A/N: Thanks to everyone who took the time to review. It was greatly appreciated! Hopefully you'll enjoy Chapter 2.

St. Sebastian's isn't a real school in Washington, at least that I know of.

"Good morning." Temperance said cheerfully as she walked in the kitchen.

She was greeted by silence which surprised her. Turning around, she noticed that Booth was the only one sitting at the kitchen table and he looked pretty angry.

"Booth, I said good morning."

They had been married for three years but she still hadn't stopped calling him Booth and thruthfully, neither of them knew why. Temperance believed that it was because she was used to it but Booth thought that it was her way to establish dominance in their couple. But whatever the true reason was, neither of them really cared what the other called them as long as they were together.

"What time did you come home last night?" Booth asked coldly, not looking up from his newspaper.

"Is that really of your business?" Temperance replied in the same tone as she took out a cup from the cupboard.

She was pouring herself some coffee when she heard Booth sigh loudly.

"You know what Bones? It is my business what time you come home when our kids are concerned."

"I'm sorry, Booth. I just got caught up in the new case I'm working on."

"The Bradford kids?" Booth asked.

"How do you know about that?"

"I work for the FBI, Bones. I'm Cullen's assistant, I work with the man. I know about everything that is going on in the entire building."

"That's a comforting thought." Temperance replied sarcastically.

Booth sighed angrily.

"What I'm saying is that you have children now, Temperance, okay? As much as you hate to admit it, they need you. You're not free to do whatever you want anymore. That's the whole joy of being a parent. Your kids come first. Yesterday was their first day of school and you weren't even there to hear how it went. And I know Riley slept in the stairs again."

"What? How did you...?"

"She's been doing it for the last couple of months. I'm usually the one who brings her back to bed once she's sound asleep but last night I decided not to. I figured that if you saw her there it would make you realize how much your kids miss you when you're working late and that maybe you would consider cutting your hours by, let's say, a quarter?"

Temperance looked up at her husband and saw that in his eyes that he was being serious. Not in an angry way she had expected to see but more in a hopeful way that maybe he had gotten through to her. She immediately started to feel guilty. Maybe she should have been spending more time at home. Then again, she had missed working on the field so much during the six months she had had no FBI partner that ever since Ryan had entered her life, she had spent much of her time with him working on crimes. But this, she wasn't going to tell Booth. She knew he would immediately start to get jealous and she was in no mood for a jealousy scene.

"Alright, I will. I promise that tonight, I will get home at a decent time."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Booth sighed happily and Temperance could swear she had seen a smile small tug at his lips.

"Come here now." He told her.

"Why?" she asked suspiciously.

Why was he all nice to her all of a sudden?

"Just come here."

She took a few tentative steps but when she realized that he meant no harm, she walked up to him more confidently. When she was at arm's reach, he immediately grabbed her by the waist and pulled her down to him. Wrapping his arms around her, he kissed her on the shoulder.

"I missed this."

"Missed what?" Temperance asked, completely confused now.

Had she miss something again?

"Arguing with you, I missed it. I feel like I haven't seen you in ages."

"Booth, we just spent two full weeks together. How can you even feel that way?"

Booth sighed. She could be totally clueless sometimes.

"The two weeks we had off from work, we spent them with Parker and the twins. It's not like we were really alone. And, I don't know if you noticed, but we haven't argued in ages. That is so unlike us."

She had to give him that point.

"Tell you what. How about I really get home early tonight and we can fight as much as you want?"

Booth grinned.

"I actually had something else in mind for tonight."

Temperance smiled and shook her head.

"No need to wait for tonight. I have some spare time right now." She replied.

Booth's grin turned mischievous as he leaned forward to claim her lips.

"You're late." Ryan said as she walked in her office.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I got... I got held up at home." Brennan replied, avoiding eye contact.

"Well are you ready to go?"

"Just give a me a minute to check my e-mails then we'll go."

"Fair enough." Ryan answered as he sunk back into the couch.

Ryan pulled his car in the parking lot of St. Sebastian's Elementary School around 11:30 am. He had been told that lunch break was around that time and he really wanted to catch all of the children's teachers before they went back to class. He had limited time to interview each of them and he hoped that he would be able to talk to them all.

"How many of them are there?" Temperance asked as they quickly made their way to the entrance of the school.

"Three. We'll talk to the school principal and Carl and Melina's teachers and then we'll get the hell out of there."

"Why am I getting the feeling you want to do this as quickly as possible?"

"Well partially because we only have an hour to talk to all of them."

"There's something more, I know it."

Ryan stopped in his tracks.

"This is a private school, Temperance. A private school with children, if I might add. If the word gets out, it'll be all around the school in a matter of seconds. The school will get phone calls from worried parents who will want to take their kids out of the school. I can't have that. We're talking about a school's reputation here."

"So the school's reputation is more important than gathering as much information as possible to help catch whoever did this to Carl Bradford?"

Ryan ignored her question and went on his way to the front door. But Temperance didn't move.

"What's in it for you?" she asked him.

Ryan stopped once again and turned around. Walking back towards her, he slowly answered her question.

"Nothing's in it for me. I'm not getting paid to keep everything under silence if that's what you're asking. But this was my school. I did my whole elementary school here, my son goes here now. The principal that we're about to meet was my sixth grade teacher and possibly the best teacher I had ever had in my entire life. So I'm sorry if I feel a bit overprotective of it."

Temperance blinked a few times as she stared into her partner's eyes.

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

She heard him mumble something as he turned around to make a third attempt to reach the school's main entrance. Temperance followed close behind.

The door to his office was closed but he heard his secretary's voice and he knew that the visitors had arrived. He had received a call from the FBI the previous day informing him that they would be stopping by for a bit of questionning. The agent he had spoken to, the agent who had been his pupil during his first year of teaching, had assured him that it wouldn't take too long. Deep down, he hoped that the words had been true.

He had seen the press outside his school who had wanted him to answer a few questions but he had ignored them. If the word came out that the victim's body had turned out to be a student from this school, he knew that only bad things would come out of it. Parents wouldn't feel safe and would refuse to send their kids in a "dangerous" neighborhood where a certain maniac was having fun dropping bodies in parks. Yes, if anything from this case came out, it could ruin the school's reputation and the neighborhood's for that matter.

"Mr. Cobbs? You have visitors." Her secretary announced from the intercom.

"Send them in." Mr. Cobbs replied as he stood up and smoothed his tie.

Seconds later, the door to his office opened and two strangers walked in.

Ryan opened the door to his former's teacher's office and stepped in, quickly followed by Temperance who stayed surprisingly close. Closing the door behind him, he then took a few steps towards the desk and extended his hand. The principal grabbed hold it and shook it.

"Mr. Cobbs, this is Dr. Temperance Booth, forensic anthropologist at the Jeffersonian Institute and also my partner. She's the one who analyzed the remains found in the park."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, my dear." Mr. Cobbs replied, turning his attention to the doctor. "Please, sit."

Ryan and Temperance sat down in the two chairs in front of the desk and the principal sat back down in his. He excused himself before rummaging through his desk drawer and only looked back up when he had found what he had been looking for. Dropping two green folders on his desk, he leaned forward, resting his upper arms on his desk, fingers laced in front of him.

"What can I do for you today?" he asked seriously.

"Well, as you know sir, the body we discovered in the park across from here belongs to Carl Bradford, one of the two children who disappeared in their housefire, who were students at this school."

"Yes, I know all of that already. I meant, what can I do for you? I know nothing about these students except that they were great ones and that they were really smart kids. Their files here proves me right." He said, pointing at the two green folders.

Ryan had to agree. These kids must have been angels if the thinness of both folders were signs of that.

"So you've never really had to deal with them then?" Ryan asked as he took out his notebook.

Temperance couldn't help but compare him to Booth and even Elena. Neither of them had ever really written anything down in notebooks (except maybe once or twice) and Temperance wondered if his partner just had a bad memory or if he simply liked being a "traditional" cop.

"Not ever. They were model children, not troublemakers. I can't even remember what they look like."

"Well maybe this will jog your memory." Ryan said as he took out a picture of Carl from his pocket.

He handed the picture over to the principal who took it nervously. Ryan sank back down in his chair. He observed intently as his former teacher inspected Carl's picture. He saw the stress line appeared across his forehead and noticed that the principal was sweating a bit. Ryan turned to Temperance who acknowledged his silent question. She had noticed too.

A few seconds of complete silence passed before Mr. Cobbs looked up from the picture and handed it back to Ryan.

"Yes, I remember who it is now." He simply said.

"And what can you tell me about him?"

Mr. Cobbs took out his handkerchief from his front pocket and gently wiped his forehead.

"His father was abusive."

Ryan had known that the interview was over and had gotten up as soon as Mr. Cobbs had answered his question. He had thanked him and had then asked them for the two children's teachers' names. Mr. Cobbs had given them to him and the two partners had immediately left the office.

"What do you think?" Temperance asked as they made their way to the teachers' lounge.

"I think that coming here today was a really good idea. Something's up that I don't know about and I intend on finding out."

Temperance considered his answer and nodded. She agreed.

TBC... then again, do I really need to say it!