The Joys of Children

Chapter 1- Aunt Tessie

"AUNTIE TESSIE!"

The call from the front door reached her before the sound of the doorbell did, with a small smile lingering on her lips Teresa Lisbon answered her front door only to have her gorgeous little niece jump into her arms enthusiastically.

Smiling at her brother who had just appeared panting outside the door, apparently he had chased Lucy all the way from the car, "Sorry, she got excited and ran off." He panted out as he leant in her doorway.

Lisbon laughed, "Its okay Tommy, I'm excited to see her too." She said as she looked down at her five year old niece who was clinging to her tightly.

Her brother, Tommy, handed over a large bag, "It's got all her clothes for the weekend, I packed dresses for sunny weather and jeans in case it got a bit chilly. Remember not to give her anything with nuts because she's allergic and her bedtime is 7pm, unless she has a nap during the day, if she does don't worry about it, just let her stay up a little later."

Throughout her brothers nervous ramblings Lisbon was trying not to laugh as she watched him in amusement, he hated leaving his little girl, his only child, but he was going away for the first time since his honeymoon and when his wife had bought the tickets he couldn't say no, "Tommy, I've watched her before, we'll be fine." She told him with a smile.

He nodded, "I know you will, I'm just…well you know how I hate leaving her." He told her gently.

Lisbon reached out and touched his shoulder, "I know, but we'll be fine. Go and enjoy your weekend in Rome!"

With a genuine smile this time he thanked her, hugged her awkwardly as his daughter was still clinging to her and kissed Lucy goodbye before heading back across the lawn to his car. From the door of her bottom floor apartment Lisbon and Lucy waved goodbye to Tommy until the car was out of sight.

It was 8pm on Friday evening and after a long case all Lisbon wanted to do was get to bed, but she knew she would have to settle Lucy first, she knew for a fact that the little girl would have slept the entire drive from San Francisco to Sacramento so she asked, "Are you sleepy honey?" As she closed the door and set Lucy down on the ground.

She shook her head at her Aunt, "No, can we watch a movie Auntie Tessie?" She asked happily.

Lisbon smiled, there was no harm in watching a movie until she was tired enough for bed, "Of course we can sweetie." She said and with that she let Lucy look through her DVD collection until a happy squeal announced that she had found "Pocahontas."

Although she may not seem like the motherly type of person anyone who saw Teresa Lisbon with her only niece would be surprised, she was a natural with the little girl and loved her like her own, it was part of the reason she forced herself to spend Christmas dinner with Tommy and her other brothers, there was always a drama at the dinner table, but then there was Lucy happily hugging them all when she opened her presents, it made it feel worthwhile. She knew that she wanted kids of her own, but she hadn't found the right person to have them with yet, she didn't know if she ever would.

When Lucy fell asleep on her lap halfway through the movie Lisbon realised that she had probably lied about not being tired. With a smile she moved the girl into the spare-room which served as her room because she was the only person who used it. She got to sleep there when Lisbon was babysitting and she had added a few touches to it herself. The walls were now a light pink and she had (very well for a 5 year old) painted her name on the wall with purple paint.

Lisbon lay Lucy down on her bed and tucked her in, she must have been exhausted because she didn't wake. As she looked around the room she realised it was like having a daughter, the pink room and the children's drawings on the walls, the paper stacked around the room with abandoned pictures, the cuddly toys that surrounded the little girl in the bed with pink covers, she treated Lucy like her own even if she did only get to have her stay over a few times a month.

Tommy's job meant he was away a lot, being in the oil business did that to you and when he was on the rigs and his wife Amanda was working late hours at the hospital they sometimes had to ask her to watch Lucy, she didn't mind of course and Lucy loved the attention she got from her Aunt. At home her parents were so busy concentrating on work that they didn't notice her sometimes, but with her 'Auntie Tessie' she got spoiled rotten.

The one thing about the room that made her shiver was a smiley face on the wall, Lucy had decided that her name didn't look good enough so she had drawn a love heart at one side and a smiley face at the other, both in purple paint. The smiley was eerily similar to a Red John smiley and whenever she saw it she felt shivers run up her spine.

She had made a mental note a long time ago to never let Jane in this room, a little girls room with a smiley like that could surely only bring back bad memories.

Pulling herself out of her reverie she turned off the light and left the door ajar before heading for her own bedroom next door. She settled herself under the covers, thinking of how she could spend her weekend with her adorable niece, they had gone to the cinema the last time she had stayed, maybe they could go to the mall and buy her a new toy to add to her temporary room, she felt herself drifting off to sleep as she planned her weekend with the little girl.

A/N- This is already completed, I wrote it as one long fan fic, but it was nearly 10,000 words long so I had to break it up when I was posting it!

I got the idea when I was watching the Mentalist and saw how good Jane & Lisbon were with that little girl Ashley, hope you guys like it!

Thanks for reading! & if you feel nice, how about a review? ;D I'm a sad little person so they really do make my day hehe!