Okay, this is my first fanfic, so go easy on me, okay?
Disclaimer: As much as I wish I did, I do not own the show or the characters. Except maybe Jake and Lilia but they aren't nice, so I'd actually rather not claim them :)
Temperance crept through the front door, turning to shut it as softly as she could behind her. It was only three o'clock, but she was certain that Jake would be drunk anyways. And it was a Tuesday. Lilia wouldn't be home until much later. Her heart raced as she set her foot lightly on the first step.
She carefully stepped up, one at a time, senses alert and waiting for any sign of life besides herself within the building. She knowledgably skipped the eighth step, and then the twelfth as well. The two steps that would creak and alert her foster father to her presence.
She had considered not coming home today, at least until late tonight... but where could she go? The museum security was watching her after she accidentally got locked in that time, and she didn't have any friends to ask for help. Or anyone that she could trust with the truth of what her home was like.
Sure, she had plenty of teachers who she liked, but many of them found her frustrating because she only spoke up when they needed to be corrected, and those with whom she had gotten to know and share theories and ideas with, usually her science teachers, she knew she couldn't ever explain her life to. They were the only ones that smiled at her really, and she didn't want those encouraging and proud faces to turn sorrowful and pitying.
High school was not a fun place to be Temperance Brennan. Even before her parents had gone missing she hadn't been the most sociable person. Their absence and her constant bouncing from foster home to foster home had been far from helpful to her awkwardness. She sat in the back, and she only spoke when spoken to.
She wasn't clueless. She knew all the things that had been said about her, for the most part. No one was truly discrete about it... some even whispered about her, quite loudly, when she was sitting right across from them. They didn't care about her feelings, and she didn't show any signs that she cared what they thought either. Better to not give them any form of satisfaction.
There were several different theories about her floating around at the moment. One group of particularly snobby cheerleader girls thought she didn't talk because she looked down on all of them, and thought she was too intelligent to share in normal conversation with real people. A group of jocks picked on her clothing and joked about how no guy would ever go out with her, if she ever bothered to even return a greeting, that is. Not that they'd ever give a greeting.
Some science and math nerds had asked her before to join them; they'd done their research, they knew about her grade-point average and all her academic achievements. She'd turned them down, though they hadn't given up. After a recent school-wide testing they'd asked again, just yesterday in fact. She'd told them a hasty no, too fearful of being engaged in a social communication that would only make her hate herself, and had hurried away without as much as a sorry or a regretful look.
She carefully shut her bedroom door behind her and sighed, releasing her tension. Her room was completely clean. She kept her belongings all gathered together in a corner, ready to be packed up quickly at a moments notice, just in case her social worker decided to actually look into something for once and figure out that she wasn't just being difficult this time. This time she wanted out for more than just her anger and frustration, she wanted out for her own safety.
Temperance stared for a moment at the mirror on the wall. To anyone, she would appear to be a perfectly normal student. But they couldn't see the bruises, the cuts beneath her long sleeved shirts... which she wore even on the warmest of days. Sometimes she wore turtlenecks. Those were the worst days, the days she felt the eyes were really on her. Especially those of her teachers. One or two had asked her about it cautiously. She'd smiled, like she'd practiced carefully so many times, and explained softly that she'd lived in a variety of places before here, and that she was still cold even when everyone else seemed so warm. Some accepted her explanations easier than others, but nonetheless, she hadn't been asked that question in a while.
There was a crash from downstairs and she winced fearfully, stepping only on the parts of the floor she knew wouldn't creak in order to get to her bed. She seated herself carefully on the edge of the mattress, staring at the door. There was a smash, this time at the other end of the house. She closed her eyes and let a soft sigh escape her. Then she did the only thing she could; she pulled open her schoolbag and took out some homework. It was the only thing to take her mind off her worries, and she quickly got to work finishing the English paper that she'd started in class. She figured she'd get the homework she didn't enjoy over with first and then get to the enjoyable work, her scientific essay on bone decay.
She'd finished the English and gotten almost completely through her trigonometry when pounding footsteps thudded up the stairs. She eyed the door fearfully and set the math book and her notebook to the side, gently placing her pencil back in her case. Her arms instinctively wrapped around her.
The door flew open and smashed into the opposite wall. She moved from the bed and pressed herself against the wall as he staggered in. His eyes were wild; alcohol seemed to radiate off of him. She'd seen the look often, so this wasn't so shocking.
A string of insults, mostly filled with swears, were thrown at her as he stumbled across the floor. It was a small room; it didn't take him long to get close enough for his fist to smash into her jaw. His large hands seized her arms as he lifted her off the floor and shook her, her teeth rattling. She didn't bother begging him not to hurt her, or pleading with him, or anything. She'd given up on that long ago.
He slammed her into the wall, and the room flew out of focus, the lights swirling dangerously. She fell to the floor and his foot made contact with her over and over again. She curled up and waited for him to stop and leave. He didn't.
A moment later she was thrown on the bed.
Yes I am so mean to poor Tempe :( ... but don't worry, we will see another friendly character soon. Please review and let me know what you think? Good/bad... suggestions?