Sweets felt like he'd been in a car wreck when he woke up. … Oh wait. His neck was stiff and sore from whiplash, his chest hurt from the deep purple bruise that ran across it, and his wrists ached from them being blown out of the way by the air bag. Not to mention the constant pounding in his head. He grimaced as his eyes adjusted to the sudden light that filled his apartment. He numbly pulled his blanket off and sat up on the couch. Dang was his neck stiff. He got up and stumbled over to the kitchen counter to grab his bottle of pain medication.

Alison was sitting at the counter eating a bowl of cereal. "Morning, Lance." She greeted.

"Morning." He mumbled and grabbed a glass of water.

"How are you feeling?" Alison asked.

"Sore." Sweets replied and quickly popped some pills into his mouth. He swallowed them with one big swig of water.

"That's to be expected." Alison replied. "I can change your gauze if you need me to."

"Ya, they said I should change it every now and again." Sweets said back.

"Alright." Alison agreed. "Is your first aid kit in the bathroom?"

"Should be under the sink." Sweets said as he poured himself a bowl of cereal.

Alison left her seat and walked over to the bathroom to hunt for the kit.

Sweets sighed and sat at the counter. He stared across the room at the ominous looking door. Behind that door were the remnants of his life with his parents. It contained his first days with the Sweets', his high school days, his college days, and his rebellious death metal days. It was also filled with all of those books he'd read. Books that were probably out of date now. Debunked and disproven.

He decided that it was worth going through though if it kept Alison here. He knew that there would be people investigating this once he registered Alison at school. Especially so when his father got out of jail. He'd want Alison back. Hopefully that wouldn't be until after she was eighteen. That way she could do whatever she wanted. She could stay here with him, or she could have a place of her own.

"Found it!" Alison announced as she walked back into the kitchen. She sat the patch of gauze and roll of tape on the counter. She brushed Sweets' hair up and slowly peeled the tape off. Sweets winced as the taped pulled on his skin. "Gosh, this looks worse up close."

"Why thank you." Sweets replied.

Alison quickly threw away the gauze. She scrutinized his wound carefully. "I can't believe Ryan did this to you."

"Ya, well Ryan's a… let's just say he's not very nice." Sweets decided.

"It's not like I have virgin ears." Alison replied with a slight smile.

"That doesn't mean I have to add to their… spoilage." Sweets replied. He had started feeling a tad fuzzy. He reached across the counter and looked at the medication they'd given him. Vicodin. He groaned.

"What's wrong?" Alison asked. She smoothed out the tape she had just placed on the edges of the new gauze square.

"Vicodin! You heard Booth. I react very strongly to pain medications." Sweets said and then scooped in some cereal.

"Actually Booth didn't tell us what happened. He just said that you used a lot of big words that he didn't understand." Alison replied.

Sweets thought back to his ambulance ride. "I believe they were ubiquitous, extrapolating, balderdash, voluptuous, and coquettish."

Alison lifted an eyebrow as she sat back at the counter. "And who were you talking about that was voluptuous and coquettish?"

Sweets' face turned red. "No one."

"Oh come on. I don't have to be a psychologist to know you're lying." Alison replied.

"There's a girl at work." Sweets replied cautiously.

"What's her name?" Alison inquired.

Sweets wasn't used to this kind of talk. "Genevieve, but everyone calls her Genny."

"Oooh." Alison rested her chin in her hand with her elbow on the counter as she stared at Sweets. "So you like her?"

"No!" Sweets said defensively. "I mean, she's attractive-"

"Voluptuous." Alison butted in.

"-but I have Daisy!"

"Daisy?"

"Yes." Sweets sighed. "Daisy Wick. I proposed to her and then broke it off, but I just can't seem to stay away from her." He spun the cereal around in his bowl with his spoon. He started into it as he thought about the lovely undergrad. They had so many memories together. A lot of them were good and only a few bad. "We agreed that we could enjoy each other's company from time to time and then we ended up dating again."

Alison knew what that meant. "Do you still want to marry her?"

Sweets cursed the loose tongue that Vicodin gave him! Normally he would've simply answered this question with a shrug and an, 'I don't know.' Instead he said, "I just want to start a family. I want to raise kids of my own. The right way. Not the way I was raised for the early years of my life. I promised my mom and dad that I would. My real mom and dad, not the ones that are actually related to me." He looked up at Alison. "So really, I'd be willing to marry any woman."

"Just any woman that walked up to you?" Alison asked.

Sweets smiled. "Not just any woman. I guess she has to have good standards. She has to have a sense of humor too and be easy to talk to. Reliable. Kind. Those sorts of things."

"Well does Daisy qualify for all of those things?" Alison asked.

"Ya." Sweets frowned.

"What?" Alison pressed.

"She puts her job over other people. Not something on my list. I'd be willing to drop anything for them so they'd have to be willing to drop anything for me."

"Seems reasonable." Alison agreed.

Sweets put his face in his hands. "I can't believe I just admitted that all to you."

Alison chuckled. "Probably the Vicodin."

"Probably."

-break-

Seeley Booth was sitting in his office running through some files on this Ryan character. He couldn't decide what to do about what Sweets had told him yesterday. He knew the guy had punched Sweets in the face, but would he really crash his truck into Sweets'? (The plates on the truck that had smashed into Sweets had turned up stolen.)

He sighed, leaned back, and rested his feet up on the desk. His striped socks were now exposed. Booth had to admit that there had almost never been a time where Sweets had been wrong about something… Except that food eating champion Sweets had said was a prostitute. That had been an awkward conversation.

That's when his office phone rang. He sat up straight and answered quickly. "Special Agent Seeley Booth." He answered.

"We have a situation, Booth." Cam replied.

Booth leaned forward as he heard the intensity in Cam's voice. "What happened?"

"A rib bone was stolen from the skeleton of Julia Shankle." Cam replied.

"Did you get them on video?" Booth asked. He was shocked someone was able to make it past the security system.

"Yes, I sent you an email with an image Angela rendered attached to it." Cam replied.

"Alright, hold on a second." Booth said as he moved his mouse around and clicked on a bookmark he had that went to his e-mail. He quickly found the image and clicked on it. He grimaced as the image came up. "Ryan Thatcher." He answered.

"Wow! You ran a search that fast?" Cam asked in surprise.

"I didn't need to." Booth replied. "Ryan Thatcher is the one that clocked Sweets in the mouth."

"Oh."

Another thought hit Booth. "When was this picture taken?"

"Um… Around five."

Booth's grimace deepened. "Sweets' car wreck was about half an hour before that."

"What does that have to do with the stealing of the rib bone?"

"Sweets thought he saw Ryan get out the truck that hit him, but I thought he was just hallucinating."

Cam thought back to where Angela had told her the crash had been at. "He could easily get from there to the Jeffersonian in half an hour. Sweets' car wreck was probably a distraction for all of us!"

"Ya." Booth mumbled as he started closing everything down on his computer.

"Uh oh. What's wrong now?"

"Nothing!" Booth replied and slammed the phone down on the receiver.

Cam furrowed her eyebrows as she heard his defensive tone, shrugged, and then hung up.

Booth hated the guilty feeling he had twirling around in his stomach. He had doubted the psychologist and now he felt bad about it. He grabbed his coat and headed out the door. It was time to try and track down Ryan Thatcher.

A/N: Sorry I haven't posted in a while guys! I've been triple booked lately with school, Drama Club practice, and Indoor Track practice. Hope you enjoy, and as always, thanks for all the reviews and alerts! :D