Here's chapter 4! I still don't own Bones.


"Lilia?" Temperance called nervously as she stepped through the front door. Angela peered around the door behind her. She caught sight of the cleaning supplies on the table at the base of the stairs, and the few blood spatters that Temperance hadn't been able to get off the decorative rug along with some of the staining from the throw-up.

"I want to kick this guy all the way to-"

"You're home early today," commented Lilia as she came from the kitchen, cutting off Angela's muttering. "Who's this?"

"A friend from school," Temperance explained quickly. "She wanted to know if I could spend the weekend at her place."

Lilia's eyes flashed, she understood why she would be spending the entire weekend. There was a bit of fear there too; she must be terrified of being the only other body available to Jake should his football team not do well, or the fridge run out of beer.

There was a creak from a floorboard overhead, and they all glanced up.

"Why not?" Lilia said a bit too cheerfully, pulling their attention back to her and smiling for Angela's benefit only. "Why don't you wait outside, and Tempe will just run up and get everything she needs."

"I can help her," Angela quickly queried.

"That's not necessary. She'll be out in a minute."

"Just go, I'll be outside in five, okay?" Temperance muttered.

Angela's eyes blazed; five minutes was much longer than was needed, and she knew it.

But the door was shut before Angela could come up with another way to keep the next events from unfolding. Better to just get it over with and then escape for the weekend.

"Since when have you known her?"
"A while," Temperance lied.

"You're lucky I'm letting you go, so just get upstairs. If Jake didn't see you at all this weekend he'd be more upset than anything."

Temperance nodded knowingly, and then with heavy footsteps made her way to her room. Lilia followed, much to her annoyance.

"Jake?" Lilia called. He was in Temperance's room already. He looked up in surprise when it was Lilia who reached the door first, not Temperance. "Tempe's going out with a friend for the weekend. The girl's waiting outside."

"What, you make plans without consulting me?" he bellowed angrily at Temperance, who was trying to gather her things as quickly as possible.

A blow to the side of her face knocked her off balance and she stumbled into the wall, where she was hit again and again. Lilia had vanished from the doorway, presumably returning to the kitchen as though nothing at all was going on upstairs.

He was wearing a few of his big clunky rings today, and every time he struck her they cut into her skin. She cried out after a particularly hard blow, and then his hands grabbed a choking hold around her neck as he hissed in her face.

"I tell you what you can and can't do; you answer to me."

The room had started to go black when he finally released her and she fell nearly unconscious to the ground on top of her things.

"Now get out!" he shouted, his face red.

She didn't hesitate to obey, shoving her necessities into her schoolbag and running from the room. She didn't see Lilia downstairs, and didn't care to. She was out the door in seconds.

Angela was waiting, and pulled her into her arms. "Sweetie," she gasped, horrified with the state Temperance was in. Blood flecks covered her clothes. Her hair was a mess, and tears were still sliding silently down her face.

Her friends eyes were ablaze with fury. "I swear, if I had any fighting skills, that man in there would be dead." She spat. "I'm calling the police next time I suspect that that is happening to you." She looked Temperance up and down, and her friend shook her head weekly.

"I told you-"

"Screw that, Bren. New school and new foster family or not, this is not the way I'm gunna let my best friend live."

More tears came now, but not from the usual reason. Angela had said she was her best friend. She couldn't help it, she threw her arms around her.

"Thank you." She whispered. "What did I ever do to deserve someone like you?"

Angela shook her head sadly. "Oh, Bren. You deserve a lot more than you seem to be able to understand."

The walk to Angela's house was longer than the one from her house to school, and they only went around the corner and out of sight of Temperance's house before Angela found them a payphone.

"Sit," she commanded, and Temperance dropped gratefully onto the nearest bench, feeling sore all over. Her hands rubbed her neck; she almost regretted having handed Ange back her scarf before they'd gone to her house.

Angela sat next to her a moment later. "My dad will come pick us up." She told her.

"He doesn't have a problem with me staying there?" she asked nervously.

"No, sweetie. There's no problem. He offered to give us a ride to the mall tomorrow morning if we'd like. We're going."

"Ange," she started to protest.

"Bren, listen to me. We are going to have some quality girl time, okay? The mall. Say the magic word and feel enlightened. Clothing everywhere, and shoes; I promise we'll make you a new person by the time we go back to school on Monday."

"Ange... I don't have any money."

"I guessed at that one already sweetie. This is on me. You agree to be my personal Barbie, I plan all your outfits and we have a great time at the mall, and I buy everything. I think it works out pretty good."

"I can't let you buy me stuff, Ange."

"And why not? I want to. Just accept it and enjoy it, 'kay?"

Temperance sighed. "I've never met anyone like you, you know that?"

"Yup, I'm one of a kind, Bren. Oh, there's our ride!"

A nice black car pulled up in front of them and a man with a beard wearing dark sunglasses smiled out the window at them.

"Hey, dad," Angela greeted him cheerfully, opening the door so Temperance could climb in before joining her. "This is Temperance."

He nodded to them in the mirror, and then the car smoothly pulled back onto the street and he did a u-turn.

The ride was fairly quiet; Angela's dad didn't ask any invasive questions, much to her relief. She understood that most parents tried to socialize with their child's friends, but that didn't seem to be the case here. Angela's father was like her opposite in every way; she was always overflowing with chatter and cheerfulness while he appeared to keep completely to himself.

They pulled up in the driveway of a cozy little blue house with a spacious yard and plenty of trees and greenery. "Home sweet home," Angela said with a wide grin as she opened her car door. "You are going to practically live here, so get used to it."

Temperance just shook her head in awe. Angela was not like most people.

"Help yourself to anything in the fridge, kiddos." Mr. Montenegro said, giving them a salute before vanishing through the side door.

"Come on, I'll give you the 'grand tour'," she said jokingly, grabbing Temperance's hand and dragging her through the front door.

"Kitchen... dining room... den... living room..." Angela listed off as they walked from room to room. They headed upstairs next, and Angela brought her straight to a white door and threw it wide.

Temperance just stopped short in the doorway and gazed around in shock, her mouth hanging open. The walls had been painted over so much that they barely resembled walls. Abstract art was everywhere, and drawings coated the ceiling. The windows were barely visible from all the papers that dangled around their frames.

"This is... this is incredible, Ange!" she gasped.

"Thanks. Art's sorta my thing." She smiled. "Kinda like you and science, you know?"

Temperance nodded, only half-listening as she walked slowly around the room, taking in all the little details that Angela had put so much effort into. There was an abstract sculpture in the corner that was particularly fascinating.

"It's like... an art museum," she murmured.

Angela beamed.

"Okay, enough about me," she finally interrupted Temperance before she could move on to another side of the room, "Let's get back to you."

"Ange," she sighed, "You know full well that talking about me isn't such a happy topic."

Angela looked her up and down. "I know sweetie," she murmured sadly, but then smiled, "I was talking about clothing for you, though." Without further ado, she hurried eagerly across the room and threw open the doors to her closet.

Temperance groaned and dropped down on the edge of Ange's bed.

"You'll love me for this later, promise. Now, do you prefer pink or red?"

"...red I guess," she mumbled, not feeling very enthusiastic for this.

Ange practically had to force her into the outfit she picked out, although it was a rather gentle 'force' seeing as Angela winced every time Temperance did when anything brushed up against one of her particularly sore bruises.

"I swear, if I-"

"Ange, please. Uttering threats against Jake is not going to help or solve anything."

"But making a few phone calls would," Angela said, making it sound more like a pleading question than anything else.

"No, Ange. I'm fine."

Angela shook her head and sighed, but didn't argue again. It was clear she was not done with the argument, though. Most likely far from it.

When she was finally through playing dress-up, Ange dragged her down the stairs, insisting they should eat even though Temperance repeatedly told her she wasn't that hungry.

"What would you like?" She asked as she threw open the fridge door. Temperance was starting to get the impression that Ange's dramatic side showed itself best whenever there was a door that needed flinging open.

"I don't know," she told her truthfully.

"Well, what do you usually eat?"

"Not much," Temperance said, trying to remember the last time she'd had a full meal.

Ange stared at her incredulously for a moment, then promptly shut the refrigerator door to face her directly. "What did you eat today? I want a full list."

Temperance stared back for a moment, racking her brain. "The ice cream we got," she finally replied.

"And..?"

"That's it."

"Bren!" Angela exclaimed, "I can't believe you can claim you aren't hungry, you must be dying!" She immediately was back in the fridge rummaging through draws and along the shelves and dumping a wide array of cooking supplies all over the counter. Within minutes the stove was heating and she had something frying in one pan and another sizzling on a separate burner.

"Now," she said, turning away from the cooking food, "What did you eat yesterday?"

"An apple... a salad... and a ham sandwich." The last thing she had actually eaten at around midnight, but she figured it still counted. She'd barely been awake, and had only eaten half of it before passing out again on her bed. Getting up and down the stairs had been painful after the day before's injuries.

"I'm officially monitoring you're eating habits from now on," Angela said, shaking her head. "Sweetie, you can't do this to yourself."

"I never really find much time for food..." she admitted. "The kitchen... isn't the best place to be in my house."

Angela's face clouded over with sympathy. "I'm sorry, Bren," she whispered. "But we are going to get you on a proper diet over here, got it?"

She nodded.

Angela's cooking turned out to be really good. She'd made them some fried chicken in a stir-fry, which smelled just as good as it tasted. It was the best meal Temperance had had in a month. Angela clearly took note of it as she cleared her plate, and before she could even say a word Ange had snatched it and placed it back in front of her reloaded with food.

"Eat," was all she said.

Temperance hadn't realized quite how hungry she was, but Ange had no problem supplying more cooking. When the stir-fry was gone she dumped a bag of cookies in front of them. Temperance hadn't had sweets since she'd been in her last foster home; they were delicious.

As it got darker out Ange dragged her back upstairs and rolled out two sleeping bags since Temperance didn't have one.

Angela kept them up most of the night, chattering away and making Temperance tell her stories about what she liked and what she planned to do after high school.

It was clear that Ange wanted to be an artist, and it wasn't hard to swing the conversation around so she could hear about that. It was something Angela had no trouble talking about very passionately.

When they finally shut the lights to go to sleep, Temperance just lay quietly, staring up at the art on the ceiling, lit by the glow from the moon outside. She had never felt so safe before, lying there with Angela next to her, in a home where she knew the next morning she wouldn't wake up with fresh bruises and memories of the latest beating. This felt more like home than any other place since... since her real home. She knew she could never thank Angela enough; she could never find another friend like her.


Aww, isn't Ange so great?

So, what do you think so far?

...Review? Please?