Thank you for the suggestions and reviews. Oh and apparently the artist's name was Anna Nalick. It must have been a typo. Anyways, the disclaimer still applies and unfortunately, I still own nothing. Read review and enjoy, as always!

CHAPTER TWO

Going into work was hell. As if she didn't already feel bad enough, the judgmental stares and whispers made her feel even worse. Word traveled fast and somehow everyone had found about her conversation with Booth. The stories circulating pinned her as cold and heartless. Finally, one afternoon, Angela confronted her about the office gossip, in Brennan's office. Temperance was sitting at her desk going over several papers when Angela walked in.

"Sweetie, we need to talk." She started off, closing the door behind her. Brennan looked up from her work and said, "There's nothing to talk about."

"Of course there is. Why won't you give him a chance? You know he's crazy about you."

"I don't know what that means. And it's not so much that I won't give him a chance. It's that I can't."

"What do you mean?"

"Ange, do you know the whole story?"

"All I know is that you and Booth had a talk over the weekend and he practically begged you to give him a chance but you refused him. Again."

"It's not that simple Ange. I wish it was." She pauses before continuing. "I called him on Sunday morning, just before dawn and asked him to come pick me up… from a club in Mount Pleasant. I met a guy online and we'd been dating for a few weeks. The other day, he called me and told me about this club his friend owned. He said we could get in for free so I consented to go with him. He picked me up Saturday night and we went to dinner first. Everything was going fine until we got the club. He started drinking too much and I'd had a couple of drinks myself. He started trying to romance me and we did go to a private back room. But then he started to get rough. We were kissing and he pushed me against a wall. I tried to get away but he kept trying to force me to stay down. Fortunately, he was too drunk to walk straight, so I was able to overpower him. But as I started to leave the room, three other men showed up. They tried to keep me in the room. They kept saying they just wanted to have a little fun. I knocked them out and ran and that's when I called Booth. He was the first number on my speed dial. I was still a bit shaken up when he showed up and I felt stupid and foolish for agreeing to go to a strange part of town alone with a stranger in the first place. Booth must have sensed something was wrong because he kept asking me if I was okay. I couldn't tell him how stupid I had been, to go out with a guy I met online and I knew nothing about. I just asked him to take me home. I guess he sensed I was upset because when we got to my apartment, he pulled up to the curb and started saying he wanted to be there for me as more than a friend. And when I looked at his face it was heartbreaking, Ange. I can't do it. The possibility of failure is too great, especially with my track record in relationships and I can't hurt him like that. I care about him too much and… I don't think either of us could make it," she finishes quietly.