Call me Kansas

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this.

Lily hurried don the stairs of the Booth house, wrinkling her nose at the sight of the dirty shirt on the banister. Picking it up between her thumb and index fingers she walked into the kitchen.

Seeing James sitting at the kitchen island, Lily threw the shirt at his head and said, "Would you pick up your dirty clothes!"

James pulled the shirt off his head and replied, "Fine! Just stop throwing my clothes at me!"

Lily grinned and walked towards the fridge, opening it to get her breakfast. She pulled out a carton of orange juice and shut the fridge. As she poured some into a glass, she felt a pair of stronger arms come around her waist.

Lily smiled as someone's lips kissed the side of her neck and she said, "Good morning Cole."

Cole grinned and replied, "Morning Kansas."

Cole let go of her and walked over to the cupboard to his own glass. Lily sat at the kitchen island beside James and said, "Where are Booth and Brennan?"

"They got called out early for a case," James said, "And I have to get ready for a lecture that I have in an hour." With a smile he got up off the stool and walked towards the stairs.

Cole's phone rang and Lily looked at him as he answered it. "Hello?" he said. He listened to the person on the other end of the phone and looked at Lily.

He asked her, "Cinema tonight with Matt and Suze?"

Lily nodded and Cole said into the phone, "Yup, that'll be fine. See you then." He hung up and walked over to Lily and sat down beside her. "So what do you want to do until we have to meet Matt and Suze?"

Lily bit her lip and thought for a moment. "We could go to the park? I heard there's a free concert going on down there."

"Sounds good to me" Cole said before leaning and kissing her. Lily smiled and placed her hand on the side of his neck.

"Lily," Cole mumbled.

Lily frowned and pulled back. "Since when do you call me Lily?"

Lily woke up with a start, her heart racing. It took her a minute to realize that she was sitting up in her bed in the Booth house.

Lily sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She lay back down on the pillow. It was just a dream. She was living in a house with her ex- boyfriend who she used to have strong feelings for so of course emotions were running high. Except that she wasn't sure that the feelings were gone anymore.

Cole sighed as he sat down on the couch. His sports bag was sitting on the floor beside him and Michael was sitting on the armchair watching TV.

He looked up when Lily walked into the living room. They had been getting on better and the awkwardness about their relationship had nearly disappeared.

Lily smiled slightly. "Are you going to the ice rink?" she asked pointing to the bag.

Cole nodded and said, "Yes, Dad and I are going for a short game. You can come if you want."

Lily nodded, "Thanks. I'd love to."

Soon she, Cole and Booth were driving to the rink, hockey gear pilled into the car. "Just a short game ok guys? Brennan wants us back for a family dinner," Booth said as he arrived at the rink.

"We got it Dad," Cole said. They got out of the car, Booth locking it and then they walked into the rink.

There was hardly anyone else around, in fact not counting the employer who let them in, they seemed to be the only ones there. "Looks quiet around here," Booth said frowning.

Cole sighed and said, "You want to go take a look around don't you?"

Booth nodded and he said, "Go get changed and I'll meet you in a minute."

Lily and Cole walked towards the dressing rooms while Booth went the other way to have a look round. They were half way towards the changing rooms when Cole grabbed Lily's arm.

She frowned and looked at him. Cole was staring at the ice rink and Lily followed his gaze. She soon caught sight of what he was staring at.

"What is that?" she whispered to him. "I'm not sure," Cole whispered back.

Lying in the middle of the rink was an object. An object that looked strangely like a body.

"Stay here," Cole said as he stepped forward.

"Right, like that's going to happen," Lily said, following him.

They both stepped onto the ice in their normal shoes and made their way to the middle of the rink. They both tried to keep their balance on the ice and soon they were standing near the body.

And that's what it was; a body. It was like the kind that Cole had seen his mother look at; more bones then flesh.

Cole bent down and Lily grabbed his hand. "Don't touch it!" Lily exclaimed.

But Cole just put his fingertips on the body's arm. He pulled his hand back and said, "It's warm."

"What?" Lily said.

Cole looked at her and said, "It's warm Kansas. If it was on the ice for a long time then it would cold but its not."

He looked around and whispered to her, "If the body hasn't been here long then the person who put it there may still be here."

Lily looked around but saw no one in sight while Cole pulled out his phone and dialled Booth's number.

Lily looked down at her hand, which was clasped in Cole's. She bit her lip and didn't move it. Holding his hand seemed to calm her slightly.

"Dad," Cole said into the phone, "There's a body on the rink and it's still warm. The guy you're after might still be here."

Booth talked for a moment and then Cole said, "We're standing by the body but ok we'll stay where we are."

He hung up and put his phone back in his pocket. "Everything's going to be fine Kansas. We just have to stay put for a moment." Lily nodded and wrapped her coat tighter around her.

Soon Lily and Cole were sitting in Booth's car again watching as the police entered and exited the ice rink. The whole place had been sealed off and they had just finished searching it.

In fact Booth had some officers look over his car as well before Lily and Cole got into it. There were also some TV crews hanging around.

Booth opened the door to the car and got into the driver's seat. After shutting the door behind him Booth turned around and said, "We didn't find anyone in the rink. We think that the guy managed to leave the rink without anyone seeing him."

Cole sighed and asked, "How did he know we were going to be at the rink?"

Booth shrugged, "I don't know at the minute. I'll have to check with the team later. But let's get you home first."

With that he started the car and drove away from the rink.

James smiled slightly. He stared down at the sandwich in front of him that was cut in half, and sighed happily.

Suddenly the door opened and Lily, Cole and Booth walked in the door, shutting it behind them.

"Where's your mom?" Booth asked James as soon as he saw him.

James frowned and said, "At the lab. Why, what's wrong?"

Lily and Cole sat down in the living room while Booth walked into the kitchen. "There was another body found and we need to investigate." Then Booth quickly grabbed half of the sandwich and turned to walk up the stairs.

-A few minutes later-

James frowned even more and followed him saying, "Hey! That's my sandwich!"

After a moment he gave up and hurried back into the kitchen only to see the plate empty and Michael walking into the back garden with the other half of the sandwich.

"Does anyone in this house understand the concept of not stealing other people's food?" James said throwing his hands in the air. He shook his head and walked into the living room to watch TV.

Lily smirked at this and said, "You can make yourself another sandwich James."

James flopped down beside her on the couch and folded his arms, pouting slightly. "It's the principal of the thing," he grumbled. Lily just shook her head and looked at the TV, which had just been turned on.

-The next day-

"Hodgins! Please tell me you have something!" Booth said as he walked towards Hodgins's station.

Hodgins looked up from his microscope and asked, "Hey how are Cole and Lily? I heard they found the body on the rink."

Booth nodded and stood beside him. "They seem to be ok but I'll have to wait and see. Maybe I'll get Sweets to analyze them or something."

Hodgins frowned and replied, "The last time you did that with Parker and James they pretended to be having nightmares about a flock of seagulls attacking them for fishing at the beach. Sweets was about to start panicking until you told both of them to stop kidding around."

Booth shrugged and said, "Anyway the body at the rink? It was still warm when Cole and Lily found it so I think it was wrapped in something after it was dug up, maybe a thick rug or something. Brennan said that might have kept it at a certain temperature."

"So the body was like the other?" Hodgins asked.

Booth nodded, "Yes but this time there was no message on the ribs."

"What does that mean?" Hodgins said.

Booth shrugged, "I've got Sweets looking into it. But now I want to know what you've got."

Hodgins leaned against the counter and said, "I examined the dirt that covered all the bodies and they all show the same type of sap in them. The sap is from a sycamore tree and because it's in the dirt, I'd say that the tree in the cemetery, near where these bodies were buried."

Booth looked at him and said, "So we're looking for a cemetery that has a sycamore tree in it, which has bodies over fifty years old and is missing three of them?"

Hodgins agreed and asked, "How are you going to find it?"

"I'll get some agents on a search," Booth said absentmindedly.

Hodgins frowned and said, "Anything else bothering you?"

Booth sighed and said, "I want Cole and Lily to be as least effect by this as possible. Now that they actually found a skeleton on the rink, how can I make them feel better?"

"Take them on vacation?" Hodgins joked but Booth smiled slightly.

"Hodgins you're a genius!" he said before hurrying to Brennan's office.

"Great," Hodgins called after him, "But would you mind telling me why I'm a genius?"

-Later-

Cole smiled slightly. "You guys are going to need more clothes then that," he said from where he was sitting on James's desk chair.

Parker frowned and looked down at the bag he had packed and left in the hallway. James did the same to the bag sitting on his bed. "What do you mean? We're going to Kansas for a few days and we're staying in Lily's grandparents' house. I assume that they have a washing machine there as well."

Cole sighed and said, "Her grandparents have a farm and an orchard. They expect people to pull their weight so we'll a probably be working. We're going to get dirty and sweaty and you're going to need more clothes then that."

Parker sighed and replied, "Whatever. I am just ready for a vacation."

"Even if we do have to do manual labour," James grumbled.

Lily walked into the room and asked, "Hey! Have any of you guys seen my jacket? It's the brown one with the silver buttons."

"I think I saw it in the kitchen," Parker said.

"Thanks!" Lily said, as she walked out the door. She came back in a second later and said, "By the way, you're going to need more clothes then that," and then she walked down the stairs.

Cole let out a laugh before both his brothers launched themselves at him. The three of them wrestled on the floor before Michael came running into the room, stopping at the door for only a moment, and then jumping on top of them.

Brennan walked past the room and without even looking or pausing she said, "Boys! Stop fighting!"

The four of them stood up and Cole jogged out of the room before another fight could start. He walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. He stopped when he saw Lily sitting at the kitchen island, staring into space and holding her jacket in her hands.

"Are you ok Kansas?" he asked walking up to her.

Lily jumped slightly and replied, "Cole you know why we're going to Kansas right?"

Cole sighed and nodded, "Mom and Dad want us out of danger for a while. So we're all going to Kansas for a few days."

Lily said, "That's pretty bad isn't it?"

Cole shrugged, "I'm not sure. But I do know that Mom and Dad want us all to have fun and take out minds off the person after us."

Lily smiled slightly, "Thanks Cole." Cole smiled back and Parker came into the room. "Cole, get your stuff for Kansas together. We're leaving soon."

Cole sighed and walked out of the kitchen.