Cinderella, Date Nights and Fairy Tale Endings

A Jane & Lisbon Story

By Brown Eyes Parker

.

"I can't believe that I allowed you to talk me into this," Patrick Jane said as they moved up in the line of kids and their parents to see the seven-thirty showing of Cinderella.

"It was easy," Teresa Lisbon Jane replied, grinning at him as she rested one hand on her swollen stomach and took his hand with her other one. "You're going to love it, I promise. Besides, I know how much you secretly love fairy tales!"

"You haven't seen it yet, how do you know we're going to love it? It might be just as bad as that retelling of Snow White movie was a couple of years ago."

"That was pretty bad," she admitted.

"The company wasn't though," he told her.

Lisbon blushed. "I can't believe you even remember how bad Mirror, Mirror was with everything that was going on back then."

"I don't really remember watching it, I was thinking about other things back then," Jane admitted. "I do remember listening to you complain about it though, I tried not to ignore you when we were together back then. I was afraid that. . . well, all you need to know is I never ignored you during our time together back then."

"Really?" Lisbon asked.

"Really," Jane answered as they finally got to the ticket counter. "Two for Cinderella, please."

The girl selling tickets didn't hide her surprise as she charged them for the two tickets and printed them off, but she gave them a cheery enjoy the show as they followed the throng of young families and a handful of lip-glossed and glittery eye-shadowed teenage girls into the movie theater. They separated for a few minutes while Lisbon went to get their seats and Jane went to purchase a package of Sour Patch Kids and a Coke for his wife.

Lisbon was waiting for him at the very top of the movie auditorium, with her hand hovering over his seat. She smiled at him when she saw him come in and waved him up.

"Why Mrs. Jane, I didn't know you wanted to make out with me!" He said as he joined her, handing her the movie theater treats.

The teenage girls who had followed them into the theater were all lined up in the seats next to Lisbon's; they all exchanged looks and giggled in unison.

Lisbon blushed. "Patrick!" she chided, covering her mouth to hide her own giggle.

"What? Isn't this where teenagers usually sit when they want to make out during a movie?"

"I don't want to make out with you though!" Lisbon told him. "I want to watch the movie. These were the only seats where we could sit together."

The teenage girls giggled again, like they were watching one of their favorite couples on TV or something.

Lisbon turned her head and smiled at all of them, her usual moodiness towards girls who laughed too much or talked too loudly at the movie theater had seemed to evaporate. Jane took the seat next to her and handed her the bag of Sour Patch Kids and the root beer.

"Thank you," she said, ripping the bag open before the promos had even started. "I can't believe I allowed you to talk me into this," Patrick Jane said as they moved up in the line of kids and their parents to see the seven-thirty showing of Cinderella. She turned to their group of admirers and smiled at them. "Hey, do you girls like orange Sour Patch Kids? I can't stand them, especially now that I'm pregnant."

"Sure!" the teenager who was clearly the leader of the pack of girls answered.

Lisbon passed her the handful of orange offenders and then settled back in her seat, resting her hand on Jane's as she left them to divvy out the candy among themselves.

"Agent Lisbon, you should know better than to share candy with girls you don't know. Stranger danger and all that," Jane teased as a first look for an ABC show came on the screen.

"It isn't like I had time to poison the Sour Patch Kids," Lisbon answered. "Besides, they saw me open them; I think that they know they're safe. Now, Shhhh, the promos are about to start!"

"And you want to make a list of all the children's movies you plan on taking me to see?" Jane asked.

"Hush!" Lisbon said, trying to elbow him even though the armrest between them made it impossible to do so.

"Stop it!" Jane whispered. "Those girls are having more fun watching us than they are watching the movie."

"It's a Verizon commercial!" Lisbon whispered back, laughing at him.

"I could kiss you, just to give them a real show," Jane told her.

This caused Lisbon to almost start laughing again; she stopped herself just in time, saving the seat in front of her from a root beer bath.

"Stop it!" She begged as another fit of giggles threatened to overtake her. "We got kicked out of Big Hero 6 in November because you were joking around the whole time."

"The mother in front of us tattled," Jane reminded her. "I would have never gotten caught if it hadn't been for her. She just had something against having a good time."

"Hush!" Lisbon said. "The promos are about to start and I would really like to see Cinderella! Please Patrick! Please."

"Okay, okay!" He answered, lapsing into silence as he settled back and got comfortable, running his pointer finger along the span of her knuckles, in the dim lights he saw her smiling at the contact between them.

As the story unfolded, it suddenly struck Jane why his wife loved Cinderella so much. She was a little bit like the heroine, always strong and kind, regardless of her circumstances. Never complaining when she was given a hard task to do. And he was her Prince Charming, but instead of saving her from a wicked stepmother and a life of housework, he had saved her from a lifetime of being alone.

Except, she wasn't all like Cinderella because she had saved him right back after he had found her and given her the proverbial glass slipper. It took him a moment to realize that he was just as choked up just as much as Lisbon was crying at the movie. He found his handkerchief and handed it to her, so she could wipe away the tears spilling down her cheeks.

"I wouldn't have brought you if I thought you were going to cry," he whispered thickly.

"I'm okay, really I am," she assured him, dabbing at her eyes with a corner of his handkerchief. "It's just. . . I don't know why I'm crying, really."

Jane didn't answer her and it didn't matter really, because she had turned her attention back to the screen. It was the part at the end, where good triumphed over evil and there was a happily ever after for the two protagonists.

All the children in the audience started to clap as the credits started to roll and a pop singer started to sing the movie's theme song. Soon, the whole audience had joined in, including Jane and Lisbon.

"Thanks for coming with me tonight," Lisbon said as they walked out of the theater and into the cool Texas evening, she shrugged into her denim jacket before taking his hand.

"It was my pleasure," Jane answered, drawing her closer to him. "It was much better than any of those fractured fairy tales that Disney has produced the past couple of years."

"I can't wait for Beauty & the Beast now," Lisbon told him, smiling up at him.

"I'm sure," Jane answered. "I guess I'll have to take you to see it when it comes out. Do you think Cho will babysit for us?"

"I don't know if Cho will be able to handle a Jane baby," Lisbon replied, giggling slightly at the sight of the stoic, Korean agent babysitting anybody's child.

"Yes, I guess any child of ours is going to be a force to be reckoned with," Jane agreed as he opened the passenger side of their new mini-van for her and waited for her to slide in. "Even as an infant."

Lisbon pulled him in for a quick kiss before buckling up. "Oh and I wonder who's fault that will be!"

"It'll be a little bit of both of our faults," Patrick told her. "I'm not the only one who made her, after all. Besides, I don't want her to be all me, I'm hoping she'll most likely be you. Strong and kind, no matter what her circumstances are."

Lisbon blushed. "You're exaggerating."

"No," Jane answered. "I'm not. You are all things Disney princesses are made up of and more. I only wish I were as good as any of the princes in the movie."

"Stop it," Lisbon said. "Those princes are a little too good to be true. I like you better than I like any of them, anyways. Besides, in the end, you were a little bit like a prince. . . storming that plane and giving me the happily ever after that I'd always hoped for with you. I like the story of us better than any fairy tale, and you know that I am partial to fairy tales."

"I think I'm beginning to be partial to fairy tales too," Jane answered.

.

A few months later

"You're starting her on fairy tales a little young, aren't you?" Jane asked as he put the newly purchased Cinderella DVD into their Blu-Ray player and pressed play.

"It's never too early to start them on fairy tales," Lisbon answered. "They need a good foundation. Besides, I could say the same thing for you, weren't you the one who was playing her that Miles Davis record a couple of mornings ago?"

"Like you said, I'm starting her on a good foundation," Jane replied, coming over to the couch and sitting down next to her. "One day, she'll tell her friends when she has them sleep over that she's been watching Cinderella for as long as she can remember."

"And she'll believe in fairy tales," Lisbon reminded him as she snuggled into him.

"And she'll be just as strong and kind as you," Jane added. "That is what I want the most for her. Aside from her finding somebody one day who loves her just as much as I love you. . . so she can have her own happily ever after when she's ready."

"Yes," Lisbon agreed, blissfully. "A happily ever after just like us."

Jane couldn't imagine any other ending as he settled in to watch Cinderella with his wife and his daughter.

and they lived happily ever after. . .

.

Author's Note:

This was all over the place, I realize. But I was inspired to write it when I saw Cinderella the other night and I had an image of Jane and Lisbon seeing it together, with Lisbon pregnant and adorable. So yeah, this was born. Looking forward to your thoughts!

Until Next Time!

Love,

Holly, 3/16/2015_