Chapter 9 – Home At Last

Jane spent a month in Malibu, restlessly pacing his empty house while trying to sort out his feelings. His old life has been buried along with his wife, who was now resting beside their daughter as he'd promised. And though he visited their graves daily as a stark reminder that they were no more, he still couldn't bring himself to face the notion that it was time for him to move on.

He'd started talking to Charlotte of late, and even though she never answered he still felt her reassuring presence somehow. He told her things he would have never dared to, had she still been alive, about her mother and the way the two of them had drifted apart after her death. When he told her about her little brother still waiting for a new family back in Sacramento, he knew for sure what his daughter would have wanted him to do.

Angela and Charlotte would always hold a special place in his heart, but there were other people who loved and needed him now. Angela's child was one, the other was the woman that had been his saving grace ever since they'd met.

David deserved a proper family, and he would make sure to give him one. So he made one last visit to the cemetery to say goodbye to his late family, then drove back to Sacramento to meet his new one.

The toddler gave him such a warm welcome it made him want to cry. As soon as he saw him David threw his slender arms around his neck and clutched onto him as if he never wanted to let him go.

"Da-da!" the little boy kept on chirping in his ear, and he squeezed him tightly against his chest.

"Daddy is back," he murmured with conviction. "And he's never going to leave you again."

He cried for real when the nanny said that David had been asking about him all the time he'd been away. It seemed that the kid had taken an instant liking to him right from the start, though he suspected that Angela might have been showing him old pictures while he was away.

The next thing he did was dismiss the nanny, she only smiled when he said he wasn't going to need her services anymore. He spent the rest of the day playing with David, until the kid fell asleep on his chest as they were sitting on the couch. Patrick's eyes never left his face as he slept soundly with his head nestled in the hollow of his neck.

In the morning he made him breakfast and got him ready for a walk. It was time for them to pay a visit to a certain Teresa Lisbon; she'd been the one to try and bring them together in the first place, and now he wanted her to know she had just succeeded.

There were also other things he wanted from her, but all of them would come in due time.

xxx

A warm grin spread onto her face when she opened the door to find Patrick and David Jane standing on her threshold. The little boy was clinging onto her friend like a baby koala did with his mother, and she couldn't help but ruffle his unruly hair as they went in.

"It's good to see you back," she said softly, carefully skirting around the feelings that they'd been sharing for quite some time now.

"It's good to be back too," and with one swift move he placed a chaste kiss at the corner of her mouth.

There would be a time for them to explore those feelings, but they had to thread carefully and just take this one step at a time. Jane was still recovering from the loss of his beloved wife, all the while trying to adjust to some sort of normal life again. The fact that he'd brought the kid with him made her hope for the best though.

"You were right, you know," he muttered as if to answer her unspoken question. "I can't give David away, it wouldn't be right."

"He's such a good boy, you'll enjoy being a father again."

His eyes stared in the distance for a moment, and she knew he was thinking of his daughter.

"It's all your fault, by the way. I think you owe me something for tricking me into this."

She raised a skeptical eyebrow at him, he was clearly teasing her and she decided that two could play this game. "Do I really?"

A playful smirk tugged at his lips, he looked younger when he smiled. "The kid will need a mother too."

Her heart was beating decidedly faster now, but she stubbornly refused to let it show. "I'm sure there are plenty of women who'd be happy to apply for that position."

"Unfortunately for them, I've already set my eyes on a pretty lady cop. If she's willing to have me, that is."

"You're really hopeless," she laughed, then took David from his arms. "Do you want some hot cocoa, little man?"

The toddler only clapped his hands and graced her with a beatific grin.

xxx

It had been a long time since he'd last allowed himself to fully relax, and now he felt something strangely akin to peace wash over him at last. His grief wasn't forgotten, but he'd eventually buried his past and his broken heart was slowly starting to heal at long last.

Now he could see David for the gift that he truly was; the little boy was the last good thing that his wife had left to him, and in some way she would always be there through her child. Not to mention the fact that Lisbon was already more than a little bit in love with the kid, he'd bet that David was going to have her wrapped around his little finger in no time.

As he watched the two of them sharing a cup of hot cocoa, dark smudges forming just under their noses, he closed his eyes and leaned comfortably against Lisbon's couch.

All the rest didn't matter; he was home at last.