AN: Okay guys, I have another part of "Proceed with Caution" ready for you. Unfortunately, it is being held hostage by my virus-ridden laptop. Hopefully, my laptop doctors will have that computer back to me by this weekend, but for now, enjoy this very short drabble-y thing that forced its way out of my head tonight. Also, the last bit is more than T, but I didn't think it was enough to give it an M rating. You've been duly warned.

Sometimes, she stared at herself in the mirror, wondering who she'd be if she was still Joy Keenan. Would she have the same career? Would she have all the same frown lines around her eyes? Would she still like Foreigner? Inevitably, she would turn away from the mirror. Her questions were useless what-ifs and maybes. Joy Keenan had disappeared long ago. She was Temperance Brennan.

oooooooooooooooooo

Her family had called her Tempe, but after they were gone she would only respond to Temperance. She didn’t want the familiarity that nicknames implied. It wasn’t until years later that Angela had broken through her block on nicknames. She made the transition from Dr. Brennan to Brennan to Bren seem natural. Then Booth came along, calling her Bones, and she found she no longer had any choice in the matter of nicknames. After a while, she realized that wasn’t such a bad thing.

oooooooooooooooooo

The first time Parker calls her Bones, she shoots Booth a look that could kill. They were at zoo, shortly after Brennan and Booth officially began dating. The little boy had always respectfully called her Dr. Brennan but he looked up to his father too much for that to last long. Booth’s repeated use of her nickname wore off on his son and as they walked towards the reptile house, the sandy-haired boy took her hand, saying “Come on, Dr. Bones, I wanna see the snakes!” From the deadly glare she sends his way, he knows he’ll be in trouble but Booth can’t help but smile.

oooooooooooooooooo

He calls her Temperance when he's inside her. Making her feel so good that she would forget her own name if he wasn't moaning it reverently against her neck. He saves her name for these moments, when all the barriers are down, when they are raw with each other. She likes the way it sounds coming from his lips, love and desire filling every syllable. She answers back with a cry of his given name and he moves faster, driving her to the edge of abandon.