Author's Note: Thanks again for all the amazing reviews, you guys are great. In this chapter, when Angela is talking to Tempe, you will notice that Angela "quotes" something and Tempe comments that she sounds like Meg. The quote is an actual quote by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. I included it because it's one of my favorites, so if you hate it...well, there's really not much I can do about it, but I hope you don't hate it all the same. :-) Also, just so you know, if I go through with what I'm planning, I'm probably going to change the rating of this story to M. As always, if anyone isn't cool with this, let me know. I can be reasonable when I want to be. :-) Hope you like this one...
They arrived at the hotel a few minutes later, and quickly set about changing their clothes and gathering a few things for the beach. They met Angela and Hodgins a few minutes later.
They headed to the beach, and found it to be hot and crowded. They found a patch of sand on which to spread out the sheet they had brought, and quickly shoved the beach umbrella they had only just bought into the sand. They sat for a while, talking, pretending they weren't at the beach because at least five people were dead. Eventually, Hodgins announced that he was hot and was going swimming. Booth nodded at him vaguely, but was already dropping into an afternoon nap; the roar of the ocean was infinitely soothing.
"And we are going for a walk," Angela announced, speaking to Tempe. "C'mon, let's go."
Tempe shrugged. She didn't really feel like working on the book, and a walk on the beach seemed nice. She knew that Angela wasn't as interested in walking as she was in finding out about what had been happening with Booth, but Tempe didn't really mind. When he held her hand today, she had realized that their relationship was shifting; having someone else's opinion could be helpful.
And so, they started walking. As soon as they were out of earshot of Booth, Angela began talking. "Okay, today's the day. You promised me a heart to heart, and now it's time to follow through on your promise."
Tempe sighed. "Okay. What do you want to know?"
Angela was a bit surprised at how easy it was to get Tempe to agree to the conversation. "Start with the fights."
And so, Tempe began. She told her about the night in the hallway with Brian and Meg; she told her about Booth thinking she slept with Brian; she told her about Booth staying in her house the night she had slept at the office. Angela listened, almost too stunned to speak, as the words tumbled out of Temperance.
They walked for a long time while Tempe talked, and eventually they arrived at a spot on the beach where there were no other people. They sat down in the sand to continue their conversation.
When Tempe grew quiet, Angela spoke. "Sweetie," she said, unsure of what to say.
Temperance sighed. "That's not all, Ange…" Her eyes drifted out over the ocean for a moment, before she looked down at the sand and continued. "I don't know what to think anymore."
"What do you mean?"
Tempe closed her eyes for a second, and then shook her head. She then told Angela about all the times they had come close to kissing, about staying up all night talking, and about the movie. "Something's changing," she said, softly. "I know that after today."
Angela's head was spinning. "You have feelings for him," she said, simply.
Temperance stood up suddenly, pacing. "God, Ange, this isn't me! I don't want this!" She paused, pressing a hand to her forehead as she closed her eyes. "I don't know what to do."
"Maybe you need to give it a shot with him, to try it and find out."
Temperance sighed. "He's my work partner. It's not like he's just some random guy. I have to see him constantly. And, on top of that, I technically already have a boyfriend."
"So?"
Tempe paused and looked at her friend. "You're suggesting I cheat on Brian?"
Angela shrugged. "What is done for love occurs beyond good and evil."
Temperance smiled, recognizing the quote. "You've been talking to Meg."
Angela nodded, smiling. "Listen, I'm not suggesting you cheat on Brian. What I am suggesting is that you break up with him. You're in love with someone else."
Temperance sighed. "I'm not in love with Booth."
Angela nodded. "Yeah, I know you're not." She paused for a second, and then looked up into Tempe's face. "But you could be. And that's what scares you."
Temperance looked away. "I don't want this," she said again. She sighed, once again closing her eyes.
Angela wasn't used to seeing her friend like this. "This isn't the kind of thing you plan, Sweetie. It just happens; it's not something you can control."
"Exactly!" Temperance exclaimed. She resumed pacing as Angela stood. "What is wrong with me? Why is this happening?"
Angela smiled. 'You've met the person you would die for, the person who can tear your barriers away. The person your soul needs in order to be whole. And it scares the hell out of you.' "Nothings wrong with you. You're experiencing emotions that make you feel like you don't have control, and it scares you." Angela shrugged. "It's normal."
Temperance sighed as they resumed walking back in the direction from which they had come. Angela spoke a few minutes later. "Just go with it, Tempe. See where it leads you."
That night, Temperance and Booth sat in their hotel room at the small table in the corner. The table was now covered in files and papers of information that could be relevant to their case. They had been working for a few hours, and still Temperance hadn't been able to get Angela's nagging voice out of her head. After they had left the beach, the four of them had grabbed a light dinner before retiring back to the hotel. Temperance had been anxious to do something relevant to the case, and so the FBI agent and anthropologist had thrown themselves headlong into the stack of reports.
Temperance was able to throw out a few, based simply on factors she had seen in the bones already, but overall there wasn't much she could rule out at this point. She sighed, frustrated. "We're getting nowhere."
"We will," Booth said, his voice sleepy. "But not tonight. It's time to sleep."
Temperance nodded. She was tired herself. They rose from the table and took turns changing, before they clicked off the light and dropped to sleep.
The next day, after the now routine coffee run, the group returned to their makeshift lab at NASA where they set to work on the remains. They worked steadily for a few hours, before there was a break.
"This victim broke two of her ribs when she was a child," Temperance announced, pouring over one set of bones. She told Booth which two. He quickly made a note, and began using the computer to search the files.
"Which set of remains are these? How long had they been at the site?" He asked, as he clicked. Angela and Hodgins watched with interest. They could have their first victim.
"Two years. The same length of time as the boy's bones we found," Temperance said, her eyes scanning the remains.
Booth was able to pull up a few files that fit Temperance's description. An hour later, they had managed to go through them all, and Temperance announced, "we have it, guys. Our first victim. Meet Tamara Livingstone."
"Tamara," Angela repeated, as they all stared. "How old was she?"
Booth's eyes scanned the screen. "Disappeared when she was 17. According to a statement from her parents, she left one day to pick something up from the drugstore and never came back. Last sighting of her was between 12:30 and 1:00pm. She was a local."
"She disappeared in the middle of the day?" Hodgins asked.
Booth shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. That was just the last sighting of her; anything could have happened after that."
They group stared at the pile of bones that had once been a living girl. "The decomp and dirt suggest that she didn't live very long after she disappeared."
Booth nodded. Angela looked up at him. "What now?"
"Now, we go find Mr. and Mrs. Livingstone," Booth answered. He looked at Tempe, who nodded and pulled off her gloves.
Booth and Tempe headed to the car, telling Angela and Hodgins that they would be back soon. They drove to the address that was included in the file, and soon found themselves sitting in front of a small house near a campground on the far end of the island.
Booth knocked on the door, glancing over at Bones as he did so. Her face was stoic. He didn't bother to tell her to be careful with how much she revealed to these people. She had done this enough now that she was careful to respect the emotions of the parents, even though the parents were potential suspects.
The door was soon answered, and a heavyset man in shorts and a loose fitting tee shirt greeted them. He looked confused when he saw them standing on his front step.
"What can I do for ya?" he asked.
Booth gave him a tight smile, and quickly flashed his badge. "I'm Agent Seeley Booth with the FBI, this is Dr. Temperance Brennan. We'd like to talk to you for a few minutes regarding the disappearance of your daughter."
The color instantly drained from the man's face. "What's going on? Did you find her?"
"Can we please come inside, Mr. Livingstone?"
The look of fear on the man's face didn't fade as he nodded and stepped to the side, granting them entry.
The house, put nicely, was modestly furnished. The furniture was tattered and worn, and the walls and carpets were obviously old and stained with years of life and cigarette smoke. Most of the decorations didn't match each other, and Temperance almost instantly noticed that there were still a few Christmas decorations sitting out, despite the fact that Christmas had been nearly six months ago.
Booth and Temperance sat down on the couch after Mr. Livingstone motioned for them to do so. "May we ask where Mrs. Livingstone is today?" Booth asked, his tone gentle. The man was oddly endearing in a messy sort of way.
"She moved out," he said. "Went to Vegas. After Tammy took off, it just didn't suit her to stay around here. She never much cared for it."
Booth nodded. "Mr. Livingstone, I'm very sorry to inform you that your daughter's remains were found a few days ago at the Refuge."
The man froze for a moment, and then gave them a strange smile. "No. No they weren't. You're wrong. Tammy isn't dead."
Booth felt bad for the man as he saw him stand. "I'm sorry, sir."
"No!" Mr. Livingstone nearly shouted. "You must have gotten something wrong. My Tammy isn't dead. My baby isn't dead!"
Temperance spoke then. "It's her, Mr. Livingstone. We're sure."
"NO!" the man shouted. Then he fell back into his chair, burying his face in his hands. "My baby…my baby…" he repeated over and over, as he began to sob.
After a few minutes, Booth cleared his throat and spoke again. "Sir, if it's at all possible, is there anything you can tell us about Tammy? Anything that might help us find who did this to her?"
The man looked up, his face swollen and red. "I thought she ran off with her boyfriend. Her and her mom never got along. Paula hated her boyfriend. Tammy always said she was going to run away with him. I guess when she went missing I imaged she had run off with him."
"What was his name?" Temperance asked, her brain immediately remembering the skeleton of the boy that had been buried as long as Tammy.
"Vince Greogory," he said, his voice shaky and weary. "Good kid. Tammy was crazy about him." He began to sob again.
Tempe and Booth rose from their seats. "We're very sorry, Mr. Livingstone. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us." Booth pulled out a card. "If you think of anything else, please call me at this number."
The distraught man barely seemed to register Booth's words. Booth left the card on a nearby table, and he and Tempe walked back to the waiting SUV. After climbing in, they headed back toward their NASA makeshift morgue.
After arriving, they quickly filled Angela and Hodgins in on what had happened. Temperance then began pouring over the boy's remains as Booth pulled up the file on Vincent Greogory. Temperance studied the bones and Booth read through the facts and medical history. Everything seemed to check out. By 7:30pm, Temperance had announced that they had the name of their second victim that day; the male remains they had found were Vincent Greogory, age 20, who had last been seen between the hours of 9:00 and 10:00am the same day his girlfriend went missing.
"Vince was a football player," Hodgins said as his eyes scanned the file. "It says here he weighed over 200 lbs. He would have been hard to overpower. And he was last seen in the morning, when it was light out. Any struggle, especially between him and someone strong enough to overpower him would have had to be noticed."
Temperance started at Vince's bones. The facts did seem troubling.
"Maybe he knew the person who killed him," Angela offered. "Maybe there wasn't a struggle and he just went with them."
"Even then," Booth said, "he would have been tough to kill later. He had to be knocked out or subdued at some point or he would have put up a hell of a fight."
Temperance just stared at the remains. 'What happened to you, Vince?' she thought. 'Why would someone kill you and your girlfriend?' "He went missing the same day his girlfriend did. They talked about running away together; whoever killed them had a plan. They knew to get them at the same time."
Angela nodded. "But why would you want to kill a couple of kids?"
No one had an answer to that question.
They worked for a while longer on the other sets of remains, but the events of the day had left everyone worn out. Booth announced that he and Bones would head to Vince's parent's house the next day to see if there was any information they could gain. At 8:30 they decided to leave and head back to the hotel. On the way, Angela mentioned that Kate Ribald had called. They were having dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Ribald on Wednesday.
And so, after a long day, the three squints and one FBI agent ate a quick dinner of sandwiches and chips from a nearby Subway, and then retired to their rooms.
Booth and Temperance didn't talk very much as they prepared for bed. Tempe cast a sideways glance at the still overflowing table in the corner of the room, and sighed. The sight made her wonder what her desk at the Jeffersonian was beginning to look like. Hopefully Zach was handling things alright; Goodman hadn't called, so she assumed there wasn't a problem.
She gave Meg a quick call before she went to bed. Booth was taking a fast shower.
"Hey, Tempe, how's everything going?" Meg asked when she heard Tempe's voice on the phone.
Temperance explained the case to her, and about how they were starting to pull at threads. After a few minutes, Tempe asked, "so, how are things going with Zach? Is he making any progress?"
Meg sighed. "He's unbelievable. I've never met anyone who was worse with women, or people in general, for that matter."
Tempe sighed. "Giving up yet?"
"Not on your life. I swear this kid will have a girlfriend before I go home."
Tempe laughed, and the two talked for a few more minutes before saying goodnight. Tempe hung up her cell and stuck it back in her bag as Booth stepped out of the bathroom.
He was still damp from the shower water, and Tempe noticed that his tee shirt stuck slightly to his damp arms. He smiled at her and he crawled under the covers.
"Night, Bones," he said.
She smiled at her nickname as she curled under her own blankets. "Night, Booth."
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