At a Fateful Crossroads--a Vignette

Of course I don't own the characters, the show, anything but my own imagination!
A little story between WitW and PitH, from Sweets' POV. Oh, and of course Hank would have been on the list if we had known about him then.

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Sweets stared at the piece of paper. It had arrived in a sealed envelope, marked TOP SECRET and Eyes Only, held by the Director himself. He hadn’t wanted to look at it, didn’t want to go back to work any more than the Jeffersonian crew did, after Agent Booth was shot and… and died. He was particularly worried about Dr. Brennan; she had completely withdrawn from them, even to the point of shaking off Angela’s arm before stalking out of the hospital without a single sound having passed her lips ever since the doctor had made his somber announcement. She was gone by the time he got outside and he hoped it was only because she had been extremely fortunate in a cab.

But without Agent Booth, he wasn’t sure he could arrange to see her. He was FBI, and not contracted anywhere else. He grimaced at the turn his thoughts were taking. Stop suppressing, Lance.

But the real shocker had come in that envelope. It was a short and simple list, the handwriting hauntingly familiar, if a little shakier than usual. Dr. Temperance Brennan. Parker Booth. Rebecca Stinson.

“Dr. Sweets,” the Director said firmly, making him wonder if he had missed something. “The people on that list--and no one else--are to be informed that Agent Booth is still alive and working an undercover case. The success of which depends on the world at large believing that he is dead. Tell them immediately, and give them the firmest cautions about letting things slip.”

“Yes sir,” Sweets said, eyes still locked on Booth’s handwriting. When the other man was gone, he sat heavily in his chair. Despite what the Director said, he took some time to absorb it himself. He needed to.

Agent Booth is alive.

He dug about in the top drawer for the ibuprofen he kept there and took one.

Dr. Brennan is listed even above his son.

He looked up the address for Booth’s son and his mother.

He didn’t list any other family.

He knew where to find Dr. Brennan; if by some weird twist, she wasn’t at the Jeffersonian, her address was listed in the FBI database as well.

I hope she didn’t take off and leave the country. Her ties to Agent Booth are intense and she is fully capable of running in the first shock.

He carefully put the paper in his pocket, locked his desk, then his office. “I’ll be back later,” he told his secretary, who nodded sympathetically. All of his other appointments were postponed or cancelled already, so he didn’t have to worry about that at least. He didn’t want to give his patients anything less than his best, and he was definitely sub-par today.

He drove to the Jeffersonian, only to find the offices surrounding the platform dark despite it being during regular working hours. He backtracked to the guard at the entrance. “Where are--?” he asked, tipping his head towards the empty offices.

“Dr. Saroyan left a message for the Board that none of them were coming in. And that I should not let Dr. Brennan in at all, no matter what, today. But I haven’t seen her, either, which is peculiar.” The man’s face settled into even more mournful lines. “Terrible thing, isn’t it? Agent Booth getting shot like that? Don’t know what the lab’ll be like without him.”

“It is,” Sweets agreed, almost absently. “I thought I would come by and see how everyone was holding up,” he added. “Do you think tomorrow will be all right?”

“Probably. Dr. Saroyan didn’t say anything beyond today.”

“Thanks.” He turned and left, only then noticing the gaps in the parking garage. Some agent you would make. He sat back in the driver’s seat, thinking. Best to go see Parker and his mother now, since I have their address already, then come back and get Dr. Brennan’s.

That visit went surprisingly well. He had introduced himself to mother and son, showing his own FBI badge and then displaying Booth’s list. It was a little startling to see the Agent’s eyes so perfectly duplicated in a six-year-old’s face, right down to that irritating skepticism. But in the end, Parker had been ecstatic that his Daddy was all right, just on a long “business trip.” Rebecca had looked over the list with reddened eyes and raised an eyebrow at seeing Dr. Brennan’s name listed first. Sweets was rather pleased with the spur-of-the-moment explanation he had concocted, relying on the fact that Dr. Brennan had been at the shooting, then at the hospital, and seen it all. In fact, she had smiled faintly as she agreed with him that that probably was why.

Back in his own office, he fired up his computer again and looked up Dr. Brennan’s address. 415 Elmsworth. Nice part of town.

As he turned everything off, a thought came to him. A brilliant, awful idea. What if she didn’t know that Agent Booth was alive?

Stunned at the thought, he sank back in the chair. She’s so proud of her compartmentalizing, and both of them keep going on about just being partners. I get so sick of that line sometimes. A blind bat could see through it.

He toyed with the paper he had written her address on. It’s a matter of national security, and I’ve heard him complain that she can’t act and doesn’t lie well. Hell, I’ve seen that myself. If she suddenly acts--relieved--it might be noticed. After all, it’s pretty well known that they work together. Somebody could be watching her for just this sort of thing.

No argument that the son had to be told, and his mother, since he’s a minor. He closed his eyes, fighting the temptation--and lost.

This is a primo chance to truly evaluate her emotional connection to Agent Booth, and his response to her reactions should tell me quite a bit about how he feels. They owe me some observations for my study, and this should give me at least two chapters’ worth, if not more. And I won’t have to deal with all of their back-and-forth, the teasing, the not-so-subtle mocking. They’re far too good at hiding behind it, he thought with annoyance. And since he really is alive, there should be no real harm done.

He nodded decisively and tossed the paper in the trash with the same gesture one might make in throwing dice.

You know, this is one that I just can't get behind Sweets on. I hear what he's thinking, but it just gets to me that he had the nerve to do what he did, no matter his justification.

DBCrazy wrote:You know, this is one that I just can't get behind Sweets on. I hear what he's thinking, but it just gets to me that he had the nerve to do what he did, no matter his justification.

Agreed. In fact I've always thought it spoke volumes about Brennan's affection for the kid that she didn't notify the professional ethics board about his actions. After all he basically experimented on his patients without their consent and the ramifications of his experiment could have caused lasting emotional and psychological trauma to Brennan - in fact it arguably did since I think they were well on their way to being in a solid relationship until that happened. S4 Brennan definitely backpedalled emotionally when dealing with Booth.

Still, I liked Dawn's take on Sweets motivation but I've always thought he had less than noble intentions. I've always wondered if it was something along the lines of what blc wrote about in [Only admins are allowed to see this link]. And what would have happened if it got out that Sweets did the experiment because he genuinely believed what he'd said at Max's trial? That Brennan was hyper-rational and could justify or compartmentalize anything, even murder.

RM

I completely agree he had less than noble intentions--the rest of that blather was self-justification in advance. He does mean well--in the beginning--and would probably be a great shrink for any other group than this one.
But these two are so far off the charts, he has not one clue how to handle them.

I've often thought, especially watching S3&4, that Sweets is as inflexible in his field as Brennan is in hers. (would that be irony?) He doesn't like when others take over what he perceives as his role, doesn't like to be contested on his own ground, and can't understand why people see him the way they do (varying levels of dislike/distrust). You'd think a certifiable genius in the field of understanding people would do a better job, wouldn't you?

dawnsfire wrote:I completely agree he had less than noble intentions--the rest of that blather was self-justification in advance. He does mean well--in the beginning--and would probably be a great shrink for any other group than this one.
But these two are so far off the charts, he has not one clue how to handle them.

That is probably the most important aspect of the dynamic between B&B and Sweets, and it's something that he still hasn't got a grasp on but I think, after Gordon Wyatt's observations in Mayhem, he's beginning to understand. The thing is he's an incredibly bright and accomplished person, practically a child prodigy, but there are things you can't learn from books, things that only time and experience can teach and he's shown no ability to appreciate that fact and it's vital, vital I say, to understanding both Booth and Brennan, let alone the B&B dynamic.

I've often thought, especially watching S3&4, that Sweets is as inflexible in his field as Brennan is in hers. (would that be irony?) He doesn't like when others take over what he perceives as his role, doesn't like to be contested on his own ground, and can't understand why people see him the way they do (varying levels of dislike/distrust). You'd think a certifiable genius in the field of understanding people would do a better job, wouldn't you?

That is incredibly insightful and spot on. Sweets is, as I said, practically a child prodigy - recall he joins the show in S3 at the tender age of 22 but he's got multiple doctorates so he was in college during a large part of his adolescence. Along comes someone like Booth, a man who's so good (and naturally talented) at reading people he's practically an amateur psychologist himself also a man who has a complex (and at times conflicted) relationship with his partner, a man who is compassionate, chivalrous and honorable, a man who hides his intelligence under a basket (so to speak) because being underestimated is something he's not only grown accustomed to, it's become yet another tool by which he controls and manipulates people. Yet how does Sweets see him? For much of S3 and S4 Sweets refuses to see Booth as anything other than a macho sports jock and borderline bully. Likewise Brennan is far from the cold, hyper-rational, woman capable of compartmentalizing almost anything that he testified to at her father's trial, and how many times did we see Booth explain to Sweets that he couldn't rush Brennan into realizing new data?

What's most interesting is Sweets problem, specifically his inability to deal with B&B in a creative and constructive manner for much of S3 & S4, is, I think, an offshoot of his own inflexibility and self importance. It is also interesting how his problem is almost entirely restricted to them. When he's giving advice to Angela, Jack, or Cam he not only seems to be able to help them resolve their issues, but he does so in a manner that is so effortless it never fails to draw an appreciative response from them. This season I think he's starting to learn, I mean the whole scene with him asking Cam for advice is proof of that - S3/S4 Sweets never would have done that.

Still looking forward to when Booth finds out Sweets lied as part of an experiment that hurt not only Brennan but threatened their partnership. When that happens the kid is gonna get thrashed.

RM