Temperance was on her couch taking in one last glass of wine before she went to sleep. Her thoughts were on the current case they were handling. The day had been long and exhausting. She swallowed the last drop of wine in her glass and found herself drifting off to sleep. Sometime during the night, the sound of glass shattering woke her up. The empty wine glass lay on the floor in tiny shards. She instinctively looked around to see what could have disturbed the empty glass laying solidly on the end table. Nothing appeared to be disturbed but her empty glass. Her senses detected something was in the room, though she could not explain or see it.
She wasn't quite sure if she was awake or if she was witnessing a hallucination. She was angelic and beautiful. In looking at her, Temperance realized who she was. She tried to reason all of what she was seeing away by convincing herself it was a vivid dream or an all too real hallucination. Try as she could, it was all too real. When she could no longer rationalize it away, she wanted to cry.
"Mother," she gasped awe-struck by the vision before her.
"My Temperance, you are so beautiful in so many ways. You have always been so smart and pretty. Oh, how I missed you every day when we had to be away. I never got to see you again when I was still alive. I am here now so that I can see my girl one more time. I heard you when you talked to me at the cemetery. Thank you for helping me to finally find rest. You know that your friend Booth is very wise. You could learn a lot from him. He has a pure heart and he really does care for you." She said smiling.
The Temperance Brennan that could mince words when being spoken to was rendered silent. She could hardly believe that she was hearing the voice that vanished from her life when she was only fifteen, never to return.
"Tempe, as I hear you go by now, I came to tell you a few things that you need to hear. Please don't be afraid to love someone else or to have someone love you back. I can understand why love scares you so much. You need to understand that love really is a good thing. If you are willing to open your heart, to feel it, then you will be able to give yourself to those who love you. If you continue to shut people out, you will only feel more alone, and truly be alone." Her mother said as if issuing a warning.
"Not everything in this world is logical. I know that science is your escape. Please don't hide behind it. Sometimes in life, you must simply believe. I could tell you were trying to rationalize me away when you saw me. I am in front of you. I am so very proud of you, though I am very sorry that you had to end up alone for so long. Please don't be mad at your father for what he did. We had to leave to protect you and your brother. I really wish I could have been there for all your achievements but I had to leave. I am always with you. You can't always see me but I am always here." The vision said lovingly.
"Good night Tempe... Remember I am always here." Christine Brennan said as she faded into the dark.
Temperance was left standing there stunned and very speechless. The vision had been there for a short time and disappeared. Even though it had been a very brief moment in time, I seemed like hours. She sat on the couch trying to scientifically explain all she had just witnessed. She tried to reason that this whole thing was a very vivid dream and not an angelic visit. It most definitely could not have been a ghost because there was no such thing. Turning on the light, she looked around again to see if she could have been seeing things. Minus the broken wine glass, all was as she left it before she fell asleep. Without any outside assistance, her mother's ring fell to the floor from the center of the coffee table. She could no longer rationalize or scientifically explain any of the events that occurred that night. Maybe I will bring this up to Booth, Temperance thought to herself. That old and familiar warmth returned to her and put her into a deeper sleep than before. When she had walked into her office, she was greeted by a smiling Booth and a steaming cup of coffee. Booth did this almost every morning and it was a comforting routine. Taking a drink of the coffee, she smiled when she thought about what Christine had said about Booth.
"Penny for your thoughts Bones?" Booth asked raising his eyebrow.
Booth's words seemed to wake her up because he had just read her emotions without her saying a word. Temperance needed some validation to what she had witnessed the night before. She did not want to be the crazy one this time or the one with medical issues. Last time this happened was because Booth had a brain tumor.
"I don't know what that means." Temperance answered in her usual tone when she did not understand a phrase.
"You look like you had a long night, and you seem just a little preoccupied. I was asking if you wanted to share is all." Booth answered not surprised by his partner's response.
"What was it like when Teddy came to you when you were kidnapped?" she asked trying to sound objective.
"Reassuring, somewhat weird, and a little disturbing." He answered raising his eyebrow again, looking very concerned.
She made a mental checklist in her mind. I can say all of that applies, she thought to herself. Her mother's ghost was reassuring, felt weird and a little disturbing at first when she appeared. That doesn't mean that she was a ghost, her logic chimed in.
"Why do you ask? Did you see something between leaving work and this morning?" he asked her half humorously.
"I think I did." She answered looking at the floor.
Booth looked up at her in visible interest with those words.
"I saw a vision of my mother and she spoke to me. She told me that I should be a little more like you. She also offered some advice about love. She also told me not to fear love. She told me to welcome it instead of running from it. Once I learn how to receive love, I can reciprocate it to those I love also. Then she told me that sometimes all you can do is believe, because not everything is rational or logical.
"It was such a strangely comforting and disorienting encounter. She said that she would always be with me. More unsettling is that she knew about the visit at the cemetery. She had told me that she had heard me talking to her at the cemetery. It all seemed surreal. Within minutes, she faded into the dark. After she disappeared, her ring fell to the floor without any assistance." She answered making the effort to not sound too mentally disturbed.
"Bones, I do believe you saw a ghost. It could have been a very vivid dream, but I seriously doubt that if it happened as you say it did. You can tell me that you don't believe in ghosts and that they are a figment of a person overactive imagination. You could even tell me that they are not rational." He said after much thought.
"I do believe that she said it best. There are many things that defy all logic and rational thinking. You saw something that did exactly that." Booth said shooting that charming smile her way.
"I never thought ghosts spoke much less existed. I doubted there existence until last night. It occurs to me at this moment that I could be wrong." She responded resigning to the idea that logic might not always be right
Booth headed to the door as a hint he was ready to get to work. A question nagged him since the day at Arlington National Cemetery. He had seen Teddy appear during his kidnapping by the Grave Digger He had seen Teddy, clear as day. He had no doubt it, but Bones had always said that it was a product of the tumor.
"Bones, at the cemetery after my kidnapping, did you see a young guy in a green Army uniform?" Booth asked. She supplied him with a non-verbal reply. Her beautifully deep hazel eyes answered the question plenty.
Bones answered anyways with a question of her own.
"Would he have been young-looking, fair haired man in an Army uniform? Would he be what you were waving at?" She asked.
Booth nodded his head. It dawned on her right then that Teddy had not been a tumor-induced hallucination after all. She had seen Teddy herself. I guess mom was right, she thought to herself.
The difference between the spirit t she witnessed and the ones that she scared everyone, is that this spirit would always be welcome. Her mother would always be welcome.