I apologize I know it has been soooo long since I last posted and I'm it's annoying me just as much as it's annoying you. So I'll keep it short and sweet, I would love to hear what you have to think of this chapter and I will try to update as soon as I possibly can. As usual I own nothing.
An hour later Rigsby and Cho were helping Patrick set up the canopy in the backyard along with a handful of chairs and tables. While Grace and I put up the decorations. Once the girls were satisfied with the way the back yard looked we had a couple minutes to catch our breaths before the guests were expected.
An hour after the other kids showed up they were enjoying pizza and juice at a separate table from the five adults. William not wanting to sit with his sisters and their friends took up his usual position on Patrick's lap.
"Sorry I couldn't bring Ben, it was Sarah's weekend and we've been getting along so well I didn't want to push my luck." Rigsby smiled at the little boy in Jane's lap who just continued on with his pizza slice.
"It looks like William has his own friend today." Cho pointed out.
"What can I say some people enjoy my company." Jane smirked.
"Come on Jane you know we enjoy your company." Van Pelt assured.
"Maybe if you behaved a little more, caused me less paperwork we might show it a little more." I added.
"I don't know if I have to behave maybe I'll settle for William as my only friend. If that's okay with him of course." William looked up from his pieces of pizza and nodded with a grin.
"Patrick!" Alyssa came running over, "Can you do magic tricks, like the money trick you did in Chicago?"
"I would love to but how about after cake and ice cream, and you guys still have presents to, we wouldn't want to forget those."
"Okay, after, but you promise you'll do magic tricks right."
"I promise after cake and ice cream, and presents I will show your friends some magic tricks."
"Thank you!" And with that she was back with her sister and friends.
"And what tricks will you use to amaze us today Jane?" I smirked watching him drink from a juice box I had offered him tea but he insisted on properly celebrating the birthday party.
"Oh I'll think of something I have until after presents."
"Speaking of presents I didn't see anything from you." Cho raised his eyebrows.
"I delivered them on their birthday, didn't want all of their friends to get jealous."
"And what was this amazing gift?" Rigsby frowned.
"I gave them a tea set." He shrugged.
"Of course you did." Grace grinned.
"It's a beautiful set and the girls started playing with it immediately." I added in Patrick's defense though I don't really know if he needed any defending at this point.
"I'm just happy to see someone play with it again." He nodded.
"Again?" Grace frowned, and again Patrick just nodded. "You mean it was…"
"It was hardly doing me any good." Patrick smiled, and that was the end of that conversation. It looked as if the team was too nervous to ask anymore for fear of Jane closing up. I really wanted to take pity on them they deserved to know that Patrick wasn't nearly as depressed and cut off as he acted all the time. I wanted to tell them that he was living here and that we were together, and I really don't know what was stopping me. "You okay Lisbon?" I looked up from my soda to see him watching me.
"Conflicted." I confessed, and he smiled in response with the team watching on.
"Anything I can do to help."
"Nothing at the moment."
"If you're sure." He shrugged, at the same time William started pulling on Patrick's jacket sleeve.
"Bathroom." William insisted, "Bathroom Daddy Patrick." He said that and I froze looking from William to the rest of the team ending on a smiling Patrick.
"It looks like I'll be right back, excuse me." With that Patrick set aside his lunch and carried William into the house leaving me to figure out how to clean up this mess if it was even worth cleaning up.
"Um boss, did he say daddy?" Rigsby was staring at me and so were the others.
"Yes that's what he said." I nodded what had Patrick said that first day William called him that. I didn't know where this was going to go so I thought I'd start with something easy. "Jane thinks Williams doing it to reassure himself that there are adults who care about him, and all of the kids have grown close to Jane."
"Close enough to call him daddy?" Cho frowned.
"Jane's lived with us for a little while after the shooting, and sense he recovered he's come over on occasion for dinner." At this point I was committed to lying them might as well continue with it.
"And that's it." Van Pelt questioned.
"And that's it." Jane came back out with William at his side. "So sorry to disappoint."
"No we're not disappointed." Grace sat up a little straighter "why would we be disappointed."
"We know the rumors." Patrick smiled, "And the bets."
"Where the rumors come from I have no idea." I sighed and I really didn't because they were around almost since the time of Jane's arrival at the CBI. "Wait what bets?"
"Bets with in your own team even." Patrick smirked at the two men sitting across from him.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Rigsby reached for another slice of pizza ignoring everyone's eyes.
"Rigsby says no because Lisbon would think it was unprofessional and would never break the rules like that, but Cho says yes and we've been keeping it a secret for months maybe since before the kids showed up." Patrick informed, "You're both wrong I'm afraid Rigsby is wrong because there is no rule telling me who I can and can not see on my own time. And Cho well he's just wrong."
"How would you know there were no rules telling you who you can and can't date if you didn't look it up?" Rigsby questioned.
"I get bored and I read, and other than Cho's desk the books at work are very much limited to law enforcement and rules."
"You've read the books in my desk?"
"I have, some of them multiple times you have good taste."
"Jane you can't break into other people's desk and take their things." I sighed, why did he have such a problem with other people's space.
"I didn't take I borrowed, and never for more than a day or two. I always put it back right where I found it too. And none of you would have known if I hadn't just told you."
"That's entirely besides the point, you took something that didn't belong to you." I scolded.
"Yes and if I said it won't happen again I'd be lying so I'm not going to say it. What I will say is your party guest are getting antsy I'd say it's time for cake."
"We're still talking about this later." I warned, "Grace you want to help me get the cake and ice cream from the kitchen." From there Grace followed me into the kitchen and you could tell she wanted to ask more, but didn't. When we got back outside the guys had set up plates and started gathering the kids up for their desert. Soon all thought of our conversation at the table was pushed to the back of everyone's mind by the dozen or so excited kids and then there was present opening, and just before three Patrick was able to put on a small magic show until all of the parents came to pick up their children.
I wasn't at all surprised that Hayley was the last to pick up her son, have she no shame Patrick had turned her down on every occasion their paths crossed. Now of course she was going to risk ruining that already very shaky lie Patrick and I had constructed for our team. It was official my life had turned into a soap opera.
Again would it really be so bad if the team knew, we both knew the answer they would be excited and happy for us, mad that we hadn't confided in them in the beginning but only for a second.
"Patrick I didn't know you were a magician." Hayley smiled watching as Jane finished up one last card trick for the girls and their single remaining guest.
"I'm not." He stuck the deck of cards in his pocket.
"That's not what it looked like from here."
"This is the part where you flirt with me tirelessly I try very hard to be polite and then respectfully turn you away." Jane sighed. "But if you don't mind we can skip to the end where you walk away upset at me as usual, I have to help clean up the yard and then get prepared for a work event I really don't want to go to and therefore I have no time to waste on you."
It took all of my self-control not to spit out my soda at the look on Hayley's face she looked like she was about to slap him, and definitely not one of my playful slaps either she was mad. Of course I guess I would be to if I had been told that, but she had been bugging him for the past three months and the answer was always the same it really was just as much her fault as it was his. She did raise her hand but hesitated, gave him time to brace himself before she really did slap him grab her son and walk away.
"That was harsh man." Cho smirked from where he was standing a couple feet away.
"She shouldn't have hesitated." I added, watching Patrick rub his cheek.
"She's strong I'll give her that." He shrugged taking an empty seat and watching the girls run around the yard.
"Now she'll probably never let her son play with the girls again. Are you happy now?" I scolded.
"That seems unlikely, I wouldn't be surprised if the next time we meet she tries again."
"I think she got the message this time."
"She didn't when I showed her my wedding ring." He reminded, and our coworkers were watching us go back and forth like it was a game of ping pong.
"Well we'll have to wait and see won't we."
"Wait and see we shall." He smirked.
"Wait where did she meet Jane?" Rigsby spoke up, I knew we weren't going to be able to avoid that question.
"The girls soccer games, I promised them I would make as many as possible."
"Which meant all of them because we know you have no life except to ruin mine."
"It wasn't my fault you left me to the wolves I didn't mean to interrupt you and Edwards conversation, besides you didn't even realize he was flirting with you." He argued and I could only roll my eyes.
"Yeah well he'll forever think we're together thanks a lot."
"That wasn't my fault either."
"Like hell it wasn't you hate not being the center of attention you kept playing you're stupid mind games on him dropping subtle hints that weren't even true."
"What mind games?" He protested, for some reason this was really fun to be arguing with him about nothing for the sake of I guess for the sake of the con lacking a better word. Was this how he felt every time he provoked someone because I think I understand it now.
"You know what never mind we don't have time for this, I got to get the yard cleaned up, the baby sitter is coming at five and I want the house to be presentable and at least mostly ready to leave."
"We'll help you clean up the yard it'll take a half hour if all of us chip in." Rigsby offered.
"I couldn't you guys have to get ready to I couldn't ask you to stay."
"Come on boss you can't really expect to take all of this down on your own." Van Pelt smiled already gathering up paper plates and wrapping paper to throw in the trash.
"It'll take us a lot less time if we all do it anyway besides it's three we still have three hours before the dinner tonight and it's not like we have to be there at exactly six." Cho added, Jane nodded his agreement and while the kids continued on their sugar rush and Cass played on her blanket the five of us got the backyard cleaned up and the tables and canopy taken down in a little over a half hour.
Everyone was heading to their cars when Grace just by chance looked in the back of Patrick's "Jane why is your tux in the back seat?"
"I agreed to watch the kids while Lisbon changed." He smiled, when had he moved his tux there, and why hadn't he told me of his plan? "She's paranoid of leaving them to their own devices for twenty minutes."
"I'm not paranoid and it'll take me more than twenty minutes to get ready." I frowned, not really in the mood to start another fight even if it was fake and the first one had been pretty fun, we were on a tight schedule after all.