Brennan on retainer and their contract superseded ours. Now that Dr. Brennan is no longer contracted with the FBI their arguments will now be specious."
Swallowing his bite of pasta, Booth shook his head. "Look, the FBI is still contracted with the Jeffersonian. Dr. Edison is now their forensic anthropologist and he's a damn fine one too."
Not to be dissuaded, the Police Chief frowned. "I'm not besmirching Dr. Edison's credentials, but Dr. Brennan is the best in the country and her contract with us would trump Dr. Edison's contract with the FBI when it comes to crimes that Metro considers ours. We'd be able to retain crime scenes that rightfully belong to us if we had you two on our team. We'd also like to pick your brains sometimes if a case is going sideways. Your solve rate is phenomenal and believe me we'd like to tap into that. You wouldn't have to take a physical because you'd be a contracted employee. Any physical problems you may be having can be accommodated. Believe me when I say the FBI's loss would be our gain."
"I'll have to talk to Dr. Brennan about that." Placing his fork down, Booth leaned back. "I can't speak for her. I will tell her what you have planned and I'll let her make the decision. If she agrees to it, then I'm willing to come on board. We'd have to let the Jeffersonian lawyers approve the contracts though since our contracts with them come first."
Sipping his coffee, Benson placed the cup down and smiled. "You wouldn't mind getting into pissing contests with the FBI?"
He thought about it briefly and smirked. "Not at all. I no longer work for the FBI. If I was working for Metro then my loyalty would be with the Metropolitan Police Department. Of course, my first loyalty is with the Jeffersonian. If any conflicts arose that would harm the Jeffersonian in any way then I'd have to make sure the Jeffersonian was on the right side of the contest. Also, my loyalty to my wife has to come first. She'd have to have final say as to where bodies would be sent. She'd decide whether she should be involved or whether Metro can handle it without her or if the cases really do belong to the FBI if they're trying to poach."
His salmon almost gone, Benson cut off a small piece and stared at it. "Not a problem since she does that already. Also let Dr. Brennan know that we can up her fee by ten percent. If you and she are interested in my plan contact me and we'll talk about money."
Nodding his head, Booth smiled. "I'll talk to Dr. Brennan tonight. I should let you know that if she renews her contract it will continue to have a clause in it that allows her to go on digs. She's planning on going on a dig in September. The dig is planned for two months, but I don't know if she's decided to stay the entire two months. She's looking at her class schedules to see if she can squeeze in the time."
Not worried about that, Benson poked his fork at the small salad sitting in a bowl next to his plate. "Sounds okay to me. As you can tell, we're willing to do whatever we can to retain Dr. Brennan's services."
Curious, Booth placed his fork down and stared intently at the head of Metro Police. "Why didn't you ask to see both of us? Why just me?"
Chuckling, Benson placed his fork down and returned the former agent's stare. "Because I really wanted to talk to you first. I plan to talk to her later this week. At least that's my plan for now. I just wanted to talk to you first because I really do want you on our team. If Dr. Brennan doesn't renew her contract with us I'd still like you to sign a consultant's contract. Like I said, you have an out of this world solve rate and I'd like my people to be able to use that talent of yours. We'd like to have Dr. Brennan on board, but with or without her we'd like to have you too. I don't know what's up with the FBI, but they're so full of shit when they let you go. I'd have bent every rule I could to keep you and that's a fact."
Flattered, Booth smiled. "Sounds like something I might be interested in. Let me think about it for a few days. I'll talk to Bones and see if she's interested in renewing and I'll tell her about your offer. She'll probably want to talk to you about it so you might want to go ahead and set up that appointment you were talking about. Of course, I don't talk for Bones so whether she renews or not is up to her, I won't try to influence her one way or the other."
Pleased, the Police Chief picked up his fork and waved it around. "Fair enough. Just remember, whether she renews or not, I still want to get you on my team. The FBI's loss would definitely be my gain."
Oooooooooooooooo
Reviews would be appreciated. Thank you. (I know, another slow chapter. Still setting up some future stories.)