Temperance Brennan flinched as the remote smacked the wall just to the left of her head then clattered to the floor.

"I warned you not to mess up girl!" Michael Collier roared as he fast approached the shivering teen.

"Oh I don't know why you bother Suga'. You know she ain't smart enough to know what your talkin' 'bout." Shirley Collier lounged on the couch with her back to the scene, too engrossed in her game show to spare her foster child a glance.

Michael showed no sign of hearing his wife as he closed the last few inches to Temperance and jerked her up by her hair. He pulled her face close to his and sneered. "I'll teach you to speak outta tongue in my house!" Temperance's nose involuntarily crinkled at the smell of liquor invading her senses, before she was roughly yanked to the side as her captor began to drag her down the hall.

Temperance didn't bother trying to fight back. She had only lived in the Collier household for two weeks before she had learned that resisting only made the punishments worse.

Michael threw open the door to the basement and shoved. Temperance barely managed to catch herself on the third step before a heavy boot hit her back. The rest of the trip down the stairs went much too quickly. "And don't let me hear you whinin' all night either!" With that, the door slammed shut, and the sound of boots marching back toward the living room could be heard overhead.

Once she was sure that it wasn't likely that her foster father would return, Temperance sat up from her sprawled position at the foot of the stairs and began assessing her injuries. In the dim light of the moon, pushing its way through the grimy window high on the basement wall, she could make out a few cuts and bruises, a large gash on her right ankle, but nothing that looked to serious. She sighed. All things considered, tonight wasn't so bad. Her injuries were mild, and the basement was her favorite place to be imprisoned. Despite its lack of heat and the occasional visit from the rat she had taken to calling 'Freddy', the Collier's did store odds and ends in the basement that, if used cleverly, could create a makeshift bed. This was more than she even received in her 'room' upstairs, which was actually the walk in closet of the room that the social services believe to be her actual room.

Temperance pulled herself off of the cold stone floor, and quietly weaved her way through the boxes to the corner farthest from the tv room. There she had thrown together an assortment of old cardboard boxes and stuff animals, topped with a ratty blanket that she had found wrapped around an antique lamp during her third trip to the 'dungeon' as she had mentally dubbed it.

She carefully slid into her sanctuary, and arranged herself so that as few of her injuries, recent and old, were touching the filthy cardboard.

Letting out a sigh, she closed her eyes, and brought forth the memory of her old bed, of her parents tucking her in and kissing her goodnight. As a single tear slide down her face before Temperance allowed exhaustion to overtake her.

The next morning, Temperance's internal clock, developed out of her instinct for self-preservation, caused her to wake with a start. The musky light of dawn was struggling to make its way through the basement window. With a groan, she stretched and carefully made her way from her makeshift bed, being careful to obscure the route she took to get there. Then, she perched herself on next to the bottom of the stairs, hugging her knees to her chest. No matter how bad the Colliers treated her at night, they made sure that Temperance was awake and properly dressed for school in the morning. After all, Michael would hate to lose his new favor punching bag to the system.

Temperance had learned the hard way to be awake when inevitably one of her foster parents came to retrieve her in the morning. Both Collier's had very inventive ways of waking up a sleeping child…

The snick of a lock and a load banging awakened her from her memories.

"Better get ready for school before Mike gets done shaving." Shirley warned. "And he'll be wantin' a tuna salad sandwich for lunch." With her message delivered, Shirley sauntered away to put the finishing touches on her gaudy make-up.

Temperance closed her eyes and took a deep breath, steeling herself for the day to come, before she hauled herself up the stairs.

The first thing she did was head to the kitchen, where she quickly and silently prepared Mr. Collier's lunch, complete with the 'requested' sandwich, a bag of chips, and thermos of coffee, all sitting on the counter waiting for their owner. Then she quickly rinsed her arms and face in the kitchen sink, inspecting and cleaning her wounds as fast as possible, before sneaking upstairs to her 'room'. Once she had entered her little closet and shut the door, she breathed a sigh of relief. She then moved over to the tiny pile of clothes on the floor and selected a tattered dress to replace the torn one she wore. She changed her socks and slipped her shoes back on before racking her fingers through her hair. Grabbing her books, she again crept out of her closet and back down the stairs.

"Oiyh! Where do you think you're goin' so fast!" The sound of the male Collier stopped her in her tracks. "I said, where are you goin' you ungrateful-"

"I'm just going to school," Temperance interrupted quietly. Michael's eyes narrowed.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you wench!" Temperance slowly turned and brought her eyes up to her foster father's chest. "Yessir."

"Good! Now don't you go interruptin' me again! I thought you mighta learned your lesson last night!" He grinned as he adjusted his watch on his wrist. "Now don't be shy 'bout tellin' all your friends how you was so clumsy and fell down the stairs last night. We wouldn't want you to get bad luck an' jinx yourself. Karma's a bitch. You might not escape so intact tonight." He gave her a menacing smile before heading for the kitchen. "Go on! What you standing there for! Get out!" He tossed over his shoulder. Temperance didn't hear the last part. She had already shut the front door behind her.

Temperance slide into her seat at the back of the class just as the school bell rang. Her tense shoulders finally relaxed as she pulled out her notebook and got ready to take notes.

"Today's lesson…" As her history teacher lectured on the foundations of the American government, Temperance revealed in the peace that always consumed her once her mind was engaged. Feeling at ease had become a novelty that she rarely experienced since the loss of her parents. She contented herself with taking copious notes, and although she never raised her hand or was called upon, she allowed herself to feel a slight joy that she knew all of the answers to the questions.

Unfortunately, her quiet peace was interrupted when a spit wad landed on her paper. Its arrival was followed by the snickers of a cluster of boys sitting two rows over. She flicked the offensive paper off of her desk and tried to refocus on the lesson.

"Hey," the boy nearest to her whispered. She didn't spare him a glance. "Hey, loser!" He called again. "My friends and I were wondering, if you are so smart, why you haven't ever figured out how to use a mirror!" His friends unsuccessfully tried to stifle their laughter. "I mean, wouldn't a smart person have figured out the reason you don't have any friends?" More snickers. "Or are you really just so out of it that you don't care if you have any friends? Maybe that's what happens when you get carried around in garbage bags. Your brain is affected by the fumes!"

"Or it could be whatever is rotting in her hair!" Another of the boys answered. This caused actual laughter. The teacher stopped and turned to look at them.

"Is there something going on I should know about gentlemen?" She asked.

"Uh yeah!" The original pest responded. "I can't concentrate because brainiac over here smells like garbage bags! And she looks like she belongs in one too!" He high fived one of his friends.

"I'm sorry you feel that way Mr. Lasnack, but unfortunately the test next week will not be taking your olfactory senses into consideration." The boy just looked confused. The bell rang. "All right class. Please remember that your oral presentations begin tomorrow and we will be drawing names to determine the order. This is a big part of your grade people. Impress me." The students all began to file out of the room. Temperance did her best to blend in with the crowd as she made her way to her next class, hiding behind her curtain of hair. She tried to inconspicuously check for anything that may have hitched a free ride from the basement with her. She didn't find anything.

Luckily, since she was currently located in Philadelphia, she attended a large high school, so no one from her morning class was present in her next class. She was not so fortunate in 3rd period though, as the silent boy from this morning's festivities sat to her left, and spent the whole period making faces and waving his hand in front of his face. The girls surrounding him giggles appreciatively and quickly caught on.

By the time the lunch bell rang, the tension had returned to Temperance's shoulders. As usually, her foster parents didn't think it was necessary to give her money for lunch, so instead of heading to the crowded cafeteria, she headed for the library to do a bit of reading and to work on the homework that her home life didn't really allow time for. But unfortunately, today just didn't seem to be her day.

Just as she rounded the corner, the three boys from her history class entered from outside, laughing and brushing snow off of their coats. Their group had grown, including four other boys, two of which Temperance recalled being in one of her classes. Her favorite tormentor spotted her first.

"Hey look who it is fellas! The Garbage Bag Brainiac herself!" A round of laughter followed. "So where you going Garbage Bag? Someone need you to remove the smell from their gym socks?" Temperance merely looked away and began to move toward the library again. The troublesome boy stepped into her path. "Hey, where you going Garbage Bag? You know I was only kidding! Come on. I need my locker cleaned out. And you can have all the junk that's in it! Won't that be nice? Considered it an early Christmas present!" The other boys laughed again. She tried to move around him but he gripped her arm. "Now wasn't that ungrateful fellas! She should be glad I offered her a gift!" But Temperance didn't hear the last part. She was staring at his hand on her arm, paralyzed with fear. School was supposed to be her sanctuary, and she wasn't sure when it had turned into a nightmare. What was she going to do now? She had nothing… No one… She was all-alone.

Tears began to well up in her eyes. But she couldn't cry! Surely that would lead to further ridicule, to more punishment! What was she going to do? Later she would wonder why her usually quick mind hadn't registered that she had begun to hyperventilate.

"Hey cut it out guys, you are scaring her." A voice she hadn't heard before broke through her trance, and she shifted her eyes over to see a boy she had recognized as a classmate, but had overlooked in her desire to get away. "Come on Jeremy, knock it off. Haven't you had enough fun for one day?" That voice. It was deep and soothing… It had definitely not been one of the voices she had heard laughing at her. She would have recognized it.

"Aw! But Seel! She doesn't even fight back man! It's like she is asking us to push her!" A hand reached over and gently pulled the hand from her wrist.

"Let it go dude. Let's go get some lunch."

"Yeah come on man! She's no fun anymore!" With that, the group of friends gathered their buddy and began walking toward the cafeteria, laughing and joking as if nothing had happened. All except one.

"Are you all right?" The boy named… what was it? Seel? What an odd name. He had stayed behind and was now looking at her in concern. "You didn't look so good there for a minute, I thought you were going to faint!" She could only stare. "Hey, you okay?" His hand came to rest on her shoulder… On top of a fresh bruise from last night. Temperance yelped and jumped back.

"Yes I'm alright," she said a little breathlessly. Her hand instinctively came up to rest on her shoulder. He frowned.

"You don't look okay. Aside from your little display with Jeremy, I know an injury when I see one. And your shoulder is hurt." His liquid brown eyes boar deep into hers. "Football," was all he said in the way of explanation. When she still didn't respond, he tried again. "What happened?"

She sucked in a deep breath. "Oh nothing! Clumsy me tripped down the stairs last night!" She was a horrible liar. But since she had no friends, she had never had to cover up one of her foster father's beatings before. She supposed she would get better with practice… Not that she thought she would ever get the chance again.

"Uh huh." Those liquid brown eyes didn't look convinced in the slightest. "Mind if I take a look?" His hand reached out and lightly rested on her upper arm.

"Oh it's nothing really! I…" Her breathless reply was cut off as he pulled the material off of her shoulder and gently ran his fingers over the marks. "I'm Seeley by the way." His caress moved to her neck as he pushed her hair aside finding an older bruise that was still healing.

"Temperance." Came her meek reply. He pulled back and smiled, meeting her eyes confidently.

"Well Temperance, it looks harmless enough. Should clear up in a few days." She could easily read in his face that he knew more than he was saying. That stopped her thoughts short. She was terrible at reading people… And yet she was completely certain of her assessment.

"I told you so." She offered him a weak smile. In the back of her mind she was shocked to realize that it was the first smile to have made it onto her lips in longer than she could remember.

"So you did." His smile grew wider. "I'm sorry about my friends. They don't think sometimes." Her smile disappeared, and she woodenly accepted the apology. He laughed. "Oh THAT was sincere! Let me make it up to you." His grin widened as he bowed slightly and offered his arm. "Miss Temperance, may I treat you to lunch?" She stood still with her mouth agape.

"Oh no! You don't have to do that! Besides, I was just-"

"Sush! You best learn quickly not to argue with me, Temperance. I'm terribly stubborn." He pulled a face as if it were a great misfortune, but humor still danced in his eyes. Then something extraordinary happened. She laughed.

"Well, I guess I have no choice then." And so, she placed her hand delicately on his arm and was lead to the cafeteria.