FINAL update! I'll be sad to see this end, but my next story is something I am so invested in and so excited about that it almost makes up for it! I can't wait to start working on it. I just have to get everything sorted out with who is playing who, and it will be chapter by chapter identical to the book in nearly every way, with my usual changes here and there to fit the characters of Bones. I totally suggest you read the actual book along, if you can. But enough about the Hunger Games. Let's get back to the task at hand. ENJOY!

Epilogue

Max Brennan sat, hunched, on the stone bench next to the large cherry blossom tree. The one they planted when Temperance was born. Max felt an ache in his chest as he thought of his daughter, so lovely and pure...gone. There was no way she would be coming back now. If she hadn't turned back, realizing that it was too dangerous on that first day she left, she would surely have gone into battle by now, or have been found out by one of her fellow soldiers. Either way, she was gone.

Max buried his face in his hands at this thought, fighting the urge to sob. "How could I let her go?" he mumbled to himself. "I should have gone after her. I should have stopped her."

"I'm glad you didn't." A soft, feminine voice said from behind him. Max's frail old heart jumped at the sound, as did he, as he turned around, shocked at the young, blue-eyed, wide-smiled girl standing before him, in his own armor, wearing a medallion much too heavy for her once frail neck and bearing two swords, wrapped in some sort of cloth. He paid no attention to the strange objects she possessed, only to the beaming smile she got from him, the crystalline eyes of her mother. The sound of her heart beating and the feel of her breath brushing his face as she breathed.

"Temperance." he practically choked.

Suddenly, she was kneeling before him, holding out the swords. "For you." she said, placing them in his lap. "Your prized sword from your days in the war. There's no blood on it, see? And the sword of the Gravedigger, who died at the hands my troop." She then took the medallion from around her neck and placed it upon the swords. "And the King's medallion, a gift he gave me himself. I hope these things bring you honor, Father."

Max looked down at the objects in his lap, then at the girl kneeling in front of him, his precious Tempe. Without second thought he threw the objects to the side and wrapped his arms around his daughter, holding her to him, never wanting to let her go again.

"The best honor I could ever, and have ever, received is you as my daughter. I am so proud of you, Temperance. I always have been."

Temperance smiled into her father's chest, a tear falling down her cheek as her own arms wrapped around his waist. "Thank you." she whispered. "You have no idea how much that means to me...I've missed you so much."

Several feet away stood Temperance's mother and grandmother. Christine smiled at the scene. "How nice to be together again." she sighed, having had her own heartfelt reunion with her daughter earlier.

"Yeah, yeah..." Angela conceded, folding her arms across her chest. "I can't believe she brought home a sword, though. If you ask me, she should have brought home a ma-"

"Excuse me?" Both women turned towards the voice to see a handsome young man, whom Christine recognized as the son of her husband's old army friend, Joseph Booth. It'd been years since she'd seen the boy, who was no longer boy, but man, but she could still see the childlike dimples in his cheeks and the warmth of his big brown eyes. "Hello, Mrs. Brennan and...Mrs. Brennan. Is Temperance home?" He'd had some business to attend to in the capital and had promised to meet her at her home as soon as possible.

Christine and Angela nodded and pointed to the young woman and her father, who still embraced under the cherry blossom tree.

"Oh. Do you think they'll mind if I-?"

"NO!" Both women exclaimed.

Christine cleared her throat. "Of course not. Just go on over."

Booth nodded. "Thank you, Ma'am." he said, politely, bowing to her.

"Well, go on then!" Angela said, shoving him towards her granddaughter, overjoyed, to say the least.

Booth shuffled forward, not looking back, but not missing Angela's next comment.

"Sign me up for the next war!"

He grinned, then made his face serious as he stepped up to Temperance and her father. He cleared his throat to get their attention.

Temperance was the first to look up, as a smile lightened her face at the sight of her...well, she didn't quite know what he was now. He was more than a friend, or General to her now, and suitor didn't quite fit either. She had no idea what to call him or how to introduce him to her father.

But, still, she tried. "Father." she said, standing up and helping him to his feet. She handed him his walking stick to lean on. "Um, this is General Seeley Booth. He lead my troop during the war and he...well, I helped him defeat the Gravedigger."

Booth smiled. "More like I helped you." he said. "Your daughter is very smart, Sir. And very courageous." He smiled softly at her, and she beamed back.

Max noticed the connection they had at once and smiled, his heart filling with joy, as well as dread, at the notion that his daughter may finally have found a suitable husband. "Well, then," he said, "how about you join us for dinner tonight and share with us stories of my daughter's courage on the battlefield, hmm?"

Booth's smile widened. "Nothing would make me happier, Sir." he responded, looking at Temperance. "Though, I can think of a few things that might." He winked at her and Temperance blushed.

"So...dinner?" she asked, nervously.

Booth chuckled and nodded. "Lead the way, soldier." he teased.

Temperance laughed. "Just follow me, General." she teased back.

Booth smiled lovingly at her. "Always." he said, placing his hand on the small of her back as they walked back towards the hut, smiling like fools.

THE END

I hope you enjoyed that! Stay on the look out for my next story. The HUNGER GAMES: Bones edition xD. REVIEW!