I received several requests for one more chapter. Here you go.
Thank you for reviewing my story. I really appreciate it.
I don't own Bones.
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Shown into the dining room by an aide, Booth and Brennan each held a child's hand while they entered the room. Once the door was closed behind them, Booth squatted down so he was on eye level with his son. "Hank, remember you have to use your best manners while we're here . . . okay?"
His gaze darting around the room, the boy took in the paintings on the wall and nodded his head. "Okay Daddy."
Hoping for the best, Booth stood up and shrugged his shoulders at his wife. "We'll see."
Amused, Brennan moved Christine until she was standing in front of her. Placing her hands on the child's shoulders, Brennan turned her head when the door across the room opened.
Swiftly entering the room, First Lady Sharon Winters entered the room and walked across to meet her guests. "Thank you so much for coming on such short notice. The President will be here shortly . . ."
As he entered the room, President Dwayne Winters overheard his wife. "I'm here . . . sorry I wasn't here to meet you." Extending his hand once he was across the room, the President smiled at Booth. "Agent Booth, thank you for coming." After he shook the retired Agent's hand, he extended his hand towards Brennan. "Dr. Brennan it's so nice to see you again. Your latest book is a real page turner. I stayed up all night and read it last week." With a confidential whisper, the President looked around and then back at Brennan. "My Chief of Staff was very unhappy with me. I yawned during Ambassador Ramirez's speech the next day. It created quite the little scandal on the news. Of course when I explained why I yawned the Ambassador was very forgiving. He's a fan of yours too."
Used to enthusiastic fans, Brennan nodded her head. "Thank you. I based my last novel on the attempted assassination of former President Randall."
"I know and Bill was tickled pink about it. He bought a bunch of copies and gave them to his friends." President Winters winked at Brennan and then turned his attention to the children. Holding out his hand, he smiled at Christine. "How do you do, young lady?"
Shaking his hand, Christine glanced up at her mother and then back at the President. "I do very well thank you."
Amused, President Winters shook Hank's hand, "Hello there Hank. I'm glad to meet you."
Not sure who the man was talking to him, Hank nodded his head. "I'm six."
"I know." President smiled at the boy. "You're in school now aren't you?"
Placing his thumb in his mouth, the young boy nodded his head.
Gently removing the thumb from his son's mouth, Booth shook his head and then turned to face the President. "Thank you for inviting us to lunch . . . um, we were surprised."
"I wasn't." Brennan shook her head.
Chuckling, Mrs. Winters pointed at the table. "Why don't we sit down? Our other guest called and said he's on the way . . . a traffic accident is holding him up. He should be here very shortly."
After they were all sitting at the table, the servers placed a salad in front of everyone and asked them for their choice of dressing. While they were all eating, the door opened, FBI Director Robert Drake entered the room and stopped once he was inside. "I'm sorry Mr. President but . . ." Drake didn't expect to see Booth and his family and he felt like he'd just been ambushed.
President Winters knew that Drake was probably angry at him, but since he was still pissed at his Director for forcing his favorite agent to retire he didn't care. "Robert take a seat, we just started."
Taking the seat next to Mrs. Winters, Robert sat back while he was served salad and a side of Italian dressing. Not sure what was going on, but certain he was about to find out very soon, the Director of the FBI stared at his salad while he ate.
"Well, Agent Booth, how are you finding retirement?" President Winters was a rather impatient man and he wanted this mess cleared up. "Are you bored yet?"
Wary, Booth swallowed his bite of salad and turned his attention on the President. "Um . . . it's going pretty good. I finished the tree house I promised the kids and I'm working on building an outdoor barbeque and kitchen next to the patio. I've already installed the pit and the sink plus the counter is in and I'm almost finished paving the area around it. I should be done in a few days."
"Daddy said I can sleep in the treehouse tonight." Hank was proud of his father. "He's going to camp out with me and we get to use sleeping bags and everything."
Booth placed his hand on his son's back. "Hank and Christine want to have a sleepover in the tree tonight."
Her eyes twinkling with merriment, Mrs. Winters smiled at Hank. "That sounds wonderful. I never had a treehouse. You're both very lucky."
Christine agreed. "Yes we are."
A little impatient, President Winters tried to control the conversation. "You know President Randall is still grateful to you about saving his life and of course exposing the treason that was going on under our noses a few years ago. That was a bit embarrassing, but better to be embarrassed than to find out you've lost your country through nefarious deeds."
Finished with her salad, Brennan placed her fork down. "It was wide spread, but I'm sure we managed to uncover everyone involved in the plot."
His salad done, the President nodded his head. "Yes indeed . . . um . . . Agent Booth, I really wish you would reconsider coming back to the FBI . . . I talked to the Director and he's on board with you coming back. We can give you your old job back or we could make you Deputy Director."
Startled, Drake flashed a look at the President and knew that his boss was upping the bid to get Booth back and he didn't care how he did it. "Um . . . yes . . . Deputy Director if you want it."
Since the Deputy Director position was filled and it wasn't an open position, Booth didn't want to get someone fired to make room for him. He was happy where he was. "Thank you for the offer Mr. President, but really, I have other plans now. My wife and I have been talking about what I could do now that I have the time and . . . well, I'm considering starting a business. I'm pretty good at remodeling houses and I might do that for a living."
Just a little irritated that Booth wasn't interested in his offer, the President sighed. "I hope you aren't turning my offer down because of Director Drake's actions against you." The servers now set a plate before each of them that consisted of pulled pork, barbeque beans, coleslaw and stewed apples. The contents of Brennan's plate matched the other diner's plate except for the meat. A large plate of slices of buttered French bread was placed in the center of the table.
Once the servers had stepped away, Booth picked up his fork. "No Sir. I'm turning down the position because it would require me to go before a congressional committee and that's not going to happen . . . not again."
Aware of what Booth was talking about, Mrs. Winters blushed. She had watched the proceedings on CSpan when Booth had gone before a hearing a few years ago and the chaos that Congressman Hadley had created had been both unexpected and embarrassing. "I'm sorry you went through that Agent Booth . . . for all of the terrible things you went through . . . you and Dr. Brennan. You were ill-used and it should never happened, but it did lead to the exposure of the treason that was strangling out country and we are all eternally grateful."
President Winters agreed. "As the Vice-President at the time, you have no idea how stunned I was when that whole thing was uncovered by you and your people. You're a hero, Agent Booth. You and Dr. Brennan and all those people at the Jeffersonian are my heroes. It's Americans like you that keep our country on an even keel and upright . . . what if I guarantee to pack the congressional hearing with my people? I have some friends in the opposing party and I'm sure that I can get them in the hearing. It can be closed door too. No embarrassing shit . . . sorry . . . no ambushes this time."
Booth realized that the President was determined to get him to say yes and he was determined to say no. His hand under the table, Booth placed his hand on Brennan's thigh and felt her hand rest on top of his hand. "Well . . . Mr. President . . . um, well as flattering as this all of this is, I'd rather not go back to the FBI."
Irritated that Booth was being pressured, Brennan spoke up in his defense. "My husband is happy in his retirement, Mr. President. He deserves to be happy don't you think? He is brilliant when it comes to remodeling. He rebuilt the first house we owned and the work he is doing right now at our house is really quite beautiful. I think he should be able to live in beauty after working for the dead for so long. He's done many hard things that his government has asked him to do. I think they should stop asking him to do those hard things now. Don't you agree?"
Her message plain to every adult in the room, President Winters nodded his head. "Yes, I do." His lunch getting cold, the President scooped up some of the beans on his fork. "I didn't mean to pressure you Agent Booth. You definitely deserve to live the life you wish to live."
Not sure what this meant for him, Director Drake poked the coleslaw on his plate. He was certain from the flash of annoyance the President just shot him meant that he was going to get an earful when Booth and his family left. Why he didn't listen to his Deputy Director when Stark tried to get him to leave Booth alone was beyond him and forcing the guy to retire was going to haunt his career of that fact he was quite certain.
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Once lunch was over and Booth and his family had left, President Winters smiled at his wife and asked her if he could speak to Drake alone. Aware of her husband's anger at the Director of the FBI, the First Lady leaned over and whispered in his ear. "Please keep you temper in check. Maybe Agent Booth can be persuaded to come back in a few months."
His hand grasped her hand and he smiled. "Thank you my dear. The lunch was quite delicious." Once his wife had left, President Winters placed his hands on the table before him and stared at Robert Drake.
Uncomfortable, Director Drake shifted in his chair. "Look I made a mistake . . ."
"A mistake!" Furious, the President tried to keep his temper in check. "Is that what you're calling it . . . a mistake?" Clenching his jaw, Winters wasn't sure what he should do about the mess, but it had to be done carefully. "Booth and Dr. Brennan deserved medals for what they did for this country, but they didn't get them because we would have had to bring to the attention of the American people that we had come as close as a whisker to losing this country to a . . . a treasonous bastard using those fucking files that the FBI was supposed to have destroyed when Hoover died." So angry he felt breathless, the President stopped talking and stared at his hands.
Once he was calmer, the President turned his gaze back towards his Director. "What's done is done . . . for now. This is the plan . . . the next case you get that looks almost impossible to solve, you go to Dr. Brennan in person . . . in person Robert and you beg her to help you. Grovel if you have to then see if she can talk Agent Booth into helping her . . . the case will have to be something really challenging to get her interested. If we can get those two to work with the FBI on that kind of a case then maybe . . . just maybe I can get Booth to reconsider his retirement and come back."
Aware that his job was now on shaky ground, Director Drake nodded his head. "I'll try my best Mr. President and again . . . I apologize for not handling Agent Booth with the respect he obviously deserves."
Not close to being molified, the President stood up. "You did a great job overseas Robert . . . a great job and that's why you were made Director. Don't make me regret my decision to give you my agency. We've been through enough crap around here."
Standing, Director Drake nodded his head. "Yes Mr. President." After he was alone, Drake sat down and stared at the table top, his thoughts on what he would do if he was forced to retire.
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I hope you liked this additional chapter. Let me know what you think of it. Thank you.