Disclaimer: All Bones characters belong to the genius, or more conveniently named, Hart Hanson. I get no profit from this at all. Just borrowing them for awhile. The characters Terry, Wilson, and Eddie are mine.

Feedback: Greatly appreciated!! Highly encouraged!

Summary: Brennen reacts at the mention of her father a day after his death. That's all I'm saying! Read to find out more. Better than it sounds. Sorry! I suck at writing summaries.

The idea just popped in my head last night and I hurried up and wrote it down before going to sleep. Hope you enjoy!!! My first fanfic.

How could he do this to me? How could he leave this world knowing that it would rip my heart out of my chest with grief, if such a thing were possible? I agree, Russ is the best big brother I could wish for, but even he can't replace a love that only a father could provide. And mom . . . she's just a drunk who sleeps all day and parties all night. No wonder dad divorced her. And now I have to deal with Algebra, she thought as she hurried down the hallway of Conner High School. As if this trip down hurtful memory lane wasn't enough torture!

Temperance Brennen's thoughts were interrupted when a hard hand came down on her textbooks that she was carrying, causing them and some loose papers to scatter all around the marble floor. Oh, great! That's all I need right now!! She looked around to find who did this and stopped when she saw a small group of jocks that stood to her right, chuckling, leaning against the lockers that were littered with fliers notifying us of the pep rally after school that Friday.

Of course!!It had been Eddie Johnson who did it. Eddie was the popular, blond guy that all the girls fell hard for and who also got a kick out of making fun of shy people like myself. And of course his two lackeys that flanked him at all times, Terry Jones and Wilson Yordt. I wasn't even sure if they would be as popular as they are if they didn't hang out with Eddie and was on the football team because of their athletic capabilities, not because of their smarts (because they don't have any).

"Oops," Eddie said, holding up his hand. "Slipped!" His two goons laughed at the unfunny joke.

I really don't want to get into this! Why can't they just leave me alone? I'm not in the mood for this! I should stand up for myself! But Brennen stayed silent and just bent down to start to gather up her things, flushing a little at the sight of the other high schoolers that were staring and chortling at her. As she was reaching for her Biology book, another hand reached for it also at the same time. His hand brushed hers lightly and sent a tingly sensation through her arm. From the size, she could tell it belonged to a male. She looked up and was shocked at what she saw.

Seeley Booth. The most popular guy in the school. He's the type that could hypnotize anyone with his warm, puppy-dog eyes and make you want to entangle your hands into his soft, brown hair. He was one of the kindest guys in school but hung out with a big group of jerks. How could that happen?

"Let me help you with these," he said. Once everything was scooped up and safely put back into her arms, she finally had the nerve to talk.

"Thank you," she said quietly, unwilling to meet his gaze.

"No problem," he answered, trying to get her to look into his eyes. He was one of those guys that liked to have eye contact when talking to someone. She didn't like it. But she met his eyes with her cool, blue ones nevertheless and they stood there for several moments, transfixed on each others eyes until Eddie broke the silence.

"Hey, B-man! How's it going?" They did a quick handshake that looked like it had been rehearsed and done a number of times.

"It's all good," Booth replied, never taking his eyes off of Brennen's.

In a blink of an eye, Brennen's purse was off her shoulder and in the hands of Wilson. He started rummaging through, throwing pencils and assorted items out in the process. "Please stop, guys. It's not . . ." Brennen started as he started to go through her wallet but got cut off as Wilson held up a picture of her family that she kept in there at all times. She couldn't help but remember the moment that picture was taken.

* Flashback *

Summer, 1988

"Stop, Russ!" a 9 year-old Brennen giggled at her 11 year old brother as he splashed cool water at her from their little pool. They were running throughout their backyard and daring each other to do somersaults in the pool. Her dad was busy off to the side setting up their camera on the picnic table and setting the timer so they can capture all of them in the picture. He looked over at his children with a proud and happy look in his eyes.

"OK, no more splashing water so close to the camera! We don't want to have to buy another one!" Brennen's mom said when she came through the sliding-glass doors onto the patio, carrying a tray with four glasses of iced tea with lemon on the side, with a smile on her face! "Come on! Let's get our picture taken so we can eat lunch!!"

The kids obeyed and came rushing over.

"Okay, on 3, say cheese!!" her father said, with everyone crowding around the camera. "1 . . 2 . . 3 cheese!!"

* Flashback *

That was the last time the whole family did something like that. Her mom started to get into alcohol and the relationship between her and her ex-husband started to get worse. Tears started to sting her eyes and she tried to will them away.

Booth must have noticed. "Come on, guys. Stop!" he said.

Wilson ignored him. "Dang, your mom is fine!! How did that guy get her?"

"Aw, I think she's gonna cry!" Eddie said with false sympathy. But before he could reach out and stroke her cheek, she grabbed him by the shoulders and kneed him in the gut. He bent forward stumbling back, cradling his stomach. But before he could straighten up, she took him by the throat with one hand and slammed him into the lockers, getting into his face! She grabbed the picture out of Wilson's hand and showed it to Eddie.

"That was my father, Max Keenen. Father of two and a great man! He died in a head-on collision with a semi yesterday. So I hope you can understand that I'm not in the mood today. Understand?" she said. Eddie nodded quickly, unable to speak, eyes wide from the sudden attack. "Good."

With that said, Brennen let go of his throat and walked away with a satisfied smirk, picking up her books off the ground where she sat them down after Wilson picked up the picture. Behind her was Eddie coughing, Wilson and Terry staring at him and Booth staring at Brennen. "Wow," was all he could manage to say. He was starting to see this girl in a different light.

Enjoy? Want more? If you do I will if you write me a review. Tell me what you think and if I should continue. Be nice! This is my first fanfic.