A/N: Some AU Jisbon family fluff. I have no idea where this came from, I just had the first sentence stuck in my head, and then it coupled itself onto a tiny let's-feel-the-water moment in my life.
Absolutely no spoilers. Set somewhere in the future with no context to the whole RJ reveal, it was written before anyway.
Disclaimer: Can you really own anything in this world? Aren't we all just part of nature? Well in any case I certainly don't own the rights to The Mentalist.
"Megan, honey what are you doing?"
The little girl looked up at her mother in the doorway, then down at her bare feet which were firmly planted in a puddle of water. Wiggling her toes she watched the clear liquid splash and glide over her skin. "Ehh, nothing." Came the innocent reply, as she continued her activity.
Like that was going to fly, Lisbon thought. "Doesn't look like nothing to me, dear."
"But dad said..." A defense she'd heard far too often.
"Oh no, you know better than to listen to his..."
"...brilliant advice." A man's voice interrupted and continued the sentence for her.
"As if." Lisbon said, but smiled in spite of herself.
"Daddy!" The little girl hurled herself at the man in question.
"Hi sweetheart." He said and picked her up as she came running, twirling her around a few times, leaving the remaining water from her feet to spray all over the place.
Lisbon sighed. "I just cleaned in here."
Jane walked over with the girl on his arm and kissed Lisbon's cheek. "We'll clean it up. Right Megan?" He said and the girl nodded enthusiastically in response.
"You better." She warned. "And why did you tell her to play barefoot in the puddles in the first place? She could get pneumonia."
"Nah, you worry too much. I just told her to go outside and really feel nature. Besides it's too warm for her to catch pneumonia."
"Well then, you're on goo duty as soon as she starts coughing." She shook her head. "Feel nature. What does that even mean?"
"Nature is fuel for the soul, my dear. You know, maybe you should try it yourself sometime." He urged.
"What? Do you want me to take off my shoes and go stand in the puddles too?"
"All I said was; feel nature. You could go climb a tree or a mountain or lay down on the grass or if you prefer something with water you could always go skinny dipping." He said, mouth retracting into a cunning smile.
"Yeah you wish." She said obviously amused. "As if I could do any of those things like this." She ran her arms up and down in the air indicating her body.
"Oh come on. Well I can see climbing a tree is a bit excessive, but a little water gymnastics wouldn't hurt. We could go to the beach. Play in the sand. Relax."
"Yaaay!" Came the cheers from the little person in Patrick's arms. He had his own personal cheerleader, she thought. "Let's go. Can we? Can we, please mommy?! Please, please, pretty please!" They both looked at Lisbon with such hopeful puppy dog eyes, she just couldn't make herself say no.
"Oh alright then."
"Yaaay!" The pair of them danced around in jubilation, before Jane put Megan down again.
"Megan, go find your bathing suit." Lisbon said and the girl started sprinting through the living room, her feet leaving wet marks on the floor. "Slow down." Lisbon yelled after her, sighing internally at the mess. Then she turned to Jane. "I'm not sure if this is just a plot to get out of cleaning or not, but I could use some fresh air so... You better find the sunscreen, and some hats or something."
"As you wish, my dear." He said, kissing her brow and strolled away, smiling as he went of the small footprints littering the hardwood floors.
She sat down heavily, exhausted to no end. Only a few more months to go and she'd be rid of this burden. Well not entirely, actually not ever, but it would transform into something, that very likely wasn't less tiring, but definitely something more fun. She felt more spent this time around. Maybe because she already had Megan to look after and take care of, not to mention Jane (who at times still behaved like a big baby), or maybe she was just getting old. Carrying a child at her age wasn't unheard of, but it sure was straining. She rested her eyes for just a second listening to the patter of excited feet going this way and that, collecting things to take with them on their little outing.
Like any good Sleeping Beauty she was awoken from her nap by a gentle kiss on the forehead. She opened her eyes and was immediately assaulted by his blue green shades. "You two ready?" She asked and yawned.
"You sure you're up for this?" He asked and she thought she saw a tiny glimmer of worry in his eyes.
"I'm fine." She insisted. "Just needed a little nap. Come on, let's go. Help me up." She reached out both of her arms and he hoisted her to her feet. Keeping a firm grip on her until she found her balance, which wasn't always so easy these days with all the added weight.
They found Megan waiting for them in the car. She hardly noticed them as her attention was fully engaged in the process of blowing air into an inflatable crocodile three times her size. It made Teresa smile warmly at her daughter. Confidence in her own abilities was not something she lacked. The tiny girl had nowhere near air enough in her lungs to fill that beast, but that didn't stop her from trying.
Jane had a similar smile plastered on his face. "Honey, why don't you let mom do that, while I drive us to the beach." Lisbon had never been a fan of her husband's driving abilities, but she had to admit that they'd improved somewhat after they'd gotten Megan - their most precious cargo. The girl had willingly and with no fuss surrendered the animal to her mother, probably feeling a bit out of breath.
Giving the girl a subtle bit of positive reinforcement Lisbon said: "Looks like you've done most of the work for me." Megan was young, but not stupid. Teresa could see that she knew that what she'd just said was a lie, but the girl accepted the compliment graciously and found something else to give her undivided attention to. She swore her daughter was becoming more and more like her dad every day. She sometimes found herself wondering if Charlotte had been the same way. It was probably more than a little likely. As that thought had occurred to her she had stopped what she'd been doing - which was blowing air into a big, green, plastic animal - momentarily, her hand went down to caress her swollen belly. It was a boy this time, so it was going to be a new and different experience for both of them.
Jane noticed the movement and the grave expression on her face. "Something wrong?" He asked while still keeping his eyes on the road.
"No. Just thinking." She said truthfully.
"Of what?" Always curious that one.
She had learnt long ago that she wasn't as transparent to him as he'd like her to think she was. "Oh just how different having a boy will be."
He smiled a little, clearly appeased. "Didn't you grow up with brothers? Practically raising them?"
"Yes, I did, but I clearly didn't do a very good job, they won't even speak to each other now."
"Maybe not, but they still talk to you. You can't blame yourself for their problems… You were only 12 then, you did the best you could." He said encouragingly.
"But it wasn't enough." She gave a little sigh.
"You have nothing to worry about, Teresa. You're a great mom. I know it, Megan knows it, and the boy will too. And isn't that the most important people." Of course he was right, but there would always be a little nagging voice in the back of her mind, telling her she wasn't good enough, that Angela would have been better, and that she had failed, she hadn't been able to keep her family together.
Jane could almost instinctively feel her insecurities shine through her, and knew that pregnant women especially needed a lot of extra reassurance so he kept at it: "Whoever he is going to be, small, tall, a fly fisher, librarian or an FBI agent. He'll always have a mother that loves him. He will be lucky to have you in his life, and I'm going to make sure he knows it too."
Her eyes glistened over from hearing his words. She wasn't unsure about the sincerity behind them for even just one minute. His conning days were a chapter in their past. Sure he did a trick or two now or then, but misleading her or straight out lying to her didn't happen anymore. All of that had gone away with Red John.
xXx
The beach was not overly crowded. Megan ran barefoot on the hot yellow sand. "Come on, come on." She jumped in excitement, eyeing the water as if it might disappear any minute if she looked away. If she was going to run, Lisbon wouldn't be able to follow. So she did the only thing she could, she turned to Jane and said: "Would you make sure, your daughter doesn't run off on us."
He looked over at Megan who was increasingly becoming more and more impatient with her parent's tortoise-like speed. "I see, so she's mine when she's going to make trouble, is that it?" He asked jokingly without expecting a reply.
"She gets the exact same look on her face that you always get when you are about to make my life a living hell."
He smiled triumphantly. "And it's so adorable, you just can't help but falling in love."
She smacked him and he kissed her in return.
"Ihh, come on." The girl whined and tucked on Jane's pant leg.
"You have to have patience, my dear." He said and winked at Lisbon, thereby silently telling her that that particular trait - impatience - was from her side of the family. She just shook her head. "Come on we have to help mom carry all of this. We wouldn't want your little brother to come out looking like this..." He took the crocodile and chased the girl around in a few circles before they returned and helped Lisbon down with all the stuff.
They found a good spot to settle down. Blankets, a picnic basket, sunscreen, the crocodile, and more, were all laid neatly on the sandy surface. Lisbon sat down happily surprised that Jane had even brought some pillows just for her, to make her more comfortable. Both Jane and Megan stood looking at her while she settled herself with the book from her nightstand that Jane apparently had snatched for her enjoyment also. She looked up at them, standing there like they were waiting for permission. "What are you waiting for?" She said. "Go play. Have fun!" It had mostly been to Megan, but Jane was the first to stir into motion, running towards the water like a boy whose pants were on fire. The girl lingered a moment at her mother's side, then said pensively: "If we're having a green little brother I'll still love him." Then she ran off to join her father at the shallows.
Lisbon watched as they squealed and shrieked whenever they got splashed by the other. These crazy people, dancing around in the scantily rolling waves, were her family. She followed her daughter's example and removed her shoes, stretching out her legs into the warm sand. Wiggling her toes she felt the myriad of tiny stubbles brush over her skin like soft and velvety sandpaper. She closed her eyes, letting her thoughts wander as she buried her feet deeper down to where the sand was slightly cooler. Feeling nature, yeah right, what kind of hippie sheep-dip was Jane teaching their daughter? She was roused from her thoughts as she felt the boy kick. Now if that wasn't feeling nature, she didn't know what was. "Don't worry." She said to the tiny being inside of her, as she stroked reassuring circles on her belly. "Soon you'll have your turn to feel nature too. Your dad is going to splash you with seawater and build you sandcastles. And your big sister is going to protect you from all the crocodiles, even if you turn out to be green yourself."
A/N: I don't know, do you think I went with too many crocodiles in this one?
The problem (my problem) with these kinds of stories is that I can never find out if I should call them Teresa & Patrick or Lisbon & Jane, so I just jumble up all four names. I hope it's not too confusing.
And then there's my other problem... as always, couldn't find out how to end it.