Authors' Note: Next chapter. It's hard to believe that the beginning of the new season is less than two weeks away. We're both excited. :D

We do not own Bones or any of its characters.

Thank you to everyone who is reading/following/reviewing this. :D

D: We agree that Sweets has become a master at dispensing advice to others that he sometimes has a hard time following himself. Also, we figured that it would be nice if some of Sweets' family were to come visit...perhaps to tell him things that he needs to hear. As for how Wendell and Perotta might figure into future events, stay tuned... Super Ario: We love Cam/Sweets scenes on the show. They have such a great dynamic together. :D We're glad that the writers seem to have caught on and are hoping that we will see more of their friendship this next season. And as for Thanksgiving, well it will be a good holiday for Sweets. :) Whylime: Thanks for the review. We both love the idea of Sweets having a cat too. He seems like the type who would enjoy pets, doesn't he? Bonesgurl81: Welcome aboard. :D And don't worry, you will see a lot more Sweets in this fic.

The Shade in the Heart—Chapter 4

Two days later, Sweets was standing in an airport terminal, waiting for his cousin to arrive. He had cleaned up the currently vacant room in his apartment and was even mulling over the idea of trying to find a bed for it. But when Peter sent him an email with his arrival information, he let Lance know that he would be more than comfortable on the couch, so the psychologist nixed that idea.

Sweets went over and checked the arrival boards for the third time during the last five minutes. According to them, Peter's plane had arrived on time, thirty minutes ago, but there was still no sign of him. Knowing that he was being impatient, he tried to watch the people coming and going as a way to distract himself.

He didn't have to wait for much longer because soon he saw a man wearing Army fatigues, carrying a large duffel bag walk into his line of sight. He was about 6'4, broad-shouldered, and had bright green eyes and sandy brown hair that was cropped into a buzz cut.

"Hey, Peter," Lance called, waving at him. At the therapist's voice, Peter turned and grinned while walking toward him. As he watched him approach, Lance couldn't get over how much Peter was looking more and more like David, his late father, every year. Even after all this time, it still managed to bring a slight pang of sorrow to his heart since it reminded Lance of how much he missed his dad.

"Hey, Whiz Kid. Sorry I took so long, airport security and all," Peter said. Then when he got close enough, he dropped his bag down to the floor and gave Lance a firm embrace. "It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too," Lance said as he let his cousin go. "By the way, what brings you out here anyway? Usually when you do manage to take some time off, you spend it at some exotic place in the tropics." Peter chuckled at that.

"Well yes, that is fun, but I've earned some additional time off, and I wanted to spend it with family for a change," he said as he picked his bag back up. The psychologist's smile faded when he heard this.

"Things still not going well with Aunt Kate or Elizabeth?" Peter sighed at the mention of his mother and sister.

"Sadly, no," Peter answered. "I thought that they would be proud of me when I made sergeant, but nothing changed. I guess Mom was serious when she said that she didn't want me going into the Army like my dad."

Lance nodded. Peter's father, Vincent, who was David's baby brother, had served many years in the Army before leaving so that he could settle down and raise a family. Unfortunately, Vincent died when Peter was only nine, and Peter missed him to this day. Even though Lance had never had the chance to meet him, he was sure from what his father told him that Vincent would have supported Peter's decision to join the military. The rest of Peter's family, however, did not share in that belief, and now he was almost as much of an outsider as Lance was with the few remaining members of the Sweets family.

Lance was broken out of his reverie by his cousin giving him a firm pat on the back.

"Let's go back to your place so I can change and drop off my stuff," Peter said. "I'm hungry for some real food, and I'm expecting you to treat your new guest before I have to start making my own meals around here."


After depositing Peter's belongings at the apartment and grabbing a quick lunch at the Royal Diner, Lance took Peter to the Jeffersonian. While Peter had been able to see the psychologist's office in the Hoover Building, he had never had the chance to go the Medico-Legal lab where Lance spent so much of his time or meet any of Lance's co-workers.

The two of them got Peter a visitor's pass, and they started to walk around when they ran into Cam.

"Dr. Sweets?" Cam said. "I heard you were taking a little time off. And this is…?"

"Staff Sergeant Peter Sweets," Peter answered. "You must be Dr. Saroyan. A pleasure to meet you at last. Lance has told me a lot about you."

"Thank you," the pathologist smiled, charmed at Peter's friendly demeanor. "Sweets, I didn't know you had any family around here."

"Peter's my cousin and he's visiting," Lance answered. "He's taking some time off for the holidays and all. I thought I'd show him around the Jeffersonian."

"Well feel free to look around," Cam said. She noticed one of her interns walking toward her and turned to Peter.

"Could I borrow your cousin for a moment?" she said. "I need to update him on a case we are currently working on. Miss Sanders here can show you the forensic platforms while I get this out of the way."

"No problem," Peter nodded.

"Good," Cam said. "Miss Sanders, please show Sgt. Sweets here around the platforms. Just make sure he doesn't get too close to the bodies we have there now."

The intern nodded and her and Peter walked off while Cam pulled Lance aside.

"I didn't know you had a cousin in the Army," she said.

"Well, he's not in DC very often, so I don't see him much myself," Lance said. "So how is the case with the body from the cliff progressing?"

"Not good," Cam said, shaking her head. "Neither Wendell nor Clark have been able to find out anything other than some perimortem fractures which suggest that the victim may have been assaulted right before death. Have you thought of anything?"

"Well, I've looked over photos of the scene, but so far nothing really stands out as significant," the psychologist answered.

"Well, we'll keep trying to ID the victim," Cam sighed. "Hopefully once we do that, there will be more for you to work with."

A few seconds later, Sanders returned with Peter in tow. After giving her a form to sign, she left. Cam then turned back to Peter.

"I imagine Dr. Sweets has mentioned what we do here at the Jeffersonian."

"Yeah, Lance has told me about the type of work you do, and it sounds really interesting," Peter answered. "I wish I could have had a chance to meet more of your staff, but I hear that a lot of them are on some kind of sabbatical right now."

"Yes, and I can tell you that they are sorely missed," the pathologist sighed. "But still we've been able to solve a number of cases even in their absence, partially thanks to Dr. Sweets' assistance." Lance blushed while Peter patted his back.

"Well I'm not surprised at that," he grinned. "We always knew that Whiz Kid here would do something amazing with himself. He just needed to find his place is all."

"Say, how long were you staying?" Cam asked.

"A couple of weeks. Why?" Peter asked.

"Would you like to join us for Thanksgiving?" the pathologist said. "We already invited Sweets and we wouldn't mind adding another seat to the table."

"Dr. Saroyan, thank you for the invitation, but I don't want to put you out," Peter said.

"It's no bother," Cam insisted. "Sweets is a close friend of ours and any family of his is welcome."

"Then I accept. I'd love to come," Peter said.

"All right…well I have some things I need to attend to here. It was nice to meet you Peter," Cam said. "I hope we can maybe do lunch some time here soon."

"I'd like that very much," Peter said. "Until next time then."


Later that evening, Lance and Peter were sitting on the couch in Lance's apartment, eating pizza and sipping some beers. Knox jumped up to join them and began to nose around the pizza box.

"I have to admit, I'm kind of surprised that you have a cat," Peter said, smiling ruefully as Knox kept pawing at Lance's plate. "I thought you liked dogs."

"Well keeping a dog in an apartment in DC is a lot more problematic than having a cat," Lance mused. "Besides, Knox sort of adopted me. I didn't have much say in the matter." Peter laughed and finished the slice he was working on before continuing.

"So…why does everyone call you Sweets?" Peter asked. "I mean, I get that they might want to dispense with the whole "doctor" title, but why do they call you that instead of say, Lance? I thought you were pretty close to these people." Lance looked over and saw a tiny glint of concern in his cousin's eye.

"Agent Booth started calling me that because he couldn't get used to the idea of me being a doctor at first. And now, I guess it's kind of caught on with everyone else," Lance shrugged. "I don't mind. It's sort of like how Booth calls Dr. Brennan 'Bones'. It's their way of letting me know that I'm a part of their group."

"You miss them, don't you?" Peter frowned.

"Yeah I do," Lance answered back quietly.

"Well what about your girl, Daisy? When am I going to get a chance to meet her?" Lance gulped; he hadn't worked up the courage to tell Peter yet about his break-up with her.

"I…We're not together anymore," the psychologist mumbled, looking down at the floor. "She…she ended up going on the same dig as Dr. Brennan and…it wasn't going to work out." Peter put his hand on Lance's shoulder.

"Oh man, I'm sorry," he said. "I know that you were really in love with her."

"We…I had asked her to marry me. We were engaged," Lance choked out. "But…she said that she needed to put her career first. So when this thing came up in Maluku, she decided that…Anyway, we're not together anymore, and we won't be getting back together when she gets back either."

Lance was surprised at how emotional he was getting. But then he realized that this was the first time that he said out loud what he already knew in his heart and mind: that he and Daisy were over and there was no going back. Saying the words made the situation even more real and permanent to him. Plus, it drove home the idea that while he may at peace with the end of the relationship, he still hadn't completely gotten over it.

"Lance?"

The psychologist looked up and shuddered when he saw the intense look that Peter was giving him. He had seen an identical expression on his father's face many times while growing up.

"You should have told me what was going on," Peter said. "I had no idea that things were this hard for you right now. Remember what I told you after Uncle David and Aunt Carolyn died? I promised that if you ever needed me that I would be there for you."

"But…I didn't…I shouldn't…" Lance stuttered.

"No. No excuses," Peter insisted. "We're family and family takes care of each other. Understand? After all, you helped me when I was going through some really difficult times, the least I could do is return the favor."

Lance sighed and sank into the couch. Truthfully, he did want someone to help him, but he wasn't sure what his cousin could do in these circumstances. Suddenly he felt Peter put his arm around his shoulders.

"Listen, I know that I'm only going to be here for a couple of weeks," he said. "But I promise that I'll do what I can during that time. So if you need to talk to someone, some advice or if you just need the company for a while, I'm here for you."

For the first time since this last spring when almost everyone he cared about scattered about across the globe, Lance Sweets fell a dark cloud inside him part a little bit. He was far from good, but at least he felt a little better. And that was a welcome change.

"Thank you, Peter," Lance said, his voice thick with emotion. His cousin gave a wide grin of his own, his emerald eyes sparkling.

"No problem," he said. "Now, is that a video game system that I see on that shelf next to the TV? I bet that I can still beat you at almost any game you have in there. So how about it? Loser makes the winner breakfast tomorrow. Or in your case buys breakfast tomorrow."

"You're on," Lance smiled back.


A week went by and after spending three days with his cousin, Lance returned to work for a while to catch up before the Thanksgiving holiday. Peter explored DC while his cousin was at work. A couple times, he, Peter and Cam had lunch together and Cam quickly grew to like Peter.

During this time, Lance spent a lot of time talking to Peter, but a good portion of their time was spent in other activities like going to films, playing games or sharing a drink at the Founding Fathers. Lance even took him to watch one of the local hockey leagues play, and they ended up spending hours at the Royal Diner afterwards while Peter shared some of his stories from overseas with him.

Thanksgiving soon came and Cam, Paul, Michelle and both of the Sweets ended up having a sumptuous dinner at Cam's house.

As the evening wore down, Cam, Lance and Peter shared some wine in the dining room.

"Dr. Saroyan, thank you for having me," Peter said. "This has probably been one of the best Thanksgiving dinners I've had in a long time."

"You're welcome Peter," Cam said taking a sip from her glass. "So when will you be going back?"

"About the middle of next week," Peter said. "I probably going to end up overseas again for at least another six months. Germany this time. While I'm there, I'm thinking about looking up some old friends. I'm not sure if Lance told you this, but I spent a lot of my childhood in Germany and our family has distant relatives there."

"I see," the pathologist nodded. "So Sweets, since your cousin is leaving soon, have you given my proposal any more thought. Because Wendell probably can only stay at his place for a couple more weeks."

"What proposal?" Peter asked, intrigued.

"I asked Sweets if he would let one of Dr. Brennan's interns stay with him for a little while," Cam said. "He's one of Brennan's top grad students, but he's waiting for some more grants to come through so that he'll have enough funds for living expenses while he continues his studies. He has a small income, but not enough to pay for an apartment."

"Really?" Peter said. "And I take it you said no?"

"I said I'd think about it," Lance said, glowering at Cam. She noticed his expression, but chose to ignore it and rose to her feet.

"Well I'm going to clean up a little," she said. "If you two are willing to wait out in the front room for a couple minutes, I can pack you some leftovers to snack on later."

"Oh no, I don't think I can eat another thing for a week," Lance protested holding his stomach.

"Speak for yourself Whiz Kid," Peter said. "I'm sure that I'll be able to find room in a day or two. Besides, you have nothing edible in your fridge right now."

While Cam began to wrap some things up for them, Peter and Lance went out to the front room to wait. After a moment or two of silence, Peter turned to Lance.

"Hey, this Wendell guy…what's he like?" he asked.

"Wendell? Well he's hard-working, smart. And I don't just mean book smart, but street smart as well," the psychologist answered. "Considerate of others….overall a really good guy."

"So are you friends?"

"Not…we're not close. We've had drinks together a few times," Lance said. Peter nodded and lapsed back into silence for a minute. He then sat up straight and patted Lance's shoulder.

"Listen, I think you should let him stay with you," he said.

"What?"

"Now hold on," Peter said. "Just hear me out. I think part of your problem right now is you're avoiding the world too much. You've had a lot of things hit you at once, and I know it's hard to recover from all that." His cousin gave Lance's shoulder a squeeze.

"But you're a tough kid," Peter said. "I know you are. I've been seeing it for years. And I know that the best things for you when you're trying to get over the major hurdles in your life are your work and the company of others. No matter how much you want to hide yourself away. Uncle David knew that it wasn't good for you to shut yourself down when you're hurting, and I'm sure of it too." Peter moved his hand and leaned back in his seat.

"I know because I've spent a lot of time living with others….on barracks, in combat zones, on bases throughout the world," he said. "Trust me, it'd be easy for me to go a little crazy if I didn't have the guys around to lean on, you know? The things we experience on the battle field…you can't just brush it off by yourself." Peter then looked over at Lance again.

"I think having a roommate for a while would be a good thing for you," he continued. "Especially if he's like what you say. It will force you to break out of your shell a little and that's what you need right now since I can't stay here with you to make sure you do it."

Lance considered him with a rueful smile. He knew that Peter was right. This past week had done wonders for his psyche and maybe having someone around more often was what he needed to get him out of the rut he was in.

"All right, you win," Lance sighed. "I'll tell Cam tomorrow…Ever think about becoming a father someday? I'm sure you'll be good at it." His cousin chuckled at that.

"Well Whiz Kid, I'm just looking for the right woman is all," Peter said. "Just like you. But I wouldn't worry. It will happen someday. For both of us." He then sat up and looked Lance in the eye.

"In the meantime, I want you to take care of yourself after I'm gone," he said. "You're a good person Lance, and you deserve a good life. It's what Uncle David and Aunt Carolyn wanted for you with every fiber of their beings. Remember that. And remember what I said, if you need me again, just let me know and I will be here as soon as I can."

"I will, I promise," Lance said.

"Good," Peter grinned. "Now, let's grab our leftovers and go home so we can get some sleep. I want to make the most of my last couple of days of vacation."Lance smiled and followed Peter to the kitchen.

He was still unsure about the decision he just made, but he was also sure that he needed a change.