Temperance was sitting in her office staring at the blank computer screen for several moments after her new 'partner' had left her office. She didn't want a partner. She didn't need one. She was fine working at the Jeffersonian with her bones and her bodies, all evidence brought to her. It had been this way since that day. It had been this way for no other reason than the fact that she couldn't bring herself to rely on someone to keep her safe. She had to do that for herself, and if that meant she locked herself in her secure lab with her team surrounding her, and the FBI bringing evidence to her, then so be it.

This was different, however. They wanted her to go out into the field again. They wanted her to feel that rush, that exhilaration. They wanted her to feel the pain that the victims experienced and see the places that the bodies were found. They wanted her back in the field because that was where she was at her best, where she had been at her best, with Booth. She could feel her jaw set as soon as the name left the depths of her mind, entering the forefront. She closed her eyes, seeing his face in her mind and she almost let out an angry sob. Though her daughter's squealing voice instantly lifted her from her thoughts. She looked up to see her father, walking across the lab, her tiny daughter attached to his neck as he held her tightly in his arms, moving slowly toward her office.

As he walked toward the office, Temperance walked toward the door. "Hey Honey." Max said softly.

"Dad… you're late."

"I know… I know, I was running behind… you understand, don't you? She looks like she's doing fine here…" Max said to the little girl as he looked down at her grinning smile.

"I missed you, Oompa." Ant giggled as she held on tightly to her grandfather.

"Sweetheart, you look upset." Max said, noting the redness in his daughter's eyes, the stern look on her face.

"I'm fine." She replied. "I'm fine, Dad… it… its just promising to be a long day."

"There was a man in my chair in mommy's office, Oompa." Ant tattled softly, trying to sound sad about it as Max gave her a sympathetic look.

"A man in your chair, how awful…" He said, glancing to Temperance for an explanation.

"It was nothing." Temperance replied.

"Yes, Oompa… he was in my chair in mama's office… she looked mad…"

"Temperance…" Max said as she looked into his eyes. She held a stern expression on her face, but he could see through that tough exterior she was trying so hard to maintain.

"Dad, I have some work that I have to get done." She said as she took a step backwards. "I'll… try not to be over too late to get her."

"Tempe, you look tired… she can stay with me tonight, you should get home and get some…"

"No." She said sternly. "She hasn't stayed away from home… and she's not going to… she doesn't have to. She comes home with me." She stated clearly to her father, watching him tilt his head. "No… Dad, she comes home with me."

"Don't you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you. If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't let you take her at all. I'll try not to be too late."

"Alright… you had better tell me what's going on tonight, Tempe… If you need to talk."

"I know, Dad." She said softly as she nodded, stepping forward. "Alright, Antonia… will you be extra good for your Oompa?"

"Yes."

"He has a very special birthday gift for you." Temperance said, trying to put on a brave face for her little girl.

"I love gifts, Oompa." She said with a smile.

"I love you, Antonia." Temperance said, leaning forward to kiss her daughter's cheek.

"I love you, Mama Bones." She said, watching Temperance pause for a moment and stare into her eyes.

"Huh?" She whispered, watching the tender brown eyes of her daughter as they smiled back at her.

"Mama Bones…" She giggled, the reaction that her mother gave her was humorous to the little girl, though she didn't know why her mother wasn't smiling. "It was funny, mama… you like bones, and you're my mama…" She shrugged.

Temperance nodded, understanding her daughter's logic, she smiled a little and kissed her daughter's cheek again. "Don't call me bones…" She said as she tickled the little girl's belly as she let out a laughing squeal, tipping her head back as she giggled. "Be a good girl…"

"Bye, mama…"

"Bye, sweetheart." She said softly, watching as Max started to carry her toward the door. She had just turned toward her office when she heard her daughter yelling loudly, struggling against her grandfather, Temperance turned to watch her daughter run to her table beside the platform and grab her favorite stuffed animal. She turned and looked at her mother, waving as she ran to Max and latched onto his hand as he led her from the lab quietly.

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Temperance spent much of her morning and into the afternoon in her office. She walked out to the forensic platform as soon as she heard that the bodies were on their way. She tried very hard to prepare herself for what she was going to see when they arrived, and she pushed what emotions she could to the back of her mind. Angela was watching her from her office, she could feel the stare of her best friend from across the room, and while at most times she was annoyed with her ability to be like a mother hen, she was relieved at this moment that she was standing behind her.

For the most part, since the day that Booth had died, Brennan had shut herself off from the FBI and their investigations. She had done a complete about face and refused to work in the field. She focused on the bodies in limbo, focused on her graduate students, and focused on raising her daughter. She had severed ties with the FBI. There had been resistance at first, but the wounds were fresh, and the way that the FBI had dealt with the death of Special Agent Seeley Booth had been the final straw for Temperance.

She stood atop the platform, her eyes focused on the doors to the loading dock, as suddenly the lab came alive with workers. Everything else was dropped as the evidence began to roll in, and with a deep breath and a heavy heart, Temperance got to work immediately.

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Max stepped into his apartment with his granddaughter, her tiny feet carrying her quickly into the apartment as she grinned up at him happily. They had spent the afternoon at the park, a picnic of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and an energetic romp along the trails, and at the playground. The apartment was familiar to Max at least, and Antonia had spent her share of evenings there as well. After Booth had died, the changes had all been made very quickly. Temperance had been named executor of his will, and most of his belongings had gone to his son. She was left in charge of his estate, and though it didn't include very much, it included his apartment. She had kept the apartment with his things, unoccupied at first, though she had found that it offered a certain amount of solace, peace of mind. Though her mind couldn't rationally wrap itself around the purpose of that feeling of safety in his apartment, she decided that she was not willing to give this particular piece of her partner away. So being the practical person that she was, she changed the lease to herself, and allowed her father to have her apartment.

Max moved through the apartment quickly, watching the little girl hop onto the couch as she looked over the back at him, a grin on her face as she watched him pull a large box covered in colorful wrapping paper from within the kitchen. "Oh wow!" She exclaimed excitedly as she hopped on the couch. "Oompa! Oompa! What is that?"

"This… is your birthday gift!" He said with a smile as he slid it across the floor. "Are you ready to open it up?"

"YES!" She exclaimed loudly, jumping to the floor, she ran toward her grandfather quickly and grabbed hold of the box, pulling at the paper eagerly. She stopped when she came to just a big brown box with no markings, she took a step back. "It's a box." She said disappointed as she looked up at her grandfather with a furrowed brow.

"A box?" He chuckled, shaking his head. "Silly… it's what is inside the box. That is the gift…"

"Oh!" She exclaimed as she hopped up trying to peer in, she watched as Max pulled the object from within the box, letting the Styrofoam fall from the box onto the floor as her jaw dropped at the object that he pulled from the box. "What is that, Oompa?" She asked, the awe in her voice was enough to make Max smile as her brown eyes widened with surprise.

"This…" He said as he pulled a large round tubed object from within the box and placed it beside him on the table. "This is a… telescope." He said, watching the little girl's eyes widen even more when he pulled the tripod from the box, and started to assemble it quickly.

"What is that mean?" She asked, still delighted and surprised by her gift, though very confused as to what she was supposed to do with it.

"Well…" Max said with a smile as he watched the wonder in the little girl's face. "Up in the sky… at night time… there are millions of tiny lights…"

"Stars, Oompa."

"Yes…" He chuckled. "Stars… and… with this… you can see more and more of those millions of stars… you can see planets and constellations… and the man in the moon…"

She gasped with excitement, a grin on her face. "Mama says that is not a real man in the moon… she says it is just what my eyes see, not what is there."

"Well… with this new telescope… we can see if your mama is right." He winked as she laughed, very excited about her grandfather's gift.

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The hours seemed to melt together as Temperance worked with the remains. They were so small, so fragile, and each time she looked to the forensics table, she couldn't help but gasp a little at the size of them. Most of the flesh had been eaten away, there was work to be done with particulates and bugs that Hodgins had quietly begun taking care of immediately, and Angela had been watching her friend carefully as she worked with x-rays and other data collected from the bodies as she asked her intern to prepare the bones to be cleaned.

Thirty hours were needed, and she appeared to be waiting them out as much as she could in her office, though it was something that would obviously not be done until the next day, she needed to calm down. She needed to relax. She needed to find something to distract her from the tiny bones that she would have to work with the next afternoon.

"Doctor Brennan?" Cam's voice startled her from her reverie, making her jump as her eyes moved to her boss.

"Cam… I didn't think anyone was still here." She said as she put her pen down and looked up at her boss as she hovered in the doorway.

"I'm still here…" She nodded.

"Oh." Temperance said, looking down at her paper.

"I was just leaving." Cam replied.

"Mm…"

"You probably should too, Doctor Brennan." Cam said, waiting for her colleague to reply, only to watch her write a few more things down.

"Um… I was… just finishing up a few things around here… I wanted to have a full pre-report for Agent Harding for the morning." She said without looking up.

"Doctor Brennan." Cam said, waiting for a full twenty seconds before she looked up at her. "I'm sorry… for having to threaten you like that."

"You didn't threaten me… you motivated me… you're right. I have to do my job as I am assigned." She replied coldly. "It's only… rational to use my skills as a forensic anthropologist in order to solve… a case that the FBI has no clue about solving. I understand that the FBI is incompetent. I accept that, and will do my very best to aid them in the investigation."

"I appreciate that, Doctor Brennan." She said as she paused for a second.

"I'll be going home soon, Cam." She said, looking up at the concerned expression on her boss's face. "I promise."

Cam nodded, passing a slight smile to her colleague. "Goodnight, Doctor Brennan."

"Goodnight, Dr. Saroyan." She said, turning back to her paperwork for a few more minutes before sighing. She wrote a couple more notes, and then stood up, shutting down her computer, she grabbed her bag and cell phone from her desk, and made her way quickly and quietly out of the lab, toward her car.

She drove silently toward her father's apartment, the large SUV that she had purchased for its 'safety' features was easy to maneuver through the streets of Washington DC, and it always made her feel better having a larger car. When Antonia was born, she had assumed that she'd need more safety and security, and with a large SUV like the Sequoia, she would have that comfort. She pulled the car up to the curb outside her father's apartment, glancing to the window to see if the lights were still on. She knew that picking the little girl up past midnight was not responsible, but she also refused to stay in her own apartment by herself.

She exited the car and climbed the steps to her father's apartment quickly, her hand rapping lightly on the door as she listened to the shuffling sound of her father's feet coming to the door.

"Tempe… it's late… you should have just let her stay." Max said softly as he shook his head.

"No… she will be fine, she won't even know she was moved." She replied as she stepped into the apartment. Temperance looked around for a moment. "Did you give her the gift?"

"I did…" He smiled happily. "She absolutely loved it…" He whispered.

"Mama?" The small voice whimpered from the doorway of the spare bedroom, Temperance turned to see her little girl standing against the door jamb, her favorite stuffed animal clutched in her arms, her blanket trailing behind her as she wrapped it around her shoulders.

"What are you doing awake?" Temperance asked as she walked to her daughter and lifted her up, letting her rest her head on her mother's shoulder.

"Why does it matter? You're taking her anyway… Tempe… stay the night… it's okay if you stay the night, you can both stay on the spare bed." Max insisted.

"I have to get up in the morning." She said curtly. "Lola is taking Antonia in the morning… she'll bring her by here for dinner, and I will pick her up after I leave the lab." She said, watching Max look at her with concern in her eyes. "I'm fine, Dad… they just… they have me working on a field case with the FBI."

"With the FBI? I thought you said…"

"I know what I said… and I meant it… but Cam needs me to do this. It's a… It's a tough case… a child… children… and I… I need to do this, Dad. I need to get past this, Cam is right. I need to stop hiding in the lab."

"You're sure you're going to be okay with it?" He asked as he watched her blue eyes carefully for any sign of betrayal of her words.

"I promise, Dad." She said confidently. "If I need help. I will ask for it." She said, leaning down to lift her daughter's bag from the couch. "She'll be here around six tomorrow…"

"I look forward to her return…" He said with a slight chuckle as he leaned forward and kissed his granddaughter's forehead. "See you tomorrow, sleepy head."

"See you, Oompa." She whispered as she buried her face into her mother's neck and held on tightly.

"Goodnight, sweetheart." Max said softly, kissing his daughter's cheek, he watched as she turned around and walked quietly from the apartment, leaving her father with a barrage of mixed feelings, and the knowledge that the next few days were going to be very hard on his daughter.