CHAPTER 6 – PLAYING HOUSE

It was chaos – how could her brother just leave? He set up the two playpens and the kiddie air mattresses. He explained all the feedings and snacks and bedtime routines. Everything was going well until he announced to the kids that he was leaving them there. The baby was crying in her arms, Annie was hanging off her dad's leg saying 'no, no' as loud as she could, Joey was just standing on the armchair with his hand in his mouth crying 'don't go daddy' while hyperventilating and the other two just looked scared. Stan peeled Annie off his leg and closed the door with a wave. He was smiling… how could he smile while his children were in this much distress?

Teresa turned around in shock and looked at Jane. He was holding her 20-month-old nephew Brian who chose that moment to start crying too. She didn't know what to do. Jane put Brian in the playpen and went for the door.

Teresa asked in a panicked voice, "Where are you going?"

"To get the pushy thing, the – the stroller, your sister-in-law put them in there when they were crying at the pool. Can't hurt to do the same, right?" said Jane frowning.

He tried to bring it in, but it was too big. "Okay – hand me the babies one at a time and I will strap them in." – He motioned with his arms to pass Paul to him. – "C'mon, c'mon – let's get them in this thing."

Teresa passed him the baby – he screamed harder the moment his bum touched the seat. Jane just kept strapping him in. 'Next' he said, gesturing again. She passed him Brian. He was having none of it – Jane asked her to hold him down while he tied him in. There was another jump seat on the front of the contraption that he remembered seeing Joey sitting in. Teresa passed him the 3-year-old and Jane got him in and tied up. Then he grabbed the stroller and started walking them up and down the path in front of the hut. People were staring as the boys intensified their crying. Jane looked desperately at her not know what else to do and that's when she remembered her brother saying that would be hungry soon. Teresa rummaged through the baby bag and found snacks and their sippy cups and brought them out to Jane. The two older kids followed her out hanging off of her like she was leaving them. The babies calmed down once they got food in their bellies.

Jason saw the private beach, that was exclusive to the hut renters and asked to go. Teresa thought that it was a good idea and Jane agreed, so they headed to the beach. It turned out to be a fun outing. Teresa was having fun picking seashells with her niece Annie and nephews Jason and Brian. They were so fascinated by the simplest of things. She looked over to see how Jane was doing with Joey and Paul… he seemed okay. Joey was very active, and Jane was just following him around holding his hand while he held Paul in his arms. It seemed so effortless for him to slip into the role of childminder – she felt awkward around her nieces and nephews and it was only because Jane was with her that she was feeling more comfortable around them. He saw her looking at him and he smiled and nodded in her direction – unable to wave because his hands were full. That smile, it always made her feel mushy inside.

Jane was watching Joey closely because he kept wanting to put rocks in his mouth, for what reason he didn't know. Paul was just happy to chill in arms and watch his brother, which was perfect for him. At one point, the little rascal decided to plop down and play with sticks in the sand and he took the opportunity to set Paul down beside him so he could touch the sand and play as well. He felt it was safe to watch Lisbon for a minute – she was talking excitedly with her niece and nephews about something they had found. She was laughing and holding Brian, the 20-month old in her arms. He'd never thought of her as a mother or even considered if that was something she wanted. He wondered if that was why she was moving so fast with Pike – so she could have a family with him. For some reason, that thought was uncomfortable for him. She looked so beautiful right now, so vibrant. She would be a great mother if that's what she wanted… she was patient, forgiving, supportive, and loving. Jane snapped out of thoughts when Paul started making a weird sound… oh no, he was eating sand. He refocused his mental energy on keeping the boys out of trouble.

When 7 pm arrived, they headed inside and looked at the schedule.

"Apparently, it's bath time," Teresa said with pain on her features. "How are we going to do that?"

The next hour was crazy… Jason didn't want to take a shower or put on his pajamas and Annie didn't want to take a bath but agreed to put on her pajamas. Teresa was proud once she got the two older kids in her bed watching cartoons with a snack. Now they had to figure out how to bathe the three youngest because the jetted tub was too deep, and they wouldn't be able to hold onto the kids once they were in there. Jane came up with a great idea… he put on his swim trunks and got in the bath with all three kids. Teresa got on her knees with the baby soap and proceeded to wash all of the kids one by one while Jane held them up.

They were both feeling a bit more relaxed now that the kids were contained and not crying. The babies were happy in the water and she had to admit that Jane looked so adorable playing with them. The babies were fascinated by him pouring water from a cup and they kept trying to grab the water stream. She was surprisingly having fun. She couldn't get enough of watching Jane at this moment, he was so sweet and gentle with them and it was making her melt inside. When they did something that he found amazing, he would look at her to see if she saw it too and he'd smile. He was so cute and sexy that she had the strongest urge to bend down and kiss his smiling mouth. That shocked her. That's when she realized what she'd been hiding from herself all this time – she had feelings for Patrick Jane. She got up from her position and went to the mirror and stared at her reflection. No, no – this couldn't be. But why else did she want to kiss him and was feeling attracted to him? It would explain what she'd been going through lately and why she wasn't in love with Marcus. At least now she knew what she was dealing with, although it didn't change anything… Jane wasn't available. She turned and looked at the wedding ring that's been on his hand all the time she'd known him… she still had to go to D.C.

Teresa swallowed hard. Time to move this along before she made a fool of herself. She reluctantly signaled that it was time to move to the next step, which was getting the kids out of the tub. She started with Joey and felt like a pro when she got him in bed with the other two kids without incident. Then she grabbed Paul and that's when things went wrong. She went back into the bathroom with him in her arms.

"Jane. I can't figure out the diaper situation. It doesn't work," Teresa said helplessly.

Jane looked up at her and pursed his lips. "I might be able to figure it out… but it's been a long time."

Jane carefully got out of the tub with Brian and wrapped him in a towel. They both headed towards the playpen with the changing table attached. Teresa put Paul back down and took Brian as Jane assessed the situation.

"It's the wrong size – too big. I think this one is for Brian… do you see any more diapers in the bag?" Jane asked.

"Found it… this one looks smaller than that one," said Teresa, relieved.

Jane put the diaper on and finished dressing Paul and passed him to Teresa. Then he diapered Brian and tried to dress him, but something was wrong.

"It's too tight. I can't tie the snaps," said Jane with frustration. Teresa came closer with Paul in her arms. She'd had to roll the sleeves of his pajama two times, so he could use his hands and realized that they had switched the boy's pajamas. Jane moaned.

"Please tell me there's something else that we can put on him – that we don't have to redress Paul," Jane asked pleadingly.

Teresa found another pajama that fit Brian and they left Paul in the oversized one. Teresa followed the instructions for the bottles and sippy cup for the 3 younger kids and put the two babies in their playpens one by one with their bottles. She told the other three to get in their air beds and that's when all the chaos started up again… they freaked out. Jason said that he wasn't sleeping on the floor where sharks could eat him and from there, the other two had decided the same thing, and then Joey started crying and in turn set-off the two babies crying.

Jane and Teresa looked at each other feeling hopeless. Jane tried to calm the babies, but Brian kept throwing his bottle and asking to get picked up. Teresa was trying to calm Joey who was hyperventilating again.

"Okay… I'm going to put the two babies back in the stroller and put them to sleep in there," said Jane, rubbing his face in frustration. "Can you handle those three?"

"Yeah… okay – that's a good idea," said Teresa still trying to console Joey.

Two hours later, Jane knocked softly on the door. Teresa came to help him with the sleeping babies and put them back down in their respective playpens. The three older kids were all asleep in the bed. Jane pointed at the blow-up beds and signaled that he was going to sleep there… Teresa had no idea how he was going to make that happen, but she was too exhausted to help him. She just collapsed back in bed with the three other kids – it was only ten, but it felt like a whole other day had passed.

Teresa woke up feeling pinned down… turns out Joey was on top of her head. She pulled him back down to the middle of the bed and went to the bathroom to pee. It was 3:42 am. When she came out, she checked on Jane and he was huddled into a ball with both his hands between his knees and she noticed that the way he was sleeping on the little beds, that he couldn't get the covers over himself. She grabbed the throw from the bed and covered him – she saw him relax his position – he'd been cold. She got back into bed and felt the oblivion of sleep take over again.

Ouch! Teresa was clawing out of the darkness of sleep – something was hitting her. She was so confused. Ow! She opened her heavy lids to see what was going on. Then she remembered the three kids in bed with her… it was Joey again. He had somehow inverted himself in the bed to where his feet were now near her face and he had kicked her three times in the face. She pushed his tiny feet out of the way and got out of bed. It was barely 6 am and the light had started to stream in a bit. She dashed for the curtains that she forgot to close before it woke up the kids. Then she panicked… the babies were not in their beds… she looked frantically around and then saw them with Jane. They must have woken up in the night… half of Brian's little body was on Jane's chest and the other half was on the mattress with Jane's arm holding him and Paul was on the air mat beside Jane sleeping on his belly with Jane's hand on top of his back.

Last night was tough and he didn't complain once. He's not even their uncle… but he stood by her and got it done. She went to go back to bed but instead decided to lay down beside Paul on the other little air mat and put her hand on Jane's. He didn't move, and she closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation of holding his hand for a moment even if it was when he was asleep.

An hour or so later, Joey woke up and started shouting 'It's morning, wake up sunshine'. Sounded like something Karen said to wake up the kids. It was effective though because all the kids woke up. Paul stared at her and realized she wasn't his mom and started crying. Jane woke up, startled by his cry, and looked around confused. Then he rubbed Brian's hair to see if he was okay and looked around to where Paul was. When he saw her he smiled brightly.

"G' morning…" said Jane trying to sit up with Brian. He moaned as his back cracked.

A little while later, Teresa and Jane had managed to get all the kids dressed and out the door to go to the breakfast buffet. The kids were hungry again… cereal hadn't been enough. She texted Stan to let him know to meet them there. The walk was a little long for the older kids and they refused to walk further. Jane ended up having to carry Jason on his shoulders while he pushed the stroller and Teresa carried Annie on her shoulders. By the time they arrived at the buffet, they were exhausted. They got all the kids settled at the table and then Jane went to get food for all of them. He had a pained look on his face as he walked away, and it was obvious that his back was hurting from carrying a 7-year-old on his shoulders.

Teresa couldn't believe that her brother and sister-in-law did this every day. It was exhausting. She understood now, why her brother had run out yesterday with a big smile never looking back. She was going to feel the same way when he came to get his kids. She watched as Jane was feeding Paul his baby food – he was getting more on his face than in his mouth. Teresa was no better trying to get Brian to eat some eggs. Joey was wearing his breakfast from head to toe and she was too tired to care, and the two older ones were finished and arguing non-stop over the coloring crayons. Why did people have more than one kid… she could understand the first one – they may not have known what they were getting into… but to have more – that's crazy. Why?

Teresa looked at Jane across the table and in her sleep-deprived state felt brazen to ask him, "Jane… how come you only had one child? Did you want more?"

Jane made eye contact with her and looked surprised by her question. He shrugged and made a face. She wasn't sure if he would respond to her question and she was feeling foolish for asking now.

He blew out a breath and said, "Ahh… Angela wanted lots of kids. At least six. We were just kids when we met, and I would have agreed to anything she said at the time because I didn't know better." – Jane paused as if to consider what he said next. This was the most information Teresa had ever heard about his personal life with Angela. – "We'd been married for a year, living in a small rented trailer and living hand to mouth. Angela was happy – she didn't mind living in a trailer park, but I did. I wanted out. I had no education and no prospects, so I was hustling and gambling to pay our bills. I wanted to wait to have kids, she didn't want to wait anymore, and she got pregnant. Charlotte was born, and she was perfect." – Jane smiled at that memory. – "I remember bringing her home to that trailer and promising her that she would not grow up there." – Jane's smile faded. – "I became driven after that. I perfected my cons, started the psychic readings and the money started rolling in." – He paused, lost in thought. – "That's all I had to fall back on… all that I had ever been taught and I was good at it." – He closed his eyes for a moment. She could tell that this was hard for him to share. She didn't want to spook him. – "Angela wanted more, and I refused her. I only wanted Charlotte and for her to have the best of everything. It was hard for Angela to accept that I did not want to have more children – it put a strain on our marriage."

All Teresa could say to that was 'Oh'. This gave her some new perspective into why Jane was the way he was and the reason he did what he did. She knew he wasn't proud of the way he'd made a living in the past.

Jane broke through her thoughts with a question of his own. "What about you Teresa Lisbon? Are kids on the horizon for you and Marcus?"

Teresa was surprised by the question. "Oh. Ummm… I don't think so. Well… you know – having to raise my brothers soured me on having kids for a long time and…" – Teresa tried to get another piece of egg in Brian's mouth. – "and I'm not good with kids really. I mean, I don't get them. They're hard to relate to," she said.

"You're not that bad… Annabeth loves you and you're doing alright with these little monsters. You've seriously never considered having kids?" he asked with a smirk, wrestling the spoon from Paul to feed him more applesauce. "There wasn't some guy out there that made you want to have his babies?" he said teasingly – realizing at that moment that he didn't want to know the answer and at the same time, needed to know. He shifted his gaze to her face. Teresa averted her eyes and he saw the blush warming her face.

"Oh – there was someone," said Jane reading her expression. "Who was it?"

Teresa felt trapped. Her mind was racing. She'd sometimes wondered what Jane's child would look like… and I guess if she was being truthful with herself – there was never another woman in that picture. She'd already told Marcus that she didn't want kids and he'd been okay with that. Not that it mattered anymore – she was going to break up with him today. But she couldn't very well say that to Jane, now could she.

"Not important," she said firmly. "And to answer your original question… I would have to say that maybe, under different circumstances, I would have considered the possibility. But I'm too old for that now anyway. And this babysitting experience has pretty much put a foreclosure sign on my uterus," she said on a chuckle.

"Babysitting other people's kids doesn't sell the experience very well you know," he said as he looked at his shirt, dirty from all the little hands that came in contact with it this morning.

Then they both saw them at the same time… Stan and Karen were walking towards them like angels sent from the heavens. Their babysitting experience was finally over. The kids ran to their parents… and the babies started to cry.

Stan bent down to hug Teresa and thank her and then put out his hand to Patrick.

"Woah! Somebody smells like pee!" said Stan looking at the babies sitting in the highchairs between Jane and Teresa.

"That would be Jane actually," said Teresa giggling. "Brian peed on him this morning and he forgot to change his shirt."

"Yep… it's been a fun ride," said Jane sarcastically.

Jane and Teresa walked back into the hut… it was a mess, but they were both too tired to clean up and the room was swelteringly hot. The kids must have played with the thermostat this morning. Jane went to adjust back the temperature while Teresa had a quick shower. When she came out, Jane went in. They both agreed to take a nap. Teresa knew that she should probably put more clothes on, but it was so hot, and she just wanted to sleep, and Jane had seen her in her bikini which offered much less coverage than what she was wearing anyway. She got to her side of the bed and there was cereal and a huge wet spot where Annie had spilled the milk from her cereal bowl. She was too tired to do anything about it. She got in the middle of the bed where it was cleaner and fell asleep.

Jane found Teresa in the middle of the bed with no blankets and was confused as to why she was there until he remembered the spilled cereal bowl from this morning with Annie. It was still so hot in the room, so he tossed his t-shirt on the dresser and got into bed. He studied Teresa for a few minutes. She was quite beautiful when she slept and seemed much more fragile than she was in real life. This was a side of her he didn't get to see too often unless she slept in the car on long trips to crime scenes and he had to keep his eyes on the road when he drove. He remembered what she'd said yesterday about having time to think… he hoped it wasn't that she'd decided to move to D.C. because he still hadn't figured out a way around that. He closed his eyes and let the exhaustion take over and fell asleep.

Who was pounding on the door at this time of day? He just wanted to sleep. He'd been so cold and now he was so cozy. He tried to ignore it, but now it sounded like Teresa's brother Stan was shouting and a phone was ringing. Jane heard a moaning protest close to him. He opened his eyes and saw that Teresa was molded to his side under the blankets with her arm across his waist and her leg on top of his. His arm was under her head. This would explain why he was feeling warm after being so cold. He must have adjusted the air-conditioning too low. Teresa stirred again with the ringing of her phone and then popped up when she noticed her position on him. She was still half asleep and groggy.

"Your brother's at the door," said Jane.

"Wha-, What? Oh. Stan, I'm coming," said Teresa rolling out of bed and running for the door. Jane heard her yelp when she stepped on something on the floor.

The room felt like a freezer. Teresa opened the door and Stan walked in. She watched him take in the scene – he looked at what she was wearing… her tank top and boy-cut underwear and she watched his gaze go to Jane who was shirtless and in his boxers, rolling out of bed – and then gave her a look that said everything without saying a single word… the kind of wordless language that is unique to siblings who have grown up together. She gave him her own look that he recognized from experience as 'mind your own business'. Jane got up and put on his shirt and he read very clearly what Stan thought he and his sister had been up to.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said with a smirk. "I need the playpens, so the boys can take their nap. I did try calling first… It's almost 2 pm."

"Stan – we didn't sleep all night… we were babysitting your kids remember. So, stop with all of this," Teresa said while waving her hand in his direction.

Jane never had siblings and he found it fascinating to watch Teresa and Stan argue with very little words and lots of looks and gestures. Obviously, Stan thinks that he caught them cheating on Marcus. Interesting that Stan could think that of his sister. He put that away to think about later. The exchange was getting heated, but with hardly any words being spoken. Jane went to help Stan with the gear but felt like he was intruding. Jane went to readjust the thermostat and stepped outside while the siblings worked out their argument.

A few moments later, Stan was on his way and Teresa came to see him outside. She looked embarrassed.

"Sorry about all that… and um, sorry for the whole bed hog situation. I- I wasn't aware that I had, you know," Teresa said without finishing the sentence.

"You were asleep and cold… I had adjusted the tempt too low. It's all good. You warmed me up," he said with a wink, hoping to make her feel better.

"Hush! Well, I have to go get ready and go help with the bachelorette party prep. Did you want to have dinner later before the parties?" asked Teresa referring to the bachelorette and bachelor parties.

"Ah… actually, I have a date tonight. Someone I met yesterday at the beach café," said Jane awkwardly.

Teresa's smile froze and then fell. "Oh. Okay… Um - nice. Okay… then I guess I will see you when I see you." Then she went into the bathroom to get ready.

Jane grabbed his gear and headed out for a swim. He'd seen hurt on Teresa's face, but he didn't know why, and he hated the feeling of guilt in his gut for causing it. They'd been connecting and now he felt like he had set back their relationship again. The date was an attempt to put her at ease from his behavior from the other night when he had been flirting with her. He didn't want it to seem like he was trying to sabotage her relationship with Marcus. But it was somehow backfiring on him. He was missing something important and would need to talk to her later to try and figure it out.