**This is a shorter chapter than the past few, but I like it. Oh, and I LOVE the reviews I've gotten recently :) I'm glad I can actually write things that people want to read :) Oh, and who's ready for the new episode next week? This girl is!

This chapter is post-kiss and goodbye for the night. Somewhere, I left a surprise about what's going to happen next. But it's hidden :D Gotta keep it interesting, ya know? Yall enjoy!

Don't own them :( **

As she unwillingly leaned back, Temperance's eyes fluttered open. She was completely speechless as she traced his face with her steal-blue eyes. Locking onto his brown ones, she felt her heart begin to beat again.

Booth let a small grin slip as he swallowed the lump in his throat. "So that's what I've been missing," he whispered as his thumb brushed against her cheek.

Without thinking, Temperance quickly leaned in again, pressing her lips back against his, pushing him back with her force. As her kisses became more and more forceful, Booth gently pushed against her arms and looked down at her as she reached for more. "Hey…" he tried to speak, only interrupted by her lips again.

"Hey, hey , hey…" he spoke again, leaning out of her reach and holding her back with a light grip on her arms. He watched as her chest rose and fell quickly as she sat back in her seat and brought a hand up to her mouth.

"I'm so sorry," she gasped, standing up with wide eyes, frantically looking around for her purse. After finding it, she grabbed it and headed for the door. By the time she was two steps outside, Booth had his hand around hers and was pulling her back to him.

"Hey…" he whispered, his eyebrows pinched together as he noticed a single tear running down her cheek. "What was all that about?" he asked, wiping it away, not letting go of her hand.

"I'm so sorry, Seeley," she repeated, crashing into his chest, her small frame fitting perfectly.

Booth could hear the quiet sobs as he held her against him and rubbed her back. After thinking quickly, he eventually came up with a plan. "Let's go for a walk, huh?" he asked, smiling down as she peeked up at him.

With a slight nod, Temperance backed away from his chest, clung to her purse, and followed Booth down a moon-lit trail. While walking, Booth continued to listen for any signs of her still crying, eventually realizing that she must've stopped the sobs.

Temperance followed behind Booth, her small hand still in his, listening to the cracks of sticks and leaves beneath their feet, along with cricket chirps and frog croaks. After walked for a few minutes, she noticed that Booth had stopped in front of her. "Where are we?" she asked quietly, unsure of her surroundings.

"Still on our property," he assured her. "Have a seat," he offered, smiling at her as he sat down on a patch of grass.

Sitting a "safe" distance away from him, Temperance wasn't sure what to do. She didn't know what exactly happened back at the house and she didn't know what was about to happen.

"Why are you way over there?" Booth asked, noticing the distance between them. He smiled over at her and moved his arm, welcoming her into his side.

"I just figured you'd want some distance," she admitted with a soft voice.

"You figured wrong," he informed her, smiling even bigger as she moved to beside him.

Instead of talking, they just sat and observed the nature around them. Temperance watched fireflies that were playing in the trees across from them, wishing so badly to turn into one so she could fly away from what had just happened. 'What was that?' she asked herself with a sigh. The only answer that she could logically come up with was that she had experienced a temporary out-of-body experience and something else controlled her behaviors.

After sitting in silence for a good length of time, Booth smiled as he saw Temperance fidgeting with the ring on her finger. "Hey…" he pulled her chin up towards him. "It's okay," he whispered, kissing her forehead.

"No," she argued. "No, it's not okay. I behaved foolishly and let my desires –" Her sentence was interrupted with Booth's lips pressing against hers. Everything inside of her melted as she felt his tongue part her lips.

Booth leaned back and smiled down at his beautiful girlfriend beside him. "I told you it's okay," he reminded her.

Temperance simply nodded with a sigh. "What's going to happen when Jeremy gets back home?" she asked with a shaky voice. She knew Booth would protect her, but she wasn't sure how he was going to do that.

"Well," Booth sighed, not wanting to think about the reality of Temperance's foster-father beating her. "How often is he out of town?"

"About once a month, from what I can tell," she replied as her stomach flip-flopped inside her.

"We'll be able to see each other in school," he said, trying to think of the positive things. "What are the chances of him letting you go places on the weekends with a bunch of friends?"

"If there are guys there, there's not a chance in hell," she rolled her eyes. "He always mumbles stuff about me getting knocked up and him having to 'raise another little piece of trash'…and those are his exact words," she told Booth.

"How about we use Angela to cover for us?" he suggested, lying back on the grass and looking up at Temperance.

"I don't understand," she spoke as her eyebrows pinched together.

Booth smiled as she laid down beside him on her side. "Well…if he trusts you with girls, you can tell him that you're going to Angela's or going somewhere with Angela. But you'll really be with me."

"She'd be okay with this?" Temperance asked, still confused. "She wouldn't get anything out of it."

"Oh yeah she will," Booth chuckled as he saw the look spread across Temperance's face. "The more I get to see you outside of school, the less mushy, gushy, romantic, cheesy, kissy stuff she'll see during school. Trust me," he assured her. "Ange won't have a problem with this."

With a shrug, Temperance rolled to her back and tried to find something happy about the entire situation. She was way over her head with this guy that she had known for a week, they were planning on lying to her abusive foster-dad, and…well…the whole thing with Booth just flat out scared the hell out of her.

Booth gently rolled over and hovered his upper body over hers as their eyes locked. "You have to tell me if he does anything to you," he asked her in statement-form.

After taking a deep breath, Temperance nodded. She was rewarded for her submission with Booth's lips pressed against hers. With a sigh of happiness, she smirked up at him, her blue eyes lighting up in the moonlight. "Damn you and your persuasiveness!" she cursed him.

Chuckling, Booth rolled to his back and pulled Temperance into his side. "We need to get you home pretty soon," he reminded her.

"But I don't wanna…" she whined, nuzzling her nose against his chest, earning a chuckle from the body beside her.

With a kiss to the top of her head, Booth felt both himself and Temperance relax into each other. 'Handle with care, if not, you'll lose it forever,' Booth reminded himself, knowing that he'd never intentionally hurt the beautiful girl whose head was on his chest, rising and falling with every breath he took.

Booth pulled into Temperance's driveway at 11:45 on the dot. Putting the SUV into park, he turned to look at Temperance as she smiled over at him. "Is there any chance of us doing something tomorrow?" he asked with a pout.

Laughing, Temperance shook her head. "I'm going shopping with Maggie. We're going to buy new clothes, get our hair done, and have mani-pedis," she spoke in a nasally voice mocking that of her foster-mom. "Whatever that means."

"I believe they call that a 'girls' day,'" he told her, lifting his hand and brushing her rosy cheek with his thumb. "Well, Sunday, I have church and stuff with Pop and Jared. But I'll see you Monday morning," he promised.

Temperance imitated Booth and poked her bottom lip out. He grinned and shook his head. "What am I going to do with you?" he asked, leaning closer to her.

"I'm sure you'll think of something," she whispered, her breath warm against Booth's lips.

Leaning in another inch, their lips finally met, making both of their hearts flutter. With that last kiss, Temperance got out of the SUV, smiled, and shut the door. Booth watched as she climbed the stairs to her house, turning around once more before she pushed the door open. She lifted her hand for a brief moment before closing the door behind her.

Booth wasn't sure how, and despite the big part she had already played in his life, he knew that that was just the beginning of nights like those.