Okay, so chapter three is FINALLY here. I just want to apologize right now for taking so long to update the story. Life has been really crazy for me since school started this year. I've been doing a musical, and things have been REALLY crazy.

Anyway, I hope that you like it, and please don't forget to review! I promise the next chapter will come a LOT sooner!

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

- Benjamin Disraeli

"How long have you been dreaming about Jimmy?" Angela asked Temperance, returning to their earlier discussion while they waited for Booth to arrive.

"About a week," The doctor was sitting on Angela's couch, head in her hands, looking utterly exhausted. Angela was concerned; her friend usually never looked that emotionally drained. The last time she had looked like this was when her mother's bones had been discovered, and her whole world unraveled. To the artist, it didn't make sense that she should be this upset, for they didn't even know who the set of bones belonged to yet.

"Have you told Booth about them? Or Dr. Sweets? He might have an idea as to why this is happening."

Brennan didn' even have enough life in her to tell Angela that she didn't believe in Dr. Sweets' psychology. "No, I haven't told anyone but you."

"Sweetie, I-" Angela stopped talked as she caught sight of the FBI agent approaching her office. "Booth is here. Promise me you'll talk to him, though – he deserves to know why his partner is pulling away from him."

As soon as Booth entered Angela's office, both women stopped talking; leading him to believe that they were either talking about him, or something they didn't want him to know. From Bones' body language, it seemed to be the latter. He decided not to breach the subject now, and so instead walked toward the Angelator. "Bones said you had a face for me?"

"Yeah," Angela grabbed her board, tapped a few things, and the machine whirled to life. A few more clicks, and a face appeared. Brennan looked up as she heard the buzz of the Angelator, and couldn't help but gasp as she laid eyes on the face.

Booth threw a look over his shoulder at his partner. Not again, he thought. She doesn't deserve the fate of having to recognize another face. "Do you know him, Bones?"

She nodded, her eyes distant. "Is it him?" Angela asked gently. Brennan shook her head, but didn't speak as to clue Booth in on who he was.

Resisting the urge to demand who this person was, he directed his attention once more to Bones. "You have a name?"

Brennan nodded once again. "Barry Finkel. I was in the system with him for almost a year."

Angela couldn't help but let out the breath she had been holding. She was so certain that because of Temperance's dreams, these bones would belong to Jimmy; it had surely been a sign, telling Brennan to confront her past. But she was obviously wrong. Although the bones did have something to do with Brennan's days in the system, it wasn't the boy for which the doctor cared.

Angela was brought back to the present as she heard Booth question his partner. "How old was Barry when you saw him last?"

"About thirteen. He stayed at one of my houses when I was first in foster care. Everybody called him 'The Rat' because he would tattle on anyone for anything. He didn't really have any friends, and people couldn't stand being around him. I don't think he had any friends the entire time he was at that house. Like I said, he stayed for almost a year, and then he just left. I always assumed he was just assigned a new family."

The artist couldn't help but ask her question. "Was this at the McPherson's?"

Temperance shot Angela a sharp look, right as Booth asked, "Who were the McPhersons?"

Silence descended as Angela stared at her friend, mouthing tell him. Finally, to break the tension, the artist decided to leave. "I'm going for coffee. I'll bring you something back."

After Angela exited, Booth went over to sit by Temperance on the couch. "Is there something you want to talk about, Bones?" Without looking at him, Brennan nodded.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Booth asked once Temperance had retold him the same tale she told Angela.

"Because…" She searched for the right words. "Talking about my years in the system brings back a lot of difficult memories, and it makes me feel weak. Weak, because those memories still affect me as much as it did when I lived through it; and I hate being weak."

He rubbed circles on the back of her hand with his thumb. At some point during the story he had grabbed her hand to hold; now he found that he didn't want to let go. "But you told Angela."

A small smile graced Brennan's face. "Angela has seen me be weak before."

"So have I." Immediately, both of their minds jumped to McVicar's farm, when she had cried in his arms.

"But it's different with Angela."

"Why?" Booth questioned gently.

Temperance took a deep breath. She didn't really want to go into this topic right now, but it seemed that she really didn't have a choice. "I don't care about looking pathetic in front of Angela. She's seen me at my worst, talked me through some of my hardest times, and watched me break down time after time. I don't ever feel the need to be strong in front of her or to…to impress her." Color flooded to her cheeks, and she felt like a silly school girl with a crush, but it was the truth. She had the need to appear tough and independent in front of Booth, even when she didn't feel like it. It was dumb, and she hated it. Sure, she was attracted to Booth, but he shouldn't have this effect on her. He was just another friend, like Angela.

And just like a friend would, Booth didn't say anything about her flaming cheeks; instead he was trying not to jump up and down with joy at what she had just said. "You want to impress me?"

Temperance pulled away from him slightly, and said brusquely, "Look, you don't need to make a big deal of it. It's only natural for a female to want to impress a finely structured male and-"

Booth cut her off by placing a finger over her lips. "You could just say that you think I'm hot, Bones." Brennan started to have protest, but Booth stopped her. "But it's okay…because I feel the same way."

Angela fully expected to return from her coffee break to see Booth and Brennan going at it in her office. What she found was the complete opposite: they were sitting on the couch together, holding hands. Brennan must have told him, she thought to herself.

To give them some privacy, she decided to go and find Hod gins. It was unlike her to not spy on them, but she figured they had gotten along very well without her, and she did't want to risk jinxing it by her presence.

Just as she was turning, however, she caught Booth moving out of the corner of her eye. Slowly, she moved closer, watching as Booth placed a finger over Brennan's lips. Kiss her! Angela shouted in her head, but it was no use. Brennan just smiled, and turned away with a blush.

"Fine." Angela grumbled. "Don't kiss her. See if I care." She turned on her heel and started to walk away. "But I'll get you two together, mark my words." With one last look over her shoulder at the pair, she wandered off to find her boyfriend; who would, no doubt, do some kissing of his own.

Well, I hope you remembered the story, and that you liked the chapter! Please don't forget to review!

Charlotte