I am so happy that everyone likes my story so far, here is chapter four I hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
As it turned out Emily was right when she said her grandmother had sold a lot of their things. We had to buy a collapsible crib to put Cassandra in at the hotel along with a number of other necessities. I didn't want to think about how much more I would have to buy when we got back to Sacramento. The hotel room that had seemed huge for just Jane and I the night before looked absolutely tiny now that we had the kids and all of their belongings with us.
"Looks like we may finally get to sleep together Lisbon." Jane smirked going into the bathroom to bathe Cassandra before putting her to bed.
"You try anything." I warned, knowing even before I said it that he wouldn't.
"You're the one I'm worried about." He called from the bathroom. "Emily, Alyssa can you help Teresa get your brother ready for bed?" He added, and I yet again I realized I really was in over my head. My brothers were all at least ten by the time I had to start raising them on my own, I didn't know how to take care of toddlers.
"The bear pajamas!" Alyssa turned to her sister.
"No the dinosaur ones!" Emily returned.
"Bears!"
"Dinosaurs!"
"Girls." I tried, they looked at me for a minute before turning back to their argument.
"Teresa you pick!" Alyssa faced me, oh God why do they do this, if I pick one I'll be accused of playing favorites for the rest of my life.
"You know what let William pick out his own pajamas." I lifted the small boy up, "He's a big boy, which ones?"
He stared at his sisters for a minute and then pointed to his suitcase, "Cars!" He smiled.
"Good choice." I smiled, why hadn't I thought to look for another pair of pajamas.
"I told you to pick the cars." Alyssa turned to her sister.
"You said bears!" Emily argued.
"Girls, can you bring me your brother's pajamas." I interrupted, they frowned at each other and then preceded to do as I ask. That's when I noticed Jane standing in the bathroom door with the baby in his arms and a smile on his face. "What?"
"I told you so." He smirked, placing Cassandra in her crib and giving her a kiss on the forehead.
"What?" I really did hate him sometimes.
"I told you, you'd be a good at this." He chuckled.
"You need to give him a bath first." Emily instructed, helping me undress her brother.
"No bath!" William squealed squirming in my arms.
"Are you going to need help with him?" Jane questioned, watching me struggle with the squirming boy.
"I can do it." I insisted starting for the bathroom.
"Girls go help Teresa." He instructed.
"No I can do it." I repeated, "You girls get ready for bed."
"We need to take baths to." Alyssa worried.
"Well how about you two come here and we'll find a book to read in that backpack of yours." Jane offered, and the girls each went to their own backpacks to find a book. "We'll read one book now and one book before you go to bed."
"No Bath!" William continued to squirm up until the minute I set him in the bathwater. Then he just started to splash.
"Come on William I need to prove to Jane I can do something on my own." I begged the child as he just continued to splash. I could hear Jane reading in the other room and then the story ended and I was still trying to shampoo Williams's hair.
"Hey girls does Cass sleep through the night yet?" He questioned after a minute.
"Yep, most the time, but not so much recently. I think she knows." I heard the girls explain, and I could picture Jane out their nodding in his understanding way.
"What about William have your parents started potty training him yet?" Jane wondered, while I dried off William and reached for his pull ups and started to get him dressed.
"Yep, Liam will tell you when he has to go, most of the time." The girls answered.
"Whose next?" I questioned carrying William out of the bathroom.
"You know Lisbon you didn't need to get in the tub with him." Jane laughed before taking William from me, and I saw myself in the mirror I really was dripping from the splashing, so I went back in to grab a towel. "Alyssa first tonight, Emily first tomorrow." Jane instructed grabbing Alyssa's pajamas and following her into the bathroom.
Before I knew it all four kids were bathed and in or getting into bed, I felt bad that the older three had to share a bed, but it was a really small room. I stood back and watched as Jane tucked them in and read them one more story. It really made you feel sorry for what he had lost he was perfect with these kids, he had them smiling and giggling as opposed to when we first saw them and they barely spoke.
"Jane." I sighed after the two of us had been laying in silence for a little while.
"hmm," He turned to face me.
"I can't do this." I whispered, "I don't know what I'm doing."
"Lisbon it was you're first day, you don't learn how to be a parent over night." He answered. "I didn't know what I was doing then or now for that matter."
"But most parents have nine months to get ready, I had a week." I pointed out.
"Teresa it doesn't matter how long you have to plan, nothing prepares you for raising children." He reassured, "You wouldn't have asked for my help unless you knew deep down that you were going to raise these kids."
"I can't afford this, how am I supposed to send four kids to school." I frowned, "They're going to a parochial school." I added.
"Of course." He nodded, "I can help you."
"I don't need you're money Jane." I hissed, "That's not why I asked you for help."
"I know Lisbon, it was just an offer." He pulled me closer.
"What are you doing?" I protested, but didn't move away.
"Relax women." He chuckled, wrapping his arms around me, "I'm not going to try anything, you just needed some comforting."
"Thank you Jane." I whispered into his chest.
"You are allowed to call me Patrick." He chuckled, I laid there in his arms for what felt like hours and eventually I must have fallen asleep, but was awoken around midnight to a scream, my first instinct was to reach for my gun, but had to remind myself I had left it at home. When I did realize where I was and what was happening I moved to go to the other bed but Jane was already there.
Jane was sitting with Emily on his lap "Shhh you're okay." Jane whispered, stroking her back.
"No it was bad, their gone!" She cried and Jane held her close.
"Shhh." He repeated, "It's going to be okay, you're safe."
"No, no it's not going to be okay." Emily cried leaning into Patrick's shirt just like I had been not a half hour ago.
"What happened can you tell me about your bad dream." Jane encouraged, rubbing small circles on her back.
"I was walking with Aly and Liam and Cass and then my shoe was untied…" She stopped and started crying again. Jane held her close and waited for her to continue. "I bent down to tie my shoe, because mommy was teaching me how to tie my shoes…" She stopped and cried again. "And then I looked up and the scary car was coming and I couldn't stop it and then they were gone and I was all alone." She was balling into Jane's shirt, "They were gone just like mommy and daddy are gone."
"You're okay, and look Aly and Liam and Cass are okay to, it was just a bad dream." He promised. "You're safe, they're all safe."
"Patrick do you ever have bad dreams?" She sniffled.
"Of course I have bad dreams, everybody has bad dreams." He admitted.
"What are your bad dreams about?" Emily questioned, looking up at him.
"For a long time I had bad dreams about what happened to my wife and daughter, but now they usually involve bad things happening to Teresa." He confessed looking over to where I was lying on the bed. "But you know the good thing about bad dreams?" He asked, and she shook her head, "When you wake up the bad dreams are over and you're safe in bed"
"You promise." Alyssa whispered, I hadn't even realized she had woken up.
"I promise, and you know why you're safe?" Jane questioned after he invited Alyssa to join her sister on his lap, and both girls shook their heads. "You're safe because Teresa is a super cop and if anybody tried to hurt any of you she would have them arrested and put away forever and ever." Both girls looked up at Jane and then over to me and I didn't quite know how to react.
"Patrick can we sleep with you and Teresa tonight?" Alyssa wondered.
"Of course you can." I answered for him, "Come here." And both the girls jumped out of Patrick arms and crawled into bed with me. "What about William will he be okay in bed by himself?" I worried.
"I got him." Jane smiled, lifting the sleeping child from his bed and moving him so he was lying with his sisters in between Jane and I. It didn't take long for the girls to fall asleep in between us, and when I looked up at Jane he was just smiling over at me.
"What?" I frowned.
"Nothing." He chuckled.
"Jane." I snapped.
"I saw that look on your face," He grinned, and he knew just like I knew that whatever my concerns had been earlier in the night lying here with the kids I knew we were going to make this work. And not twenty minutes after my realization I was starting to dose off again when the crying started, and I moved to get up. "Go back to sleep Teresa, I can handle Cassandra tonight."
"No I can do it." I groaned doubting myself even as I said it.
"You need sleep." He scolded.
"Oh and you don't." I tried.
"Lisbon I'm a recovering insomniac, I can survive on no sleep a lot easier than you can." He responded, "Go back to sleep, I'll make up a bottle for her and be back in bed in twenty minutes." I laid and watched as he picked up Cassandra and rocked her as he made the bottle, he smiled and talked to the little girl, he was such a natural with children and that was something I had always been jealous of.