A/N This is happening after the final episode of Season One of Bones. I hope there will be more seasons to come, but it's not up to me, it's basically up to FOX, and since I don't trust them to keep great TV shows on schedule, well…

Also, I don't own anything related to Bones, even if I'd really, really love to have David Boreanaz all to myself. Who wouldn't? As a woman's POV, of course…

And please, give me reviews; an author's worst enemy is silence. Ja


Not In This Life

Chapter one: I'm Temperance Brennan


The day after Temperance Brennan learned of her father being alive was a day like any other day. Booth was doing everything he could to find out anything about Max Keenan / Mathieu Brennan, and the squints were trying to be busy at anything because they felt so helpless, it was driving them crazy. They wanted to be there for their colleague, to support her, to listen to her, but only Angela seemed to know exactly what to say to her dear friend. It had been the worst week of Dr. Temperance Brennan's life, and at the same time, that week had brought everyone she loved closer to her, although she might not tell them yet.

Her brother Russ was very dear to her heart and she was glad that he was back in her life, even if they sort of felt strangers to themselves. Zack and Hodgins had been working their asses off all week to make sure they would have all the evidence they should have to try to figure out what had happened to Brennan's parents about 15 years ago. Even Dr. Goodman had been there for her, telling her she should get the week off, as if she'd really listen, but still, she had found it very kind of him to offer.

As Temperance was looking at herself in the mirror of her bathroom, she thought of the two people in her life she wouldn't be able to live without, and it was her sweet Angela, and Booth. Angela always knew what to say to her, even if Tempe didn't always want to hear it, it was most of the time, the truth. And Booth…what about Special Agent Seeley Booth?

Temperance started to brush her teeth and smiled at the thought of Booth. She had met him a little more then a year ago, and had hated him since they had exchanged their first words together. The nerve of him, the ego, the arrogance…She had hated his guts the first time around, and he had hated the fact that her intelligence always made her right 99 of the time. Of course, at that time, they weren't working on the same team: it was the FBI against the Jeffersonian on a big case regarding one of their own (the FBI's) who had committed a homicide. Booth didn't want to believe his colleague had committed such a horrible thing, and Brennan was always showing in his face the facts regarding his colleague about what he had done. Of course, she was right, and Booth, for some reason, preferred to direct his anger towards Brennan than himself, because he couldn't believe he had trusted his friend to tell him the truth about not murdering that girl. Usually, he had hunches about that type of men, women, murderers, and liars. He was angry with himself, but it was easier to blame the woman who had asked Cullen to get him off the case because his judgment was blinded by his friendship with the killer. Cullen hadn't removed Booth from the case, but it felt as if Brennan had slapped him in the face. Him, Booth, who always thought he was doing the right thing, was in fact blinded by the fact that this guy, the murderer, was an FBI buddy. This made him think about everything, and he had then decided to take a step back, and did as if he didn't know the killer. She had been right, his loyalty to his FBI colleagues had blinded his better judgment and he hadn't like that one bit. But she was one of the honest and truest people he had ever met, and he respected her for that.

After the case was closed, they hadn't spoken for about 5 months until Brennan came back from a trip and Booth cornered her in an airport letting her think that she really was under arrest for having non-authorized body remains in her bag. Booth knew it was the only way to get her attention, and she knew she would have showed him the front door of the Jeffersonian Institute if he had shown up there. It was a smart move, she had to give him that. But after all the murder cases they had solved this year, they grew closer, and even started to like each other, to respect each other. She had revised her thoughts about Booth by working with him closely day after day that he was in fact one of the most upright people she knew. Booth was now a good friend, he had just proven that the past week, and she even had to acknowledge that she became a better human because of him: he made her open her heart to the world, to feelings. Feelings about pain and loss, and friendship and even love.

It's not that she was the Tinman before, because she always had been feeling. The problem was that she had felt so much as a child, she had to make herself stop feeling or she wouldn't have ended up where she is today. Seriously. Everyone copes with difficult moments in their life the way they think they should cope, and she did what she thought she had to do. She put her heart in a box to make things easier. Temperance was 14 years old when everyone in her life abandoned her. Everyone. She could have started to steal, to use drugs, to sell her body to creeps but she didn't…she became a forensic-anthropologist. That has to say something about how strong that woman is.

Temperance looked at herself in the mirror, and then sighed. "I'm Dr. Temperance Brennan." She repeated to herself for the tenth time that morning. "I'm Dr. Temperance Brennan, forensic-anthropologist at the Jeffersonian Institute." She just couldn't erase the fact that her real name was Joy Keenan. "I'm Dr. Tempe-" A knock on the door interrupted her. She looked at what she was wearing (a white t-shirt and blue boxers) and decided that she was decent enough to answer the door. It wasn't Russ like she had thought it would be, it was Booth. He froze in the doorway, but only for a tiny moment, because of how his favorite forensic-anthropologist looked in her white shirt and boxers that made her legs look like they were 10 feet tall. Her hair was all messed up and curls were everywhere, but her eyes were the ones that made him recollect himself quite fast. They looked 100 years old.

"Hey Bones!" He joyfully said to her with a smile while entering her place. "I almost had a stroke when I saw at 9:30 that you weren't at your desk at the Jeffersonian, so I thought I'd stop by." She went in the kitchen and took two cups out of the cupboard and poured coffee in them. Milk and no sugar. "Thanks." Booth sat on a chair of the kitchen table and looked at the woman in front of him. She looks like she aged 5 years in one night, Booth thought "Are you okay?" He asked out of concern.

"I'm fine. Thanks." She had a weak smile on her face. "I've been better, but I'll survive. Plus, I have a headache. I think I drank too much last night."

"Where's Russ?" Asked Booth, looking around and not seeing his partner's brother's stuff there.

"I don't know, I think he said something last night before I went to bed about him not wanting to be a burden, and that he'd check himself in a hotel, wanting a place for himself and everything. I didn't argue." She took a sip of coffee and went to fetch some Tylenols.

"Look Bones, why don't you go take a shower or something, and I'll cook something for you alright?" He took a sip of his coffee and stood up, walked in the kitchen and opened the refrigerator's door. "Good, you have eggs."

"I'm not a child Booth, I can cook for myself." She started to object, but Booth didn't want to hear anything.

"Would you just let me do this for you, Bones?" As Booth was saying those words, he pushed Temperance towards the bathroom with his hand on her back.

"Yes, but-"

"No buts." Booth showed her the door with his hand. "Go clean yourself up!"


"Would you stop with the buts already?" He said to her with superiority, taking her by the shoulders and walking her to the bathroom. "Now, will you wash yourself or do I have to do it for you?" Booth understood the full meaning of the words he had just said and froze, and he was pretty sure that he started to blush too, as Brennan turned around to face him with astonishment all over her face.

"Booth!…" She was half-smiling though; he had thought she would kick his ass for it.

"Bones…" He started babbling. "It's not…I didn't…" He wanted the floor to spread wide open under his feet, and jump.

"As I said earlier, I'm not a child." She gravely said to him, just loving the way he looked right now, secretly wishing he hadn't offered his services to give her a bath. He just stood there, staring at the floor, at his feet, basically staring at everything but the woman in front of him.

"Bones, I know that…" I know, believe me…

"You have to be careful of what you're saying to me Booth…" she started to say to him, with a twinkle of mischief in her eyes, "because I could take you up on your offer." And with that, she turned around and headed for the bathroom, laughing to herself, knowing perfectly well she just left Booth standing there with his mouth wide open.

What did Bones just say to me? Booth thought to himself while preparing some omelet and trying to forget a naked Bones in the shower. Did I hear right? She was joking, of course. I know she was joking. Was she? Temperance Brennan making a joke? Really? Of course, she was only kidding. Come on Booth, she was kidding. She knew you had put your foot in your mouth, and she just wanted to make it a bit worse. Yeah, that's it; she was making fun of you.

He heard the water stop, and poured himself another cup of coffee. The omelet was almost done when Tempe got out of the bathroom wearing only a towel and going straight to her bedroom to change. She wants the death of me. His cell phone rang and it was Cullen, there was a dead body arriving for them at the Jeffersonian at 13:00. He told him they would be there in time, and hung up.

Tempe got out about 2 minutes later wearing a blue-green tank top that really matched her eyes and a beige skirt.

"Now that's my girl! You look 5 years younger! It did you good." She responded by a smile.

"Mmmm, it smells good." She said to Booth, who put everything in a plate and sat down to eat. "I actually didn't think I was that hungry, but now that I am smelling the food, I can say that I am!" She took a bite. "That's good Booth. I didn't really picture you as a good cook."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but it's only eggs. Everybody can do eggs."

"I can't, I always overcook them. I usually eat cereals and French toasts." She said as a matter of fact to Booth.

"I thought you didn't eat breakfast, being always at work and everything."

"I do, when I'm here, or I just grab a cup of coffee and a muffin at the Jeffersonian cafeteria."

"Workaholic." He teased.

"Hey, workaholic to you too!"

"Hehehe. I know." And with that he took the last bite of his culinary miracle omelet. "What would we do without work, huh?"

"I prefer not to think about that." Her work was her passion; she didn't have any other passion in her life…yet.

"Yeah, you're right, it will probably cause us nightmares." He stood up, took Tempe's plate, and put it in the dishwasher. "It's the best invention ever." Booth said thinking of the dishwasher.

"I have to say it's a pretty great invention, although I have to disagree with you about the best one ever invented-"

"Bones, it's not that I really think it's the best invention ever, I'm just saying that I really love dishwashers because I don't have to wash the dishes anymore!" Why do I even care to explain? She was able to exasperate him, but at the same time, Bones wouldn't be Bones if she wasn't that way.

"Then why did you say it was the best invention ever if you don't believe it?"

"Bones, it's an expression of speech." Booth was about to give up.

"Oh, okay."

"Now I have to go" Booth started to walk towards the door. "I prepared some papers for you and your brother, you know, to make sure you won't have any troubles in the future about using the name Temperance and Russell Brennan. It's just formalities, really." He saw the shadow coming back in her eyes.


"Nah, forget about it. It's nothing. It's the least I could do. Everything is taken care of, you and Russ will just have to sign here and there."

"Thank you." She gratefully said to Booth. It was the first time he had seen her say something with so much sincerity in her eyes, and in her voice. He was touched.

"Sure." At this moment, he thought of how fascinating it was to see a woman like Temperance Brennan look so vulnerable.

"No, I meant thank you, for everything…for the past week, for you being there for me…" Tempe squeezed his arm affectionately and he took his chance by taking her in his arms.

"Anytime." He pulled her closer to him.

She couldn't remember the last time that it felt so nice to be in someone else's arms. It just felt so good, and so right, like nothing could ever happen to her anymore, she was safe, protected. She let herself relax and just enjoy the embrace. Booth's strong arms were around her while one hand was also in her hair. She didn't want to brake the embrace, her, Temperance Brennan, who's always afraid to show some feelings. She just took a deep breath and let the moment be. As she did so, smells of soap and aftershave overpowered any other odour near by, everything smelled of Booth. He smells really good. She thought.

On the other hand, Booth was starting to have non-professional ideas about his female partner, and the fact that she was so close to him, that she had just gotten out of the shower and smelled so clean and fresh, and that she was actually letting herself melt in his arms was a bit too much for now. Booth loved having her in his arms like that, and he was happy to see that she didn't try to run, or that her body didn't stiff against his as he pulled her very close to him, it was actually quite well adjusting, and it sort of freaked him out for a second.

Nobody knows who broke the embrace first, it wasn't really important, and as Booth looked into Temperance's eyes, he saw about one million different emotions. She had tears in her eyes, but at the same time her mouth was curled up in a smile. A tear dropped down on her left cheek and he brushed it off with his thumb.

"Hey, Bones." He soothingly said to her. "It's going to be alright." And with that he gently kissed her forehead.

"I know." She simply answered.

"Come on, we have a dead body waiting for us." Booth joyfully said to Tempe, hoping it would make her smile. She did. "Now, that's better!"

"You Agent Booth know just what to say to cheer up a girl." She teased him.

"Yep! dead body, it works every time." And with that he took the keys, and drove them both to the Jeffersonian Institute.


There will be more action in the near future. I just like to establish where the characters stand. ja