CHAPTER 14 – EPILOGUE

A few months later…

It was mid-July in Chicago and the streets felt like they were melting during this heatwave. It had been so hot in the church, Teresa had felt like she was sticking to the bench in her sundress and feeling nauseous. The church had been crowded with all the other families that were there to have their babies christened along with her newest niece Abigail. Jimmy and his wife had looked so proud holding their little eight-month-old daughter in her white dress. Jenny's father had been very sick, so they had postponed the christening until he was well enough to attend.

After the christening, the celebration moved to Jimmy's house that was packed with family and friends both inside and outside. Karen came to sit beside her looking her usual exhausted self with her six-month-old son, Henry – that was conceived on her birthday when she and Jane had babysat. Jimmy's wedding had altered the life paths of those in her family.

She hadn't expected to get pregnant really, with all the horror stories she'd heard over the years around fertility and watching so many of her colleagues' struggle. She had thought that the risk was relatively low or at least that it would take active trying to make it happen later down the line when they decided that they wanted to start a family. Instead, they had bought a pregnancy test from a highway truck stop on their way to a crime scene outside of Austin two weeks after getting back from the wedding because she was so nauseous in the Airstream. She took the test right then not wanting to wait. Jane couldn't believe it when he saw the positive test. She can still see his stunned face when he was looking at the stick and the instructions, which were pretty clear cut. The smile on his face when he fully absorbed what it meant is a memory she will cherish forever and what they did after to celebrate, in the Airstream, in the same parking lot, she remembered with a blush. Three weeks later, Jane had insisted on making her an honest woman and presented her with a beautiful ring and a surprise elopement – he had planned everything from the ceremony to a very romantic honeymoon at a beach resort.

Needing a distraction, she took Henry from Karen so that she could eat her plate of food. Henry was a cute baby and only 3 days older than her own son William. Henry looked the most like her brother Stan and was a true Lisbon, through and through, but William was all Jane. She couldn't see herself in him at all, with his blue eyes, blond curly hair and chubby cheeks. Jane appeared at her side then with William fussing in his arms – he'd been chatting outside with Tommy and Stan who were supervising the kids.

"Trade you… he's hungry," he said smiling down at her and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

Jane placed William in her empty arm and took Henry so Karen could finish eating and she thanked him. Teresa put William on the breast and he calmed down immediately. Her son was always hungry, like his dad. Teresa watched as Jane bounced Henry on his knees to make him laugh and made idle chit chat with Karen. He didn't seem to get tired of playing with the kids or with their son. She was still on parental leave and was struggling with the thought of going back to work soon – the plan was for Jane to stay home with him until they felt he was old enough for a nanny. But Jane was pretty closed to the idea of daycare. He told her he'd be happy staying home to take care of William himself while she worked.

She was finding that she didn't want to go back to work at the FBI and miss out on time with Will and Jane. She started thinking about opening her own investigative firm, so she could be more available. Being home with Jane since their son was born had been amazing. They were tired but so happy. Jane had kept his promise to her about putting her first and her life felt like a dream and she never wanted to wake up.

Jane looked at Teresa feeding their son. He never got tired of that scene. She gave him a life and a family that he adored; a wife, a son, brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law and nieces and nephews. He was a husband, a father, a brother and an uncle. He'd never experienced the kind of acceptance and caring that he had with Teresa and her family. They were quite amazing, and he knew it was because of all the effort and sacrifice she had poured into her family years ago to get them here. He still had no idea how he got lucky enough to have her fall in love with him, but he was so happy that it did happen. And his son William, was extraordinary, to say the least… perfect in every way to him. Life couldn't get better at the moment.

Karen signaled Jane to pass Henry, so she could take him to get changed. Jane took her seat beside Teresa and put his arm around her shoulders along the back of the sofa. William was fast asleep with milk spilling from his mouth on the side… Teresa always says that he's like him… he falls asleep whenever he gets horizontal – in the daytime anyway. She took him off the breast and let him sleep on her. She looked at him and smiled and he kissed her.

"Asleep again I see," Jane said frowning. "He's going to be up all night tonight, I just know it."

"Geez, I wonder where he gets that from," Teresa said laughing – it was their own cheesy inside joke referring to when Jane used to sleep during the day on the couch at the CBI and stay awake most of the night.

"I'd want to sleep too if I was all warm and cozy against you," he said suggestively with raised eyebrows.

"Enough of that you two, or you'll end up like me and Karen," said Stan with a smirk.

Teresa's eyes popped open in surprise and she blushed at her brother's words. He was holding Henry and eating. He was a pro at it and handled it with no issues.

"When are you guys heading back home? We thought it might be fun to have a get-together around lunchtime at our place tomorrow."

Teresa looked at Jane for confirmation about their departure flights tomorrow, but he was looking at her strangely. His blue eyes were clear and piercing her with a stare and he was smiling goofily at her.

"Euh – Patrick? Stan asked us a question," Teresa nodded in her brother's direction.

Jane moved his eyes from her face and looked at Stan. "I'm sure we can make it tomorrow, right sweetheart?" Oh, no! He'd started calling her that a few months ago when she'd told him that she hated how men in Austin would call women they have never met 'sweetheart' and how fake it sounded. Which meant that he knew she was keeping a secret… dammit. He only called her that when he was about to call her out on something she was keeping from him. It was so hard to surprise him, and her brother had probably ruined it now. Karen called Stan into the kitchen and he left.

Jane turned back towards her with his goofy grin, he then stretched exaggeratedly and gave himself a pat on the back.

"What are you doing?" Teresa said with her most unimpressed face.

"I'm congratulating myself on my exceptional skill and prowess," he said amusedly.

"Oh my god. Seriously?" she said closing her eyes. Knowing that he knew.

"Oh yes. I mean – I'm feeling pretty good about myself right now," he said with a big smile and his blue eyes twinkling with mischief.

He flashed her a huge grin and raised a brow at her; he knew. She leaned in to kiss his smile, it was irresistible to her.

"Okay – I wanted to surprise you, but Stan ruined it," she said confirming what he'd already guessed – that she was pregnant. What Stan said did freak her out though. This had to be the last one she promised herself – one of them was getting fixed before they turned out like Stan and Karen with kids outnumbering them.

"How long have you known," he asked cockily.

"I took the test two days ago, in the pharmacy. Not bad, huh?" she said, gloating with a smile.

"Why were you waiting to tell me anyway?" he asked, his eyes still dancing with pleasure at the news.

"I told you! I wanted to surprise you! I had this whole thing planned with William – I ordered him a special onesie online and… well, it takes a couple of days for it to come in," she said disappointed. "It says – Big Brother on it."

"Awe – that would have been cute. How about I pretend to forget, and you still do the surprise?" he offered.

"Oh, hush. Now that I told you, it's not the same," she said pouting.

"Okay, how about this… we keep it a secret from your family and make your announcement to them with the onesie?" he said with a flourish.

"That'll work – okay," she said feeling the excitement of using the onesie again for her announcement.

Stan came back in the room with Henry. "Hey sis, you have to break the stalemate here… Jenny's pregnant and due in December. I bet Jimmy that you are due in November, he said December… which one of us is right?"

Teresa just blinked and Jane started chuckling.

"How did you guys know? We didn't tell anybody!" she groaned.

"Oh – I didn't realize it was a secret. Karen just said you were pregnant… I thought you told her. Sorry sis," he said. "So… we still need to know when you're due though." And he stood there waiting for her answer.

"Fine – you're both wrong – I'm due in February," she said with relish that neither of her brothers won. Jane gave her a squeeze of sympathy for her onesie plan.

Karen came out with Paul in her arms. "Tee, I'm so sorry. It just slipped out. My big mouth… when Jimmy said Jenny was pregnant just now, I said 'Yay, another set of twin cousins' and then the boys started betting on the due date."

"It's okay. It's all in the family. No secrets in the Lisbon clan," she said agreeably, trying to hide her disappointment.

"Congratulations!" said Karen with excitement.

A few minutes later, everyone at the celebration knew the happy news and had come to congratulate both her and Jane.

Her announcement didn't go down the way she had planned it but come to think of it, that was good because if things had gone the way she had planned them, she wouldn't have Jane, William or this new baby on the way in her life.

~The End~

A/N: Hope you liked the story. I've got more Jisbon stories if you're interested. Just click on my username JaneFanAlways. Titles: Always you, Digging up old memories, Cards on the table, Hypnotized