Author's Note: I know it's a little crazy for me to start a new story while I'm so swamped with summer classes, but this one has been brewing for a while, and I wanted to get it started at least.

This takes place after the events in The Narrow of the Margin, so it is a sequel of sorts, but it is not a direct sequel. This story will also refer to my The Heart of the Family story a great deal, but as usual, knowledge of that fic will not be essential to enjoy this one. It just enhances the experience is all. ;)

I do not own Bones or any of its characters. This is just a hobby. ;P

I want to thank everyone ahead of time who reads/follows/reviews this. I hope you enjoy it. :D

The Measure of the Spirit

Doctor Camille Saroyan frowned as the FBI brought in another corpse into the Jeffersonian Medico-Legal Lab. A couple of days ago, in a town near the Virginia border, a local policeman had discovered a body in the woods next to a small town. The sheriff immediately called in the FBI since he knew their sparsely populated town would not have the resources to identify the body, much less determine if there was a crime to be investigated. After looking over the remains, Booth had the body sent back to the Jeffersonian at Brennan's request. Once there, they had quickly discovered that the body was that of an elderly male who had been shot and killed. The skull had suffered some damage, so Brennan had to work on repairing it before Angela could begin to work on a facial reconstruction to ID the victim.

While forensic techs were processing the scene, another body was discovered. This corpse had been dead longer than the first victim. Cam had been notified of its existence that morning, and she went ahead and requested that it also be sent to the Jeffersonian.

Now she watched as the latest body was laid out for examination on the forensic platform. While she watched, Angela walked over to her with a file in her hand.

"Hey, I was finally able to figure out who that guy is," she said, handing the file over to Cam. "He's a retired cop."

"Nathan Sanders," Cam read from the file. "Looks like he has been retired for a few years now."

"Yeah, you'd think if someone had a grudge against him, they would have acted before now," Angela sighed. Cam continued to skim through the file.

"I'll let Booth know," she muttered.

"Ugh, is that the latest victim?" Angela asked as the body bag on the gurney was opened and the remains lifted out. Cam nodded as she read.

"I hope this doesn't mean we have a serial killer or something," Angela said as she walked away. Cam looked up and shook her head. There was no way to know for sure yet, but she was pretty sure that it was not a coincidence that the two bodies were found so close to each other.

"Excuse me, Doctor Saroyan?"

Cam looked up to see one of the interns leading another man with a visitor's pass pinned to his shirt.

"This man says that he's looking for Doctor Sweets," the intern continued. "He says that he already stopped by the Bureau and that they told him to look here." Cam nodded. Booth had called in Sweets after the first victim was discovered and now that a second one was found, it was likely that the psychologist would be asked to write up a profile. She was pretty sure that Sweets was with Booth and Brennan now, and she knew that Brennan was heading back to the Jeffersonian.

"I see," Cam nodded while looking over at the visitor. "And you are…?"

"The name's Andrew Jensen," the man said walking over to her. "Lance is family to me. All the family I have."

Cam looked Andrew over and frowned. He was a little over 5'9 but she could tell that he was wearing lifts in his shoes. He had dirty blonde hair that hung in stringy waves down to his jaw line. Even though he was smiling, the pathologist couldn't help be feel unnerved by his presence.

"Yes well…I expect Doctor Sweets to arrive any time now," she said. "In the meantime, you can wait over there." Cam pointed toward the space next to Brennan's office.

"Thanks, I appreciate that," Jensen grinned before walking away. As he moved out of sight, Cam shuddered a little; she still felt uneasy about him.

'Family, huh?' she thought to herself. 'I have my doubts about that, but we'll see.' She then made sure to ask one of the guards to keep an eye on Andrew.

Later, Cam swiped her card and walked up the forensic platform. The body was ready for examination and she had put on a lab coat and apron. From a cursory exam she could tell that this body was male too and that he had been dead only about a couple of months longer than the first victim.

'Angela's probably right about this being some kind of serial killer,' she mused. She knew how much Brennan hated it when people make assumptions early in an investigation, but other explanations seemed unlikely.

Soon the sounds of voices distracted her and she looked down to see Brennan and Sweets walking toward the platform. Cam couldn't hear the whole conversation, but she smiled as she realized that Sweets and Brennan were having yet another debate on the merits of psychology versus anthropology.

Brennan then put on a lab jacket and swiped her card so that the two of them could join Cam on the platform.

"We've started processing the latest body and I've already sent some particulates to Hodgins," the pathologist said. "Where's Booth?"

"Booth will be along in a minute," Brennan answered. "What do we know thus far about these remains?"

"I won't know for sure until some tests come back, but from my initial examination, it looks like this one was murdered in a similar fashion as the first victim," Cam said. "My guess is that we are dealing with the same killer here."

"That's pure conjecture," Brennan said, making a face. "You have no evidence of that yet."

"Two victims who died within months of each other and who were found within a few yards of each other?" Cam said. "I think we can safely say that there was a single person or group of persons involved."

"If this is a serial killer, then there is bound to be some sort of connection or commonality between the victims," Sweets added. "Once we know their identities, I can work up a profile to help us find those connections."

"By the way, Doctor Sweets there is someone here to see you," Cam said. "He's waiting for you by Doctor Brennan's office. He says that he's family."

"Really?" Sweets said, raising an eyebrow He then sprinted off the platform and walked toward Brennan's office. Ever since his parents' deaths, the only family that he had any contact with was his cousin, Peter. But he didn't get to see much of Peter because he was in the Army and was often serving either across the country or overseas. Usually, Peter let him know when he was coming to visit, but Sweets was delighted at the prospect of a surprise visit.

However, as he approached the office and saw who was waiting for him, his heart dropped and he became pale. It had been over fifteen years since he had seen him last, but Sweets knew that he would never forget that face or the cold grin that was plastered on it now. Andrew had heard him coming, and his grin became even wider.

"Hello Lance," he said. "It's been a long time."

Sweets began to tremble. He wanted to run, but was too scared to move. Andrew walked over and leaned toward him.

"What's the matter?" he said. "Got nothing to say to your old man?"

Meanwhile Booth finally walked in and Cam and Brennan came down to meet him.

"Hey Cam," he said, nodding at her. "So…what can you tell me, Bones? Are we dealing with one psycho here or what?"

"There's no way to know that for sure yet," Brennan sighed.

"But preliminary examinations show that both victims suffered a similar injury to the back of the head," Cam added. "I can't know for certain yet until Doctor Brennan finishes her examinations, but I betting that that injury will lead to cause of death for both victims."

"I got my results back," Hodgins said, walking over to join them with a file in his hand. Cam pulled off her latex gloves and threw them away before taking the file from Hodgins.

"Turns out our latest vic was dumped in the woods only three months before the first one," the entomologist continued.

"Come on Bones, same cause of death, same dump site for the body," Booth said. "We're probably dealing with a serial killer, right?"

"The evidence is compelling…but far from conclusive," Brennan conceded.

"I just knew it was a serial killer," Angela smiled as she appeared.

"No one has said definitively that it's a serial killer yet," Brennan protested. Booth rolled his eyes and decided to ignore that comment.

"Hey, where's Sweets?" Booth asked, looking around.

"A visitor stopped by and said he was family," Cam answered. "Sweets was meeting him by Brennan's office."

Just then everyone could hear yelling and as they walked toward the sound, they realized it was coming from the area near Brennan's office. When they arrived, they could see Sweets hanging his head while Jensen screamed at him.

Booth clenched his jaw at the scene. He hadn't heard everything, but there had been some nasty words directed at the psychologist. Even worse was the way that Sweets stood there, silent and shaking slightly. But what really upset Booth was the look in Sweets' eyes; it was the look of a wounded child.

Sweets murmured something and then Jensen balled up his fist and struck him in the mouth. The psychologist staggered back to slump against the wall, his hands flying up to cover his mouth. Everyone could see red trickling through the spaces between his fingers.

Booth was instantly on the move and beat the rest of them over there. He grabbed Jensen and threw him to the ground. Andrew grunted and struggled, but the agent was easily able to overpower him and he was flipped onto his stomach. Booth pinned him there and pulled his cuffs out of his pocket.

During all this, Cam, Angela, Brennan and Hodgins rushed over toward Sweets. Hodgins helped to steady him on his feet while Cam managed to get Sweets to move his hands. Angela pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and dabbed at Sweets' split lip.

Jensen let out a sharp cry of pain as Booth clicked the cuffs on him, but the agent wasn't too concerned with being careful with him.

"You just made a big mistake," he growled. "Assaulting a federal employee. You've earned some quality time in jail."

"That stupid kid doesn't deserve no sympathy from you," Jensen said, venom filling his voice. Brennan walked over to him, her eyes icy.

"Doctor Sweets has earned numerous academic and professional achievements due to his genius level of intelligence," she said. "You, on the other hand, clearly have difficulty grasping the proper use of language. I would venture that it is you who is actually stupid."

Despite the pain and misery that he felt, Sweets couldn't help but be cheered by Brennan's words. But he winced again as Angela brushed the blood from the wound on his lip.

"Sorry sweetie," the artist said as he hissed. Booth yanked Jensen to his feet.

"All right, let's go," he said.

"Agent Booth," Sweets spoke up walking away from Angela.

"Don't worry Sweets. This creep has a one-way ticket to a jail cell," the agent grimaced. He then squeezed Jensen's shoulder so tight that he whimpered softly.

"I…I don't want to press charges," Sweets said, hanging his head again.

"Doctor Sweets, this man lied about being your family and struck you," Cam said, incredulous. "Why in the world would you not want to press charges?"

"Why don't you tell them the truth, Lance?" Andrew sneered. "Or are you too scared?"

"Sweets?" Angela said, putting a hand on his arm. The psychologist shook his head, and when he looked back up at Booth, his eyes were shiny with barely concealed tears.

"Agent Booth…you told me…you made me promise that I would tell you if…if he ever," Sweets gulped and looked down again. But Booth finally understood.

Some time ago, he had made Sweets promise to tell him if his biological father ever appeared in his life again. The agent had found out back then that it was Sweets' birth father who had given him the whip scars on his back in an attempt to murder him. Booth was glad that he had kept his promise.

But he was infuriated by the idea that Jensen seemed to think that he could continue to hurt Sweets.

"What's the matter? Ashamed of your old man?" Andrew taunted.

"You're not my father," Sweets shot back. Jensen lunged forward, but Booth kept him firmly in place.

"You filthy, worthless brat," he yelled. "How dare you lie like that."

"Are you sure that you don't want to press, Sweets?" the agent said in a tightly controlled voice. The psychologist looked down at the floor again and shook his head.

"No, I…just let him go," he mumbled. "I…I don't want to…"

Sweets then shrugged the rest of them off and darted away down the hall. Hodgins and Angela took off after him. The rest of them glared at Jensen.

"Let's go," Booth said, yanking him along.

"Hey what gives? That brat said he wasn't pressing charges," Jensen said.

"Maybe not, but I want you off the premises," Cam retorted, narrowing her eyes. "And you can be sure that if you try to come here again, you will be charged with trespassing."

"So you're leaving," Booth said, dragging him away.

"Bastard," Cam muttered as they walked out of sight. "I can't believe that he's Sweets' father."

"Actually there are some similarities in the jaw line and in the shape of the cheekbones," Brennan countered. "Although, I do not think that Doctor Sweets inherited much from him genetically."

"So he had to live with a person like that his whole childhood?" Cam said her eyes sad.

"Sweets said he was adopted as a child," Brennan said. "So I imagine that he didn't spend too much time with him."

"Any time with him would have been too much," the pathologist said shaking her head. "I can see why he was adopted...and thank God for that." She then walked away to talk with security about not letting Jensen back into the building.

Outside in the parking lot, Booth continued to push Jensen along until they reached a beat up car that he claimed was his. Once there, the agent slammed him against it.

"What are you? Some kind of fed?" Andrew asked.

"That's right," Booth said, pulling his wallet out and flipping it open. "Special Agent Seeley Booth…But that's not what I want you to think about right now." He jammed his wallet back into his pocket and moved closer to Jensen.

"What I want you to think about is the fact that I'm a former Army Ranger," he continued. "Want to know what my job was?" Jensen rolled his eyes, but then he gulped when Booth let his suit jacket open up a little farther, exposing his sidearm.

"Sniper," Booth hissed. "In other words, I'm an expert at taking out my target in such a way that they never see it coming." He then gripped the collar of Jensen's shirt and pulled him close. He flinched at Booth's intense gaze.

"Stay away from him," the agent growled. "Stay away from here or from anywhere else he goes. If I ever catch you around him again…you will not see it coming either."

Andrew trembled as Booth turned him around and removed the cuffs. Once they were off Booth gave him one last shove away from him.

"Now go…and make sure that I don't see you again."

Andrew stood there for a moment and shook with rage, but he did not dare take one step toward the agent. He then got into his car and slammed the door. After starting it up, Jensen drove off, his tires squealing.

Booth waited until he was out of sight before he headed back inside.