CHAPTER 20

"Yousure look nice and perky this morning," Angela announced to Tempe as she peeked her head into her office.

"Is it that noticeable?" asked Tempe shyly.

"Sweetie, ever since you and Booth have gotten together, you have developed an unmistakable aura around you."

"An aura, what kind of aura?"

Angela laughed, "The new to a relationship, that keeps me in horizontal positions more often than before aura."

"Ange!"

"Oh come on, don't tell me that you and sexy Seeley aren't all over each other every chance you get."

Tempe blushed and bowed her head.

"Your hot, he's hot, makes sense."

"Ok, we're like rabbits. There, I said it, now can we move on? Can you still help me after work planning my wedding?"

"Of course. Where do you want to go?'

"My place, we can order pizza."

"Sounds good. Oh speaking of the dirty rascal, I mean the groom to be."

"Angela, nice to see you. Tempe is she bothering you, I can cuff her an escort her out of the building," Seeley said as he starred down Angela.

"Promises, promises," Ange said teasingly as she headed back to her office.

"So to what do I owe this pleasure?" Tempe swiveled around on her chair to face him.

"I was passing by and wanted to say hi to my favorite Forensic Anthropologist, and to let you know that I will be home late tonight. Cullen asked me to head up a prisoner transport to Virginia this afternoon. I'll call you when I am heading back."

"Thanks for stopping by." She stood up and walked in front of him. "Are you always going to be so thoughtful? Even when we are old and grey?"

"Always." He pushed against her and wrapped his arms around her neck. "And forever."

"Bren, you ready to go?" Angela asked as she peeked her

head in Tempe's office at 5:30pm.

"Give me five minutes."

Angela followed Tempe home, where they ordered pizza and started to talk about what Tempe wanted to do for her wedding.

"Where do I start, Ange. I am so lost. Please help me."

"First things first. Do you have a day picked out? I know May but which day?"

Out came the calendar and Tempe starred at it blankly.

"Saturday or Sunday is a good start," Ange said pointing to the numbers of those days.

"Saturday the 24th of May."

"Good."

"Seeley said I could just go ahead and pick whatever I wanted. That makes me even more nervous. What if I pick something he hates?"

"Sweetie, when a man steps back and says 'Do what you want', you do it, no questions asked. Besides, I'm here, I will tell you if it sucks or not."

"Thanks Ange."

"Don't mention it."

"Now about how many people do you want to invite? That will determine where you will have the wedding."

"I want it small. Seeley said I have to attend church with him before we can get married in a Catholic church but I don't want to do that. So we agreed to get married somewhere other than a church."

"And where would you like to do that?"

"I would like to see if we could have the ceremony and a small reception at this place I went to last year for a lecture. The Old Mill. It's about thirty minutes from here."

"Tempe you rock. See you aren't lost, you just needed some guidance. "We can check this place out tomorrow." Angela wrote some notes and then asked the big question. "What kind of dress do you want?"

"I don't want white but definitely something that looks like a wedding dress."

"Saturday, dress shopping," Angela said aloud as she wrote it down. "I am making a few other notes of things you will need to look into but first we will see if The Old Mill is available May 24th and is it what you really want," Ange said as she continued to make notes.

Tempe thanked Angela again, for what seemed like the 30th time that night and watched her walk to her car.

Tempe called The Old Mill First thing in the morning and arranged to see it at lunch. As her and Angela walked into the room they both knew it was the perfect place.

"I'll take it," Tempe announced as she stood in front of the floor to ceiling windows that over looked the Old Mill which wasn't running now but would be in May.

"Tempe, it's perfect. I am getting goose bumps all over just thinking of how perfect it will be."

"Me too Ange. I am actually finally getting excited about getting married."

Angela scrunched her face, "Finally getting excited?"

"I meant that I am starting to see and feel why people get excited about planning a wedding. It's romantic. I love Seeley more than anyone else, I don't need a piece of paper to show him that. But I know it is important to him and I would do anything for him."

"I don't mean to pry Sweetie, but does that mean you have also changed your mind about having children?"

Tempe felt a sharp pain in her head as she processed Ange's words.

Angela, I .. I," she couldn't get the words out.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry."

"You're not prying Ange. I know you mean well and I love for that. We are taking the prospect of procreating, one day at a time."

Angela smiled and put her are around Tempe's shoulders,

"For what it's worth; any child that is blessed to be a part of yours and Seeley's family would be a very fortunate child."

"Thanks. It does mean a lot."

The rest of the day went by quickly and Tempe was anxious to show Seeley where they would be getting married so she called him.

"Hey, can you meet me at the lab around 5pm?"

"Sure, what's up?" he asked.

"I'll tell you when you get here."

Seeley was surprised when he saw her standing at the foot of the steps to the lab. He always had to go in and get her.

""I'll drive," she announced as she grabbed his hand, kissed his lips quickly and led him to her car.

"Now I am getting really suspicious. What is going on?"

"Patience, my dear, patience," she said, making him smile as he was the one who often told her that.

"We're here," Tempe said as she got out and looked around.

It looked different in the shades of the setting sun but it was still perfect.

"Here, as in … ?" his voice sounded uncertain of what was going on.

"As in, where we are getting married."

"Oh." At least he wasn't in the dark anymore. It didn't look like much from the parking lot but he trusted Tempe and followed her down the path.

"It will look much better in May when the trees are green and the flowers are in bloom," she said as she could see his face twitching at the sight of the mud, small piles of snow and branches strewn about the site.

As they entered the room overlooking the mill, Tempe finally asked, "So what do you think?"

"It's nice."

"Nice? That's it? Nice?"

"You're right it will look better in May. Right now it's hard to get past, that," and he pointed to the rather bleak view he was taking in.

"We can have our ceremony right here or in the garden over there and then dinner and dancing."

"It's beautiful," he managed to get out as he kissed her knowing that she liked her choice. "I still can't believe I will be marrying you in five months. I did have a small doubt in the back of my mind that you would say no." His voice trailed off.

"Seeley, you have done so much for me and have shown me that love does exist, now and forever. Besides, I know you want to be married before you, we, have another child."

His eyes lit up, "Temperance, I don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything; kiss me."

He didn't hesitate to do as she said.