The light outside was dying; the computer screen was now at its brightest. The cursor blinked but stayed in the same position it had been in for the last two hours, her fifth cup of coffee sat untouched as she continued to stretch her neck and stared questionably at the screen. How was she going to do this? Her publishers had made the request three days ago and it seemed wrong, it was like saying goodbye all over again. It was true that since Booth had gone, Andy had become a rather different character, he had become more like the new Jeffersonian liaison more rigid and less fun to write with little or no interaction between Kathy and her team but now it was time to finish it and Temperance Brennan couldn't do it.

Andy was never intentionally based on Booth, although she did have to admit they shared a lot of character traits. She had wanted to stop writing when Booth left but the publishers pushed her to continue and the contract that she had signed meant that she had to. We are just not feeling Andy anymore their words reverberated in her head; they had summed up in one sentence what she had been feeling for a year, she no longer felt Booth and that had a negative impact on her life. She was no longer Bones, the person who had been able to open up and work less, now she was Temperance Brennan again, the distant forensic anthropologist who was found at the lab. In reality, a lot of her regression had been due to the last case that she worked in the field. She had been kidnapped, taken by a man who liked to keep his victims barely alive while he tortured them then tossed their already malnourished bodies out in the middle of nowhere. She had been whipped, punched, kicked, and scolded on countless occasions and by countless objects. She had been living off a few crusts of bread and a couple of teaspoons of water a week, by the fourth week she was ready to give in. Bones had faith that Booth would always get her out, but now she was all but gone and Temperance had taken over, relying on the facts that Booth was gone and she no longer had faith in anyone.

Peter Sommers drove up a dusty old road somewhere outside Keyser, West Virginia and threw her body in a ditch near some old oak trees, she had waited for him to leave and with the last of her energy she pulled herself up and crawled towards the only noise that she could hear, a busy highway. That had been two weeks ago, still she heard nothing from Booth. Her apartment door opened and Angela walked in.

"Hey Sweetie, how's it going?" setting several bags down next to the dinning table.

"I can't do it Ange, I've tried and no matter how hard I think of a fitting way for him to die or leaving, I can't write it." Temperance sighed and grabbed the bags and placed them in the spare bedroom.

"Sweetie, did you ever think that this is just what you need?" Ange walked into the hallway and shouted down to Jack "Do you need help?" she got her reply and walked back into the apartment

"What do you mean?" Tempe looked at her friend questioningly.

Ange caught the fear of what was to come in her eyes "This is your way to rid yourself of Booth for good, has he contacted you? No, he hasn't and don't try the 'maybe he doesn't know' line again because it's been in every single newspaper for the last week. He doesn't care; he is off enjoying his new life with Polly and hasn't given you a second thought"

Angela's words stung, but they were not without truth. Deep down Tempe wanted not to believe the words Angela had spoken. Jack popped his head round the door.

"Special delivery for Dr. Brennan" he walked through the apartment followed by the twins, Temperance knelt down and engulfed them

"It's good to have you home!" Tempe wanted to cry, her niece and nephew hugged her so hard that she though that they might break her.

Finn stepped back and beamed at her "I'd miss you" hugging her again.

"Well why don't you two go get ready for bed and pick a story and I'll come read to you in a minute?" the twins both nodded a ran to their rooms

"Thanks guys, I really appreciate you watching them the past couple of days" Tempe hugged them both

"It's our pleasure, sorry but Ange we have to get going" Jack looked at his wife

"Ok, Sweetie please think about what I said" Ange hugged her again.

After they left and the twins had been put to bed, Tempe was again staring at the computer screen. It wasn't her book this time; it was an email she had just received.

From SBooth7FBI.

Subject: I'm sorry

Dear Bones,

As you can probably see from the subject, I owe you apology for the whole Polly incident. I should have listened to you, you were right about her not really wanting to be with me and that became more apparent these last few months. I heard about your kidnapping and I'm sorry I wasn't there to look for you, please believe me when I say that I truly wanted to. How are you? I hope you are a lot better than the pictures showed. Unfortunately, I've had a lot of things going on Rebecca got ill and last month took a turn for the worse, she died last week and Parker is beside himself.

I completely understand if you choose no to reply to this email, but I could really do with a friend right now and I'm moving back to DC and thought we could meet up.

Yours,

Seeley

She hit reply without thinking

From TBrennan

Subject: re: I'm sorry

Dear Booth,

It was nice to hear from you, it's been a long time. Sorry to hear about everything, send Parker my love. I'm fine and you'll be pleased to know that I'm not looking that bad anymore. Look, I am writing this email and feeling a bit angry, it's been a year and you haven't called or wrote. Perhaps I shouldn't be writing this after all, I had a lot on my dish too and although none of it seems to be that important to you it has been for me.

Russ died, did you hear? He and his Girlfriend were shot as they slept; I had to watch him being wheeled into the lab. Luckily, their twins were with me or they would have been killed too. I got custody of the twins and have been looking after them for 9 months now. I got kidnapped, and now my publishers want me to get rid of Andy from my book and I can't do it! You know what reason they gave? They didn't feel him anymore and do you know what? At that moment I realised that the reason I have been trying to be Temperance Brennan is because I don't feel you anymore and I hate it, this year has been the hardest ever and I just needed you to be here.

She had started to cry and as she slammed her hands on the keyboard in frustration, a message popped up on the screen. It simply read 'Message Sent'

Two months later, everything was getting back to normal. Tempe sat in her office and watch Charlotte trying to fix Finn's hair, while Finn was trying his best to dodge her. Tempe hadn't heard from Seeley since she had accidentally sent the email to him, she told Angela the next day and after a discussion they had decided that it was better to leave it well alone.

"It's lunchtime!" Ange run passed her door and almost jumped on Jack, almost like they hadn't seen each other in years. Tempe smiled, as she pulled out three lunchboxes from her bag, opening them slightly to view the contents. Pulling out the blanket she had packed, she threw it on the floor and opened the twin's playpen.

"Finn, here is your box" handed it to the boy sitting down ready and then turning her attention to the little girl "Charlie, come and sit down. I've got your lunch" the little girl pouted and walked over.

"But, I not hungy very" Charlie sat down, Tempe smiled and sat down with her box. Tempe was half way through her lunch when she noticed that Finn was looking at something behind her. Finn smiled and went back to munching his cucumber strips, Charlie had a large dollop of dip on her carrot stick and looked over at her brother, it was a split second before the dip was plastered over his face.

"Wharlie, that not nice" Finn pouted and began to wipe his face on his shoulder, Tempe grabbed the wipes, just in time to see Finn wipe dip all over Charlie with his fingers "Ner" he said simply.

"Hey, stop it you two. I've told you not to play with your food, look at the state of your clothes!" Tempe wiped their faces, when again she saw Finn looking right past her. Tempe stood and turned around, Seeley and Parker Booth sat across the hallway on the sofa.

"Who that?" Charlie asked, tugging on Tempe's sleeve.

"An old friend. Lets get you into clean clothes and then you can go play" Replacing their jumpers and putting them back into the pen. Tempe took a deep breath before heading out into the hallway