Author's Note: Last chapter. I don't know if I'll try my hand at crack fic again any time soon, but I did have a lot of fun writing this. Who knows? Maybe if the right prompt comes along... ;)

I do not own Bones or any of its characters.

Thank you again to everyone who has read/favorited/reviewed this.

TimeWitch93: Yes, toast points indeed. You just know me too well by now. :) As to your questions, as Sweets mentions, he remembers the life he has currently somewhat and the fact that he is twenty-five and that his parents are deceased. The rest of it is slowly coming back to him. Often amnesia cases do not just have a sudden restoration of memory (as seen in Booth's case after the events in Season Four) and I figured that it would probably be that way for Sweets...much to his regret.

Rankor01: This chapter will give a sense of how much Sweets' memory has and is recovering...I agree that it was best that B&B found him so soon. I could see a lot of people having little patience for a twelve year old in an adult body... And I completely agree with your notion that Sweets would be reluctant to let on how much he is still struggling with his returning memory. As to how this will affect his relationships with those around him...

Charlotte Thornton: Considering the fact that I can't picture Sweets' childhood and teenage years being easy ones, I agree that it would be hard for almost anyone to suddenly remember so many difficult and painful moments from one's own life. And yes, I love protective B&B myself. :)

Nattylovesjordy: Ah well, I can speak from experience that sometimes it's hard even for writers to think of the word that they want. It's a common way to slow down the writing process. ;) I'm really glad that you've enjoyed my foray into crack-fic and hope that you will like how I wrap this one up.

Super Ario: Well I agree with your instinct to be worried about him. Sweets does have a nasty tendency to act more with his feelings and fears than in a more rational way when it comes to his own well-being. But I think you will find that he finally wises up a little in this chapter.

Lives in the now: Thank you as always for the wonderful review. I can happily say that Sweets will start to realize just how much B&B have his back in this chapter. :)

Purplebookwormgirl: Hard to say where we should put him given his current state of mind, but I agree with the overall sentiment of 'poor Sweets'. :) I agree with you that it's fortunate that Sweets is a secure part of Team Jeffersonian and that B&B are pretty protective of their own.

Faithinbones: Thanks for the review. I am with you in having met too many people who have no patience or tolerance for people who might not seem "normal" to them, regardless of what these people are going through. I hope you will enjoy this update as well.

D: I completely agree with you that it's unfortunate and sad how our society will willingly marginalize people who find themselves in these kinds of situations. I have participated in way too many unpleasant discussions where people completely disregard a person's psychological health in reference to the difficulties they struggle with and having grown up with friends who were considered "special needs" in some way, I have seen this prejudice first-hand. That along with a myriad of other reasons is why I feel passionate about my field of study. I am glad that you are enjoying the ways that I am exploring this plot and always look forward to your reviews.

The Confusion in the Duckling—Chapter 12

It had been a mostly sleepless and harrowing night, but eventually Sweets was able to drag himself off the couch and into the bathroom so he could shower and change. He thought about eating breakfast after that, but found that he was still feeling too uneasy for that, so Sweets decided to skip it for now.

He then called the office and eventually ended up talking to Hacker. The psychologist had been thankful to discover that Booth had kept the deputy director apprised of the situation and that Hacker had contingencies in place in case Sweets needed some time before returning to work. Sweets was not so pleased, however, to discover that he would have to be certified as fit to return to work by another FBI psychologist, and that he would have to wait at least a month before an evaluation for a return to duty would even be considered.

"Take some time off, Doctor Sweets," Hacker told him. "It's no good to rush back too soon. As a therapist, I am sure you know that."

His words stung, but Sweets knew that Hacker was very close to the truth: he would need time to ready himself so he could return to his practice.

Still feeling a little frustrated, Sweets immediately went to the next task on his list: calling his cousin, Peter up to let him know that he was fine.

It took Sweets almost an hour to convince Peter not to get on the next plane he could to DC, but his cousin eventually relented and instead started asking a variety of questions to see how much the psychologist could remember. Peter's unease started to return as he realized how much was still missing from Sweets' memory.

"Look Lance, I know you want me to stay put, but I really do think I should visit you as soon as possible," Peter said. "I have some vacation time coming up in about two weeks. There's no reason why I can't spend my time off with you."

"Some vacation," Sweets moped. "Hanging around with me trying to help me remember my own life."

"I can think of few things that would make me feel better right now than the chance to help you get the rest of your memory back," Peter said, his tone sincere. "You're my family, Whiz Kid. I don't want to lose any of that…and I know you don't want to lose even one moment of your life with Uncle David and Aunt Carolyn."

"I know…you're right," Sweets murmured. "I just…."

"Lance, what you went through…it's going to take time for you to recover," Peter said. "Give yourself time to work through this. And listen, don't do all of this alone, all right? It seems to me that you've got people there who can help you. Do me a favor and let them. Let them take care of you once in a while."

"I can't do that to them," the therapist said, swallowing hard. "They've already done so much. How can I ask them to take care of me after they've had to watch over me like a child for the past few days?"

"Call it a hunch, but I don't think you are going to need to ask for anything," the soldier said. "All I'm asking is that you let yourself accept what is offered to you."

The two of them ended up talking for almost another hour before Peter needed to hang up so that he could get to work. After the conversation ended, Sweets made one last phone call to Daisy. Their conversation had been short due to her having to get some extra work done at the lab, but the therapist was relieved to hear that she was still sympathetic to his plight and that she would be happy to spend the night at his place in a couple days. He hoped that the night would help the two of them work things out although he could also see it leading to other more...diverting activities as well.

Sweets then plopped down onto the couch for several minutes and stared at the walls. Every time he allowed himself to quietly sit and let his mind drift, new scraps of memories would start to filter into his mind. As more of these scraps made their way into his brain, Sweets found that he was able to piece together more and more of his life past the age of twelve. But he also discovered that the emotions that swelled up inside him as a result of remembering were becoming stronger as time went on. Especially as he started to remember some of the darkest times of his life. Times when he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to pull himself out of his own darkness and survive long enough to reach adulthood.

Rather than focus on these painful thoughts and feelings, the psychologist decided that his time could be better spent trying to regain his training and academic knowledge back.

Sweets went over to his bookshelves and pulled stack after stack of textbooks, reference books and other assorted psychological tomes off of his shelves and settled in on his couch with a tall glass of water with lemon and began to read. Occasionally he pulled out a yellow tablet of paper and made notes with a pencil, but most of the time, he worked to absorb whatever he could from his books. He was elated to discover that much of his knowledge was swiftly coming back to him as he read and studied, but was disturbed at the number of gaps that he was able to discern within his body of knowledge.

The therapist continued to pore over his books and notes for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon and evening, only taking breaks to refill his glass and use his restroom. He barely noticed the time until he started to realize that it was getting dark in his apartment due to the sun beginning to wane. As he turned on a couple of lights in his front room, Sweets stomach began to gurgle. He had been so caught up in his studies; he hadn't really taken the time to make anything to eat.

Sweets slumped against a wall and hung his head. Rationally, he knew that he should take a break and make himself something to eat, but a large part of him felt too drained and lethargic to do much of anything at the moment.

'Maybe I'll just order a pizza or something,' he told himself. But even this plan did not appeal much to him very much because he still felt too wound up and strangely tense to be able to enjoy eating much of anything right now. He wasn't, however, able to think of a better plan, so he started to sift through a stack of take out menus near his phone.

'I suppose I can just eat a couple of slices and then get back to work,' he mused. 'I should be able to do that much at least.'

He had found a set of menus from two or three pizza joints that were close by and was trying to decide which one to go with when a knock at the door interrupted his decision process. Sweets walked over and opened it to see Booth and Brennan on the other side, both of them carrying bags on their arms.

"Hey Sweets, how are you feeling?" Booth asked as he pushed his way inside. The agent sat a pair of bags onto the coffee table and Brennan quickly joined him with a smaller one of her own.

"I'm fine," the therapist said, feeling a combination of annoyed and relieved that the two of them had showed up. "What are you…?"

"We said that we were going to drop by and see how you were doing, remember?" Booth answered as he carefully moved stacks of books off to the side. "And on the way here, Bones and I realized that we hadn't had dinner yet, so we decided to pick some stuff up from our favorite Thai place. We made sure to get some for you too, by the way."

"Actually, Booth is lying," Brennan said as she helped the agent place the cartons of food onto the coffee table. "We had planned for a few hours now to get dinner and bring it here to you so that you wouldn't have to worry about it."

"Bones," Booth said as he slumped his shoulders. "You didn't need to mention that."

"Also we brought this movie for us to watch," Brennan continued. "Booth mentioned that you had watched a couple of these movies earlier this week and I find myself quite fascinated by the anthropological and mythological constructs that these Star Warrior films portray."

"Star Wars movies, Bones."

"Well that is an illogical title," Brennan frowned. "Stars can't actually have wars with each other and given the sheer volume of stars within a given universe, I doubt that beings that could travel interplanetary distances would need to fight over specific ones."

"Agent Booth, Doctor Brennan," Sweets said with a slight smile. "You didn't have to do all this."

"Yeah, maybe not," Booth nodded as he placed the last carton of food onto the table and pulled out some plastic silverware. "But hey, you had me watch the first two movies the other night. You can't watch two parts of a trilogy and then not finish it. It's just not right. Besides, you and I both know that Bones could use the chance to have some fun for a change."

"I have fun," the anthropologist protested. "Just last week I had a chance to read several chapters of this book about on the funerary practices of ancient Asians cultures and how they impact modern rituals."

"See what I mean, Sweets?" the agent said, gesturing in her direction. "So ok, where is the remote for this TV?"

About a half hour later, the three of them were still eating while watching the movie with Booth and Brennan on either side of Sweets. The therapist remained silent as Booth gave Brennan a few pertinent details about the plot thus far and Brennan commented on the sociopolitical structures she was starting to notice.

He had quickly filled up on the food that they had brought, and while Thai had not been his first thought for dinner this evening, Sweets had to admit that it had been a welcome change of pace for him.

Sweets sank deeper into the couch, his eyes fixed on the screen. He had seen this movie more than once before, so it was easy for his mind to drift while still keeping some of his focus on the film. The more he let his thoughts drift, however, the easier it was for them to venture into dangerous territory.

All of the sudden, the psychologist was hit with a powerful sense of déjà vu and familiarity about the situation he was currently in.

Memories of evenings spent in the family room curled up between his parents watching some of their favorite films.

Evenings spent eating together which would eventually meld into all night board game fests.

His father taking him to see the latest Star Wars movie at a local theater in Pennsylvania on one of those rare nights of freedom from his studies.

Christmas morning spend unwrapping one of those 3-D puzzles of some of the spacecraft from the movies.

The Halloween when his parents had bought him his own Obi-Wan costume to wear while he went trick-or-treating when he was eight years old.

Sweets didn't know when he had started crying. All he knew was that one moment he was reliving all of these memories in flashes within his brain and then the next his face was wet from numerous tears that he had shed. Booth and Brennan quickly noticed what was happening and the agent had stopped the movie.

"Sweets?" he asked.

"Doctor Sweets, what's wrong?" Brennan asked, placing her hand on his forearm. Sweets hung his head and shook it violently.

"No, nothing," the therapist gasped out. "I'm fine. Everything's fine…It's…it's…fine."

Unable to say anything more, Sweets buried his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking as he sobbed. Soon he felt two sets of hands reach over to him. One set pulled him closer after which they tightly grasped one of the psychologist's hands. The other ones patted his arm while reaching over his back to clasp one of Sweets' shoulders. Sweets started to squirm away when Peter's words echoed in his mind.

'All I'm asking is that you let yourself accept what is offered to you.'

Despite the embarrassment he felt over his outburst, Sweets had to admit that there was nothing he wanted more right now than to do just that. He leaned against Brennan who had adjusted her position to accommodate him.

"Sweets, you mentioned once during a case that sometimes memories, especially happy ones, can be painful to recall because you worry that you'll never have them again," she said gently as he wept. "I imagine these memories of your parents are very difficult for you."

"But hey, you shouldn't think like that, ok?" Booth said his voice rough. "You'll have more happy memories in the future to look forward to. I promise."

Sweets actually found himself able to laugh a little even in the midst of his tears in response to that remark. He had a feeling that Booth was right, even though it was hard to believe in this moment, and he was thankful at the implications of the agent's statement.

The psychologist sat back up and started to sniff. Booth got up from the couch and poured Sweets a glass of water and then offered it to him while Brennan grabbed some tissues from a nearby box. After taking a huge gulp of water and wiping off his face, Sweets started to feel better than he had all day.

"Can we…can we watch the rest of the movie?" Sweets said, rubbing his eyes a little more to clear out the rest of his tears.

"Sure," Brennan said, settling back in her seat while still not letting go of his hand.

"Whatever you say, Sweets," Booth said sitting back down where he was and leaning back into the couch. "Whatever you say."

The psychologist nodded as he felt Booth pat his shoulder a few more times. Booth then started the movie back up from where they left off and the three of them quietly spent the next couple of hours enjoying it.

Sweets barely remembered when the movie had ended, but he knew that he would never forget how his friends had stayed with him for most of the night after that.