Here's chapter 30 I hope everyone enjoys it. I'll update again soon, so until then as usual I own nothing.
Waking up Friday morning was almost better than Thursday morning but only because Patrick had made an elaborate effort to be back in bed by the time I woke up. I was half asleep when I felt him kiss me, but was sure it could have still been a dream and fell back asleep it must have been about an hour later when I heard the shower running and realized my bed was empty. In the temporary confusion of just waking up I thought he had left, but then why was the shower on. No sooner had I thought that than the water turned off, and minutes later Jane slipped out of the bathroom in his boxers and slid back into bed with me.
"Have a nice run." I smirked after giving him a couple seconds to get comfortable in bed.
"I tried not to wake you." He smiled as I moved closer so I could lay my head on his chest.
"You tried to sneak out and back into bed." I raised my eyebrows.
"I wanted to be here when you woke up." He gave a small shrug, "You look so gorgeous when you're still hanging on to sleep." I couldn't help but smile at what he said, "And when you're half asleep you're a lot less likely to abuse me." He added, could he only say sweet things if they were followed by some sarcastic remark. I had no choice but to slap him.
"We still have to pick a date for the parent teacher conference." I sighed after a couple minutes of just laying in each other arms.
"Not next week." Jane announced, what was wrong with next week?
"Not next week?" I questioned. "Isn't it actually my decision?"
"I suppose so." He gave a small smile.
"Then why not next week?" I was trying to watch his face without lifting my head from his chest.
"You can go next week but I won't be up to it." He answered, he was watching me just like I was watching him.
"You planning on leaving me already?" I tried to get something out of him he was being unusually quiet.
"Maybe." He chuckled, but he held me closer making sure I knew he wasn't serious.
"So not next week, but the week after that?" I went back to my original question. "Will that fit into your busy schedule?"
"I think I can squeeze it in." He smirked, the time came to get up far to quickly. Throughout my shower I couldn't help but think about what Patrick could possibly be doing next week, for some reason I felt like I was missing something huge but couldn't think of it for the life of me. I was able to get the kids ready with minimal argument it was Friday after all. When Jane went to kiss me good bye before I left to drop off the kids I couldn't help but laugh.
"Patrick you realize it's not really good bye if I'm going to see you at work in thirty minutes." I pulled away from him just a little.
"But I don't get to kiss you at work or even hold you hand." He pouted, and he looked so adorable I couldn't help but smile, "You know it's easy to make people believe I'm miserable at work."
"Oh." I frowned.
"I have the most amazing, beautiful women on the planet, and she's sitting not fifteen feet away everyday and I don't get to tell anyone." He really could be sweet sometimes. "Have a good day at work, one of us has to."
"Oh I'm sure it won't be that bad." I stood on my toes to give him one more kiss before joining the kids in the car.
"Are you and Patrick dating?" Emily questioned as I pulled my car out of the parking lot behind Jane's deathtrap of a car.
"What do you know about dating?" I glanced over my shoulder.
"Only that our baby sitter back home went on lots of dates." Emily shrugged.
"And she had lots of boyfriends." Alyssa nodded, "They come over sometimes, when mommy and daddy were gone." I was just going to pretend that only happened on TV and not in real life.
"She said she loved the guys she went on dates with." Emily added.
"I'm sure she did." I shook my head.
"Are you and Patrick dating?" Alyssa repeated her sister's question.
"Yes I think Patrick and I are dating, kind of." I smiled.
"Good because I like having both of you around, almost like a real mommy and daddy." Emily grinned, bouncing in her booster seat. Could this be a real family? I guess I had always been afraid of starting a family because I knew how easily it could be taken away. Why was I thinking about this being a family, I mean I guess we were a sort of messed up non traditional family even before the kids had come into our lives so it wasn't that weird to be thinking these thoughts.
Work was relatively quiet, and Jane alternated from the couch in the bullpen to the couch in my office, and I have to admit that I really did like it better when he was in my office even if he was just lying on my couch. It was hard to get through the day I was almost hoping for a case to distract me from everything that was going on in my head.
"I'm heading to pick up the kids, I'll be back." I checked in with the bullpen before walking into the elevator.
"Our collages are due next Thursday." Alyssa reminded walking out of her classroom.
"Good thing we started working on it last night." I smiled, "Did you give your teacher the paper for the parent/teacher conference?"
"Uh huh, we have a half day of school next Friday and the Friday after that so that Miss. Hunt can talk to all of the parents." Emily nodded, taking her sister and brothers hand to walk across the parking lot. I think I remember reading that in one of the papers we had gotten when we talked to the principal, but I had never thought about it. Where was I going to find a babysitter, I mean they couldn't spend all afternoon at the CBI could they?
"That means we don't have to be at school for part of the day!" Alyssa celebrated as I lifted her into the back seat.
"Does that mean we get to catch bad guys with you?" Emily questioned.
"We'll see." I shook my head why are they so excited by my job? At work they ran to Jane and his couch until I gathered them up to go home for the weekend.
"Teresa why does your work have rules against you and Patrick loving each other?" Alyssa wondered on the ride home, how do I answer that?
"Well I guess our boss is worried that if we stopped loving each other we would starting fighting at work and not get as much work done." I attempted.
"You and Patrick aren't going to stop loving each other." Emily assured smiling from her seat. "I can tell." And I couldn't help myself from laughing she was so sweet. "I'm telling the truth." She frowned at my reaction.
"I know sweetie, I'm laughing because I'm happy and I think what you said was really nice." I reassured, smiling at her in the rearview mirror.
"We will talk to your boss for you then you won't have to be scared at work." Alyssa offered.
"No that's alright you don't have to." I shook my head, because apparently Patrick and I weren't actually breaking any rules. I still couldn't believe that he the man with the perfect memory had been so nervous about something that he checked three times, to make sure we weren't breaking any rules. I knew he did that for me like he cared about breaking any rules.
Once home the girls went about showing me all of the drawings they had made during the school day while I fed Cass a bottle and William played with his Lego's until Patrick came home. I was greeted with a gentle peck on the cheek before turning his attention to the kids. In a way it was almost as if he had come home from work at a job where we hadn't seen each other all day. At work he was a different person, he played the part of the miserable widower, and then he came home to us and that man from work disappeared. He wore so many masks that I should be worried about which one was actually him, but that smile on his face the other night when I let him into the house that couldn't be faked.
"What are you thinking about?" Patrick asked later that night when we were getting into bed.
"You." I smiled curling into his side.
"Good thoughts I hope." He smiled wrapping his arms around me.
"You make that very difficult sometimes." I grinned into his T-shirt.
"I thought I've been behaving rather well lately." He frowned.
"That's what's worrying me." I laughed, "I'm afraid you're up to something."
"I thought we established the only thing I've been up to lately is winning over the woman I love." His smile was so contagious, of course it probably didn't hurt that we were lying in bed together.
"You've been known to be up to more than one thing at once." I reminded and he chuckled.
"Is it so hard to believe that you and those kids are the only thing on my mind right now?" He kissed my forehead.
"You make a lot of people believe a lot of things that aren't true." I sighed and the hurt was so clear on his face that all I could do was stretch up and try kissing his pain away. "You didn't let me finish." I whispered, and he stared back at me, "Despite your incredibly spotty track record as far as my trust goes, I do believe you, and I know that you wouldn't be laying in my bed if it weren't true."
"I don't deserve you Teresa Lisbon." He breathed as I laid my head back onto his chest. "You deserve someone ten times better than me, someone who doesn't lie, or cheat others, who…" I had to stop him.
"How about someone who doesn't lie to me, or cheat on me?" I interrupted, "And those are things I know you won't do. You're a better man than you give yourself credit for Patrick." He didn't respond and that's how we fell asleep.
"Get up! Get up! Get up!" my bed was bouncing and children were screaming, what time was it anyway? I looked over where Patrick should be laying he wasn't there. "Teresa it's time to get up!"
"I don't want to get up." I smirked pulling the pillow over my head as the three kids continued to jump around the bed.
"Patrick said if you sleep any later you won't get breakfast." Emily landed on her knees next to me.
"And then if you don't get any breakfast you'll be hungry cause we're not eating lunch." Alyssa added landing on my other side.
"Brunch time." William grinned as I pulled the pillow off my head. Brunch? What time had I slept to?
"Alright, alright, I suppose I better eat." I exaggerated a groan as I sat up and lifted William onto my lap. "What are we having for brunch?"
"We made pancakes, and bacon, and eggs, and toast." Alyssa announced, grabbing my wrist in an attempt to pull me from my bed.
"And what type of pancakes do we have this morning?" I wondered giving in to her attempts and letting them drag me down the stairs. I probably looked gorgeous this morning, I knew my hair was a mess, but at least I had opted for actual pajamas last night instead of my old jersey.
"Patrick put fruit in them." Emily answered, "We got to test them they don't taste bad don't worry." I was guessing when she said fruit she didn't mean something normal like blueberries.
"Good morning." Jane smiled lifting William out of my arms and into his seat before turning back around to wrap his arms around my waist, "You look lovely." He gave me a quick kiss on the back of the neck before serving each of the kids their breakfast.
"I'm sure I do." I rolled my eyes and accepted the coffee being handed to me.
"You do." He pulled my seat out for me and kissed the back of my neck again, I don't think I have ever been with any man as affectionate as Jane. "I've told you before I think you look beautiful in the morning, it baffles me that you don't see it to."
"You know what baffles me?" I questioned seeing a clock for the first time.
"And what's that?" He smirked cutting the kid pancakes.
"First how come it seems impossible for you to make normal pancakes, and second why did you think it was a good idea to let me sleep until eleven thirty." I returned, eating what appeared to be strawberry/banana pancakes.
"I think we've already discussed the pancake issue to great length, and second of all I felt guilty you haven't been getting as much sleep since I've been invited back into the house." He smirked and I blushed.
"Why haven't you been getting any sleep?" Alyssa asked with a mouthful of eggs.
"Patrick snores." I made up, "And don't talk with food in your mouth." After eating and helping Patrick clean up the kitchen I lifted Cass out of her highchair. "What are we going to do today?" I looked at each of the kids.
"Patrick said we could play hide and seek in the house." Alyssa announced.
"That doesn't sound to bad, we can do that." I nodded following them into the living room and setting Cass in her playpen.
After watching Patrick make a huge scene of looking for the kids and several other games of hide and seek we settled for making a fort in the living room out of blankets. Alyssa, Emily, and William were laying on the floor in our new fort with their coloring books while Jane and I leaned against the couch holding Cass, who was probably more active than I had seen her ever. It was nice just sitting there with my head on Patrick's shoulder while he bounced Cass on his lap. "Dadadada." Cass started announcing.
"No!" Alyssa turned around real fast and threw her crayon down, "He's not daddy." She started scolding her baby sister. "That's Patrick, he's not daddy!"
"She didn't mean daddy." Patrick invited the little girl to sit in between us. "She was practicing, you know how you practice writing your name, she was practicing talking."
"You're not our daddy." Alyssa pouted still glaring at her baby sister.
"I know that, and I'm sure Cass knows that to, she didn't mean to upset you." Patrick assured Alyssa, "She was just practicing so she can say real words some day." It took a little bit but eventually Patrick was able to convince Alyssa that Cass hadn't meant anything when she started her chant, but with that cleared up Alyssa was happy to go back to her coloring. That didn't mean I wasn't jealous about the things that had taken place, Cass could have just as easily said "mamamama." I mean Patrick wasn't even really her guardian. "She really didn't mean anything." Jane smirked he had been watching me think this whole time.
"That doesn't mean I can't be jealous." I pouted and he just smiled.
"Well I'm going to hand you are very talkative little lady, and go start dinner." He smiled, handing off Cass and sitting up. I really couldn't help but stare after him as he crawled out of the blanket fort, but eventually Cass's chanting returned and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.
"He told you to say this didn't he, he knew it would drive me crazy." I smiled at the little girl and she just continued her new song until we were called to dinner and I was forced to crawl out of fort as well. All to soon the kids were in bed and Patrick and I were sitting in each other's arms on the couch.
"Can I tell you something?" He breathed after a couple minutes.
"Yea you know that." I looked up at him, "Unless you're confessing to a crime then I'd rather not know." I smiled and he grinned to.
"What Cass said scared me." He confessed, "I didn't think anyone would call me daddy again, it's not a title I deserve. I mean I know she wasn't actually saying it but part of me panicked." What was I supposed to say to that? I knew he would be and was an excellent father, and it hurt me to think that he didn't feel the same way.
"I'm going to tell you the same thing you told me a month ago." I sighed, "Any kid would be lucky to have you as a father." I was hoping for some sarcastic remark about he was pretty sure he didn't say I'd be a good father but that's not what I got.
"Well you can tell that to my daughter." He frowned.
"Patrick look at me for one minute and listen when I say you had no way of knowing that's what would have happened when you said what you did. And in no way does it affect your ability as a parent." I demanded his attention, "I'm going to bed, and when you realize what I said was the truth feel free to join me." I unwrapped myself from his embrace and hurried up the stairs. I waited in bed a good half an hour before I felt him slide into bed next to me.
"Thank you." He whispered wrapping his arms around my waist. When I woke up I knew two things one that Jane was laying there just watching me sleep and two that he had already gone for his run and showered.
"One of these days I'm going to go on that run with you." I yawned curling up against his bare chest.
"If you think you can keep up with me, be my guest." He teased.
"You really think you're in that much better shape than I am?" I looked up to see him smiling at me.
"No, I know you're faster than me, and could probably take me in a fair fight, but I think I have more endurance than you do and could easily run farther." He chuckled before capturing my lips in his.
"Fair fight?" I questioned pulling away for just a second.
"As you so often like to point out, I cheat." He quickly went back to kissing me.
"How would you cheat in a fight?" I pulled back again.
"In a fight with you." He looked at me for a minute as if studying his opponent. "I might try something like this." He started tickling me and I could help but squirm away, "But I think my more likely tactic would be something like this." He grinned, pulling me back toward him and recapturing my lips. It was true this was a truly unfair way to fight I just melted at the feeling of his lips on mine.
"We have to get ready for church." I breathed, pulling away and looking at the clock on the nightstand.
"I suppose we do." He nodded, not bothering to hide his disappointment at the change in direction.
"Patrick why do you come to church with us?" I frowned rolling out of bed, "And don't say it's for the show because we both know that's not it."
"No I suppose it's not." He smiled watching me get dressed and ready for the day. "But one of these days I'm going to take you to a real theater performance."
"That sounds boring." I turned away from him to change out of my pajamas and he chuckled.
"No more boring than sitting through an hour of church every week." He smiled.
"As you pointed out church is free." I tried to argue pulling a shirt on real quick so I could turn back and face him. Why was he still lying on my bed in nothing but his boxers?
"Well you wouldn't be paying my dear." He smirked finally getting up from my bed. "That is what I'm here for, you know it's customary in this culture for the man to pay on a date."
"That's something I've been wanting to talk to you about." I sighed waiting for him to put a shirt on. "If we are dating I don't want you disappearing to a casino once a month, you have the money in the bank please use that. I know you're afraid and feel guilty about it but it's there and I think you should spend it."
"Either you're afraid you can't live without my company for two days or you like the idea that you're dating a millionaire." He smiled coming to stand behind me, "But I suppose if it will make you happy I can visit the bank on occasion."
"Thank you." I turned around again him an appreciative kiss.
"But just know I'm sticking to cash, credit cards are much to dangerous and information can easily be stolen." He smirked.
"I think your paranoid." I laughed turning back to my makeup.
"I think I'm practical." He returned kissing the top of my head before pulling his vest and jacket on and making the bed. "I'm still taking you to the theater." Was all he said before heading down the hall leaving me to finish getting ready in peace.
In the kitchen Patrick was buttering Raisin Bread for the kids having already made a cup of coffee for me. We were at church an hour later, and then at one of Jane's diners for lunch.
"Girls we're going to finish you're collages when we get home so we don't have to worry about it later in the week." I decided over lunch.
"I don't want to, it's the weekend." Alyssa pouted, and Emily nodded in agreement.
"When you're done we can go outside and play some more soccer." Patrick suggested, and the girls gradually gave in. "Teresa I'm not going to be at work Tuesday." Jane announced randomly in the car ride home.
"Any particular reason or just deciding to take a day off." I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye.
"No I have a reason." Was his only response and I couldn't decide if he was inviting me to ask more or was on the verge of closing up.