The Nights We Stay Awake (TemperancexReader)

2. "I'll come and pick you up"

Y/n pov

Dr. Temperance 🦴❣️

I really miss you

I miss you too, Tempe

When are you coming home? It's so lonely here without you

Aw, hun. I'm not home just yet. We're on the jet now, but i can't wait to wrap myself on your roof.

Okay, text me when you land <3

Will do <3

(Three hours later)

We've just landed and i'm back at the office, buried in paperwork

I though you said you'd come and get me

I will, gorgeous. Just a bit longer. Promise i'll make it worth the wait

Well, you have an access card to the Jeffersonian so you can sneak right in

See you soon <3

Soon <3

Unfortunately, the forty minutes i thought it would take turned out to become another two hours where i have to sit by my desk. How was i supposed to know that i'd accidentally missed three crucial pages?

My leg won't stop bouncing impatiently, and i find myself glancing at the clock every three seconds. I just want to get out of here. Just want to get to her. This case has been gut-wrenching. All those women, gone. Their loved ones won't even have closure with what we found.

And how eerily similar some of them had looked... three out of eight victims bore an unsettling resemblance to her.

Same hair, almost identical eyes, height, and weight when she was that age. It's really gotten to me. Now all i want to see is her face, to confirm that she's safe. Even though i know she wasn't one of the victims, i can't shake this need to be sure she's unharmed. If something had happened to her, i would have known.

How did a mission persons case turn into mass kidnapping turned into mass murder? Who could have predicted such an outcome? Well, we should have. It was our job, and we fell short. Sure, we caught the guy, and i'll have a new small scar to show for it. But those women... they'll never get to live, fall in love, build a career, spend more time with family and friends. None of them even finished collage.

Right now, all i really crave is my time with Temperance. Having her arms around me for comfort, like when we were kids. Just to forget all the darkness and horror in our world. I could even settle for hearing her ramble on about bone facts, no matter how much it might bore me.

Because i'd still listen, captivated by the way her face lights up when she realises someone is genuinely interested in what she's saying. It does give me an edge when we visit the ME's office. I don't need photos or explanations; i have Temperance.

Maybe something interesting happened at the Jeffersonian while i've been stuck there. I know Zach unexpectedly returned home early from his deployment in Iraq. That must have lifted a weight off her shoulders. She's been so tense lately, with Cam pushing her about mentoring a new intern, and her disdain for most of them. I've seen it firsthand.

But it also got her back into the field, something she loves almost as much as anthropology. Even though i could do without that part. It just adds more things to worry about beyond my own team.