Disclaimer - I don't own Bones.

Helloooo everyone! First of all, HAPPY HALLOWEEN. But more importantly... HAPPY BONES WEEK! It is so refreshing to be able to say that :D All these spoiler have me super psyched for Thursday! That's all I'll say on the subject ;] Thank you to all my readers and reviewers and also my beta, NerdyGerl. Once again I'm sorry about not replying to reviews but school is just... well school! But I'm so very glad that everyone seems to be enjoying Sweet Peas and I'm so thankful for your responce to it. Over twenty reviews last chapter had me falling out of my chair! I never expected that! Keep it up and happy reading!

Chapter 25

Sidney hadn't known exactly what to expect from Priscilla Duchesne. Meeting her had been one of the most nerve racking experiences of his life; after all, she was the one basically responsible for his future. Conversation between them had yet to happen without him stuttering his way through but she seemed nice enough. Sidney thought that it seemed like she cared.

Sitting in the backseat of the social worker's car, Sidney gazed out the window watching the buildings breeze past hoping against all hope that this would be his second chance at a new life. Unlike the first, this one was wanted. So very much. Sidney was going to take this second chance and run with it... as far as his feet would carry him.

The first time his life had been changed was when his parents had died. He was too young to remember them beyond the hazy pictures he sometimes saw in his dreams, but somehow, he knew they were nothing like his aunt and uncle. He knew that his parents had loved him and cared for him. They never would have hurt him.

Sometimes at night, when all Sidney felt was loneliness, he would hear them speaking to him inside his mind. His mother's sweet voice sounded like everything beautiful in the world all wrapped together, and it would reassure him that everything would be alright. Then his dad would step in and tell him that things would get better and that Sidney would make it.

The voices had been the glue that kept Sidney together when he felt like he was going to crumble into pieces. And now... like his father's voice had told him, things were finally looking up, and for the last time in his life Sidney was pulling into the driveway of his aunt and uncle's house. After today, he promised himself, he would NEVER step foot in this place again.

As the car came to a stop, Sidney waited to be given a signal that he could unbuckle and get out. Priscilla was halfway out of the car when she realized the boy was just sitting there and she peeked her head back in. "What are you waitin' for Sid? Come on... this'll only take a minute." Sidney figured that must have been the signal.

Coming to the front door, it seemed like it had been a lifetime ago that he had come home to this place. In reality, he'd last been there only two days ago, only two days ago he had broken down on these steps, feeling alone and unloved.

Priscilla bent down and retrieved the key, placing it in the lock and turning. The click sounded and the door swung open, revealing the dark living room of the Porter's. Looking at the place where he usually removed his shoes, Sidney saw two bags, one of them from Walmart the other from Sears. Before he could internally process why his aunt would have left those sitting there, clear evidence that they weren't so upper-class after all, the social worker snatched them both up. It was at that moment that Sidney realized what he had been reduced to; just two sad plastic bags. They couldn't even spare the crappy duffel bag in that back of the closet that the cat liked to sleep in and was filled with its hair.

Sidney looked at the bags in the social worker's hands questionably. "Is th-that everything I'm a-allowed t-to take?"

Priscilla's eyes acquired that pity look. "Unfortunately yes, Hon. Whatever you're aunt and uncle packed is what you have to live with. It's just the rules for situations like this." She took a look around the main room of the house. "Are you ready to say goodbye to this place and get out of here?"

Taking one last sweep of the spic and span room, Sidney thought there was no need for a goodbye. It was just a house, filled only with bad memories. That brand new lamp on the end table? It was only there because the old one had been shattered when Sidney had "fallen" on it. How you could fall on a lamp that sits on a table was beyond him. But, that was what the Porters chose to believe in their sick twisted little fantasy world, definitely not that Diane had smashed the lamp on Sidney's back.

Without answering Pricilla's question, Sidney took it upon himself to reach for the bags in her hand and walked out of the house, not looking back. Sitting in the car, he didn't even watch as the social worker exited the house, locked the door, and putting the key back where it came from. She got in the car and started the car not saying a word.

"Well do they sell only the loft part of the bed?... Ask somebody if you don't know, Booth... They do?... Okay then buy it. Is same day delivery available?... Okay, see if you can get it here right away then. I want to be able to set it up before Sidney gets here... Okay, I love you too... Bye." Ending the phone call, Brennan sat on couch, a small sigh escaping as she did so.

As soon as they had arrived home from the school, the anthropologist had sent Booth on a mission to find a loft bed for Sidney. Hoping it would be a small gesture to make the boy feel better, Brennan wanted to get it here and set up soon enough to surprise him with it. Booth had departed immediately, leaving Brennan with Elsie and Parker's remaining questions about what was happening with Sidney. The questions hadn't lasted long, Parker was smart enough to fill in any blanks, but he was noticeably disturbed and had holed himself up in his room for the time being.

Sliding off of the couch Brennan moved to the floor next to where Elsie was currently engrossed in a talking storybook, pressing each light up button precisely, her eyes widening each time it made the corresponding animal sound. "Hey there, Elsie girl," Brennan said reaching her hand out to rub her baby's back.

Elsie looked up hearing her name, abandoning the book and crawling onto Brennan's lap. "Bone," she said clear as day, touching her finger to her mom's chest.

"Yes!" Brennan exclaimed excitedly, pulling her legs up, baby and all, to be face to face with her daughter. She was too excited to recognize that she should be "mommy" to the baby. "I'm Bones. You said my name! Can you say it again for Mama, Baby? Bones."

Two beautiful brown eyes just stared back at her.

"Come on, Elsie. Say Bones again... Bones," Brennan said, emphasizing the word each time.

At first she thought Elsie was just going to stare at her innocently until it happened again. "Bone!" Elsie yelled it loudly this time.

Crushing her confused baby to her chest tightly, Brennan found herself fighting back tears of joy and happiness and a speck of hormones. She kissed Elsie's cheek. "Oh, I'm so proud of you Elsie. Mama is very proud of you." With all her attention on Elsie, Brennan didn't hear the approaching footsteps and jumped when Parker spoke.

"Bones, did Elsie just yell Bones?" he asked, almost bursting with excitement at the prospect that his sister had spoken a "real" word.

"She did, she said my name." Brennan looked up at Parker, silently inviting him to sit beside her, unable to contain her own grin.

The boy took the invitation willingly and asked, "Shouldn't she call you Mom though? I mean you're Mom to her, not Bones."

Slightly tilting her head to the side, Brennan considered that. "Well... yes, I suppose. But logically, Elsie mostly hears me being referred to as Bones by you and your father so it's understandable that that is who she sees me as at the given moment. I'm sure she'll start calling me her Mama and your dad her Dada soon enough."

Parker nodded, finding her explanation reasonable, before his face turned to one of excitement. "Do you think we can get her to say it for the camera? This should be documented!" Without waiting for an answer, the boy got up to go find the camera. His dad would want to see this.

With the click of a finger, Sidney's picture was captured with the small camera Priscilla Duchesne kept at her desk for such purposes. The flash going off made the boy blink his eyes, though luckily, just moments after the picture was taken. The social worker connected the camera to her computer, added it to the file with a practiced ease, and then dived into the few questions that needed to be asked.

Gazing at him intently she asked, "Sidney, is there anything you want to tell me about your home life with your aunt and uncle?"

The boy debated the question for a moment. There was a lot he wanted to tell her, sure, but he didn't know if he was ready to dig into that all that at this time, nor was this who he wanted to talk about his issues with. If he ever gained enough courage to speak of his ordeal, he decided, it would be with his new foster parents. "N-no, Ms. Duchesne. I j-just want to go home."

Misunderstanding the boy, Priscilla told him, "I'm sorry Sidney... but that can't happen. Your aunt and unc..."

"NO!" Sidney interrupted, surprising the social worker with his vehemence. Calming down a bit, he continued feeling ashamed of his outburst. "I-I d-don't mean home to THEM. I-I want t-to go to m-y new home."

Understanding dawned on Priscilla. "I see... You mean Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan." Though it was said like a statement, Sidney nodded anyway. "So you're on board with this? Would it be your choice to live with them?" she asked, trying to get a feel for the boy.

"Y-yes ma'am," he replied earnestly. There was nothing else he wanted more in the whole entire universe.

Priscilla was surprise by Sidney's politeness. It was not often she came across a foster child who addressed adults as ma'am and sir. But then again, it also did not ordinarily happen that she worked with a family such as the one Booth and Brenna were creating. They were, she concluded, quite a gift from god if she did say so herself. "Those folks are mighty fine people. You, Sidney, are one lucky boy to have found them."

Humbly he said, "I-I know, Ma'am."

"Can you tell me," Priscilla started, pen poised to take notes. "In your own words, what are your specific reasons for wanting to live with the Booth's?"

Sidney pondered the question a good long moment before he answered. "Well... they're really nice to me. And they make real good parents to Parker and Elsie. I think maybe I could be their kid too and they'd love us all the same. I promise to not be a bother and be real good too. And they never yell and yesterday they didn't give me any chores so I had enough time to finish my homework. But I would do chores if they ask, I'll do a lot of em'! I'd do anything to get to stay there." Finishing with a note of pleading and desperation in his voice, Sidney was out of breath.

Ms. Duchesne had seen enough and she felt like her heart was falling to pieces inside her chest. This boy sure knew how to break hearts. "I don't think you need to do or be anything special for them, Sidney. I've got a feelin' they're gonna love you all the same no matter what. I also believe we are done here. What do you say we head on out and take you home?"

As Priscilla knocked on the apartment door, Sidney anxiously waited for it to open. The few hours he was away had left him pining for the place he'd called home the past few nights and would now be calling home for many, many more. Approaching footsteps were heard, raising the boy's anxiety level as they got louder. Finally a click and the door opened revealing Brennan with Elsie on her hip. Brennan smiled lovingly at the nervous look on Sidney's face before hugging him tightly.

"Welcome home, Sidney," she whispered near his ear, before pulling away from the hug. She noticed that his face was much more relaxed now and turned to greet the social worker. They said a couple of cordial words to each other, expressing their mutual respect. Priscilla Duchesne was by far the most caring social worker Brennan had ever met. Priscilla believed that Brennan was one of the most compassionate foster parents she had ever dealt with.

Finishing up their short conversation the trio found themselves in the living room and Priscilla remembered one question she had not yet asked. "Dr. Brennan, where will Sidney be sleeping until ya'll move into that new home? Have you found out whether your offer was accepted yet?"

Brennan looked to the women, excitement obvious in her body language. "We just got the call a few minutes ago actually. It was accepted and we'll be closing in around three weeks... As for where Sidney will be sleeping," she turned the conversation to the boy eyes gleaming. "We have a small surprise for you. Let me just go check and see if it's ready." She had already walked towards the hallway with Elsie, who was oblivious to everything going on and only knowing that she was happy in her mother's arms grabbing for her necklace.

Only a few seconds later she returned to the living room and began ushering the boy and social worker down the hall where she had come from. "It's nothing big," Brennan said, stopping in front of Parker's closed door. "But we thought it might make you feel a little more welcome."

As Brennan eased the bedroom door open, Sidney's breath caught in his throat. Sitting behind a grinning Booth and Parker, and above Parker's bed sat another bed . A bunk bed. 'A new bed all for me,' thought Sidney. It was nothing over the top. The frame matched Parker's and was a dark wood and the comforter on top was just plain navy blue with two stripes of white and light blue. But Sidney didn't care how it looked, he didn't care about any of that. He was too busy being grateful.

He hadn't had his own bed at his aunt and uncle's. Actually that wasn't true, in the beginning there had been a bed, but it wasn't long until the cats had decided to make it their own personal litter box so many times, that it became impossible to clean. The new one he'd asked for too many times to count had never come. Eventually he had gotten tired of asking and one day had just stopped trying to make his relatives understand. For over four years the floor had been where he slept.

Turning around to face his new foster mother, Sidney one again embraced her, wrapping his arms all the way around her waist, one around Elsie as well, and squeezing tightly. Stepping back he took a turn hugging both Booth and then Parker, thanking them as well for this gift. Now, standing, with everyone surrounding him, Brennan and Priscilla in the doorway and Booth and Parker, opposite them, Sidney swung his head around to look at each of them. "I d-don't know how to t-thank you for t-this. I-I d-don't even know w-what to say."

Booth stepped up and put a calming hand on the boy's shoulder. "You've already thanked us Bud, nothin' else to do after that besides enjoying it. Why don't you jump up there and try it out?"

The smile on Sidney's face was contagious as he hesitantly climbed the ladder to his new bed and as he sat on top, his enthusiasm alone would have been enough to make Hitler's mustache smile.

Feeling out of place with the euphoric new family, Priscilla Duchesne quietly excused herself, informing them she would be in touch, and made her way out of the apartment. Behind her, Parker climbed atop his friend and foster brother's new bed, sharing his excitement as the new family started creating new memories together.

I hope you enjoyed it :] Please review! Even the short ones make my day!