This story is for Jlbrew26's challenge ...I hope you like it Jamie :)

This story is not canon. It's very au but I hope it'll turn out to be fun. There more than likely will be spanking in later chapters. I hope you like it :)

Thanks also to MaudlinMuse who let me pick her brain a little :)

The Family That Now Is

Booth looked through the observation window at the gangly twelve year old who was promising to be a pain in his ass. The kid was mouthy, opinionated and alone...totally alone. Why the hell couldn't they find his parents? He hadn't hatched from an egg for God's sake. Maybe he'd have one more try at getting him to talk.

Booth entered the room quietly and shut the door behind him. He sat opposite the boy who looked down at the table, determined to keep to himself.

"John." Booth said as he plucked a chocolate bar and a can of soda on the table in front of him. The kid looked greedily at the items. He was hungry...and thirsty. They'd fed him a little early, but he was a twelve year old boy. He was always hungry.

"My name isn't John." he said grumpily. "They for me?"

"Maybe..." Booth said. Sweets reached for the chocolate... "Uh,uh,uh...not yet." Sweets rolled his eyes.

"Keep it then." he said. "I don't need your stupid candy anyway." Maybe he didn't NEED it but clearly he wanted it and he hated that he'd allowed himself to show that much vulnerability.

"It's yours kid." Booth said sliding it across the table but not actually letting it go. "Just tell me your name."

"And if I say it IS John?"

"Then I'll know you're lying. Either you were lying then or you were lying then."

"What is the point of all this?" the kid asked. "I haven't done anything wrong...all I did was report a crime and then you turn up and take me in...what gives?"

"What gives is that we have to question you. No one's accusing you of anything...I need at least one of your folks here so I can ask you a few questions and then you can go home and be their problem again."

"They're busy." He said without looking up. His heart was thumping wildly at the thought of what would happen if the truth came out. He'd kept his secret for two months. His heart had been broken when his adoptive parents had died, but there was no way he'd risk going back into the system. He could take care of himself and he had...until now. There was money in his Mom's account and he knew the pin, the bills got paid automatically. His parents had owned the house and he'd been home schooled so he just kept up with his work and sent it away as his Mom always had...no one was any the wiser. Until now.

"Kid!" Booth said in an effort to drag him back to the present. "You're not giving me a lot of choice here...I'm gonna have to get child services."

"NO!"

"Then tell me your name and give me a phone number for your parents." Sweets tilted his head a chewed the inside of his cheek in an effort to stop the burning tears that were about to escape. The Dad in Booth melted at the sight of this young boy as his veneer finally peeled away. "I only want to help you." he said in a gentle voice.

It was the final straw. The dam broke and Booth was suddenly sitting before a sobbing child...

"My na...me...is...Lance..." he sobbed. Booth gathered the kid into a hug and soothed him as the door opened behind him.

Bones looked aghast at the sight before her. Booth gave her the signal to shush... he was so close. She nodded but then mouthed questions anyway.

"What did you do to him?" she said silently. Booth put his finger to his lips.

"Did he tell you his name?" she mouthed.

"Bones..." Booth mouthed with wild eyes. "Do you have a number I can contact your Mom or Dad on?" Lance shook his head as he lapped up the comfort that he'd been missing these last few months. He was fine...he was fed and he was fine...but he was lonely and sad and he hadn't had a hug in months...He squeezed his eyes shut and wished with all his might that he could give agent Booth what he wanted, coz he wanted it too. He wanted his Mom.

Bones watched the boy struggle with his out of control emotions and then it hit her...there were no parents.

"Lance..." she said gently. "Is it possible to contact your parents?" His eyes filled with fresh tears as he looked up into her face. He shook his head. Bones closed her eyes briefly at the sadness that washed through her for yet another child that had no family.

Booth was visibly startled. "You're alone?" he asked incredulously. "Who's been looking after you?" Lance again fell silent.

"I think you'll find he's been taking care of himself." Bones said sadly.

BONESBONESBONESBONES

"His name is Lance Sweets Caroline." Booth said. "He has no one...parents deceased."

"So what is it you expect me to do Cherie?" Caroline asked.

"Well...I...could you arrange for Lance to be able to stay with me?"

"You wanna be a foster father?"

"Yeah...well I'm already a father." Booth said.

"Yes...but it's a little easier to get a child the natural way.."

"I just wanna give the kid a home...a bed...food …..guidance...hugs..."

"I do know what a father is Agent Booth." Carline didn't doubt for a minute that Agent Booth would be and was a good father but there was so much rigmarole that went into this stuff... you couldn't just order a child from the store. "You'd need to get registered as a foster parent for a start...it takes time."

"Bones is a registered foster mother." he said.

"So she is..." Caroline said with a smile. "Now it would be a LOT easier for her to get custody of Lance."

"But I want him with me."

"Hmmm." Caroline said, hoping the penny would drop on it's own. It didn't.

"What Hmmmm?"

"Just Hmmm...just trying to think of a way that Temperence could get custody..." she said as she looked at him sideways. "And you could also get to raise the boy." Suddenly the penny dropped.

"What if Bones and I lived in the same place...?"

"Now why didn't I think of that Cherie?" she asked with a grin.

"Bones is never gonna go with that." he said.

"You'll never know until you ask."

BONESBONESBONESBONES

"Bones I need to ask you a favour." Booth asked as he barged into Bones' office.

"Anything Booth, you know that." she said. She looked at him curiously. He was obviously feeling uncomfortable. Unlike his usually somewhat cocky countenance, he was nervous and unsure of what her reaction would be.

"Well...it's a big one Bones." Bones waited patiently for him to ask the actual question. "But I need you to know that I REALLY need you to say yes."

"I can't SAY yes Booth ….until you ask the question."

"I know...I'm getting to that...I'm nervous...this is big." Bones' eyes widened.

"How big? Are you in trouble? Do you need money Cos I have money."

"I know you have money Bones. I don't need your money."

"Do you need my help with something?"

"Yes I need your help..."

"Is it work?"

"No Bones it isn't work...please... I can't ask you if you keep asking me?"

"Sorry. Ask." she said with a smile.

Booth took a big breath and then puffed it out.

"I need you to live with me...well not live with me...but well share a home with me.." Bones grinned.

"Ahhh...live with you?"

"Yeah... well not live with me live with me...Bones you're a foster parent... I need you to live with me so I can get custody of Lance." Finally the it all made sense and Bones smiled widely.

"Yes." she said simply. She would love more than anything to stop another child from having to go back to the system.

BONESBONESBONESBONESBONES

Booth and Bones entered the large house that had been Lance's home for the last two days. Bones almost baulked at stepping over the threshold but her need to get the child out of there had spurred her on. Booth was behind her, his hand on her lower back just barely. Such a small gesture but one that demonstrated their deep friendship and genuine caring for each other. He knew her. He knew her difficulty with this and he was there for her, as she always would be for him.

A chubby lady wearing a floral apron and a friendly welcoming smile ushered them into the living room. Booth smiled and offered his hand while Bones eyed the woman warily, not willing to accept her persona as the genuine article. She'd met and dealt with women like this before and she knew that things were not always as they seem.

"He's a sullen one." she said. "Hardly said a word since he got here."

"Yeah well he's probably scared."

"Probably." the woman said as she eyed the papers Booth handed her. Bones gritted her teeth. She didn't like this place. To a normal observer the place was fine. But it was what was missing that made it not a home. Her memories from when she was a child were of a home filled with laughter and bickering, lovely cooking smells and sometimes burnt toast...This place smelled of nothing...there was no laughter, no fighting no nothing...just coldness.

"We would like to get Lance now please." she said.

"Of course." the woman said and she disappeared up the stairs.

"Geez Bones." relax a little. This place doesn't seem bad.

"There are different kinds of bad Booth." she said. Booth really didn't know what she meant but he took her hand anyway a squeezed it gently.

"It won't be long and we'll be home." Bones nodded.

"I wanna make some cookies...do you know how to make cookies?" Booth grinned widely.

"I'm sure we could get a mix."

Lance stomped sulkily down the stairs behind the apron lady.

"Here he is." she said happily.

"That really is self explanatory." Bones said. This woman was irritating her. Booth flashed her a look of slight disapproval.

"Yes well he's all yours." she said. Lance's eyes sparked for a moment but then he got his emotions under control. He didn't want to get his hopes up.

"Lance...you're gonna come live with Bones and I." Booth said. "If that's ok with you..." Lance looked up and into Booth's face for the first time.

"Really?" he squeaked.

"Really." Both the adults said at the same time. Lance breathed out a sigh of relief.

"When can we leave?" he asked.

"Now." Booth said. "Say thank you for having me." He shrugged when Bones looked at him like he'd lost his mind. He shrugged. Kind of a hangover from his own childhood he guessed. The woman though looked grateful as Lance choked out a curt

"Thanks." There was little or no thanks for the job she did. She knew what people thought ...that she was cold and uncaring, it wasn't true...but she had to protect herself a little because if she allowed herself to fall in love with every child...she'd have died of a broken heart by now.

So she waved off another and hoped that it all worked out.

BONESBONESBONESBONESBONES

They were in the car with their new 'child' buckled in the back driving home.

"Um...thanks for giving me a place to stay." Lance said.

"You're welcome." Bones said.

"Lance...we're giving you more than a place to stay...we're giving you a family...we'll look after you. You can go to school and have friends..." Booth said.

"I don't go to school." Lance said. "I home school myself and I can look after myself."

"Ok...maybe you home schooled yourself before...but now you'll be going to school...we think it's better for you to mix with kids your own age..."

"And we work Lance, you can't just stay home by yourself." Bones added the practical. Lance rolled his eyes. He'd just left one jail he didn't need to move in with another bunch of control freaks.

"Yeah that's not gonna work out so well for me...I'll be fine." he said with a sarcastic sneer. Booth gripped the steering wheel...the vulnerable little boy was gone for the moment and the mouthy brat was back.

"We're gonna talk about the rules when we get home...but for the record...the twelve year old in the house doesn't get to make them."

"Booth..." Bones whispered. "He has been living alone." Now it was Booth's turn to roll his eyes. Maybe they should have talked more about how this was gonna work...this could be some roller coaster...

Lance for his part kicked the back of Booth's seat and folded his arms in a pout, like the adult he was trying to portray...not.

"You can't make me go." he said.

"Uhhuh."

"You can't shoot him Booth." Bones whispered. Booth looked at her incredulously and she smiled.

"I made a joke. She said.

"Very funny Bones." he said with a grin.

TBC