Call me Kansas
Disclaimer: I don't own any of this.
Ok I know I'm taking ages to update but it's a really busy time right now so please be patient because it might take me a while to update.
"Why don't we just give him a fucking key?"
Cole sat on the couch with his arms folded. Ryan had just come to the Booth house and now he and Lily were outside in the back garden again.
"Come on Cole he's not that bad," Parker said, not taking his eyes off the TV where he was playing a video game with James.
"Ryan is over here everyday. It's like he lives here!" Cole grumbled.
Michael glanced at him from his spot on the armchair and replied, "He's over here so often that every time there's a knock at the door, I think it's him."
"Michael, every time you open the door and see that it's Ryan you slam the door in his face! Every time!" James said. Michael just shrugged and looked at the TV.
"And Cole," Parker said, turning to his brother, "Grow up will you! I don't want to hear your bitching about Ryan. If you can't be nice to him for Lily's sake then don't say anything."
As his brothers turned back to the TV, Cole got up off the couch and went into the kitchen. Grabbing a glass from the cupboard he walked over to the sink for some water. Looking out of the window he saw Ryan and Lily walking around the garden. Lily was pointing out the tree house that Cole and his brothers and his father had built when they were young.
Then Ryan caught sight of the hammock that was set up between two trees. He moved to sit on it and Cole stiffened. The hammock was his spot and he couldn't count the times that he and Lily had sat in it together. Lily grabbed Ryan's hand and pulled him away from the hammock.
Cole smiled as they sat down on the porch step instead. He guessed Lily didn't want him sitting there either. Cole sighed and got water from the tap. As he sipped it, he turned away from the window and watched his brothers play on the video game.
Parker's words echoed in his head. Although Ryan had been coming over a lot Lily had been making the effort to make things less awkward. She had kept Ryan out of his way and he didn't stay that long. Cole sighed and put the glass down on the counter.
Lily and Ryan came in a moment later and walked into the kitchen. Lily caught sight of Cole standing there and she opened her mouth to say an excuse for them to leave. Before she could Cole said, "Hey we're going to watch a movie in a minute. Do you want to join us?"
Lily looked at him confused while Ryan nodded and replied, "That would be great."
Cole walked into the sitting room. The video game was soon turned off and the DVD player was turned on. Lily and Ryan walked into the sitting room and they sat down. Lily smiled slightly. "What kind of movie are we watching?"
Michael opened his mouth and James pointed at him and said, "We are not watching Spongebob the Movie!"
Michael pouted and Parker said, "Michael you need to stop watching so much Spongebob. I don't think it's healthy."
"Mom said the same thing about your Power Rangers obsession," James replied.
Parker frowned at him and said, "Hey! They were good shows!" Parker punched him in the shoulder which caused James to jump on top of him and put him in a head lock.
Cole simply stepped around his fighting brothers and put in a movie. Ryan looked at Parker and James in surprise. He didn't have any brothers so this was new to him.
"Movie's starting" Michael said, giving Parker a kick in the shin to get his attention. "Oh cool," Parker said and he and James stop fighting and sat back on the couch like they hadn't fought at all.
It was a little while later and the movie was still playing. Ryan was sitting back in the arm chair with his legs stretched out in front of him. He sighed slightly, wanting a drink, and looked at the others to ask where the glasses were. But he stopped.
Lily was sitting on one end of the couch her legs propped up on the coffee table in front of her. James was slouched beside her, his body half on the coffee table and his head leaning against Lily's arm. Parker was sitting beside them while Michael was sitting on the other arm chair. Cole was sitting on the floor in front of the couch.
Ryan smiled slightly. He had never seen Lily so relaxed, especially with everything that was going on lately. It looked like she didn't have a care in the world right then. Actually she seemed to be happier when ever she was around the Booths.
Cole gave Lily's legs a tap and she looked at him. "Do you want a drink?" he asked her. Lily shook her head and Cole got up repeating the question to his brothers. When they all answered with a no, Cole turned to Ryan and asked him, "Drink?" Ryan nodded and said, "Thanks."
Cole walked into the kitchen and Lily watched him as he walked.
"Are you ok?" Ryan asked her quietly and Lily looked at him, dragging her eyes from Cole's back.
"Yes, I'm fine," she said, "Just glad we're all getting along." Ryan nodded and looked up to see Cole walking back into the sitting room with two glasses in his hand. He handed Ryan the drink and sat back down on the floor beside the couch.
-Brennan's office-
Brennan sat down at her desk, twirling a pen in her fingers absentmindedly. The case was at the top of her list. Everything else had to wait until this case is solved. It was normal for her to be working on a case and doing another project at the same time but this was different. She needed her full attention on this case.
It was only when she felt a stinging on her fingers did she snap out of her thoughts. Twirling the pen round and round in her fingers for so long had caused red marks to appear on parts of her fingers. She sighed and put the pen down on the table.
Booth came into the office and looked at her. "Try not to worry so much," Booth said, without even having to ask what was wrong, "Worrying will not help."
Brennan smiled at him. He always seemed to know what she was thinking. After all these years he had just gotten better at it. She too had that ability. This is why she knew that the box in his hands was something that may not be important to the case but Booth needed to do something.
"What's that?" she asked gesturing towards the box.
Booth sighed and walked over to her coffee table where he placed the box. "It's the files from the Kelly Williams case-."
"You mean the woman who threatened Lily and her family the first time?" Brennan said standing up.
Booth nodded as she walked over to him and he said, "Yes, I know that it's a long shot but…but we might find something we missed. Maybe there's a link between her and the new case and besides…I need to do something!"
Booth looked at her and said, "The last body gave us nothing, just a message on the ribs saying "You can't run." We need to do something!"
Brennan placed a hand on his arm and replied, "Ok, then. Let's have a look."
They sat down on the couch and opened the box. They looked through the files and papers. It took some time and Brennan leaned back against the couch and sighed. Paper after paper went through her hands and she looked over all of them. Soon she was onto the Kelly Williams' financial accounts and the words seemed to blur together. Income, wages, expenditure, receipts and…
Brennan stopped and stared at the page, double checking what she had just read. Then she leaned towards Booth and said, "Booth? Why would Kelly Williams get child support?"
Booth was staring at the file in front of him and he said absentmindedly, "She must have had a child." A second later Booth quickly looked at her and exclaimed, "She must have had a child!"
The two of them looked at each other for a moment and then Booth pulled his phone out of his pocket and quickly dialled the number of another agent. "How did we miss that?" Brennan said.
"It must have just gone unnoticed. I mean there was no other mention of a child in the files," Booth said. "So…where is the child?" Brennan said.
Before Booth could answer someone answer his call and Booth said, "Hey it's Booth. I want a full check on the Kelly Williams case from last year, including a search of the schools in the area. I think she might have had a kid." The other person agreed and hung up the phone. Booth hung up and put the phone back in the pocket.
"What year did she get child support?" he asked. Brennan looked at the sheet and said, "The date on this one is from 1987."
"That means if there is a child he or she must be in their twenties at least," Booth said.
"So what can we do?" Brennan said. Now there was something to work with, something they had missed before.
"We have to wait," Booth sighed, "The information will come in as soon as it can."
-Later; Booth house-
James walked into the kitchen. He smiled slightly. He drew in a long breath in his nose and let it out. "I smell pie!" he said happily.
Lily looked at him from her seat at the kitchen island and pointed to the pie sitting on the table. "I made it for you guy because you we so nice to Ryan today. Thanks for that."
James shrugged and walked over to the cupboard. "It's not a big deal," he said as he grabbed a knife, fork and plate from the cupboards. "It is to me," Lily said, "I know you guys don't like him-."
"I never said that," James replied, as he walked over to the pie and cut a piece. Lily frowned and turned around her seat to face him. "So you guys do like him?"
James smirked, placing the piece on his plate and said, "I never said that either."
Lily sighed. "Then what do you mean?"
James looked at her and said, "I feel sorry for him. It can't be easy having his girlfriend so near her ex."
"Well he's dealing with it really well. He's not happy with us living together but Ryan knows it's to keep us safe."
James nodded and took a bite of his piece of pie. "Then there's no problem."
With that he walked out of the kitchen and sat down on the couch in the sitting room. Lily looked at him for minute as he watched the TV and then turned around and leaned her arms on the kitchen island.
It had been weird today. Sort of like old time when she and Cole were dating. As much as she hated to say it, she had nearly forgotten about Ryan sometimes during the day. She had gone back to having fun with Cole and his brothers, not worrying about anything and just relaxing.
But was that such a good thing when Ryan had to watch her and Cole together even if it was a as friend? The worst thing was…part of her really didn't care that much.