Jackson is my original character, but that's all I own.
This idea came to me when I reread my stories "Coffee And Moving On" and "Really Okay." I mentioned Riley had a boyfriend. I also mentioned in my story "Mother's Day" that her boyfriend was okay with the fact that she had a son and gave him to his father.
Plus I thought it would be cool to post this on Lauren Lee Smith's birthday :)
One thing I didn't like about how Riley's time at the crime lab was handled is that we never really found out much about her. Yes, we knew her parents were both psychiatrists, but I would have liked to have known why she was confrontational. So I guess writing these stories is my explanation of why she was...well, Riley. Hopefully, I've explained a bit of why she left Jackson with Greg. Anyway...enough rambling! Hope you all enjoy...and pretty please review!
Riley Adams had just met Jake Fowler, a history teacher at the university, and knew she was lucky to find him. After a one-night stand with her former colleague in Vegas, Greg Sanders - which resulted in their son, Jackson - she felt like she was finally making a clean start and things were finally getting better.
Jake was a good man. They'd met when Riley investigated the disappearance of a former student of his. Riley met him for lunch, and they hit it off right away. He was a single dad himself, with a young daughter in college studying education. He was handsome, considerate - Riley often joked with her colleagues in Chicago that he was everything she didn't realize she was looking for.
On a Friday afternoon, both had some time off and agreed to meet at Riley's apartment and just relax the rest of the day. On the drive there, they chatted about how his classes were going and how she'd just closed a case. As she walked to her mailbox, Riley saw a medium-sized envelope in the box. She got quiet as she picked up the package.
Jake noticed Riley's silence. "Everything okay?"
Riley barely nodded as she opened the envelope. There were two pictures of her son back in Vegas, along with a homemade card and a letter from his father. She found herself fighting back tears as she looked at the smiling, happy boy.
Jake glanced over her shoulder. "He's cute," he said softly.
Riley cleared her throat. "Y-Yeah," she said as she looked at the picture of Jackson at his preschool, playing and happy. She sighed quietly and looked back at Jake. "Um...sorry." She started to walk to the apartment, but Jake gently took her arm.
"Hey," he said quietly.
"Jake, please..."
"Riley," he said quietly but firmly. "What's up?"
Sighing quietly, Riley slowly turned to look at Jake. "I-I told you I worked in Vegas for about a year, remember?"
Jake nodded. "Yeah, after our first date. You mentioned you had a problem with some of your co-workers there."
"Not all of them," Riley said quietly. Seeing Jake's concerned expression, she smiled sadly. With a quiet sigh, she gestured to her front door. They walked inside and Riley tossed her keys in a small bowl on a nearby table.
Still holding the envelope Riley sat down on her couch. Jake waited for her to explain.
"When I accepted the job in Vegas," she began softly, "They were still mourning a colleague and friend of theirs. Everything was...crazy. There was a change in leadership, a new CSI came on board..." Looking at Jake she asked, "You heard about Ray Langston?"
"Only what I saw on the news," Jake said.
Riley nodded. "I did make some good friends there...one in particular." She smiled softly, thinking about the father of her son. "His name's Greg, and one night...the night before I left...we spent the night together."
Jake nodded slowly and sighed, realizing who the little boy in the pictures was.
Riley looked down. "We conceived our son that night." She sighed to regain her composure.
Jake patiently waited for Riley to continue.
"I should have called Greg and told him from the beginning, but I was stubborn. And when he was born...I fed him, changed him...but it always felt like nothing I did was enough. He was being raised by babysitters...I'd come home after working a case and just want to sleep, but he'd be crying or needing something...I never bonded with my own son."
"So you gave him up," Jake said, more as a statement than a question.
Riley nodded. "You know I'd shot the undercover cop?" Jake nodded. "Two months before that, I decided to finally do the one right thing for him - I drew up papers giving his father custody."
Jake watched as Riley wiped a tear from her cheek. "And...then what?" Jake asked.
Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Riley said, "Then the shooting happened. I-I know it was wrong, and I know I should have done that when he was born...but that's when I knew I had to go to Vegas and give him to his dad." She chuckled sadly. "They knew they belonged together and loved each other the moment they met."
Riley looked at Jake, relieved to see him concerned. "Leaving my son was the hardest thing I have ever had to do...it was also the best thing I've ever done."
Gingerly sitting on the couch next to her, Jake took the envelope from her. He looked inside and smiled softly as he looked at the little red-haired boy. "He's beautiful."
"I know," Riley replied. "And I know he's okay and he and Greg love each other very much...that's why I don't miss him." Seeing Jake narrow his eyebrows in confusion, Riley added, "I-I think about him, but I don't miss him. I know he's okay."
Jake smiled and nodded at the woman he'd come to love. "Sounds like he's got a good family."
Riley smiled and nodded. "He does...and he's doing wonderfully."
Jake smiled and handed Riley the homemade card. Riley chuckled when she saw all the colors and things Jackson had drawn. "He's four now," she said. "He's one of the smartest in his class at preschool." Riley gestured to the picture Jake was holding of a little boy sitting at a table with other children, playing and studying. She traced her son's figure on the photo. "He's gotten so big."
Jake nodded. "Sounds to me like you did the right thing."
Riley closed her eyes and sighed softly. "I did." She reached for the letter Jake was holding and read over it. Riley chuckled softly. "He's in preschool, and he loves it. Greg says he's made so many friends and always wants to learn."
Jake smiled as his girlfriend read the letter about her son. "Sounds to me like a smart kid."
Riley smiled and showed him the drawing Jackson made. "See those?" She asked, pointing to some black dots on flowers he'd drawn. "Greg says he wants me to know that those are ants, and they're helping a garden."
Jake laughed softly. "Wow, sounds like he's very smart."
"He likes bugs," Riley added. "Greg says they go on bug hunts together."
Seeing the woman he'd grown to love quiet, thoughtful and knowing her child was okay, Jake smiled and took Riley's hand. When she brought her eyes to his, Jake said, "He's okay...and so are you."
Riley nodded and sniffed back her tears. "He is. Maybe someday he and Greg will forgive me for keeping them apart and never being much of a mother." She glanced at the second picture of Jackson, big smile and really happy. "Well...Greg said he's already forgiven me..."
As Riley looked at the photo, Jake gave her the colorful drawing her son made. As Riley looked at the drawing, Jake said, "Looks to me like he has too."
Riley smiled as she looked at the drawing her son made for her. As she allowed a tear to roll down her cheek, she smiled. "Jackson," she said softly. "His name is Jackson."
Jake smiled and nodded. "Looks like Jackson's doing great...and so are you."
Riley's lip quivered, and she softly smiled. "He is," she said with certainty.
Jake breathed a quiet sigh and met Riley's gaze. "I don't know why you couldn't...or felt you couldn't take care of him. But it sounds like you made the right decision...for everyone. Jackson seems to be well adjusted and taken care of, and you've gotten on with your life."
Riley shook her head. "Like I said, I was never much of a mother. He deserved better..." She looked at the letter and photos. "And he has better now," Riley said with certainty.
With a warm smile, Jake nodded and said, "Everyone's fine."
Riley confidently nodded and smiled at the man she'd come to love. "Yeah. Everyone's fine...most importantly, Jackson's fine."
The End.