Chapter One:

It was a lovely warm summer's day in the middle of July. The Jane family had recently moved from Austin back to Sacramento. It wasn't that they didn't like being in Texas, they loved it, but the cabin that Jane had bought and renovated for him and Lisbon simply wasn't big enough. The previous October, Teresa and Patrick had welcomed their fourth child; a little girl whom they called Sophie Isabella. They decided to move back up to Sacramento because it was the only other place that had felt like home for both of them. It was also helpful as they had Grace and Rigsby to fall on for childcare help. Ben was sixteen now and Maddie was almost fourteen, meaning that they were more than capable in helping out. Abbott had helped provide reference for both Jane and Lisbon so that they were able to work for the FBI office in California.

Their eldest daughter, Willow was now ten and was about to finish elementary school, T.J was eight and Chris was four. It seemed the right time to move, if there was a right time. They had kept the cabin and the land though and they planned to use it as a vacation house. They now lived in the suburbs of the city so that it was green and "rustic" enough for Jane but close enough to the city for their work and the kid's schools. The house they had was amazing. Teresa was still surprised by how much money Jane had saved from his days living as a psychic and he had also finally sold his house in Malibu. He had found it hard, but with his wife's support, he finally shut the door on that chapter of his life. Red John was dead and wasn't coming back and now with Teresa, he had a new life. He never forgot Angela and Charlotte but at the same time, he couldn't keep dwelling on the past. For the sake of his children and wife, he had to live in the present.

Speaking of the present, it was the first weekend in a while where both Patrick and Teresa had the weekend off. They always tried to get it so that at a weekend at least one of them was at home, and it was usually Patrick, but Teresa was working less hours at the moment, owing to Sophie being three months old. This was great news for the elder children who loved having both their parents round more. Patrick and Jane had decided to take a trip out to the park for an afternoon, seeing as the July weather in California is usually good. It would also be good for the three elder children to get out in the air and the sunshine and run off some energy.

Packing up three children between four and ten with a three month old baby should be a piece of cake, but that morning Chris had decided that anything and everything that his mother did was wrong and he was going to fight against it. Having gotten Willow and T.J into their shoes, with their backpacks on, she sat Chris down on the stairs.

"Shoes on Chris." She said, smiling, holding one of his sandals up.

Chris glared at his mother and crossed his arms, "No!" he replied adamantly.

Teresa smiled, "Come on, Chris. You can't go to the park without your shoes."

"No!"

Teresa gave him a look, "C'mon Christopher Jane. Put on your shoes."

"No!"

"Christopher, I won't ask again…" she warned him.

Chris shook his head, "No, no shoes."

"Er, Teresa, may I?" came the calm voice of her husband.

Teresa sighed, "Sure, be my guest. I'll get the baby in the pram."

Jane kissed her on the forehead, "By the way, I think Willow and T.J may be arguing again."

Teresa shook her head, "I swear these kids are going to kill me."

Patrick laughed, "Extremely unlikely. You love them and they love you."

"Remind me of that in twenty years when none of them will be my responsibility anymore."

Patrick kissed her gently and she kissed her back.

"Mommy!" cried Willow from outside.

Teresa smiled, counted to ten in her head and headed out the front saying, "Toby Joseph Jane, I swear if you have upset your sister in any way, you'll be sorry!"

Patrick smiled and turned his attention to his youngest son. "Now then young Chris." He smiled, "How about we put these shoes on?"

Chris folded his arms again, "No."

"You know," Patrick replied, looking over his shoulder to check his wife wasn't watching, "I'll buy you an ice cream at the park if you put your shoes on all by yourself."

Chris looked at the sandals in his father's hands, looked up at his dad and then back at the shoes, as if weighing up the choices. He bit his lip and looked back at his dad, "Okay!" he replied, grabbing the sandals and smiling widely.

"Atta boy!" Jane replied ruffling his hair. "Oh, and not a word to Mom. Our little secret!" Jane put his finger to his lips, indicating that Chris should keep quiet.

Chris giggled and put his finger to his lip. Patrick ruffled his hair and smiled, "C'mon then. Let's go to the park!"

Chris jumped down off the step and ran out to find his mom and siblings. Jane followed him, grabbing his sunglasses off the counter, grabbing his keys and shutting the door.

Half an hour later, they were at the park. Willow and T.J ran off immediately, shortly followed by Chris who had done most of the journey on his father's shoulders. Patrick and Teresa found a spot under the shade of a tree, spread a blanket out and settled down. Sophie had fallen asleep and they left her in her pram. Teresa had just settled down next to her husband when she heard an all too familiar voice shout, "MOMMY! T. J'S CHASING ME WITH A SPIDER!"

"Okay, maybe these kids will kill you!" Jane laughed.

"Don't think I'm not taking you down with me!" Lisbon smiled, standing up and running off to attend to her children. Patrick flopped back down on the blanket, resting one arm under his head, looking up at the leaves on the tree, blowing gently in the wind. He was just about to shut his eyes and take a nap when a piercing cry shattered the stillness that surrounded him. He sat up and crawled over to the pram. Resting on his knees, he peered into the pram and saw that his daughter was wide awake and crying. Gently, he lifted her out and held her in his arms. He rocked her for a few moments and held his pinky finger under her chin. One of her tiny hands came and grabbed it tightly, making Jane smile.

Carefully, he made his way to the tree and sat with his back resting against the trunk of the tree. He brought his knees up and rested Sophie against them. Her hands held onto his fingers and she looked at him with her beautiful blue eyes.

"Well, someone's not asleep anymore!" he smiled at his daughter, "You just wanted to see what was going on, didn't you? Didn't want to miss out on all the fun?"

Sophie just cooed back in reply.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but there's not a lot going on. And you're too small to do a lot of stuff. But we can have fun here, just you and me."

Sophie tried to smile, and her legs kicked out in excitement. Jane grinned.

"Are you going to be a right Daddy's girl as well? Your big sister already is. She's very clever. She can easily outwit me and her memory? She's going to be something big in the future. But what about my little Sophie? You know," he smiled down at her, copying some of the faces she was making as he talked at her, "You are named after my very good friend who was a doctor. She helped me when I was in a bad place and… and I should have done more to help her. But I couldn't. But what is my little Sophie going to do. Maybe she's going to be the first female president of the United States of America?"

Sophie blew a raspberry and Jane laughed. The timing could not have been more perfect. "Maybe not!" he replied.

"Maybe she'll take over the world as the Jane's seem to be doing at the moment!" came a familiar voice.

Jane looked up, squinting in the sun. Towering over them were the familiar forms of Wayne and Grace Rigsby and their two children, Ben and Maddie.

"Grace! Rigsby!" Jane smiled, "What are you doing here?"

"Teresa texted this morning, said you were heading to the park and did we want to join." Explained Grace.

"We brought sandwiches and a soccer ball!"

"It's great to see you. I would stand up but…" he indicated to Sophie in his lap.

"Can I hold her?" asked Grace.

"Sure," replied Jane, handing his daughter over. Grace took her gently and smiled.

Jane was then able to stand up and hug Wayne. He also hugged Madeline and Ben while he was up.

"How have you settled back into life in California?" asked Wayne smiling.

Jane smiled, "Pretty well. Temperature's about the same, we know where everything is. The only thing has been finding where all the kids are going to be going to school."

"Where have you got them going?" asked Maddie.

"Willow will be starting Middle School so she's enrolled at the California Middle School and T.J and Chris are going to Phoebe Hearst Elementary School."

"They're good schools." Smiled Maddie. "One of my friends went to that Middle school so Willow will be ok!"

Jane smiled, "Thanks Maddie!"

Maddie shrugged and flopped down on the blanket, next to her mom and baby Sophie.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you had four kids?" asked Wayne, looking round.

Jane smiled, "Don't remind me!" he laughed, "T.J was winding up his sister, so my amazing wife ran off to deal with them. If I know my daughter, they'll be over by the swings if you want to find her."

Wayne nodded and ran off to find his former boss.