Return to Sacramento: Chapter 12
Thanks for the reviews guys! Sorry for the long wait again, I'm having a very hard time making time to write. It's a very busy time of year and it's taking its toll... Of course, you're reviews are always such a motivation to me... :)
Disclaimer: nothing is mine
He could barely recognize his face in the mirror anymore; he looked like a half-forgotten image from his revenge-driven days of pain and nightmares, tired and broken and angry. He splashed his face again, watching the droplets of water stick to his blonde curls as he looks up again, dripping along the side of his face, trailing down his cheeks.
His eyes were dull and faraway, his mind obviously somewhere else.
"Patrick..? Are you almost done?" He heard his wife's voice through the bathroom door, and it snapped him back to reality.
"Almost."
He grabbed a towel and dried his face, rubbing it over his head to dry the wet hair. Buttoned the top button of his crisp white shirt and slung the tie around his neck and then exited the bathroom.
In the bedroom he found Teresa; she was helping a very squirmy Jess into her dress (which the young tomboy had expressively said she did not want to wear), and naturally having a very hard time with it.
His breath caught in his throat at the sight.
He had seen Teresa's dress in the window of a dress shop they had walked passed on the way to a dinner reservation. She had refused to try it on, but after he had bugged her about it for a few days, they went back and got it for her. A beautiful, floor-length gown in deep, deep blue that hugged her petite form snugly and flared gently out from the knees. With beaded straps that wound their way over her shoulders to shimmer down her back, revealed from the fabric. She looked absolutely breathtaking in it.
This was supposed to be a special night. A special weekend.
A few days of socializing with old friends, old colleagues and more than a few people who doubted they would work.
Show them they were wrong; flaunt his gorgeous wife and beautiful baby girl.
Now what has it turned to?
The entire day was spent in a tense, paranoid struggle. They never left the hotel like they had planned to. None of the fantastic outings Lisbon had thought of and planned were taken. They ate breakfast at the hotel, spent the day watching pay per view and ordered in room service for lunch. All the while looking over their shoulders and keeping eyes on Jess and not trusting anyone that crossed their path.
And now it was here: they were getting ready for the final event, the function. Teresa was all glammed up, applying her lipstick while looking at him in the mirror with wide, green eyes.
You okay? She mouthed and he caught it in the mirror.
He nodded, his hands in his jacket pockets and his shoulders tensed visibly.
This time she turned around, deciding her lips were sufficiently painted, and pulled him aside.
"You want to back out?" She said softly, so that Jess couldn't hear them. Jess couldn't care less; her attention was fully attuned to the puzzle she was making.
"No. No, we can't back out now. We can't run away from him forever." He looked up at her, frowning. "Do you have your gun?" He whispers.
She nods, opening her clutch to reveal her police-issue weapon inside. "The team are carrying theirs as well. Just in case."
"Do you think it'll be good enough?"
"I don't know, Teresa." He shakes his head, hopelessly. "But we're too far gone now not to find out. Are you ready?"
She nodded, looking over her shoulder to Jess as she made her puzzle and fidgeted in her frilly, purple dress. "You ready, hun?"
Jess looked up and nodded, standing up from the floor and bringing her teddy with her.
"Leave your bear, honey, we're going to a party."
Jess' arms crossed and little frown appeared, ready to argue.
Jane saw it coming and interjected before the little girl could start. "Teresa, let her take the bear." When his wife looked up at him with a quirked eyebrow, he shrugged.
"Alright." She bent down and mussed up Jess' rebellious ebony curls, before picking her up to her hip. "The team's meeting us in the lobby. You spoil her, you know?"
"I know." He smiled and kissed her on the cheek.
X
Some fancy and heavily influential CBI sponsor paid for a stretch limo to pick up all the guests of honor. The team was included on this very exclusive list, since they were being awarded some kind of honor for their exceptional closing rate way back when. Five years later and no team had broken it.
They all got into the highly-polished vehicle and took seats on the soft leather seats in the corner of the car, among the ballgown-clad bigwigs, sipping from champagne flutes.
Jess was already clambered onto her father's lap, cuddling her little head into his shoulder, obviously not very much in the mood for a night on the town. She'd much rather be making puzzles in her jammies with a nice mug of her Mommy's hot chocolate. But here she was in this stupid frilly dress going to a grown-up event.
And the atmosphere between the grown-ups sitting with her was palpable.
Rigsby and Grace – dressed to the nines, with Rigsby's tie matching Grace's hot pink dress perfectly – should be gushing all over each other as newlyweds do. Instead, their faces were very strategically blank and their eyes flashed suspiciously between the faces of the jovially laughing VIP's around them. Cho wasn't much better; his arms crossed over his chest, Claire hooked into him at the elbow, his face stoic and alert. But the worse ones by far were the Jane's.
Although Jane was methodically stroking his daughter's curls gently, the perfect image of paternity, his eyes weren't as gentle and warm as they should've been. Instead they were glistening with alertness and the sharp mind beneath them. He was on the top of his game, not allowing himself to waver right now. It was too important.
Beside him, Lisbon was nervously picking at her bottom lip nervously. Green eyes blinking a few times too often every minute, flashing from Jess to Jane to the people around them. And out the window, to the grey concrete buildings of downtown Sacramento flashing past.
The scenery that was once so familiar and comforting; now all she wanted was to get out of here. To get this night over with and return to Los Angeles, where her family is safe and sound and happy.
Her eyes flashed downwards as the warm heat of Jane's hand enveloped hers on her knee. When their eyes met, she saw his mouth turn up in a very small smile. Somehow, that small smile offered a world of comfort, and she couldn't help but smile back.
She felt the limousine slow down, and the familiar buildings across the street from the hall became visible through the window.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we've arrived." The limo driver said in some strange indistinguishable accent, tipping his hat.
Jane's hold of her hand tightened, and their fingers interlaced.
"It's show time." He whispered, barely heard above the cackling laughter of the tipsy VIP's.
She simply nodded as her stomach clenched and she felt nauseous with stress.
"Let's get in there..."
Okay, so what do you think? I'd love some feedback, please, on how the drama will ensue. Suggestions always help get some more meat on the bones of my plotlines! C'mon... Don't make me beg!
Much love, Zanny