It had been silly to think that her friendship with Temperance would change. Looking back, Hannah knew that. But it still made her uncomfortable to realize that there was so much more to Seeley and Temperance's partnership than met the eye. Pushing all these thoughts to the back of her mind, Hannah watched Temperance throw back yet another drink. Hannah had stopped about ten drinks back and Temperance was effectively drunk.

"Temperance, I think you ought to stop," she said. "You won, fair and square. You can stop now."

Temperance just laughed, "I don't know what a square has to do with fairness," she stated, "but I do know that I'm not going to stop now. Do you know how good this feels? I haven't felt this good since I met you!"

Hannah's eyes widened, but Temperance didn't seem to notice.

She must be really drunk, Hannah thought. She doesn't realize what she's saying.

"Temperance, maybe we should get you home," she said, trying to coax the intoxicated scientist to get up.

"No, I am quite comfortable here, but I thank you," Temperance said. "No, I know that we are still friends," she said. Her words were slightly slurred. "I thought that, since you are my friend, you could help me with some," she lowered her voice and whispered, "boy problems." Then she fell into another fit of laughter.

"Um, sure?" Hannah said unsure of what her friend could mean.

"You see," Temperance began, "I wanted to ask you what you think about love. Do you believe that it is real?"

This question confused Hannah.

"What do you mean? Of-of course I believe in love," she said.

"Well, I don't," the anthropologist stated bluntly. Hannah just stared at her. This was the first time she actually understood why Seeley talked about Temperance the way he did. By all reasoning, the woman really didn't believe in love.

How can this be? Hannah wondered. What…

"Temperance, how could you not believe in love? How is that at all logical? There is proof all around you: Angela and Hodgins; myself and Seeley," she said.

"Ah, but you forget my profession," Temperance said coldly. The look in her eyes scared Hannah. "I have proof that will put yours to shame."

What is she talking about? Who does she think she is? Hannah thought. Then she remembered that Temperance was beyond drunk. She didn't know what she was saying; she wouldn't even remember this conversation in the morning.

Facing this most interesting situation with the instincts of an award-winning journalist, Hannah decided to take the opportunity that had been given to her and find out everything she could about Seeley's past.

"Well, I guess I should have all the facts then," Hannah said. "Please, Temperance, tell me your reasoning."

Temperance smiled at her.

"I must say that I was once just like you," she said. She got a far-away look in her eyes.

This beginning confused Hannah even more. It was not the logical, large-worded, long-winded lecture she had been expecting. She had a feeling that she was about to see a side of Temperance that hardly anyone ever got to see. Though every part of Temperance's behavior was strange, none of it prepared Hannah for the next words her friend uttered.

"I believed in love too."

"You did?" Hannah asked. She was beyond shocked now. She forgot all about her plan to find out as much about Seeley as possible and just sat back and listened to Temperance.

"Yes, I did." She chuckled without humor. "There was…a man…I guess you could call him that. I must confess that it was love at first sight. And I hated him for that."

"You—you hated a man because you loved him?" Hannah asked. This seemed so illogical to her, and she was surprised that Temperance couldn't see it.

"Of course I did," Temperance said. She said it as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I hated him so much that I refused to work with him."

Refused to work with…then we're not talking about Seeley? Hannah felt a little relieved. For a moment, when Temperance had wanted to talk about 'boy problems', Hannah had been preparing herself to have to talk about another woman's love for her own boyfriend and she couldn't pretend that she wasn't relieved that this was not the case.

"It didn't last long though," Temperance continued. "He came back to me about a year later and needed my help. He had a case that was haunting him and, though it clearly pained him to admit it, he needed my unequaled expertise."

"How long ago was this?" Hannah asked.

"About six years ago," Temperance answered. And just like that, Hannah knew they were talking about Seeley. "Anyway, he had fired me the first time we'd worked together. He fired me after getting me excessive alcohol—though I wasn't drunk—kissing me, and almost sleeping with me. I—I ran away from him because I saw in his…well not in his eyes, because that's impossible…but I—I…perceived that if I—if I let him in, that there would be no going back. That I would never be the same and that he would have a power over me that I've never allowed. Not since…" she trailed off and was lost in her thoughts for a moment.

Seeley did that to her? She's been in love with him for six years? And he was in love with her too. Is he still? Though she was perfectly aware that it was irrational, she was very angry at Seeley, and for once, she was ok with the irrationality.

"Temperance," Hannah said. The woman beside her was startled out of her reverie.

"Oh, yes. My evidence, right well where was I?" she began. "Oh, right. So, since I was such an asset, the FBI demanded that they have a permanent liaison with the Jeffersonian and, therefore, me. He—he was the only one who could stand to work with me." Tears began to form in her eyes. "Over time, we became friends. I helped him through his gambling addiction and his therapy; I was there for him when he received the news about his brain tumor; he helped me when—when I was arrested for murder; I helped him when he had Parker and he had to work on weekends; he helped me when my dad was in jail and—and he gave us a Christmas. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't even know my family. If it wasn't for him, I'd be dead—buried alive. If it wasn't for him, I'd be—I'd be whole." Temperance looked up at Hannah, "He—he told me that he loved me—in an 'atta-girl' way—like I was one of the guys. He got under every wall I put up. He—he said that he'd—that he'd prove me wrong. I—I thought he—I thought he really would."

"Prove you wrong on what, Temperance?" Hannah asked in a whisper. She was barely able to get the words out. Seeley had never shared any of these stories with her.

"He said he would prove to me that love exists. He said that he would prove to me that I had a heart. He said…he—he said that—that he would prove to me that I was—that I could be—be loved. He said—he—he lied!" Her voice had risen and she was now yelling.

"We were best friends, we were partners. Everyone who met us thought we were lovers too. And you know what? They were right. Other than the—than the…physical…he, we, I—we were. He was—he still is—everything to me." Tears trailed down her cheeks, and Hannah's heart broke for her. "Then he asked me to gamble on us."

Hannah asked, "What—what did you say?"

Temperance turned on Hannah, anger flashing in her eyes, and asked, "Do you think I would gamble the most important thing in my life on something that has the most illogical foundation in the—in the universe?" The anger faded and she said softly, "No, I couldn't do that. I knew, logically, from all of my experiences, that if I allowed him—if I allowed myself—this gamble, I would destroy my everything."

"Temperance," Hannah said, "you wouldn't have destroyed anything. How could you destroy…"

"I would have destroyed everything just by being myself. That's what all the evidence says. That is the only logical conclusion." She took a deep breath that shook her whole body. "He said he would prove all those things to me, but all he did was prove to me that I was right: love doesn't exist, and even if it did, I am un-loveable. The worst part, though, is that he showed me that I do have a heart." She paused. "It hurt less when I didn't know it was there."

Hannah didn't know what to say. Temperance was looking at her with cloudy, cold eyes, and Hannah didn't know what she was expected to say. Looking away from the broken woman in front of her, she glanced around. Her eyes fell on an even more broken looking man standing a few feet behind them.