Chapter 28. The Parts.

"You know we're gonna have to break this to Sweets very gently." Booth said as they reached the FBI building.

"Why? He should be grateful."

"Well he can be grateful later."

"What do you mean?" Brennan asked confused.

"Well you know how people are grateful when you yell 'fire', but before they're grateful, they panic and run into walls?"

"You think Sweets is going to panic and run into a wall?" Brennan asked raising an eyebrow.

Booth smiled. "A metaphoric wall, Bones."

"Oh…"

"… and metaphorically speaking, yes. I do."

"Right…" Brennan nodded.

"I mean, he's definitely not gonna like it."

"Well if there was a mistake in one of my books I would want someone to tell me."

"What you call a mistake, Sweets calls an interpretation."

"Interpretation? No, it's an actual, factual error." Brennan said absolutely certain they weren't talking about the same thing now.

"Ok what are you talking about? Because, apparently I have no clue."

"Page 31." She opened the book to the flagged page. "And I quote, 'Subjects worked together for the first time in solving the murder of pregnant congressional intern Cleo Eller'" she closed the book.

"Ooooooh. Right. Yeah." He smiled "that other case we worked on, that was the first time we… met."

Brennan rolled her eyes. "What did you think we were going to tell him about?"

"The whole… love thing."

"Oh. … Yeah."

"What are we going to do about this? I mean how are we going to convince him?"

"…I don't know." she kissed him smiling. "You'll think of something." She turned and they walked into the building and to Sweets' office.

"…What mistake?" Sweets asked surprised.

"Hint: it's not what you think." Booth said leaning back.

"You disagree with my conclusion that the two of you are in love." Sweets guessed. "And the sublimating energies of that connection are responsible for the energy, vigor and rigor that you bring to your homicide investigations."

Brennan and Booth share a glance. "I just told you, it's not what you think, and you immediately say what you think."

"That's your interpretation." Brennan pointed out. "We recognize your right to interpret."

"You do?" Sweets asked surprised.

"That's your right as a psychologist to get everything wrong. …I have circled some typos. Other than that and the fact that the Cleo Eller murder was not our first case, you are ready to publish." She said as they placed their copies of his book on the table and stood in unison.

"Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. My 'interpretation' of your working relationship is based on the unfolding interpersonal dynamics of that first case."

Booth shook his head. "It wasn't our first case."

"…it's not your first case." Sweets sighed. "Okay. Well, then, please tell me all about that real first case to see if my conclusions are still valid. …You at least owe me that."

Booth gives Brennan a look and she nods and they both sit again.

Booth clears his throat.

"A girl was murdered," Brennan started. "And her remains were thrown in a landfill."

"Her name was Gemma Harrington. The case was going nowhere. I was in an early morning gamblers anonymous meeting."

"And by that he means he was hustling pool at the bar down the street." Brennan clarified. "…Booth had a pretty serious gambling problem before he met me."

Booth nodded. "Well it's only a problem if you lose, which of course I never did."

"But it took your focus away from more important things, like work."

"I was working on that part when I got a call from Gemma's mother, Jocelyn, she came to see me to tell me that the New York coroner's office was releasing her daughters remains for burial. She was all upset."

"Why was she so upset?" Sweets asked.

"The police had given up hope of finding her daughter's killer." Brennan explained.

"Exactly. The case was a split jurisdiction. The girl was last seen in DC, but her body was found in New York. The New York Coroner was in town-"

"Cam." Brennan clarified.

"Right. … And, uh, I decided to meet with her. She said she could get me Gemma's file, but not before reminding me of Freud's definition of insanity."

Sweets nodded. "Repeating the same action over and over again and expecting a different result."

"That's exactly what she said. I told her that I might have missed something but she suggested I get another opinion. And of course I was dead set against the idea of a partner, but she insisted I get the opinion of this brilliant, young anthropologist at the Jeffersonian."

"She did not say that about me." Brennan said certain. "She hated me."

"Well that was her point anyways." He said smiling at Brennan then turning back to Sweets. "She said that she could release the remains to her, but I insisted and she reminded me for the hundredth time about the 'same action same result' theory. Commented on my gambling and I gave in and asked for her name."

"And Cam answered, 'Temperance Brennan', which is me." She smiled. "I was giving a lecture of the best way to remove flesh from a decomposed body at American University when Booth walked in."

"Bones was definitely not what I expected."

"I asked if there were any questions and he raised his hand and asked me, and I quote, 'If you remove the flesh aren't you destroying the evidence?'"

"That's not what I asked." Booth shook his head.

"Yes it is. The only difference is that I took out the 'um's and the googly eyes." Brennan smiled at him and continued. "and I answered 'on the contrary, I am revealing evidence.' The bell rang and everyone left. …Well except Booth. He walked up to me and continued questioning me about how removing flesh doesn't ruin the evidence and I replied that all of the important things that have ever happened to a person are etched into their bones."

"I laughed and commented about bones being her thing and she said she was the best in the world."

"He thought I was being humorous." Brennan laughed.

"But it turns out to be true." Booth shrugged his hand landing mindlessly on Brennan's knee.

"But you didn't know that yet." Brennan pointed out.

"Yeah. That's true."

"I thought he was a student and told him if he had real questions to visit me during my office hours."

"Then I told her I was with the FBI and she warmed up to me a little bit."

"I introduced myself. …Honestly impressed that he had managed to become an FBI agent."

"Hey." Booth said offended.

"Sorry." She apologized looking at him. "But it's the truth."

"Why is that?"

"Because-"

"What happened next?" Sweets asked focused on the point of the story.

"Right, sorry." Booth apologized.

"He asked if I believed in fate."

"Then it was my turn to be laughed at."

"I still don't believe in fate."

"And I still do." He said looking into her eyes. Brennan smiled lightly and Sweets massaged his temples with a sigh, he knew it was going to be a long day.

"Booth decided not to provide me with any information including the victim identity."

"I wanted to see if she could find out at least what I already knew." Booth explained.

"It was a test. Which obviously, I passed."

"With flying colors." He smiled a Boothy grin, this thumb tracing circles on her thigh.

Sweets stood pacing quickly. "Give me a second…" he massaged his temples as he paced muttering to himself.

"I see your point about the wall." Brennan whispered to him.

He nodded switching directions with the circles. She grabbed his hand stopping him nd giving him a desperate look. "sorry." He mouthed.

"Continue." Sweets nodded.

"Maybe I was wrong, Bones, maybe he really is going to run into an actual wall." Booth whispered in her ear and she repressed a laugh.

"Do you want the details of the case?" Brennan asked watching him. He didn't answer so she continued with them anyways. "Zack and I examined the remains and, still being an intern, I was testing him. He found out quickly enough that the body was far from 200 hundred years old and I had to explain to him again that we were examining the body for the FBI and we had to adjust our procedure accordingly. We also found out that she was a young female that had never given birth." She waited for a reaction. Again nothing so she kept going. "We had to call in Dr. Hodgins to assist with the bugs and particulates."

"They didn't do that very often back then."

"Because all of our bodies were older and it wasn't necessary to consult. There were other ways of dating that could be done."

"And Hodgins was a royal ass-hat back then."

"…He had anger issues." Brennan nodded. "But he came anyways, eating a bowl of cereal actually." Booth and Brennan laughed. Sweets shoot them a look. "…He was excited that we had a recent murder. He stated that he was taking the clothes and I yelled at him for being unpleasant. I was met with a sarcastic please and he continued to take the clothes. We ignored his annoying disposition and went on to find the cause of death was sharp force trauma to the skull. But since I was told the FBI had no luck with dentals, I had to think outside the box to find an identity."

"That's where Angela comes in." Booth said smiling.

"She was doing Caricatures on the Mall back then and I had only met her a month earlier at a gallery opening. She wanted to go back to Paris and I'd seen her work and thought she'd be of use for facial reconstructions."

"Turns out she was way more than just useful to have around."

"That's when we really became close. …Afterwards I went to tell Booth what we had learned about Gemma and met Cam… and like I said she did not like me."

"You weren't exactly warm and fuzzy towards her." Booth pointed out.

"She ran into me."

"Just admit it. You've changed since you met me." Booth said grinning widely.

Brennan rolled her eyes her stomach doing flips at the grin and he gave her hand a small squeeze. "I told Booth that we knew she was a 16 year old, biracial, female who died between 3 and 4 years before, he was impressed when I told him I knew the body had been dumped in a landfill and remained there for a year before being found, although he wouldn't admit it. I continued to tell him about her life, that she was born in Alabama but moved north at 8 years old, that she was injured in a pre-'98 car crash when she was 13 because of the lack of airbags."

"That was amazing." Booth admitted. "But not as amazing as the fact that she knew Gemma was a singer."

"I didn't say that. I said she could've been a singer… or a swimmer or an asthmatic or even a combination of the three. …It's all in the bones. …we had the face, we had the girls' entire history, but we didn't have her name."

"But I did." Booth smiled. "That's why we make such a great team. She's got the brains and I've got the clearance."

"Booth actually apologized for withholding evidence." Brennan informed him.

"Why you gotta say it like that?" he asked looking to her.

Brennan shrugged looking back then to Sweets. "Just saying. …He asked me to help him prove that Judge Hastey had killed her and I told him I would help him find out who the murderer was whether it was Hastey or not."

Sweets sat in his chair again. "So let me get this straight… this all happened one year before the Cleo Eller case?"

"Mm-hmm. Almost to the day." Booth nodded.

"Well, 13 months, minus a week." Brennan corrected.

"And, uh, you didn't argue? Even though he withheld information from you and tested you."

"My work was outside his experience." Brennan shrugged. "He didn't know any better."

"He called evidence crap and she basically called you stupid."

"We only argued during the Cleo Eller case because of what happened during the Gemma Harrington case." Brennan explained.

"And what happened?"

"We're getting to that." Booth smiled.

"At this time we were still… feeling each other up."

"Out, Bones. We were feeling each other out." Booth corrected with a small grin.

"Right." Brennan smiled back. "That's what I meant." She turned back to Sweets with a serious look now. "Would you like to hear the rest of the story?"

Sweets sat back ready for what was coming.

"Hodgins had found a sliver of wood on the clothing and guessed she was struck with something made of maple."

"He didn't 'guess' it was a reasonable deduction based on facts." Brennan corrected.

"Right sorry." Booth apologized. "Hodgins 'deducted' that she was struck with a maple weapon,"

"Deduced." Brennan corrected.

"what?" Booth asked confused.

"deduced is the correct past tense of deduction. You said deducted."

"Whatever. …his information led to baseball bat. And I knew that Gemma's boyfriend was a baseball player trying out for the minors and had been in town the day she disappeared."

"He didn't think that a baseball bat would leave that type of splinter."

"And so the antics began." Booth added smirking.

"He didn't do it, the experiment proved it and Booth knew it after talking to him. …Zack found out that the bones of the ear were missing it we wouldn't find the real significance of that until later. We moved on to examine the bones with a black light to check for peri-mortem bone bruising."

"And there was a lot."

"At regular intervals, so we began running through a few possibilities, ladders… scaffoldings… none of which seemed very likely."

"Until I called her up to follow a lead with me." Brennan gave him a major eye roll and he laughed. "Ok we retraced Gemma's last hours trying to gain… inspiration. Not the most original idea or the most creative but it worked."

"Booth took me to the opera house where her choir sang that night for a bunch of influential types, including judge Hastey."

"There was a reception after the show it started at 9 and went on for a few hours, so I thought it would be a good place to start."

"Turns out it was."

"As we looked around, we started talking-"

"What about?" Sweets asked more interested about that than the case at the moment.

"The case, the FBI-"

"Bones asked me out." Booth said smiling.

"That's not true. I asked if you were seeing anyone."

"That's the same thing."

"You asked me the same question." She pointed out.

"Yeah because I wanted to sleep with you, I thought you were hot." Booth laughed.

"Whoa! Let's talk about that one for a minute." Sweets said leaning forward.

"Oh god here we go." Booth rolled his eyes sitting back, his hand sliding out of hers and up Brennan's thigh.

"You want to sleep with Dr. Brennan?"

"Wanted, E-D, as in past tense." Booth clarified. "Yes I thought she was hot, yes I liked her. But we couldn't go out. So I didn't do anything about it."

"But you would've gone out with him?" Sweets asked looking to Brennan.

"Yes." Brennan nodded. "I found him very attractive."

"Could we finish the story now Sweets?" He sat back and let them continue. "Good. … We turned the corner and we found a large old fashioned staircase leading to the second level."

"Made out of maple." Brennan said smiling.

"So you found out she was killed by being pushed down the stairs." Sweets guessed.

"No"

"No?" Confused.

"We found out she suffered a fall down the stairs around her time of death but the fall wasn't fatal. But everything was beginning to come together. We found out she sustained a head injury severe enough to render her unconscious."

"But, no one found her like that so someone had to have been right behind her and that someone had to have picked her up or dragged her removing her from the scene."

"All we needed was a warrant to arrest him."

"So we went to see Caroline with our theory."

"It didn't go well." Brennan made a face.

"She called me cute for wanting an office with a window and pushed us out of her office."

"Angela agreed though. She thought you were cute."

"Because she's smart enough to recognize how adorable I really am."

Brennan laughed. "Booth said even though we couldn't arrest the judge we still had every right to ask him some questions. So we did."

"..That's when things took a turn for the scandalous."

"We invited him to the opera house for a little chat."

"It took a little coercion but he came with the understanding that he would stay out of the headlines that way."

"It didn't work. He got mad when we confronted him about what we thought happened to Gemma."

"He didn't like that we knew what really happened. He knew we were close to proving he killed Gemma. So he got real defensive. He called Bones stupid, said she was ridiculous and Bones punched him in the face."

"Oh my god. You punched a federal judge!?"

"Twice." Booth nodded.

"What-"

"The second time was self defense. He was coming at me." Brennan said mildly defensive.

"It was amazing. I'd wanted to do that for years." Booth said proud of her.

"Booth thought it was hot." Brennan said smiling and shooting him a glance and seeing the wide smile.

"Unfortunately Caroline didn't agree. She said I had to fire Bones."

"For legal reasons." Brennan nodded.

"Well we didn't want to get sued."

"So did you?"

"No. He knew we were right and he wanted to stay out of the public eye." Booth shook his head.

"No. Did you fire her?" Sweets asked curiously.

"Oh. …Yeah I had too."

"Caroline suggested getting me drunk first."

"Bones!" Booth gave her a serious look.

"Oops. I probably shouldn't have said that…" she said apologetically.

"But we did go out for drinks, mainly because I needed a couple drinks in me before I could break it to her. But nevertheless we ended up at the bar near my apartment."

"Well before that Zack and I were in the lab trying to figure out exactly what had caused the damage to her skull. …It was actually when Angela came to visit that we figure out what did it. She mentioned that she noticed it looked like her head had been slammed and that gave me the idea that cracked the case wide open. That maybe her head had been slammed in the trunk. …but unfortunately before we could confirm it we were off the case."

"Yeah, but they didn't know that yet. So, luckily, her squinty sidekicks kept working on the case while she was out with me."

"I was explaining what we found to Booth and we were drinking—"

"A lot." Booth added.

"When he said that we should stop talking about the case. I agreed and he showed me his new flashy tie."

"Bones had inspired me to rebel a little, in a healthy way of course, against the uniformity of the FBI."

"He complimented me on how much I could drink."

"We were already really drunk by this point." Booth said a little defensive now.

"Right. And I told him that it was nothing compared to the bang I had to drink in India as a grad student."

"Bones." Booth shook his head at her with a serious look. "Skip ahead a little… please?"

"Sorry. I was just being thorough."

"What happened next?" Sweets asked getting them back on track.

"Oh. He fired me."

"What did he say?" again curious.

"…You're fired." She said confused by the question. "What else would he say."

"Well… y'know what never mind. What happened after that?"

Booth smiled and let out a small laugh.

"You wanna tell him or shall I?"

"I don't know. I'm just worried his head might actually explode."

"That might be interesting to watch though."

"Guys what happened next?"

Booth smiled turning to sweets. "That's when Bones realized that if we didn't work together… we could have sex."

"What?" stunned.

"That's when we left the bar." Brennan said smiling.

Sweets shot up pacing again.

"It was pouring rain. So we were getting soaked."

"He thought it was a good time to confess to me about his gambling problem."

"And she thought it was a good time to kiss me."

"You kissed!?" he froze infront of them nearly speechless.

"Yes." They both said at once.

"Oh my god." He dropped back into his seat. "My book is crap."

"That's why we came here today."

"We didn't want you to be barking up the wrong tree." Booth said honestly.

"Did this affair last long?"

"…No. Only about 15 more seconds." Brennan shook her head.

"Then we took it back to her place."

"Really?"

"no. Don't be ridiculous." Booth shook his head laughing. "It was my place." Sweets' eyes widened and he was struck speechless.

"The next morning I went in and had to tell everyone that we had been fired."

"But fortunately the squint squad had come through and found out what type of car the damage was from which gave me what I needed to get a warrant and get Brennan hired back."

"Which is a good thing, because if it wasn't for me they wouldn't have been able to arrest judge Hastey for murder."

"But that's where the fighting started. … She accused me of getting her drunk so I could fire her then try sleeping with her."

"Some things were said…" Brennan nodded.

"But we got the guy. We just didn't know why he did it yet."

Sweets took a deep breath, his face looking like he might be sick and Booth handed him a bottle of water. "…It's like you two saw your moment and did everything possible to let it pass you by then took it out on each other. …but I end up paying the price."

"We really are sorry about your book Sweets."

He leaned forward in his chair. "You…. You two are totally messed up. I always said nothing could happen with you because if it did the dam would break. And now it turns out that something did happen."

"Sweets it wasn't a big deal."

"But I need to know… Did it?" he asked impatient to hear the answer.

"Did what?" Brennan asked confused.

"Did the dam break?" he persisted.

"…What do you mean?" Brennan asked playing dumb even though she knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Sweets wants to know if we had sex." Booth explained, knowing she already knew that and giving her that Boothy grin that made her stomach do flips again.

Brennan laughed with an eye roll. "That's ridiculous."

Sweets sighed sitting back.

"What else would we have done when we went to my apartment, we were drunk and extremely attracted to each other."

"Huh?" Sweets sounded almost confused by the change of events.

"And we've been together on and off for …what is it 6 years now?" Brennan asked looking to Booth.

He nodded. "Yeah. About that."

"…Oh… I get it. Ok… You guys are messing with me. …That's… that's real funny guys."

"Bones doesn't joke." Booth said completely straight-faced. Brennan shook her head no.

"…You're serious?" he asked stunned.

"Bones doesn't lie either." Booth pointed out again.

"Not unless I have to." She shook her head, completely stone-faced.

"…So if I asked the two of you to prove it by… kissing right now-"

"Geez, Sweets. What are we 12?"

"It wouldn't be a problem for the two of you because you've done it so many times." He continued ignoring Booth's comment and studying their faces.

"Seriously Sweets, you gotta get-" Booth started but Brennan pulled him into a strong kiss. "…Well then…" Booth cleared his throat sitting up straighter. "There you go Sweets… how's that for evidence?"

"Uh… Wow… So you … you guys are…together then?" it was meant as a statement but it came out more questioningly than he had hoped.

"Us!? No." Booth shook his head at the ridiculous idea.

"But you just said… and she just … huh…?" Sweets sputtered.

"Brennan's been working on her acting. She's getting pretty good, huh?" Booth smiled.

"But…"

They stood. "Stop saying we're in love, fix the book, and good luck with publishing." Booth said with a serious, and semi-threatening, look.

"But… but… Why did he kill her?" he called as they were about to walk out.

They turned back and gave him the cliffnotes version of the rest of the case.

"Gemma caught him snorting something, most likely cocaine."

"He tried to stop her and she fell down the stairs." Booth added.

"He probably thought she was dead."

"So he goes and gets his car, pulling it around to the side of the building."

"But she starts to regain consciousness as he put her into the trunk, so he slammed the trunk shut, delivering the deadly blow."

"Then he drives up and dumps her in a landfill in New York." Booth finished with a sigh.

"Judge Hasty will be eligible for parole in 10 years."

"That's it. That's the story of our first case Sweets." Booth said opening the door and turning to go.

"…Is any of that true?"

"Yeah." Booth nodded turning back. "Dead girl, murdering judge, drinking, kissing, fighting, no more working together. That pretty much covers it."

"No. No it doesn't. What was the reason the two of you stopped working together?"

"It was right before the trial ended…We started arguing." Brennan admitted. "In front of the victims mother."

"I led her out of the room. She slapped me, and called me a bully."

"He accused me of trying to make people around me feel stupid and I said that I hated him."

"…And I said something I shouldn't have. I mentioned her dad."

"He didn't know why yet but that was the last straw. I hit him. …I told him I would never work with him again and I walked out."

"…You struck him?"

"I deserved it."Booth nodded.

"It took us a year after that to even be in the same room together."

"Yup." Booth nodded.

"Ok… if you're not in love how come neither of you have been in one even semi serious relationship since you first met?"

Brennan shrugged. "I don't really do that."

"You know, stressful job, and raising my son. ….Not exactly a lady magnet."

Sweets shook his head. "No I don't buy that. One of you has to have the courage to break this stalemate. … You." He pointed to Booth. "You're the gambler its gotta be you. You gotta take the shot. …Make it work for you." They stared at each other for a long time. Booth and Brennan half out the door. Sweets by his chair.

"I'm starving. Wanna get something to eat?" Booth asked turning to Brennan.

"I could eat." She nodded and they walked out leaving Sweets behind to contemplate the validity of his book.

Brennan smiled turning to him as they reached the bottom of the FBI steps. "That was surprisingly fun."

"Yeah. …I feel kinda bad about screwing with him like that though." Booth shrugged.

"What? …Seeley it was your idea. …What's wrong?" she asked noticing the thoughtful look on his face.

"…I'm the gambler." He sighed, his hands in his pockets.

Brennan looked at him confused. "Wha-what does that have to do with anything?"

"…I believe we can make this work. I want to give this a shot. …a real shot. You and me together. No more secrets. All in."

"Seeley." Brennan sighed. "The FBI—"

"I don't give a damn about what the FBI has to say about us."

"They won't let us work together as a couple."

"No. Don't do that, don't you try and rationalize this. That isn't a reason." He said closing the distance between them and pulling her into a strong, passionate kiss.

"…No." she pushed him away. "That's not fair Seeley we need to talk about this. …If you kiss me…"

"I know." he nodded pulling her in again, just to be pushed away.

"Seeley, I'm serious. Stop." She practically begged, trying desperately to keep her mind clear but all she could think about was his lips on hers.

"Why? Why Temperance? What is SO wrong with giving this a real shot?"

"Because I'm not the one who needs protecting in this relationship Seeley, you are. "

"Protection from what Tempe? What could possibly hurt me?"

"…I could. I have. I hate that it's true, but, I've hurt you before and I'll do it again. I don't have your open heart Seeley."

"I don't care. Just give it a chance. That's all I'm asking." He said seriously looking into her eyes.

It took every fiber of her being not to give in right then. "No Seeley! You said it yourself. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result. That's what we're doing. Right here. Right now. The results aren't going to change."

"Then let's go for a different out come here. It doesn't have to be the same results every time and it won't be if we don't want it to be." She shook her head. "Listen, just hear me out, okay? You see all those old couples, you know, who have been in love for 30…40…50 years, alright? And it's always the guy that says 'I knew'. … I know Temperance and I have known since the day I met you, I've told you that before. I know we are meant to be and I am willing to work at it with you until you know too just please… give it a shot. Give me a shot."

"I-I-I'm not a gambler Booth. I am a scientist. I can't change. I don't know how. I don't… know how to change. …please don't look so sad Seeley. …see I'm hurting you right now. Why can't we just go back to what we were? We were happy with that arrangement."

"…I'm sorry Tempe. …I-I can't go back to that again. …It's all or nothing."

"Seeley that's not fair." Brennan shook her head feeling her heart rip in two.

"Well this isn't fair on me Temperance! I have to have someone who will love me in 30 or 40 or 50 years. …You made your decision Tempe. Now I have to make mine." He said the pain evident in his eyes. "If you can't be with me then… I have to move on. I have to be happy."

"You're not happy?" the pain in her heart reached a whole new level of unbearable as these words exited her mouth, her brain completely unable to fathom what was happening at that moment.

"I can't do this anymore Tempe." He said harshly. "I'm miserable with this arrangement. Every time we get to this point you hide behind your ever so guarded walls and I'm stuck picking up the pieces while you fly away to some other country and bury yourself neck deep in dead bodies."

"That's not true I—"

"Temperance I don't want to fight with you, and it kills me to say this but… I can't sit here waiting for the day you MIGHT be ready to admit that you love me... I have to move on. I'm sorry."

"Fine… Do what you have to do Seeley." Her voice was cold and calculating as she tried to keep herself in one piece long enough to get away. "Just… don't be mad at me ok…I can't stand it when you're mad at me." She admitted as one lone tear escaped and rolled down her cheek.

"I'm not mad Temperance. I could never be mad at you." He gently brushed the tear from her face and kissed her gently on the cheek then turned and walked away leaving her to fall apart in private.