CHAPTER FOUR
"Come on Bones. Hurry up." Booth urged, shifting the sleeping cat in his arms. "God, this cat ways a ton! What the hell do you feed him?"
"Shut up Booth." Temp continued to pack, moving slowly because of her head. Booth had called a crime scene team, which had come and gone, taking the brick and the note with them. Now Booth was standing in the doorway of Tempe's bedroom, watching her pack, while trying to hold onto twenty three pounds of limp fur. Tempe looked around the room, the tilted her head to smile at Booth, a smile that made his knees weak. 'God, where did she learn to smile like that?' He wondered briefly.
"Booth can you hand me that picture?" She asked motioning at a framed picture on a small table next to the door. Booth glanced at it and had to smile. Tempe and Angela were standing at the beach, holding Sandri between them and beaming at the camera, while a man standing next to Tempe looked like he didn't want to be there, standing a little apart from Tempe, Angela andSandri and frowning.
"Is that Sandri's dad?" He asked gently, handing her the picture. Tempe took it, looking a little sad as she touched her daughters face through the glass.
"Yeah." She took a deep breath and set the picture gently in the suitcase before zipp8ing it up. Booth set Bones down in the corner, out of the way. The cat didn't even notice, just went right on sleeping.
"Are you okay Bones?" In two steps, Booth had crossed to her side and cupped her cheek in his hand. She sighed and closed her eyes at the contact, which allowed some of the tears in her eyes to fall. Booth leaned in and kissed them away. "He hurt you, didn't he?" He whispered, resting his forehead on hers, his free hand taking hand and interlacing their fingers.
"Yeah." Temp whispered. She opened her eyes, ocean blue meeting chocolate brown and kissed him, gently and slowly. "But I don't want to talk about him."
"That's fine." Pulling back after a quick kiss but still holding her hand, Booth grabbed her suitcase and Tempe scooped up Bones with one arm. "Let get going."
"All right." She agreed.
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"Well, here we are." Booth opened the door to the guest room and flipped on the light switch as he set Tempe's suitcase on the floor next to the bed. She followed him in, still clutching her cat like a life line. Bones didn't mind; in fact, he was purring as he viewed the room through half-closed eyes. Booth actually envied that cat. He had food, his litter box, and Tempe, so the cat was perfectly happy. Booth grinned as he man handled the cat's ear, causing the purring to rise in volume. Tempe smiled at him.
"I think he likes you." She said.
"Well, they say that cat's are a great judge of character." Booth teased. Tempe rolled her eyes and punched Booth's shoulder.
"You should be honored. Bones doesn't usually like men. You should see what he did to Hodgins. He likes Zach though."
Booth laughed as he scratched under Bones' chin.
"I think I like this cat." He said. He winked at Tempe. "His owner isn't too bad either."
"You are full of yourself, aren't you?" Tempe teased, slipping past him and depositing Bones on the bed, where he curled up and made himself comfortable. Tempe smiled as she ran a hand down his spin. "Well, he looks right at home."
"Yeah, he does." Booth came up behind Tempe and touched her hip. "How about you? Are you going to be okay?"
"I think so." Tempe turned around the fact Booth and smiled. "Thank you for everything." Gripping his shoulders for balance, Tempe went up on her tiptoes and kissed Booth. It was a kiss that made his head spin, his vision go white and made his heart actually stop for a few seconds before trying to claw it's way out of his chest.
When Tempe pulled back, Booth actually had to gasp for a few moments before he could say anything.
"Wow." He muttered, trapping Tempe by wrapping his arm around her tiny waist and holding her close. He bent his head and pressed his face against hers, forehead to forehead, nose to nose, and grinned. "You're welcome." He kissed her, quickly and quietly, then stepped back. "You should go to sleep." He rested on hand on her shoulder, right where it met her neck.
"Good night." Tempe whispered, touching his cheek.
"Good night." Booth whispered back. He kissed her cheek, then left the room, reluctantly, and went to his empty bed.
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His bed was only empty for about two hours.
"Couldn't sleep?" He mumbled into his pillow only moment before Tempe's hand would have touched his shoulder. She jumped, but smiled when he rolled over on his back. He raised an eyebrow when he saw that she had her cat with her.
"Damn Bones, how can you stand hauling that cat around? He weighs a ton."
"It's good exercise." She joked, letting Bones slid out of her arms to land on Booth's chest. Booth scratched behind the cat's ears and earned a purr in return.
"What's wrong Bones? You should be asleep."
"I couldn't sleep." She sat on the mattress next to him. Booth propped himself up on his elbows, which cause Bones the cat to slid off the side of his chest with and annoyed 'meow'. Tempe and Booth both ignored him.
"You're okay Bones, you're safe." Booth reached out and rubbed her bare arms. She was wearing a pair of silk sleep shorts and a matching tank top that revealed more than it covered. Without really thinking about it, he pulled her down to lay next to him. She stiffened, but he continued to rub his hand up and down her arm and back and held her close against his side and she slowly relaxed enough to drape her arm across his waist and lay her head on his shoulder. Bones the cat let out several irritated meows when he found that he couldn't lay in his usual spot, pressed up against Tempe's stomach, but he eventually settled into a spot on Tempe's pillow, right above her head. Booth was almost asleep when Tempe spoke.
"His name is Pete." She whispered. Booth's hand stopped for a second, then continued its ministrations.
"Your ex-husband?"
"Yeah." Tempe felt tears threatening and turned her face into Booth's bare chest, breathing in his spicy, clean scent. He felt the two tears that escaped her eyes and slid his hand up into her hair.
"Bones? Babe, what did he do to you?"
"He took my daughter."
"What?" Booth couldn't believe his ears.
"He took my daughter." Tempe repeated.
"Maybe you should start at the beginning Bones." Booth encouraged.
"All right." Tempe took a deep breath. "Well, remember when I told you I was only married for seven months?"
"Yeah."
"Well, during the last two months is when I became pregnant with Sandri. She was born only two month's after the divorce became final."
"Why did it take so long?"
"Well, once Pete found out I was pregnant, he tried to fight the divorce, but I wouldn't give it. I didn't want, or need, him back in my life."
"That's my girl." Booth said with a chuckle, brushing his lips across her temple. Tempe smiled and continued.
"So, when Sandri was born, I had already gone back to my maiden name, so she was born Sandrianna Brennan."
"Was Pete a part of her life?" Booth asked.
"Yes, but he was never a big part. She was never close to him. I didn't even hear her call him 'Dad' until she was four. And even that was more because he wanted it than because she actually understood who he was. He was always to busy, either with his job or with his social life. Sandri didn't care. She had more fun coming to the lab with me, where Angela and Zach and even Hodges just adored her and spoiled her and catered to her every whim then she did going over the Pete's apartment and having him ignore her and leave her with a babysitter so he could go out."
"Bastard." Booth hissed. He had to beg and plead and fight Rebecca tooth and nail to see Parker. Tempe had been perfectly happy to let her daughter see her dad when ever Pete wanted, and instead of adoring his beautiful, brilliant daughter, the idiot had ignored her.
Tempe smiled in the dark. "Yeah, he is. All that time he spent ignoring her, and then, suddenly, I'm the bad parent."
"What happened Bones?"
"When Sandri was four, I took her out of preschool for three months and took her with me to France."
"You took your daughter to France?"
"Yeah. Their government requested my help in uncovering, investigating and relocating a medieval graveyard. I would only be at the graveyard during the morning hours, and at a lab later, so I decided to take Sandri with me. She was bored in preschool anyway. She was always smart.
"Pete freaked, but there wasn't anything he could do, I had full custody of Sandri. So off we went."
"Why did he get mad?"
"I still don't know. It's not like it hurt Sandri to go to France."
"Did it help her?"
"It actually did. One of the archeologists working with me had a son in the first grade whose class spent the morning half of the day teaching classes in English and the other half of the day the classes were in French. I received permission for Sandri to attend during the morning hours, even though she was two years younger than the other kids, and she loved it. A month and a half later, she was speaking French and going for the entire day."
"So why was he so mad?" Booth turned onto his side so he could see her face, and reached out to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear.
Tempe shrugged, then reached up and started to trace his features with her fingertips as she shrugged. "Like I said, I have no idea. It's almost like he only got made because it made Sandri happy, and because it was me who made her happy. A few months after that, Pete took me to court. He was moving to New York, and he wanted to take Sandri." Tempe closed her eyes and tried to swallow back her tears, tried being the operative word. "I never had a chance." She whispered, two tears making their way down her cheeks. Booth brushed them away with his thumb.
"Bones, what are you talking about? I've seen you with kids, and your face just lights up when you talk about Sandri. I bet you're a fantastic mom. I mean, come on, you took her to France! What judge could possibly take your baby away from you?"
"That judge. He owed Pete a favor. Pete's a lawyer, and he had 'helped' the judge out of a pretty tight spot, legally speaking."
"And in return, he took Sandri away from you and gave her to Pete." Booth was practically shaking with anger. He and Tempe had spent most of their adult lives speaking for those who had no voice, in chasing down those who had broken the laws and bringing them to justice. They defended and protected the law because it was the right thing to do. But two of the people who were supposed to be on the same side of them, on the side of right, had abused and twisted the law to take the most precious thing in Tempe's world away from her.
"I'm so sorry babe." Booth held her close as his words seemed to open the floodgates. She clutched Booth's shoulders as she sobbed into his chest. "Shh, it's okay." Booth mumbled into Tempe's hair. "Let it out. You never allowed yourself to cry about it before, did you?" He whispered.
"No." Tempe whispered through her tears. "I haven't cried in years. And now, I'm so glad that she's not here, because she would be in danger." She pulled back to look at him with tears still spilling down her cheeks. "What kind of mother would put her child in that kind of danger?"
"Oh Bones. Bones, Bones, Bones." Booth pulled her close, even sitting up with his back against the head board and pulling her into his lap and gently rocking her as she buried her face in his neck.
"Bones, none of this is your fault. It's not your fault that some sicko has fixated on you. There is no way for you to have any control over this." Booth pushed Tempe back and framed her face with his hands. "Are you listening to me Bones? This. Is. Not. Your. Fault." He searched her eyes for understand, then pulled her back against his chest.
"Thanks Booth." Tempe whispered into his neck, her lips brushing his skin. She didn't remove her face from his neck. In fact, she seemed too snuggled up against his chest even more. Booth didn't mind. He just held her close as all the stress of the day finally caught up to her and she fell asleep, still curled up on his lap. Booth smiled as he gently maneuvered both of them so that they were both lying down, with Tempe still clinging to him like a spider monkey. He kissed her forehead gently.
"Sweet dreams Bones." He whispered. "Sweet dreams."
Booth lay his head down on his pillow and prayed to any and all higher powers who could watch over the beautiful, brilliant, smart assed, ass kicking angel with the broken heart who clung to him in her sleep. Bones the cat also moved, pressing himself up against Booth's neck on the side opposite Tempe and lay his head on Booth's shoulder, his purring so low it was more a rumbling in his chest than an actual sound. Booth reached up and scratched the cat's ears.
"Sweet dreams to you too cat." Booth muttered. He caressed Tempe's neck as he started to fall asleep. 'Maybe she'll dream about her daughter.' Was his last thought before sleep claimed him. And then he started to dream.
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"Daddy! Look at me Daddy!"
"I can see you Parker." Booth called with a laugh, waving at his son as the boy swung higher and higher on the tire swing that Booth had hung from the huge cherry tree in the backyard. From inside the house behind him, Booth heard the pounding of sneakered feet. The screen door burst open and Sandri rushed past him where he was sitting on the steps of the back porch, laughing, to throw herself onto the tire swing on top of Parker, her blue eyes sparkling. Despite being a year older, Sandri was smaller than Parker, who was a little tall for his age. They both laughed as her momentum caused the tire swing to swing even higher. At the sound of their laughter, Booth had to smile. God, they were so beautiful. Parker looked just like him, and Sandri was a miniature Tempe. The screen door opened again, more controlled this time, and there was a soft footstep on the porch behind him.
"Hey stranger." He said, just before Tempe's hand would have touched his neck. She just smiled instead of jumping, she was used to their weird shard ability to sense each other. Yet she still lay her hand on the back of his neck and left it there as she joined him on the steps.
"Hey yourself." She whispered, sliding her hand off his neck so that her arm was around his shoulders. Booth slid his arm around her waist, and after a moment, she removed her arm so that she could lean against his chest. She yawned as she settled into his chest.
"Tired?" Booth muttered into her hair.
"A little." Tempe admitted. She giggled as she watched Sandri fall off the tire swing and pull Parker with her, both of them laughing. "I still can't believe how well they get along."
"I know." Booth grinned. "I think Parker likes having Sandri around. You know, having someone to look out for him."
"And Sandri just adores Parker. She is definitely big sister material. I don't think either of them was meant to be an only child." Tempe lifted her head and smiled into Booth's eyes. She lifted her hand and cupped his cheek, her engagement ring wedding band catching the last rays of the setting sun.
"I love you." She whispered, sliding her hands behind his neck and lacing her fingers. He ran a hand through her hair, his own wedding band shining in the failing light.
"I love you too Tempe." He grinned. "You're my Bones."
"Hmm." Tempe muttered noncommittally before pulling him down for a kiss, to which Booth responded enthusiastically.
They broke the kiss when they both heard the giggling that heralded the approach of Parker and Sandri. Tempe and Booth pulled apart just as the two kids threw themselves at them. Parker snuggled into Tempe's lap while Sandri made her self comfortable on Booth's lap. Tempe hugged Parker while Booth slipped an arm around Tempe's shoulders and hugged Sandri with one arm, tickling her hip with one hand while he did so, which made her laugh.
"Dad!" She protested through her giggles. "Knock it off."
"Not likely." Tempe told her. She hugged Parker and pretended to whisper to him. "Your Daddy is so stubborn."
"Look who's talking, miss 'I want a gun'." Booth shot back. They all laughed. 'This is my family.' Booth thought with a smile. 'My family. . .'
AN: Well, here we go, Chapter Four. Did you like it? Hate it? Give me reviews, please. Oh, and sorry about the delay, but I had a lot to do, applying to college and stuff. But, I am working on Chapter Five, so if I get inspired, I might get that up sooner rather than later. All though, watching 'Bones' seems to inspire me. So you might have to wait untill after Wed. episode. Anyway, review! Thank you!