Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews to the last chapter! I appreciate you guys for sticking with this story even though it seems that I only update it once a year or so. I do feel bad about that, if makes you feel any better. I don't think there's anything special you need to know as far as this chapter is concerned. Oh, except that it isn't proofread. Yeah, yeah, I know, there's no excuse for that...sorry. Anyway, hope it's readable, if it isn't then you can yell at me. Here you go...

When Temperance Brennan slowly regained consciousness the next morning, she quickly became aware of four things.

The first thing she was aware of was the fact that her brain seemed to want to come through her eyes. The pounding was so intense that for a moment she swore she could hear the word as-pirin being chanted in time with her skull. Not wanting to move, she tried to push herself deeper into her pillow, which led to her second realization, which was that she was lying on a couch, and that it wasn't her couch. Confused, she jumped slightly, she sudden motion of which led to realization number three, which was that moving gave her body the intense desire to purge all of the contents of her stomach by way of her mouth.

Groaning slightly, she gingerly rolled over and rested her hand on her forehead. The sunlight was glaring at her through the window with what was, in Temperance's opinion, and unnecessary intensity. And then, when her brain slowly began to process the sunlight, Temperance glanced at her watch, leading her to her fourth realization.

It was 10:39. She was late for work.

She jolted at sat bolt upright at this realization, and this, of course, reminded her of realization three. She glanced around, quickly remembering that she was at Angela's as the events from the night before came back to her, and she had to smile when her eyes fell on the coffee table. A bottle of aspirin and glass of water sat waiting for her, along with a note that read:

Had an appt, back soon. Coffee's in the kitchen.

-A

Temperance gratefully popped the top on the bottle and dumped three pills into her hand, which she swallowed with a gulp of the water. As she was finishing this process, she heard the faint sounds of keys in the door.

"Morning, starshine," Angela said in a voice that was, in Temperance's opinion, entirely too perky and entirely too loud.

"Mmm," was the sound of Temperance's mumbled response. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

Angela closed the door behind her and Temperance winced at the noise. "It's Saturday, Sweetie, we aren't all you."

Temperance slumped back against the couch. Thank God for Saturdays.

Angela dropped her purse and keys and disappeared into the kitchen. Temperance closed her eyes for a moment and rubbed her face. She was starting to wake up, and some of the hangover effects were lessening. Angela reappeared a few moments later with two coffee cups, handed one to Temperance, and sat down in chair facing her.

"Thanks," Temperance said, breathing in the scent of the cup. The coffee was warm, though not hot, but to Temperance it seemed like liquid heaven.

They sipped their coffees for a minute before Temperance spoke again. "You're drinking decaf, right?"

"So are you," Angela answered. "Welcome to my hell."

"Did you see the doctor this morning?"

Angela nodded. "He said everything looks fine."

"Good," Temperance said, taking another sip of her drink.

They were quiet for a minute longer. Angela broke the silence this time. "So, are you planning on explaining why you showed up at my house in the middle of the night completely hammered, or am I going to have to guess?"

"Someone broke into my apartment."

"And force-fed you vodka?"

"No. They left me a skull." Temperance took another sip of coffee as Angela stared at her.

"You know, if you were anyone else, I would be shocked."

Temperance shrugged. "Anyway, the police checked everything out, but I couldn't stay there."

"I'm surprised Booth didn't make you go with him."

Temperance took another gulp of coffee.

"So, anyway, I stopped at a bar for a while and then I came here."

Angela quirked her eyebrow at Temperance as Temperance continued to drink. "So you're telling me you came home, found a skull in your apartment, called the police, then went out drinking, and then showed up at my house? Why am I thinking that I'm missing some major pieces of this story?"

Temperance shrugged. Angela pressed on. "Did you call Booth?"

"Right after I called the police."

"And he was cool with you just taking off to go drinking by yourself?"

"I didn't decide to go to the bar until I was on my way here."

"Okay, then lets back up. Bar aside, he was okay with letting you leave by yourself?"

Temperance sighed. "No, not at first. But we…talked…and then he realized that I would be fine. So I left, saw the bar, and ended up stopping in for a while."

"Where you drank all by yourself?'

"No, Hodgins was there."

Angela paused for a moment. "Hodgins?"

Temperance took another drink of her coffee and nodded. "Yeah." They were quiet for a moment. "It's good that he knows, Ange."

Angela nodded.

Before the two could say anything else, Angela's phone rang. Temperance continued to drink her coffee as she listened to Angela's end of the conversation.

"Hello? Oh, hey, Booth…yeah, she's here…uh huh…yeah, do you want to talk to her?" Angela listened to Booth's answer to this last question while giving Temperance a quizzical look. "Okay…yeah, well, if we hear anything…sure. Okay. Talk to you later, Booth."

Angela replaced the phone receiver as Temperance intently swirled her coffee.

"So…does this mean I get to hear the rest of the story now?"

Temperance sighed as Angela leaned forward and took the coffee cup from her hands, resting it on the table.

"There's nothing to tell."

"I beg to differ. I just talked to him."

"That doesn't mean anything."

"Oh, really? Then why did he wait till this late to make sure you were here? Why did he call me instead of calling your cell?"

Temperance sighed again.

"What happened?"

"Just…I don't know…nothing happened. We fought and then…nothing happened."

"Okay, so you fought. Over what?"

"He was mad that I called the police before I called him."

"Okay. Then what happened?"

Temperance took a deep breath. "I don't know. We were arguing, I guess, but it wasn't serious, you know? It was just like we always do. But then…then I screwed everything up."

"Honey, no matter what happened, I'm sure the two of you can work it out."

"You don't get it, Angela. I had it all. I had the perfect relationship."

"Perfect how?"

"He was one of my best friends. We could talk to each other. We could laugh together. He took care of me when I was upset. He was willing to put up with me when I was in a bad mood. We could just spend time together, doing nothing, and have a good time."

Angela smiled and gave Temperance a small nod. "Okay, that sounds great. So what's the problem?"

"I screwed it up."

"How?"

Temperance sighed. "I…I don't know. I changed it. I altered the dynamic. I took what we had and tried to turn it into…something else."

Angela pressed on, although she knew the answer to her question before she asked it. "What did you try to change it into, Sweetie?"

Temperance exhaled deeply, resting her face in her hands, slightly muffling her words. "Love. I wanted to fall in love with my best friend."

Angela nodded. "Yeah. I know."

Temperance hit the coffee table with an open palm, causing Angela to jump. Exasperated, she slumped back on the couch, her eyes cast downward toward the floor.

Angela leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. With a deep breath, choosing her words carefully, she spoke.

"You can't control how you feel, Tempe."

"Bullshit."

'Oookay…' Angela said to herself. 'New tactic.' "Look, you were friends with him. That's great. But can you honestly say that the relationship was perfect?" Temperance glanced up, and Angela pressed on. "The definition of the perfect relationship changes depending on who is in the relationship. Sometimes the perfect relationship is talking and laughing; sometimes it's mutual respect. Sometimes it might even be total avoidance of one another. But sometimes, if we're lucky, we meet someone with whom the perfect relationship is something bigger."

Temperance sighed. "Yeah, Angela, that might sound nice, but…"

"The perfect relationship with him doesn't stop with long conversations and stupid laughs."

"Ange…"

"And you know I'm right."

Temperance crossed her arms over her chest before meeting Angela's eyes. "You say that. You say that I have to be willing to take a chance, that I have to risk it all if I want to get it all. Fine. I can understand the logic in that. But what about you? Why doesn't it work the same way for you?"

Angela stiffened. "This isn't about me."

"You're pregnant with his baby, Ange. His baby. And yet you still can't find the courage to turn the relationship into something real?"

Angela turned her eyes to her lap, her posture rigid. "That's different. It's…"

"It's what? It's different because it's you? It's different because it's Hodgins? What? Why don't the same rules apply to you?"

"It's different," Angela began, her voice even, "because the people are different. I'm not in love with him. He's not in love with me."

"You're the mother of his child."

"I'm the girl he was messing around with when the protection failed."

"Bullshit." It was said softer this time, quietly calling the bluff.

Angela glanced up and a moment of mutual understanding passed. Temperance flopped back, slouching once again in her seat. "We're a nice pair," she commented sarcastically.

Angela released a slight snort of laughter. "Yeah. We're pathetic."

Temperance nodded, and a moment of silence ensued. It was Temperance who broke it. "He cares about you, Ange."

"He…"

"And you want to be with him. Even if only to find out what it's like."

Now it was Angela's turn to sigh. "I want caffeine. And a nap."

Temperance laughed slightly. "Those two don't mix well."

"I bet I could make it work."

Temperance smiled. "It's okay to care about him, you know. Someone once told me that we can't control how we feel…"

Angela looked up and smiled back. "Shut up."

Angela and Temperance left the apartment about an hour later to go the bar so Temperance could get her car back. Temperance then followed Angela back to Angela's apartment, where she took a shower and put on a fresh change of clothes. After this process was completed, the two realized that neither felt like facing real life, so they wasted the majority of the afternoon before renting movies and picking up pizza and chips. They then spent their evening eating junk food and making fun of the acting in the cheap grade B movies they had rented.

By the time the credits on the second movie rolled they had talked about everything under the sun that was not related to work. Both were immensely thankful for the break. Then Temperance's cell phone rang.

She picked it up and looked at the screen. Booth. She groaned.

"Just answer it, it could be important."

Temperance shrugged. "If it's important, he'll leave a message."

The phone completed its ring, and Temperance and Angela waited. A short while later no message had appeared, and Temperance shrugged.

Angela's phone rang then.

"Hello? Hey, Booth." Temperance shot Angela a look. "Yeah, yeah, she's still here." Temperance shot Angela another look which she hoped was interpreted as tell-him-I'm-in-the-bathroom-or-tell-him-that-I'm-asleep-or-whatever-you-want-but-don't-you-dare-tell-him-I-can-talk-and-hand-me-the-phone. "Oh, sure, here she is." Angela gave Temperance a sweet smile as she handed her the phone. Temperance just glared back as she accepted it.

"Brennan."

"Hey, Bones. How are you doing?"

"Fine. Anything on my apartment?"

"Nothing yet, but we'll get there. Jurisdiction should change hands soon, too."

"Okay."

The two shared a silent moment.

"You didn't answer your cell."

"No."

There was another quiet moment, and Temperance was fairly certain she heard Booth sigh on the other end. "Listen, Bones, I'm sorry, okay? It didn't mean for that to happen. I just didn't want you to do something you would regret. And after what you'd been through…it just felt like I was taking advantage."

"Okay."

"Aren't you even going to talk to me about this?"

"Now isn't a good time."

Booth sighed again. "Alright, fine. For the record, though, Bones? I wish my conscience hadn't caught up with me." And before she could answer, he had hung up the phone.

Temperance sighed heavily and pushed the button to hang up the phone. Angela was looking at her expectantly. "Well, that was a chilly conversation," she commented.

Temperance nodded.

"I mean, really, what was that? What the hell happened in that fight?"

Temperance groaned. "Do we have to do this again?"

Angela put up her hands in faux defense. "Hey, none of my business." And then she sat and looked at Temperance, waiting.

"I might have kissed him."

Angela looked at her, shocked. "What do you mean, 'might have'?"

"I mean…I kissed him."

"And you waited until now to share this detail?"

She shrugged. "I kissed him. Then he told me to stop. Then I left."

"He did what?"

"Do we have to keep doing this? You know everything now, and I'm tired."

Angela continued to look at her with wide eyes. "I'm sorry, it's just…this is big news. You actually kissed him? Finally? I didn't think it would ever happen."

"Nothing did happen."

"You must have misunderstood him or something. I mean…"

"I was there, Ange."

The sat for a moment more, and finally Temperance stood. "I'm going to go wash my face, and then I think I'll try to get some sleep. You probably should, too. It's late, and you need to be taking care of yourself."

Angela nodded. "Yeah, okay."

The two went about cleaning the living room, Angela continually stealing looks at her best friend she couldn't help it. Even if it hadn't gone well, she was proud of her. She had taken a chance. She had risked her feelings, and even though she had gotten burned, or maybe just singed, Angela couldn't help her wonderment. Temperance had done it. Maybe I can, too…

"Night, Ange," Temperance said as she sunk back down onto the couch after everything was cleaned up.

"Night, Sweetie."

Sunday was mostly uneventful. Booth didn't call back, something Temperance was grateful for, and Angela and Hodgins made no discernable effort to contact one another. By the time Sunday night came, Temperance and Angela were feeling more normal. Sure, it might seem cowardly, but both silently agreed that simply ignoring your problems for a day seemed healthy in some strange way. Monday morning they got up and dressed for work quietly, both knowing that real life was back. They went to work, headed to their respective offices when they got there, and set about having a normal day.

Booth arrived at 11:15 that morning while Temperance was going over the skull from her apartment which had been sent to the Jeffersonian.

"Hey, Bones, I've got something for ya."

She looked up as he walked up the platform and scanned his card.

"Some kids found it in some woods just outside the city." He gestured toward the door where three uniformed men were bringing in a lumpy body bag. "Oh, and it doesn't have a head. I thought that might be of interest."

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