Mabeline36 – Happy New Year! Here's chapter 3!(:

Disclaimer: Technically it's still the Christmas season and nothing new is under my good 'ole tree. Therefore…nope.

Once Lost, Now Found

Chapter Three

The train arrived in Sacramento two weeks after Jane had that dream during the early evening. After that dream, he rarely slept. If so it was a small nap usually lasting an hour at most. It wasn't much, but enough to keep him going long enough to continue functioning. He may have not looked very good when the train pulled in – judging by the looks of others – but that was fine with him. At the moment he didn't really care, he didn't even want to be in California.

He now sat in an Oakland automobile and was en route towards the Minelli family home. He had to admit, this was an interesting new experience, but he'd rather be in New York on his couch with Cho pestering him to wake up. Sighing, he looked out the window at the new buildings they passed. Compared to New York City, Sacramento was definitely different. Sure this place was considered a major city, but it was pretty much nothing when he thought of New York. It was slightly more peaceful too.

"When was the last time you've slept?" he to the right at Cho, who had a stern look on his face, "You look like you haven't slept in days and was later run over by a train."

Jane smiled, "Is that your way of saying I look like hell, Cho?" the man didn't do anything, "Well thank you for your honesty, and probably picturing my downfall caused by such locomotive. No, I haven't had much sleep recently," he then turned back to look out the window.

Jane hated to admit it, but for some reason it seemed like Sacramento was calling him. It was an odd thing to think, but it was expected due to his obvious sleep deprivation. He just hoped to try and hope for a better night's rest tonight. He actually didn't feel like battling sleep to keep himself from dreaming. At this point he had halted the attempts to keep from sleeping. Though he didn't really know why…

Stopping at a fairly large house, Jane was almost surprised due to the relatively short automobile ride. He was expecting the Minelli family home to be out in the country surrounded by empty plains. But no, what stood before him was a house painted white with blue red shutters. The chimney had soft wisps of smoke coming out, swirling and twirling up into the sky. Before Jane knew it, the door he had been pretty much leaning on was pulled open and he just about fell forward. The driver – who had opened it – quickly caught him and held Jane up to ensure his stability.

"Are you all right sir?" he asked.

Jane nodded, "Yes, thank you," he stepped back and brushed off the imaginary dust off his bicep, and looked back at the house, almost too engrossed to hear the door open and close with a slight screech.

He quickly looked down to see a small child run through the front garden, his arms wide open, "Granddad!" he yelled gleefully.

Jane smiled seeing Minelli bend down, setting his suitcase on the ground, and taking the young boy in his arms. Minelli stood back up with the boy in his arms and spun him around, smiling down at the child.

"Granddad I missed you so much! Why did you have to leave?" Jane barely heard the boy say as he started towards the house. The internal glow was almost beckoning him forward as he gazed through the delicately handmade linen drapes, "With mummy so sick, I was worried that you may not return!"

"Oh Junior, you know I would never leave you for good," Jane almost scoffed at that. What a lie.

Jane turned around and looked at Minelli, then at the child who was now standing on the ground before the older man. The boy's dark curls lay equivalent to a mop on top of his head and his pale skin seemed to glow as the flame in a nearby gas lamp flickered. Minelli looked up and saw Jane's gaze

"Junior, why don't you go on inside and check on your mother," Minelli slightly bumped Junior forward, who mildly protested before getting a certain look from the older man. Without further ado, Junior quickly ran back into the house. Once he had done so, Jane moved to stand closer to Minelli.

"Is he named after you?"

Minelli shook his head, "No, Junior's not named after me. He's not even really my grandson. I took in his mother after she had just discovered her pregnancy. I consider her to be my daughter and I love her as such. "

Jane rolled back and forth on his feet, "That's very kind of you, not many take in a pregnant woman. "

The older man shrugged as he started towards the house, "Well, at first I wasn't going to. She promised me she would work for a place to stay, but I declined that offer. That was until her companion begged me to take her. I wound up with him too, and thus my food stock depleted rapidly."

"How old is Junior?"

"He is four years old, and has a wonderful vocabulary," Minelli stated proudly.

Jane nodded, "Yes, I realized that."

"He is a very intelligent young boy, but also a trouble-maker. He is the only child I know that can purposely turn a house into a circus in less than thirty minutes. Wayne always seems to be divided when it comes to whether or not he should encourage this behaviour."

"Wayne?" Jane quirked his eyebrow as he and Minelli halted in front of the door, the older man's hand barely hovering over the brass handle.

Minelli nodded, "Yes, the man who is probably in the kitchen with the woman he is attempting to court. The very same man who came with Teresa when she was pregnant."

Jane blanched. Wayne? Teresa? To be honest the name Wayne very rarely haunted him, but the name Teresa always did. It couldn't possibly be true that those two people were those he had lost five years ago? That wasn't possible, they had died when the Titanic had gone down. He had seen that happen.

Hitching his breath in his throat, Jane wrapped his hand around the brass door handle and pushed it open. The house was finely decorated with beautiful furniture and paintings. The occasional photograph hung on the papered walls. The sight of the burning fireplace was a welcoming sight and almost pacified his now painfully rapid heartbeat.

"Virgil, so glad that you're ho-," Jane paused and felt Minelli nudge his way into the room, "Jane? Patrick Jane?"

There stood before him was Wayne Rigsby. The man who supposedly died five years ago. Now he was here…very much alive…and currently in the same state of shock that he was.

"Rigsby, you're alive?"

Jane was done. Surely he was just sleep deprived. Seeing Rigsby was only a delusion and he was not really there. The man before him was definitely not Wayne Rigsby. Wayne Rigsby was dead and gone.

But what if this wasn't a delusion?

Two arms wrapped around him in a strong bear-hug. He recognized it to be Rigsby and Jane was now becoming more and more convinced that this was real. Rigsby was actually alive.

"Rigsby?" he heard a voice behind him – Cho.

Rigsby let go of Jane, almost throwing him to the side at the sight of his old friend, "Cho!" Jane watched both men move quickly towards each other, grasping each other's hand and giving the other a firm shake, "You two both survived!"

Jane saw a rare grin on Cho's face. At the sight of his old friend the usually stoic man was showing a whole bundle of emotions. Cho even looked like he was about ready to let a few tears pass, and was trying very hard not to.

"Wayne? Is everything all right?" everyone in the room turned to the kitchen area. A young woman with vibrant red hair piled onto a bun stood in the doorway. Junior stood at her side, his arms wrapped around her legs.

Rigsby smiled and looked over at her, "Grace," he spoke calmly, "These are my two friends that I have told you about. Kimball Cho and Patrick Jane."

Grace's eyes lit up brightly and her hand flew to her mouth. Jane quickly assumed that Rigsby had told her about his story on the Titanic and no doubt about the friends he had lost. Grace brought her hand down and smoothed it down Junior's back and led him closer along with her towards the men. She stood before them, glancing them up and down shyly.

"Well I am honoured to finally meet Wayne's friend's," she smiled, "Grace Van Pelt, I live across the street and was just helping the maid prepare supper as Teresa is still ill with the influenza."

Teresa…

"Lisbon?" tears sprung at Jane's eyes as an overwhelming sense of emotion moved through him. He really didn't know what to feel at this point, but the thought of her still being alive had him literally feeling as if a train had just collided with him.

Everyone nodded, "Yes," only Rigsby spoke as he glanced up the stair case, "She is getting stronger, but has been very ill these past weeks."

Jane glanced up the staircase as well, his heart thudding violently in his chest. Stepping forward, he shot everyone a look over his shoulder, almost pleading them all to permit him upstairs. Minelli nodded, almost as if silently telling him to venture upstairs. Without speaking another word, Jane was starting up the staircase, the sounds beneath his feet intensifying as he took every new step. A step closer to his lost beloved.

He arrived at the top of the stairs and looked at the end of the hall. His eyes slipped shut and he gripped his hand into a fist. Wordlessly, he continued moving down the hallway, eyes now open and looking down at the wooden planks below his feet. Jane began taking deep breaths, his hand reaching up to hold onto the side of his face in effort to calm himself. It was unknown until now that he had been indeed silently crying.

His hand hovered over the glass door knob. He hesitated, his fingers barely brushing over the smooth surface when his breath hitched in his throat. Closing his eyes once more, he leaned up against the nearby wall. All energy quickly evaporated from his body. Tears fell freely from his eyes, sliding down his cheek and down onto the collar of his shirt.

Opening his eyes with a newfound determination, his hand quickly gripped the glass handle and turned. With a resonating creak, it opened.

I'm working on chapter four…don't worry they make eye contact.