Disclaimer- Nothing related to the TV show Bones belongs to me.
A/N- Hello, and welcome to A Future in the Past, version 2.0 of Do We Know Each Other? Small grammatical and spelling errors have been corrected in each chapter, author's notes have been updated, and the hiatus message that was chapter four has been taken out, as the fic is now complete. Just so everybody knows, the age difference between Booth and Brennan in this fic is one year; it was begun before I knew their exact age difference. Thanks for reading!
A Future in the Past
Chapter 1
A 16-year-old Temperance Brennan sped around a typical suburban cul-de-sac on a pair of roller blades. It was mid-August, and the weather was fair. On the driveway of her foster home, her 14-year-old foster sister stood, watching curiously. Temperance didn't know how long she had been going around in circles, but it must have been a long time, because her foster sister ran from the driveway, and stopped directly in her path, forcing her to halt. "You do know you've been doing this for almost an hour- don't you?" Her foster sister, Elisabeth, asked.
Annoyed because she had been torn from her relaxing rhythm, Temperance decided not to admit that she had lost all track of time, and instead said curtly, "Yes, of course I do."
"You don't always have to mope around like this you know. You can talk to me; I get lonely just sitting there." Elisabeth explained.
"I didn't mean to make you lonely." Temperance said.
"I know, but I just didn't want you to think that nobody wanted to talk to you. You've been here almost two weeks and nobody knows anything about you." Temperance knew that Elisabeth spoke the truth, but after going through five foster homes during her first year in the system, Temperance, with her quick mind, had easily picked up on the fact that it was simpler to not make connections with anybody. She kept conversations light and information about herself private.
"What's there to know that you don't already? My name is Temperance Brennan, I'm 16 years old, and I am currently in the foster care system." She sounded as though she were giving a report to the police. Easy identification, no personalization required.
"I know all of that. I want to know more about you, not about your situation." Elisabeth pried. What Elisabeth didn't know, was that, when you're a foster child, there's nothing to tell about but your situation. Elisabeth was the biological daughter of Susan and Thomas Jorgensen, Temperance's foster parents. Having all that they wanted, Susan and Thomas wanted to help other people. They loved children, so they decided to take in foster kids; only one or two at a time though, to make the children feel as though they were part of a family, and not an institution.
Temperance didn't try to be cold and distant, she really was grateful to the people who housed her, but she was smart enough to know that if you allowed yourself to care about somebody, you could only get hurt by that person. "There isn't much to tell about me," Temperance answered, in response to Elisabeth's earlier question, "other than my situation." 'There,' Temperance thought, 'that should set her straight.' It didn't. Elisabeth was as interested in Temperance as Temperance was uninterested in her.
"Fine, I'll ask you some questions. That way, all you have to do is give me an answer." Temperance sighed, but, seeing as how she wanted this discussion to be over, she agreed to do what Elisabeth asked. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?" was the first question.
"Yes," Temperance said, "I have one older brother. His name is Russ, and he's 20."
"You see- that wasn't so hard!" Elisabeth enthused, before continuing.
"What's your favorite school subject?"
"Science."
"Do you have a crush on anybody?"
"No." A smile slowly crept up Elisabeth's face when Temperance answered this question.
"What?" Now it was Temperance's turn to ask a question.
"Nothing, it's just that, well, there's a boy next door who's staring at you from his bedroom window."
A/N- I've already received reviews from people who read the original version of this chapter, but it's always nice to get more support- it makes me feel appreciated and motivated! Thanks again!
