**LOOOVE the reviews! They make me so happy!
This chapter takes place right after Booth and Brennan's date, along with the following Monday. Booth has some things to say, but Brennan throws in her two cents at the end. It's kind of a toss up as to what happens next. I'd love some ideas when yall review :) I have a couple of miniature scenes playing around in my head, but nothing definitive.
Hope everybody is having a looovely week! :D
Don't own them!
Creeping into the house, Temperance cringed as the door creaked before it shut all the way. She made it one…two…three steps. Whew, she thought, Only two more to the stairs and –…
"TEMPERANCE!" she heard her foster-father loudly slur. Her stomach tied itself in several knots before she could even turn herself around to see Jeremy slouched over in a chair in the den. "Get in here!"
Bowing her head as she walked, Temperance stopped an inch outside of the den doorway. She decided that being silent was probably best this time. The last time she tried to verbally defend herself, she ended up with a busted lip. "What were you thinking?" he asked.
Hearing the clinking of ice in his glass, Temperance looked up long enough to confirm that he was, in fact, drunk. "Why the hell would you think you could go out with some guy without my permission?" Actually, he was probably way past "drunk." Her stomach did a flip as he slowly climbed out of his recliner and began his journey to where she was standing.
He reached up a hand to her face, making her flinch as her eyes squeezed shut. She knew that it hurt less if you didn't know it was coming. After a moment of not being struck, Temperance's eyes squinted open as her whole body attempted to relax a bit. Without warning, his open hand made contact with her cheek.
Flinching again as her head turned with his slap, her heart stopped. "Are you going to answer me?" he yelled in her face, slapping her again. "You little slut!" he spat, elbowing her in the side. Temperance hunched over with a gasp, trying to catch her breath again.
"Please…" she gasped again, "Please stop…" Gently placing her hand over rib cage where he already hit her, Temperance felt tears falling down her face.
Chuckling, Jeremy lifted his hand and back-handed her other cheek with a grunt followed by a chuckle. "Go to your room," he huffed, giving her one last push. Temperance landed across a mid-sized table in the entry way, her already-hurt side hitting the edge of it. As she gripped onto it, she felt a crack inside her.
With tears streaming down her cheeks harder than ever before, she slowly picked herself up, clutching her side, and began the long trek to her bedroom. With every step, her side seemed to rip more and more, until she reached the next to last stair. She tripped over her own feet and crumbled onto the top of the stairs.
Letting out a yelp, she quickly covered her mouth with her free hand and picked herself up. As she got to her bedroom and shut the door, she pulled her hand away from her face to reveal it covered in tears and blood. Cringing as she moved her other hand off her side, she slid her shirt up. A massive bruise was already forming over the left side of her ribcage, along with severe tenderness.
She definitely didn't have a medical degree but she knew she had a broken rib or two. As the tears continued to flow down her cheeks, she carefully peeled the shirt and tank top off of herself, flinching every time her side moved.
She pulled a sleep shirt out of her drawer and slid it over her head, gritting her teeth the entire time. As she finished changing from her jeans to her pajama pants, she eased herself over to her dresser and slowly looked into the mirror.
Temperance didn't know who she was looking at anymore. Two years ago, she was the happiest teenage girl in the entire world. She had parents that loved her, a brother that adored her, she was the best in school…nothing could've gotten any better.
Now, she stared into the cold, teary eyes of her new self. Her cheeks were red and bruising, her lip was split open from Jeremy's wedding ring, her parents and brother were all gone, and she had no one.
Carefully holding her hand to her side, Temperance silently opened her bedroom door and crossed the small hallway to enter the bathroom. She shut the door and locked it. As she heard the lock click, a small sigh of relief came over her. She was safe, if only for just a minute. After gently washing the blood from her face, she rinsed the rag with cold water and squeezed all the extra water that she could from it before making the very long journey back across the hall.
Once she had secured herself inside her room as best she could…which included a small table being pushed in front of her door…Temperance climbed into the bed, cringing the entire time she was moving. She flattened the cool rag against her ribcage and pulled her dear friend Rupert to her chest with her free hand.
That night, Temperance Daesee Brennan cried herself to sleep as her loyal bear of 17 years watched over her. He may not have been much, but for her, he was enough.
Monday morning eventually rolled around. Temperance had avoided coming out of her bedroom as much as she could all weekend. The few times that she did come out were only to get a sandwich or to take a very quick shower.
That morning, she had strategically used make-up to cover as much of the bruising on her face as she possibly could. But no matter how much foundation and power she used, a deep blue blotch directly beside her eye refused to be covered up. Temperance's solution to this was to wear sunglasses as long as she possibly could, then just keep that side of her face away from people.
Pulling into the parking lot that morning, her heart crumbled as she saw Booth standing in her parking spot waiting for her. Her stomach tied itself in more knots as she winced while turning the steering wheel. Her ribcage had a gigantic bruise on it, nearly the length of a football and four or five inches in width. She had kept herself on over the counter pain killers all weekend and planned on continuing her treatment until her side no longer hurt.
As she put the SUV into park, she closed her eyes and slowly inhaled. Booth opened her door, greeting her with a giant smile. "Hey you," he told her, holding his hand out to help her out of the vehicle. Trying as hard as possible to not seem rude, she eased herself out of the vehicle without his help. A small grimace slipped out as she landed on the ground.
"Hi," she whispered, faking a smile.
"How was the rest of your weekend?" he asked as she pulled her backpack out of the backseat and slid it onto one shoulder, her hand still covering her side.
"Uh," she stuttered, "It was good," she lied. She flinched as Booth reached up to close the back door of the SUV.
Noticing this, Booth's eyes narrowed. "You sure about that?"
"Mhmm," she mumbled, beginning to walk to her first class.
"Hey! Wait up!" Booth called out. As he caught up with her, he slid his arm around his side. As his fingers barely grazed her injury, Temperance jerked away as she winced and as her eyes filled with tears. "Hey, wait a second…" he told her, pulling her back over to between her vehicle and the one beside it. "What's going on?" His chocolate eyes searched for answers in her face.
"Nothing, Booth," she groaned. "Just let me go to class." Attempting to walk away again, he caught her wrist and pulled her back to him.
Carefully pushing her sunglasses to the top of her head, Booth's jaw dropped as he noticed the dark spot beside her eye. "Temperance…" he groaned. "Dammit! Why didn't you tell me he'd do this to you?" As Booth ran his thumb gently over the top of the bruise, a tear finally fell down her cheek and her jaw stiffened. "That's not the only spot, is it?" he asked, surveying her watery eyes for any kind of answer they would tell him.
Reaching down, he attempted to wrap his arms around her waist and pull her into him, only to be stopped by her gasping and pushing him away. He saw her clutch her side as her eyes squeezed shut. His jaw tight, he reached down and began to pull at the bottom of her shirt. "No," she instructed firmly, pushing his hand away as best she could.
"Temperance," he sighed. "Let me see…"
"No," she told him again, this time with more of a whiney sound as tears began to flood down her cheeks. She quit pushing against his hand and let him lift the hem of her shirt to show her torso.
"Oh my God," he groaned. His eyes traced around the blue, black, and purple figure and the way her ribs were pressing against her skin. "They're broken, Temperance. You need to go to the hospital…" he told her.
"No, no, no," she protested, pushing her shirt down and backing away from him. "I have been through a lot worse," she argued, mainly to herself. "I am not going to the hospital."
Booth caught both of her hands and pulled her to him. He gently pulled her into his chest and lightly wrapped his arms around her shoulders as she sobbed into his chest. Her arms carefully pulled up between them, Temperance's whole body shook as Booth eased a hand up and down her back. Booth watched people go past with strange looks on their faces, but they knew not to say a word. Booth had the intimidating factor working for him.
The first bell rang and once her breathing had evened out a bit, Booth rested his chin on the top of her head. "Temperance," he whispered. Shyly looking up with her clear blue eyes, he knew she was only looking for comfort, not advice. However, his own morals wouldn't allow him to just stand by and watch this disaster. "You need to go to the hospital," he told her more firmly.
Shaking her head, she took a step back and wiped her face. "I can't, you don't understand," she reasoned.
"He didn't give you permission to hang out with a friend Friday night so he beat the living shit out of you for it. Now you have a bruised up face, a busted lip, and some broken ribs. What am I not understanding, here?" he asked her bluntly.
With her head lowered, she felt her heart drop to her stomach. "I can't go to the hospital," she started, "Because I don't have any money. If I go, I'd have to ask him for money. If I ask him to pay the bill, he'll assume I went and told, and when I get home, it's only going to be twenty times worse than Friday night." Squeezing her eyes shut and opening them again, she took a deep breath. "I'm serious, Seeley. I've been through worse than this. I don't need to go to the hospital."
Most people would've just dropped the subject there and moved on. Not Seeley Joseph Booth. Shaking his head, he took her hand in his. "So what are you going to do? Just continue to get beat the hell up and saying 'oh, I've had worse' to everybody? How long has he done this? How many bruises has he put on you?" he quietly yelled, his jaw still stiff.
Tears filled her eyes again. "He won't do it as long as I follow his rules," she whispered, shyly looking up at him as her hand took its place back over her ribs.
"Tempe, you can't keep doing this," he told her.
"Why do you care so fucking much, Booth?" she yelled, her teeth clenched together. "You've known me a total of almost five days! How come you get to be the boss of what goes on in my life from now on? Screw you!" Jerking her backpack back onto her shoulder, she spun around and walked into the school.
Leaving Booth standing by her vehicle, Temperance never looked back. With a deep breath, Booth ran a hand through his own hair, and then let it fall back to his side. He knew she was scared. But he also knew he had to do something.