A/N: Two short chapters in a row. I'm amazed! Hope you like this one and keep on reviewing!

The bed had been neatly made. The discarded clothing, the flowers, the cards had all been packed. The TV had been turned off, the remote control resting as always on the nightstand. Her friend was busy loading up her car to drive her home. Angela sighed. She wasn't ready to go back home.

Silence hung heavily in the small car as Temperance drove out of the hospital parking lot. Two days had passed since Angela's call and Temperance was now finding herself driving her best friend back home from the hospital. She didn't dare to talk. And even if she did, she wouldn't know what to say. Was there even anything to say? Temperance knew from experience that no words would make her friend feel any better. She was hurting. She was scared. And only time, and good fortune, would make her feel better.

She thought of her husband, back in Winchester, visiting the Robertson house with the psychic. Clara had demanded to visit the house. Temperance had objected to the idea. After all, Richard and Lucy had just lost their daughter. They didn't need a 'psychic' telling them what had happened to the little girl. They knew. At least, they thought they knew but even the doubtful truth was enough for them. For now. Besides, what would bringing a psychic in prove? That Mackenzie was dead? Well, that was obvious. All scientific evidences pointed towards death. Then what? Nothing. There was nothing else Clara would be able to prove.

Riley had cried... a lot. She had woken up in the middle of the night and had walked in her parents' bedroom and asked to sleep with them. Temperance had refused but Booth had convinced her otherwise.

She's just lost a very important person in her life.

So the child had climbed in between them and had snuggled against her father. Temperance had then fought the feeling of jealousy that had spread through her at the thought that her daughter had chosen her father over her as source of comfort. But that feeling had soon disappeared when she had fallen back asleep.

She hoped her daughter would be okay, that she wouldn't close up just like she had after her parents had disappeared. It had taken her years to open up after that, decades more specifically, and even to this day she found it hard to trust strangers. Booth had helped, soothed a few of her pains and healed a couple of her deepest wounds. But they were still there. There were still scars, scars that threatened to reopen at the next stab of betrayal.

Angela had been stabbed badly... twice: once by life, then by Hodgins. Still, Temperance found that her best friend was so much stronger than she was. Even though she had been through difficult things in her life, she still found the strength to get up every day and face the day with a bright smile. She was still capable of laughing, of having fun, of living life to the fullest. Temperance wondered where she had gotten that strength. Had she simply been born with it or had she chosen to live that way? Did people choose that kind of thing?

Temperance sighed, irritatedly. Why did bad events always brought out her philosophical side? Why couldn't she just hide behind science, hard evidence to mask her pain? Why couldn't she put her heart into a little box anymore when it came to emotional stuff?

"Why did you sigh?"

Her best friend's voice brought her back to reality.

"I'm sorry. What did you say?"

"I asked you why you sighed."

"Nothing. Just thinking about things."

Angela nodded.

"Was it hard?" Angela asked after a few more seconds of silence.

Her voice had cracked slightly and Temperance felt a pang of pain in her chest.

"What was hard?"

"Leaving your child in the hospital."

Temperance sighed.

"Yes." She replied, after a couple of seconds. "Giving birth was nothing compared to leaving Riley behind. I had Lukas with me but it's still wasn't the same. I had two children, not one. I felt like I was bringing back only half of myself."

Angela chuckled softly.

"What's so funny?" Temperance asked, glancing briefly at her friend, chuckling herself.

"Nothing. I just didn't know you could be that deep."

"Well you asked me how I felt, I told you."

"It's okay, Sweetie. I get it."

A short pause.

"Did you get used to it? I mean, not having your baby around?"

Temperance shrugged.

"You learn to live with it. Then again, Riley only spent an extra week in the hospital after we left. They just wanted to make sure she was healthy and strong before they sent her home. It's two different cases here, Ange. I'd love to help you out, but I'm afraid I can't."

Angela nodded.

"How long did they say they were keeping Kyle?"

"Eight weeks, maybe more... if he survives."

"You were a bit more than six months pregnant. A feotus is viable at that point."

Angela shrugged.

Temperance slowly pulled into her friend's driveway and parked her car behind her friend's. Quietly, the two friends stepped out of the vehicle and began unpacking. Temperance watched as her friend went back and forth between the car and her house. There was something about the way she walked that told Temperance how sad she was really feeling. Her movements were slow, her eyes seemed to be staring past her in some kind of void. Her friend needed some sleep, she knew that. But she also knew that sleep wouldn't come until her son was home, safe and sound.

After all was brought into the house, Temperance made herself comfortable in the living room. Angela came slumping back beside her seconds later.

"You never told me why you did it."

Once again, Temperance found herself confused and unsure of what her friend was talking about.

"Can you be clearer when you speak, please?" Temperance asked, mildly annoyed.

"Kids. You never told me why you had them. I mean, you talked our ears off about how you didn't want children. You gave us anthropological speeches for years about how in some cultures children weren't important or something other crap like that. Yet, you were the first one of us to get pregnant and start a family."

"It's not like I chose that life." Temperance replied, indignantly.

But deep down, she knew she had.

"Oh yes, you did. You could have chosen other contraceptive methods other than the pills. You could have gotten your ovaries tied. You could have even decided not to keep the baby after you found out you were pregnant. I'm pretty sure you could have given us millions of speeches on how, some time in evolution, mothers killed their own children. There was another reason. One you never told anyone or maybe that you didn't even know yourself."

"Are you drunk?" Temperance asked, confused.

"No. Why?"

"I mean, you used to give me speeches like that when you were drunk. I'm just asking you if you are at the moment."

"No, Sweetie. I'm very much sober. It's just that having Kyle changes my perspective on life. I know, I've only had him for two days but that's the effect he has on me. I immediately realized the people I think I know aren't really who I think they are. Understand?"

"I guess."

"I mean, take Jack for example. I send him an e-mail telling him that I've had our child, he doesn't even write back or call. I've always thought that Jack was somewhat of a responsible and caring man, in spite of his conspiracy crap. I guess I was wrong, huh?"

"It's only been two days, Angela. Maybe he hasn't even checked his e-mails yet."

"Oh he has, trust me."

"Okay."

"So, why did you do it?"

Temperance sighed. She knew her friend wouldn't change the subject unless she gave her an answer, an honest answer.

"One thing that is true, Angela, is that I did not want children. Of course, as a child, I wanted to get married and start a family. But so many people I knew got divorced and my love life got so complicated that it's led me to believe that marriage was only a piece of paper indulging stress. Just look at Booth and I. He proposed four years after we first started dating. The first four years were great, then the two after our wedding. But then things started to go downhill for us. We fought more, we even thought of divorcing. It's weird but before we got married, we barely ever fought like we did afterwards."

"There could have been another reason to that."

"Ryan has nothing to do with this, Angela."

"If you say so, Sweetie. Booth has always been jealous of the guys in your life. And if you hate marriage so much, why did you say yes?"

"I don't know." Temperance replied, irritatedly. "Are you a psychologist all of a sudden? And weren't we talking about why I had my children?"

"Hey, you're the one who mentioned your marriage. Not me."

Temperance rolled her eyes.

"Anyway. When I first found out I was pregnant, my first idea was to get an abortion. I never told anyone because I knew how you would all react. Besides, it was a decision that regarded me and me only. But then you mentioned Booth and I knew that he deserved to know. He deserved to know about that child he had created, even though I didn't plan on keeping it."

"So you kept it out of respect for Booth?"

"Not at first."

"Oh."

"Booth left before I even had the chance to tell him I was pregnant. Every day while he was gone, I worried about him."

"I remember."

"And every day, I told myself that I could just do it. That he would never know. That I could go back to just being Dr. Temperance Brennan and not Dr. Temperance Brennan who is expecting a baby.

I had my first ultrasound and that's when things changed. I heard the tiny heartbeat and I felt this rush of love that I never thought I'd be able to feel. It scared the hell out of me. That's when my resistance of keeping the baby started to falter. I had this urge to protect the life growing inside of me, to bring it into this negative world and love it just like it deserved. I was scared but it was a good fear.

Booth came back a couple of days later and I told him about the baby. After he was done freaking out, I immediately felt safer. Suddenly, the fear of having a child subsided because I knew Booth was there.

I don't know what changed, Angela. I can't even explain it. All I knew is that it did. I never truly believed in maternal instincts since there are no scientific evidences that it does exist but a small part of me believes in it."

Angela smiled.

"I knew you were a softy, Temperance." She teased.

Temperance rolled her eyes.

"Did I answer your question, now?"

Angela nodded. She yawned.

"You should get some sleep."

Angela shook her head.

"No. Every time I close my eyes, I see Kyle. I see him all small and fragile in his plastic bed. I see him die, Temperance. I see him stop breathing. I can't go to sleep."

Tears quickly spilled from her eyes and trailed down her cheeks. Temperance smiled sympathetically. She didn't know what else to do. She tried to put herself in her friend's shoes. She thought back to when she learned that Riley was sick. All she had done was cry and nobody had tried to stop her. She remembered feeling grateful for that. So, taking her friend's hand in hers, Temperance let her cry.