A/N: Okay so because people wanted me to upload the stories I had written but never published; here you go. This is one. I warned you, though.
Just filling up the empty void in my heart now. Now I'll continue with my depressing life.
Oh and I now have 101 stories - this story is the 101st. Where the hell did my life go anyway.
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.
'Seven years'
Seven years. It had been seven years since they had disappeared.
It was as though when they had left, something had completely shifted.
Cho was head of the unit now. He hadn't had any reservations about taking over Lisbon's job – after all, she had left herself and hadn't given any indication that she was come back and claim her job. He was the breeze of fresh air that the SCU needed. They now were a less functioning team but they were still successful, especially after they had found new leads on the Red John case and had caught him. They had had high hopes that they would hear something from the missing two but it had been months ago and still no word.
Rigsby was second-in-command, but he barely got the chance to prove his worth. He was a damn fine agent, though he wasn't good with leading so maybe it was a good thing that he didn't lead all that much. He didn't like that people thought this of him, but he didn't fight them either.
Van Pelt was on permanent desk-duty, but everybody knew she didn't mind anymore. She was stuck behind her desk anyway when Lisbon had been her boss so it wasn't such a big problem. Not that she could chase bad guys with her big, rounded belly.
She sighed as she pressed 'refresh' again. She was waiting for something, and she knew what. She just didn't know if would ever come.
She froze when she saw the subject of a new email that had just come in. It was nothing really special and she didn't recognize the email-address either, but she for some reason knew that this was what she had been waiting for all these months.
She opened it instantly, and was met by a pretty looking girl. She was blond; her hair was hanging in soft gentle curls around her face. Her eyes were piercing green, but they didn't have a violent vibe about them.
She had a few freckles on her cheeks and jawbones.
She was smiling, but shyly. It was as though she was ashamed of the person who was taking the picture.
She wasn't looking fully at the camera either.
Underneath the picture was text.
"Hello Grace (and the guys),
We've heard about your success at catching him. I'm particularly very proud of you but Jane wants to hug and kiss you all. But this is also the reason that we didn't contact you before. Now that he's dead, we're all free again.
The girl on the picture is our daughter, Julia. She just turned six a couple of weeks before so she's a lady already. She's going to school and she's really enjoying it since she can show people how smart she is, just like her daddy.
Oh, we forgot to mention that we're in England right now – just outside of Liverpool. I know we left in a rush but we couldn't cope with Red John possibly killing one of us. We wanted to discuss it with you, or rather I did but Jane had already arranged everything and he had almost packed my stuff as well. How was I supposed to say no to a new life with him? I know, it sounds stupid now. But at the time it was all I wanted.
Julia is dying to meet you all. We told her so much about you – though we should definitely warn you, she's quite a sight. You can clearly see that Jane is her father. I'm not worrying about you, or Cho, but more about Rigsby. He can't even handle Jane most of the time... let alone a six-year-old who'll do everything to prove that she's right.
Jane and I got married here when we found out I was pregnant. I swear to God, though, I wasn't pregnant when we left... Jane's a jack ass sometimes.
After I had Julia, we tried for another baby but we didn't succeed... It was sad, I really wanted Julia to have a baby brother or sister – but you know Jane, he came up with a way to make us all happy so he bought her a puppy. Yeah, I know.
But when we'll come back to the States, Julia will have a lot of nice cousins.
Yes, we know about your pregnancies. Three, right? It sure is crowded in your house. Pleasantly crowded that is. And how's Ben? Holding up with all his step-siblings?
We will come home quickly, but I don't know if we'll stay for long. Julia now has her "social connections" here in Liverpool; I can't bear tearing her away from her friends.
We don't know much about Cho, though. Only that he's an awesome team leader but we already knew about that, really. Be sure to collect as many embarrassing stories as humanly possible for when we come home.
Jane says 'hi' and 'bye', Julia says 'just keep swimming' and 'love you!'
And I say: take care, all of you. I care about you, even though I left. You're the only family I had for a long time and I will forever love you. We didn't leave because we didn't trust you – we just didn't see another option. We were so done waiting but we knew that we couldn't do it in the US... it was too dangerous and we really couldn't lose each other, we needed each other too much. We could never lose each other.
Can't wait to meet all your children,
Teresa, Patrick and Julia."
Van Pelt stared at the text, and then when she scrolled down, she found another picture, this one with three people.
Two she recognized, the other she remembered from the picture on the top of the email.
Julia was standing in the middle, now brightly smiling as opposed to the previous picture. On her for the viewer left side was Lisbon standing. The sides of their heads were touching and Lisbon looked truly happy for once.
Jane was standing on the other side of the little girl. He was planting a huge kiss on her cheek, and Van Pelt could see he was smiling. Both parents had their arms wrapped around Julia.
Van Pelt closed her eyes briefly.
Sometimes, she had been wondering where the hell Jane and Lisbon had gone. She would be worried and would pray that they would come back.
But after seeing this picture... she wanted them to stay. They looked happier than they had ever looked, and at the end of the day, that was what Van Pelt wanted them to be.
She felt someone step behind her.
"She's beautiful," she heard Rigsby say.
"Who?" she asked teasingly. She opened her eyes. His hold on her shoulders tightened.
"The girl of course." She could practically hear him rolling his eyes.
"Yes, she is," Van Pelt sighed. She looked at the rest of the email. More pictures were stored beneath the text.
The first one was an obvious wedding picture – Lisbon in a long, simple white dress, Jane in a tuxedo.
Van Pelt could see from just their looks they were badly, head over heels in love. Van Pelt smiled; she was so happy for them. If anyone deserved it, it was definitely them.
Next picture was of Lisbon in a hospital bed, holding a small pink bundle in her arms. Her hair looked damp and her cheeks wet, but she was smiling from ear to ear.
Another picture; Julia, standing in front of a cozy looking house. She didn't look all that much younger than she was in the first two pictures. Her clothes were dark red (blouse and sweater), dark grey (skirt) and black (tights and shoes) and when Van Pelt saw the bluish emblem on Julia's sweater she recognized the clothes as a school uniform.
A dog seemed to be jumping around the girl, although since it was a picture, Van Pelt saw no movement.
"That's a video!" Rigsby nearly shrieked as Van Pelt scrolled down again. She rolled her eyes but pressed play anyway.
"Jules!" they heard Jane exclaiming. It was a video of the same moment as the picture, and now they saw the dog indeed enthusiastically jumping against Julia's legs.
The girl chuckled and bowed down to cuddle the animal.
"Julia!" Jane exclaimed again. Lisbon chuckled softly.
"You've got no authority at all."
"It's not my fault our daughter prefers our dog over her own father."
"It kinda is."
"Oh shut up will you."
Lisbon chuckled again. Say whatever you wanted, but Jane and Lisbon were still the same people as when they had left.
Julia ran towards the bantering adults, the dog close behind her.
"Why are you filming, Daddy?"
"Stop!" Rigsby interrupted. Van Pelt pressed pause, but more because he made her startle than that she actually listened to what he said. "Was that a British accent?"
"Wayne, they live in England. It's not a surprise that she had a slight British accent."
She focused on the video again, when the camera suddenly turned.
"Yes, Rigsby, Julia's got a slight British accent, but you know children; they'll always copy the other kids. All of her friends are British, what is she supposed to do? Speak with an American accent?" Jane huffed.
Van Pelt was chuckling – Jane knew them way too well.
The camera turned again.
They now saw Julia walking over to Lisbon, who wrapped her arms around the girl and lifted her into the air.
"Why is daddy filming, Mommy?"
"For the same reason I'm taking picture."
"For Aunt Grace and Uncle Kimball?"
"Yes. And Uncle Wayne."
Julia moved out of her mother's arms and ran towards Jane, who seemingly instinctively stepped back.
"Hello!" Julia exclaimed and she pressed her nose against the camera. They heard a chuckle and soon realized it was Jane.
"Do you want to say something to your aunt and uncles?"
Julia nodded.
"Hi! How are you? I hope you're doing well. Mommy and Daddy say that you have children. I wanted a baby brother or sister too but Mommy can't have babies anymore," she rambled, in a flawless American accent. While Van Pelt and Rigsby were trying to overcome their initial surprise, Jane seemed to respond for them.
"You'll see, Julia. Just have patience."
"But I want to see them!"
"10 out of 10 for anticipation. Just wait, Sweetheart. I promise you'll meet them."
"But you said that last year too!"
"Yes. And it hasn't changed. We just didn't have the time to do it yet."
Julia groaned, but nodded all the same. Surely she understood. If she was at least a bit like he parents, she wasn't stupid.
"So say goodbye to uncles Kimball and Wayne and aunt Grace!"
Julia smiled again, and waved enthusiastically.
"Bye!"
Lisbon came into sight as well and she smiled sweetly. Jane, having put the camera on a stabilizer, it seemed, came into sight and kissed Lisbon deeply for a few seconds. Julia pulled a face, and Van Pelt and Rigsby chuckled.
"Bye guys," Lisbon said.
And then, the screen went black. Van Pelt took in a deep breath.
"I miss them."
Rigsby nodded. "Me too."
She rubbed her swollen belly. "Hopefully you'll meet your godmother soon, Little One."
This time, she knew she wasn't lying.
A/N: So let me know.