Disclaimer: Still don't own anything.
Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed.
Meg returned a few minutes later, two beers in her hands. She handed one to Booth before settling comfortably at the opposite end of the couch.
"So, you know Bones from school. Does that mean you are a scientist, too, or…?"
Meg laughed and shook her head. "Oh no," she said. "Definitely not. No, Tempe and I met in a Chem. 101 class our freshman year of undergrad school. She was my lab partner, which was great for me since I was nearly failing. Not so lucky for her, I guess." They both chuckled at the mental image. "Anyway, Tempe basically pulled me through, and we became good friends. We ended up sharing an apartment from the time we were juniors up until part way through grad school." She paused to take a drink of her beer.
"So, what did you study?" He asked, repeating her actions with his own drink.
"Philosophy."
Booth nearly choked. "How did you and Bones live together? I would have thought philosophy would have driven her crazy."
Laughingly, she replied, "it did. She hated it whenever I would talk about it. She said she didn't understand why I could be so interested in something with no practical implications and no answers. She didn't tend to enjoy the abstract."
"I can imagine."
Meg shrugged. "Maybe that's why we get along so well—because we're so different. I personally can't imagine spending my entire day in a room full of dead bodies."
Booth nodded. "So, what do you do now?"
"I'm a college professor. What else are you going to do with a doctorate in philosophy?" She smiled. "Spring semester just ended, so Tempe and I figured it was a good time to get together again. Although, judging by the looks of her tonight, it seems we may have been wrong."
"Nah, she just had a long day. Mostly my fault, I guess. She's pretty much done with the case I had her working on, though, so maybe things will slow down a little for her." Booth swallowed the last of his beer and rose from the couch. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I think I need to head home and get some rest. It was very nice meeting you, though, Dr….?"
"Goode. But you can call me Meg. Nice meeting you, too…agent Booth, is it?" she replied, reaching out to shake his hand.
He nodded his head. "Call me Seeley."
"Great, it was nice to meet you, Seeley. Hopefully we can get together again before I have to leave town. I've heard so much about the people Tempe works with, I'd love to spend some time with you all."
"Definitely," Booth agreed. He moved to the door. "Well, good night."
"Good night."
The door clicked shut as Booth left, and Meg straightened the couch before turning off the light and nestling down again, her eyes closing as she dropped into sleep.
Temperance awoke the next morning feeling slightly disoriented. She was still fully dressed from the day before, complete with shoes, and she was lying on top of all her sheets and blankets. Her left arm was absolutely devoid of feeling, as apparently she had been laying on it all night. With a small groan, she draped it over the side of her bed in an attempt to regain some blood flow. She yawned broadly, and slowly sat up. Her head was pounding and she felt groggy, but overall she was much brighter than she had been the night before. She glanced at the clock. 8:14am. Pushing herself into a sitting position with her good arm, she stretched and yawned again, as she allowed the memories from the night before to come back to her.
She heard the muffled sound of a spoon scraping a bowl and the rustling of a newspaper in the next room, and she suddenly remembered—Meg. She rose from the bed and kicked off her shoes before walking into the kitchen.
Her friend's face brightened when she saw Tempe. "Morning, Sunshine," she said cheerfully. She had the paper spread on the table before her, which indicated that she had already been out for the morning since Tempe didn't have the paper delivered. Her golden brown hair was pulled into a ponytail, with a few errant strands framing her face. She looked scrubbed and awake, and Tempe was more than a little surprised that her friend's shower hadn't woken her up. She wore jeans and a black short sleeved shirt, with worn cross trainers laced onto her feet.
"Morning," Tempe replied, still struggling to wake up. "Sorry I didn't get to talk to you last night." She grabbed a bowl and spoon before dropping into the chair opposite of Meg. She then reached for the cereal and the milk to begin her breakfast.
"Don't worry about it," Meg said between bites. "I was tired from the trip here anyway. It was kind of nice to have a quiet evening with no papers to grade."
Tempe ate her cereal and felt herself waking up considerably faster. "Oh, so you give grades in philosophy? I thought it was all based on personal interpretation."
Meg shrugged, not looking up from the paper. "In some ways, but you can grade based on how well a position was argued as well. And on how well they understand the theories of other philosophers." She looked up at her friend. "You know I love you, but you look like shit."
Tempe laughed lightly. "Thanks. I'm about to get a shower and then I have to go to work. What are you up to today?"
"I thought I'd bum around the city for a while, and then maybe come by and see you. You promised to show me around where you work."
"Sure," Tempe answered, swallowing the last of her breakfast. "Come by whenever. I should be in the lab all day." She dropped her bowl in the sink and walked back to the bathroom, leaving her friend working on the crossword puzzle in the morning paper.
She showered and dressed quickly, and about thirty minutes later she was ready to leave. She walked into the living room, where Meg was lifting a book bag onto her shoulders. They talked a bit more as they headed out the door, and then split in different directions as Meg continued to walk down the street and Temperance headed for her car, both yelling "see you later!" over their shoulders as they did so.
By noon, Temperance and her team had finished the identification of all seven bodied recovered from Lambert's hideout. The fact that the task was now behind them lightened everyone's mood considerably, and they all relaxed over a long lunch before throwing themselves headlong into the process of signing the reports and forms for the case. Around two o'clock, there was a slight knocking on Temperance's office door.
"Hey, Meg," Temperance said as she saw her friend standing in the doorway. "Come on in and sit down, this form should only take another minute or two."
Meg did so, dropping her book bag onto the floor as she took in Tempe's office. Her observations were interrupted, however, as only a few seconds later Angela walked through the door.
"Hey, sweetie, I think I need you to sign off on this one, too," Angela said as she dropped the folder onto Temperance's desk.
"Thanks, Ange." She added the folder to her stack before pointing to Meg. "Angela, this is Meg, Meg, this is Angela," Temperance said by way of introduction.
"Oh, right, Tempe's friend from college. It's great to finally meet you," Angela said warmly.
"You must be the artist. Tempe's told me a lot about you," Meg replied. The two exchanged more pleasantries as Temperance worked on finishing the report on her desk. By the time Temperance was finishing up, it seemed that the two had hit it off.
"We should all go to dinner tonight," Angela was saying.
"Yeah, that would be great," Meg replied.
It was then that Booth entered the office. "Hey, Bones, I have some more paperwork for you to sign off on," he said by way of introduction as he approached her desk. Angela watched Meg as her eyes were instantly drawn to the FBI Agent.
'Uh-oh,' Angela thought to herself. 'What's this? Someone has noticed our handsome FBI Agent. Unfortunately, the wrong person has finally noticed him.'
Temperance sighed. "Thanks, Booth, just sit it on the pile with the others."
Booth nodded and dropped the papers. He then turned around and smiled at the two other women as if he hadn't noticed until then that they were in the room. "Hey, guys," he said. "How's it going?"
"Great," Angela replied. "Actually, we were just talking about all going out to dinner tonight. What are you up to?"
Booth shrugged as his eyes briefly flicked over to where Temperance sat, her head buried in the work on her desk, apparently oblivious to their conversation. "Nothing, I guess. What time are we going?"
Booth's quick look did not escape Angela's notice. 'And someone has noticed our beautiful forensic anthropologist. At least this time it was the right two people.'
"Why don't we say around 8?" Angela suggested.
"Sound's good," Booth replied. They spent a few more minutes deciding where they were going and where everyone was going to meet. At Angela's suggestion, Booth was going to pick up Temperance and Meg, while she and Hodgins would get Zach.
"See you then," Booth said as he turned to leave the office. "See you later, Bones."
She nodded and waved slightly, barely looking up from her work as she did so.
Once he was safely out of earshot, Meg looked at Temperance and Angela and said, "okay, spill it. What's wrong with him?"
Angela and Temperance looked back at her. "What do you mean?" Temperance asked.
"Is he married?" Meg asked, dropping onto the couch.
"No, not married," Angela answered, unsure as to whether or not she liked where this conversation was going.
"Dating someone? Engaged?"
"No, he's single," Angela answered again. Temperance had resumed her paperwork.
Meg's eyes widened for a moment, as if in understanding. "Oh," she said. "So he's…gay?"
Temperance's head shot up at that as she and Angela started laughing.
"No, he's not gay," Temperance replied. "At least, I don't think he is."
"No, definitely not gay," Angela affirmed.
Meg looked at the two women, a slight air of confusion painted across her face. "So, he's completely unattached. Why aren't either one of you dating him?"
"I'm dating Hodgins," Angela replied. "Bren, why aren't you dating him?"
Temperance's head snapped back up as her friend's words played in her mind. "Because…we work together. It would be completely inappropriate. And, besides, Booth isn't really my type." She allowed her eyes to fall back to the paperwork on her desk, willing her mind to concentrate, although all that she could think about was her friend's question and her own response. What was her relationship with Booth?
'Friends,' her brain answered. 'You don't care for him in a romantic way. He's just a colleague and a friend. A good friend. But that's all. Strictly professional.'
She mentally nodded to her own reasoning, all the while knowing in the back of her mind that this wasn't entirely accurate. Booth was a good friend, that was true, but at the same time she felt that he was more than that to her. However, what he was exactly still seemed to elude her. She gave a mental sigh. For now, good friend was the best she could do.
"Not your type?" Meg replied, her face showing her shock. "How can he not be your type? He's gorgeous!"
"Well, why don't you go out with him, then?" The words were out of Temperance's mouth before she had the chance to stop them.
"Are you serious?" Meg asked, skepticism showing in her voice. "You wouldn't care?"
Temperance was stuck. What could she do? She had already said that she that she wasn't attracted to him, that he wasn't her type. What was she going to do now? Say that her friend couldn't pursue Seeley Booth because she, Temperance, was unsure of how she felt about him? No, she was stuck, and she knew it. Her only option now was to go along with what she started and hope—pray—that it wouldn't work out.
"Yeah, sure. Go ahead, it's fine. You're both adults; you're free to do whatever you want," Temperance answered, all the while regretting her earlier comment.
"Can you set us up? You know, give him my number or something?" Meg asked, still unsure as to whether or not this was actually okay.
"Yeah, sure," Temperance answered, all the while mentally cursing herself.
"Wow. Thanks, Tempe. Really, thanks." Her face showed her obvious jubilation as she spoke to her friend.
Temperance just nodded.
Angela was in absolute shock. She could not believe what she had just witnessed. The three women stayed and talked for a while longer before Meg had to leave. After she had exited the office, Angela turned to Temperance.
"What the hell was that?" She asked, unable to keep the incredulity from her voice.
"What?"
"What you just told Meg! What are you doing?"
Temperance shrugged. "I have no claim over Booth. If someone wants to date him, they can date him. It's none of my business." She said the words clearly, as if she really meant them, all the while ignoring the bad taste that was rising in her mouth.
Angela just stared at her. "Sweetie, this is Booth, okay? Booth. Your Booth. The guy who broke out of a hospital with broken ribs to rescue you. The guy who flew to New Orleans to make sure you were okay. The guy who put his professional career on the line and who tampered with evidence just to give you back an earring. I mean, Meg's a very nice girl, but come on, can you honestly tell me you don't have feelings for him at all?" Angela usually wasn't this direct with her friend when talking about Booth, but the scene she had just witnessed made it impossible for her to act otherwise.
"I don't have feelings for him," Temperance replied, her voice even and her face straight. She ignored the buzzing in her head as her unspoken words echoed in her brain. 'I don't want to have feelings for him.' Her eyes betrayed nothing.
Angela didn't know how to respond. "Okay, sweetie, if you say so."
Temperance gave her a small nod and then resumed the paperwork that was before her on her desk. Angela just shook her head.
"Alright, I'm going to go try to finish some things. I'll see you tonight."
"See you," Temperance answered.
'They're supposed to be together. The NEED to be together. They're absolute messes apart from one another, but together they click. Booth sees it, why can Brennan?' Angela sighed to herself as she walked back to her office. She didn't know what was going to come of this new development with Meg, but she had a feeling it wasn't going to be good.
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