A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed the previous chapters, it was greatly appreciated! Sorry this chapter took so long to come but I was going through a small writer's block. By the way, wasn't the season finale great? I loved it and it inspired me for a few chapters for this story. So lots of fluff coming soon (not sure when though). Anyway hope you like this chapter and please don't forget to review!

She tried her best to be quiet as she came down the stairs. She knew Booth would be in the kitchen waiting for her and she wanted to make the quietest entrance possible. He'd be pissed, she knew it. She had promised to be home at a decent time but she hadn't kept her promise. She had known, the second she had seen Booth and Riley asleep on the couch, that she had disappointed him once again. He hadn't slept in their room at all even though she had heard him come upstairs to tuck in their daughter shortly she had arrived.

She walked quietly down the hall and into the kitchen. Without looking at her husband, she made her way to the coffee machine, grabbing a cup in the cupboard on her way. She poured herself some coffee and began fixing her children's breakfast. She kept her eyes in front of her, never once paying attention to Booth as she took out a box of cereals and bowls. Had she only looked up, she would have been surprised to see a rather amused Booth following her every move.

"Are the kids awake?" Temperance asked, still not looking up from what she was doing.

"Do you see them anywhere?" Booth replied.

Finally looking up at him, she immediately noticed the twinkle in his eyes. He wasn't mad at her? How was that possible? The previous day they had argued because she had got home fairly late and today, even though she had done the exact same thing last night, he was okay with it?

"Aren't you mad at me?"

"For what?"

"For being late again last night."

Booth seemed to consider, for a second or two, what to answer.

"Nope." He simply replied, shrugging.

"Why not?" Temperance then asked, suspiciously.

She just couldn't believe that he wasn't mad at her. It just didn't make any sense.

"Sea called yesterday."

He had said itnonchalantly but his words still took her by surprise and she nearly dropped the two bowls of cereal she was holding. Setting them quickly on the table before she made a mess, she avoided once again looking at her husband.

Ryan and her had run into Sea and her boyfriend the previous night at the restaurant. Sea had been very polite when she had been introduced to Ryan but Temperance had felt her sister-in-law's eyes on her all evening. She couldn't understand why because Ryan and her had only talked and laughed. They surprisingly had had a lot of fun but that had been the extent of it.

Nothing had happened, she thought somewhat bitterly.

Bitterly? Again she pushed the nagging feeling aside.

"And?" she asked, trying her best to sound calm.

"She said she ran into you and your partner at the restaurant and that you two seemed to be having a lot of fun."

Temperance noticed that the twinkle had disappeared and that he now looked angry. His eyes were almost shooting daggers at her and his jaw was clenched tight. Could it be possible that he was only jealous? After all, she hadn't done anything wrong.

"So? What's wrong with that?"

She was getting annoyed. Why was he always so jealous and possessive?

"You're not... falling for the guy, are you?"

He sounded so unsure that Temperance felt her heart melt at the sound of his tone.

"Of course not, Booth. Why would you even think that?"

Booth dropped his gaze to his cereal. He was being stupid right now. He had no reason whatsoever to be jealous of his wife's new partner. So they got along? It was something he should be happy about, certainly not jealous. She so rarely hit it off with people, this was something good for her. Wasn't it?

Not looking back to meet her eyes, he answered her.

"It's just that you and I... well... we spent a lot of time together before we, you know, started dating. You spent most of your free time with me in and outside the job, and it's just that I'm beginning to see the same pattern with Ryan as well."

Daring to look up, he was surprised to see pity in his wife's eyes and not the usual annoyance she had when he got jealous. He waited for her to say something but when she didn't, he got a little worried.

"Aren't you going to say something?" he asked after a few seconds of silence.

His heart raced hard in his chest and found that his throat had gone dry. Temperance, who had not moved from her spot near the kitchen table, seemed to have snapped back to reality.

"I'll go wake up the kids."

And on that, she left the kitchen.

Ryan was sitting on her desk when she stalked in her office. Her mood had definitely not lightened since she had left home and seeing her partner just sitting there on her desk like he owned her office irritated her.

"Good morning, sunshine." Ryan said, smiling at his partner.

But when he didn't get an answer, his smile quickly disappeared.

"What's the matter, Tempe?"

"Nothing." She replied as she sat down at her desk and booted up her computer.

"Something's wrong. You're not even looking at me."

Temperance sighed and sunk back in her chair.

"Sorry. I just got into a fight with Booth, that's all."

"Again?"

"What do you mean, again?"

"Well didn't you get into a fight with him yesterday morning too?"

"Yes. Yes I did." She replied, sighing loudly out of frustration.

Typing in her password, she tried her best not to let it slip that they had fought about him. She just didn't want him to know.

"What was the fight about?" he then asked.

So much for not telling him. Temperance thought to herself.

"He's jealous, as usual. He says we spend too much time together."

She quickly glanced at him before turning her attention back to her computer.

Ryan tried his best not to smile but found it was impossible to do. So her husband was jealous of him? He couldn't help but feel happy about it because if Booth was jealous of him, it meant that there was a reason for him to be jealous. And if there was a reason for him to be jealous then it meant that maybe there was something more between Temperance and him and that made him happy.

He had had a crush on her from the first day her former partner, Elena, had introduced her to him. She was just the prettiest woman he had ever met. His divorce had been pretty tough on him and he had never thought he would feel that way about a woman again. But Temperance had simply waltzed in and had swept him off his feet. Elena had immediately noticed and had immediately told him to back off, that Temperance was married. She had also felt the need to add that not only was she married but her husband was their boss' second-in-command and the most respected man at the Bureau: Seeley Booth. Ryan had taken Elena's word seriously. Booth had trained him when he had joined the FBI some years ago and he truly respected the man. But if Temperance was really interested in him, it changed everything. Who was he to be the good guy in that and not use that to his advantage?

He had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed that his partner was staring at him weirdly. He gave her a quick smile before getting up.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked her.

"Where are we going?"

"I want to stop by the Bradford house again and speak to the wife alone. I think she holds valuable information that might help us with the case."

"Is her husband still in custody?"

"No, we released him after questioning him. The officers told him not to leave the town but he said that it was impossible, that he had to go visit his sick father. There wasn't much we could do, it's not like he's the official prime suspect in this investigation."

"So he left town?"

"Pretty much. That's why I really want to go see the wife before he comes back. Maybe she'll tell us something now that her husband is out of town."

Temperance nodded and before she knew it, she was on her feet.

They pulled in the Bradford's driveway about twenty minutes later. The two partners climbed out of the car and walked side-by-side to the door in silence. Temperance was about to ring the bell when she felt Ryan grab her wrist. She turned around to face him and saw that he looked serious.

"What?" she asked.

She waited a few seconds but didn't get an answer. Uncomfortable under his stare, she let go of his grasp and turned back to the door.

They didn't wait long after Temperance rang before the door opened in front of them and they saw Mrs Bradford standing in the doorway. She didn't question them and simply let them in, like it was something normal for them to be standing at her doorstep at ten o'clock in the morning.

She led them to the living room after closing the door behind them and motionned to them to sit down. The two partners took the same spot they had taken two days earlier and Ryan took his notebook and his pencil. He then looked up at Mrs Bradford.

"We still have a few questions to ask you, Mrs Bradford." Ryan told her. "I heard that your husband was out of town?"

"Yes. He went to visit his father. He's dying of cancer and the doctors don't know how much time he still has." Laura replied.

"So you two are sticking with this story? So if I check into his alibi, it will turn out right?"

"Yes."

Ryan nodded and jotted something down in his notebook before looking back at her.

"I need you to tell me what happened the night of the fire."

"But I already answered that question."

"Yes I know but I want to hear it for myself. Besides maybe now you'll remember something that you didn't back then."

Mrs Bradford took a deep breath. Temperance felt like this was going to be a long story.

"I tucked the children in at eight-thirty that night. It was a little later than usual but we had visitors so I didn't see the harm. I was so tired, I had been running all over the place that day, so I decided to take a bath to relax me. I guess I fell asleep because the next thing I knew it was past ten and the water had gone cold. I got out of the tub and put on my robe. I headed back to my room and collapsed on my bed without even changing."

"And you didn't notice anything weird or different?" Ryan asked.

"No, not at all."

"When did the fire break out?"

"It was maybe around ten-thirty or eleven. The smoke detector woke me up. I got up, got dressed and when I opened the door, I noticed that the whole hallway was filled with flames. I panicked and that's when I saw a fire fighter. He told me not to worry. He scooped me up and carried me out of the house. I told him that my children were still in the house and he immediately went back in. He came out maybe fifteen or twenty minutes later with a child in his arms. But he wasn't holding one of my children."

"Who was it?"

"Her name was Allison and she was my daughter's best friend. She was sleeping over that night."

"Were all of the children sleeping the same room?"

"Yes. I had made an exception that night because usually, Carl sleeps in his own room. But I think he had a tiny crush on Allison which is why he begged me to let him sleep in sister's bedroom."

She smiled briefly at the thought before her face became serious again.

"And the fire fighter didn't see anybody else in the room?"

"He assured me that he didn't. I kept telling him that my children were supposed to be in there but he said that he had only found the little girl. Then he left."

Temperance, who had been silent for a while, finally felt the need to talk.

"It is not mentioned in the file whether the fire was criminal or accidental." She said, flipping through the folder.

"It was accidental. According to the investigator, it had something to do with the wiring in the house."

Ryan wrote it down in his notebook.

"Where was your husband that night, Mrs Bradford?"

The agent noticed how the woman seemed to have gone to at ease to pretty uncomfortable. She shifted in her seat and started twirling her ring. Ryan looked back down at his notebook and scribbled something else: Fidgets at mention of her husband.

Just when he thought she wasn't going to answer, the woman surprised him.

"He was passed out on the couch."

"Passed out?"

Laura swallowed hard.

"Yes. He had drunk a lot that night and I think he simply passed out. I didn't bother to wake him since I didn't want him to sleep in the same room as me."

"Did he drink often?" Ryan asked.

"No."

This time, Mrs Bradford seemed more than uncomfortable, Ryan noted.

"He only seemed to drink that much whenever Melina would have a girl friend over."

Ryan shivered in spite of himself and felt Temperance do the same thing. Shutting his notebook, he decided that he had heard enough for today. Getting up, he thanked the woman for her hospitality and her time and told her he would get in touch if he ever needed her help once again.

Mrs Bradford walked them to the door and watched as they got into their car and left. Closing back the door, she leaned against it. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"So what do you think?" Temperance asked as she turned the corner of the Bradford's street and into the ongoing traffic of the boulevard.

Ryan rubbed his temples.

"I think that this case is the weirdest case I ever had to work on. Two children disappear in a house fire yet the friend of one of the victims is saved from the flames. The body of one of the children is found in a local park near the children's school and we find out that the child has been alive for close two months after its disappearance. Nobody knows what happened to them, we have no suspects whatsoever and no motive. The fire turned out to be accidental but yet the house turns into a crime scene. Coincidence? I don't think so."

"So you think the fire wasn't accidental?"

"There was no sign of arson so it had been to accidental."

Temperance nodded.

"Want to grab some lunch? I'm starving." Ryan then asked.

She had been about to agree when Temperance felt the nagging guilt feeling in her stomach. She had a lot of work to do at the lab, she should be going there instead, her conscience told her.

"No thanks. Maybe some other time."

"Okay... how about dinner then?"

Temperance chuckled.

"Ryan, when I said some other time, I meant some other day."

Ryan sighed.

"You know, Temperance, you're a big girl. You don't need your husband telling you what to do. If he's jealous of us, then so what? He's the one with the problem considering that we are only friends and nothing more."

She didn't reply.

"It would only be a lunch between friends." Ryan assured her.

Temperance sighed. She knew that Ryan was right. It was only a lunch between friends. There was nothing going on between them yet, whenever she thought about lunch with Ryan, she now felt like she was cheating on Booth and that was something she was never going to do.

Sighing, she turned to her partner and declined his invitation.

Hopefully you all liked the chapter. I had actually written this yesterday but then something happened to my computer before I had the chance to save it (it didn't even recover it for me)so I had to rewrite it.Because of that, it is not as good as the first version. Don't you hate it when that happens?