Universe 1 & Universe 2 (1978 - 2004)

Joy Keenan was two years old when her parents suddenly uprooted Joy and her six year old brother Kyle from their home in southern Ohio. The family settled in Chicago with new names for all four family members. Their new surname became "Brennan", mother Ruth became "Christine", and father Max became "Matthew". Joy and Kyle were now "Temperance" and "Russ". Six year old Russ had his new name drilled into him by his father and he was told never to tell a soul that his name had been changed. Of course, their two year old daughter was too young to understand what was happening, and as she grew, she never realized she had any name other than Temperance.

The reason for the family fleeing in the middle of the night was because the parents were criminals. They had been part of a criminal enterprise, and their specialty was breaking into bank safe deposit boxes after hours. The group they had aligned with had carried out a brazen robbery that day that killed three people, including a State Trooper. Although Max and Ruth were part of their operation, their crimes never involved injury to anyone. And they weren't present at this robbery, but were afraid they would be swept up by the authorities, or possibly killed by other members of the gang to keep them quiet. To protect their two young children, they made a quick decision to load up the car with whatever they could pack quickly and disappear. They settled on Chicago because it was easier to hide in a big city, and within days, Max had established new identities for all four of them.

Max, now Matthew, had always been interested in science and had graduated from college with a degree in chemistry, with a minor in biology. So, in setting up his new identity, he managed to attach those credentials to his new name and was able to secure a job as a high school science teacher. Christine fell back on her strengths and eventually became a bookkeeper for a small local firm. The little family settled into their new life in Chicago, and everything was good. Within a few years, it was obvious that Temperance was a very intelligent little girl, and as she grew, she became a voracious reader. When she wasn't reading, she was asking her dad to explain the science projects he was preparing for his classes. She became a real bookworm and didn't really socialize with classmates very easily because their interests seemed so shallow to her. Her brother, in the meantime, was a very popular young man in school. He played baseball in the summer and basketball in the winter, and he had a large group of friends to occupy his time while his little sister sat at home with her nose in a book.

And then, when Temperance was 15 years old, their world turned upside down. A few days before Christmas, the parents went out to finish their shopping and they never returned. What their children would only find out decades later was that the parents ran into a hit man from their criminal enterprise. They knew the only way to protect their children was to run, and they expected that 19 year old Russ would take care of his sister in their absence. But Russ was overwhelmed by the task and left the state for a job, throwing his sister into the foster care system. Temperance spent a rough three years going from one bad situation to another, and only survived by keeping her head in her books and working hard enough to get scholarships for college. Released from the system, she used her scholarships, plus funds finally released to her from her parent's savings, to attend Northwestern University.

By the time she was attending college, she had retreated even more into her academic world and had no interest in socializing. Her laser focus on her studies allowed her to obtain her bachelor's degree in anthropology in three years, graduating Summa Cum Laude. Each summer she would travel to work on a dig, usually in an exotic location. Returning from an expedition at the end of the summer after graduation, she returned to Northwestern to work toward her Masters. There she met Michael Stires, a professor in the Masters program. Temperance was flattered at the attention she received from Professor Stires and eventually realized that he was flirting with her. She had very little experience with men in social situations, but had started to realize it was going to be important to develop those skills as she advanced in her career. She had just turned 22 years old and was still a virgin. She made the decision that she was going to rectify that situation, but as she had such high standards for herself, she knew that she needed to choose well and find someone skilled in the art of lovemaking. So she studied Professor Stires. She watched him interact with female students. She paid attention when she heard students talking about him, and learned that he was quite the ladies man when it came to his female students.

So, she decided that he was the man she would gift with her virginity. She started responding to his flirtations and he finally asked her to dinner one day. She carefully chose a dress that would show quite a bit of leg and even more of her cleavage. She was surprised to discover how much she enjoyed the dinner and the banter with Michael, as he insisted she call him. He was a smooth conversationalist and their shared love of anthropology made for a very pleasant evening. As they left the restaurant, he suggested going back to his place for a cocktail, and she happily accepted. It didn't take long before he took her into his arms and began kissing her. In pretty short order, she found herself naked in his bed, with him worshipping her entire body. After bringing her to orgasm with his tongue, he moved up, hovering over, about to enter her. She decided then that she had to confess to her intact state, and it startled him. He started to pull back, but she encouraged him not to stop. She told him that it was past time to have this rite of passage and that he was the man she wanted to introduce her to the pleasures of sexual gratification.

And he did. He spent the entire night teaching her many ways to enjoy each other's bodies, and by morning she was exhausted, sore, and educated.

From then, until the end of the school year when she received her Master's Degree, Michael was not only her mentor for her graduate studies, but he became her Pygmalion, her Svengali - he taught her everything he thought she should know. They were both very clear at the start of their sexual relationship that neither was looking for a long term commitment - in fact, they had no personal commitments to each other at all, and were free to date and have sexual relations with whomever they pleased. But, over the next eight months, he taught her everything he knew about how to pleasure herself and her partner and this introduction to carnal desires shaped her view of the act - that it was simply to satisfy biological urges. That was his worldview. He insisted that love was just a chemical reaction in the brain. He had no interest in ever settling down and having a family. He had spent his adult life going from one encounter to another, and when he took time away from his anthropological studies and worldwide expeditions, it was a satisfying life for him.

Temperance appreciated the way he moved through life. He was devoted to his studies and did everything required of his position - meeting with donors, attending seminars, schmoozing with people when necessary. Although she hated those social niceties, he taught her how to handle them with grace. But he also taught her how to flirt, how to be sensual when she met someone who triggered her biological urges. She learned from him to treat those encounters like some of the ancient civilizations they studied - take some momentary pleasure and move on.

After receiving her Master's Degree, she applied for internships at several institutes to work toward her doctorates. There was really only one that she coveted, and she was quickly hired by the Jeffersonian Institute in Washington DC. She said goodbye to Michael and thanked him for his tutelage in both her studies and, well, everything else. She had always felt very alone after being abandoned by her entire family at the age of 15, and she felt that Michael must have had a similar story because he never mentioned family to her. His philosophy of life - nose to the grindstone, no long term commitments, finding pleasure on his terms - seemed like the perfect life for her as well. If she didn't attach to anyone, she wouldn't have to worry about them leaving her.

So, for the next five years she worked toward the doctorates she had chosen and gained an enormous amount of practical experience working with the head anthropologist at the Jeffersonian. Part of her studies also included expeditions, and about twice a year she found herself working on digs or working with museums in places all over the world. One benefit of those trips was that she was able to learn so much about other cultures by immersing herself while she was there. Some of the men she met taught her things that even Michael didn't know, so the trips expanded her knowledge both professionally and personally.

She just never made the time to make friends in DC, but occasionally joined workmates out for drinks at the end of the week. She found that once she was out of Michael's orbit, her biological urges weren't as strong as before, but she occasionally used her charms (the ones Michael helped her to develop) to satisfy those urges. Sometimes she would flirt back at the cute guy in the coffee shop. Sometimes she would call a previous lover who was happy to take her out to dinner and then breakfast the next morning. Michael had taught her well, and any man she spent the night with was all too eager for a repeat performance. And most, but not all, appreciated that she wasn't looking for more. The "not all" men were usually disappointed, but she would apologize and explain that she just wasn't ready to settle down yet. The "yet" was the only disingenuous part of the apology, because she was pretty certain she would never be ready.

Five years into her internship, she had obtained three doctorates: Anthropology, Forensic Anthropology, and Kinesiology. When the head anthropologist at the Jeffersonian made his decision to retire, he recommended that Doctor Brennan be offered the job as the Head Forensic Anthropologist, which she quickly accepted. She easily fell into her new role running the lab and found herself working so many hours that she didn't have time for a personal life. But this was her choice and it suited her for this time in her life. She was only 27 years old and had accomplished so much already, that giving everything to this new position seemed like the right move. She built a talented support staff, and her lab was gradually developing a reputation as the finest lab of its kind in the country.