I would like to thank every as always for their reviews and alerts. I would also like to apologise for the lack of chapter breaks lately...FF doesn't seem to want to leave them there after I put them in...oh well, I;m sure it's just another glitch that will be fixed soonish lol.

Thank you to Maudlin Muse for her input :)

I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 13

In the back of the police car, Skye clung to Lance's arm.

"Lance?" she whispered, interlacing his fingers with his. "My parents...well my Dad...he CAN'T see me like this." Lance looked confused. About what she meant...the police car? About him?

"Um...my folks aren't gonna be too happy either...Booth's FBI...kind of frowns on theft..."

"But...my Dad's a PREACHER!" Skye watched for Lance reaction but it wasn't what she thought it would be. Not only was he NOT shocked but he didn't believe her.

"Is your Mom a nun?" Lance asked with a roll of his eyes.

"No just a regular church going preachers wife..." Lance coughed, she was ...that had to suck, he thought.

"Oh...guess they kind of frown on stealing as well huh?" Lance said not quite getting the enormity of her situation.

"Uhhuh...and that's not the worst of it..." Really? He thought, there was something worse than getting arrested?
"What could be worse than all this?" The mind boggled.

"I...they won't let me wear anything but long skirts...they make me dress...modestly."Lance frowned.

"You mean that you have to keep...you know all your bits covered up? But your wearing shorts."

"Yes. Shorts that I smuggled out under my skirt." she sniffled. "They're gonna hate me...when they see me in a station...like this..." She turned her face into Lance's side and burst into tears.

"This sauce Bones is perfect!" Booth said as Bones came into the kitchen for a drink.

"Which one?" she asked peering into the two pots that sat simmering on the stove.

"Both...one has meat and the other is meat free..." he said with a smile.

"Booth ...there's too much..."

"Yeah well I can't make it in smaller quantities...I know...why don't we ask Angela and Hodgins..."
"Good idea..." she said as she tasted the meatless sauce on the end of the spoon Booth was waving at her.

"Hey beautiful." Hodgins said as he wrapped his arms around his Ang.

"Hey." she said with a massive smile.
"We have a dinner invitation."

"Oh?"

"Bones and Booth..." Angela spun around dropping her sketch pad and pencil on the table.

"Booth's making pasta." he said.

"Oooh. I love Booth's pasta."

"Let me go take a shower and get ready." she said.

"I LOVE this." Ang said as they drove towards Bones and Booth's new house.

"What dinner?"

"Yeah...and the whole...Bones and Booth and little Lance as a family thing..." she said.

"Yeah...they're kind of cute together."

"Yes they are."

Lance chewed his lip and tapped one leg nervously as he sat on a bench against a wall at the police station. THE POLICE STATION! He thought. He was so dead...and he wasn't even going to heaven cos he stole for and kissed a preacher's kid. A preachers kid that wasn't apparently wearing enough clothes. That wasn't HIS fault...but he could have said no to the stealing...

All the sass and adventure seeking seemed to have left Skye along with the colour that had drained from her face.

"You ok?" Lance whispered. Skye shook her head and fresh tears ran down her pale cheeks.

"No..." she said quietly. "I wanna go home...sort of...I wanna get my skirt back and then go home."

"No talking you two!" A buxom older cop said sternly. "I'll be over there soon to get your folk's numbers." Skye looked at Lance desperately...it may be their only hope.

"Way ahead of ya." he said.

In his head Lance went over and over the best choices for people he could get to come get them...Booth and Bones...not likely, unless he never wanted to see daylight or actually sit comfortably in this lifetime...Zac...maybe...but he was sooo literal, there's no way he'd go along with it...Cam'd tell on him in a second. Jack...maybe...ANGELA...maybe...she was loyal, gentle and caring...she'd give them a chance...nah...she was Bones' best friend...Jack. He took out his phone and scrolled through the contacts list...

"Whatta ya have there?" The woman asked.

"Um...just my phone...I...ah...my parents are out of town...I'm just finding the number of the adult we're staying with...he's... my Godfather...he added for extra feasibility."

"Both of you?" she asked.

"Of course." Lance said making sure to look the woman in the eye. "We're brother and sister." Skye dropped her head into her hands to hide the expression on her face...Lance was braver than she'd given him credit for...

Of course you are...she thought. Didn't hold my brother's hand or look up into his face all lovey dovey all the time...still this little show would break the monotony of drunks and hookers that usually made up her day. She decided to just see where this little charade went...

Bones opened the door to her friends with a smile.

"Hi Sweetie." Ang said pulling her friend into a warm hug. She looked around appreciatively at the new art work amd shelves that had been added since their last visit."Looking good."

"Thanks." Bones said. "We're getting there."

"You sure are." Jack said.

The three followed the aroma of Booth's delicious sauce and ended up in the kitchen.

"Hi." he said "Beer?"

"Nah...I'm driving." Jack said. "Where's Lance?"

"At the park." Bones said. "Booth thinks he has a girlfriend."

"I didn't say he had a girlfriend Bones." Booth said. "I said there was a girl in the picture."

"Really..." Ang said. "And what has brought you to this conclusion?"

"The usual stuff...mooning around...waiting for the phone to ring...taking it to his room when it does..."

"Oh set in stone." Ang said. "There's a girl alright...I can't believe it. Little Lancey with a girlfriend."

"Ok." the woman police officer said. "The number..." Lance swallowed before reading out the number on his phone screen. They both held their breath while the woman walked away and dialled the number...

This outta be good, she thought.

Booth, Bones, Jack and Angela were all sitting in the living room chatting when Jack's phone rang.

He tried to hide a smirk as he listened.

"Uhhuh." he said. "Oh...no...uhhuh. I'll be right there." All eyes were studying him as he hung up the phone.

"Problem?" Booth asked. Jack coughed a little as he tried desperately to decide how to put this.

"Honey?" Ang said, her face etched with concern "Where you going?"

Oh hang it, he thought, there was no other way but to say it exactly as it was.

"That was the police." he said looking at Booth with a wince. "They want me to come down and collect my 'GODSON' ...Lance...AND his sister." he said.

"You have a Godson?" Bones asked innocently. Booth was already getting his keys.

"No Bones! It's Lance!" Booth said wanting to get to the crux of the matter.

"Our Lance?" she said. "But he doesn't have a sister...oh the girl...at the station? " Her eyes were as wide as Booth had ever seen them.

"What did they do?" Ang asked incredulously.

"Stole a ring."

"They stole?" Booth asked lividly.

"Um yeah..." Jack said. "You had a beer, I'll drive."

"I'm coming..." Bones said.

"So am I." Ang said.

"Do ya think this Jack'll play along?" Skye whispered.

"Sure..." Lance said. I hope...he thought.

"Do I have to separate you two?"

"No..we'll be good." Skye said.

Then...stop talking!" the woman said.

Lance cracked all of his knuckles one by one and then shook his hands out before settling them underneath his legs to try and keep all his limbs still. It worked for a couple of minutes. He just wished he could get up and walk up and down...who was he kidding...he wished he could get up and run out the door.

Skye looked down at her bare legs and then saw herself as her parents were gonna see her if they actually found out where she was. They would think she was being brash and immodest...they'd be ashamed.

Booth was decidedly quiet in the car on the way to the station.

"What's wrong Booth?" Bones asked.

"Apart for the fact Lance has been arrested?"

"Yeah, apart from that."

"I dunno Bones...I just..why did he ring Jack?"

"Um...because I'm a people's person and I'm great?" Jack said. Booth ignored Jack's attempt at humour.

"Really...am I that much of a hard ass? Is he scared of me?"

"Probably." Bones said.

"Thanks Bones." he said with a half hearted smirk. As usual his girlfriends honesty almost made him laugh despite the fact that he was hurting. Hurting, worried and pissed.

"I think what Temp was trying to say was that...um...yeah he's scared..scared he's gonna get the mother of all spankings because he STOLE...and got caught...and rightly so..." Ang said.

"You think?" Booth asked. He hoped that was all it was...really cos he couldn't just let this go...it was stealing for God's sake. The very thing that he stood for was right and wrong.

"I know!" Ang said. "Kids are entitled to make choices for themselves...within reason...but you would be remiss if you didn't show him exactly how you feel about the monumentally wrong ones."

"Exactly dude." Jack said. He was so proud of Angela, she always knew the exact thing to say...

"You're a good Dad Booth." Bones said with a smile. "Don't second guess yourself."

"Get in there Booth...do what you do..."Ang said.

"None of you are coming?" he asked.

"Are you kidding?" Ang said.

"Of course we're coming." Bones said.

"I wouldn't miss this show for the world..." Jack said as he parked the car and jumped out.

TBC