Yay me…I am ecstatic to see so many of you guys loving this story so much. It makes me so happy.

Special thanks to PuBlicJornal for the quote "I am a fruit loop in a world of cheerios"; keep an eye out for it.

Rochelle Templer: You are so right; I loved what you said about Althy being so clueless. It really does make her and Zack perfect for each other. You were the first to see what I was trying to do with that. Also you're very welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed my story as much as I enjoy yours.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bones, wish I did, but I don't.


Chapter 41

The Secret Sweet

The following day the DNA had finally come in. It was especially difficult to separate the DNA strands because a few of the characteristics were identical to the small boy. I also saw that it was female DNA. This meant that his mother was the last person to have contact with her son prior to his death. Sweat, how did the mother's sweat get onto that little boy? The only thing that came to mind was if she had been sweating while strangling her son.

I handed in my report to Cam and was exiting the Jeffersonian when Zack stopped me and hid behind me.

I wore simple black pants and a white blouse with a black vest carrying my bag over my black coat.

"I do not appreciate being used as a human shield." I told him.

"Althy…Naomi from Paleontology is under the notion that I wish to carry on sexual relations with her." I laughed slightly.

"Next time you see her just nonchalantly state that you are getting married and that if she doesn't stop your fiancée will kick her ass."

"Are you heading to lunch with Jackie?" I nodded. "Have a good time."

I walked out of the lab as Naomi ran past me. I laughed, shaking my head and kept on going towards my car.

Jackie lived in apartment 5G of her glossy building. It was in top shape, making me wonder exactly which fancy law firm hired her.

The doorman opened the door and allowed me to enter. I took the elevator to Jackie's floor and knocked on her apartment door down the hall from the elevator.

Jackie stood in the doorway wearing a red skirt with a black top with a large collar and a loosened tie to match her skirt and black boots. Her hair was dyed blue and put into two ponytails. "Moshi- moshi, Althy-chan." she said all hyper and bowed. When she switched to Japanese like that, typically meant something was bothering her. "Come on in, I have ramen cooking, rice and beef already on the table and some sushi if you really want it."

I entered Jackie's apartment and couldn't help, but admire the flowers and the posters of Japan. The soft tan walls and her red table sat by the living room and the pillows that surrounded a table with a blanket that went with it. I could not recall the name for it. (A/n if you know the name of this thing, please tell me). The kitchen went through there. "We're eating in the living room"

I saw the food already set and a small black tea set with two cups already filled.

"Do you need any help?" I called

"Iie." she called meaning no. I was getting tremendously worried. She came in with the sushi and the ramen and I sat down on the pillow across from her, sliding under the blanket. "Ogenki desuka?" She asked how I was.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" She shrugged. "Now come on, switch to English I'm begging you. When you randomly start speaking Japanese to English speakers; it worries me. You only do that when something is bothering you."

"Tea?" she asked in English finally. I nodded and she handed me a cup. "Ramen?" Again, I nodded and she added some noodles to my bowl.

"You asked me to lunch because you needed a shrink. What's wrong? Did your parents hate Sweets?" I asked.

"N…no…they loved Lance…it's just…he…how long have I been seeing him?" she placed some beef smothered in teriyaki sauce into my bowl.

"Since near thanksgiving, so almost four months." I said.

"About a month and a half ago I was getting kind of annoyed because we hadn't done it, yet."

"Oh god, do I really want to listen to this?" I asked grabbing the chopsticks.

"Yes, you do." she replied. "He kept giving me all these excuses, finally one night…Confidentiality clause…" I nodded. "So finally we did it." I made a face. "As I was saying he had…he had a really tough childhood and his birth father beat him with some sort of whip. He has these scars….anyway, my parents loved him. But he seemed to be feeling really awkward."

"Can you elaborate?"

"You know my mom loves everyone so when she saw Lance she welcomed him into the family no problem. She hugged him and there was this look on his face like…he was shocked with a hint of sadness and basic horror. Later he said he felt liker a fruit loop surrounded buy cheerios!"

"Did Lance grow up with an abusive dad?" I asked.

"No, he was adopted by an elderly couple when he was six…they died just before he began working with Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth. He said that they really loved him."

"He still seems to be suffering from some of that trauma. Perhaps meeting your parents made him miss his adoptive parents?" she shrugged.

"We came back two days ago and we decided to have dinner at his place. He cooked this really nice Italian meal with—"

"Getting to the point…" I urged.

"After the meal we decided to just sit on the couch and watch Star Trek." I decided not to comment on that one. "Half way through the movie he gets a phone call from some Police force and he freaks out. He was a wreck. I'm really worried." I wrote this down in my notepad.

"Did he do anything out of his usual routine before you left for your parent's place?"

"He met with a Corrine Kludge for lunch. He said she was an old family friend." I wrote down a little more information. "Althy please help. I don't know what to do; what to say to him."

"Just be there for him. Metaphorically speaking, be the shoulder for him to cry on. Don't push him, just listen to him when he decides to share something; be his support system."

"And the scary phone call thing?"

"No promises, but I'll look into it…if I can." I told her sucking in the noodles. "So what did Jessica and Itsuki think of Lance?"

That was lunch at Jackie's place. We had some onigiris stuffed with chocolate for desert. When I came back to the lab after lunch everyone was celebrating. "I'll assume we caught the bad guy?"

"Bad girl, in this case." said Zack. "It was the mother."

"She killed that little boy…" drifted off Cam. Booth came back soon after with a corps. It was badly burned, like from a kiln or an incinerator of some sorts.

It was a female, age sixty-seventy. Zack had begun to work on the body as I began a long process of identifying her.

Dr. Sweets came in when I was trying to get a face for the skull with Cam's help. There was face on and Sweets paled at the sight of her.

"Who…who is that?" he asked.

"This is our latest victim." said Cam. "Althea was just about to run it through the mass recognition program."

"D…don't…bother…" he said. "Her name is Corrine Kludge. She's sixty five years old."

"How do you know her?" I asked

"She…she was the one that helped me get adopted. She was a social worker…I…I just met with her a week ago. She worked for social services…they warned me." Now I saw, this was what Jackie had meant. He was a wreck. He had no tie on, his shirt was out of his pants, and his hair was messy.

I said nothing as I walked out of the room and went to my phone. I called Jackie, letting her know that Sweets was here and he really needed someone to be there for him. She said she would be there in a half hour. She arrived within fifteen minutes. I had to give her credit. She really seemed to care for Sweets. And it was surprising to see her care this much. Of course Sweets was Tom Cruise compared to some of the guys she dated in the past.

"Where is he?" she asked.

"Calm down." was the first thing I told her. "Booth took him up to the lounge so he could calm down." I pointed to the stairs. "It's just up through there." She was gone before I even finished the sentence.

I gave them some time to spend together before I went up to talk to him. Jackie was holding him. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Lance, you said they warned you. Who is they and who did they warn you about?"

"I was born in Maryland; the Maryland Police Department called me and told me that my…my birth father was released from Prison after serving his sentence. Prior to this, Corrine called me and told me he was going to be released. I didn't think it was real until Maryland called me when we got back from Wisconsin. After Jackie left Corrine called; She said someone was after her. She was sure it was him.

"Who is him?"

"Greg Lerner." said Sweets, "My biological father."

Jackie was speechless, I had no idea how to react, and I was never good with the emotional stuff. One time my senior year in high school Saph's boyfriend broke up with her and she was crying. I just sat there starring, kind of like I was now, minus the crying.

"I'll tell Booth." It was only then that I realized that he was not with us. "I have to go do some work now." I ran off rather quickly and headed to fill Booth in.

This was bad, really bad. If Lance's birth father was the guy behind all of this, than this may only be his first victim.


Slightly shorter than usual, but here it is, with a little cliffy. Tell me what you think and I could use a few ideas since I have no idea what'll happen between now and Althy and Zack's leader.

I apologize in advance if the next update won't be too, too soon. I am writing a book and I have school stuff So I do not know when I will update. BUT PLEASE REVIEW AND PLEASE GIVE ME SOME IDEAS!