Return to Sacramento: Chapter 8
Thanks for all of the reviews, guys! You guys are dynamite! Also, I don't want any flames from Rigspelt fans about some suggestions that their struggling with adjusting to marriage. It's normal people. Let's not throw any temper-tantrums.
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine
A while later they walked onto the white sands of the South Beach; on a hot and sunshiny summer day the beach, not exactly a common tourist attraction, was seeing one of its busier days. Even so, while the beach was peppered with brightly colored beach towels, it was by no means crowded.
As they stepped from the parking lot onto the beach, they had a gorgeous view of the bright blue horizon, the sparkling ocean.
The sight of the beach made Jess giggle, her eyes sparkling happily. She bounced up and down.
"C'mon Daddy, let's go play! I wanna go swim!"
"Hold on, hold on, sweetie!" He said, chuckling as he grabbed hold of the little girl's waist before she could jet off towards the glistening waters. "Let's just set up the towels first. Wouldn't want you to lose us, would we?"
Languidly, they picked out the perfect stretch of sand close enough to the shore to keep a good eye on Jess as she played in the waves. They laid the towels out and lay down themselves, starting to relax in the hot afternoon sun.
Lisbon dug in the beach bag until she found an orange tube and she winked Jess closer. She squeezed thick, white goop onto her hand and started rubbing it all over Jess' skin.
"Ew! Mommy!" Jess complained.
"No buts. You need sunblock or you're gonna look like a lobster. Put your hands down so I can get your face."
Begrudgingly she brought her little fists down and let her mother smear her nose and cheeks white with sunblock. "See? That wasn't so bad, was it? All done. You may go swimming now."
"I'll go with." Rigsby volunteered and he jumped up and, throwing little Jess over his shoulder making her squeal with glee, ran into the waves.
The rest of the team started settling in on the beach. Grace – clad in a white bikini, oversized sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat – pulled a magazine out of her bag and started reading a particularly riveting article about keeping the spark in new marriages. Cho and Claire also pulled out their respective novels and started reading, lying close enough to one another to exchange comments and observations from each other's books every now and then. This left Jane and Lisbon, who lay side by side on their towels, watching their daughter and Rigsby have a mud-fight in the shallow waters.
After a few minutes, Jane's eyes wandered to Teresa and her quickly-pinking shoulders.
"You know, you really should practice what you preach, my dear." He said.
"What's this now?" A quirked eyebrow.
"You can't preach the importance of sun protection to your daughter and leave your own – extremely fair, may I add – skin, vulnerable and unprotected."
Lisbon looked down at her shoulders and saw that her light freckles were coming out strong in the summer sunlight and the skin was quickly starting to tinge. "Damn. I forgot."
"Let me help you with that." He said smiling and reached for the sunblock. He started rubbing the sticky, white substance into her shoulders, feeling the tense knots in her back and neck and working them out. His warm hands slid gently over her skin and when all the sunblock was rubbed in, he bowed down and kissed her shoulder. "You look good in your little black bikini, my dear." He whispered against the skin.
She looked down at him and he saw the familiar tiredness in them again. "How can you stay so nonchalant in a time like this? How can you not be jumping off the walls, like me? How can you go to the beach?" She asked.
"Look over there." His eyes averted to where Jess was running through the waves, giggling gleefully, and yelling for her parents to watch as she "swam". "Look how happy she is. She needs this. Jess is a very smart little girl, Teresa. She might not understand exactly what's going on, but she's smart enough to know that it's something and that that something is bad. And she's got enough of her mother's worrying-genes to worry about it. And trust me, I am jumping off the walls. Maybe not outwardly, but inside I'm in an absolute blind panic. But I know that panicking is the worst thing I could do right now. It won't do me any good, it won't do you any good and it certainly won't do Jess any good. We need to be vigilant now, Teresa, and we do need to protect her at all costs. But if we lock her up in her room and sit around hugging her and crying around her all day, it's just going to make her panicked and scared."
He pulled the elastic out of her hair and let the ponytail she had pulled her hair back in fall free. Her dark curls fell freely around her shoulders and he reached out to tuck the rebellious curls behind her ear and unveil her face. Then his hands went to hers and he gently trailed his finger up and down her wrist. "You need to try and relax now, sweetheart. Let your hair down. Try and enjoy the day at the beach. If not for my or your own sake, for Jess's."
She nodded slowly. Then her face snapped up at him. "You're using your voice on me now, you know that?"
"What?"
"Yeah. That voice, that-... that hypnotizing voice of yours." She looked down and pulled her hand out of his grasp. "And the hand thing! You're trying to hypnotize me into relaxing!"
"What? No, I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes. That's so terrible, I'm your wife and you tried to hypnotize me! Don't try and deny it."
He sighed and shrugged, lying down on the towel with his arms folded behind his head. "I just thought I might be able to get you to take a nap. You need rest."
"Sheepdip."
"Hand me my sunglasses, will you darling?"
"Lift your ass and get it yourself."
As Jane slowly hoisted himself up and started digging in the beach bag for his sunglasses, a smile spread over his face; Lisbon lay down – eyes still firmly rigged on Jess – and started lounging. It wasn't exactly a nap, but it was a good start.
He knew how casual and nonchalant he seemed in the extremely tense situation, but when he told her he was in a blind panic inside, he was understating it greatly. His signature facade, perfected over the years, was wavering dangerously every time he gave himself a millisecond to think about it. But when he thought about the situation strategically – as he forced himself to – he knew that they needed clear minds and calmness to overcome this crisis. Usually Teresa was the cool and calm one. She was the one with the strategy and planning and cool head, he was the one with the extravagant plans and plots. But her motherly instincts were in overdrive now, as could be expected, so he needed to take in the role of the logical one as well. At least until her breakdown subsided enough for her to take the reins once again in what she does best.
Right now, the last thing he wanted was another dangerous crisis situation. All he wanted was this: a simple day at the beach with his friends, his beautiful bikini-clad wife and his precious daughter.
"I want ice cream. You guys want ice cream?" Grace asked as she got up and wrapped a bright pink sarong around her waist.
"Yes please. Vanilla for me, strawberry for Teresa and Jess will want a strawberry please." Jane said with a smile.
Grace nodded and walked off towards the ice cream stand at the end of the beach.
Claire had dozed off and was resting her head on Cho's chest – he was still reading, but faint traces of a smile were adorning his face.
Teresa's eyes were also starting to droop, Jane observed, though she stubbornly fought it. She wanted to keep visual of Jess at all times, even though she was being guarded by Rigsby. Just in case. But he subtly moved closer to her until she was laying her head on his shoulder and his arm was starting to wrap around her. He knew the warmth of his body heat would promote some of that much-needed sleep.
"Patrick. Teresa. Woah, what another unbelievable coincidence. I almost can't believe this."
An unexpected voice interrupted the relaxed scene; heads snapped up at the face the voice belonged to with shocked expressions.
"What are you, following me or something?" Walter Mashburn, dressed in some ridiculously loud designer swimming trunks, smiled charmingly.
"Well, this just got very interesting." Cho said to himself, putting his novel down.
Okay, so I know I promised some Mash-interaction and the chap just ended with him appearing again, but, as always, the chapters write themselves. I have no control when Simon – my muse – takes over. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated. Remember: all the cool people review.
Much love, Zanny