A/N: So I saw this beautiful picture on Tumblr and my fingers were tingling to write a fic about it! I hope it's not that bad... but at least I tried :).

Oh, and I just came back from five days spent in England so sorry if I've been really absent. I couldn't really do something about it anyway.

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. Sadly. The picture isn't mine either. It's from Cris (cricridb) who's awesome and I love you so much and ugh.

'In my arms, you're safe'

She hadn't known what would happen to them – to him in particular.

Would he run? Would he be angry and shut her out?

Not once had she figured that he would be happy with this. Perhaps she was so used to seeing him running away from all of his troubles or obsessing over them to really think he wouldn't do all of that.

God knows how many times people had tried to convince her that he wasn't the right man. But why should she have listened to them? She had always been stubborn; her mother had told her so even before all of their lives changed due to her death.

That was mainly what had held her back – her mother's advice. She had told Teresa that true love would find its way round eventually, no matter the consequences or people's opinions.

But it had been that stubbornness, and that need to cling to her mother's words that had put her in this position. Oh how scared she had been. For those long eight months, she had been living in fear. Not for herself, but for the tiny creature that had been growing inside her.

She could take the pain. She could take the rejection and the disappointment.

Her baby, she feared, could not do such a thing.

She just wanted to protect her baby... against the not so serious threat that was called Patrick Jane.

She knew it, she really did. If he would stick around, he wouldn't be a threat. He would either not accept her baby and run, or accept it and stay with her – whether they would be perfect parents or not. She could have lived with it if he wanted to stay her friend, and pretend that nothing that had happened between them, that they hadn't conceived a child together.

The thing was: he had stuck around ever since she had told him she was carrying his child. He hadn't always been sweet and it sure as hell had not been how she had imagined being pregnant would be when she was a little girl. But she couldn't hate him for not knowing how to deal with it, really she couldn't.

She sighed. So much had changed, not just between them but also within her team. Everybody was closer than ever, especially she and her team members, though Lisbon still doubted if they trusted Jane. They knew that Jane had stuck around her during her pregnancy, but he certainly had never been the perfect daddy.

But he had been there. She couldn't forget that. He may have screamed at her or shut her out from time to time – at the end, he had been there. He had massaged her shoulders when they were aching; he had bought the strangest food combinations known to mankind just because she was craving it; he had taken all the blows when she had been grumpy and stuffed with hormones.

Something was put on her desk. She looked up, pulled out of her reverie now, and looked at the person intruding her thoughts.

It was Van Pelt. The younger woman was smiling softly, and it seemed as though her smile wasn't forced but that it was a genuine one.

"I was afraid you would forget this," she said, pointing at the bottle on the desk. Lisbon frowned slightly, and Van Pelt chuckled softly.

"You'll know what I mean when you see it." With that, the redhead walked away, leaving Lisbon more confused than she had ever been. She looked at the bottle, which still contained a bit of milk.

What reason could Van Pelt mean with what she had said? 'You'll know when you see it.'

Cho stepped into her office. "I'm going home, Boss."

She nodded. "Go. I don't want to see you anymore."

The ghost of a smile touched Cho's lips, and he nodded in return. "Good night, Boss."

"You too."

Rigsby had left half an hour before... and considering he and Van Pelt were 'secretly' sleeping together – everybody knew, they just made the same mistake as they did the last time – Van Pelt probably had left as well.

That left her, Jane and- and Jade.

Lisbon hadn't realized that now that her entire team was gone, Jane was left with their baby. Jade's daycare was closed and Lisbon was therefore forced to take the little girl with her to the office for the last couple of hours of the day. No one was ever complaining about taking care of Jade anyway.

Ever since Jade was born, Jane had been... like an uncle for her baby. Like her sugar daddy, but then without the daddy part. He would buy her a bunch of toys, clothes, stuffed animals, but he wouldn't be there long enough to really be there. He was just the nice uncle who would buy Jade all that she could ever want, but he never held her, or cuddled her close to him. He wasn't the father Lisbon wanted him to be... but once again, she couldn't blame him. She was already glad he hadn't run away, to leave her and their child behind.

Curiosity got the better of her and she got up, walking into the bullpen.

She was instantly met by the most beautiful image she had ever seen – on his couch was Jane, lying on his side, his arms wrapped around their one-year-old daughter. Her head was rested on his upper arm, and both were peacefully asleep.

Her heart swelled as she took in the sight. She loved them so much, even if the three of them weren't the happy family everybody thought they were.

She kneeled down in front of the couch and kissed both of them on their foreheads.

Jade just stirred in her sleep, but wasn't disturbed.

Jane, on the other hand, slowly opened his eyes. He instantly looked into Lisbon's. He didn't move, didn't even say anything.

Lisbon wanted to step back but his eyes were pleading for her to stay close, so she did.

They remained like that for what felt like ages, until Jane briefly closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

"I love you, Teresa," he whispered. "And I love Jade too."

She closed her eyes the same way he had done.

"I just... I just needed some time, Teresa."

"I'm already glad you're still here, Jane."

"I know. And the fact that you feared that I would walk away while I love you so much is something I dearly regret, because it's my fault entirely that I gave you such an idea."

She was quiet, and as she opened her eyes, she saw Jane was gently lifting his free hand to caress her cheek.

"I've had plenty of time now, Teresa. I want to be Jade's father, like I know you want me to be as well. I hope you'll give me that chance-"

"Yes," she interrupted. She leaned closer and kissed him softly on the lips. "Yes. Always."

He smiled and she looked down at their sleeping daughter. She brushed a strand of hair out of the little girl's face.

"Let's get her home now," Jane whispered, softly raising Jade from his chest so he could sit up. He was already compensating for the time he didn't spend on holding her.

A/N: So, what did you think? Let me know, please!