Author's Note: No, I haven't abandoned this story. I've just been insanely busy with this summer semester. But I'm finally on my last week, so once it ends, I'm hoping that updates will be more frequent. In fact there is a good chance that this will be finished by the end of August.
I do not own Bones, or any of its characters. Yes, even after all this time...;)
Thank you again to everyone who is reading/following/reviewing this. I'm sorry that there was such a long break between updates. I appreciate your patience.
Fatewalker: I think I must have a little crush on him to spend so much time with him in the fanfic world. ;) But anyway, thanks for the review. I agree that by this point he will start to come into his own, even though he still grapples with that loneliness by the time he appears on Bones...Oh and I'm a master of over-thinking, so no worries there.
TimeWitch93: I agree. It's a theme that I imagine reoccurs in Sweets' life: people don't listen to him because of his age and then things happen that he wishes he could have prevented. Again, thanks for the review. :D
Buttercups3: Then I'm sure you will be happy with this update too. :D And thanks for the review...I did want to illustrate how things could have turned out very differently for Sweets if his parents hadn't intervened and to have him face this reality...Plus I do think that he brings a certain innocence and light-heartedness along with his counseling skills to the Jeffersonian, thus bringing light into their world as well.
Fear Herself: Thanks for the wish for luck. :) Now that it's almost over, I feel relieved. Oh and glad to see that you updated too...Yes, that was a concern for me: how to make this chapter have an impact even though a lot of you had probably read my The One in a Thousand story which indicated what would happen. Glad to see it still worked out. :D
Fearlee: Thanks for the support. :) Here is another chapter, I hope you enjoy.
Misfitmartian: Wow...I'm always impressed when someone decided to tackle this fic in one day having not followed it up to this point. :D There will be several more chapters after this one, so I hope you enjoy the rest of it.
Mendenbar: As always, thank you for the great reviews. :) I agree that part of what helped Sweets grow into the person that he is today was the fact that his adoptive parents were willing to be attentive when needed and willing to pull back so that Sweets could grow into the person he was meant to be. Brian's situation represents to me what could have happened if Sweets had been placed in a home where the parents didn't care as much about maintaining that balance. Thanks again, and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.
Cobalt6233: And thank you as well. :D I imagined that with the close bond that Sweets developed with his parents that it would be hard for both of them to let go. I'm happy that I was able to capture that experience for you.
Dukefan1982: I do imagine that it's a case of denial. She simply did not want to believe that she wasn't the best parent for her son, and didn't want to hear it from a 16-year-old who had tried to commit suicide himself at one point. Sadly, when people deny what's around them, bad things often happen...
Beththeartist: Thank you and welcome aboard. :D I agree that my fic writing is getting better as I continue to write this and my other works as well. Again, impressive that you downed this all at once. :D I'm glad that you picked up on the allusions to the show, as I did want to make reference to it and I'm happy that the fact that this is a labor of love is obvious. I really do enjoy each chapter that I put out there and will be sorry when it's finally finished. Again, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy the rest of it.
Year Thirteen—Discovery—part 1
It was late evening when Lance Sweets finally made his way into his tiny studio apartment, and as he walked in the door, he had an epiphany: car salesmen were some of the worst students ever.
Now in graduate school at Columbia and eighteen years old, Lance tried to find odd jobs to help pay for his living expenses. He knew that his parents had not only been paying his education bills that were not covered by scholarships, but that they had even more money put aside to continue to pay his tuition. Although David refused to say how much money he had built up for this purpose, Lance knew that when he finally finished his education, he would not have much in the way of debt.
But he wanted to pay for his own living expenses at least so that he could lessen the financial burden on his parents. He had talked to one of his professors about holding educational seminars to instruct people about how psychology could be applied to different aspects of business. Lance eventually brainstormed the idea to teach salespeople to better connect with their customers.
Unfortunately when approaching local business groups with the idea, the only ones who seemed interested were a couple of local car dealerships. Lance was hesitant, but they offered even more money than what he was going to ask for. He decided that no matter what, it beat busing tables at some restaurant.
Lance wandered over to the kitchen area and pulled out a can of soup from the cupboard. He didn't really feel like trying to cook anything, but he figured that he should eat and this seemed like the easiest way to go about it. After pouring the can's contents into a pot and lighting up the stove, he plopped down onto a chair to watch it cook.
He thought back to the first day of that week-long seminar. The room fell silent when he walked in and introduced himself. Lance could see the barely hidden looks of disbelief on their faces when he placed special emphasis on his newly acquired "doctor" title. But after a few minutes of instruction, the salesmen appeared receptive to learn and at least tried to overlook his age.
The week proved to be a long one anyway as many of his students seemed to willfully forget most of what they learned the day before. Those that did retain the information were stringing bits and pieces of it together to achieve the highest level of manipulative advantage over their customers. It was a distortion of what Lance had hoped would be a way to improve relations between businesspeople and clients.
Today had been the last day and while many were happy with the "tricks" that they had learned, Lance felt less than satisfied. Still the pay had guaranteed that he wouldn't need to work for a while. And it gave him money for some other projects that he had in mind.
The soup was finally heated to an edible temperature so he poured it from a pot into a bowl and moved to sit down on his couch to eat it. As he slurped, his eyes glanced over at a photo collage that he had hanging on the wall of him and his parents. He then smiled.
He thought back to the day that he got his first doctorate from Columbia which was in Clinical Psychology. David and Carolyn were back to living at home, but they had flown up to see the ceremony and to spend some time with him. Lance had been as happy to see them as he was to get his PhD that day since he hadn't seen them in months.
Carolyn started to cry the first time her son was referred to as Doctor Lance Sweets. During and even after the ceremony, David could not stop grinning. My son, the doctor, he would mumble just loud enough for Lance to hear him. Lance knew that his father was exceedingly proud of him and that meant as much to him as the certificate he received.
But even on this happy day, Lance had been nervous about the news that he had for his parents.
While he was finishing up this doctorate, Lance had become increasingly interested in studying the forensic area of psychology. He began to read about the profiling of criminals when he wasn't working on his dissertation on the psychological effects of job stress. He wasn't completely sure why he felt such a pull toward this area, but he quickly developed a burning desire to study it further. Even though he wasn't sure where it would lead him, he decided to pursue a second doctorate in Behavioral Analysis next instead of immediately moving to private practice.
His soup finally finished, Lance sat the empty bowl on a rickety stand sitting next to him and picked up a framed photo of his parents that sat by his phone. He then thought back to that fateful conversation that he had with David and Carolyn only a couple of days after getting his first PhD.
He had been so nervous; his hands shook while he told them his plans. He had more than one reason to be nervous.
David had finally retired a couple of months ago and Lance was concerned about burdening his parents financially. Or he worried that they would be disappointed that he wasn't going to be counseling patients for a while, which was why he had gotten his doctorate in the first place. After he told them what he wanted to do and why, Lance was frightened by their initial silence.
But then Carolyn took his trembling hands into hers and David put his arm around him. Lance noticed a frown on his father's face and worried even more.
'Lance…did you think that we would be upset with you?' he said gently. Carolyn started to rub circles with her thumbs on the backs of his hands.
'Baby, we know how special you are and we want to do anything we can to help you reach your full potential,' she said. Lance shook his head.
'But I've already asked so much from you,' he mumbled. 'All the time and care you've given me…all the money you've spent on my education…all the sacrifices you've made…'
'Sport, you've just received a PhD so that you can spend your life helping people sort through their problems,' David interrupted. 'And now you've just told us that you also want to help law enforcement agencies catch criminals which will help society as a whole. Everything you want to do involves giving and helping others. How could you possibly think that we could be disappointed that we have such a generous child?' Carolyn smiled and kissed her son's cheek.
'Lance how many parents get to say that their child is a doctor by the time he's eighteen?' she beamed. 'We are tremendously proud of you.'
'I just don't want to be a burden,' Lance said, still not looking his parents in the eye. 'You've both worked so hard…'
'Lance, your mother and I worked hard our whole lives just so that we could do this,' David said. 'From the day you came into our lives, Carolyn and I had made the decision to make your education a top priority. It was what we wanted. So we will find a way to help you continue in your studies, if that is what you want to do.'
Lance then embraced each of his parents, tears in his eyes.
On that day, Lance was sure that if he was a generous person, it was because of the never-ending generosity and love of David and Carolyn.
Back in the present, Lance sighed as he put the photo back in its place. Even though he knew that it was the right decision to move out on his own and lead his own life, he still missed his parents. More than Carolyn's cooking and gentleness or David's conversation and wisdom, it was their very presence that centered him. He missed that feeling of security.
The phone rang, and Lance knew that it would be them. His parents called him almost every day. With a smile on his face, Lance picked up the receiver.
"Hello, sport. How was your day?" David asked him. Lance sank further into his lumpy couch.
"Long," he answered. "Dad, I don't think I'll ever buy a car from anyone around here." David's laughter filled his ears.
"Well Lance, all of us have had jobs that we would like to forget," he chuckled. "I should tell you some time about when I had to spend a summer painting houses with my uncle while I was in college. My uncle was a somewhat of a tyrant, so it was not a fun experience. To this day, I shudder at the sight of a roller and paint can."
Lance laughed and for a while the conversation drifted into a variety of casual topics about daily living. Eventually Lance worked up the courage to broach the topic that he needed to discuss.
"Dad, before I talk to Mom I…I need to tell you something," he gulped.
"What is it sport?" Lance took a deep breath before continuing.
"I contacted our old lawyer a couple of months ago, Terry Nigel," he said. "I…I want to find my birth mother." There was a long pause.
"I see," David finally said. "Why?"
"I…I just want to know, you know" Lance said, swallowing hard. "I mean, I know that she wasn't the most responsible or caring person, but…I know that she wasn't like Andrew either. I just want to know about her and about why things turned out the way they did. I don't know or remember her at all, but I…I think I should." There was another pause as David digested all of this.
"Lance…I understand why you are doing this," David said, his voice low and serious. "But I don't think you will find what you are looking for." Lance felt his cheeks grow hot.
"Dad, it's not like I want to replace Mom," he said, slight irritation coloring his tone. "I just want to know more about myself and my past. I want to understand what happened to me better. If I have to deal with Andrew's place in my past, then I should get the other half of the story from her."
"Look, I get why you're doing it," his father shot back. "I just don't think you will be satisfied with the results. I don't want you to get your hopes up and then be disappointed."
"Dad, whether I will be disappointed or not, I should at least try," Lance said. He took another deep breath to calm himself before continuing.
"Terry was able to give me some leads on her, and I was able to track her down a little on my own," Lance said. "I've saved up enough money so that I can go down to Florida and spent a little time there. I want to spend a day or two with her and then I want to come visit you and Mom... if you don't mind."
"Of course we don't mind," David responded. "But Lance are you sure that you don't want me to send you some more money? I don't want you to have to sleep in a car or not have enough to eat."
"It's ok, Dad," Lance answered. "I want to do this on my own."
"All right…if you're sure," his father said. "Why don't you talk to your mother now? She would love to speak to you."
"Dad…could you tell her what I'm doing?" Lance said timidly. "Could you help her understand why I'm doing it? I don't want for it to come out wrong and accidentally hurt her."
"Lance…telling your mother is your job, not mine," David said brusquely. "Here she is now."
Lance gulped and in a few seconds he heard Carolyn's gentle voice over the line. After a few moments of small talk, he explained his plans to her in a shaky tone.
"I'm sorry Mom," he quaked. "I love you…but I need to do this."
"Baby, it's all right," Carolyn soothed. "Of course you're curious. I understand. But this changes nothing between us. I will always be your mother, no matter what." Lance felt tears sting his eyes.
"Thank you," he choked. "I'll see you soon…and could you tell Dad that I'm sorry too?"
"Why? Did something happen?" she asked, worried.
"No…it's ok…I just can't…please tell him," Lance pleaded.
"All right, baby. I'll tell him," his mother relented. "Please take care of yourself. I love you."
After some more reassurances from her and their farewells, Lance hung up the phone and stared into the empty bowl sitting nearby.
'Maybe this is a mistake,' he thought, rubbing his eyes. But after a couple of minutes of contemplation, he shook his head, full of new resolve.
'No, I need to do this. I had to face Andrew and what he did to me. I need to face my birth mother too…or I'll never be able to move on from that part of my life.'
Back in Lance's childhood home, David and Carolyn were wrestling with doubts of their own.
"David, why did Lance want me to tell you that he was sorry?" she asked him while they sat on the couch together in the family room. David shook his head and sighed.
"I was too sharp with him," he answered. "He told me that he wanted to find Lillian and I reacted badly." He began to stare at the carpet and Carolyn took his hand.
"I don't know why I was so cross with him," David said.
"I think I know," Carolyn said, squeezing his hand. "You were just worried about me and my feelings being hurt. You've always been that way." David sighed again.
"And now all I've done is hurt our son's feelings," he mumbled. Carolyn leaned over and kissed him.
"Lance does not expect you to be perfect," she murmured. "When we see him, just tell him how you felt and I'm sure he'll forgive you…But David, even now he still loves you…you know that." David pulled his wife close to him.
"I love you, Carolyn," he whispered in her ear. "If Lance loves me, it's only because you've helped me become a better person."
"David, I…" But David cut her off by kissing her and then embracing her even closer.
What he did not say was that he had been worried about her recently. She tired faster and seemed a little frailer than she had been in the past. As a result, he found himself wanting to take care of her even more than he used to before. David knew that she was getting older, so was he for that matter. But he hated to watch her slow down, even if it was only slightly. The fact that Lance had moved away made this even harder for him to deal with.
Carolyn and Lance were the people he loved most in life. David didn't want to imagine a day when he might have to live on without them.
