Disclaimer: Hart Hanson owns Bones, not me.
March 1, 1991
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Donna asked Katie, a little wary now. She was all for Katie getting her man's attention back, but this was a little elaborate. She just didn't have a good feeling about this.
Katie ignored her, her eyes riveted instead on Booth and Temperance across the lot. They had just pulled in, both of them getting out at the same time. Booth shut his car door, locking it, before hurrying to rush up to Temperance, who was walking slightly ahead of him. She watched as Booth gently took Temperance's book bag from her and, even as she protested, he slung it over his shoulder, carrying it for her.
"Yeah," Katie glared at the duo. "I'm sure."
Spinning around on her heel, she turned to where a few of her cheerleading teammates were sitting on top of Josh Kettleman's car. "You know, I've been thinking," she said loudly, gaining all of their attention. Josh stopped flirting with Masie, Jen and Debby stopped gossiping, and Donna stopped glaring daggers into Josh's back because he was flirting with another girl. "Booth seems to take a liking to that Temperance chick. Maybe there's something there."
Josh snorted, and Jen gave her an incredulous look. "You want us to make friends with that nerdy chick from Bio?" she sounded as if she was questioning Katie's sanity.
Katie shrugged. "She's been through a lot," she said, her voice sickly sweet. "Moving up two grades, forced to be in a new environment, being a foster kid…" she trailed off, smiling slightly when a murmur broke out.
Debby snickered. "No way! Is that true?" she asked, looking from Katie to Donna and back to Katie again. "She's a foster kid!"
Josh shared a smirk with Jen. "Explains why she smells like garbage bags the first few weeks she came here," Jen snarked.
Katie nodded, leaning forward eagerly. "Totally true," she confirmed in a low whisper, previous claims of wanting to be Temperance's friend forgotten. "So, Donna caught sight of her going home, right? And…"
The gossipy girls listened intently, sniggering at Katie's embellished story. Once Katie was done regaling her tale, several of the girls hopped off the car and went off to other friends to recount it.
Temperance couldn't, for the life of her, understand why there were so many students looking her way. Normally, before Booth, she was just ignored. When Booth first started being her friend, there were stares and whispers which she had avoided. Those stopped after the first few weeks.
She didn't know why they were staring and whispering and pointing all over again. It was strange, and made her feel uncomfortable.
She was spared anyone coming up to her and blatantly saying anything to her face her first class, Biology, because she had it with Booth.
He walked her to her next class, AP French, and even though she found his sentimentality of girls unable to do anything on their own a little Neanderthal and sexist, on Booth, it was just…Sweet. She knew he didn't mean anything sexist, he was just protective.
"I'll see you at Trig?" he called out, smiling.
She nodded. "Sure. Thanks, Booth," she retrieved her bag from him - he'd stubbornly insisted on carrying it for her because she had hurt her shoulder yesterday. Mr. Dawson hadn't been too happy before he left for work, and Mrs. Dawson had been irate that a friend of hers had dropped by after she'd come home. She hadn't seen this friend personally, having been upstairs in the shower, but Mrs. Dawson had said that the friend was a 'she'. The fact that she didn't have any girl friends, coupled with the girl admitting that she had the wrong house, Temperance didn't think it was her fault. But Mrs. Dawson hadn't thought so and the chores that she had made Temperance do had strained her muscles further.
She turned away from him, walking into class, and plopping into her usual seat at the back. She would've sat up front - better view of the blackboard and better audio of the teacher's lectures - but she didn't want to drag even more attention to herself. The back row was a pretty good place to be, especially since no one could throw anything her way if they were sitting in front of her.
She was a good five minutes earlier than the second bell - Booth always wanted to chat in the hallways, but she didn't want him to be late so she always ushered him away to his class. This gave her time to review her notes and get a head start on tonight's homework, anyway. Between her chores, tutoring Booth, tutoring Jared and making sure she didn't anger her foster parents too much, Temperance didn't have a lot of time left on her hands to ensure her grades were good enough for college.
She heard giggling again, and looked up to find some of the girls in her class huddled together at a corner, all four watching her with amused eyes. When they saw her looking at them, they burst into giggles again and looked away.
She scrunched her eyebrows together. Normally teenagers were weird, but not this weird. Wonder what's going on, she shrugged mentally.
"Think it's true?" she heard someone whispering, not so quietly. She didn't look up this time, or pay attention to the words. Kids were always gossiping, always spreading rumors. She had no time for that, nor was she interested. "She's really a foster kid?"
That got her attention.
She turned her head discreetly to find Greg Johnson and Billy Ackerman laughing to themselves, shooting her looks. Her stomach dropped. "That's what I heard," Greg was saying to Billy. "Explains why she always looks like that."
Billy snickered, causing Temperance's blush to deepen. She dropped her head, turning back to the front, and let her hair curtain around her face.
They know, a voice chanted frantically in her mind. They know. They all had to know - the whispering, the pointing…A chorus of giggling and harsh laughter reached her ears again, causing her to cringe. The laughing, she added bitterly. They all know! But how!
The only person that she had ever trusted to tell her secret to was Booth. He had been very good at keeping it - not even Pops, whom he was very close to, nor Jared, who was going through a very nosy, inquisitive-younger-brother phase, knew.
And there was no way that Booth would've just told anyone else. No way. He was a good man, she reminded herself. He would never betray her trust like that.
Temperance kept repeating the words again and again in her mind, trying to get her usually skeptical brain to just accept that. Her mind wasn't cooperate, though - the rational part of her, which was a pretty large part, kept asking the one question she didn't like the answer to:
If Booth - the only person who knew about her situation - didn't tell anyone, then who did?
When three other people stared at her, and made hushed comments about her situation, Temperance was ready to bolt, leaving her things behind. She had always been strong in the face of adversity, but she had never wanted anyone to find out about this.
But, unfortunately enough for her, the teacher came in at the exact moment, the bell ringing in synchronization. "Alright, class, let's get started," she heard the teacher say, and blanched, keeping herself rooted to her seat by gripping the sides of her chair until her knuckles turned painfully white.
She wasn't sure if she listened to the teacher at all the whole time, but she wasn't normally called upon in Trig - she was just one of those students teachers had caught on early that they couldn't bully because she always had the right answer.
When the bell rang, Temperance already had her bag packed and was the first one to dash out of the classroom.
It was lunch time now, and Trig wouldn't happen until after. She usually didn't sit with Booth because she liked going to the library during lunch and he had his normal friends. She enjoyed spending time with Booth, but she knew that his life didn't revolve around her. He needed to be with his other friends, too.
And, of course, there was his gorgeous cheerleader girlfriend, Katie.
She walked to her locker, heart pounding and head throbbing painfully. Maybe there was some Tylenol in her locker…
"Hey, freak," someone greeted her in the hallway, pushing past her roughly. She didn't answer, just kept her head down and kept on walking - insults like that were a normal everyday occurrence for her.
"Heard you were with fake parents," someone else said. Her eyes widened and she looked up to see Josh Kettleman, leaning against the locker next to her. He was only a few rows down from her. Donna, one of Katie's usual friends, was hanging on his arm, smirking right along with him. "So, what, your parents died or something?"
She looked away from them, eyes clouding over. She kept her mouth shut and was determined not to let any tears gather in her eyes - she wouldn't cry. Not here. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction.
"No," Donna pretended to think, her girlish voice like nails on a chalkboard to Temperance. "I don't think that's it. I think her parents couldn't handle having a freak like her for a daughter, and just dumped her."
Donna and Josh shared a good laugh while Temperance slammed her locker shut. Not looking back at them, or at the laughing people around who had overheard - Donna and Josh hadn't exactly been quiet about it - Temperance walked as quickly as she could away from the duo.
Donna's words had caused her heart to start aching painfully - unknowingly, the other girl had fed upon her worst fears; that her parents and brother had left her on her own, and that they were out there somewhere, continuing life together without her. She had been a rather strange child, and that hadn't changed much since she'd reach young adulthood. It wasn't such a long stretch to think that they had wanted her out of the picture.
"Bones, hey, there you are!" she heard Booth's familiar voice calling out for her, but she ignored him, picking up her pace.
"Bones!" Booth frowned as he watched her hurry away from him. "Bones, hey! Wait up!" He distractedly waved goodbye to Vaughn, and slung his backpack over his shoulder, running to catch up to her.
The bell had rung for lunch, and most everyone had already left for the cafeteria. He walked past a few students that were still remaining in the hallway and caught up to her, grabbing her elbow.
She yanked her elbow away sharply. "Don't touch me!" she hissed, spinning around to glare at him.
He was struck by how similar this scene was to the time Mr. Haversham had assigned her to be his tutor, and he'd tried getting her attention after class. "Whoa," he blinked. "What's with the attitude, Bones?"
She glared at him. "Don't call me that! Don't call me Bones!" she spat, spinning around on her heel and marching off.
He ran forward and cut her off, lurching right in front of her. She halted to a stop, still glaring daggers at him. Her lips were set in an angry scowl and she crossed her arms over her chest. Booth thought she looked slightly scary, but one look into her eyes made him concerned - her eyes weren't angry. Her eyes were hurt, and brimming with tears.
"Why would you do this to me?" she asked, her voice breaking in several different places. "Why would you hurt me?"
His heart dropped to his stomach, and he looked at her, confused. "What're you talking about!" he asked, shaking his head. "Bones, I never hurt you. I never would. You know that!"
She shook her head, shying away from his touch. "I don't," she said, speaking so harshly it was as if she was trying to convince herself. "I don't know anything."
"Bones…"
"I can't believe you would just tell everyone!" she tried blinking her tears away but was chagrined when, instead, warm crystal droplets started spilling down her pale cheeks. "Were you just pretending to be my friend?"
"Bones!"
"Were you planning on embarrassing me later, anyway?" she wrapped one arm tightly around her abdomen, as if keeping herself together physically from breaking down, and reached one hand up to her cheeks to angrily swipe at her tears. "Because that's just cruel, Booth."
He was hearing her words, but none of them made sense to him. "Bones, look," he reached out, his hands grasping her upper arms gently. "You're confusing me here. What did I do?"
"You're the only one who knows," she told him, still not making any sense. "I denied it, but how else could they know now?"
He was about to ask her again, though the feeling of dread was creeping up on him, swallowing him whole.
Before he could so much as open his mouth, though, a kid walked past, snickered at her and said, "Hey, foster freak."
Temperance's face crumbled, and she yanked her body away from Booth's grasp. Another fresh bout of tears made their way down her cheeks.
Booth's head whipped in the kid's direction, before turning back to Temperance, shock and anger coursing through his veins like hot, bitter larva. Her words from before came rushing at him, things clicking into place.
"Bones," the moniker he'd given her came out like a plea. "Bones, you have to believe me - I never told anyone."
She stared at him with accusing eyes. "You're the only one who knew!" she practically shouted at him. "You had to have told someone!"
"No, I would never do that," he protested, cutting her off again when she tried to move past him.
She shook her head, sniffling and wiping her face again with the back of her hand. "I thought you were different," she said, her voice soft and defeated. To him, that was much worse than her yelling at him. "I thought you were my friend, Booth."
"I am!"
"But you're just another Andy Fluger."
He shook his head, "What?" She was already walking away. "Temperance! Wait!" he shouted, desperate.
He grabbed hold of her by the waist, pulling her back towards him but she struggled against his grip. "Don't!" she screamed, pushing and shoving at his chest until he let go of her. "Just don't talk to me, Booth. I don't want anything to do with you!"
He watched, with a shocked mind, as Temperance turned and ran from him. He could hear her breaking into sobs not a few feet away from where he was, and his heart clenched painfully in his chest.
He wanted to go after her, to explain, but the logical side of him knew that she would need some time to cool off first. He didn't like it, but going after her now could possibly just make things worse. He didn't need that - things were already pretty bad.
So, he turned around instead, and went off towards the direction of the cafeteria. He needed time to cool off, too, but figured it was better if he told Katie where he would be: she had been testy lately about his whereabouts and such. It might have something to do with her jealousy that he was making good friends with Temperance, but he knew it would pass. Of course, now that Bones doesn't even want anything to do with me…he thought glumly.
Just as he was about to enter the cafeteria, he caught sight of the boy who had walked past him and Temperance earlier on, and had called her 'foster freak'. Anger boiling in his blood, he stalked over to the boy, who was leaning against the wall next to the cafeteria doors, laughing it up with a few friends.
The boy looked to be a year younger than he was, and Booth vaguely recognized him as one of the many faces in the hallway. Grabbing the kid by the scruff of his shirt, Booth slammed him backwards. "Hey!" the kid protested. When he saw Booth, his face grew pale. It might be because Booth was a popular jock. It might be because Booth was older, stronger, bigger and more intimidating. It might even be because Booth looked so angry, he was afraid he would burst.
Booth ignored the boy's protests and his friends' shouts. "Why'd you call her that?" he asked, his words coming out in a growl.
"Wha-What?" the boy stuttered, quivering in fear.
"Temperance Brennan!" he snarled. "You know, the girl you passed by and called a 'foster freak'!"
"Oh, come on, dude," the kid's friend called out, trying to get Booth to release his friend. "Everyone's calling her that."
"Yeah," a thin girl chimed in. "It's not like he's the only one."
Booth ignored them, and kept his attention focused on the boy whose feet were currently dangling from the ground. "Who told you?" he asked. When the boy still didn't answer, he jerked the boy forward then slammed him back against the wall once more. "Who told you?" he repeated in a snarl.
Trembling, the boy said, "Ash heard it…" his eyes timidly found the girl who was now pale-faced.
Booth raised an eyebrow at her questioningly, hands still gripping her friend in place against the wall. He didn't even have to ask the question - she answered the moment he looked at her. "I heard those cheerleader chicks telling everyone…Donna Simmons and Katie Quinn."
Booth stared at her in disbelief. "You sure about that?" he asked, and he knew he sounded skeptical. There was no way…Donna and Katie? They didn't know. They shouldn't know. He'd never told a soul.
The girl nodded her head frantically, eyes darting from Booth to her friend. "I'm sure, I'm sure!" she yelped. Booth, realizing how frightened she was, rolled his eyes and dropped her friend to the ground. "They were right next to my sister's car. I swear, man. They told a bunch of people, and now everyone knows."
Booth could feel the anger returning to his body. Without a word to the boy or his friends, he turned and stormed inside the cafeteria. His eyes immediately sought the table he usually sat at with Katie and their friends.
She was sitting there now, next to Donna, chatting it up with the whole table about something. They were all so engrossed, listening to her, and it must have been a funny story because they all kept snickering and giggling and laughing. Katie had a smirk on her face as she spoke. Booth approached the table, but they were all so distracted with Katie's words that they hadn't noticed. "…And she was living in this ugly little house, right? Donna saw with her own eyes -"
"I think it's a freakin' crack house," Donna interrupted, her nasal voice causing Booth's ears to hurt.
A few of the people sitting at the table laughed. "I don't know what Booth's thinking, hanging out with a girl like that," Josh commented, shaking his head, one arm around Donna's shoulders, the other around another girl's.
Booth clenched his fists by his side, feeling his fingernails dig into his thigh. Clearing his throat, he tried to control his temper - Katie might have been a complete…Well, she was just wrong. But she was still a girl, and he would never hit a girl.
"Seeley!" Katie greeted him with a huge smile, unaware that he'd heard the ending of their 'conversation'.
Booth didn't bother with pleasantries. "Why would you do something like this?" he asked, his voice strained.
Katie's smile faltered for a moment. "Do what?" she asked in a fake innocent tone. "Seeley…"
"Don't call me that!" he shouted, causing her to jump in fright.
"Dude…" Josh trailed off, shooting him a look that showed just how much he thought Booth had lost his mind.
"Shut up, Kettleman, and mind your own damn business," he snapped. "How'd you find out?" he demanded, swiveling to look at Katie once more.
She continued blinking innocently at him. "Look, I found out like everyone else…"
"Don't lie to me! I never told anyone, and she never told anyone. Everyone suddenly knows, Katie. People heard you were the one to spread the rumors," his eyes flicked over to Donna as well as he spoke the last part, giving her a disgusted look. Donna had the sense to look guilty, a blush spreading across her cheeks.
Booth crossed his arms across his chest. "So how'd you find out?"
Katie scowled at Booth, knowing that lying was out of the question when there had been witnesses. "Donna saw her," she muttered. Donna, wide-eyed, nudged Katie, panicked. She wasn't about to take the fall for her. Katie ignored Donna.
Booth nodded slowly, anger still the most prominent emotion coursing through his body. "Uh-huh," he said in a toneless voice. "And how'd Donna see her? Temperance doesn't live anywhere near her."
Donna looked at Katie, silently pleading for her to tell the truth. She could tell that something really ugly was about to go down here and she didn't want to be caught in the crossfire. Katie was staring at Booth, buying some time she supposed, as she tried to come up with a believable lie. Donna could see that, so she blurted out, "Katie asked me to follow you!"
All eyes on the table turned to her, and she continued speaking, a little unnerved. "She didn't trust you with, uh, Temperance," she made a face as she spoke the girl's name. It was the first time she'd actually said it in a normal conversation. Then again, it wasn't as if this was a very normal conversation to begin with. "So I followed you, and I saw you dropping her off. I knocked on the door, and I asked to see the woman's daughter, and she said that she only had a foster kid…Katie wanted to tell everyone."
Booth stood there, mouth hung open, in total shock. "You…Followed me?" he repeated incredulously. He turned back to Katie. "You sent one of your cronies to follow me! Unbelievable!"
He thought about Temperance's newly injured shoulder and ribs. Donna's 'innocent' visit to Temperance's current house could've been the trigger for her abusive foster parents to hurt her yet again, as if she needed more injuries. He shook his head, disgusted with Katie's - and Donna's - actions, turning to walk away.
"Wait!" Katie called out, taking hold of his hand to turn him back around. He yanked his hand away from her, ignoring the hurt look on her face. "Seeley…I was just…I was jealous, okay? You spend so much time with her!"
He glared at her. "I'm allowed to have friends, Katie! I'm allowed to have a life that doesn't revolve around you! God dammit! What the hell were you thinking! Following me around, hurting a girl who's just…Innocent! You crossed the damn line!"
Katie glared right back. "I crossed the line!" she scoffed, their voices rising to attract the attention of pretty much the entire cafeteria. "You were the one spending so much time with that second-hand-clothes-wearing, drabby-looking, know-it-all loser of a foster kid!"
Booth blinked at her in shock. "Why do you always have to be so…!" he let out a shout of frustration. "You know what? I'm not even going to bother. It's not worth it."
He turned around to leave again but Katie's voice stopped him. "What the hell does that mean!"
"It means!" he almost shouted, then did that 'breathe slowly' thing that Temperance taught him to tamp down his anger. "It means," he said in a marginally more controlled voice. "That we're done."
Katie's eyes immediately filled with tears, the anger gone as well. "What?" she asked, her voice breaking. "You're breaking up with me for her!" she shrieked.
Booth shook his head. "Temperance's just my friend, Katie," he emphasized. "But you're just…You're not the girl I thought you were. I don't think I can see you anymore, not after what you did to my friend. I deserve better than that."
Biting his lip, he gave what she had said a thought. Even if what she had done was completely wrong, the jealousy had been there for a reason. Sighing and somehow having enough in him to actually shoot her an apologetic, almost pitying, look, he said, "And maybe I haven't been around as much as you like…Maybe we both need to be with other people."
With that, he walked out of the cafeteria, off to find Temperance.
He couldn't find Temperance at all - not in the library, not in the science lab, not even in Trig where he'd thought she'd gone to early after skipping out on lunch. He was about to leave the classroom to continue his search but the bell had rung, the teacher had stepped in and people began filing in, all still talking in hushed whispers about Seeley Booth's public break-up with Katie Quinn.
Everyone in their class were seated by the second bell - all but one. Booth stared in disbelief at the empty chair next to him - Temperance was never late. She considered it the eighth deadly sin to be tardy for class.
All through the period, she never showed and all through the period, he was distracted.
Once the bell rung, he dashed out, headed towards her next class. He didn't share it with her but he was hoping to catch a glimpse of her, to tell her what really happened. She wasn't there, either, and he was late to his own last period lurking around outside the classroom for her.
After practice - which had been brutal, by the way, due to his pent up anger and his teammates who didn't understand why he'd broken up with Katie - he hurried home. Temperance was slated to arrive at any moment. In fact, sometimes she came over earlier to help Jared out with homework and spend some time with Pops, helping around the house. She was just kind hearted that way.
When he arrived home, he practically ran out of his car while it was still moving, and dashed into the house. "Bones? Bones! Are you here?" he called out.
Pops, who was sitting on the couch, multi-tasking as he watched the news and folded laundry, turned to look at him. "Bones?" he raised an eyebrow at the nickname. "You mean Temperance." At Booth's nod, he turned away from him to look at the TV again. "She called - said she was sick and couldn't make it today."
Booth stopped dead in his tracks from his position near the kitchen - he was just about to look for her in other parts of the house. "She was healthy in school today," he protested out loud, even as he knew the real reason why she didn't want to come.
Pops threw him a look. "Did something happen today, Shrimp?" he asked, a concerned tinge in his tone. "Because she sounded strange on the phone."
Booth sighed, running a hand through his spiked hair. "She…Something happened," he admitted in a low voice. "A secret of hers was revealed, and it was just…It was bad."
Pops gave him a knowing look. "She's not really sick, is she, Shrimp?" Booth shook his head, feeling absolutely miserable. "Just give her time, bud. Everyone needs time to move on from something terrible."
Booth nodded, still frowning, as he grabbed his school bag and headed up the stairs to his room. He was contemplating visiting Temperance at her foster house later on, but he wasn't sure if that was a good idea. He knew for a fact that she was a force to be reckoned with when she was angry, and she had absolutely no qualms about yelling at him. He didn't want them to get carried away, start yelling and wake up her foster parents - that wouldn't be good.
Temperance had told Pops that she wouldn't make it today, but she hadn't said anything about tomorrow. He'd wait, and if she didn't show, he'd go to the library since he knew she would probably be there. If she wasn't, he'd corner her at school on Monday - there was no way he was going to let this, or anything, get in the way of their friendship.
He spent a nearly sleepless night tossing and turning, mixed emotions making his stomach churn.
One moment, he was angry at Katie, Donna and the others for being so stupid - how could someone's misfortune like this be funny to them? He had to admit to himself, though, that before Temperance, he'd probably be one of them. He wouldn't have made fun of the nameless kid, but he wouldn't have done anything to stop them, either. Temperance was different.
The next moment, he was upset that Temperance would think he would do something like this. He'd thought, especially after their recent baring of the souls to each other, that she'd known better. He would've never shared something so painfully intimate about his past to just anyone. And hadn't he proved that he was a good friend by being there for her through it all? Just when he thought he'd gotten somewhere with gaining his trust, it all just broke down, thrown back in his face.
He fell into a fitful sleep sometime near dawn, and was woken up Pops just a few hours later. As a result, he was cranky, upset and anxious over Temperance's slated arrival later on for tutoring. He scowled all through breakfast and, in an attempt to avoid Pops' questions or disapproving look, he kept his face practically in his plate, shoving food down his throat to keep his mouth too busy to talk.
"I'm going to Mrs. Bink's place down the street," Pops announced after breakfast, putting on his coat. Mrs. Bink was a widowed old lady Pops liked to spend time with whenever he could. He called her his 'lady friend'. Booth always shuddered at that, just as he was doing now. "Jared, help Seeley wash the dishes."
Jared, wide-eyed and outraged, turned to pout at Pops. "Pops!" he whined. "I'm supposed to go to Danny's house! His mom promised to take us to the park to play football, then we're gonna get ice cream!"
Pops gave him a paternal glare. "And you will, right after you finish helping your brother wash the dishes," he countered firmly. "And don't you think you can get out of this just because I'm not here - if I come back and Seeley says you didn't help, you're gonna be on bathroom cleaning duty for a week, buddy."
Jared glared at Booth the whole time, as if this was his fault, but Booth barely paid him any mind. They hurriedly did the dishes - Jared because he wanted to get to Danny's house as soon as possible, and Booth because he wanted Jared out of the house before Temperance arrived. He wasn't sure what was going to happen when she arrived but should she start yelling at him, he didn't want anyone to hear. Pops was already gone, so there was only Jared left.
He practically kicked Jared out of the house - he would've done it sooner and insist on doing the dishes alone. After all, a few plates and glasses meant nothing, but Jared was suspicious that Booth was trying to con him into bathroom duty for a week, so he stubbornly stayed until they were done.
He didn't have to worry, though, because they were done soon enough and Jared was out of the house with thirty minutes to spare. He grabbed his books, placed them neatly on the coffee table the way Temperance usually prefers and turned on the TV so he'd have something to distract himself with. It didn't actually work, since his head kept turning to the grandfather clock every thirty seconds, but it felt like time went just a little bit faster anyway.
Right on the dot, at ten o'clock, Temperance knocked on the door. He practically flew to the door and swung it open. There she stood, long brown hair tumbling limply down her shoulders, past her middle back, eyes downcast and face tilted downwards as she stared at her feet. She had a stack of books in her arms, and her big, bulky bag slung over one shoulder.
She didn't look at him as she entered, just past him and walked straight to the couch. "Sorry I couldn't make it yesterday," she said, and her voice sounded so formal it was as if she was a teacher addressing her classroom or something. "I was feeling unwell. If you'd like, we could reschedule to make up for it."
She sounded so damn detached, as if they weren't friends, as if they hadn't known each other's worst secrets…It was driving him insane.
He slammed the door close, causing her to jump, and turn to him. "Are you serious?" he asked her incredulously, seething. "Bones…"
She straightened her back, blue eyes going almost steel gray. "I'd prefer it for you to call me Temperance," she said coldly. "I am your tutor and nothing more. This should remain strictly professional."
He stalked forward, towards her. She stayed her ground, not flinching or faltering, which was impressive because he'd been known to make even tough guys on the team stumble back when he was like this.
"Bones," he said again, intentionally emphasizing her given moniker. "I did not say anything. I didn't tell a soul. You know that if I'd have told anyone, it would've been Pops. But you told me not to say anything, so I didn't."
He saw a flash of hurt in her eyes before her defenses went up again, solid brick wall, and she turned her back on him. "I think we should start on English - we have to reenact a scene from Romeo and Juliet, remember? I think the best scene would be the death scene. The balcony scene would be too overdone, and Mercutio's death would probably be done by a bigger group or a pair of boys. Unless you have a different suggestion, of course-"
He stepped forward, until his front was almost pressed up to her back, until he could feel the heat radiating off of her slim body. She could feel him, too, and stiffened, her words coming to a stop. He lifted his hands and wrapped them around her upper arms. She was so thin that his fingers overlapped.
"I didn't do it, Bones," he said, his words coming out softly. He dropped his head against the back of hers, nuzzling his nose into her hair. "I swear to you, I didn't. I would never do that."
She yanked herself away from him, rounding on him to glare icily at him. "Then how do they know?" she demanded angrily. "How do all of them know, Booth?"
He glared right back at her. "Donna Simmons followed us," he spat out, and her eyes widened, some of her anger fading from her blazing blue eyes. "She followed us that day we went for frozen yogurt. She saw me dropping you off, waited until I left, and went up to your house."
Temperance, whose eyes had grown so big they resembled saucers, gasped as something clicked in her mind. "My foster guardian," she had refused to call her foster parents her foster 'mom' or 'dad', finding it revolting to use the term on the Dawsons'. "Said that there was a girl at the door called Donna looking for her daughter."
"I didn't know, okay, Bones? I found out just after you did. No one mentioned it to me until you stormed past me. I cornered that kid who called you a…" he trailed off, not needing to finish his sentence. Temperance's face fell further at the mention, and she looked sadder, but she didn't flinch.
He continued. "He told me he heard some of the cheerleaders talking about it. I went up to Katie, and she and Donna confessed. I broke up with her when I found out."
Temperance's head snapped up and she stared at him in disbelief. She seemed speechless for the longest time possible, and he was internally smug that he'd made Temperance Brennan speechless. She was normally very chatty when it was just the two of them, or when Pops and Jared were around. She had a lot of opinions and wasn't shy on sharing them.
"You…broke…up…with…Katie Quinn?" she stuttered, looking for all the world like someone had told her aliens were having breakfast in the other room. She opened and closed her mouth several times, doing a great impression of a fish out of water. "Why?" she blurted out finally.
He shrugged. "She wasn't the girl I thought she was," he said simply, as if this explained everything. "I mean, I didn't think she was an angel or anything, but what she did was cruel. Donna said she was the one who decided to spread it around school…You're my friend, Bones. What she did to you wasn't something I could stand for. I can't look at her the same after that."
She still looked flabbergasted. "Wow," she breathed, blinking at him with large, innocent eyes. "You're…Wow. Um, thank you? Or, um, I'm sorry…About your break-up. I'm-I'm really sorry I thought you told everyone, Booth…"
Booth nodded, still not over his rant. "Bones, I can't believe after everything we've been through, you'd think I'd betray you like that!" he said.
She grimaced, looking halfway repentant and halfway defensive. "Well, you were the only one I'd ever told, Booth!" she protested. "How was I supposed to know?"
He shook his head. "That's not the point! I'm your friend, Bones. And I'm not the kind of guy to betray you, to turn my back on you. You should know this by now. I told you my darkest secret, of a past I didn't want anyone to know of, of a painful childhood I want to forget so badly. I helped you when you needed it, and I'm always going to be there for you! But you just…" he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Look, you've gotta learn to trust me here, Bones. Because I trust you."
"But the evidence…" she trailed off in a small voice, not meeting his eyes.
He smiled slightly, stepping towards her again. "Listen, you and me? We're Booth and Bones," he said, and though he was just stating the obvious, Temperance knew he was going somewhere with this. "No matter what the evidence says, we'll always have to believe each other. We'll always have to have each other's backs."
Temperance gazed into his warm, extremely beautiful pair of chocolate eyes that reminded her of safety and comfort and…Friendship. Loyal, trusting, joyful friendship. She realized then that he was right. Even though the evidence at the time had stated otherwise, she might've been too quick to judge. She had based her conclusion based on one fact alone when there had been many different possibilities she hadn't considered, like someone from school seeing her. She didn't live that far from school and though no one from school lived in the same neighborhood as her, it was still a likely possibility. She'd been too overwhelmed with emotions to think rationally yesterday, and it was something she vowed would never happen again.
"Okay," she whispered, nodding her head, smiling at Booth. "I'm sorry, Booth. I do trust you. I do. I'm just very…I jumped to conclusions. I panicked when everyone suddenly knew. I know you wouldn't do something like that. You're a very good friend, Booth."
He smiled, taking the last few steps towards her to embrace her. She melted in his arms, wrapping her thin arms around his neck and burying her face in his chest. "And I promise," she continued, her words slightly muffled by his shirt. "That no matter what the evidence says, I'll have your back."
He chuckled slightly, rubbing his hands up and down her back soothingly. "Good," he murmured, dropping a kiss to the top of her head. "I'm glad."
He pulled back slightly so that he could look into her eyes. He still had his arms around her waist, so she kept her arms around his neck, as if they were slow dancing. "Bones," he said seriously. "I know that, with everything you've gone through and everything you are going through, that it's going to be hard for you to trust others. I know it takes time - it took time for me, too. I don't trust a lot of people, still. But I trust you. I've gotten to that place where I feel it's okay."
She stared at him, confused as to where he was going with this. "I just wanted you to know that I would never betray you. I would never break your trust. I'm patient, and I'll wait for you to trust me fully, but I just needed you to know this."
She smiled up at him, blinking away unshed tears embarrassedly. "I know," she blushed a little. "And thank you, Booth. For…trusting me. And letting me trust you fully in my own time."
He was relieved that they had reconciled, and that she wasn't under any misapprehension about him any longer. It was important to him that she knew the truth.
"Let's get to work," Temperance said finally, sighing a little as she pulled away from his warm hug.
Booth groaned. "Let's watch some TV," he suggested instead, nodding towards the screen. Temperance scowled at him. "Half an hour? Twenty minutes? Ten? Aw, come on, Bones…"
Thank you for reading!
Juliet.
