A/N: Well I'm back and I'm very excited about it. Lots of drama coming soon, with a few surprises. Hope you like this chapter.
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He felt a rush going through him, an energy he hadn't felt in years. Since she had left... But now, being here, in the same city as her, he felt alive. He knew she was somewhere around here. He knew she wasn't waiting for him. Nobody knew he had been transferred other than his family and ex-coworkers. He just hoped that his surprise visit would make her happy.
His heart was beating so loudly in his ears, he barely heard his new boss talking to him.
"Agent Booth, this is your new office." Deputy Ronald Samson said. "The guy currently using it will be moving tonight and you will be able to take it Monday morning."
Booth nodded, numbly. A question was desperately burning his lips. He knew Bones was now working for this FBI and so there was a great chance that she was somewhere in the same building as he was, possibly in the basement since most of the forensics work was done down there. He tried listening to his new boss but found it impossible to do.
"Are you okay, Booth?" Samson asked him.
"Yeah. Sorry. I'm just tired, I guess. With all the moving and the travelling. I tend to space out a little when I'm tired."
"It's comprehensible. I just have one more thing to show you and then you can go home and rest. I'm guessing you found an apartment?"
Booth shook his head.
"I'm living in a hotel for now. I'll start looking for a place tomorrow. This move took me a bit by surprise and, in a week, I didn't have the chance to find an apartment here."
Samson nodded.
"Well this should only take a few minutes. I would only like you to meet our forensics team. You know, just so you can know who you are working with."
Booth's heart skipped a beat. The forensics team? Bones? Would he finally be able to see her after all these years? Would she be happy to see him?
He turned to look at his new boss and saw that the Deputy was looking at him weirdly. Booth smiled at him. The man simply nodded sharply before motioning to follow him.
Stepping into the elevator, Samson pressed the 00 button and the door closed. Both men remained quiet.
The elevator ride barely took a minute but, to Booth, time simply stood still. His heart hammered against his chest and he could hear it beating loudly in his ears. His hands felt moist and he was pretty sure that, the second he would step out of the elevator shaft, his legs would give out underneath him. He tried taking a few deep breaths, telling himself that maybe Temperance wasn't going to be there but nothing worked. He was nervous. Way too nervous. It had been two years. Two years of going insane was now coming to an end.
The elevator doors opened and both men stepped out into a dark hallway. They passed several doors, offices most likely, before stopping at one at the end of the hallway. Samson turned to Booth.
"We've got one coroner here, Dr. Symmes. He works down the hall on your left. You'll probably be dealing with him a lot. We've got two pathologists, Dr. Jacob Capowski and Dr. Paula Stromer. Our newest addition came to us two years ago: forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan. She's the best in her field, her former employer told us, and, I have to agree, she's pretty good."
Booth nodded. Dr. Temperance Brennan. His former partner. Right here, in this room?
Samson knocked on the door. His knocks were answered a few seconds later when a voice told him to come in. Booth's boss opened the door and stepped in. Booth followed closely behind him.
Dr. Stromer and Dr. Capowski, bent over a pretty beaten body, looked up at the newcomers. They smiled at their boss but their smile quickly faded when their eyes came to rest on the stranger in the room.
"Guys, I'd like to introduce to you our new field agent, Special Agent Seeley Booth. He comes to us from Washington."
Booth's eyes were immediately drawn to the man. The man tensed under his gaze.
"Hi!" Dr. Stromer said, enthusiastically. "I'm Paula Stromer, head pathologist here at the Bureau."
"Hey Paula..." Booth said, his voice briefly betraying the nervouness he felt at being here, talking his former partner's colleagues.
Paula smiled.
"I'm Jacob Capowski. People call me Jake." The man beside Paula added.
Booth only nodded.
"What have we got here?" Samson said as he walked over to the body.
"Missy Drum, 23 years old. Single mother of two. Killed by poison, possibly by the father of the children who wanted custody of the children." Paula replied.
"Who's case is this?"
Jacob picked up the file.
"Agent Simmons." He replied.
"Very good."
Samson looked at the time.
"Shoot, Booth. I'm so sorry. I won't be able to introduce you to the coroner. It's almost two and I have a meeting I have to attend. Feel free to wander the labs a little, get to know the place. I'm sure you'll be able to find your way back to the main floor."
"Yes, Sir." Booth replied.
"Good." Samson said as he walked back to the door. "Then there's nothing left for me to do than to welcome you in our team."
Booth nodded. Samson smiled in reply before walking out the door. Booth turned to the pathologists.
"I'll let you get back to work."
"You do that." Jacob replied, coolly.
Booth simply frowned before walking out the door.
Paula turned to her colleague.
"What's got into you?" She asked, confused.
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There was no need to visit the coroner. He'd get a chance to meet him sooner or later. Pressing the up button, Booth wondered where Temperance was. He had looked in every autopsy room to find them empty. He had thought to ask the pathologists about her whereabouts but the memory of Jacob's tone had stopped him from doing so. Why had he gotten the feeling that Dr. Capowski didn't like him? Did he know who he was?
A door behind him opened and Booth figured one of the pathologists had walked out of the autopsy room. He looked up at the number. The shaft was at the 4th floor. Six more floors to go.
"Agent Booth?"
Booth turned around at the sound of the voice to see Jacob jogging towards him. Booth frowned.
"Yes?"
The pathologist stopped in front of him.
"I know why you're here."
"What do you mean?"
"You're Tempe's former partner. You shouldn't be here."
Booth frowned once more.
"And why is that?"
"She's been through a lot without having you barge in her life. You shouldn't have taken this job."
"How did you know who I was?"
"I talked to Angela. She told me what you did. I'm telling you to go back to Washington."
Booth felt the anger rising inside him.
"I don't have to listen to you."
Jacob took a deep breath. Angela had warned him he'd have trouble with Booth. She had warned him that he would probably not listen to him. And just like he had been told to say, Jacob replied:
"If you truly care about Tempe, you'll just leave. She's got a lot of things going on in her life right now. She doesn't need this."
Why were they all saying this? What was going on in his partner's life that was so hard for her? They all said the same thing: that she was doing so much better, that she didn't need him to come barging in her life.
"Where is she?"
Jacob didn't answer.
"Where is she?" Booth asked once more.
This is getting ridiculous. He thought.
"She's gone on sick leave."
"Sick leave?"
Jacob sighed, loudly.
"Yes, sick leave. After all she went through, this was the best thing the Bureau could offer her."
"How long has she been gone?"
Jacob sighed, this time not out of frustration.
"Six months."
Booth frowned. Bones, gone for six months? What was going on here?
"Do you know where I can find her?"
"Don't do this, Agent Booth. Just quit while you're ahead. What you don't know can only be good for you."
"Jacob, have you ever been in love?"
The pathologist took a step back, immediately rising the barriers he was so good at putting around himself. Why was this stranger asking him this question?
"Yes. Why?"
His voice was shaking and Jacob cursed himself. Why did he always have to act like this?
"Then you'll understand why I'm doing this. I loved my partner, I still do. Before she left, she wrote me this letter telling me she loved me too. I never got the chance to tell her how I feel. It's been driving crazy for two years. Today, I finally have the chance to see her and talk to her. I missed a lot and I just can't live without her any longer. I just need to see her."
Booth sounded sincere and Jacob sighed again. He knew he'd regret his decision sooner or later. Taking a pen and a his notebook out of his front lab coat pocket, he quickly scribbled something down. Ripping the paper, he handed it to Booth.
"You didn't get this from me." Jacob told him before walking away.
Booth watched as the pathologist disappeared in what he guessed was his office. Then, turning the paper around, Booth glanced at it. An address. Her address.
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"Gavin, please turn the TV down a bit." Temperance said as she walked from the living room and into the kitchen.
"Okay." Gavin replied, grabbing the remote.
Temperance leaned against the counter. She was tired. So tired. Her head was pounding and she felt on the verge of passing out. She didn't know it was going to be so hard. The pain she had been feeling for the past year just kept coming back, no matter how hard she tried to push it down. It just kept resurfacing. Gavin wasn't helping but she needed to keep him here. He was better off with her.
Three loud knocks startled her. A faint sound emanating from down the hall reached her ears at the same time. She growled softly.
"Gavin, could you get the door please?" Temperance said as she headed towards the sound.
Nodding, Gavin got up and ran to the door. Unlocking the two locks, he immediately opened the door. His eyes turned round as they fell on the tall man standing in front of him, flowers in his hands.
He simply stood there, frozen. He didn't hear the footsteps coming towards him and barely heard her when she asked:
"Who's at the door?"
Seconds later, Temperance was joining the young boy at the front door. She froze in her path as she saw who was standing outside her apartment.
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I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this story. Feel free to review, I don't bite. ;-)