Disclaimer: Alas, alac I do not own these characters. Darn.
"Tempe? Tempe?" Meredith called as she entered the house a few hours later. Wandering into the living room, she quickly glanced around searching for her friend. At first she didn't notice Tempe but when she did she quickly ran over.
"Tempe? Tempe what's wrong?" She asked, kneeling down in front of Tempe, who was curled up in the corner next to the empty fireplace. "Talk to me, please!" She entreated, as Tempe continued staring silently ahead, tears still making their way down her cheeks. "Ok, Ok it's ok." Meredith murmured, pulling Tempe into a comforting hug.
They sat that way for a while, Meredith whispering soothingly in Tempe's ear, until her tears gradually began to lessen.
"You ready to tell me what's wrong?" Mer asked, as the pair leaned back against the wall, staring at the empty room.
"We had a fight."
"Who had a fight? You and Booth?" Mer asked confused. Tempe nodded. "What did you fight about?"
Tempe hesitated, unsure of how to explain. "It's nothing really, just a misunderstanding." Tempe said, trying to shrug off the impact which the fight had had on her. Meredith merely looked sceptical.
"Oh really, nothing huh? So nothing is the reason that you were sitting here crying your eyes out?"
"I wasn't crying my eyes out, that isn't even possible anyway. I mean how could you possibly cry your eyes out?" Tempe demanded.
"It's just an expression, Tempe and you're avoiding the subject. I know you Tempe, so why don't you just tell me what's bothering you. You've been acting strange ever since Booth..." She paused, understanding suddenly dawning, "ever since Booth got his acceptance letter to Quantico. Oh Tempe, why didn't just tell him?"
"Tell him what?" Tempe replied stubbornly.
"Tell him that you're frightened of losing him." Meredith explained calmly, knowing that Tempe was still going to deny this statement, even if it was true.
"I am not frightened of losing him. Booth is just a friend anyway and he's only going to Quantico and that's not even that far away especially if I go to a College nearby." Tempe explained logically, desperately trying to ignore the feelings of misery and panic that threatened to overwhelm her every time she thought of Booth leaving. "It's not like I'm not used to people leaving me anyway, why should Booth leaving be any different?" She mumbled, laying her head on her knees, tears once again threatening to fall.
"Oh Tempe, he's not leaving you." Meredith said, having heard Tempe's muttered words.
"Psft. Whatever."
"Oh I get it."Meredith said, resisting the temptation to scoff at Tempe's actions. "You decided that rather than let him leave and hurt you, you'd push him away first, am I right?"
"Maybe."
"Uh-huh. Well I guess you've got your wish Tempe, he's gone but can you tell me if it hurts any less that you pushed him away first?" She paused and looked at Tempe's tears. "I guess it doesn't." She heaved herself up. "Just think about it Tempe, think about how hard it'll be for you to lose him for good and then think what you can do to stop that from happening."
Booth wandered aimlessly along the harbour, the lapping of the waves against the boats soothing his troubled mind. Once again, his mind was filled with thoughts of Temperance and her attempts to push him away and he almost growled in sheer frustration at her stubbornness.
"Hey, man."
"Hey, Derek, Meredith call you?" Booth asked, turning around to face his friend, who wore a slightly sheepish grin on his face. "Thought so, but I am impressed that you knew where to find me, how did you know?"
"Tempe mentioned to Mer once that you liked watching the boats when you were growing up and when she mentioned it to me, I thought about this place. I come here myself to watch the boats when I need to unwind, although it's a shame that there aren't any ferry boats." Derek sighed, causing Booth to chuckle, Derek's obsession with ferry boats now being well known.
For a while, the pair walked along the harbour, occasionally commenting on the types of boats and some of the more outrageous names. Finally after they reached the end of the harbour, Derek turned to his friend and began to speak.
"I guess this is what happens when you fall in love with girls like ours." Derek commented wryly.
"I guess so." Booth replied. "You know I went to their trials." He said after a while.
"The Cartridges?" Derek asked, a little confused by the abrupt change of subject.
"Yeah. I needed to see for myself that they were gonna rot in jail for what they did to Tempe." Booth said, scuffing his boot along the wooden slats of the harbour. "I was so angry with myself for letting Jill get near Tempe and I needed to know that she wouldn't get away with it."
"Booth, it wasn't your fault, Jill was insane, she would have found a way to Tempe eventually, so just be grateful that Tempe's ok, and stop wallowing, it's just pathetic man." Derek said, smacking Booth across the head.
"Jeese Shepherd." Booth said, startled and rubbing his head in surprise.
"So is this why you Tempe fought?"
"Subtle, Derek, very subtle!" Booth mocked. Derek smiled and bowed his head slightly in acknowledgment. "And to answer your question, no that's not why we were fighting. It's kinda hard to explain but basically I accused her of pushing me away and she didn't respond very well."
"And you were surprised by this?" Derek asked cynically. "Come on, that girl has just gone through hell and you're surprised that she's having trouble letting you in? Give me a break." He paused and ran a hand through his hair, feeling the urge to pull it out in sheer frustration. "God if I knew I was going to have to deal with this stupidity, I would've left you to it." He paused and looked at Booth directly. "YOU...ARE...AN...INDIOT! Got it? Not only do you not seem to understand that Tempe needs you to give her time, you seem to have completely forgotten that as far as she can see you'll be abandoning her soon anyway."
"What?! I would never abandon her!" Booth snapped.
"Oh come on Booth, I know that, but let's look at it this from her point of view. You'll be going to Quantico to begin your FBI training soon, won't you?" Booth nodded. "Well, whenever anyone important to her has gone away before, they've basically disappeared out of her life." Derek smiled triumphantly as he saw a look of comprehension dawn on Booth's face. "There you go. See, you are an idiot but luckily enough for you, Tempe seems to like you in spite of that, such a shame that an intelligent girl like her would go for a guy like you." Derek chuckled, dodging Booth's half-hearted punch. The pair continued to stand there for a while, watching a boat pull gently into the harbour, before Derek turned back to Booth.
"So now that your bout of stupidity is over can we go? Some of us still have to work, you know." Booth laughed as they turned to return back the way they had come, his mind now focussing on the newest information that it had been given.
OKs hope you all liked this chapter and that it explains a few things. Snow is melting but its still bleeding cold, so hopefully next chapter will be up soon. Review pleeeeeeeeeeease. pretty pretty please. anyway, *clears throat, pretending not to have begged for reviews* toodles. A xxxxxx P.S Review. heheheheheheh lol.