Here we are, the next chapter, and only two days after the last. I'm not sure why, but my computer was not allowing me to reply to reviews, so: devoted2clois, cammygrl, MMWillow13, couchpotato565, Jazmin and cheysma2000, thankyou so much for your reviews, they are highly appreciated. As I said in the last chapter, this will be the second last chapter of the story.

Enjoy !

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She really was leaving.

On her last day of school, she tried to pretend that it was just like any other normal day. She didn't get anyone to sign her school dress like Alice Sebel had done when she'd moved schools last year, and she didn't make a big deal about it. Not many people knew she was leaving; Jack and Angela, and a few other people from her classes, but that was about it.

And Booth.

It had been a bit awkward between them since she'd told him the news. How do you say goodbye to someone, knowing you're moving hours away and will probably never see them again? What do you say? Bye. Thanks for being the most amazing person I've ever known and hope you have a good life?

She didn't know exactly where she was going; she stopped listening after they told her it was interstate. She was staying with Frank and Eliza Curtain, who were both lawyers in their 40s.

Nick and Jillian had promised to send her photos of the little one when he/she was born. Tempe wasn't even sure she would want to see the photos; seeing what she was missing out on, rubbed in her face.

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Walking to the front of the room at the start of History, Tempe smiled, "Hi, Mr Bridges."

"Oh, hello, Temperance. Is there something I can help you with?" he asked, looking up from the essay he was marking.

"I'm not sure if you've heard, but I'm transferring schools and today is my last day here. I just thought you might need to know, for attendance records and that sort of stuff," Tempe explained.

"Oh," he said, taking his glasses off and placing them on his desk. "I'm sure you'll do splendidly at your new school, but well, you'll be missed here. You were a great asset to the student body."

"Thankyou, Mr Bridges," Tempe said, turning around after quickly adding, "you were always my favourite teacher, by the way."

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Just as she'd wished, the day had been like any other. No big fuss was made, which suited her just fine.

It was after the final bell rang that it finally hit her. She would not come back here again. She would clear out her locker and that would be it. But then came the hard part; the part she wishes she could just skip right past. The goodbyes.

"Make sure you don't lose touch, okay?" Angela said, tears spilling over from her eyes.

"Promise," Tempe replied, hugging her tightly.

"See you, Tempe," Jack said, pulling her in for a hug. "Now, in years to come, when you're a world renowned scientist, I can say that it's because of me, 'cause I sat next to you in high school Biology." Jack smiled.

"Same goes for you," Tempe laughed back. "Take care of Angela for me?"

"Always."

Turning to Booth, Tempe tried her utmost hardest to hold back her tears.

"Temperance." Smiling, Booth said, "I love you and I don't – not one bit – want to say goodbye to you, which is why I'm not going to. I'm going to say 'goodbye for now', because I will make it my life mission to find you again. I'll write to you..."

"You do realise you could just email me?" Tempe suggested.

"Well, I could," Booth said, "but receiving a letter in the mail is much more exciting than getting an email. And what happens if the internet crashes and can never be accessed again? You see, letter you can hold on to forever."

"I love you," Tempe said, her vision blurry form tears. "Until we meet again."

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Tempe and Booth kept in touch, regularly writing letters and the every so often phone call. But moving from foster home to foster home, the constant changing of addresses made it difficult.

For at least a year, at least twice a month Tempe would hear from Booth. But then the letter became more and more infrequent. And the ones she did receive, were shorter and more distant. Booth used to tell her everything; how work and Pops and Jared were going, what he was thinking of doing on the weekend, even what he planned on cooking for dinner. Nowadays, Tempe hardly heard any of the things from him like she used to.

And then the letters just stopped. Just like that. Nothing.

Tempe continually read through his more recent letters to see if there was anything she'd missed, hinting to where he was and why he no longer wrote. She found nothing.

So she searched through her old boxes in her room and eventually came across the phone number she was looking for.

Dialling, she waited.

"Hello?" that very familiar voice answered.

"Pops, it's me, Temperance."

"Tempe? How are you?" he asked, excitement in his voice.

"I'm good, thankyou. How about you and Jared?"

"Oh, yes. Same old, same old."

"I just had to ask you something. I haven't heard from Booth in a while, and I was just wondering if you knew where he might be?" Tempe asked hopefully.

"Oh. He didn't tell you?" Pops asked wearily, not so enthusiastic anymore.

"Tell me what?"

"He – umm – he joined the army and well, got sent off to war."

It was after that phone call that Tempe gave up trying to keep in touch.

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Please review and let me know what you thought.

Em xXxXxxx