Alright, I know that it's been a LONG time since I updated anything, and for that I truly apologize. The only excuse that I have is that the end of school was absolutely crazy, and then I had surgery that took me a while to recover from. I also had a bit of writer's block, but the main problem was just getting into the swing of things after the surgery. I can promise you, though, that the next chapter will be up as soon as I can copy it from my notebook to my computer. I swear.

Now, to all of you loyal readers out there, I know that you're probably wracking your brain trying to remember what happened previously. So here's a recap: A set of remains were found in the backyard of a house in Arlington, Virginia. The remains were later identified as those of Barry Finkel, a boy that Brennan was in a foster home with. Hodgins determined from the dirt on the bones that they had been reburied once, but that was the only information that could really be gathered. Booth and Brennan flew to Chicago to try to gather more information Barry, and found that he had supposedly ran away in 1992, and no one had seen him since. He also fought a lot with another boy that in the foster home, James Tiller. Both James, and Barry's foster father Phil McPherson, cannot be located. After talking to the man who took over Barry's case, Booth and Brennan figured out that the man was really James Tiller, and now have him in custody.

Now, read on!

"Molested?" Booth repeated, surprised. Jimmy nodded once, and then just continued to stare down at his hands. The FBI agent looked to the glass, where he knew his partner would be, and then turned back to the man. "Would you excuse me for just a second?" Without waiting for an answer, Booth stood up quickly and exited the room.

He met Brennan in the viewing room. "Did you know about this?"

She shook her head. "Not at all. I never spent that much time with McPherson, when I was there – but then again, I never spent a lot of time with anybody except Jimmy." She shook her head again. "I know I'm not very good at reading people, but I seriously never suspected that…I mean, I never thought that he…" She trailed off, uncertain of what to say.

Booth squeezed her hand. "Well, we'll obviously have to try to corroborate his story – I'll go back and talk to Mary and see if she knew what her husband was doing. You can go in there and talk to him if you want," Booth cocked his head toward the interrogation room. "My gut says he didn't do it, though."

Brennan nodded once more. "Okay. Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"

"Nope," Booth said with a smile. "I do my best work alone." He added quickly, and then ducked out the door before his partner could protest.

Temperance Brennan – world renowned forensic anthropologist, who never really had trouble finding anything to say – could not figure out what to say. She had been sitting across from her former foster-sibling for almost ten minutes, and no words were coming to mind. So she was quite grateful when Jimmy spoke up first. "You never really knew how to express your emotions," Jimmy said, with a small smile.

"No," she replied quietly. They sat in silence for a few more seconds, before she finally contributed something to the conversation – although, it wasn't much. "Why?"

"Why what?"

She elaborated. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Jimmy heaved a sigh. "You and I are alike, Tempe, in a lot of ways. I wasn't exactly sure how to just come out and tell you that I was being abused – and I think some part of me felt like if I told anyone, it would make it more real. Barry and I, we just kept it to ourselves. When Steven came to the home, it good for Barry and I, because Phil didn't want us anymore." He paused, as his voice broke. "I hated being happy, because I knew what Steven was going through. But at the same time, I couldn't help myself, because I was just so glad it wasn't me anymore." He stopped again, as a sob racked his body. He took a moment to compose himself, before changing the subject; and asking quietly, "Do you remember that night?"

Temperance nodded; she knew exactly what Jimmy was talking about. The night that she had been dreaming about for weeks, the night she had planned to run away. She had stayed just for him. "I remember."

Jimmy gave a small smile. "Thank you, for staying I mean. You were a good friend to me, Tempe."

---

Booth knocked on the door of the McPherson house for a second time, waiting patiently for it to open. Finally, Mary McPherson opened the door. "Hello again, Agent Booth," she said, and then looked around him for his partner. "Where's Tempe?"

"Dr. Brennan is busy at the moment. Do you think I could possibly come in and talk to you for a few moments?"

Mary nodded, looking slightly troubled. "Have you found out what happened to Barry?" She asked as she led him to the room they had spoke in earlier.

"We're getting close, I think. Can we sit?" Mary nodded, and both she and the FBI agent took a seat. "Mary, we found James Tiller, and he told us something quite disturbing about your ex-husband."

She shook her head. "I'm sure that whatever he said is wrong. Phil and I may have had our differences, but he was a good man."

"Well, according to James Tiller, your ex-husband wasn't a good man. In fact, he says that Phil would regularly abuse Barry Finkel, and himself."

Mary immediately shook her head again. "That's not possible. As I said, Phil was a good man. He wouldn't….I'm sure…no. No," she repeated again.

"I'm sorry, Mary. I'm sure this isn't easy to hear. But I need to know if you ever saw or heard anything…"

"I promise you, I didn't." She paused, and then continued. "I'm sorry, Agent Booth. We may have had our differences, but my ex-husband is a good man. I just don't believe he did what you're accusing him of."

Booth could tell that he wasn't going to get any information on the subject of Phil's misdeeds from the woman – she obviously believed what she was saying – but he needed to know one last thing. "I'm sorry to have upset you, Mary, but I have one more question. Have you seen or had any contact with your ex-husband since you divorced?"

"Only once. After he moved back from Seattle, he came by the house to grab a few things that he'd left behind when he moved out. Since then, I haven't heard anything from him."

"Thank you for your time." Booth stood up, shook her hand, and walked out the door.

Temperance was waiting for her partner outside the FBI building when he pulled up. "Why aren't you inside with Jimmy still?" He asked her when he got up to her.

She shrugged. "We kind of ran out of things to talk about. How many times can you rehash the bad moments you shared, the problems with the foster parents you had, or apologize for leaving, and not seeing what happened sooner?" She shrugged again. "I just couldn't stay in there anymore, so I pretended you needed me, and I left. It was just too much for me."

Booth put his arm around her, and spoke softly in her ear. "I am so sorry, Temperance. I wish that I could do something to change what happened to you, to change your growing up so you could have had your family. If I could, I would make it so you didn't have to live through those awful foster families, and carry those bad memories with you." He knew this case was hurting her, he could see it in her eyes. And now, those same eyes had tears in them.

"I know you would, Booth, I know. And I believe that if you could travel back in time, even though the concept of time travel is completely impossible and could never actually be done, you would do it. But if you changed everything, then I wouldn't be who I am today. And I might not have met you. So that makes it all worth it.

The next chapter will be up within the next few days, I promise. And please leave a review to let me know what you think.

Charlotte