A/N: Hello everyone! Sorry I took longer to update once again. I have a minor writer's block and school has started so I have less time to write. This chapter didn't turn out exactly how I had planned but I still like it. Hope you do too.

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Temperance opened her eyes to find an arm wrapped tightly around her. She sighed happily as she grabbed the hand and lifted off of her. Turning around, she propped herself on her elbow and stared down at the man asleep beside her. He looked so peaceful while he was asleep that Temperance found herself smiling tenderly at the sight of him. His features were relaxed, his breathing was steady and light and she found it nice that Booth had at least one place where he didn't feel stressed. She knew the case he was working on, and that she was working on through him, was really stressing him.

Her stomach growled. She looked at the time. It was a little past nine and she still hadn't eaten. Booth had showed up around seven and they had had other things on their mind besides food. Dropping one quick kiss on his shoulder, she then got up, threw some clothes on her body and walked out the bedroom.

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Booth stirred slightly as he came out of his deep slumber. He turned around in his bed to find an empty space beside him. His eyes immediately snapped open and his heart began to race madly inside his chest. Where was she? Where was Bones?

In an instant he was on his feet and pulling some pants on. Once half-dressed, he immediately walked out of the room. The apartment was silent. He checked all the rooms: the bathroom, her study, her living room, her kitchen. All empty. He looked at the clock. It was past ten. Where could she have gone at ten o'clock at night?

Grabbing his cellphone, he dialed her number. A ring coming from their bedroom told him that Temperance was charging her phone. He cursed under his breath as he hung up and dialed Angela's number. The artist must have been out somewhere since she wasn't picking up her phone. He sighed, frustrated. Russ was the next number on his list. The young man picked up after four rings.

"Hello?"

"Hey Russ. It's Booth."

"Booth?" A groggy voice asked him. "As in my sister's boyfriend Booth?"

"Yeah." Booth replied, not bothering to wonder how Russ had found out about them when Temperance was so reluctant to go public. "You wouldn't happen to know where your sister is by any chance?"

"She's not with you?"

Accusatory tone. Booth felt the urge to punch his brother-in-law in the face. Like he had done on purpose to lose her.

"No. We fell asleep and when I woke up, she was gone."

"Did you try the lab?"

"It's ten o'clock at night, Russ."

"Yeah. I noticed."

Harsh tone. Booth had had enough.

"Anyway, she'll probably just show up eventually. Sorry to have bothered you."

"No problem."

But before Booth was able to add anything else, Russ had hung up.

Russ didn't know where his sister was, Angela was not answering her cell and Temperance had left her own in the bedroom. He sighed. There wasn't much he could do but wait. He sat down on the couch, not wanting to pace until she'd come back to her apartment but too agitated to sleep.

He heard keys rustling outside the door just as he was sitting down. He immediately sprung to his feet. The door opened seconds later and Temperance stepped in her apartment, grocery bags in her hands.

She was surprised to find her boyfriend standing in her living room. She dropped the bags beside her and closed the door.

"Where were you?"

She looked up.

"I was hungry. I went to do some groceries."

"It's ten o'clock at night."

"Yeah. I noticed."

Russ and her are without a doubt related. Booth thought.

"But I was hungry and there was nothing left to eat."

Grabbing her bags, she made her way to her kitchen.

"They were starting to close the store when I arrived. They didn't seem too happy to see me."

Booth chuckled.

"Yeah well, they were probably just tired and wanted to go home. You ruined their plans."

"I did not... well, okay. I did."

"Next time, Bones, just leave a note telling me where you have taken off. I was really worried about you. I thought something bad had happened."

She looked at him curiously and decided not to voice what she was thinking. Instead, she went back to putting away her purchases.

"Are you hungry?"

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She loved the warmth his body provided, especially when it was cold outside. She closed her eyes as she snuggled closer to him. She felt him kiss the top of her head.

"My mom asked me if I wanted to go up to Vermont this weekend. She said you were welcomed to come along if you wanted."

Booth felt his girlfriend tense in his arms but he remained calm.

"A weekend away? Just the two of us?"

"Well, my parents are going to be there so we won't be completely alone. What do you say?"

Temperance pulled herself away.

"I don't know, Booth. I... We're spending so much time together lately. A weekend away is just..."

She stopped in mid-sentence, unable to find the words to voice her feelings. She was afraid. A weekend getaway made their relationship more serious and it scared her. She was getting too involved in this relationship. That was why she hadn't called him after her weekend with her brother and that's why she hadn't been completely happy to see him when he had shown up at her door earlier this evening.

Booth seemed to have sense her thoughts. She watched as hurt appeared in his eyes and she immediately began to feel guilty.

"What are you afraid of, Bones? Me? Us? What we have? There's nothing to be afraid of. I'm pretty sure you would know that by now. We've been friends for so long. You should know better by now."

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

But Booth didn't listen. He stood up and began pacing.

"Everything started out so great for us, Bones. I mean, yes, we have been spending an awful lot of time together but that's what couples do, Bones. They spend time together, they have fun together. I like you a lot, Temperance, and I really enjoy spending time with you. But if it's unrequited, I don't know why we are wasting our time with this."

Temperance felt her eyes fill with water. When had he begun to have so much power over her emotions? She had always been so in control of herself but Booth had simply swept in her life and...

She looked up at him. He didn't look angry, just annoyed. She knew it was because of her. She had to admit, she had been a little mean to him lately. He was just trying to live a wonderful beginning of relationship and she was stopping him. She knew she was asking a lot of him. Hiding their relationship from everybody was hard but it was probably more painful for him than for her. She knew how he was: he loved to show the people he cared the most about how much they meant to him. He couldn't do that with her because she was stopping him. But she couldn't help it. Every time they got too close emotionally, an internal alarm immediately began to sound and she shifted into flight mode. She couldn't help it. She had been too hurt in the past to simply trust easily. Booth was supposed to know that. But she knew that she had probably used that excuse too many times for it to still work on him.

"It's not unrequited, Booth. I like spending time with you too but you have to understand, I'm not used to it. I'm not used to have someone with me 24/7. I've spent so many years alone and even when I had someone in my life, we didn't see each other very much."

"And who's fault was that, Bones? You probably have hurt so many guys in your life who truly cared about you. Sure, you've been hurt too and I understand that. You've suffered much more than most people in this world and you've walked away from it harmed but that was to be expected. But you can't live your life in the shadow of your past, Bones. If there's one thing I thought I had taught you, it was that. I guess that I failed."

He chuckled sadly.

"You're afraid of being hurt again but I swear to you that I have no intentions on doing that. You have to believe me, Bones. You have to trust me."

When she didn't say anything, he sighed loudly.

"Call me when you're ready to invest time in our relationship."

And on that, he turned around and walked out of the apartment, leaving a stunned and confused Temperance behind him.

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Okay so how many of you feel like killing me right now? I figured this story just needed a little bit of action.