I know what you're probably thinking and no, this is not an illusion. I am ACTUALLY updating! Normally when it takes me a while to update I have a reason but to be honest this time I don't. I kind of got stuck and then lost inspiration because I'd only really planned up to this point in the story. Anyway, because it's been a while I'll just recap what happened: Tempe's parents went missing, Russ left and Tempe went into foster care.

Enjoy :)

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The past few weeks had been pretty hectic. Fitting into her new home had been odd. Tempe had lived in the same house since she was born. She'd never lived anywhere else her whole life.

Her foster parents were very nice. Jillian, her foster-mother, was in her mid-thirties. She worked part-time at the local council doing paperwork and that sort of thing. The rest of the time she spent at home; cooking, cleaning, reading, etc. Nicholas was very kind to her too. Unlike his wife, we worked at the local 'drop-in centre' full-time. He had a PhD in Medicine, majoring in Psychology. The drop-in centre helped out kids and teenagers who have troubles at home, or who gets pregnant at age 16 or who fall off the wrong side of the tracks.

Nicholas and Jillian don't have any kids together, but when Jillian was 15 she had a child and kept him. He's in his early twenties now. Patrick, his name is, and he's studying at university to become a lawyer.

Since the move, Tempe hadn't really had any time to see Booth. He would meet her a couple of days after school and hang around for 20 or so minutes until her bus came. But still, that small amount of time was cut even shorter with Booth having to work some afternoons.

Everything seemed to be piling up on her. She had a tonne of homework. She had to leave earlier in the mornings to catch the bus and got home later in the afternoon. She'd often find her mind wandering to Booth and thinking about what he'd been up to since they last spoke. Atop of all that, the stress and emotions of her parents' investigation were weighing down on her, catching her at her most vulnerable.

She hadn't heard from Russ since he'd left that day. She didn't have the slightest idea of where he would've gone. They had no family, other than their parents, and no one had any idea where they were. She hadn't heard from him at all, though just the other day there was an envelope sent to her in the mail with $300 in it. She suspected it was from her brother but lacked any form of proof.

"Hi, Jillian," Tempe greeted as she walked into the kitchen after school. "Hi, Nicholas."

"Hello, Temperance, how was school?" Jillian asked, looking up from the magazine she was reading.

Tempe shrugged, "it was okay. I got my science test results back, which were lower than I had hoped."

"Oh, that's a shame. What mark did you get?"

Taking her school books out of her back, Tempe replied, "33 points."

"Out of what?" Nicholas joined in the conversation.

"34."

"Oh, but that's an excellent result!"

Shrugging once again, "I guess so."

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For quite a few days, Jillian had noticed that Tempe was a little down in the dumps. She first noticed her behaving a little odd when that envelope of money arrived in the mail. Maybe the fact that she didn't know who had sent it was playing on her mind. Not only that, but since her first few days living with them she hadn't had a single friend over or gone to a friend's house.

"Nick," Jillian asked him over breakfast. "I'm worried about Temperance. She doesn't seem very happy. I was thinking that maybe she should stay at a friend's house this weekend, cheer her up a bit."

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Walking out of Visual Design on Friday before lunch, Angela was met by Tempe on her way to her locker.

"Hey, Ange," Tempe smiled, leaning against Angela's neighbouring locker.

"Hey, what's up? You look a little distracted."

"Oh no, I'm fine," Tempe replied. "Are you busy tonight?"

"Um, my parents are going away for the weekend so I was going to leave my homework until the last minute, lay down on the couch, eat popcorn and watch movies. Do you wanna join?" Angela asked hopefully.

"Leaving homework to the last minute isn't very efficient, Ange," she pointed out. "But yes. Jillian and Nicholas have a function to go to tonight and they said I can either just stay home or stay at a friend's. And I don't particularly feel like spending a night by myself."

"Sure," Angela smiled, following Temperance to her locker. "You can just come over whenever you're ready. Oh, it's going to be so much fun. We haven't hung out for ages. Do you have any movie preferences?"

"I don't really mind. I'm happy with anything," Tempe said.

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"Coming!" Angela called from the kitchen when the doorbell rang at around 5:30 pm.

"Hey, Temp-"

"Hello, beautiful," Jack interrupted her, stepping forward to press his lips to hers.

"Jack, what are you doing here?" Angela asked surprised.

"Well, you said your parents were going away and I thought you could use some company," he smiled.

"I already have company. I have Tempe coming over for the night."

"I know," he said, confusing Angela further. "That's why, when she shows up here, I am going to drive her over to one, Seeley Booth."

As a grin grew on her face, Angela said, "and that, is why you're a genius."

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Hearing a noise from downstairs, Booth looked towards his bedroom door. After waiting a few minutes he laid back down.

There the noise was again.

Pops had taken Jared to the local fair so it wasn't either of them. Walking down the hallway and then down the stairs, he got the fright of his life when a body flung itself around him and sweet, soft lips met his.

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There you go :) I hope that made up for the long break.

Please review and let me know what you thought.

Em xXxXxxx