(Season 6)

JBCFlyers19 requested just a little bit more. I hope this is what you wanted.

I don't own Bones.

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Bogged down in paper work, Booth was almost relieved when he heard a knock on the frame of his office door. Looking up, he noticed a stranger standing in his doorway who definitely looked like a Fed. "Yeah, can I help you?"

Flipping open a badge and credentials, the man stepped into the office and introduced himself. "We haven't met. I'm FBI Special Agent Arlan Morse. I'd like to speak to you. I'm working with the Capitol Police and we're investigating an incident."

Curious as to why Morse wanted to talk to him, Booth leaned back against his chair, pointed at the chair in front of his desk and then clasped his hands together against his stomach. "What's up?"

After he removed a picture from his jacket pocket, Morse held it up and leaned forward to give Booth a good look. "Do you know this man?"

Unable to hide his amusement, Booth chuckled. "Of course I do, don't you?"

Irritated, Morse placed the picture back in his jacket pocket and glared at the Head of Major Crimes. "Congressman Barlow claims that this man attacked him, assaulted him, kidnapped him and dumped in west Texas near El Paso."

Since he didn't see why he should care what happened to Congressman Barlow, Booth shrugged his shoulders. "What does that have to do with me?"

Not really the reaction Morse had expected, the man frowned. "He's a friend of yours. You were spotted with him the same week that Congressman Barlow claims he was kidnapped. You visited a reporter named Hannah Burley with Billy and his daughter. Do you deny that?"

Snorting, Booth leaned forward and rested his arms on his desk. "First I am not a friend of Billy. He and I don't run in the same circles and that's a damn fact. I am a friend of Ms. Montenegro, his daughter. Second I used to live with Hannah, so we used to be friends. Third, Billy and Angela asked me to introduce them to Hannah so that they could talk to her about an article she wrote for the New York Times about Angela's mother. Fourth, once the meeting was over I drove them both back to Angela's house and I haven't seen Billy since then. Fifth, why the hell would a famous man like Billy do what you say he did to a congressman? Sounds stupid to me since he's famous and most people recognize him no matter where he goes. Sixth, do you have proof that what the congressman said is true because I got to tell you, his word isn't good enough since the man is a piece of shit. He's about as untrustworthy as they come."

"You don't mince words do you?" Morse was surprised that Booth hadn't been a little more tactful. "Normally people around here are a little more circumspect about people in office."

A smirk now gracing his lips, Booth shook his head. "I'm an FBI Agent. I don't kiss politicians' asses. I arrest them if they don't toe the line and I leave them alone if they behave themselves."

"So you deny that you helped kidnap and assault Congressman Barlow?" Agent Morse stared at Booth with hooded eyes and knew that Booth was probably a dead end, at least for now.

"I deny it." Booth shook his head. "You better tread carefully with Billy. Unless you have proof that he did what you say he did, you're shit out of luck. The man is rich and very famous and he'll laugh you guys out of court."

"We don't have proof about what happened to Barlow and that's damn odd so far." Morse continued to stare at Booth. "No else seemed to have a motive to go after the congressman except Billy. If he did it, he had to have got help from someone and you're the most logical candidate to do that for him, being an ex Ranger and all."

His temper starting to heat up, Booth knew that was what Morse was counting on. "Listen Sport, I enforce the laws, I don't break them. Feel free to check into what I've been doing during whatever day this was supposed to have happened. I'm sure you'll find out I've been working my ass off like I always do. Now, I have work to do." Booth picked up a report and started to read it.

Obviously dismissed, Morse stood up, stared at Booth for a few seconds and then left. Once he was outside of Booth's office and was moving down the hallway, he pulled his phone from this jacket and called his partner. "I'm pretty sure Agent Booth didn't help him. I'll check into his activities for the last week, but I think this is a dead end. Booth claims that he is a friend of Angela Montenegro not Billy and that since he used to live with Hannah Burley he was asked to introduce Billy to her. I believe him. I don't know why the Capitol Police aren't doing these interviews, we have our own cases to work on."

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Congressman Barlow was furious, livid actually. Pointing at his sleeve covered arm, the man was all but sputtering. "You know Billy did this. Arrest him for God's sake. I mean who the hell would force a tattoo on me that says Tracy RIP? Get real. He did this. He assaulted a congressman. That's a federal offense. What are you waiting for?"

Deputy Director Peltier of the FBI was fascinated at the way the congressman turned from a pasty white to a mottled red in a matter of seconds. The man definitely had a high blood pressure problem not that the deputy director cared. "Congressman, this is the United States and you have to have proof to arrest someone. Just because you have a new tattoo doesn't mean anything. We can't find anyone that saw you kidnapped, tattooed or taken for a ride out west. No one saw Billy with you at any time in the last few weeks. No tattoo parlor or artist remembers seeing you in the district. If he had it done somewhere else then we really don't have a way of finding that out. Do you know how many tattoo parlors there are in this country and not all of them are licensed? If you had that tattoo done by someone not licensed then I recommend that you have some blood tests done to make sure you didn't pick up anything you shouldn't have."

His complexion now a scarlet color, Barlow stood up and leaned on his desk. "This is bullshit, he did this. He met me outside my house and invited me for a drink. We had a few drinks in his car talking about our younger days, but I don't remember anything after that. My DNA should be in that car. Find his car and check. Do your job."

Coldly, the deputy director stood up so that the congressman wasn't looming over him. "We did check the car he was seen driving around the district during that time period and it's clean. I mean it's been detailed to the inch of its life and there is nothing to say you were in that car."

"Well, damn it, that's suspicious and you know it." Barlow tried to control his temper. He needed Peltier on his side. "He did this. He kidnapped me and assaulted me."

Patiently Peltier explained the facts to the congressman. "Look, even if your DNA was in the car, you admitted that he invited you for drinks and you drank in his car. You don't remember what happened after that. You were checked for drugs when you were admitted to the hospital for heat exhaustion and none were found. If you blacked out from drinking then you don't know for sure who did what to you and any lawyer will have you laughed out of court especially since we're dealing with a very famous person. Any good lawyer will point out that someone would have had to have seen the man driving to west Texas with you. Let's face it, the man is famous and most people recognize him wherever he goes. No one has come forward to corroborate your story. If he left the district he did it without leaving a trail. He would have had to have used cash because there are no credit card records showing him buying gas or anything else outside the district until two days ago when he purchased a plane ticket to Germany."

"What about that reporter Hannah Burley?" Barlow was getting desperate. "I told her about Billy's girlfriend and she published the story. I know she got a visit from Billy and one of your FBI Agents, the one that's head of Major Crimes."

"And nothing happened accept a conversation." Peltier fought to keep from looking at his wrist watch. "Ms. Burley was contacted by my agents and she said the interview was very amicable. She said that Agent Booth introduced Billy and his daughter to her and they talked about the article she wrote. She apologized for not thinking about how it would affect Ms. Montenegro and she said she was forgiven. That was the end of the conversation."

Filled with disbelief, the congressman shook his head. "Amicable? She left the damn country after that conversation. This is bullshit. She's lying, damned reporters. They lie about everything."

Peltier shook his head. "Well then I guess she would make a terrible witness in court . . . Ms. Burley says she'd grown tired of politicians and the corruption that's so rampant here and she asked to be reassigned overseas. She's a war correspondent and she wanted her old job back."

"Are you accusing me of something?" Barlow had lost a little color in his face and started to wonder what Burley had told the FBI or the Capitol Police.

Done with the conversation, Peltier shrugged his shoulders. "I'm telling you what Ms. Burley said because you brought her into the conversation. I'm not accusing you of anything." You fucking idiot. "You asked me to get some of my people to help with the investigation because you thought the Capitol Police were dragging their feet, so my people looked into this. We found the same thing the Capitol Police found. You don't have a case Congressman Barlow. No witnesses, no proof, no case. " Turning he left the office.

Congressman Barlow fumed for a while and thought of the injustice of the situation. He planned on talking to the Director of the FBI, but he was sure no one was going to do anything about the kidnapping or the tattoo. He really hated that Billy was going to get away with what he had done.

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Sipping some coffee from his Steelers mug, Booth was trying to take a break when a courier entered his office handed him a large manila envelope, had him sign for it and left. Curious, Booth opened it and found a letter and a sheaf of paper inside.

Dear Seeley,

I'm sure you're surprised to hear from me so soon, but I really needed to contact you. I don't know if you are aware of it, but I was finally given an assignment overseas and I am now in Iraq. I really hated political reporting. Give me a good old war zone anytime.

Anyway, before we broke up, I mentioned to you that I was working on a story about Congressman Barlow. I know you weren't really interested at the time, but I think you will be now. I was trying to connect him to some kickbacks from a pharmaceutical company, but I was having a hard time getting concrete proof. A source had told me about the kickbacks and that shortly after getting a big paycheck from Pharma-SPCL the congressman managed to miraculously get the company an extension on their patent for their drug SPCL. It's actually their only money maker.

Well to make a long story short, I have the proof now. My source has a relative that works at Pharma-SPCL and she mailed me the reports you will find in this envelope. This is the smoking gun that can be used to bring down Congressman Barlow. I know you can't stand the guy, so I am trusting you to hand them over to the proper authorities and not bury this.

I'm sorry things didn't work out between us, Seeley. You wanted things that I couldn't give you. I know that it hurt you that I turned you down when you proposed, but I can't change who I am anymore than you can change who you are.

By the way, tell Ms. Montenegro and her father no hard feelings. I do regret printing the article. I thought because it was old news it would just be a interesting story, but I didn't mean to hurt your friend Angela. Her mother died a heroic death and I didn't see any harm in people knowing about it. I guess I was wrong. I'm human and I make mistakes. This is also why I prefer foreign correspondence. I really hated it in D.C. and Billy's suggestion that I leave was actually the kick start I needed to get back into the part of reporting that really makes a difference. Now I am where I want to be.

Hannah

"Yeah you're away from me which I guess is great for you." Booth was still angry that Hannah had refused to marry him, but he was getting over it. He had thought she had loved him and that she wanted to be with him, but he had been wrong and there was nothing he could do about it. The last few weeks he had had time to think about what he wanted in life and he knew that he needed someone that cared if he was screwing up and was wiling to be in his corner. He had met few people in his life that actually saw who he really was. Most women he dated were drawn to the outside package, but once they looked inside they didn't like what they saw. He had a lot of baggage and they didn't want to help him carry it. He did know that no matter what happened in the future he would fight to keep from being bitter about his life. He had fought a life time to not be his father and he would do everything in his power to never cross that dark line. He was not his father and never would be.

His thoughts now on Brennan, Booth smiled. Brennan had been his friend for a long time. She knew who he was and what he was and it never seemed to bother her just like he knew who she was. He valued her friendship and he regretted trying to force her to see him as anything other than a friend. He loved her and he knew he always would, but since she was only interesed in him as a friend he would have to accept that and he did. He had made a lot of mistakes in his life, but he knew that as long as he had a friend like Brennan he would be okay.

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Okay this story is really finished now. Let me know what you think of my story. Thank you.