CHAPTER 3 – SUNSHINE ALL AROUND

Teresa awoke to the sound of crinkling bags and clanging silverware. The sun pierced her eyes as she opened them. 'What time is it?' She grabbed her phone and squinted at it. Almost 11 am, how did she sleep that long. She sat up in bed and looked around suddenly remembering that she'd shared a bed with Jane last night. That's when she saw what was causing all the ruckus… Jane had brought in a couple of shopping bags and was moving the room service cart towards the bed.

"Good morning, sleepyhead… hungry?" asked Jane brightly.

He lifted the metal lid and revealed a full breakfast with toasts, eggs, bacon, and fruits. Her tummy grumbled in response.

"Humm," said Teresa in agreement.

Jane prepared a plate and gave it to her in bed.

"Wow, breakfast in bed!" Teresa said on a chuckle.

Jane exaggerated a bow and said, "I aim to please." Then he sat on the bed with his breakfast.

"What's in the bags?" Teresa asked through a mouth of toast.

"Resort appropriate clothing," Jane said with a grin. "I don't think my suits are suitable for the weather or the occasion."

"This will be interesting. I've only ever seen you in prison attire or suits really," said Lisbon.

Jane shrugged and took a sip of tea. "The clerk insisted on helping me with 'my look'. I hope I can pull off," Jane said with emphasis on 'my look'. "She thinks my style if very outdated and boring – her words exactly." Jane shrugged.

Lisbon didn't know what to say… so she just smiled and crinkled her nose. She didn't agree with the sales clerk, but she didn't know how to say that without revealing how good she thinks he looks in his suits. She hated to admit it, but it made him look very sexy and created a nice package.

After breakfast, Teresa took over the bathroom to get ready. Her phone had been vibrating with texts from her brothers. They were all heading to the pools and wanted her to come along. It hadn't occurred to her until now that she would have to wear a swimsuit around Jane and it was making her feel… shy… yes, that was the feeling. Which was strange because she'd never felt that way about wearing a bikini before. She decided to not follow that thought further because she didn't like to explore her wide range of 'feelings' for Jane. They'd been through so much together and over the years she'd become attached to him in a way that she couldn't verbalize, not even to herself.

Jane was patiently waiting for Lisbon as she got ready. He put away the new clothes he'd bought this morning in one of the drawers, but couldn't change until she came out, so he laid out on the bed. So far, everything was going well. When he realized they would have to share the bed, he thought for sure Lisbon would freak out and run. But she took it in stride. He couldn't believe his luck that Marcus wasn't able to make it and that he was able to convince her to let him come instead. He was already enjoying his time with her. It almost felt like the old days. He hoped he could restore the rhythm of their relationship – pre-FBI. Things had been so off between them lately and with Marcus in the picture, he hadn't been able to get her alone to just talk like they used to. Teresa still thinks that she can keep secrets from him, but he knows about the job offer in D.C. and that Pike asked her to move in with him. He should be happy for her, Pike is a good man and she deserves to be happy – she deserves the best. He just wished that her happy ending was not in D.C., but in Austin, so he could still have her around. And, he didn't understand why she hadn't talked to him about it yet. He closed his eyes and started thinking about all the angles again. The plan for this week so far is to spend time with her and to figure out a way that they can both get what they want – but he still had no idea what to do.

Teresa walked out into the main room to grab her swimsuit and found Jane lounging on the bed with his eyes closed, his arm behind his head. She paused and watched him… she had thought that over the years she would have become immune to his good looks – but she wasn't. It had been her guilty pleasure to watch him sleep on the sofa when they were still at the CBI.

"Can I help you with something Lisbon?" asked Jane through a smirk. He didn't open his eyes or move from his position.

Teresa was startled. "I – I… thought you'd fallen asleep," she said as she cleared her throat nervously.

"Almost! You've been in there for ages," said Jane. "So, what's on the schedule today? I could hear your phone vibrating non-stop."

"My brothers are all heading down to the pool. They want me to go hang out," said Lisbon unenthusiastically.

Jane opened his eyes then and smiled at her. "Well, that sounds like fun. The whole Lisbon clan together. We should go join them…" – Jane sat up. – "and don't look so glum. I promise it will be alright. That's why I'm here."

"You'll come?" asked Teresa.

"Of course! I wouldn't miss it!" Jane said with a wink.

Teresa couldn't stop sneaking looks at him since he came out of the bathroom dressed in blue patterned board swim trunks and a white rash shirt. He was even wearing flip flops. Forget the suit, turns out he looked good in anything he wore. He had asked her what she thought when he had come out and she told him that he looked nice. She had put a light sundress over her bikini so she wouldn't have to deal with whatever she thought Jane would say to her if she was just wearing her bikini.

Outside, they had a little tiff over who would be driving the golf cart – but Jane won the coin toss, which she knows was rigged, but she couldn't prove it. So here she was, hanging on for her dear life as Jane navigated the paths too fast for her taste. He was laughing at her 'yelps' when he cornered and came too close to some pedestrians. A few minutes later, they arrived at their destination.

"I'm driving back," said Teresa matter-of-factly as Jane gave her a side-squeeze.

"You're perfectly fine."

Teresa underestimated the size of the pool area and they had to scout three different areas before they found her brothers set-up near the kiddie section. This was not what she had in mind when they'd invited her. The water was no more than four-foot-deep from what she could tell and also featured a small splash area and a water play structure. This was going to be a long day. Jane, on the other hand, didn't seem to be put off by it, he seemed happy.

When they finally walked up to her family's location, her brothers immediately got up and started hugging her, followed by her sister-in-law and her nieces and nephews. Teresa introduced Jane to everyone and found some space on the lawn to sit with her family. Jane was the main attraction for the next few minutes. Her oldest niece Annabeth and her brother Tommy had already met him, so the conversation flowed easily. Stan and Jimmy were also asking Jane all kinds of questions in rapid-fire – she hadn't realized how much she had told her brothers about Jane over the years. Jane was handling the attention with ease. Then, her sister-in-law plopped her six-month-old nephew Paul on her lap and Teresa panicked as she usually did when they handed her a baby – why did they keep doing that, she didn't know anything about babies. Jane saw her discomfort and offered to take the baby and she passed him over happily. Jane started bouncing the baby on his legs and received lots of drooling giggles for his efforts. Then he passed her the baby again and motioned for her to do the same. To her surprise, her nephew starting giggling for her too and she found the sound addictive once he got going. Pretty soon the kids were climbing on Jane, hungry for a new adult to entertain them and give them attention. Before she knew it, Jane was being hauled off in the play area by Stan's three older kids; Jason, Annie, and Joey.

The next couple of hours passed nicely. Jane spent lots of time playing with the kids chasing them in the splash area and around the play structure. Both Karen and Stan looked happy for the break from entertaining their kids and being able to chat with the adults. Teresa was enjoying her time with her family catching up and there was very little arguing.

Jane sat down beside her, panting a bit from chasing Joey back to their location. Being just 3 years old, he kept running off and he needed close supervision. Karen thanked him.

"Are you worn out yet?" asked Teresa.

"Oh yeah! He's a runner. I forgot how fast little kids are. They can cover a lot of ground on those stubby legs," Jane said with a half-grin, squinting in the sun.

Annabeth came over and sat down beside Teresa. "Auntie Reese… you have to promise me to say yes!"

"Say yes to what?" asked Teresa cautiously.

"To my favor…" said Annabeth.

"I can't just say 'yes' unless I know what I'm saying, 'yes' to sweetie."

"Oh fine. Dad won't let me go parasailing alone and he won't go with me. Can you come… please?" Annabeth said with pleading eyes.

Teresa's eyes darted to Jane for help. "Parasailing. I don't know Annie. That does not look like fun for me. Maybe uncle Stan or Jimmy can go with you."

"I already asked. They won't go. Please, please, please – can you come? I really want to try it."

Teresa felt cornered. She didn't want to say no to Annie. Her young niece had already had many struggles in her life and she wanted to be a good role model for her.

"Okay. I'll go. When is this supposed to happen?" asked Lisbon feeling queasy.

"Tomorrow morning!" said Annabeth jumping to her feet. "You're the best, auntie Reese!"

Teresa's fake smile was frozen in place as she realized what she'd just agreed to. Then she felt a warm hand take hers and squeeze.

"You'll be fine. It's perfectly safe and you'll have a good time with your niece. You're doing a good thing," said Jane. Then he let go of her hand and she felt a strange void.

Over the years, Jane had given her some forms of physical affection, but it was always brief and more often had left her confused. They were friends – but when he touched her, it always gave her butterflies, and sometimes when he looked at her, she thought she saw something there in his eyes, but then he would say something that would make her feel like she had imagined the whole thing. Which is why, she reminded herself, that she should stop thinking about Patrick Jane because she was never going to figure him out. She should focus on her relationship with Marcus, that was real.

Marcus – she'd hadn't even thought of him since their last conversation when she'd arrived last night. She should be thinking about him all the time – she's supposed to be in love with him and that's how it should be. Instead, she was watching Jane play in the pool with her brothers and their kids. He caught her gaze and smiled at her as he pushed the wet hair from his forehead. Why did he always know when she was looking at him. He waved at her and she waved back.

Karen appeared at her side and sat down beside her. "Teresa… I have to say, I never understood why you put up with Patrick. The way you talked about him and the headaches he caused you over the years… but now that I've met him in the flesh, I get it," said Karen with a conspiring smile.

"Get what?" said Teresa.

"He's very attractive! And so charming. Why aren't you with him? You two would be so good together."

Teresa choked on her sip of margarita. She and Karen had never had typical girlfriend talk and she was being so direct that it took her by surprise.

"We're just friends and I'm with Marcus, remember?" said Teresa tersely.

Karen's face reddened. She opened her mouth to say something then closed it. Then she looked down at her son sleeping in her arms and then back at her.

"What, Karen?" asked Teresa impatiently.

"It's just… nothing. Forget I said anything. It's not my place," Karen said.

Now Teresa felt bad. She didn't mean to browbeat Karen into silence – she liked her. She was a good person. "I'm sorry, Karen. It's me. We are just friends, though. That's all," Teresa said apologetically.

Another one bites the dust. Jane had that effect on women… he got noticed. It didn't matter if he was sporting a suit, a tuxedo, or the homeless look… women young and old were attracted to him and he just had to turn on a bit of charm and they melted. And as much as she wished she was immune, she wasn't. She sometimes wondered if she could resist Jane if he ever made a move on her.

Her mind went back to all those letters he wrote to her during his exile. She had thought about Patrick Jane a lot over those two years. Trying to analyze her feelings for him… wondering if he had any for her. Making herself crazy really because she never thought that she would see him again which made all the agonizing over his letters and their meaning useless anyway. Then, he just reappeared, and just like that, he had turned her life upside down again.

She still remembers seeing him in the conference room for the first time in two years. He looked like a beach bum that had just thrown on a suit. His curly hair was longer and blonder, he was sporting a short beard and a nice tan, and his blue eyes danced with joy… and he'd looked so handsome. Then he'd hugged her so tight and his scent had washed over her, and she realized just how much she'd missed him all those years. He was looking at her differently and she had felt tingly all over. But then it all went sour when she found out that he was trying to control her life by making her work with him at the FBI; she'd been so furious with him, they had argued and ever since then, things had been off between them.

When he offered to come with her, she thought that it would be a good time for them to reconnect and maybe find their friendship again and to tell him that she was going to D.C. Whether she liked it or not, that she could describe it or not, she and Jane had an attachment to each other and she was finding it hard to tell him that she was leaving although he had left her plenty of times in the past.

And so far, it was a good decision. He was being so amazing with her family and being the same old Jane with her, it was hard to remember that just days ago they were barely talking. Which she acknowledged probably had a lot do with her decision to distance herself from him and the uncomfortable feeling she'd been experiencing around him. He made her feel off-kilter. If she was going to work for the FBI, she didn't want to be Jane's sidekick. She had to prove herself without his interference. It wasn't easy because his couch was directly behind her desk, so she chose to work in one of the many conference rooms when possible. When she started dating Marcus, their interactions naturally reduced much more except for when they had to work a case together.

Stan was calling her to come join them in the pool. She had been avoiding taking off her sundress all afternoon, but I guess she should get it over with. She gestured that she was coming and got up to go.

Jane's legs were like cement posts when he saw Lisbon heading towards them in her teeny tiny pink bikini. He couldn't have guessed what she was wearing under her sundress and it felt like a sucker punch to his chest. She was stunning, and he felt a kick of lust – something he hadn't experienced in a long time. He knew he was staring, but he couldn't stop – this was going to be a problem that he was not expecting. He would have to get this feeling under control – Teresa was with Marcus and not his to have. She deserved better than Patrick Jane – not that she was all that interested anyway. There'd always been an undercurrent of attraction between them, appreciation might describe it better, but Teresa was off-limits. She was too special and important to him to take any chance on losing her by pursuing her romantically. He needed her safe, happy, and in his life. It was the third part that he was here to figure out. Little Annie jumped at him from the side of the pool and he caught her before she went under – thankful for the distraction as Lisbon entered the pool.

The water was cool as she went down the steps and it was giving her goosebumps. The way Jane was looking at her when she was approaching the pool had made her feel overheated. Turns out Jane was a normal guy after all. She knew male appreciation when she saw it and Jane seemed to like what he saw and for some reason she found herself wanting more of that kind of attention from him. Good thing her brothers and their kids were in the pool with her and she could distract herself from doing something stupid like flirting with Jane.