Bones: The kid really is just a kid.

Summary: After the revelation of the scars on Sweets back another shocking discovery is made. The orphaned man doctured his birth certificate and is really only a teenager with a lot of brains. Can he stay working with the squints? Or will he have to be put in foster care again.

For this story sweets is only 16.

Warning: Spanking in later chapters.

Chapter one: Discovered

Agent Seeley Booth had ordered a background check on Lance Sweets. As the alpha male of the group he felt guilty that the kid had gone through such horrible treatment at such a young age and then they had all treated him like he was just a kid and he was ashamed to say that he had thought it was stupid when Sweets joined the team and had resented having to be evaluated by a 22 year old kid.

But he had starting getting used to Sweets and to get attached to the kid. It wasn't hard. He was always trying to be brave and prove to everyone that he was just as good as they were.

So after he had heard about the scars Booth had been horrified.

He was even more horrified when the results from the background check came back.

No maybe the word was pissed.

He slammed the file on his desk after reading everything.

It was just too much. It really was.

Question is what was he suppose to do about what he had just read?

He decided to go to his team.

Sweets had taken a personal day so he would be gone til Tomorrow.

Booth headed to lab finding the guys handing around waiting for a case.

"Got a case?" Cam asked hopefully.

"Nope. Worse." Booth said.

"What is it?" Bones asked seeing the file in Booth's hands.

"I had Lance's file sent down and some things didn't add up. I did more checking and found that the birth certificate he gave with his application didn't match the one in his this file.

According to his certificate with our application he's 22. according to his actual birth certificate which I ordered from the actual hospital he is actually 16 years old." Booth said.

"16? Booth that's not possible. He went to college and has a psychologist degree and he councils us. How could he do all that if he was just 16?" Cam asked.

"I don't know maybe he's really smart. There are really smart kids out there that go to collage early. I really don't care how he got here. I care about the fact that he's just a kid. A damn teenager and no one knew but him! After finding out what kind of childhood he had now I find out that he is playing at being an adult when he shouldn't have to. He's having to grow up before he's ready. I hate this. I hate that I didn't listen to my gut feeling. I knew...I knew something about him seemed off." Booth said clearly still frustrated.

"God he's just a kid. What do we do?" Angela asked.

Booth sighed "I don't know. I don't know what to do! Why would he do this? Why would he take this risk?" Booth asked.

"Maybe he didn't want to go back to foster care. Teens usually end up in homes and those places are terrible. The government homes for kids. Maybe he thought he'd be better taking care of himself." Cam said thinking about that.

"Well first we need options. Any ideas?" Booth asked.

"Well one option would be to notify Caroline and turn him in." Bones said but she didn't really like that idea,

"We could talk to him. I think he owes us some answers after all this. We could stop at his place after work in mass and confront him." Jack suggested.

Booth and everyone seemed to like that idea.

"Yeah. I like that one. You really think he'll come clean?" Cam asked curious.

"Well once he realized we already know the truth he'll probably crack. He's probably dying with the guilt and wanting to tell someone about it." Jack said.

"Yeah well he can just tell all of us. So it's settled then. We'll go to his place. After work. And no one says a word to anyone about this. There has to be something we can do that won't end up with him being sent to a home. He deserves a real home. A real family." Booth said and that was end of it.

Two hours later Cam and Angela had decided they should let the guys confront Lance. Bones agreed but she wasn't willing to not go. She wanted to be there for their baby duck. Especially now that he was just a baby. So it was Booth, Bones, and Jack that went to Sweets place after work.

The demanding knock on his door surprised Sweets as he was currently playing a game on his PS3. He paused the game thinking it was just a neighbor come to ask a question.

He opened the door and Saw Agent Booth Bones and Jack Hodgins.

"Uh. Hey guys what are you all doing here?" Sweets asked.

Booth gave him a look that he wasn't sure that he liked. "Don't be rude Lance. Why don't you invite us in." Booth said a unpleasant smile on his face.

"Oh Sure. Come on in." Sweets said letting them in and then rushed into the living room to shut off the TV so that they wouldn't catch him playing video games. They already teased him enough about his age,

They followed him.

Booth saw the messy place knowing that it had been cleaner then this the last time they had come but then again Lance had also known they were coming.

"Sorry about the mess I didn't expect anyone. Do you mind if I ask why you guys are here?" Lance asked they never came to visit him. He always felt like such an outcast with them.

"You might wanna have a seat." Booth said taking a seat himself on the couch while Jack sat down in a chair and Bones sat in one too. Lance sat on the other end of the couch.

"Okay what's the big news?" Lance asked knowing from their reactions that something was going on.

"Your busted." Booth said.

Sweets chuckled nervously "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean the jig is up kid. I'm an FBI agent did you really think you could hide it forever? Did you really think that no one was ever gonna find out? Your 16 Lance." Booth said.

Lance tried to look confused "Uh Booth I know you always call me kid but I am not..." Booth interrupted him.
"Don't make this worse by lying to me. You have lied more then enough for my taste." Booth said.

"Are you gonna turn me in?" Lance asked knowing that more then likely the Agent would.

"No. I have been thinking for two hours about this and I came up with something. A deal. Between you and me kid. And your willing to agree then I won't turn you in and we can go on and no one but us will know that your really just 16. but if you don't agree then yes I am turning you in." Booth said.

"Okay so what's the deal?" Lance asked curious.

"This is the deal Lance. Your 16. that is too young to live on your own. That's too young to have to grow up and act like a man all the time when your not ready for it. Your doing yourself more harm then good by playing adult. You need to be a kid. You need guidance and discipline like every kid your age. You deserve to be a teenager. So here's the deal. At Work you get to play the adult and be the shrink since you have the brains. But after work your gonna be a kid. Your gonna come home to a family and be a kid. And have fun. Your gonna move in with me Lance. I'm gonna be your guardian and you'll come home with me after work." Booth said.

"Wait you want to adopt me?" Lance asked as if Booth was nuts.

"Not adopt. More like rent until I can get approved to be a foster parent." Booth said.

Lance was stunned "Your serious. You really want me to come live with you? I don't want to be a burden to anybody. You have a life outside of work Agent Booth. You have a family. A son. You don't need me around getting in the way of all that." Lance said depressed.

"Your right. I do have a family. I have my blood family and then I have you guys." Booth said and Lance scoffed "Yeah but I'm not part of that."

"Oh yeah? Who says?" Booth asked.

"Uh how about you guys every freaking chance you get you make me feel like I don't belong there. I'm nothing to any of you I'm just the shrink that your all stuck with and we all know that. Funny thing is that this time I actually thought it would be different. I thought I had found a solution. Somewhere I could go where there would be friends. Where I could make a difference and then when I got there you guys were just like everyone else who made me feel worthless. But did I let it get to me or let it show on my face? No! I'm not a charity case. And I won't let you guys take me in because I'm 16. why are you even saying all this Booth? You hate me more then everyone else. You think I don't see the way you look at me? The way you treat me? I hear your words Booth. More so then anyone else's. I looked up to you. I saw someone who could have been a good father figure. And you were. But it wasn't what you said. It was what you did. How you ignored me most of the time. How you treat me like a child even before you knew my real age. You gave me no respect." Lance said annoyed.

"Respect is earned. Not given. I don't respect people that I barely know. And for your information I have a lot of respect for what you've been through. How strong you are. I'm not really all that mushy but just because I don't say that I care doesn't mean that I don't. Your a shrink and you've told me plenty of times how I feel when I didn't know myself. Your talented and smart and we need you. And I am perfectly capable of being the father that you need. All I need is for you to give me a chance. So what's it gonna be? Are you trusting? Or am I reporting?" Booth asked as he leaned back against the couch and gave Lance an inquiring look.

Lance thought about that. Move in with Agent Booth and keep working with everyone that he was now used to? Or be turned in and be forced to go with child services? That wasn't a hard choice. Of course he would rather live with the man that he respected. He gave Booth a curious look "What's the catch?" he asked.

"Oh so because you think I hate you you think that I have a hidden agenda here?" Booth asked.

"Well yeah cause there is nothing in this little arrangement for you so far that I can hear." Lance said honestly.

"Right cause I obviously can't be doing this just cause I care and want to help you. Since I hate you." Booth said sarcastically taunting the boy with his own foolishness.

Lance glared "That's not nice." he said not liking to be teased and he actually looked his age now.

Booth snorted "Yeah well it's not nice to lie about your age either and let all of us think your 22 when really your 16 and not nearly ready for all the trauma you've dealt with while with us." Booth said.

"The only catch as you put it is that you follow my rules which won't be a problem cause your a good boy. Your a smart boy. I'm not worried. There won't be any problems." Booth said.

"Yeah but you really want to just pack my stuff up and move me to your place? Why?" Lance asked.

Booth sighed. Kids were so clueless sometimes.

"Aren't you hearing him kid? We care about you. We don't wanna lose you. What can I say? You grew on us." Jack said with a smirk.

Lance smiled too at that. It was nice to hear that.

"Really?" Lance asked.

"Yeah really." Jack said.

"I'm sorry Lance okay? I'm sorry that I made you feel insecure about yourself and your place with us. You belong here kid. Your smart enough to work with us it's just your age that's gonna keep biting you in the ass. I would advise that you come clean soon. We can do that after I get approval to be a foster parent and than I can really adopt you and we won't have to worry about you being taken away." Booth said thinking out loud.

"But if I'm busted then you won't need to adopt me. Agent Booth I'm only useful to you guys if I work with you. And there's no point in telling anyone anything. We can keep it up for as long as possible and then if they take me away then they take me away but I've fooled them this far. There's no need to bother with all the trouble of adopting me. It would just be for show anyways." Lance said.

Booth hit his head with his hand in frustration slowly becoming more annoyed "Okay teen with insecurity issues really needs to take a hike." Booth mumbled.

Booth straightened looking Lance in the eye "I'm gonna say this once more. I care about you. And if that means that I have to adopt you as my son then you will damn well become my son! I won't lose you. I care too much about you to let you get taken away when I know that I could care for you better then that and you'd rather stay here. So yes or no. do we have a deal? "Booth asked.

"Yeah sure." Lance said giving in. it was interesting to know that Booth genuinely cared about him.

"Okay then. Start packing." Booth said with a slight Smile.

Lance rolled his eyes but got up to start packing going through all the stuff he would need to do in order to settle things with the apartment.

While he was in his room the others began talking low.

"He seems to be really depressed Booth. He never acts like this." Bones said.

"Yeah well all of us are to blame for not figuring out his age and he has a point. We didn't really mean to but we did give him a hard time when he came about his age. We didn't treat him like he was part of the team. But that's all gonna change. But he's also gonna have to let it go and move on. He can't keep bringing it up just to get us back for the way we treated him. We say sorry he says sorry and we all move on. Sides he's the one that told a huge lie and deceived us and took a huge legal risk which may I also point out the we are taking that same risk too?" Jack said.

"Yeah well weather he likes it or not after I get approval to adopt him and the adoption is final he'll be my son and I can arrange for him to legally work for us. But he'll have to take the tests and reapply putting his real age. And he'd be on probation and also need adult supervision but it could work well." Booth said honestly.

"I gotta say Booth I like this side of you." Bones said with small smile.

"Thanks Bones." Booth said.

They spent most of the evening helping Lance pack and moving his things to Booth's place. It wasn't a huge place but there was a spare bed room so Lance could still have his own room.

"You can even pretend like it's a small apartment and Booth could just be the annoying neighbor." Jack trying to make Lance laugh and it worked. Lance laughed.

The annoying neighbor didn't think it was that funny.

But he didn't make a big deal out of it cause Lance seemed happy for the first time in a while there was even a smile on his face.

Lance was relieved that he didn't have to keep his secret anyone. It took a lot out of him to lie to everyone and deal with everything like an adult and try to be brave at the sight of a deal body when he really wanted to scream like a girl.

Now he could just be himself although Booth would be hanging over his shoulder now like a stalking bat or something and that image made him smirk and glance up at Booth.

This would be interesting. He couldn't wait to see what happened when he got up in the morning. How things were going to go. He slept in the bed that night and Booth didn't hover that much until after Lance had fallen asleep. And the more he looked a the sleeping boy the more he wondered how they hadn't seen the child hidden by the pretense of the man.

To be continued...

Next Time: Booth Goes over the rules and guidelines and stuff. Fun ahead.