"Buy her lilies." Russ had told her Booth just before they had gone their separate ways. "It's the best way to have her forgive you. She just loves those flowers."

Booth didn't know why he had actually taken Russ' advice on that but he had found himself nevertheless standing in front of Brennan's door, a bouquet of lilies in his hands. He had knocked three times and was waiting for Brennan to answer her door. He didn't wait long before the door opened and a very tired Brennan stood in front of him.

Before she could say anything or slam the door in his face he practically shoved the flowers in her face. She took a step back, surprised, then a small smile stretched on her face. She slowly took the flowers. Booth let go of the breath he didn't know he had been holding.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

Brennan nodded. She stepped aside to let her friend and Booth closed the down behind him.

"How did you know?" she asked him, still smelling the flowers.

"How did I know what?"

"The lilies? How did you know they were my favorite flowers?"

"Lucky shot?" He replied. "Bones, I'll need to ask you a couple of questions, I mean, if you're up for it. If you're not, I totally understand."

"Russ told you huh? He told you what happened?"

Brennan looked up from her flowers.

"Yeah."

Booth looked down. He didn't like doing stuff behind her back but this time he didn't have a choice. He wanted the answers, he knew she wanted them too, and he was determined to give them to her.

"Go in the living room. I'll be right with you."

Booth disappeared in the living room while Brennan went in the kitchen. While she looked in her cupboards for a vase, she couldn't help but smile despite all the pain she was feeling. It had been so sweet of him to bring her flowers. She hated the fact that he had brought her lilies. If it had been any other kind of flowers she wouldn't have forgiven him so easily. But lilies... she had a feeling his brother had been in on it. He was probably the one who had told Booth about it.

"Give her lilies, she'll forgive you."

She could practically hear Russ telling him that.

She joined Booth a couple of minutes later. She had finally found a vase and the flowers were now resting comfortably in their new watery home. She sat down beside Booth and turned to face him. She took his hands between hers but he immediately pulled them away.

"It's not the time for this, Temperance. I have a couple of questions, it won't take long. I promise."

Bones nodded.

"Your brother already gave me the whole story so you won't need to tell me everything. He said that the day your parents disappeared, they had a fight. Did you know that?"

"No I didn't. I was pretty much oblivious to everything around me. You see, I was reading this book on..."

"Let's not get side-tracked, Bones."

He smiled at her. She smiled back.

"As you now know, your mother was pregnant and according to your brother, who heard part of their fight, they were arguing over a woman named Brenda."

"Brenda?"

Her face had lit up at the sound of her nanny's name. Russ was right. To them, she was like a second mother.

"Yes. Apparently your mom was having doubts on her ability to raise the new baby and she wanted to call Brenda back. Your brother didn't say much about that woman. Tell me about her."

"She was really nice. Apparently she moved in when Russ was just a baby. She raised me. My mom was always there for us, she loved us, but Brenda always seemed to be there even more for us, to love us even more. She would take us on picnics, to the park, to the pool, she took us on trips. She went to school with me on my first day of kindergarten. She helped me and Russ with our homework. Later, whenever we had a problem, we would go see Brenda. She always had the answer to every tiny problem."

"Was your mother jealous of Brenda?"

"I think she was. She never really showed it until Brenda left us for good. When I was 11, my mom thanked her for all of her help and Brenda left. Then my parents went on about their lives and never mentioned her again. Russ and I would go visit Brenda behind our parents' backs. We thought it would upset them if they found out."

"How old was Brenda?"

"She was my dad's age. She was 41 when she left us."

"What happened to her after she left your house?"

"She bought a small house not too far from where we lived. It was small but cozy. Me and Russ even had our own rooms."

"Where did she get her money?"

"Her parents died. She had a lot of money while she was living with us but she never really spent any."

"The house where she lived, where was it?"

Brennan stopped to think for a moment.

"Five streets away from ours. It was close to my school."

"Yes Tempe but where was it? Inside Westminster? Outside of it? Downtown?"

Brennan was uncomfortable and Booth sensed it. He also sensed there was something she wasn't telling him. After a couple of seconds of silence, Brennan finally answered.

"We passed it on our way back from the site last week. Remember, you said that it was a lovely house?"

Booth thought back to a week before. He did remember saying that about a house but he couldn't remember anything else. He couldn't remember what the house had looked like at all.

"Other than moving to that house, what else happened?"

"Nothing. She just lived off her parents' money."

"How old were you the last time you saw Brenda?"

"I was maybe 13, maybe 14. I can't remember. Russ and I had slept at her house that night. Even though our room had been there for a while, we had never used it. When we woke up the next morning, Brenda was all ready up and had made us breakfast. Pancakes, just the way we loved them. She had sat down with us and had looked at us. She said that we wouldn't be able to come here anymore. When I asked her why, she almost started crying. She said that it was time for us to go our separate ways. That we had a loving family and that's where we belonged. I remember looking across the table at Russ. He was as confused as I was. After that morning, we never heard from Brenda again. Every time we'd stop by, she'd never open the door. We gave up after a while and went on with our lives. But I never really forgot her."

Booth smiled sympathetically.

"Russ also mentioned that just before leaving your house, your parents got a call from Brenda. Did you know that?"

"No, I didn't." She answered honestly.

"He also mentioned that on that day, you did something that really surprised him: you went to the movies with a friend of yours. Do you remember that?"

"Yes. I went with Felicity. Except we didn't go see a movie."

"Oh?"

"You see, Felicity had this crush on this guy and we went to meet him up somewhere. We did eventually make it to the movies except Felicity ditched me. She said that she wanted to spend time alone with Gerry I think his name was and had left me alone outside the movie theater."

Brennan immediately stopped talking and Booth sensed that something was wrong. There was once again another detail she was hiding from him. Bones felt the pair of eyes on her and looked away. She didn't know if she should tell him or not. She had never told that part to anyone. Not even to the policemen who had interviewed her back then. She felt ashamed, she felt terrible. She felt like it had been her fault that her parents had died. Even today she could feel herself pushing that thought away whenever it came back to haunt her. But today she'd have to tell Booth. That man could read her mind. She wouldn't be able to hide this from him and deep down inside she didn't want to either.

"What happened after that, Temperance?"

She looked up to him. He had spoken so gently. Her name, coming out of his mouth, had sounded like music to her ears and she found herself wishing he called her that more often. There was just something in the way he said her name that made the butterflies in her stomach dance around.

"Felicity ditched you then what?"

Brennan took a deep breath. The images flowed through her mind as she told Booth what had happened.

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

She had walked out of the movie theater pretty angry. She was storming down the street when she saw a car pull over near her. She turned around and was surprised to see her parents.

"What are you doing here, Tempe?" her mother asked.

"I was with Felicity but she ditched me." Temperance answered. "Can I have a ride home with you guys?"

Her mother had looked away, evidently uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but you can't. There's just one place we have to go to and then we'll come back home. I promise."

Then she had seen it. She had meant to look at what her mother was holding in her hands but her eyes had fallen on the bulging stomach instead. How come she had never noticed that before? How could she have not noticed?

"Mom? What's this?"

"What's what, Honey?"

"That! Your stomach. It's bulging. Why? Are you pregnant?"

Paulina hadn't answered. Temperance heard her father cleared his throat and tell her mother that they should go on their way.

"Not before you tell me if you're pregnant or not!" Tempe had said.

"Sweetie, listen. Yes, I am pregnant but..."

"Why but? Does Russ know about this? Of course he knows, you always favored him. He wasn't as smart as me so guys had to tell him stuff like that. Of course, smart Tempe didn't need to know all of that because she's the smart one, she can guess pretty much anything!"

"Sweetie, that's not..."

"When were you planning on telling me this? When the baby was born? When your stomach started to show and that you wouldn't be able to hide it anymore?"

"Tempe, we were going to tell you and Russ tonight."

"I don't believe you!"

James had stepped in.

"Paulina, we really need to go."

"Fine, go! Leave! I don't care. I'll walk home! Better than that, I'll walk to Brenda's! At least she treats me like her own daughter."

Just before the car had sped off, Temperance had seen the look on her mother's face. She knew that she had hurt her. But back then, at that particular moment, she hadn't felt bad.

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

"So you saw your parents after they left the house?"

"Yes."

"What time was that at?"

"I don't know. It was passed six maybe. I have no clue."

"Is there anything else you can remember?"

"No, that's it."

"You said that your eyes were drawn to what your mother was holding just before your eyes found your mother's stomach. What was it?"

"I can't remember."

"You can't remember or you don't want to remember?"

A little bit of both, Tempe thought to herself.

"I can't remember."

"Where do you think your parents were going? You said your dad looked in a rush."

"I don't know."

"Do you think that they could have been going to Brenda's house?"

"It's possible. Maybe. Look, Booth, I don't know."

Booth could feel that she was growing impatient. He decided to call it a day.

"Come on, get dressed, I'm taking you out."