Patrick Jane gazed down in wonder at the small child in his arms - hardly able to believe she was finally here.
He had never held such a small baby.
Charlotte had been positively robust in comparison to little Isla - taking after Angela, who had been equal to him in height, with an athletic build, toned by hours on the tennis court with the other mothers in her group.
Isla was all Lisbon. Tiny and dark. Except the mass of curls. He could definitely claim responsibility for those.
He ran a hand over his daughter's head.
She was as perfect as Charlotte, but they were chalk and cheese.
Where Charlotte had had a soft, blonde fuzz on her head, Isla had a full head of dark hair - as unruly as his and sure to cause her mother all manner of grief.
Instead of pale blue eyes that would turn a sea green, Isla's eyes were the darkest shade of blue, and he just knew they would turn emerald like her mother's.
He glanced at Teresa, resting peacefully in the hospital bed beside him.
Just an hour earlier, in the final moments of labour, she'd threatened to tear him limb from limb - telling him taking a bullet would be less painful than this and asking if understood fully what she was going through.
He smiled at the memory of his angry little princess, and the way her mood changed completely as their baby was handed to her.
"She's perfect…." she'd whispered. "She is, right? There's nothing wrong?"
He'd smiled at her, planting a kiss on the top of her head, "Nope, nothing wrong. Ten fingers, ten toes… a good set of lungs. She's perfect."
Lisbon had nodded, pulling him down to sit on the bed beside her and resting her head on his shoulder. "Even though it's dark, she has your hair…"
"If all the noise when she arrived is any indication, she has your attitude," he countered.
She laughed at that. "Who'd have thought, all those years ago when a scruffy conman turned up in my office that we'd end up here."
"Not me," he whispered to her. "I always thought you could do much better…"
"Not possible," she told him.
They sat quietly for a few minutes, letting the feeling of being three instead of two sink in.
"You need to rest," Jane told her. "How about we let Uncle Cho and Uncle Wylie come and meet this little munchkin for a few minutes so you can get some peace and quiet?"
Lisbon nodded, "Sounds like a plan."
Moments later, Jane had led their friends in - Wylie all wide eyed, holding a big pink teddy bear that was twice the size of the little girl he was gifting it to. Cho tossed Jane a perfectly wrapped package without even glancing at him, and made a beeline for Lisbon and Isla - the biggest grin Jane had ever seen on his face.
This was perfect, he thought to himself as he watched his wife, their daughter and two of their closest friends.
He had never thought he could have anything so perfect.
Hours later, he sat in the darkness of the room, the baby back in his arms, his wife in the bed beside him.
If life could get better than this, he didn't know how.