Author's note: Success. I was able to get this in before the weekend. I was hoping to.

I'm not sure what the next thing will be that I'll post. I'm almost ready to start Year Two, but I'm actually writing out a one-shot based around the latest Bones episode (BOTBL) right now as well. I guess we'll see what happens...

As always thank you to everyone who is reading/following/reviewing this. I'm quite grateful.

Despite my wishes, I do not own Bones or any of its characters.

Warning: Um....is there a warning for excessive fluff....? ;)

Year One—Adjustment—part 3

After a couple of quiet weeks spent at home, the Sweets took Lance to be tested by one of the teachers at the school where they applied. They were nervous that Lance might feel pressured to do well, but were happy to see that once he got used to his surroundings and the teacher, he completely focused on the task at hand. He even seemed to be enjoying himself at times.

David and Carolyn then waited for a couple of days afterward for the results. David spent that time working out the details of the sale of his boat, and Carolyn began buying supplies for the upcoming school year. Soon the school called them for a meeting with the dean to go over the results and their application. As soon as the Sweets and Lance arrived at his office they were greeted by a short, balding man who looked to be in his 50s.

"Hello there. I'm Dean Fry," he said warmly. "It's a pleasure to meet you." After exchanging pleasantries and settling Lance down in a plastic chair with yet another book, the Sweets sat with Fry in his office.

"Now, Mr. and Mrs. Sweets…" he looked down at a file. "I see you are the boy's adoptive parents?"

"Correct," David said.

"Well, looking over his test scores, I see that he is quite a remarkable young man," the dean said. "He definitely belongs in our gifted students program. I see no problem with accepting him." He shuffled some papers around while the Sweets smiled at each other. Fry finally looked up at them again.

"Now he would be starting out in first grade when we admit him, but if his test scores are any indication, he should be swiftly moved along an accelerated grade progression," he said.

"You mean he could skip grades?" Carolyn asked, surprised.

"Indeed, Mrs. Sweets," Fry answered her, looking back down at the file. "In fact, based on what I'm seeing, I wouldn't be surprised if he graduates high school by the time he's 14 or 15 years old."

"Are you sure that's a good thing?" Carolyn said cautiously.

"Don't worry. Our students are required to pass careful assessments before they are allowed to advance at an accelerated rate," he continued dryly. "Our standards are actually higher than the ones in place for public schools. If the boy is allowed to skip grades, it will be because he is more than qualified to." Setting the file down, he looked up to be met by David's gaze.

"I think what Carolyn means is, would graduating from high school at 14 necessarily be a good thing," he said. "I mean the next step would be college, wouldn't it? College at 14?"

"Perhaps it would be best to simply enroll the lad and see how he performs before making any long-term decisions," Fry said, a gentle smile forming on his lips. "After all he is only six; we should wait and see how he develops. If it looks promising, we shouldn't be afraid to help him live up to his full potential."

David and Carolyn looked at each other and nodded.

"Excellent," the dean said. "Now if you would just fill out a few more forms, we can have this settled."

The Sweets spent time filling out additional forms and talking over the matters of payment. School would begin in three weeks and they would need to pay for the first year's tuition by next week. They would also need to buy Lance some school uniforms, but David had finalized the sale of his boat, so the Sweets were not concerned about the cost.

The drive home afterwards was a quiet one with David and Carolyn trying to absorb what they had been told in their meeting with Fry. They knew Lance was gifted, but they never considered the possibility that he was some sort of prodigy. It made them a bit nervous. Granted, the Sweets could not be considered dumb. David had actually graduated in the top ten percent of his class in college and while Carolyn did not go to college, she was known for being well-read and almost self-educated. Still, both of them wondered the same thing.

'Are we the right people to raise a child like this?'

Three weeks went by swiftly and soon Lance started going to school. It was a bit bittersweet for Carolyn; she had gotten used to having Lance home all day. David never said anything about it, but Carolyn could have sworn that she saw a tear in his eye the first day they dropped Lance off at school.

Carolyn soon found herself trying to adjust to being the mother of a school aged child: making sure Lance got up and went to bed at a decent time every day, fussing over him as he got ready for school, checking on things like homework being done. David asked his boss to send some light work his way to do at home to keep him busy.

Lance quickly grew to like his new school. While he never spoke of the other kids there, he talked quite a bit about his teachers and the types of school work they would have him do.

After a couple more months, Carolyn got the shock of her life one day as she dropped Lance off at school.

"Now you have a good day and I'll see you when I come to pick you up," she told him as they sat in the car in the parking lot. She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I love you." Lance nodded and grabbed his backpack as he opened the car door.

"Thanks Mom. I love you too. Goodbye," he said getting out and shutting the door behind him. She watched him walk into the school, stunned.

'He called me "Mom",' she thought to herself. It had been so casual, so offhand. But it made her smile and tear up with happiness.

From that point on, Lance always referred to Carolyn as 'Mom'.

She had told David about it that night while Lance was in his room working on homework. She instantly regretted it as she watched him nod with a neutral expression on his face. Lance had never called him 'Dad' and at times David speculated that he may never do so.

"David, I'm sorry," she said. "I know Lance cares for you. I'm sure eventually he'll…"

"It's all right, Carolyn," he smiled at her. "He never really had a mother, so it's nice that he can have that with you."

That seemed to settle it, but Carolyn still wished things were different.

November came and Lance finally had a whole week off for vacation from school to celebrate Thanksgiving. At Doctor Murray's suggestion, the Sweets even gave Lance the week off from therapy sessions. All of them were looking forward to spending the holiday together.

Unfortunately, it did not go as smoothly as they had hoped.

It started on the Saturday after Lance's last day of school. Carolyn noticed that he seemed rather listless and asked Lance if he felt all right. He kept saying that he was tired, and spent most of the day sleeping. By Sunday, Lance seemed to move about in a slow, robotic manner and barely spoke. The Sweets grew concerned, but Lance didn't seem to be upset about anything. That evening they sat down at dinner and they noticed that Lance only picked at his food.

"Lance, do you want something else to eat?" Carolyn asked. Lance shook his head and remained silent.

"Are you all right, sport?" David asked. Lance shook his head again.

"I don't feel good," he said, getting up from the table. Suddenly he stumbled and dropped to his bottom to sit on the floor. Once there he leaned forward and held his stomach. David and Carolyn got up and moved to kneel down beside him.

"Lance, what's wrong? Talk to us," Carolyn said grabbing his arm. Lance groaned and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Don't feel good…my stomach," he moaned. David put a hand to Lance's forehead. It was hot to the touch, and sweat had begun to bead near his hairline. Lance groaned one more time and then promptly vomited onto the floor. After the first time, he threw up twice more until there was nothing left to expel and Lance could only gasp with dry heaves. David stood and picked Lance up.

"I'm taking him to the bathroom. Call Doctor Colinablanca," David said. Carolyn nodded and quickly got up to head for the phone. David carried him into the bathroom and helped to remove Lance's vomit-stained shirt. He then leaned him against the toilet.

"Stay there, Lance," he told him and he wet a washcloth under the faucet. "If you feel sick again, just lean over the toilet."

"I'm sorry," Lance coughed, still clutching his stomach. He began to gasp a bit, his breathing becoming shallow and rapid. David sat down beside him and began to dab the cool washcloth against Lance's forehead.

"Shh, it's ok. You're sick, you couldn't help it," he said. "Stomach still hurt?" Lance nodded.

"Cold too," he said beginning to shiver. David held him tight for a moment; he could feel Lance struggling to breathe and it frightened him.

"Lance, I'm going to get you some new clothes, ok?" David said. "Just stay here." He watched Lance lie down on the floor onto his side and cough. As David walked out of the bathroom, he ran into Carolyn.

"The doctor wants to know how he is," Carolyn said.

"He's burning with fever, but he says he's cold," David answered. "He hasn't thrown up again, but now he's coughing and having a hard time breathing."

"I'll tell her," Carolyn said.

"I'm going to get him some new clothes and a blanket for him," he said. Carolyn rushed back to finish her phone call, while David ran up the stairs. After grabbing a comforter and a warm set of pajamas from Lance's closet, David hurried back down to the bathroom. Carolyn was already there, holding Lance.

"David, she wants us to take him to the emergency room," she said. David handed her the pajamas, and the two of them re-dressed Lance. David then wrapped Lance into the comforter and picked him up into his arms to carry him. He could feel the heat radiating from Lance's head, but he also felt the shudders as Lance shivered and coughed.

"Ok sport, we're going to the hospital now," David said as he carried Lance along to the front door.

"Cold. Stomach hurts. Chest too," Lance gasped. David tightened his hold.

"Hang on Lance. We're taking you to the doctor and they'll make you feel better," he said as Carolyn grabbed David's wallet and key, some coats and her purse by the front door as they walked out.

While riding in the back seat with Lance, Carolyn was sure David was breaking every traffic law ever conceived. But that didn't stop her from wishing he would get there faster.

"Mom…feel so bad," Lance moaned.

"It's ok baby, just relax," Carolyn said softly. "We'll be there soon." Lance closed his eyes and continued to gasp and wheeze. Carolyn took his hand and used her other one to smooth his hair. She began weep a bit, but tried to hide it the best she could.

"He'll be all right, Carolyn," David said from the front seat. She nodded and began to wonder if he said that to reassure her or himself.

They soon drove into the parking lot of the hospital and parked near the emergency room entrance. David quickly lifted Lance out of the car and carried him inside. By this point, Lance was barely semi-conscious and merely coughed again and groaned at all the sudden movement. After a few tense moments at the front desk, where David insisted on Lance being seen as soon as possible, they were able to have him taken back to be examined by a couple of nurses.

The Sweets then settled in with some forms to fill out. David had left at one point to call both Colinablanca and Lauren to inform them of what was going on and to ask them to talk to the staff at the hospital. He then joined Carolyn to finish filling out the forms. After that, all they could do was wait. Sitting there with nothing more to do, Carolyn finally started to cry.

"It's going to be ok, Carolyn," David said. But she could hear in his voice that he was just as worried as she was. She leaned over and let David hold her.

After what felt like hours, David got up and went to ask about Lance's condition. One of the nurses, who had escorted Lance back, was standing nearby. She gave David an ugly stare. He spotted her and walked over to her.

"Please, you went back with my son, Lance. How is he?" he asked. The nurse narrowed her eyes at him.

"I couldn't tell you," she said coldly. "You'll have to wait for the doctor." She then stalked off. David stood there, confused by her response.

"David? Carolyn?"

The Sweets looked over to see Lauren walking over to them. Carolyn got up and stood by David.

"Lauren, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"Someone at the hospital called Social Services," she explained. "I was available so I came out." She then began to look concerned. "Wait a minute….David, Carolyn, have you been able to see Lance yet?"

"No," David answered. "They won't tell me anything." Lauren closed her eyes and muttered something under her breath. The nurse from earlier saw Lauren and walked over to her.

"You're from Social Services aren't you?" she said. "We called you?"

"Wait a minute; did you call them about Lance?" David said. "Do you think we hurt him somehow?" He felt sick at the thought.

"We saw his back," the nurse snapped. "What would you call that?"

"We didn't do that to him," David said angrily. "We would never hurt him." David took a deep breath to try to regain control. "I want to see my son," he said, his voice low and forceful.

"Excuse me."

Everyone looked over to see a man in a white coat walking over to them. The nurse faced him and straightened her posture.

"Doctor Stapleton, I…" But the doctor walked past her and over to the Sweets and Lauren.

"Are you Mr. and Mrs. Sweets?" he asked them. They both nodded. Lauren moved closer to the doctor.

"I'm Lauren MacArthur. We talked on the phone Doctor Stapleton."

"Yes, yes," he said looking back at David and Carolyn. "I want to apologize. I got the call from Mrs. MacArthur a little while ago but have been so busy treating Lance that I hadn't had the chance to inform all my nurses of the situation." He turned to the nurse.

"These people are the boy's adoptive parents," he told her. "They have been taking care of him ever since he had to be taken away from his father." After a moment, realization began to show on the nurse's face and she turned scarlet.

"I…I'm sorry," she said looking down. She quickly left.

"I'm sorry about all this," Stapleton said. "I'm sure she was only trying to protect the boy. I can't say that I wasn't disturbed myself when I saw his scars. I might have thought the same thing."

"How is he?" Carolyn said.

"He's stable now," the doctor answered. "Lance has pneumonia."

"Again," Lauren sighed, her eyes sad.

"Yes," the doctor nodded. "I was able to go over the boy's medical history that Doctor Colinablanca had sent over. It's rather serious that he has it again after only about a year, so I want to keep him in the hospital overnight. After that he should be able to go home. He'll need to rest, get plenty of fluids and take some medicine that I will be giving you. Hopefully he should be all right in about a week."

"Thank you Doctor," David said. 'There goes his holiday vacation. I'm so sorry Lance,' he thought to himself.

"Can we see him?" Carolyn pleaded.

"He's been calling for you," the doctor smiled wearily. "Come with me."

"I will call you later," Lauren said, leaving in the opposite direction.

After a short trip down the hallway, the Sweets were led into Lance's room. He laid there in a bed, his pajamas replaced by a hospital gown. His hair was matted down to his head with sweat, and his face was white. His eyes were closed, but he seemed too restless to be asleep. David and Carolyn walked over to him. Carolyn placed a hand on Lance's forehead.

"Lance. Lance, baby. It's Mom," Carolyn murmured at him. Lance moaned and shifted in bed. David reached for his hand.

"Hey sport, can you open your eyes for us?" he said. Lance groaned again and turned his face toward them. Soon the Sweets were greeted by a pair of large chocolate eyes staring at them.

"Mom," Lance mumbled. "Feel hot." He tried shifting the blankets around him.

"Shh, lay still Lance," Carolyn said gently. "You need to rest."

"Thirsty."

"I'll get you something," Carolyn said walking toward the door. She went to look for a nurse. David moved closer to the bed and stroked Lance's hair.

"I'm sorry sport. Looks like you're pretty sick," he said. "I know that's a lousy way to spend your vacation, but we'll try to make the best of it for you, I promise." Lance nodded and turned to his side in the bed. After moment of silence, Lance spoke.

"David?"

"Yes, Lance."

"Would it…would it be all right if I…I…" Lance stopped to cough and looked away from him. David sat down on the edge of his bed and began rubbing Lance's shoulders.

"What is it you want sport?" Lance turned back to him, still looking downward.

"Can I call you Dad?" Lance said in a tiny voice. David smiled.

"Of course you can," he said his voice thick with emotion. "You're my son now, and I'm your father." He pulled the sheets tighter around Lance's shoulders. David watched as his eyes closed again. He leaned close to him.

"Rest now," David whispered. After hesitating for a moment he gave a very light kiss to the top of Lance's head. "I love you."

"Love you too, Dad," Lance's voice slurred as he fell into a dreamless sleep. David pulled up a chair to watch over him. Carolyn walked in with a paper cup in her hand and noticed David's shiny eyes.

"David…is he…is he all right?" she asked. He turned to her and grinned. "What is it?" she asked puzzled by his expression.

"He called me 'Dad'."