A/N: This is my third fanfic, and I'm planning on making it a series

August 1st Washington D.C

She smiled while dreaming the dream she so often had. She was home with her mom and dad. She was away from pain, and close to happiness. It was so real. She could feel it. The giggles of her mother and tight embrace of her father make her feel at ease. Suddenly, turmoil ensues causing the happy dream to transform into a full blown nightmare. Everyone was gone. She was alone in a dark place. The darkness went on for miles. She tried to yell for someone, but couldn't hear anything; couldn't say anything. Suddenly a faint sound of yelling could be heard. It continued louder and louder until she felt something damp.

The dampness was ice water being poured onto her face

"Damn it Temperance, get your lazy ass out of the bed and start making breakfast!"

When she came to she realized she was no longer in the safe embrace of her father. She was in the cold basement of her foster parents' house, on an old mattress, shivering violently.

Quickly, she got up, flinching at the cold floor beneath her feet. She swiftly changes into her school cloths and ties her hair back. Racing up the stairs she runs into her foster father, John Anderson.

She froze and looked up at the livid man. "I'm so sorry, sir. I didn't –"

She did not get to finish her sentence. Her foster father grabbed her by the arm and threw her against the kitchen wall.

"It's your first day of school, so I won't make any marks." She let out a sigh of relief. "On your face that is."

With that he clenched his fist and made deep contact with her gut. The breath was immediately discharged from her lungs out into the open air. She let out a pain induced groan, and fell to her hands and knees.

He place his boot covered foot on the back and pushed down.

"Now you be a good girl and make me breakfast." And he was gone.

Slowly, she rose, making her way to the stove.

Two more years and I'll be out of here.

By 7:30 A.M she was out the door on her way to school; walking of course.

The pain coursed through him like venom. He can smell the alcohol on his father's breath, burning his eyes. He doesn't remember what he did wrong- or even if he did anything wrong- but he knows what is coming. Just as his father's fist is about to make contact with the young man's face a light brightens in the background. Suddenly he hears a faint sound of a reassuring voice calling his name.

"Seeley, breakfast is ready!" Booth's eyes shoot open and he is greeted with the morning sun creeping through his window. He sits up trying to make sense of his surroundings. I'm with Pops. He glances at the clock and suddenly remembers what day it is. "Shit!" He jumps up the shower and change.

Once presentable, Booth makes his way down stairs. "Morning Pops" he greets the 60-year-old man. He sits at the table and begins his breakfast. "Cutting it kind of close aren't ya there Shrimp?" Booth glances up from his food and chuckles. "I got time. Still have a good 10 minutes before I need to go." Pops goes back to the dishes and mumbles something about being punctual on the first day of school.

Minutes later the youngest Booth makes his way down the stairs, dragging his feet. He sits at the table and lays his head down. "Stay up all night again Jarhead?" Booth asks with a smirk on his face. "Mmmhummm" came Jared's muffled response. The boys soon made their departure to School at 7:45.

After dropping off Jared at the middle school, Booth arrives at Grant High School and parks in the student parking lot. Stepping out of his truck he quickly makes his way to the entrance. Looking over at the building he did not notice the dark haired young woman swiftly walking towards the same direction.

Before either knew what was happening, Booth and Temperance were on the ground. Frustrated at first, thinking this was no way to start out the first day of school, Booth looks up about to yell; and then he sees her. Despite the tired look in her eyes, they were the most beautiful eyes he'd ever encountered. The cerulean depth in front of him sends him into a place he's never been, and for a moment the world halts.

Seconds (that feel like minutes) later he looks down and sees she's griping he stomach, wincing in pain.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry. Are you alright?" Booth lifts her up off of the ground.

"Yes I'm fine" her reply was quiet and weak.

He picks up what she dropped and looks into her eyes once again.

"Did I hurt you? I should have watched where I was going. I'm really sorry."

"You didn't hurt me." She whispers and looks down.

"But your stomach?"

"Don't worry about it." She looks at him and forces a smile.

"Well at least let me walk you to class and make sure you get there okay."

"Oh that's al-"

"It'll make me feel better." he flashes his charm smile and she is powerless.

"Well, okay. If you insist." She looks into his eyes and saw compassion.

With that he put her books in one hand and put his left hand on the small of her back and led her into the building.

"So what is your first class?" He asks, opening the doors to go inside.

"Biology with Mr. Klomstad"

"Hey, awesome me too!" He said with a little too much excitement.

Relief washed over her, but she didn't know why. She had just met this boy. She didn't even know his name!

"Hey, what's your name?" She asks.

"Seeley Booth, but I prefer Booth." He says smiling "And you?"

"Temperance Brennan." She says, looking slightly self conscious.

"Wow that's a beautiful name. I've never heard anything like it."

She blushes a pinkish color and says, "Thank you"

"You're welcome. It's very nice to meet you." He shakes her hand and instantly feels a tingling in his fingers.

"You too." She smiles at him and feels the same tingling

"Shall we head to class?" He asks with fake enthusiasm.

She giggles and shakes her head in positive.

As they make it to their class they see it's already half full. Booth spots a table in the middle of the class and asks her if she wants to sit together. She shakes her head yes and they make their way to their seats. A few minutes later the teacher enters the classroom and shuts the door

"Hello class, I'm Mr. Klomstad and I will be your biology teacher for this semester. Now, look at the person beside you. Shake their hand. Go on shake it." Temperance and Booth smile and shake one another's hand. "The person beside you will be your make of brake of passing this class. So you better make nice."

Temperance inwardly smiled as she realized she would be working with Booth for the entire semester. She looked over at Booth who was giving her an extremely hansom crooked smile. She returned the smile and got her notebook out to begin class.

Throughout first period Booth snuck glances at Temperance. Her hair was back in a simple ponytail, and her clothes were slightly baggy, but she was perhaps the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Her silky pale skin looks so touchable; he had to hold himself back.

"Okay class, that's all for today. I suggest you get together with your partner and get to know each other better. Have a good day."

After they were dismissed, Booth and Temperance walked out together.

"Hey, so we should get together and hang out sometime, you know, to get to know each other better." Booth suggests.

"Um okay, where would you like to go?"

"How about your house?" He asks thinking that it would be easier to figure her out in her own environment.

"No!" She shouts louder than she realizes and Booth has his hands up in a defensive pose.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you, Temperance. We can do it at my house. Is that okay?" He asks, looking into her blue pools.

She looks down and blushes bright red, embarrassed by her outburst.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to freak out like that."

"Aww it's no big deal" He waves her off, giving her another charm smile. "Hey let me see your schedule so we can compare classes."

She takes out her schedule from her pocket and hands it to Booth.

"Hey we have almost every class together!" He smiled at her and she smiled back.

After their next two classes it was time for lunch.

"Man that forensic science class is going to be really difficult!" Booth said as they entered the lunch room.

"Not really, so long as you have an observant eye and an attention span." She said matter-of-factly.

He chuckled. "And that's why it's going to be difficult."

"Well not for me." Tempe mentions with a smug grin.

Seeley nudged her and said, "Well maybe you could help me out with that then?"

"Sure" She gave him her own crooked smile.

"So let's see what's for lunch." Booth says walking towards the lunch line.

Brennan had been so caught up in meting a new friend and getting to know him that she forgot the horrors of being a foster child to a poor family. She had no money, or any food to bring with her. She tensed up and looked at the floor.

"Oh uhm, I'm not very hungry. I'll just go sit down and wait for you, unless you want to sit with someone else. I mean that's fine too." She was walking away when she grabbed her arm."Hey, wait a second." It wasn't a firm grip, but it brought her back to that morning. She jerked away and grabbed her arm. Booth was surprised by her actions and stepped forward.

"I'm sorry. Did I hurt you? I didn't mean to grab you that hard." His face was guilt ridden.

"No it's okay. I uhm , I'm gonna go." She turned and walked out the door before he could say anything.

He thought he should follow her, but just figured she didn't want to see him.

Booth got a plate of fries but didn't eat any.

Brennan walked out of the cafeteria not knowing where to go.

She found the restroom and entered. Finding an open stall she goes in and sits down. Come on Tempe, get it together! She sits there with her head in her hands. About ten minutes later she exits the stall and goes to wash her hands. She hears footsteps approaching.

"Bren?"

Tempe turns around and sees the only best friend she ever had; Angela Montenagro. Angela had been her best friend since she was twelve years old, but when her parents went missing and she was put in the system, she never saw her again. Now here almost two years later, she is standing in front of her in the bathroom of a different high school in a different city, in a different state.

"Angie?" She runs to her friend and gives her a tight embrace

"What are you doing here?" Tempe asks in awe.

"I moved here last year with my mom after my dad started touring in Europe. What are you doing here? You just disappeared freshman year. People say your parents went missing. Is that true?"

Tempe nodded her head and looked down. "Yeah, I uh, I live with foster parents now. Russ went off west to find work."

Angela nodded. "I'm so sorry sweetie. I wish I would've known. We could've kept in touch."

Tempe looked up and blinked away the tears that had formed. "It's okay. I'm just so glad you're here. I missed you so much."

"I missed you too Honey. I had to go through sophomore year without my best friend."

"But we're here now and we need to catch up." Tempe smiled and hugged her best friend.

"We will sweetie. This year is going to be so great now! I have my best friend back!"

They smiled and left the bathroom and walked to the library. They found a table and sat down.

"So have you made any friends yet?" Angela asks.

"Well there was this one guy." Tempe smiles

"Ooooh, I know that look. You had that same look when you had a crush on Andy Phluger."

Tempe giggled and nodded. "Well I don't really know him that well yet, but he seems very nice, and we have a lot of classes together."

"And?" Angie gives Brennan a knowing look

Tempe blushes and smiles. "And he is very attractive"

"Aww Sweetie! What's his name?!"

"Seeley Booth" Tempe giggled, enjoying how his name rolled off of his tongue.

"Oh. My. God."

Tempe frowned. "What? Is he a bad choice to keep company with?"

"Temperance Brennan, you have made friends with the most popular, beautiful, and sweet man in this school!"

Brennan went wide eyed. "Really?"

Angela squealed and bounced up and down.

"Shhh!" the librarian warned.

"Sweetie, this is so awesome!" Angela whispers loudly.

"Angela, I don't even know if he's interested. He probably isn't. He is clearly an alpha male and well liked by many people. Why would he be interested in a foster kid?"

It broke Angela's heart to see the once happy Temperance Brennan that was full of light now looking overtired and much paler than she remembers.

"Bren, you're gorgeous. You know that. And Booth; he's not like a lot of the guys at our school. He's sweet, and considerate. Don't talk yourself out of getting to know him."

Tempe smiled to herself. "I missed this; girl talk."

Angela laughed, "Me too. You were the only actual smart friend. After you left I just had a bunch of idiot girls to talk to."

"Well my rational thought can be very useful" Tempe said smiling.

Angela laughed at her and nodded. "So are you going to take my advice?"

"Advice about what?" Brennan asked

"Advice about that stud muffin you told me you had a thing for!"

When Brennan still looked confused, Angela laughed. She had missed her very literal and rational friend.

"Booth." She says chuckling.

"Oh, I see. Yes I suppose I should take your advice. It's very good advice."

"Well I'm glad you think so" Angela says, giggling.

They hear a tap at the window outside the library and there is Booth flashing his ever present charm smile.

"Oh sweetie, he defiantly has the hots for you."

"Angela." Tempe warns.

"Alright, I'm shutting up. Well go on. I'll see you later."

"Bye Angie, it's really good to see you."

They hugged and Brennan walked out of the library.

"Hey." Tempe says timidly.

"Hey there." Booth says cautiously.

"Look, I'm sorry about earlier. I know I acted like a crazy person."

"No it's my fault. I shouldn't have grabbed your arm like that. I just wanted to make sure you ate."

She smiled and looked down. "Thank you." She whispered.

"For what?" He looked confused.

"For caring, you know, if I ate or not."

He smiled. "No problem."

After a few seconds of silence, Booth asks if she is ready to go to Spanish. She nods and they go on there way.

After three more classes the first day of school came to an end. Booth and Brennan make their way outside and they turn to each other.

"So how do you get home?" Booth asks casually.

"Oh I just walk home." Brennan says, embarrassed that nobody cares enough to come and get her.

"And how far away is your house from here?" He asks, suspicion rising.

"It's about five miles."

"Oh, no. I'm taking you home. That's way too far to walk."

"Oh that's not really necessary."

"Temperance, I'm not letting you walk five miles alone."

"I can take care of myself." She says coldly.

"I don't doubt that." He says softly.

She looked up at him and sighed. How could she say no to that face?

"I suppose a ride home would be nice." She said.

He smiled and led her to his truck.

"So what's your address?"

"205 Ballard Ct."

That's my street name. Booth thinks.

"Wait .Do you live at the brick house with the red door and the blue car in the driveway?"

"Uhm, yes. How did you know that?"

"I live right beside you at 204. We're neighbors!"

"Oh. Well that's quite a coincidence." She said, inwardly excited that he is that close to her.

"How come I've never seen you around?"

"I uh, I just moved here a few weeks ago." She looked at her lap.

"You live with the Andersons right? They've lived there for years?"

She was silent. She looked out the window, fighting back tears.

Booth could see that she tensed up and wouldn't look at him. He pulled over to the side of the road and parked.

"Temperance?"

She still didn't look at him.

"Temperance please looks at me."

Slowly she turns her head to meet his gaze. There were unshed tears in her eyes, and one that had already fallen to her cheek.

"I'm sorry. I'm being very irra-"

"Shhh." He took her head in his hands and brushed away the tears that had fallen.

"It's okay Temperance. It's okay."

He wanted to kiss her; wanted to make her pain go away, but they had just met and he didn't want to rush into anything. He was a gentleman.

"I, um, I've been a foster child for almost two years." She ducked her head. "I just moved in with the Andersons a few weeks ago."

He took her chin in between his thumb and index finger and lifted her head up.

"You'll tell me all about it one day, but right now I think you just need a hug."

He unbuckled his seat belt and wrapped his arms around her. He smiled when he felt her arms around his midsection, but the smile disappeared when he felt her shuddering and heard her sobbing.

"Shhh, Temperance, it's alright. I've got you"

A few minutes later, after he felt the shuddering cease, he leaned back and looked at her crystal damp eyes. He wiped his thumbs across her cheek and gathered the discharged tears.

"Thank you." She whispered as she leaned up and kissed his cheek.

When she leaned back and looked in his chocolate eye, she saw that they were darker for some reason. She gasped at the beauty. Suddenly he leaned down and took her lips with his. The kiss was slow and full of compassion. When they pulled back and looked at each other, Booth saw that Temperance was wide eyed.

"I'm sorry, did you not want to-"

She smiled at his caring nature.

"No, I wanted to. It's just…"

"What?" He asks, confused.

"That was kind of my first kiss." She blushed deep red, knowing that being sixteen and just now having your first kiss is almost unheard of.

"Really? Well you're very good at it." He said with a flirtatious smile.

She giggled. "Oh. Well, in that case, would you like to, maybe, do it again sometime?"

He smiled brightly. "I would like that very much."

"Me too" She says with a stupid grin.

Soon they were back on the road finding the way to their street.

"Alright well here we are." He says as he puts the car in park.

"Yes, here we are." She smiles.

"Would you like me to take you to school tomorrow?" he asked, just praying she'd say yes.

"That would be very nice."

"Okay then, I'll see you tomorrow." He grinned as she climbed out of the passenger seat and into her driveway.

Booth watched her until she disappeared behind a closed door.

"Temperance Brennan." He sighs in awe. "I just might fall in love you."

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Please keep in mind that I'm only starting my sophmore year of high school, and I'm only in junior English, so please be kind! 3