A/N I apologize for the long delay between chapters but this one was special so I really wanted to take my time on it. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did writing it.
Chapter 5
"Let's sit in the way back!" Jane exclaimed excitedly as he and Lisbon walked onto the school bus wit Emma and friend Jasmine in tow.
"I think the chaperones are supposed to sit in front aren't they?" Lisbon asked.
"Nonsense, someone needs to keep an eye on the whipper snappers in the back."
"And you're that person?"
Jane shrugged. "Why not?"
Lisbon would have argued further but then she realized her consultant probably didn't have as much childhood school bus experience as she had. For all she knew, this could very well be the first time Jane had ever ridden in the bright yellow contraption. Instead, she followed him to the rear of the bus.
Jane paused when they reached the seat furthest in the back, letting her slide in and take the space nearest the window. Emma and Jasmine sat in front of them.
"Pay up."
The consultant's eyebrows shot up as he spun in the seat to face what Jane could only describe as a little punk sitting in the other rear seat. Are there punks in preschool? If there were, this boy fit the textbook description: large, long t-shirt, baggy pants and light brown hair spiked with some kind of hair product. Did the kid dress himself in the morning?
"Excuse me?" Jane asked, half-amused.
"Pay up. If you want to sit in that seat, there's a toll."
"A toll? And here I thought tolls were only on the highway." Jane crossed his arms, glaring at this kid demanding payment for a seat on the bus.
"What sort of payment do you require?" It wasn't as if he intended to give the kid anything but curiosity got the better of him.
The kid shrugged. "Money, a snack from your lunch bag there. I'm not very picky."
Jane's eyes narrowed, their focus momentarily shifting to the preschooler's canvas bag sitting on the floor at his feet.
"I'll make you a deal." The consultant said. "You let me and my friend Teresa sit here, and I won't tell the rest of the students here what you carry around in that bag of yours."
The boy's eyes widened in shock. He looked down at the bag and then back up at Jane. Their gazes met and held steady before Jane turned his attention back to Lisbon, sure the kid would put up no further arguments.
"What's in the bag?" Lisbon whispered as the bus finally made its departure from the preschool.
Jane shrugged. "Not entirely sure. Some kind of comfort object I'm assuming; probably a blankie or a stuffed animal."
The ride to the Sacramento Zoo took nearly a half an hour but after seven rounds of 'The Wheels on the Bus' and who knew how many rounds of 'The Song That Never Ends', Jane had officially had his fill of school bus experience. Lisbon had a headache as well.
To Jane's surprise and Emma's disappointment, the Sacramento Zoo did not house any elephants. Sure, there was a menagerie of wildlife from all parts of the world but the African/Asian giants weren't among them.
The group started at the plains exhibit where zebras, antelope, and something called a bongo roamed free on the faux grassland.
"Did you know that no two zebras have the same stripe pattern?" Jane asked Emma who was perched atop his shoulders at one of the overlook sites. "Every single zebra has a different pattern than every other."
"Kind of like human fingerprints." Lisbon added. She was holding Jasmine up on the wooden railing so she could see the animals too. She pondered the similarities momentarily. "What about twins?"
Jane looked glanced over at her.
"Identical twins have the same fingerprints."
"So maybe twin zebras have the same stripes." Emma chimed, following the conversation.
Jane raised a finger to his lips thoughtfully. "That's interesting. I'm sure there's a zookeeper around here we could ask." He looked around, but saw no one wearing obvious 'zoo-worker attire'.
Instead, Jane moved onto another zebra fact. "Did you know, zebras are officially known to be black with white stripes and not white with black stripes?"
Lisbon rolled her eyes. The man seriously watched too much animal planet. She lifted Jasmine off the wooden railing and urged the group onward.
The next stop was to the primate houses. First, the lemurs which were from Madagascar. Jane pointed out a dark one with grey beard-like fur on its face. He said it looked like Minelli. Lisbon laughed. The other primate house included a chimpanzee named Charlie who tried to reach into the consultant's suit jacket. If only the chimp knew the man was a professional pickpocket.
Emma's favorite part was the giraffes. She squealed at their long tongues as she held out a pile of leaves for the giant. There was even a young giraffe who surprised the girl with a wet kiss on the side of her cheek.
At noon, they met back at the bus for lunch. The students grabbed their prospective bags and sat on the grass to eat. Jane and Lisbon sat with Mrs. Albright under the shade of a large oak tree.
"What's the story with Cody?" Jane asked after noticing the boy swipe an apple from one of the other students' lunch boxes. He was going bring up the indiscretion but then decided against it when he noticed the boy had no lunch bag of his own. Besides, the other student seemed to have an abundance of food and unhealthy snacks. Surely, a single apple wouldn't be missed.
"Got your attention did he? That boy is going to be a handful, already is one. I don't envy his grade school teachers." She sighed. "Forgive me. I'm not exactly being fair. Cody's dad is in the army. They've moved three times in the last two years alone."
"And his mother?" Jane inquired.
"As far as I know, she's not in the picture though I rarely get the chance to talk to the father to ask. That boy is lucky if his dad remembers to have someone pick him up from school on a daily basis. I had to drop by their apartment for a permission slip signature for this trip. It's not something that we're really supposed to do but I couldn't see him being the only one left out."
Jane nodded as Emma walked up to Lisbon.
"Tree, when do we get to go to the gift shop?"
"When everyone is done eating sweetie. Have you finished all your lunch?"
Emma nodded. "I traded my celery sticks for Ashley's carrots because I like celery better with peanut butter." She explained.
The students were used to the idea that they weren't allowed to bring peanut butter for lunch even on field trips because of allergies.
"I'm sure that's alright as long as Ashley wanted to."
"Oh, she loves celery, even without peanut butter."
Mrs. Albright stood to address the students. "Boys and girls, when you are finished eating, return your lunch bags to your seats on the bus and then line up sitting single file on the sidewalk. We'll visit the gift shop once everyone is seated an quiet."
Quickly, the students finished up with their lunches and piled into the bus to return their bags. Then, they obediently sat on the sidewalk. Once the last student was seated, Mrs. Albright led the students back through the gate and over to the gift shop.
It was no surprise to neither Jane nor Lisbon when Emma chose a fluffy giraffe stuffed animal for herself inside of the gift shop.
"Did you check and see how much it is sweetie?" Lisbon asked the girl.
Emma checked the tag and frowned when the she realized the price for the stuffed animal was more than her grandparents had sent her with.
Jane saw the disappointment in the girl's face and squatted in front of her. "How much did your grandparents give you?"
Emma pulled out the ten dollars from her little pink wallet and showed it to the Jane, hoping that maybe she had read the price incorrectly.
Jane checked the price tag. Twenty dollars.
"Tell you what." He said to the girl. "If I pay for the rest of that giraffe, will you read me a story the next time you come for a visit?"
Emma's eyes stayed on the giraffe. "I'm not very good with books yet. I'm still only five."
Jane placed a hand on her shoulder. "That's alright. You do the best with the words you know and I can help you with the rest. How does that sound?"
The little girls face finally split into a grin and she hugged the consultant. "Thank you Trick."
"You're very welcome kiddo."
Jane took the giraffe from Emma and promised to give it back once he had paid for it. He then headed towards the cash registers, leaving Lisbon with Emma and Jasmine who had taken interest in a group of stuffed zebras.
Five minutes later, Jane was back with three bags. Wait three? He handed the largest bag to Emma who checked inside to make sure the giraffe was indeed there. Then, Jane handed a smaller bag to Lisbon.
She looked at him questioningly.
"Just open it."
Lisbon peeled open the bag to reveal a smallish blue box about the size of her fist. She pulled the box out and tilted open the lid. Her eyes sparked when they beheld the object nestled inside of the box: A glass elephant. She gasped slightly, fingering the delicate object.
"Since you took such a liking to Daisy, it reminded me of you." Jane shrugged as if the gesture was no big deal.
"Thank you Jane. It's beautiful."
He nodded, looking around.
Lisbon noted that he seemed uncharacteristically nervous.
"Ready to go kids?" He asked Emma and Jasmine.
They nodded.
"Just got to pay for this." Jasmine said, holding up the zebra she had finally decided on.
Thankfully, all the children were wiped when they finally made it back to the bus for the trip home. Lisbon leaned her head against the cool window.
"And I thought chasing criminals was exhausting."
Jane chuckled at her. "That bad hmm?"
"I don't think I could ever be a parent." The comment slipped out before Lisbon realized what she had said.
Jane's small grin vanished.
"Oh Jane, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking." Lisbon moved to place her hand on his arm.
He held up his own hand to stop her. "No, Lisbon it's quite alright. I'm fine."
"Are you sure because…"
"Hush woman." Jane cut her off before she could continue. "But I disagree with you."
"What?" Lisbon was unsure to what he was referring to.
"I think you'd make a great mother." He clarified.
"Oh." It was all Lisbon could say as the bus began moving out of the lot.
The crisis unfolded halfway through the bus ride home. Jane noticed Emma get up out of her seat and look around, desperately looking for something.
"What is it Em?" He asked.
"I can't find Leafy." She explained, her eyes welling in sadness and frustration.
"Leafy?"
"My giraffe. It was right here and now he's gone."
Jane looked under Emma's seat and then his own. He searched through her bags but sure enough, the giraffe was nowhere to be seen.
By the time the bus reached the school, the giraffe still hadn't been located. Jane had notified Mrs. Albright but suggested he try something before the students got off the bus. She gathered the students' attention and Jane stood in the front.
He was about to try his hand-raising trick on the students but then thought better of it. They were preschoolers after all. No, this required a more sensitive approach.
"Thank you all for listening. I'll be brief. Your classmate Emma is missing the toy giraffe she bought today at the zoo. Now, I know one of you has it. In fact, I actually know which one of you took Emma's giraffe but your teacher has kindly agreed to give you an opportunity to return the stuffed animal. To the person who stole the giraffe, we don't want to be forced to take action and tell your parents. More importantly, we just want Emma to have the toy back. All you have to do is leave the bag on the seat as you exit the bus. No one will know who took the toy. I'll come back on after and check the seats. If the bag is there, that will be the end of it. Do you understand?"
Jane watched as the students nodded.
"Alright, your teacher and I will wait outside. Lisbon, you too. The first row may leave first and so on until the bus is empty."
The students waited until Lisbon was down the isle with her things. Then the three adults exited the bus.
One by one the children filed through the bus doors until all fourteen of them were standing on the curb. Jane hopped back up the stairs and down the row of seats until he spotted the familiar bag sitting where Emma and Jasmine had sat. He retrieved the parcel and exited the bus, handing the bag to an anxious then ecstatic Emma.
"Hold on to that now Em." Jane said.
She ripped the giraffe out of the bag and clutched it to her chest. The animal wasn't going anywhere.
Jane, Lisbon and Emma stayed with Mrs. Albright as the parents came to retrieve their children. Twenty minutes later, there was only a single student remaining. He was sitting hunched over on the curb, hands folded in his lap.
"Lisbon, why don't you take Emma to the car and wait for me. I'll be there as soon as we're done here."
She took the hint and led Emma over to the SUV sitting in the otherwise empty parking lot.
Jane, on the other hand made his way over to Cody, sitting alone on the curb. He plopped down next to the boy. Neither uttered a word, sitting in absolute silence until Jane reached into his jacket pocket. He retrieved the remaining bag from the gift shop and plopped it in the boys lap.
Cody finally moved, looking over at Jane unsure of what he was supposed to do.
"Open it." He said. "I want you to have it."
The punk of a preschooler grabbed the corner of the bag, letting its contents fall into his lap. A small beanie Bengal tiger stared back up at him with blue eyes. Cody stared at the tiger for a moment and then picked it up. He unceremoniously shoved the animal back in Jane's lap.
"You don't want it?"
Cody shook his head.
"Do you not like it?"
The boy paused a beat, and then shook his head again.
"Then why won't you take it?"
Jane watched Cody take a large inhale of breath and then let it out slowly. "I took Emma's giraffe."
Jane let the admission settle before responding. "I know." He said. "But you returned it."
The boys eyes filled with tears. "I just wanted it so bad. I didn't want to hurt Emma but I never get anything like that." He gestured towards the tiger.
"That's why I want you to keep it." Jane said a matter-of-factly.
Cody looked up, tears still streaked the boys face. "Really?"
"Really." Jane gently placed the white tiger back on the boy's knee. Cody took the animal, inspecting it carefully.
There was a honk. Both Jane an Cody looked up to see a brown pickup truck pull into the lot. Cody stood.
"That's my dad." He said.
He stared to jog towards the truck but paused and turned.
He stared back at the consultant. "Thank you."
Jane nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets. He watched Cody jump in the truck and then crossed the lot to the SUV. He climbed in the passenger side.
"Why do you have the window open silly woman? It's stifling out there." He asked Lisbon as she rolled up the window and clasped her seatbelt.
"The AC was too cold." She offered quickly.
Jane knew it was an excuse from the start and that she had been in fact spying on him but she let the comment slip. He looked in the back seat to find Emma asleep, the giraffe still securely in her grasp.
The ride was quiet. They dropped Emma off at her house and were almost back at the office when Jane finally asked the obvious question.
"Is something bothering you Lisbon?"
She shook her head.
"You're a terrible liar my dear."
Lisbon swallowed. "It's just, what you did back there, with Cody."
"So you were spying on me." Jane said triumphantly.
"Maybe." Lisbon was passed denying it. "Why did you buy the tiger?"
Jane shrugged. "I was going to give it to Van Pelt but I figured she'd rather Cody have it."
Lisbon nodded and they fell back in a less awkward silence.
"Jane?" Lisbon said in almost a whisper at a stoplight.
"Hmm?" He turned to her, surprised to find her face filled with open emotion.
Lisbon blinked twice and then found Jane's hand on his lap. She hoped he wouldn't take her next comment the wrong way.
"Charlotte was lucky to have you for her father."
FYI, according to google identical twin zebras do not have identical stripes. I checked. ;o) Until next time.