Chapter 1

Author's note: I'd love to hear your reviews and comments on this story. This is the first one I have written so I'm sure there's room for improvement. I have just edited the first three chapters for layout. Thanks to Sherlock Bones for beta-reading.

Temperance Brennan woke up begrudgingly. The stewardess was announcing on the tannoy that they had landed and would be able to disembark shortly: "… please make sure to take all your belongings with you. We wish you a pleasant stay in Scotland and hope to see you again on of our flights." People around her were getting up, opening the lockers and gathering their personal effects. She started paying attention to their conversations, dress, physiognomy even. She always did when she went somewhere new; it was her way of immersing herself in the culture. Most people sounded like Scottish, returning back from a trip although she heard a few other accents, suggesting people from other part of the country were also present, on business maybe, she thought, or simply visiting.

Finally they were leaving the plane, everyone filing in, busy checking their mobile phone for messages, some already calling to say they had landed. She thought of her own phone and decided to leave it until later. First she wanted to get her luggage and find her way to the arrivals area where Sam would be waiting for her. She was tired from the flight and happy to see that since she had arrived to the UK via London, where she already had to go through immigration, she was able to reach the lobby rather quickly. Slowly scanning the area, busy with people greeting each other, her eyes came to rest on a man standing off to the left, waving at her. He made his way over and enveloped her in a huge bear hug:

" Tempe! How is it going?"

"Sam! How are you?"

They had both spoken at once. After he released her she studied him. It had been 5 years since she had seen him. Temperance had met Sam Patel when she was a graduate student, working towards her doctorate. He was working as a post-doctorate researcher with her supervisor and they had bonded immediately. He was another anthropologist, specialising in funeral practises in the West since medieval times while she was already headed towards forensic anthropology. They had enjoyed discussing recent articles and sharing theories and they both had found kinship in each other in their love and interest in other cultures.

Sam was British, born and raised in Glasgow from Indian parents. He couldn't afford to go home very often and she didn't have family to go back to so they tended to spend the Christmas holidays together. Aside her childhood Christmas days she had spent with her family before her parents left, Christmas holidays with Sam had been the best she'd ever had. Sam had returned to Britain when he had been offered a lectureship at Glasgow University but they had stayed in touch. He hadn't changed very much, she thought, his hair was shorter and he now wore glasses but he was very much the same as she remembered, his eyes still sparkling with mischievous intelligence and his smile warm. He had got married two years ago and Temperance had unfortunately not been able to attend the reception because she was tied up in a complicated case back in DC. She was looking forward to meeting his wife after he had talked about her so much by e-mails.

"How are you feeling?" he asked as they made their way to the baggage reclaim area.

"Tired and a little jet-lagged but happy to be here. I'm really looking forward to this collaboration."

"Alexa wanted to be here too but she's been a little tired lately so we'll see her for dinner."

"I understand. How far along is she now?"

"Seven months, she's almost there…"

Sam and his wife Alexa had offered Temperance to stay with them for the duration of her stay but Tempe had declined politely not wanting to give them extra work around their house with Alexa so heavily pregnant. Instead she had asked for some recommendations for a hotel or serviced apartment and Sam had arranged with the University that she may stay in one the small flats they used for staff.

They were on their way to Glasgow's West End where Sam and Alexa lived. The traffic was fluid despite the continuous rain. It was a grey, rainy and windy day, much like she had imagined Scotland to be, despite Sam's claims that it wasn't always like that. She had left Washington DC on a warm June morning and was a little taken aback by the cold and rain in Glasgow. Tempe had been to the UK before but never visited Scotland and she was looking forward to her time there, both because it was a new place to discover and because of the project Sam and herself would be working on. A week ago he had rang her saying that there had been a small subsiding under one of Glasgow old cemeteries, known as the Necropolis, and had disturbed a lot of tombs in some cases exposing some of the remains. The site was of historical importance and since he had been involved in a number of studies relating to it over the years he had been asked to supervise a small team to help recover and identify which remains belong where and hopefully save as much as possible of the site. He needed someone with her expertise on the team and said he would love for her to contribute to the project if she had the time. At first Temperance had been tempted to say no since she was already very busy at the Jeffersonian but instead she had said to Sam that she wanted to think about it for a day or two first. Then she thought over the events of the past few weeks. So much had been going on lately.

Six weeks ago, she had discovered that Zach was in fact an accomplice of the Gormoggon killer, whom they had been investigated for almost a year. Not only had Zach tempered with evidence and hidden remains, he also had killed someone in cold blood. She still couldn't get over the fact that it had really happened, and every time she thought about it she wanted to scream. Zach had been her student and recently had become her colleague and equal. She had watched him develop his skills as an anthropologist and she knew he had already become one of the best in his field despite his young age. She simply couldn't accept that it was possible that he had been manipulated in such a way.

To top it all, this had happened in the aftermath of Booth's fake death. After her partner had taken that bullet for her, after she had killed his stalker, he had been taken to hospital where she was been told in a corridor, by his boss that he hadn't made it. She hadn't believed him at first. How could it be? How could Booth die on her? She knew it wasn't rational but somehow a part of her saw him as some kind of invincible force; he couldn't die this easily. For two weeks she had immersed herself in her work, the only way she knew how not to think about him; about the fact they would not share Thai food anymore, about the fact that yet again she was alone. She had found her family again only to lose him so soon after. When his funeral had come she hadn't wanted to go because it would then have to be real; she would have to accept that he was gone, forever. Somehow Angela had convinced her to go, only for them all to find out halfway through the service that the whole thing had been a farce! A farce! She couldn't think of another word to describe it. A bad joke, the worst possible kind! And she felt like she had been the butt of it…

She had thought that she would never be able to trust him again but part of her, behind the simmering anger at having been lied to, was just relieved that he was alive. Yes he was still here, he would still going to try to convince her to have pie at the dinner or turn up late at her place with take-outs. Before she had been able to fully process his resurrection, they had been thrown back into the Gormoggon investigation. When Zach had been found out she had turned to Booth to help her cope and he had been there for her. Slowly the residual mistrust that she still harboured for deceiving her had subsided. How she had berated herself at first for needing his support so much! But in the end he had been the only one who seemed to make sense to her, his words had been comforting, they had shared many "guy hugs" and more importantly he'd helped her see that Angela, Hodgins and Cam were also suffering immensely from this betrayal. Thanks to him, she had been able to reach out to them and strangely, it had helped her move on, slowly. She wasn't ever going to get over it really, but the pain would dull, he had said, and now six weeks after it had happened she thought he may be right; she was now being able to function almost normally, at least at work.

She hadn't been to visit Zach though and she thought it would take a great deal longer before she could face him. So she found herself considering that a trip to a foreign country, meeting with an old friend and being involved in something completely new would be a welcome break. She rang Sam back within two hours of his first phone call and said she'd be over the following week. She had needed to clear it with Cam first but she had been very supportive, if a little jealous at her opportunity to escape. Booth of course had wanted to come with her, bringing up all sort of unlikely reasons why she may need him but in the end he had understood that she needed the change of scenery.

And now there she was in Glasgow, on a cold, rainy afternoon. Sam had just stopped the car in front of a tenement she took to be where her apartment was located. They were in the area surrounding the University, in a small street lined with traditional Victorian sandstone buildings. Students walked quickly in the rain heading to lectures or coming back home. She had been very quiet during the journey from the airport and she was thankful that Sam had let her absorb the city unfolding around her. He helped her to her door with her bags and after agreeing that she would come over for dinner that evening he left so she could get settled and take some much needed rest.

She stood in the hallway for a minute after the door closed behind him and decided to take in her surroundings. The hallway opened at the end onto a large sitting room and open plan kitchen with a huge bay window, providing her with a nice view of the street below. On her left was a door leading to the bathroom, small but functional, and on her right another door opened onto a large and airy double bedroom. Sam had been right in insisting she let him organise this rather than book into a hotel. She was going to be here for probably two weeks maybe more and this was just perfect.

She called Booth quickly to let him know that she had arrived before he rang half of the local police force because he hadn't heard from her and also sent a quick message to Angela. It was two o'clock by the time she had emptied her bags and tidied everything away and even though she was tired she wanted to wait until tonight to get some sleep so that she could slip into the new time zone more easily. She looked out the window and realised that it had stopped raining; the sun was slowly breaking through the clouds and she decided to head out for a bit.

This was the part that Temperance like best about being somewhere new: discovering the streets, watching the people around, trying to learn from it a little bit about their culture. The street her building was located on was very pleasant in the sun: trees lined the street on both sides, adding a touch of colour to the pale gold of the sandstone buildings. Only a few cars passed her by the time she had arrived to a much larger street. The plaque on the street corner said Great Western Road. She turned left and kept going until she reached a crossroad. Diagonally across from her were the Botanic gardens and if she turned left she would find herself at the heart of the West End on Byres Road. The street looked inviting with all its small shops, grocery stalls and flower vendors. The sun was now beaming and the temperature had gone up by a few degrees.

She carried on down the street, just watching as life went on around her. She got a sandwich and a latte from the ubiquitous Starbucks (they really were everywhere she thought) and asked the young girl at the counter which way to go to get to the University. She had to ask the girl to repeat herself several times before she was sure she had caught everything. Her accent was strong and Tempe wasn't used to it. Sam either made an effort when he spoke to her or his accent just wasn't as strong. Finally Tempe reached the old University building, which stood imperially, in all of its neo-gothic splendour under the sun. It was really quite impressive and gave the whole street character. She entered through the gates and started wandering to the old quadrant at the centre and eventually found her way into Kelvingrove Park. Students were walking to and fro, some sitting in the grass enjoying the sun. She checked her watch and realised it was already 4 and thought she had better get back to her flat if she wanted to be ready for when Sam would pick her up.