Authors Note: Thanks to every one for the wonderful reviews and to Ebony10 for the beta. According to me Ethics teacher, Steven Covey (the author of the 7 habits books) writing is calisthenics for the brain, so I like to think that by writing these little fics is making me smarter :)
Disclaimer: If I owned them I could take a class fro Steven Covey, and not just form a guy who took one from him in college :)
Jane wasn't gone long, but he wasn't surprised to see Lisbon and her family at the pool already. He quickly changed out of his suit and into the swimsuit. It was not something he would have normally chosen, but he thought that the kids might get a kick out of it. He walked over to the pool and decided that he wanted to sneak up on Lisbon and her sister-in-law who were sitting in the deck chairs facing away from the entry gate and toward the pool. There were more people in the pool besides just Lisbon's nieces and nephew—some of the other kids who were staying at the hotel.
He walked slowly and quietly towards Lisbon. He could hear them talking, but could not make out what they were saying. He was behind, about to make a loud noise to hopefully make her jump, when Lisbon said "Jane, I'm glad you're here. Could you get my back before I get in the pool?"
"How did you know I was here?" Jane asked, walking around the chair and looking at her in disbelief. She didn't get a chance to answer however because as soon as she saw his swim trunks she started laughing out loud.
"What are you wearing?" She asked when she was finally able to stop laughing.
"What? I thought the kids would like them." He said, defending his choice of swim shorts. They were dark blue with Donald Duck's head on them.
"Did you look at them before you put them on? Because with his mouth open it makes quite a sight." Lisbon was laughing again. Jane looked down at his swim trunks as if for the first time noticing that Donald Duck's head was in a very conspicuous place.
He grinned at Lisbon. "See, now you're not so mad that I'm here, are you?" Lisbon just rolled her eyes.
"Are you going to do my back or do I need Andrea to do it?" She asked, choosing to ignore his arrogant grin.
"Sure, I'll do it." He said, grabbing the bottle of sunscreen that was next to Lisbon's chair. "So, Lisbon, are you going to introduce me to your sister-in-law?"
"I'm sorry. I thought you had already met her when you showed up without warning." She said with just a slight hint of annoyance in her voice. "Jane, meet Andrea Lisbon, my brother Andy's wife. Andrea, meet Patrick Jane, pain in the ass." She moved her hair so that Jane could get her shoulders. "I believe you met my brother. My oldest nephew was named after him. We call him A.J., then there's Anastasia--she's the one just younger than A.J.—and the youngest is Alan."
"All done." Jane said. He stood next to Lisbon's chair for a few more minutes. "Are you actually going to go swimming?" He was standing with his hands on his hips, looking out at the pool. His face had the same look that he got while investigating a crime scene.
"In a minute. Why don't you go have some fun?" Lisbon said. She knew that Andrea was going to want to talk to her. Jane looked over at her and gave his mischievous little boy grin before running off to jump in the pool.
"So, what's up with you and Patrick? He told Andy that you were dating, but you sure don't act like it." Andrea asked the second Jane was in the water.
"We're not. Jane will usually do anything he wants to get what he wants. He doesn't think of the consequences." Lisbon was looking at the pool. Jane had Anastasia by the waist and was getting ready to toss her into the water. The little girl was squealing with delight. Seeing him in the pool just reminded her of how good Jane was with kids.
As if reading her mind, Andrea said "He's really good with kids, isn't he? Are you going to be okay sharing a room? We could see if the hotel has a roll out bed that you could use."
"Thanks for the offer, but I think we'll be okay," Lisbon said, standing up. "We're big kids. We can handle it." She walked toward the pool and realized that she had lost track of Jane. She was standing on the edge of the pool when she felt something wet on her ankles. She didn't even have time to look down when she was pulled into the pool.
She surfaced quickly, sputtering and glaring at the man in front of her. "Jane! What did you do that for?" She wiped her hand down her face in an attempt to remove some of the water that was dripping off her hair and into her eyes.
"You were dry." He said, laughing. Lisbon couldn't think of a comeback. She just glared at him and in one swift movement swept an armful of water into Jane's face and climbed back out of the pool. She grabbed a towel and headed back to the hotel room. It was almost time to go to dinner anyway.