Chapter One

Brennan walked into the FBI building with ease. Everyone there knows her. Everyone there knows she can't have a gun, so they don't bother asking anymore. Everyone knows her destination. The Office of Special Agent Seeley Booth. She barely acknowledges any of them, but that's okay, No one expected anything different. This was any other day.

As she approached the office of her partner, she heard the raised voices before she saw the men to whom they belonged. She approached Booth's office slowly, afraid to disrupt the heated argument going on within. She lingered on the threshold, trying to catch Booth's eye, but his head was down, he was looking at his desk. The man standing across from him continued to yell, his arms waving in great theatrical waves. Brennan could now hear the conversation clearly.

"I mean What the Hell Seeley... You got him fired...This is as much your problem as it is his. What are you gonna do?" The man stood upright and placed his hands on his hips, his posture, very intimidating. Bones still couldn't see his face. She did, on the other hand, finally get Booth's attention. His normal warm, brown eyes were cold and frustrated, until he made eye contact with her, and then they melted with recognition.

"Hey Bones, good timing." Booth raised one finger to answer temporarily, her quizzical look, meaning for her to wait. He looked back to the man. "I really got to go. I have a live case, and there's my partner, with crucial information for us to analyze. We'll talk later. I'll work everything out." Booth looked at Brennan with pleading in his eyes, begging her to go along with his story. For once, she caught his subtle hint, and backed away from the doorway to wait for him to join her.

She watched as Booth grabbed his suit Jacket, and nearly tripped over the corner of his desk in his haste to get out of whatever uncomfortable situation he had gotten himself into. She stifled a giggle at the look on his face. It was one of relief, to say the least. As he reached her side, he took hold of her arm and guided her towards the elevator. She paused for a second, looking over his shoulder back at his office, where the man had now moved to the doorway with a stunned look on his face. She looked into his eyes and saw a familiarity that took her a minute to recognize.

"Why did you lie to that man? We don't have an active case; I was meeting you for lunch." She slapped his chest with the back of her hand. "Oh my god, Booth, is that your Father?" Now she caught up with the recognition she sensed in the other man. She leaned back to try to get another glimpse at the man, but he had not followed the two down the hallway.

"Bones, I'll tell you all about it over lunch. Can we just go?" The elevator door had opened and he guided her into the car, with his hand on her lower back. She didn't say another word until they were in his SUV, heading towards the Diner.

Booth didn't say a word either. He kept his eyes on the road. She broke the silence first.

"So, your Father's in town I see." She looked at him to gage his reaction. He didn't take his eyes off the road, but replied, "Yep."

"Are you okay? I mean I know you've told me a little about him, but I've never heard of him visiting, or of you visiting him either, for that matter. You seem out of sorts. I get nervous when you're out of sorts." She continued looking at him, waiting for the dam to burst. It didn't.

They had reached the diner, so all conversation ceased until they were in their usual spot, coffee ordered, and lunch on the way. Booth sighed loudly, his face resting in one hand, his other hand fiddling with a spoon. Brennan reached across the table and grabbed his hand with hers to stop his fidgeting.

"Booth, tell me, what was that all about?" She kept her hand on his until the waitress arrived with their coffee, and then blushed slightly that she had been caught being affectionate. Her blush was not lost on him. He stifled a smile into the palm of his hand, and sighed again. He looked into her eyes across the table, not sure where to begin.

"Well, I guess, long-story-short, Jared called my old man, and tells him he lost his fabulous job with the FBI because of me, and now, Pops, is in my office screaming at me that I have to find him a new job and start taking responsibilities for my actions. Same old story with Jared, nothing is his fault!"

"Booth, we never would have found you on that Navy ship if Jared hadn't done what he had done. He saved your life." Brennan looked at him with her huge eyes, some of the fear of that day creeping into them again.

"All of you saved my life that day. Every one of you. The rest of you didn't lose your jobs though. The rest of you don't want anything in return from me." Lunch arrived and the rest of the conversation revolved around Brennan trying to convince Booth that he wasn't responsible for Jared anymore. By the time they were back in the vehicle, Booth had actually started to believe it. He was ready to tell both his brother and his father where to go.

As Brennan drove back to the Jeffersonian from the Hoover Building she contemplated Booth's situation with his family. He rarely spoke of them, so she had no clue how to approach a resolution. The situation encompassed her thoughts through the afternoon, and into the evening. She was still awake, though in her bed, when her cell phone rang from the bedside table. She answered with the usual, "Brennan."

"Uh, hey, Bones, are, uh, you awake?" It was Booth, but something was wrong. She knew it immediately.

"Booth, what's wrong?"

"Uh, can you come down to the hospital, I kind of need you right now, and I'm at Bethesda." His voice broke twice in that one sentence.

"I'm on my way Booth." She was already getting dressed and was out the door in less than 10 minutes.

She ran into the hospital, not knowing where to go, or where to look for him. She approached the reception desk in the emergency department, waiting for some acknowledgement from the nurse there, when she saw the elevator door open. Out walked a horrible looking Booth, red eyed and pale. She ran to him, grabbing his upper arms and shaking him slightly. "Booth, what is going on?"

He looked at her with his red, puffy eyes and suppressed a sob.

"Well, I had the talk with my dad and Jared, and explained to them that I wasn't going to get him out of trouble anymore, that I was done, and well Jared and I got into a huge fight, and he stormed out, and apparently went to a bar, proceeded to get smashingly drunk, and then drove his car into a lamp post and they pronounced him dead a little over an hour ago."

He lost it then, the sobs could no longer be held back. Without over-thinking the situation, and letting her heart take control, she took him in her arms for a hug. He accepted without thinking. His face buried in her hair, her hand gently rubbing his back. She was unable to come out with appropriate words so all she said was

"Oh Booth."