Author's Note: Hey everyone! I'm SSSOOOOO sorry for the long wait, but I started my first year of college and then life just got hectic with midterms, family, friends and then some writers block. BUt I don't really have any assignments to work on this weekend, so I told myself I was going to buckle down and finish at least one more chapter. Here it is! Thanks to everyone for your awesome reviews, favourites and follows! Thanks for sticking with me! Who else is excited for the episode this Sunday!? I know I am! Anyway, on to the story!

Disclaimer: I Don't own The Mentalist.

"Do you want to get her up, or do you want me to?" Jane asked as Lisbon placed Melody's school things on the kitchen table.

Lisbon sighed heavily. "I don't know. At least breakfast smells good."

"A good breakfast makes for a good start to the day." Jane smiled, wrapping Lisbon in a hug.

Lisbon hugged him back tightly. "I'll get her up." Lisbon said into Jane's shoulder. "You keep making breakfast."

"Okay. I think it's best that way." Jane kissed her head.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Jane rolled his eyes. "We've been over this. She's more willing to be vulnerable to you, than to me. You're her aunt, so she's not in the wrong. Besides, you're the only female she really has to look up to. Obviously you two are going to have a bond. It's like the one you have with Annie, except you see Melody more and you're more of a mother figure to Melody."

"No." Lisbon blushed.

Jane kissed her cheek, smiling. "You don't need to be embarrassed about that, Teresa. Honestly, you get flustered too easily sometimes. But, I love it."

Lisbon swatted lightly at him. "I'm going to get Melody up. Being late for school would be a bad way to start off her Monday."

"Definitely." Jane agreed, pressing a quick kiss to Lisbon's lips.

"You're awfully kissy today." Lisbon commented.

"Well excuse me for wanting to feel close." Jane teased.

Lisbon shook her head as she headed to Melody's room. She opened the door and peeked in before stepping inside, closing the door behind her. Lisbon sat down on the side of Melody's and gently shook the younger girl's shoulder. "Time to get up, Melody. You've got to go to school."

"Mmmnnnnhhhhh." Melody grumbled.

"Come on." Lisbon encouraged. "Patrick is downstairs making breakfast. It smells really yummy. It's eggs and toast and bacon."

Melody grumbled again.

"If you don't get up, I'm going to tickle your feet."

"No." Melody mumbled into her pillow.

"I will."

"Nooo."

Lisbon pulled the blankets off of Melody and Melody curled into a ball trying to get warm.

"Stooooooop." Melody complained tiredly.

Lisbon tickled one of Melody's feet, making the girl laugh and kick out.

"No, Teresa." But Melody didn't sound angry.

Lisbon leaned over and blew a raspberry on Melody's shoulder, making Melody laugh even harder.

"Stop!" Melody complained between laughter. "Teresa!"

"You awake yet?" Lisbon asked.

"Yes!" Melody rolled her eyes as she calmed down.

"I'll leave you to get dressed, then. And I'll see you downstairs for breakfast. If you're not dressed in ten minutes, I'm coming back in."

"Okay." Melody huffed.

Lisbon gave her a big kiss on the forehead before leaving the room to let Melody get dressed. She headed downstairs to help Jane with breakfast. It wasn't long before Melody joined them in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Melody." Jane said cheerfully, putting the pan in the sink.

"Morning." Melody replied with a small smile.

Lisbon placed Melody's plate on the place mat in front of Melody and then gave her a fork.

"Are we going to get my stuff?" Melody asked, taking a bite from her breakfast.

"I already got it." Lisbon told her. "It's waiting by the front door for you."

"And my skipping rope, too?"

"Your skipping rope, too." Lisbon nodded.

"Thank you."

"No problem." Lisbon kissed Melody's head as Jane set their plates down on the table and they began breakfast as well.

-Mentalist-

"You're sure you've got everything?" Lisbon asked as they all got out of the car.

"Yeah. I've got it all." Melody put her bag on as they stood on the sidewalk, Jane helping when Melody got a strap tangled.

"I hope you have a great day." Lisbon knelt in front of Melody and tucked some hair behind the girls ear.

"Thank you." Melody smiled bravely. "You, too."

Lisbon leaned forward and gave Melody a tight hug. The move was reciprocated from Melody before Lisbon pulled away so Melody could give Jane a hug as well.

"You'll pick me up from school?" Melody asked.

"Of course." Lisbon said.

Melody still seemed worried. "Promise?"

"Pinky promise." Jane held out his little finger.

Melody linked her pinky with his and they shook on it.

The school bell rang, grabbing the trios attention.

"Bye." Melody waved as she hurried to the door.

Jane and Lisbon waved back and stood at the sidewalk until they saw Melody disappear through the door of the school.

Lisbon didn't move and Jane glanced over at her. Her lips were pursed and Jane could see the sadness in her eyes.

"Teresa." He placed a hand on her back. "She's going to be okay. She's still recovering, but it's going to be okay."

Lisbon didn't reply. Just took a shaky breath.

"Okay." Jane pulled Lisbon into a hug, resting her head on his shoulder so passers by wouldn't see her tears. He knew she didn't want to cry and the fact she couldn't stop herself at the moment would only frustrate her more. "Sh…" He held her tightly and rubbed her back.

Lisbon wrapped her arms around his shoulders, more clinging to him than hugging, as he tried to console her. He more felt than heard her quiet sobs.

"It's all going to be fine." He whispered. "She's going to have a good day with Ellie and they're going to jump rope at recess. She'll feel better after. Everyone needs time to recover and that's what's happening. You don't have to worry."

Lisbon sniffled, but didn't reply otherwise.

"We'll go home now." He told her. "I'll call Cho and let him know we're not coming in. We can go home and just figure things out."

"No." Lisbon pulled away and wiped up her tears, trying to get them to stop. "We have work. We should go in. It's not fair to the team."

"Teresa, it's not fair to you that you go in. What's really going to happen if we go in? It's just paperwork. That'll be there when you're ready to go back in."

Lisbon shook her head.

"Yeah. You need to go home. We can talk about things."

"I don't want to talk about things." Lisbon argued.

"You and I both know that's not true." Jane said gently. "Ignoring how you feel doesn't make it better. It doesn't make the problem go away. We both should know that."

Lisbon just sniffled and looked away.

"I'll drive." Jane pulled Lisbon's keys out of her pocket. She didn't really care anymore. He was right. She really didn't want to go in to work, which wasn't something that happened often.

"Okay." She conceded as he stepped away to open the passenger door for her.

The car ride was very quiet, neither really wanting to say anything. They walked through the front door silently and took off their shoes.

"Would you like me to make us something else to eat?" Jane asked.

Lisbon glanced at the kitchen and shook her head.

"How about we go sit down then, hm?"

Lisbon made her way to sit down on the living room couch and Jane sat down next to her. He put his arm over her shoulders and she leaned into his side.

"What it is that you want to talk about? You were better when we woke up. What's wrong? What are you thinking?"

"I find it really upsetting that she felt the need to make up promise we would come pick her up. Like we would just disappear from her life like that."

"I know." Jane sighed. "We just need to show her that we're not going to leave."

"That's all we've ever done and she's still scared. And if she's still scared, how are we going to tell her that she's moving in here with us permanently? It'll crush her, Patrick."

"It's definitely not going to be easy." Jane kissed her head. Truth be told, he was dreading the moment they had to tell Melody just as much as Lisbon was. "It's important to James, though."

"He should be better by now. He shouldn't need to move into a care centre."

"I agree with all of that. We're not alone though. We even made a new friend at the hospital, remember? Anna? We'll give her a call and take her up on that Saturday park idea. That'll cheer us up."

"I hope so." Lisbon sighed.

"It will." Jane assured her.

-Mentalist-

"Teresa! Patrick!" Melody called to them as she ran over, glad to see they had made it to pick her up.

"Hi." Lisbon wrapped Melody up in a tight hug. She had recovered from her earlier mood. "Did you have a good day?"

"Yeah." Melody nodded.

"I'm glad to hear that." Lisbon kissed her head before Jane swooped in to pick Melody up and spin her around, causing Melody to laugh.

"You ready to go home now?" Jane asked, placing Melody back on her feet.

"Yeah. Is Daddy at home yet?"

"No, not yet, sweetie." Lisbon shook her head as her heart started to ache again.

Melody's face fell. "Oh."

"But, you know, what?" Jane put in. "We're going to call Anna. Remember her? Lillian's mom? We're going to call her an see if we can all go to the park on Saturday. And I'm sure your dad will be able to go too. And I'm sure we'll be able to visit him tomorrow. We'll take some food and maybe have a little picnic."

"Okay." Melody gave him an unconvincing smile.

"Hey." Jane tipped Melody's chin up with his finger. "He's not going to leave you, Melody. None of us are. We've told you that from the start. How about we make him some cookies today? And we can take them when we visit tomorrow. He said he wanted some cookies, right?"

Melody smiled and nodded.

Jane opened the back door of the car so Melody could get in. "Then I guess we have to get to the grocery store."

Melody climbed in and did up her seatbelt.

Jane made sure her limbs were clear of the door before shutting it.

"We still need to talk to her soon about moving." Lisbon told Jane quietly once the door was shut.

"I know. But for now, lets just make some cookies and pretend we don't have to. We have to sort that out with James before we tell her."

Lisbon nodded and headed over to the drivers side so they could go to the grocery store.

Author's Note: That's it for now! Thanks for reading! Sorry it wasn't super long, but it's a little bit longer than the last one. I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review! :3