A/n Had the urge to write some Jisbon and new baby fluff so here you go. Enjoy!
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New Parents
When she awakes from her nap there is a space in bed beside her. They definitely did fall asleep together, or that was the aim anyway, to get a bit of shuteye to make up for the lack of rest the night before. Serves them right for bragging about how easy parenthood has been so far, their son has been an angel with his sleep schedule… until last night when all hell broke loose.
Jane seemed to take it all in his stride, but then again, he has done it before, whilst she found the endless crying a little frustrating as well as worrying. The stress of trying to work out why he was crying so much, was he sick? Her husband calmed her down and said it happens, they checked the infant's temperature just to make sure. All normal.
This afternoon when they put baby Peter Jane down for his nap, they both jumped at the chance to have one themselves. They snuggled up on the bed and drifted off very quickly. A quick glance at her bedside clock reveals to Lisbon that it was only an hour ago when they hit the sheets and her partner is nowhere to be seen. He may be a pro at running on little to no respite but even he looked exhausted before they headed to bed.
Their son is a little over two months old now and it has been a learning curve, but a wonderful one. He is adorable with dark hair which is showing signs of curling at the back of the head and bright blue eyes, you can certainly see that he is a Jane anyway. They may be biased but they're fairly sure that he is the cutest baby in Texas.
Somewhat reluctantly due to her tiredness, the new mother gets out of bed in search for her husband. A quick glance into the nursery as she passes, and she notices her baby missing from his crib making her quickly deduce the reason behind Patrick's absence. Even when he cannot sleep, he still tends to stay in bed with wife, cuddling her close to him because any opportunity to be close to her he takes.
She finds her two boys in the living room and she cannot help but coo at the sight. A topless Jane is dozing on the couch with Peter also snoozing whilst lying on his father's chest. He is only in his diaper with his onesie having been discarded to the armchair near them along with her husband's shirt. Skin-to-skin contact tends to help the baby during times of distress so she can only assume he woke and started screaming the place down once more. She is surprised that it didn't rise her, but she really was drained, and her partner also must have been quick to sort things out.
Lisbon could watch them for hours, her heart swelling at the sweet picture in front of her, but the moisture starting gather on her tee from her breasts tells her that it is feeding time for her baby. She cusses under her breath at the mess on the fabric, before she tiptoes over to the two figures on the couch and gently picks up the sleeping new-born, making both sleeping boys stir.
The curly-haired man immediately brings a hand to his chest as his brow furrows in panic. "Patrick it is okay. I've got him." She soothes, and lovingly runs a hand down his cheek. He smiles, both out of reassurance and also adoration for the contact.
With one eye open, he sits up to give her some room to sit at the other end of the couch where she immediately settles and then pulls her top of her head skilfully with one hand, whilst her other holds Peter carefully. It isn't long before he is feeding, and she settles back against the soft couch cushions.
The first feed wasn't this smooth. They were still in the hospital and she was incredibly nervous because of the worry that he wouldn't take to it well and there was also the audience. Her husband and a nurse who was there to "guide her through it" but that just gave her performance anxiety. She remembers how her hands quivered as she tried to free herself, eventually her partner stepped in to help which was a relief. Almost as big as a relief when actually the feeding went okay.
For the first week she faffed around with clothes, pulling her top up, pushing it down… now she simply discards the items of clothing easily without a second of thought. She is no longer embarrassed. "Did you sleep?" Jane asks, his voice thick with fatigue.
"A little. Not much." She replies with a yawn for good measure.
He gets up off the sofa to put his shirt back on which was draped over the arm of the adjacent chair. She watches him button it up surprisingly smoothly considering his tiredness, it is almost entrancing, before he reaches down to pick up her tee off the floor that he then places beside her. "Do you want a juice?"
What she wants is a coffee, but she already had one first thing this morning and she is meant to limit her caffeine intake whilst breastfeeding. Juice was her go to replacement whilst pregnant. "Yes please."
"Orange or cranberry?"
"I think I finished the cranberry."
"I picked up some more yesterday."
She grins at his, "What would I do without you?"
Lisbon isn't quite sure when he had chance to pop to the store yesterday, she doesn't remember him leaving the house, but he obviously did. The days have very much been rolling into one since she gave birth, mainly thanks to the strange sleep pattern that comes with being a new mom. She really needs to get out more and she makes a mental note to suggest a walk to the park tomorrow.
When he returns, he is holding two glasses, one filled with water and the other a red juice, he places the latter on the coffee table in front of her before resuming in sitting on the couch where he was minutes before. "He feeding well?"
"I think so." She peers down to her son who looks content as he suckles. "He is a guzzle-guts like his dad."
"Means he will grow up big and strong." She not-so-discreetly scans his body with a raised brow that is accompanied by a teasing glint in her eye and immediately his jaw is on the floor. "Are you saying that I'm not big and strong?"
"I think an hour after I squeezed a human out of me, I could have still beat you in an arm-wrestling match." Jane acts mock-offended at this, but he knows that she is just playing. He is also very much okay with her being stronger than him, it has always turned him on a little because he loves it when she gets all authoritarian on him.
They make idle chitchat whilst Peter consumes one of his many meals in a day. Lisbon tells her partner about how Grace and Wayne would like to fly to meet the infant, she appreciates the thought, and she does miss them, but the couple decide that they need a bit more time to get properly on top of the parenthood thing first. She is sure that they will understand, they have kids of their own.
Her husband is gossiping about something he witnessed at the store yesterday when their baby starts to splutter slightly, signalling that he has had enough. "Let me take him." He reaches over and carefully retrieves his son from his wife before he begins the winding process that he believes that he's now a pro at. He is so gentle as he pats the infant's back, coaxing any wind out of him. "Come on Peter, burp for daddy." He murmurs making her chuckle while she pulls her t-shirt over her head.
"He isn't going to do it." She taunts.
"He will." Her hecklings turn into laughs when she spots the unamused expression on the new-born's face as his dad continues to pat his back. "If he doesn't then he will get stomach-ache… please kid I'm doing this for you."
A small belch comes a few minutes later making the brunette almost choke on her cranberry juice; mainly because of the cheer of joy that elicits from her partner. "Do you need me to wind you too?" He teases and she rolls her eyes.
"No, but you could give me a massage later if you wanted."
"Anything for you."
They sit in a comfortable silence, him with Peter on his lap and her nursing the glass of juice, listening to the sound of a storm brewing outside and the little squeaks their son makes. She loves to watch the two of them together, Jane always seems so enthralled with whatever small movement the infant makes. It is crazy how quickly babies develop. When he was born, baby Peter couldn't even hold his head up yet now, only two months on, he enjoys being upright, leaning against his father's chest so that he is able to watch the world go by.
He shares the same look of wonder in his eyes as the mentalist does, their eyes a matching shade of blue, and Lisbon knows that her son is going to be a heartbreaker.
A foul aroma starts to fill Patrick's nostrils, and he crinkles his nose in disgust, an action she notices, and she is immediately laughing. It became an unspoken agreement that whoever was holding their son when he drops a bomb in his diaper will be the one to deal with it, and so far, he seems to be having to do that job the most. "How can something so sweet produce something so disgusting?" His question is a rhetorical one as he gets to his feet whilst cradling Peter carefully.
She watches her two boys pass her and decides to join them because over the past couple of months, she has found being alone difficult. Suffering with separation anxiety wasn't something she was expecting and seems so unlike her, but she has been told by her husband, by Grace and by her doctor that it is all very normal, so she has learnt to accept it. Even if it does make her feel a little weak.
Jane was so excited and proud when he showed his wife the finished nursery. It was another one of his projects, like the whole house was, and he really did do a fantastic job. It seems that anything he applies himself to he excels at.
It is dinosaur themed, with three of the walls painted an off-white whilst the fourth is a light green with stencils of different dinosaurs coloured in a darker shade. It looks pretty classy with the green and white wooden furniture that he acquired from the best stores in the state, wanting nothing but the best for his child. There is also a big, plush dinosaur toy in the corner which looks to be a triceratops but sat on its back legs like a rabbit could.
She was slightly overwhelmed when she saw it for the first time because everything was perfect. The thought he put into it was obvious and it made her enthusiastic about what was to come. They had stood in the doorway for a few moments, him stood behind her with his arms snaked around her body to hold her bump lovingly, just soaking everything in.
In the nursery there is also a mirror built into the wardrobe door and whilst he works at replacing Peter's diaper on the changing table, Lisbon cannot help studying her reflection in it. She looks shattered, and her figure is still nowhere near how it was pre-pregnancy and as someone who had to spend her life fit to chase after bad guys, it is taking a toll on her.
Absentmindedly, she lets her hand ghost over her stomach, an action which is noticed by the blonde out of the corner of his eye. He frowns. "Teresa." On hearing her name, she turns to face him as he seals Peter's diaper who is gurgling at his parents happily. "You're beautiful. You know that right?"
Thinking about it, he is worried that he hasn't been as attentive with her as he should have. The new baby has taken up a lot of his focus and although he is always marvelling at her beauty, he doesn't always say it out loud.
Teresa doesn't know she is crying until she feels a tear slide down her cheek. Immediately, she is wiping it away and adverting her gaze, suddenly experiencing embarrassment about the unexpected display of emotion. "Ah, hormones." She states, obviously frustrated.
"Hey." He softly gets her attention whilst scooping up his son in his arms. "You're beautiful." If he keeps saying it, then maybe she will believe him.
With the infant supported using one arm, he uses the other to engulf her in a hug lovingly. She takes the opportunity to kiss her baby on the side of his head because in this position she is in the perfect spot to do just that.
They stay like this for a few minutes, enjoying the security of being so close together, it is comforting and shows her why these changes to her figure are all worth it. There was a time when she gave up on the thought of ever having kids, she didn't think she was going to get the opportunity, but here they are. The Janes.
She does relax in his embrace; this whole situation reminding him of something similar that happened in his past. "Angela she… had some body image issues after giving birth to Charlotte." He doesn't talk about them much, mainly because he finds it too painful so when he does, she always listens intently. "She didn't even want me to see her naked. I-" He pauses momentarily to find the words he is searching for. "I need you to know that you are gorgeous, and I am the luckiest man in the world."
It is the truth, he isn't just saying what he thinks she wants to hear, she knows that. She can tell when he is being sincere. "Thank you." She murmurs, inches away from Peter's face as she watches him start to doze.
Babies live such trouble-free lives. They sleep up to seventeen hours a day, only wake to be fed and cleaned whilst having (usually) two adults to wait on them hand and foot. He certainly has his parents wrapped around his tiny fingers. "How about I run you a bath?" Jane suggests.
"What about Peter?"
"I will put him in his crib for a bit, he will be fine."
Lisbon tilts her head up to look him straight in the eye when she asks, "If he nods off…, will you join me?" He grins at this; they've shared quite a few baths together and when they do it occupies his thoughts for a while after. There is something so exquisitely intimate about sharing a bath with the person you love.
"Of course." He dips his head to kiss her sweetly, an affectionate act that gives them both a joyful boost. He believes that kissing her will never get old, it will always bring him a thrill and she would happily agree with him. With Patrick it isn't just a kiss, it is a symbol of their eternal love. Once they separate, she plants a soft kiss on the top of her son's head as well.
They've enjoyed the blissful bubble they've been in since the arrival of their son. Seeing anyone else apart from the two people they hold most dear has been a rarity because they've not needed anyone else. They have each other, to care for and to love. Plus, Peter provides more entertainment than anyone else they know. Anything he does amuses his parents to no end, and they will both take disrupted sleep for that. Any day.
She lies on the bed whilst he goes to start to run the bath, with their son now snoozing again in his crib. Patrick hunts the bathroom cupboard for his wife's favourite bubble bath, a calming blend of lavender and waterlily. He pours a generous amount under the running taps and is almost hypnotised by the purple liquid swirling in the water. It smells divine.
He is only gone for a couple of minutes but when he returns to the bedroom, he sees his darling wife sleeping on top of the sheets, making him lightly laugh with a shake of his head. "Oh Teresa." He mutters before wandering over to the chest of drawers to retrieve a blanket which he tosses over her sleeping form. He then leans down and gently kisses her forehead before returning to the bathroom to turn off the taps.
He will let her sleep; she definitely needs it.
A/n another author's note haha… but it is just an FYI. I picked the name Peter after Pete Barsocky. Thank you for reading.