Chapter 14: The Confrontation

AN: Glad you guys liked the the last chapter. Here's the next installment, R&R please!!!

"Let me do the talking, alright?"

Temperance frowned at Booth, as he held the door open for her. She entered the Jeffersonian, scowling."Why? I should have a right to question the potential suspect. It is me that they're trying to kill." She sounded petulant, even to her own ears.

"Because Cam is still your boss, and you will probably get your self fired. You aren't the most tactful person, and I don't want you to outright accuse her. I don't honestly believe that she has anything to do with this."

Temperance felt a stab of jealousy at his words. "Why? Because you know her intimately?" She winced sharpness of her tone. She didn't mean to sound accusing, but Temperance never liked the woman, and knowing that up until recently, she had been sleeping with Booth only added to her dislike.

I was trying to forget you, Temperance. I didn't think that you returned my feelings, and it hurt. His voice filled her head, and she couldn't help but smile a little.

"I know that, Booth." She reached out and grasped his hand. "I was having a moment of cattiness, but it passed."

He let out a bark of laughter. "At least you can admit it... I've never known a woman to do that before."

"Well, I'm not like most women."

"Yeah, most women I know couldn't kick my ass."

She winked at him. "Don't you forget it."

"Dr. Brennan!"

Temperance and Booth turned at the sound of Zack's voice, the young anthropologist ran toward them as if someone was hot on his tail. He skidded to a stop just before crashing into one of them.

"What is it Zack?" She asked concerned.

Zack looked around nervously, "Can we talk in your office?"

Temperance felt her pulse quicken, "Sure Zack."

They changed direction, and headed for her office. She felt Booth tense behind her, and she turned to see what the problem was. He had stopped walking, and was staring off to the side. She followed the path of his gaze, and cursed. Dr. Michael Stires was walking right toward them. Temperance lowered her eyes to his lab coat, and security badge. Mother fucker.

No tender feelings toward this one, huh? Temperance jumped slightly, and looked at Booth. She hadn't realized she was projecting her thoughts at the moment, and it caused her cheeks to redden.

"Tempe, how are you? I heard about your accident, are you okay?" His voice was laced with concern, but for some reason, it sounded forced. She scowled at him as Booth stepped in front of her. "Look, we are investigating a few things, and until this is solved, I don't want you to talk to her. Is that understood?" His voice had a hard edge to it.

I don't need you to protect me.

Booth never took his eyes of Stires. Who said I was protecting you? I can feel your enmity, Bones. You were about to attack.

Temperance thought about that for a minute. You're protecting him? She asked slowly, as the man in question scowled at them both, and stalked away.

"I just don't want you to go all Jackie Chan on me until we get some answers. If we find out that he is the culprit, then I will hold him down for you while beat him. But until then, we need to play it cool."

Zack looked between the two, with confusion swimming in his eyes.

"That sounds rational," She said, then, "Who's Jackie Chan?"

Booth shook his head in amusement, for some one so smart, she was pretty clueless when it came to any kind of pop-culture references. One of the things he always loved about her.

Unlocking the door to her office, Temperance stepped inside, followed by Booth and Zack. Once she closed the door behind them, Zack pulled a slightly crumpled sheet of paper out of the pocket on his lab coat. Without a word he handed it to Temperance.

She looked it over briefly, then swore. "Well this proves that the evidence was planted on the Jackson girl." She said to Booth. "Zack found a minute trace of cotton on the DNA, which implies that it was placed on the back molars, probably with a Q-tip."

"We already knew that." Booth said, his frustration palpable.

Relax, Booth. This is a good thing, finally a hard piece of evidence that we can use. I don't think a jury would except my "feelings" as evidence. She met his eyes, Now tell Zack that he did a good job and your proud of him.

Booth winced, But...

Just do it! She added, then on impulse sent him a vision of himself hanging from a hook, by his underwear.

He stifled his laughter, and turned to the boy. "Good job, Zack." Booth said loudly, slapping him on the back. He left out the 'I'm proud of you' part. A man could only do so much.

An ear to ear grin spread across Zack's face, and Booth realized for the first time how much his approval meant to the young doctor. It made him feel a little guilty for always picking on him.

"Thank you, Agent Booth. I should get back to work now, before Cam suspects anything."

As he opened the door to leave, Dr. Saroyan stood on the other side, with a murderous expression on her face. Zack squeaked, and hurried past her. She barely noticed, her eyes were on Temperance.

"I thought I told you that you weren't to come back here until the doctor said it was okay?" She barked, taking several steps into the room.

"I'm fine, Dr. Saroyan. If I can take down a couple of gun men, I think I can work."

Cam's eye's grew wide at her words. "Are you okay? Jesus, you're just a magnet for trouble, aren't you." Her words sounded sincere, which confused her.

"Are you aware that some one put a hit out on me?"

"No, no." She shook her head to emphasize her words. Temperance felt her confusion grow, so she did the only thing she knew would help her understand. She reached out and took Cam's hand.

God, how much shit can one woman go through? How many attempts have been made on her life? Ten, twenty? Gotta admire her strength.

Releasing her hand awkwardly, she muttered, "Thanks for your concern." Although Cam looked at her suspiciously, she didn't comment on the gesture.

"Cam... were you going to replace me?"

"What? No, why would you think that?" There was no faking the surprise in her voice, she was not involved in this.

"Michael."

Understanding lit her eyes. "Dr. Stires was hired to help identify some of the remains from limbo. You have been busy with your investigations, and the higher ups wanted an extra hand." She shrugged. "Seems nice enough. After your accident, I've had him take a look at some things for me. Don't tell Zack, it's not that I don't trust his capabilities, I just needed a second opinion on some of his findings."

Booth spoke for the first time since she entered. "Why wasn't Bones told of this?"

"Is there a reason she should have been?" Cam asked, looking at him with blatant disdain. Apparently she was still bitter about the breakup.

"He was my professor." Temperance answered, "We had kind of a thing..."

"Ohhh."

"There's something else you should know," Temperance began. "We have evidence that DNA was planted on Veronica Jackson." She handed Cam the paper.

Cam scanned the sheet, her eyes growing dark as understanding dawned. "Son of a bitch."

"Yeah," Booth answered. "Someone who has access to the platform is our culprit."

Her eyes strayed from Booth, to Temperance. "Why are you telling me this? I thought I would be high up on your list of suspects."

She smiled sheepishly. "You were. I'm not very good at reading people, but Booth said you weren't capable of something like this. After talking to you, I agree."

"Thanks... I think." She answered, returning the smile.

"We're going to do some poking around," Booth told her. "But it needs to be low key, we don't want to scare this guy off before catching him."

She nodded. "I understand. If there's anything I can to help, let me know."

"You could let me come back to work, it would make things easier."

"Sure, you can start tomorrow."

Temperance looked at Cam in a whole knew light, although she doubted that they would ever become good friends... Dr. Saroyan had definitely earned her respect. And that wasn't an easy feat.

As Booth pulled out of the parking lot, he turned to Temperance. "What made you change your mind about her?"

"I saw her mind, she was truly concerned." She sighed wearily. "I feel like a louse."

"Hey, it's not your fault. I wasn't entirely sure about her involvement either."

She smiled. "So what's are next move?"

A shadow fell over his eyes. "We go talk to Sully."

Temperance groaned. This was not going to be fun. From the feelings that Booth were emitting, she was going to be in for one hell of a testosterone battle.

AN: Next chapter is going to include a sexy display of Alpha maleness, some Parker interaction, and lots of fluff. Thank you guys so much for all your reviews. I've gotten a few suggestions for scenes in my story, and I'll try to add them in. One that I was definitely into was having Temperance witness one of Booth's war nightmares. I'll do that within the next couple of chapters. Thanks for the great idea seudo.