A/N: Thank you to those who took the time to review, even though there weren't a lot (hint hint to the others lol).

Ryan was the first to enter the teachers' lounge so all eyes turned on him instead of Temperance. They barely even noticed the doctor as she stepped in the room and stood beside her partner. She examined them all. They looked surprised to see them standing there and some of them looked even annoyed by their intrusion.

"Can we help you?" a man at the far end of the table asked.

"As a matter of fact, yes. I'm Special Agent Ryan Longström and this is my partner, Dr. Temperance Booth. Is there a Mrs Marx in this room?"

"I'm Mrs Marx." An woman replied, two seats away from where Ryan was standing.

"Would you mind coming with us for a few minutes? There are some things we would like to discuss with you."

Mrs Marx nodded before standing up. Ryan guided her out of the lounge and out into the hallway.

"Is my classroom okay?" the teacher asked.

"Your classroom would be fine." Ryan replied.

As they followed her through the halls of St. Sebastian's, Ryan examined her. She looked pretty old, almost near retirement, he thought. Her hair was more white than coloured and her face had wrinkles, especially around the eyes and the forehead. He caught himself wondering how long she had been teaching here. He certainly didn't remember her from his time at the school and he didn't remember Brandon, his son, ever having her as a teacher.

They walked for a few minutes before Mrs Marx stopped abrutly in front of a door. Taking out her key from her pocket, she then unlocked the door and stepped aside to let her visitors enter first. She then stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

"Please make yourself comfortable." She said, pointing to the small tables with the tiny blue chairs.

Ryan and Temperance sat on top of a table as Mrs Marx pulled up a chair to where they were sitting. She sat down on the chair, tucking her right ankle behind her other one. She looked up at her guests expectantly and waited patiently for them to talk. She didn't have to wait too long.

"Mr. Cobbs informed that you were Carl Bradford's kindergarten teacher."

"Yes, yes I was."

"Then you will probably already know that about six months ago, the child disappeared after a housefire."

"Yes, I know. Him and his older sister, Melina."

"You knew Melina?"

"No. But I heard she was a sweet little girl."

"We found some remains in the park across the street a couple of days ago and Dr. Booth analyzed them. When we matched the dentures, it was identified to be Carl Bradford."

"Oh god."

Mrs Marx's eyes immediately became watery. Ryan saw her lip quiver and it seemed pretty obvious that she was trying her best not to break down in tears. Ryan admired her.

"I have a couple of questions to ask you on Carl. I just need to get some background information on him."

"Why don't you talk to his parents?"

"We already did but we want different side of his story. Now, Mrs Marx, what can you tell me about Carl Bradford?"

Mrs Marx sniffed and pulled out a tissue from her pocket. She wiped her eyes before answering.

"Carl was a sweet child and very intelligent. So intelligent that I even talked to the principal about making him skip kindegarten and send him immediately into the first grade. But Mr. Cobbs said that the three first-grade classes were full and that we wouldn't be able to send Carl. Carl was... getting bored in my class so I kind of took him under my wing. He'd stay during recesses and lunch and I'd teach him first-grade stuff. He just loved it."

"Did you ever keep him after school?"

"Never. His father requested that both of his children come straight home after school and I always respected that wish. After all, who was I to go against the father's will?"

"Tell me more about his father."

Once again, Ryan had taken his black notebook out of his pocket and Temperance smiled.

"He's a strong man. I believe that he had it rough when he was younger. According to Carl, he yells a lot."

"Do you know if he ever abused his son?"

Mrs Marx looked shock.

"I surely hope not." She replied, really taken aback.

"You've never noticed any bruises on him or anything?"

The teacher seemed to be debating whether to answer or not. Ryan watched carefully as her expression changed from thought to thought. After a couple of seconds, the woman still hadn't answered. Ryan asked his question once again. Mrs Marx sighed.

"Once or twice, Carl came in with a black eye or bruises on his arms. But it really was only once or twice. When I asked him what the injuries were, he said he had gotten them from a bully at school. I didn't really believe it, especially not the second time."

"What did you do then?"

"I went to see Mr. Cobbs and he called Carl's father. We had a meeting with him which turned out to be inconclusive and Mr Bradford ended up being taken into custody for assault."

"Assault on who?"

"Mr. Cobbs."

Ryan nodded and scribbled down something in the notebook.

"Thank you, Mrs Marx. That would be all."

The woman thanked him before getting up. She had reached her door when she noticed that the two partners were still sitting on the table. She looked at them questionningly. Ryan answered her gaze by asking her to bring Ms White.

If Mrs Marx had looked near retirement, Ms White looked like she had just started teaching. Not older than 27 years old, Ryan was pretty sure of that, she looked more like a teen than an adult. Her voice was sweet and small just like a child's and her face was purely angelic. He didn't notice he had been staring at her with admiration until he felt his partner jab him in the stomach. Turning around, he saw that Temperance had a rather... disapproving look on her face and Ryan wondered if she was jealous.

"You must be Ms White." Ryan said to the newcomer.

"Yes I am."

"And you were Melina's teacher?"

"Yes." The woman nodded as she answered.

"Well then you probably already know that Melina and her younger brother Carl disappeared a few months ago during a housefire."

"Of course."

Unlike Mrs Marx, her eyes didn't get teary but instead seemed to simply 'shut down'. Ryan could trace no sort of reaction on her part in her eyes which made him wonder what was going on. This wasn't a normal reaction.

"What can you tell me about Melina, Ms White?"

"She was a very sweet child."

"This seems to be the phrase of the day." Ryan said, sarcastically, out loud. "What else can you tell me about her? How was she doing academically? Did she have any friends? How was she personality-wise?"

"She had okay grades but I knew she was smart. She just lacked motivation. You really had to push her to get her to do something. But once she had gotten going, she could go on for hours. I wouldn't say she was an unhappy child but she certainly wasn't the happiest. She had really good friends in my class and in other third-grade groups and from what I had heard, she was a really good soccer player."

"She played soccer?"

"Yes. She was apparently one of the best players on her team."

"Who told you that?"

"Mr. Collins, her former first-grade teacher. He is also the coach in her team and I happened to bump into him one night after a game. He told me that they had won the championship because of her. I can't remember the details clearly. It was a long time ago."

"How long ago?"

"Last year."

"So you're telling me that Melina was in her coach's class at school and on his soccer team at the same time?"

"Yes."

Ryan noted everything down.

"What else?"

"She was a really quiet kid and she liked to do things on her own. Whenever we had group projects, she'd always do her work alone. She said that it was the only way she would be to do stuff her way."

Ryan nodded and smiled. It reminded him of someone else.

"We found the body of Carl Bradford in the park across the street from here. He was murdered we guessed a few months ago. Although we still haven't found Melina's body, we fear that she might have gotten the same fate. Do you have any idea who could have done something like this to them?"

Ms White seemed to consider her response for a moment but ended up shaking her head.

"No, I don't."

"Thank you, Ms White."

Without saying another word, the young teacher walked out, oblivious to the stares of the two partners.

"So what do you think?" Temperance once again asked her partner as they stepped into the hallway.

Ryan rubbed his temples.

"I have no clue. This is getting really frustrating. All they keep saying is that they were good and sweet children. That doesn't help much."

"Do you still think there's something going on here that you know about?"

Ryan sighed in frustration.

"I don't know anymore. Come on, let's go grab some lunch and take our minds of the case."

Temperance agreed. They had been able to step out into the warm September sun when someone behind them called out Ryan's name. Turning around, they saw a tall black-haired man jogging towards them.

"I heard you were hear about the Bradford children."

It had sounded more like a question, a question Ryan didn't want to answer for a reason unknown to him.

"Yes we were." Temperance replied. "Who are you?"

"I'm James Collins. I was Melina's first grade teacher."

"Yes and his soccer coach. We heard."

For an instant, Ryan thought he had seen the teacher panic.

"Who told you?"

"That's really none of your business, Mr. Collins. Now if you would excuse us, we have a lunch to attend."

Ryan had been about to turn around when Mr. Collins spoke again.

"One more thing before you leave. Melina meant a lot to me. We were really close. Please find her. I've been worried sick ever since she disappeared."

Ryan's eyes narrowed. He really didn't like that man. There was just something about him that reminded Ryan of his own father, the one who had abandonned him with his three sisters and his mother.

"We are currently not investigating the disappearance of Melina, Sir."

The agent thought he saw relief spread across the teacher's face.

Relief? He thought.

"Of course." Mr. Collins replied as he turned around and walked away.

When he was out of earshot, Temperance turned to her partner.

"What was that all about?"

Ryan simply shrugged and walked out of the school.

"So you have two kids?" Temperance had asked her partner, amazed.

"Yes. A boy named Brandon and a daughter named Christina."

"How old are they?"

"Brandon is nine and Christina is seven even though she has the intelligence of a two-year-old."

That answer had taken Temperance by surprise. Ryan had then begin to explain to her the long journey Christina had gone through for the past seven years. The more her partner had talked, the more she had become to feel a personal connection to him. Even though Christina had Down Syndrome and Riley didn't, the ressemblance was unmistakable. They had both spoken their first word at two years old, taken their first step shortly after that and been potty-trained near their third birthday. The only difference was that Christina had then stopped making any progress whereas Riley was progressing every day of her life.

"How about you?" Ryan had asked.

He had met his partner a couple of months before but it hadn't been until today that he had realized he pretty much knew nothing about her.

"I have twins: a boy named Lukas and a girl named Riley. They're both five but Riley has problems too. And I have a stepson named Parker, who has recently turned twelve."

"What kind of problems?"

"A bit like Christina except that she doesn't have Down Syndrome. She's just really slow. But Booth and I have been pushing her and she's been making more and more progress. But you can still see it. What Lukas understands in a second, she understands in ten minutes."

"Must be tough on you."

"It is."

She shivered at the thought that Ryan had them laid his hand gently on hers. Surprisingly, she found that these shivers weren't of disgust. Closing her eyes even though she was in traffic, she tried to block the feeling away. She was married. Heck, she was married to Booth. HE was the man of her life and of her dreams, well, most of the time anyway. She couldn't be thinking about Ryan that way.

She turned into her street knowing fully well what was awaiting her.

"I should go, Ryan. It's past ten already."

Ryan had nodded and had offered to pay for the meal. He had insisted on taking her out for dinner also and Temperance had simply agreed. A dinner between friends wouldn't hurt, right?

As she reached her house, she noticed that all the lights were off except for the small lamp near the couch. Booth was still awake.

She silently stepped in the house and quietly closed the door behind her. Taking off her shoes, she took a few steps and poked her head into the living room. What she saw surprised her.

Booth was lying on the couch, fast asleep, protectively holding his daughter in his arms. Temperance sighed at the sight. She knew she had disappointed him once again.

Please R and R. It means a lot to me and it gives me motivation to continue writing this story.