Thanks for everyone who reviewed or added an alert ;)

I am working on another project, second part to "Sting" (I had to REALLY think hard about doing this one, it should be up later this week, no promises!)

Oh and on the side note, I did not burn my house down this year, but I cannot say it did not almost catch fire…

Nine

Thirty weeks. She's been pregnant for thirty weeks and she already looks as if she is going to explode.

Jane found himself sipping his morning tea and observing her sit on her sofa watching the latest episode of Spongebob. Ray was enthusiastically pointing out who was who, stuttering and saying 'um' of course. His eyes then jerked back to her abdomen, when she quickly clutched it tightly. She had jumped slightly, also.

He looked over by his hand when out of the corner of his eye; he spotted his mobile phone light up, vibrating across the table teetering towards the edge. He set the cup down and quickly picked it up, flipped it open and pressed it to his ear.

He already knew it was Grace calling saying she and now Rigsby had found a perfect house for them. He smiled and thanked them for their efforts. Smiling even brighter, he set his phone down and looked up to see Lisbon staring right at him. She raised her eyebrow, expecting him to say something about his phone call. She was about to open her mouth and say something when Ray tugged on her arm, exclaiming that she must not miss the part when Squidward once again played his God-awful clarinet. Jane shook his head and smiled at the young boy.

He got up and stretched slightly, rotated his shoulders and grasped his jacket, "Where are you going?" he turned his attention back to the pregnant woman on the sofa.

"To talk to Grace," she leaned down and whispered something in Ray's ear. He solemnly nodded before turning his attention back to his show as she got up, hand placed strategically on her belly as it always was.

Once she got to stand before him, she crossed her arms over her chest, "Don't lie to me, Jane," now Jane knew that tone…he was treading on water.

He shrugged his shoulders, "We're going to go look at houses…Grace found this really nice one…"

"Jane, we're fine," she held her hand out to silence him, "I don't need a new house, this apartment is fine.

He shook his head, "No, not with two kids! This may be a considerably large apartment, but it is still one bedroom!" he was trying his best to reason with the woman, but she was just so damn stubborn.

"Jane…" she whined?

He nodded, "I'll be back before dinner," she looked down then up as he was leaving the room, "I'll make chicken!" he hoped it would lift her spirits, she loved his chicken.

"Bring ice cream!"

He smiled as she quickly recovered.

…

He arrived at the address that Grace had told him, he shut the engine down and climbed out, holding the door as he surveyed the house. It looked fairly old…but beautiful nonetheless. But his main concern was the condition of the house, if it were as old as he thought it was, it could have major problems.

He heard a car door shut, he turned hastily to see Grace coming towards him with a couple of freshly printed documents regarding to the house. She had a big bright smile on her face as she handed over the papers; he skimmed over it…just as he expected it…old. But it was recently refurbished…

"Rigsby found it actually," Jane nodded, "It was more of an accident," she paused and bit her lip, "he spilled the sugar powder from his doughnut all over his pants and knocked over his coffee and he accidentally hit the scroll down button on his computer," Jane actually remembered that. It was one of the few days he had been at work and he woke to the sound of cursing…and Rigsby nearly falling out of his chair.

Ever stoic Cho scoffed at him.

"Would you like to see inside?" she looked hopeful, over the past few weeks he had turned down countless homes. Either it was because of a bad roof to a bad foundation that no one seemed to notice but him. He accidentally embarrassed the inspector.

He nodded and smiled, "Sure," he then followed her up the concrete steps and into the beautiful vista. He could already imagine himself living here…with Lisbon, Ray, and their unborn daughter... he was still attempting to convince Lisbon that it was in fact a girl, but the woman was just stubborn. He hoped that their daughter would not inherit the trait.

…

When Jane walked back into Lisbon's apartment, it was almost five in the afternoon. He and Grace had looked around Sacramento at numerous houses plus one condo. All in Jane's minds in terrible quality, except the first one they visited. Now he would have to convince Lisbon to leave her semi-small apartment soon. Everything was already crammed enough.

He set the bag and pulled the vanilla ice cream on the table. He pulled the delectable treat and set it in the freezer. He turned to see her lying on the couch, asleep. Jane smiled and made his way towards her, crouching down he brushed her hair from her face and bent down, placing a soft kiss to her forehead. She mumbled slightly in her sleep, Jane wanted to move away in fear of her hurting him for showing a sign of intimate affection.

One of her eyes cracked open, she moaned and stretched out, curling her toes slightly. She yawned and rubbed one of her eyes, "Patrick?" he was surprised at the sound of his first name, "What time is it?" she attempted sitting up, brushing stray pieces of her hair behind her ear this time.

"Almost five," she nodded and sat up, taking a few seconds before moving once more, "What would you like for dinner?" she shrugged her shoulders, "Chicken?" she wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

"I kinda feel like," there was a slight pause, "pancakes…" she felt like a little girl again, having breakfast for dinner with her mom was always a favourite past time of hers, and she missed it terribly.

He smiled brightly and nodded, "All right, I can do that."

Then he remembered…Sohpie…

"Daddy, wake up!" Patrick awakened to the sound of his daughter's voice. Opening one eye, he smiled at her, she had asked him before she had gone to bed if they could make her mother breakfast in bed, "Time to make pancakes!" she tugged on his arm.

He pushed the covers off him carefully, not wanting to awaken his beautiful Elizabeth. Sophie, his daughter, quickly grabbed his hand and led him out of the room and down the stairs. Her soft blond curls bounced as she made her way into the kitchen. He smiled to himself, life couldn't get any better.

"C'mon daddy!" he smiled once more entering the kitchen, "Mommy will be awake soon!"

He knew he had been still for quite some time; the slight hesitance in Lisbon's voice was evident when her hand touched his, "Jane?" he looked down at her and blinked for a few moments, tears were threatening to run down his cheeks. He refused to cry at this very moment. He refused to show her how damaged and how much pain and hurt he was really feeling. After all, it was what got them into this…

"I'll be fine," he brought his hand up to his mouth rubbed below his mouth, on his chin, "I'm fine," he said it more to himself, he was not convinced.

She was now standing up, closer towards him, "Patrick," she was searching for words, "Please don't shut me out, not now."

Her eyes moved back and forth, searching his face for any signs for him to be okay. At this very moment, she was still not convinced. Her hand found his forearm, just below the elbow. Her eyes now pleading with him to tell her the truth.

"I'm not, don't worry," he tried to back away from her, but she held onto him, he shut his eyes, he couldn't look at her. He felt as if he was failing his family, Ray and Lisbon. By not finding Red John, he felt that the sadistic man would continue to try to hurt them.

"Patrick…"

"I'm fine."

Yes, I will bring Red John back sometime, because I am just that evil. The part about the pancakes and his daughter is from the first in this series, Acceptance.