A/N: this is the last chapter of my undercover story. If you have time to review, I'd appreciate it. Laura.

It was two o'clock when Brennan knocked on the door of the janitor's tiny office. "Booth?"

"Yeah." He opened the door and then stepped out of the way so she could enter. "Welcome to my humble abode." Chuckling, he gestured grandly at the space, which was not much bigger than an average sized walk in closet. "It ain't much, but I like it." He pulled a side chair over beside the small desk in the back of the room before sitting down himself. "You look beat."

"I have to admit...I'm surprised how physically demanding it is to stand several hours in a cafeteria serving line." Smiling, she sighed audibly as she sat down. "It was quite an eye opening experience. I knew adolescent boys needed to take in a lot of calories to support their rapid growth spurts, but…"

"But it's hard to imagine just how much they eat until you see them in action, right?" Booth laughed at his wife's surprise. "I don't know how Pops managed to keep me and Jared fed. I'm kinda glad Rebecca has to buy the groceries for Parker."

"Perhaps we should begin a grocery savings plan for Hank." Shaking her head as she laughed, Brennan continued. "Some of the boys came back for second helpings, and they probably would've wanted a third helping if they could've gotten it, but Mrs. Murphy forbade that."

"I bet those boys don't argue with Mrs. Murphy, right? I imagine she doesn't take any shit from anybody." Booth smirked at Brennan, wondering how his strong willed wife had clashed with the strong willed cafeteria manager. "Did you two get along okay?"

Brennan pulled off her hairnet, hesitating slightly as she ran her fingers through her auburn waves. "We had a few differences in opinion, mostly about the type of food that was on the menu. The vegetables that they served at lunch were horribly overcooked, and it seems that most of them ended up in the trash. I tried to explain that it would be more cost effective to serve something more appealing, but she vehemently disagreed." Seeing Booth's amusement, Brennan glared at him as she continued. "However, Mrs. Murphy is excellent at managing the logistics of feeding so many people in a very short period of time, so while I may disagree with her menu choices, I have to admit that she seems to have other useful skills."

"That's true. What she does is pretty amazing, given the time frame. They must feed several hundred kids a day, and based on the mess they made in the cafeteria, very few of them have learned any table manners." Booth grimaced as he looked at the stains on his shirt and jeans. "There was stuff everywhere."

"Yes, I know. I had to rinse the trays before they were loaded into the dishwasher, and it was very unpleasant." She pointed to her apron. "At least now we have matching outfits. Have you had a chance to look at the security video from the cameras in the cafeteria area?"

"Not yet. I figure we can do that in the morning, and then Officer Kimble can help us identify any kids who might be involved in suspicious activity." Seeing her surprise, Booth snickered. "School's gonna be out for the day in approximately an hour, so we might as well wait until tomorrow. Anyway, I've got other plans for this afternoon." Taking Brennan's hand, he patted his knee, indicating that he wanted her to sit on his lap. "You promised me a good time in the broom closet, remember?"

"Booth!" Quickly sliding into her husband's lap, Brennan giggled as his hand wandered up under her apron. "What about the head janitor? Aren't you afraid Mr. Englund will walk in on us?"

"Nah...he's taking advantage of the fact that he had extra help today, so he left early to run an errand. He won't be back until tomorrow morning." Caressing his wife gently, he pulled her close and nuzzled her neck. "Hmm...you smell good...like mac and cheese, right?" He laughed as she pretended to scowl at him. "We don't have to head for home right away, do we? Didn't you say Angela was going to pick up the kids after school?"

"I told her we'd be home by four this afternoon…" She ran her hands over her husband's chest, once again appreciating the well defined musculature under his tee shirt. "What time is it?"

He glanced at his watch. "Quarter after two. We've got plenty of time…"

Brennan gave him a sultry smirk. "I agree. After working so hard being undercover today, we deserve a break, don't you think?"

Booth nodded in agreement as he kissed her. "Definitely…."

Oooooooooo

At ten o'clock the next morning, a nervous young man and his father sat in the waiting room outside the principal's office. After watching him fidget for a few minutes, Booth turned to Officer Kimble. "So that's him?"

"Yeah...Leon Kelso. Here's the video…" Pulling up the frame on his tablet, Kimble handed it to Booth. "That's him putting the box on the table."

"Okay, let's see what he has to say."

Leon and Mr. Kelso sat down at a large round table in Mrs. Brown's office. After the introductions were made, Booth cleared his throat as he pointed to the picture on the tablet's screen.

"Leon, why don't you tell me about this picture here."

"I swear…", the boy stammered. "I didn't know what was in that box. I was just doing a favor for someone…"

"A favor?", Brennan asked, obviously surprised. "You placed an improvised explosive device on the table as a favor to someone? Who?"

"Look, it's not like that. I really didn't know what it was." Leon squirmed in his seat as his father glared at him. "Okay, here's what happened. I'm making a really bad grade in chemistry, and we've got this big test coming up, so I asked this girl in my English class to help me study. She's the queen of the nerd herd, but she's really smart, and she's also kinda cute. Anyway, I asked her if she'd help me, and she said she would, but I had to do something for her first. I had to put that shoe box on the table where Chris Henderson eats lunch everyday. It didn't seem like a big deal. It sounded harmless, okay? I didn't know it was going to go off like that…"

Dr. Brown tapped her well manicured nails on the table. "Who gave you the box, Leon?"

"Um…" The boy chewed the inside of his cheek for a minute. "It was Annie Sanchez." Leon's shoulders drooped as he sat back in his chair. "Jesus, she's in a lot of trouble, right? I hope this doesn't mean I'm gonna fail chemistry."

After dismissing Leon and his father, Dr. Brown grimaced at Booth and Brennan. "Annie Sanchez is an excellent student, and she's never been in trouble. I can't believe she'd do something like this."

"We need to talk to her as soon as possible." Booth crossed his arms across his chest. "We'll need to have her parents here, too…"

The principal nodded. "I'll take care of it immediately."

Oooooooooo

An hour later, a slender young woman entered the office and sat down at the table. Brushing her dark hair out of her eyes, she glowered at the adults seated across from her. "Let me guess. My dad couldn't come meet with us, right? He probably told you to do whatever you wanted and it was okay with him." Squaring her shoulders, she tried to look brave. "He's too busy with my stepmother and the new baby to worry about me. After all, I'm almost a grown up…"

"Annie…", Dr. Brown chided. "I'm so disappointed. I can't imagine why you'd do something like this to Chris Henderson…"

"Really? You wanna know why?", the girl asked in a petulant tone as she crossed her arms across her chest. "He's an awful bully, but nobody seems to care about that because he's such a good football player…"

Officer Kimble rolled his eyes at the angry girl. "I think you're just upset because you want him to be your boyfriend and he's not interested, so you decided to get even with him."

"Oh, please." Annie made a face in disgust at that thought. "Chris has a brain the size of a lima bean. His only skill is to run fast while he holds a football. Do you really think someone with my extensive intellectual capabilities would find someone like him attractive?"

"Annie, why don't you tell us what happened." Brennan nodded at the young woman across from her. "I know someone as brilliant as you are must've had a plan…"

"You're right. I did have a plan...and I was trying to get even." Biting her lip, the girl hesitated before she continued. "Chris is a terrible bully...always picking on kids he perceives as weaker than he is. His favorite target is Joey Goldsmith. He torments Joey every chance he gets."

Dr. Brown's brows knit with concern. "Why would Chris tease Joey?"

"Because Joey can't fight back." Annie picked at her thumbnail as she continued. "Joey's got Asperger's Syndrome, okay? He's really good at math and science, so we have some AP classes together, and we've become friends. He manages school stuff okay most of the time, but certain things bother him a lot, and they can set him off where he can't handle things. Chris likes to steal Joey's lunch, just because he can, I guess. So after that happened a few times, Joey told Mr. Englund, and Mr. Englund told Chris to give Joey his lunch back. Chris did, but only after he'd covered everything on the tray with what looked to be a gallon of ketchup, and then he told Joey it was blood. Joey just freaked out. He had a meltdown in the cafeteria and his resource teacher had to come get him and help him calm down. Joey was so embarrassed by acting like that in front of everybody, and now he has to eat lunch in his teacher's room. Henderson's behavior made me angry, so I decided to fix things."

"If you knew Joey was being bullied, why didn't you report it?", Dr. Brown asked angrily. "You know what the rules are around here…if you see something, say something..."

"Like you have time to listen!" Holding up her phone, Annie showed the adults at the table her calendar. "Here's a list of all the times I tried to see you, Dr. Brown. Whenever I came by your office, your secretary said you were in a meeting with Officer Kimble. I guess that's what people your age call it when you're hooking up with somebody, right?"

Sputtering angrily, Officer Kimble's face flushed as he shook his finger at the girl. "Now, you listen here, young lady…"

"Save it for later, Kimble." Booth's glare warned the officer to be quiet for the time being. "What did you do to fix things, Annie?"

"Well, I was talking to Ms. Denton about the whole Chris versus Joey situation, and she was very sympathetic. She told me that sometimes people have to take a stand against bad things...that I might be the only person Joey had to stand up for him. That was the day she died…." Annie choked back a sob. "She was in a hurry because she had some sort of appointment, and she'd forgotten her phone. I picked it up so I could give it to her the next day, but…." Inhaling deeply, Annie brushed a tear away. "Anyway, I couldn't give her the phone back, so I decided to use it to help Joey. I took what I needed from it and took the rest of the pieces home and hid them under my bed."

"No wonder we couldn't find it." Booth looked at Brennan, who nodded slightly. "Then what happened?"

"I rigged up a booby trap. I used a photosensitive cell and hooked it up to a timer using the battery and some of the chips from the phone to make the timer work. The timer was connected to a spring loaded mechanism, which was holding a container loaded with ketchup. After the lid was removed from the box and the light hit the cell, Chris had only a few seconds to inspect it before the trigger released the spring and ketchup splattered all over him. It seemed only right...after he'd teased Joey by covering his lunch with ketchup…."

"But it was a weapon, Annie." Dr. Brown shook her head in frustration. "I'm afraid this incident will force me suspend you for the rest of this semester and part of the next one. It looks like your plans to go to MIT may be ruined because you took matters into your own hands.."

Before Annie could protest, Brennan interrupted. "Dr. Brown, could we speak with you privately?"

Nodding hesitantly, the principal agreed. "Annie, will you please step into the waiting room?" After the young woman had left, Dr. Brown turned to Brennan furiously. "What could you possibly have to say in her defense? It's clear that she violated several school rules. Having a weapon on campus is an automatic suspension for at least ninety days."

"I understand, Dr. Brown, and I agree that she should be removed from the school's population so that no one else is in danger. However, I believe it will be hard to completely justify that sort of discipline, should she decide to contest her suspension, given that she has evidence that she tried to contact you multiple times to complain about her friend being bullied." Brennan shrugged as she looked at Booth. "What do you think, Agent Booth?"

"It would be a difficult situation if she were to mention at her hearing that she suspects that you and Officer Kimble are conducting a sexual liaison on school grounds...in your office...instead of paying attention to school business." Seeing both of them blush, Booth smirked slightly as he continued. "Look, I know Annie has to be disciplined, and I'm sure the school has a zero tolerance policy pertaining to weapons, but nobody really got hurt with the ketchup. It wasn't like she set out to actually injure someone, right? It wasn't malicious. It was more like a practical joke gone wrong, okay? So how about this? How about if instead of calling it a suspension for a weapon, you place Annie on homebound instruction for ninety days? Maybe require her to go to anger management counseling before she can come back, and make sure she and her father check in with you once a week? That way she's away from school, but she can keep up with her classwork at home. That won't look as bad on her final transcript as a suspension would. She might still be able to attend MIT that way." Seeing Dr. Brown's dubious look, Booth took his wife's arm and turned to leave the office. "Well, Bones, I guess we'll have to give a full report to the school board about everything that's taken place here at the school…"

"Wait, please." Sighing softly, Dr. Brown glanced at Officer Kimble, who shrugged slightly. "Let me see what I can do. Surely we can come up with an equitable solution. After all, it would be better for the school's reputation if we didn't have to suspend someone over the incorrect usage of ketchup."

"I hope so." Booth grinned as he stood in the doorway. "We'll be in touch."

Oooooooooo

As the SUV sped along the highway toward the Hoover, Booth took a sideways look at his wife before chuckling to himself. "That's a good idea…"

"What's a good idea?" Obviously confused, she turned to her husband. "What do you mean?"

"I know you, Bones. I know you want to help Annie Sanchez with her high school and college education, and I don't blame you. That kid is brilliant, and I want to make sure she works for our side after she graduates from college. So, are you going to mentor her somehow? Tutor her? What's it gonna be?"

"Someone as smart as she is hardly needs tutoring. I do want to mentor her, and I'll probably offer to write a reference letter to MIT if that's what she wants." Brennan sighed as she looked out the passenger window. "Ms. Denton's influence on those students will be sorely missed. She evidently did a lot to encourage Annie and several other young people in their pursuit of science and engineering degrees."

"I think I know of a couple of people who could take her place." Seeing the question in her expression, Booth laughed. "C'mon, Bones...you, Angela, Cam...any one of you could do the same thing. The three of you could take turns going into different schools talking to kids about science careers. It'd help the kids, and it'd be great publicity for the Jeffersonian."

"Do you really think we would have that much influence on high school students, Booth?"

"Of course I do. I definitely think you should consider it. You'd be great." Pausing as his phone buzzed, he glanced at it before turning the SUV back toward Mt. Vernon high school.

Brennan was surprised by the sudden change in their route. "Where are we going, Booth? Did you forget something at the school?"

"Nope." He twitched an eyebrow at his wife. "Mr. Englund just sent me a text. I guess he doesn't realize I don't really work for him. Anyway, he's gonna be away from school this afternoon, so the broom closet is gonna be all ours, baby…"

"I see.", Brennan purred as she smiled at his suggestion. "Perhaps it would be a good idea to work at the school on a regular basis after all…"

Booth wore a big grin as he pulled into the school's parking lot. "Oh, yeah…."

Of course, students should be suspended for having weapons in school, but I decided to extend a bit of grace to the girl.