Sorry it's taken so long to update this but I've been very busy with one of my other stories. If I could get a co-writer on this, that'd be really great. Anyways, please ENJOY!

Chapter Twelve: Questions

"Irez-vous au bal avec moi?" Sweets said, nervously, smiling at Daisy.

Daisy smiled, brightly. "That was beautiful, Lance. What'd you say?"

Sweets blushed. "Oh...well, I said, um, I asked, w-would you l-like to accompany me to the Senior Prom?"

Daisy's smile widened. "Really? You want me to be your date?"

Lance smiled shyly. "Well...yeah. If you want, that is..."

Daisy squealed and flung herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him soundly on the lips. "I'd love to!" Suddenly, her face fell. "But I can't."

Sweets's face fell as she moved away from him. "Why not?" he asked.

"My dad..." Daisy sighed. "He won't let me date anybody until my sister, Tempe, gets a boyfriend."

"I thought she had one already." Sweets pointed out.

"Yes, but she wouldn't go near that Prom with a ten-foot pole, and if she's not going..."

"You can't either." Sweets finished for her. "Man, that sucks. Not even if Booth asked her to?"

Daisy shook her head. "Nothing short of Seeley Booth knocking her over the head with a club and dragging her will get her to that Prom. She's already started a pretty heavy protest against it. Her and Angela are planning some sort of boycott against it."

"Really? How many people are involved so far?"

"Including them? Two."

Sweets sighed. "Well, maybe we can do something else that night."

Daisy giggled. "Like go on a first date, maybe?"

Sweets grinned. "Actually, I figured our first date could be this Friday, seeing as how your sister has a boyfriend, you can actually date."

"That sounds fun. But first, I have to pass that French test tomorrow. So...focus."

Sweets nodded. "Of course."

But, neither was able to go more than ten seconds without sneaking a glance at the other the entire time they studied.

"Where are we going?" Brennan yelled from the back of Booth's motorcycle as they rode through the night.

"You'll see!" Booth called back over his shoulder.

"I don't like surprises!" Brennan called back.

"I know!" Booth said, grinning.

Brennan rolled her eyes and held on tight as they made a sharp left turn.

Soon, he was slowing down at the side of a small patch of woods.

"Where are we?" Brennan asked.

Booth just smiled and put the kickstand up on the bike, before helping her off.

"Booth?" Brennan asked, becoming annoyed. "I asked you where we were."

"Yes..." Booth answered, opening the seat of the motorcycle, where there was a small compartment. "And I purposely ignored you. Now, come on."

He grabbed her hand and began leading her down a forest path, holding a woven picnic basket in his other hand. Brennan followed him, wordlessly, clutching a large blanket that he'd handed her under her left arm.

Soon, she began to hear a strange noise, like somebody left the water running in a closed-off bathroom.

"What's that sound?" she asked.

Booth smiled at her. "Just a little bit farther."

Soon, they reached and opening in the trees, confusing Brennan, who couldn't see any more trees farther down the path, but could the water sound was becoming louder.

Booth carefully led her through the trees and she gasped.

Right in front of her was a large, majestic, waterfall. The water was a deep crystal blue and ran into a large lake at the bottom of the hill, a good fifty feet down. "Oh my God..." she breathed. "Where did you find this place?"

Booth smiled and led her over to a large flat rock, where they could look over the waterfall. "My mom used to take me here, with my little brother, Jared, to get away..."

"Get away from what?" Brennan asked, leaning against him, slightly.

Booth looked away, a pained expression on his face and Brennan frowned.

She reached out and cupped his cheek, bringing his eyes to her. "Booth, what's wrong?" Booth closed his eyes. "Seeley?"

Booth's eyes flew open at the sound of his first name. She hadn't said his name since they first talked to each other.

"Seeley," she said it again, "Please...talk to me."

Booth sighed and lay his forehead on hers. "I-you have to promise me something." He said, looking deep into her eyes.

"What is it?" Brennan asked.

"I-if I tell you this, you have to share something about yourself that nobody knows. Because, what I'm about to tell you...just promise me?"

Brennan nodded. "Of course. I promise."

"Okay...when I was young, my dad...he used to..." his expression became reminiscent of a man tortured.

"Just say it, Booth." Brennan coaxed, grabbing his hand. "I'm right here."

Booth smiled sadly and kissed her cheek. "He hit me. And he hit Mom. Sometimes, he hit Jared. I was usually able to protect Jared, but Mom was always putting herself in danger when he went after me. He was usually drunk when this happened, so Mom never really wanted to blame him. 'He didn't mean it.' she'd say. 'It's just the alcohol. He'll be better.'"

"But he never got better?"

Booth shook his head, his eyes welling up with tears. "No. He kept drinking, and he kept hitting her. Sometimes I would get fed up and hit back, knock him out. Mom would get worried that he'd wake up and start hitting back, so she rounded up Jared and me and took us here to just get away from it all. She would bring some food, a couple blankets, and some pillows, and we'd spend the night out here, looking up at the stars, curled up next to our mom, listening to her promises that Daddy didn't mean it. He loved us, but he had so much pressure at work and..." Booth broke off, tears falling down his cheeks.

Brennan put her arms around him, pulling him into her chest. "Shh...it's okay, Booth. I'm here."

Booth nodded, taking a deep breath. "She promised us she'd get better, too."

"Get better? Better how?" Brennan asked, rubbing his back, soothingly.

"Mom was sick. The doctor said she had Ovarian Cancer or something. She lasted longer than she was supposed to. She only passed a little over a year ago."

"What about your father?" Brennan asked, feeling him shudder in her arms at the mention of his father.

"The hitting got worse. He did it even when he was sober. One day, my Pops was coming in to check on us and he saw my dad beating me. He pulled him away from me and sent me up to my room. I heard yelling and then somebody slapped someone else and then a door slammed. When I went back downstairs to check on them, Dad was gone, and Pops was rubbing his hand. He told me that my deadbeat father left and that I was safe now. That nobody would ever hurt me again. No one has since."

"Then what happened?"

"Jared became a little jackass. He got into a lotta trouble with the law so Pops sent him to military school. And I got in trouble..."

"The prostitute?" Brennan asked, feeling a pang of hurt at the thought that he was with somebody besides her once.

"Prostitute? No! No, I was caught smoking Marijuana. I'm not proud of it, but I was still a little broken up about my Mom. Pops had the judge go easy on me, though. Said I was a good kid, who didn't know any better. I got off with two weeks in county jail and about a month doing community service, during which time I was home-schooled."

"What about that other month?" Brennan asked.

Booth chuckled. "Suspension. I was caught at school. Nobody heard about it because my Pops paid them to keep it a secret."

Brennan smiled. "Corruption in law enforcement. I like it."

Booth chuckled. "Figures you would. So, how about your secret?"

Brennan sighed. "Well, first off, what I'm about to tell you not even my father or Daisy know of so don't say anything about it ever again."

"Deal."

"Okay, well you know how I used to date Andrew Hacker right?"

Booth groaned. "Don't even remind me..."

Brennan giggled and kissed his forehead. "Well, right after my mother passed, he asked me if I wanted to...you know..."

Booth blushed. "Mmhmm, and you said...?"

"Yeah. I said yes. But I want you to know that it was possibly the worst experience I've ever had and I never want a repeat...with Hacker, anyway."

"Why? Did he have a small..." He held up his pinky.

Brennan laughed. "Among other things." Booth chuckled. "Anyway, I told him that I didn't want to do it anymore, and that I wanted to wait until we were a bit older. He got pissed and dumped me. After that, I vowed to myself that I'd never let any guy pressure me into doing anything that I didn't want to do. It didn't work too well..." she said, smiling as she kissed Booth's forehead.

"Hey," Booth protested, "what have I made you do that you didn't already want to do?"

"Well, the first thing was date you. I didn't really want to start dating you but then you pushed and pushed and forced me to go out with you."

Booth snorted. "Yeah, and all it took were two very good Pink tickets. And let me remind you that you were the one who initiated our first kiss and I was helpless to resist your womanly wiles."

Brennan burst out laughing and laid back on the blanket. "Womanly wiles?" she coughed out.

Booth grinned, laying himself over her and tickling her side with one hand. "And let's not forget that I just bared my soul to you and now you're laughing at me."

Brennan giggled and looked up into his chocolatey brown eyes and smiled at his fake pout. "Aww...I'm sorry, Booth. But you've got to admit that was pretty-"

She was cut off by his lips on hers, and she moaned into his mouth, wrapping her arms around his neck.

When he felt her hand snake its way under his shirt he pulled back. "Bren-Temperance...we don't have to-"

Brennan scowled, pulling his lips back to hers. "Shut up, Booth." she said, kissing him deeply, once more.

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