I asked you for suggestions, and you responded. I'll be writing a few more soon, hopefully by next week. Thank you to 5546Laura for the suggestion to do a scene from The Woman in Limbo

Disclaimer: I do not own Bones


The Women in Limbo

I placed the chopsticks on my coffee table and turned to face Booth. "If you keep bringing Chinese food in the middle of the night, we're both going to get fat." I looked back at the table covered with takeout containers.

He only laughed. But his face quickly grew somber. "I know what you've been thinking."

I turned to look at him, my elbows resting on my knees. I had no idea who I was anymore. My entire life was a lie, and now I had no idea where Joy ended and Temperance began. My entire family was a collection of liars and felons. I was alone, and I was losing myself. I was in limbo as much as my mother was.

"I doubt it."

He met my even gaze. "You've been thinking that your family is made up of liars. And criminals. And that makes you feel lonely." I let my eyes drop towards the ground. How could he read me? How could he have any idea how I felt? My emotions were not something I wore lightly. I guarded them carefully, if I let the wrong person see them I would be broken. So I didn't show them to anyone. I had built myself walls and fortresses to keep people out, but in the process I was locking myself in.

"There's a story here that we don't know yet." My eyes flicked back towards his face. Did he really think there was another explanation? It was irrational, but I found myself hoping he was right. As much as my parents' disappearance had hurt me, they were still my parents. I wanted the truth, just like I had since the day they left. "Like what?"

"Bones, don't know means it's a mystery." My eyes dropped to the floor, back to his face, and then back to the ground. My parents were criminals who abandoned me. They lied about their pasts, lied about who I really was, and they left with no explanation. And yet, underneath the indifference, and the deeply buried pain that I felt at every mention of their names, was a little flicker of something kinder. He would describe it as love, but it was remorse. Remorse at losing the people who had cared for me and raised me. Love is just a release of chemicals like all emotions.

I didn't even know who my parents were anymore. Everything I thought I knew was a lie. I didn't know who I was either. "What were your parents like?" I asked.

He laughed slightly, then his face grew serious. "My parents. Well my dad, he uh- he drove thuds and phantoms in Vietnam. Those are fighter jet." I smiled slightly and nodded, signaling that I understood. "After that he uh- he was a barber in Philadelphia. And my mom, she wrote jingles for a local advertising agency." He smiled, obviously these were fond memories of his childhood. He knew who his parents were. And more importantly, he knew who he was. I felt a certain pain spread throughout my body. It affected every nerve, every sensation.

"So they didn't go out at night after you were asleep and rob banks?" at the mention of the reality of my parents' lives, my face fell from a slight smile to an expressionless mask. I felt heavy. Every movement seemed to require extra effort. I shifted my eyes away from his gaze.

"Listen Bones, you know, parents- uh- they have secret lives." My eyes glanced up to meet his, and he gave me a reassuring smile. But I couldn't find it in myself to return the gesture. "If they didn't, they wouldn't be parents."

I turned my head away from him, staring at the floor. My heart rate increased and I could feel heat rising in my cheeks. Why was he being so nice to me? No, this was too much. Why did he have such an effect on me? It made no logical sense.

Booth sat up and stretched. "It is a little late for Chinese isn't it? Thanks for the meal." He smiled and winked at me. "See you tomorrow." He stood up off my couch and left.

I straitened up, and breathed deeply, trying to make sense of the jumbled thoughts inside my head. He was just so kind and caring. He could see right through me as if I were glass. He had taken, and was still taking, the time to truly get to know me. I wasn't just Dr. Brennan to him. He had nicknamed me. I was Bones.

I sat back on the couch and let my head fall against the back. With my eyes closed I replayed the scenes in my head: When I first saw him at my lecture on de-fleshing, when he came up to me, looking for my assistance on a case. Our first case, though I didn't know it at the time. And I remembered striking him, leaving and not seeing him for a year. Him picking me up at the airport, and our subsequent tense partnership. I remembered when I first realized that I was in love with him. The moment that he called my Bones, on our third or fourth case, and it no longer made my skin crawl. And never again did I tell him to stop.

And all of a sudden I felt a tear slip down my cheek. My parents had abandoned me at fifteen, my mother has just been proven murdered, and my father was still missing. And Booth was right there by my side. He was comforting me and letting me know that I was going to be okay. Letting the tears fall freely, I stood and walked into the bedroom. As I laid down, my last thought was of Booth watching me cry and telling me to go home.

She was being brutally assaulted. A knife was being plunged into her time and time again, letting blood flow, but never hitting bone. She screamed my father's name as he plunged the blade into her flesh again and again.

"NO! Stop! Don't hurt her!" I cried out. I tried to move my feet, to help her, but suddenly I found myself locked in the trunk of a car, my hands burnt and soapy. I screamed and pounded on the roof, trying to reach my mother. I beat the roof till my raw skin began to bleed and drip down my arms.

Then I was standing next to my father as my parents stood outside my house. "Are you sure about this?" he asked her. She nodded. "I don't want to be a parent anymore." My father watched her expressionless face. "I found our old crew in southern Texas. Don't you at least want to say good bye?" my mother shook her head. "I kissed Russ this morning. I never loved Temperance anyway." My father nodded and they climbed into the car. I screamed, trying to run after it, trying to hold my mother one last time. But I couldn't move, my feet were rooted in my doorway as my parents drove off without a backwards glance. "NOOOO!"

Suddenly there was a strong hand on my shoulder. I was standing in the Hoover building and Booth came up behind me. "I'm sorry Bones, but I'm leaving."

"What are you talking about?" I frantically grabbed his arm as he walked away. "No, stop. Why are you leaving me?"

"I never loved you Dr. Brennan." He turned and I saw my parents standing at the elevator.

They spoke in unison. "We never loved you Joy."

Booth joined them, the three standing in a line, blocking my only escape.

"We never loved you Joy. We never loved you Joy." They repeated the same phrase over and over, slowly advancing and trapping me in a corner. I sank to the ground, covering my ears with my hands. "No stop! I am Dr. Temperance Brennan. My parents were a bookkeeper and a high school science teacher. I work with Agent Seeley Booth to solve murders. My name is Dr. Temperance Brennan!" I fell on my side, covering my head and curling in a ball. "We never loved you Joy."

"NO!" I bolted upright, screaming. The sheets were twisted and sweat poured down my face. My breathing was heavy and labored. Heart racing, I threw off the twisted covers. My eyes darted around the dark room, the terror still lingering in my mind. Leaning over, I switched on my bedside lamp and swung my legs over the side of the bed. Resting my elbows on my knees, I buried my face in my hands and sobbed. I cried for hours, just letting myself feel all the pain that I had locked away for years. When my eyes were dry, and my body was physically exhausted, I stood and got dressed. As I left my apartment, I locked the door and shut off all the lights. I didn't plan on being back for a while. I walked out to my car and drove to the Jeffersonian.

I walked into the Medio-legal lab and to my surprise, all the lights were on. I walked to Angela's office, but she wasn't there. Next I wandered down the hallway to where Hodgins worked. I entered the doorway carefully, not wanting to disturb whoever was inside.

Zach was sitting at a computer but turned when he heard we walk in. "Dr. Brennan. Is it morning?"

No, it was three am. "No. I c-I couldn't sleep." What a gross understatement that was. "Why are you still here?"

"We're all here. No one's leaving until we figure out what happened to your mother." Zach turned back to the computer.

"Thank you." My soft voice conveyed how deeply touched I was by their gesture.

Zach sighed in frustration. "Don't thank me. I'm failing."

I just wanted to lose myself in work. I couldn't face the emotions anymore. My body was spent and my mind was confused and overworked. I needed something familiar, something I could understand. I needed to feel like I was in control again. I couldn't control the nightmares, I couldn't control who my parents were or how they died, I couldn't control my feelings for Booth, but I could control and understand the evidence sitting in front of me. I approached the computer, intending to do just that.


Thank you all for the reviews and suggestions! As always, I welcome reviews!

~AlphaGirl13