Chapter Twenty six

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The room was completely silent, as if no one dared to even breathe. The gun falling to the floor with a loud thud broke the stillness. A big pool of blood had formed on the floor.

"You shot her," Booth was first to speak. He looked at Temperance with a mix of shock and worry in his eyes.

"She asked for it!"

"Yeah but the thing is…" Booth reached out and checked the pulse. "She's… uh, dead," he stated.

Temperance stared at him with big eyes. "I never killed anyone before," she almost whispered. "Booth, are you sure?"

"Yeah," Booth said, not sure whether it's a good or bad thing. "I'm sure… you killed Lisa."

"But you would have if I didn't; besides I didn't mean to kill her!" Temperance raised her voice, trying to defend herself. "I just wanted to hurt her, does that make any sense?" she added in a lower voice, staring at the blood on the floor.

"This is why I'm not letting you carry a gun Bones…" Booth muttered, trying to decide what to do.

Temperance looked up at him. "Are you mad at me?" she asked.

It took a while before Booth answered. He sighed. "No I'm not. I'm just trying to decide what the hell we're doing now."

"What do you mean? Call Cullen and tell him the truth."

"Yeah, that would be just perfect wouldn't it?" Booth sounded irritated.

Temperance avoided looking at him. Both were quiet for a long time.

"Booth? I'm sorry I didn't mean to complicate things."

"I know," Booth said. "And I know why you did it, it's really, uh… cute of you. But Bones, I've killed so many people while I was a sniper, one more wouldn't have mattered."

"Yes it would. We all die a little, remember that?" Temperance argued. "This time was my turn…" she added in a whisper.

"Temperance…" Booth put his arm around Temperance's shoulders. She leaned her head against his shoulder, sighing deeply. "We'll solve this. We don't have evidence of what she's done, but with Angela and her new guy as witnesses… I hope they'll believe us. Remember this was nothing but self-defence."

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Booth's home was invaded by cops and FBI Agents. Collin and Angela were there too, all of them telling their point of view of what happened. Temperance had been first, now it was Booth's turn.

Angela looked at her best friend worriedly. They were sitting in the sofa, watching the scene in front of them silently.

"Sweetie," Angela tried to get her friends' attention. Temperance slowly took her eyes off Booth.

"How are you feeling?"

"My face is hurting, and I think I must have injured a muscle in mine side…"

"Emotionally?" Angela clarified her question. "You killed someone, was it awful?"

Temperance sighed, slowly shaking her head. "I didn't even realize she was dead until Booth told me…" she started. "Yes, I'm... shocked… but I wouldn't take it back if I could. She'll leave Booth alone now… she'll never hurt him again… she's gone, I killed her…"

Angela put an arm around her, trying to comfort. It was obvious Temperance was more upset about this than she wanted to admit.

"I just have to live with that," Temperance whispered, staring back at Booth.

Angela was just about to talk when one of the Agents came up to her. "Miss Montenegro, Collin McCain? May I have a few words with you?"

"Yeah sure," Angela gave Temperance's shoulder a squeeze before leaving the sofa.

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Several hours later, the Agents, cops and Lisa's body were gone. Angela and Collin left too, leaving Temperance and Booth alone.

"Do you mind if I... uh… use your shower?" Temperance felt stupid for asking a question like that but she didn't want anything more than to wash off the smell of sweat. And all the blood. She glanced at Booth and saw him smile.

"Of course not, go ahead," Booth said, still smiling. Temperance wondered what the hell he was grinning about, but decided to not ask.

"Thanks," she headed for the bath room and carefully closed the door behind her. Temperance had just started the shower and was enjoying the hot water on her sore body when she heard the door slid open. She froze, wondering why the hell Booth didn't have a shower curtain.

"I'm not looking; I uh… just thought you'd need some clothes, you know a T, shorts… is that okay? Are you okay?" Booth sounded nervous and Temperance couldn't help but smile.

"Are you sure you're not looking?"

"What? No! I mean… I'm not!"

"Booth," Temperance laughed. "You're looking."

"Maybe a little," Booth admitted. Temperance turned her head to look at him over her shoulder. Their eyes met, and for a few seconds it was like the whole world just stopped. Temperance felt her heart pound in her chest.

When Booth suddenly realized he was staring, he quickly turned his head. "I'll leave you alone now…" he mumbled before he turned and hurried out of the room. Temperance continued staring at the closed door. She was shocked. What was it she had felt when Booth looked at her like that? It scared her to realize that when he'd left, she'd wanted to tell him to stay. She wanted him in the shower? What was it exactly she wanted? Temperance turned the heat up, almost burning her skin in the process.

Booth was waiting in the sofa, two beers was standing on the table, waiting with him. What had he been thinking of? As he was sitting there the image of Bones' wet body in his shower refused to leave his mind. Booth shook his head, why was he doing this to himself?

He couldn't wait until Temperance came back; he wanted to talk to her, to sort everything out. To tell her everything was okay again, that he understood and wasn't angry at her. How could he be? Now when he knew everything, he only wished he'd known from the beginning. Then none of them would have had to go through this pain. But now Lisa was dead, gone forever, and they didn't have anything to worry about…

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TBC.