Oh, yes, the damn disclaimer: seriosuly, do we really have to do it? Because, Jeez, if I'd own them, I'd not be here writing it, I'd be the writeer of a TV Shows and, well, we'd have the LIsbon romance for real...meanwhile, I just "write, draw, create, dream, hope and believe in Bruno, waiting for him to be blessed bu the light of reason..." (No, this discalimer isn't mine, it belongs to one fo the girls who wite Mentalist fiction on the italian site efpfiction, but don't tell me many of you don't share this vision...).

The prompt for this story was given to me by petitej, but, then, with lack of time oand inspiration, we ended up with her suggesting plots and lines, and me adding a bit of my own, so, we can say we wrote it together... :) hope you'll enjoy and will review it!

1.

As he still refuses to open his eyes, feeling like he had just slept for the longest time, quite an unusual sensation for him, Patrick Jane isn't sure what made him abandon the land of Morpheus, if the noisy sunlight coming from the semi closed blinds, or the small body that keeps jumping on his chest. Moaning his disapproval, he wonders what the hell a dog is doing jumping on his chest, but, then, something hits him. Last time he checked, dogs don't giggle, meaning, it's a human being, a small human being, who's responsible for his imminent lack of sleep – then, it hit him.

He doesn't remember going to bed. He is not sure what he was doing, but he is quite sure he wasn't in a bed- his last memory is tricking a killer called Warren Worthington into confessing the murder of his wife, and having an argument with Lisbon about how to get evidences. He is quite sure he was supposed to do something important after that, and he has the strange feeling that Lisbon was somehow involved, has been in danger even, but, right now, his mind doesn't seem to want to collaborate, and his brain still refuses to tell him how the hell he ended there, shirtless, with just his pajama pants on.

And the "there" is problem number two; even still at closed eyes, he can say that it's definitely not the bed of his place in Sacramento or the mattress of the Malibu home, but it's worm, comfortable (and not just physically), it smells of cinnamon (just like Lisbon, exactly like Lisbon did that time they danced together. The memory of the scent of her hair is impressed in his memory, burned there, like the feeling of having her in his arms, something he thought couldn't be possible) and, somehow, it's familiar. It can't be a hospital bed, either, of that much he is sure – the comfort and the smell are all wrong, besides, no hospital in the Sacramento area wants him there after the treatment they get from him.

The, curiosity gets the better of him, and slowly and reluctantly, he opens his eyes, just to find in front of himself what he can describe with a word and a word only – a vision.

The first thing he notices are the bright, happy, curious and lively blue eyes (definitely somehow familiar), eyes of someone smart; someone who tends to gets into troubles and enjoys it a lot.

"Hello princess" he ruffles her hair, smiling at the child, a few years old girl who's hugging him, her small arms around his neck, using his chest like a comfortable pillow, like he was part of her life right from the day she was born, and her reaction are more giggles and a shy smile while sucks her thumb, but not a real shy smile, but that kind of smile the kids do when they want to pretend being shy but, truth to be told, that just would like to scream "I'm in need of your full attention".

And then it's when Jane's brain finally decides to cooperate, even if just a little, and behaves like the brain of the mentalist he is.

He recognizes her features, her nose, her lips, her chin; he recognizes her long, dark, wavy hair.

But, above all, he recognizes, finally, his surroundings, and he really can't understand how he could have missed it: the room may have changed a bit since last time he has been there, but he really doesn't need to look for documents or pictures to know where he is, at Lisbon's. That's great. So, now, he just has to wonder what he has done the previous evening, how he ended up in Lisbon's bed in just pajama pants with her niece jumping on his chest, because, even if that familiar blue eyes don't belong to the senior agent, there's no denying the two of them are related. Actually, the child in his arms is so similar to Teresa Lisbon that she could be or her copy in miniature with blue eyes, or, maybe, if he didn't know it any better, her…

"Jess, what did I tell you?" As it often happens with him as well, the first thing that alerts him of Lisbon's presence is her voice, her shouting, and only few seconds later she approaches the door of the room, and if he thought "Jess" was a vision, he really doesn't know what to say, or to do, about this- besides idiotically and dumbly staring at open mouth, wide eyes, like he is doing right now.

As he sees her standing at the door, hands on her hips, lifted eyebrows, annoying and annoyed as always (even if not with him, for a change) breathing, alive and well, jumping, he quickly puts the child on the bed (getting a sound if disapproval from Jess), and runs to Lisbon, hugging her, taking her in his arms, lifting her in the air, making her giggle- Lisbon, giggling!

"Lisbon, you are fine! I'm so happy to see you! You can't imagine how glad I am to be… - Patrick doesn't end the sentence, but, again with open mouth, wide eyes, staring at her like an idiot, he lets it go of her and puts a few inches of distance between the two of them, enough to be still close, but not too close, and, uncomfortably, he gesticulates, indicating the space between the two of them – Is that… you are wearing… I don't remember giving you my shirt to use it as a nightgown!"

"Jane – she hisses scandalized, almost whispers so that Jess couldn't hear them, hitting him on the shoulders, like the Lisbon he knows and platonically loves (because that's what I feel for her, he mentally repeats to himself, I just have platonic feelings for my boss) finally something making sense, something normal, something usual he can deal with – what are you thinking? How many times do I have to remember you that you can't act as a horny teenager when she is around?"

Horny teenager… Last time he has checked, Lisbon just tells him to not be an idiot, to not break in people's houses, to be polite with other officers and lawyers and judges, to not hypnotize people, to not steal evidences, to not keep secrets, to not seduce widows, and, even if "not being an horny teenager" is quite close to "stop seducing the widows", he is quite sure that those exacts words have never left Lisbon's lips, ever.

"Mummy, can we go to the zoo now?" Jess says enthusiastically, a bit like he does when he gets things the way he wants them to, playing with the hem of his shirt-or her nightgown. Mummy… Lisbon's her mummy? Where was I when she adopted this child? Because I'd know if she was pregnant, so she has to have adopted her niece. Weird, I didn't remember her mentioning one of her brothers being dead….

"Jess, the zoo will not be open for another couple of hours. - She answers, smiling, ruffling the child's hair, just like Jane has done few minutes before, making him smile, proud of her, taken by the marvelous scene he is witnessing – besides, our birthday girl needs to get ready and have breakfast first, if she doesn't want to spend all her time at the restaurant with uncle Wayne!"

Mmm, quite interesting, looks like the team knows about this girl, if the Wayne with an exaggerated passion for food is the Wayne I know as well… but, how can it be possible? Rigsby can't keep a secret, if Lisbon had a daughter and he knew, I'd found it out by now…

"But you said that once daddy was up we could go!" Daddy, wait, she really said daddy? Lisbon has a boyfriend… nope, if the wedding band or her left ring finger indicates something, is that things are a lot worse, because it's not a boyfriend she is having, but a husband… a husband…and she has a child with him? Why didn't they tell me about it? People are supposed to tell me everything! Well, one thing is sure; this Jess kid knows how to convince her mum. Normally, the kind of eyes Jess is doing make Lisbon does everything I want….

"Of course I said that, honey, - she sweetly answers her daughter patting her hair- but only because your dad had the alarm set for half past eight. Waking him up by jumping on his chest wasn't exactly part of our plan, right?" Nope, apparently I'm the only one who gets away with that look, even if I'm not sure about her daughter's manners. She should teach Jess to not wake people up this way… first her dad, then me, she is definitely a bit impolite!

"Daddy, are you weird because the bad guy hurt you?" daddy, she called me daddy. She said I'm her daddy, she said I'm her father, but… I'd know if I had a child with Lisbon, right?

"C'mon Jess, dad's used to it, he got hurt so many times by bad guys he turned invulnerable! – as Lisbon says so, the child, somehow more relaxed, again smiling happy, runs away, in direction of what he knows is the bathroom, and, as soon as Jess is out of the room, Lisbon turns to face him again; as she cups his face with her hands, she trembles, and he has never seen her so vulnerable and scared, not even when she had been framed for murder - Patrick, the doctor said you were supposed to come back to the hospitals if…"

"I hate hospitals" he whispers at closed eyes, breathing in her scent, trying to fix in his memory, to treasure it for when he'll wake up-because it's too good to be true, so it has to be a dream.

"I know you do, and they hate you as well, but, honey, Stellar hit you pretty hard…"

"Yeah, stellar, he hit me. Right, of course, well, how could I not know, I was there."

"Are you sure you are all right?" and now, she is back to his old Lisbon, because he knows those eyes, those rolled emerald eyes, those are her eyes when she tries to understand what kind of stunts he is pulling and how she could damage control it, and he can't help but grin, even if only internally, because the façade is all, and there's a soul in the world who knows it better than him.

"Time flies, that's all" he breaths, opening his eyes again, smiling at Lisbon, hands in the pockets of his pants. Well, at least I'm still a good actor…

"Yeah, I can't believe she is already turning 4! It seems yesterday we got married! - she smiles happy, as happy as never before (even happier than the time with the pony, and she was a way happy back then, when he got it for her birthday), throwing her arms around his neck, her lips against his naked chest, allowing him to make his chin rest on her forehead – you know, when you looked at me before, for a moment I thought you had forget the last 5 years during the night!"

He doesn't answer her, he simply kisses her hair, sweetly, and smiling the best smile he can ménage right now, and when she gives him a peck on the lips, hurrying then outside the room looking for Jess, repeating again to get dressed because Jess is definitely in a hurry and can't wait to go to the zoo, he has to fight the urge to cry, or to take her in his arms and never let it go, because there are just few things Patrick Jane is now aware of.

First: he still doesn't understand what the hell happened. He has few theories, and few of them, he even refuses to admit he thought of them in the first place, because amnesia and dreams he can deal with, but time travels, parallel dimensions or out of body experiences, are another pair of sleeves.

Second: apparently, he is married with his boss, Teresa Lisbon, has a child, Jess, with her, and he still works for the CBI (and eh seems to still posses the ability of getting into troubles as well).

Third: there's no way he'll hurt Teresa or Jessie admitting he doesn't know anything at all about the last five years.

But there's something he doesn't know as well, he realizes as he opens the wardrobe and stares at it in shock like it was some kind of unknown creature came from nowhere. "Where the hell are all my three pieces suits and my brown shoes? This thing is full of jeans and tennis shoes!"