A/N Hello dear, sweet readers! How are we all? I hope life is treating you good, you fabulous people! No, I'm not high, just so very glad to be back and feeling better about things. I've missed you all muchly! Right, I have a new motto for this story - 'do not start a situation that you then resolve in the same chapter'. OK, so it needs some re-wording, but basically there will be more suspencefulness in these chapters. This may annoy some people, but nevermind if you want to find out what happens you will need to keep reading! Yay! But this one isn't really suspenceful until the end, just a transitional chapter, mainly because I forgot what was going to happen. OK, ramble over, I hope everyone is all comfortable and has a beverage and/or snack. I hope everyone has had a bathroom break. I hope you are ready! Here we go! Yay!

"OK, Zack, what have we got here?"

"Caucasian female, approximately 4 feet 10 inches tall. Cause of death looks to be a blow to the head, but that's just an observation, I'll know more once I've looked over the skull in more detail."

He stood on one side of the big steel table, and Temperance stood on the other, clipboard in hand. She had to angle her body so that when she looked down, she didn't just see her stomach, and could actually make sure he was doing everything right. He was, of course – this was his final proficiency, before he gave his oral presentation of his findings to a team of professors. Then his degree would be completed, and he would take up a job somewhere, and she would get a new assistant. She imagined she would feel like this when the twins were old enough to go to university. She would definitely miss him. He was more than a student now – he was a colleague, but he was a friend, too.

"You're doing great, Zack."

"That's because I have a great teacher."

That made her want to cry. She could never normally accept compliments, but in her 'excessively hormonal' state, she had to fight to hold back the tears whenever someone said something nice to her.

"I can't give you more marks for flattery. So quit trying."

"Sorry, Dr Brennan."

Angela came out of her office and walked towards them, carrying a large box, presumably containing more supplies for facial reconstructions.

"Hey you two, having fun?"

"Tons." Zack replied shorty, obviously unable to cope with the distraction.

"Sorry..." Angela replied, and grabbed Temperance by the arm so they could talk somewhere else without disturbing him.

"He's worried he's going to fail."

"He'll be fine. How's things going with you and your boyfriend?"

Temperance smiled, and said, "He's fine, thanks for asking." Referring to Booth as her boyfriend felt weird, but really good.

"Fabulous. Will he be joining us today to do some work?"

"I don't know, probably."

"Well where is he, then?"

"I saw him this morning when I left for work..."

"I'm sure you did." Angela interrupted with a smirk.

"What's in the box, Ange?" Changing the subject was always best in this kind of situation. She wasn't even entirely sure what she was insinuating, but didn't really want to pursue it and find out.

"Just stuff. Maybe you should ring him?"

"What stuff?"

"Secret stuff. Ring him now."

"Why?"

"It's not fair that we're doing all the work...and he sort of promised me he'd help with the secret stuff."

"What are you two up to?"

"Nothing!"

"You just said he was helping you with secret stuff, so you must me doing something!"

"No. Call him, please."

"Fine." Temperance sighed and took her phone out of her pocket, dialled his number and waited for him to pick up.

"Hello?" He answered, then yawned.

"Hi, it's me. Did I wake you?"

"Yeah, why are you calling me so early?"

"It's ten thirty..."

"Crap! How did I manage to oversleep?" She heard him roll out of bed, and then heard a commotion in the background.

"What are you doing?"

"Damn cat unplugged my alarm clock."

"You have a cat?"

"Yeah, his name is Cat. Well, he's Parker's really. I knew I shouldn't have let a 3 year old name a pet."

"Angela is getting impatient, she told me about your 'secret stuff'. What time will you be here?"

"Soon. I will rush, just for you."

"OK, good, because she is distracting Zack." She quickly glanced over to where Angela was standing, hovering over his shoulder, watching what he was doing. Zack let out a profanity under his breath, something he rarely did, and went to swat her hand away as she reached out to touch the skull on the table.

"OK, see you soon."

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Half an hour had passed, and Booth still hadn't arrived. Temperance hadn't actually noticed, until Angela came in, looking more impatient that ever and demanding to know what was keeping him.

"I don't know, he said he would rush."

"Well he's done a good job of that, hasn't he." She started pacing again, as she had before, the box still sitting idly on the desk.

"Ange, if you wear a whole in my carpet you can buy me a new one. He's probably just stuck in traffic."

"Are you not worried at all?"

"Should I be?" Now she was worried. Thousands of scenarios flashed through her mind – he'd fallen down the stairs and broken his neck, all that fried food he ate had caught up with him and caused a very early heart attack, he had been car-jacked – all within a split second. Her brain all of a sudden felt overloaded. "Oh, God what if something has happened to him?"

Angela went to sit beside her on the sofa in her office, and put her arm around her. "I'm sure he's fine, sweetie."

"What are you two doing?"

Both women turned quickly in their seats, and their hearts rose in their chests, hoping the voice belonged to Booth. But they sank again when they saw Hodgins standing in the doorway.

"Nothing. Just wondering what's keeping Booth." Angela replied, obviously not too happy to be talking to him instead.

"It's nice to see you too. Maybe he's stuck in traffic, there's a pile-up on the highway."

"You...you don't think he was in one of the cars...?" Temperance stuttered, now very worried. This couldn't be happening.

"Oh, no I'm sure he's fine. Have you tried ringing him?" Hodgins tried to comfort her, and came and sat on the other side of her on the sofa.

"Yes. He didn't pick up."

"Maybe the battery's dead?"

Maybe. Or maybe something really bad had happened...