Chapter 6
I was watching Where in the World is Carmine O'Brien when I wrote some of this so I have some references from the episode. This is Tommy and Annie visit.
Disclaimer: Don't own show
Lisbon fell into the easy routine of just coming into the office to only interrogate suspects and do paperwork and the office investigative aspects of the cases. Cho rebuilt the team with Wylie, Lisbon, Tork and Sanders. Cho hired Tork to become full time at the Austin office. He continued to teach Wylie the ropes of the field and he was getting used to it with also some pointers from her. Agent Sanders continued to help out with the team. He would fill in for her when she would go on maternity leave.
She was now in her fifth month of pregnancy. It was arranged this week that Tommy and Annabeth decided to come down to Austin, since Annabeth had a break from college.
Right now she and Jane were waiting at the Austin airport in her Chevy SUV. They got out and headed to the waiting area of the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. They immediately found seats in the waiting area and sat down.
"Have you seen Tommy lately?" Jane asked.
"No, not really. He's been all over the place with the bounty hunter job. I still don't quite agree with him doing it." Lisbon admitted. The last time she did really see him was the time in California she ran into him with the Chief Green case when he was looking for Carmine O' Brien. Well, with the exception of a Thanksgiving, but that time was really the only time she talked to him alone.
"I'm sure he's improved since he came to California. He is still doing it." Jane stated.
"I suppose it could be true. I just worry about him. I took care of him and his brothers and I basically had to play mother and father to them. It's hard not to worry." Lisbon admitted.
"When he comes, just be a sister to him. He misses you." Jane reassured.
"I know. I will do that." Lisbon admitted.
"When are they coming here?" Jane asked looking up at the arrival screens hanging around the airport.
"8:00p.m. on United from Seattle." Lisbon said looking at Tommy's e-mail he sent her on her phone.
"It looks like the flight's early. That never happens. Usually flights are delayed." Jane noticed the arrival times on the TV screen.
They watched as people came down the stairs. Instantly, Lisbon spotted Tommy in jeans and t-shirt and a carry on bag and noticed Annabeth following behind with a bag as well.
They walked down the stairs and instantly noticed Jane and Lisbon.
"Hey, Reese, it's so great to see you!" Tommy exclaimed coming up to Lisbon.
"It's good to see you too. Thank you for coming." Lisbon pulled her brother into a hug. Jane smiled at the reunion of the siblings and then they broke apart from their hug.
"You look different, Reese." Tommy noticed Lisbon's pregnant belly. Then he looked to Jane. "So you're the one who finally won my sister's heart?"
"Surprisingly, I did." Jane eyed Lisbon. "Good to see you again, Tommy." Jane said shaking Tommy's hand.
"Did everybody forget me, am I invisible?" Annie complained. The three other adults turned around and noticed the 18 year old Annie.
"Annie, it's good to see you too." Lisbon hugged her niece and then broke the hug.
"I remember you. I've made good use of my pick pocketing skills you taught me." Annie spoke to Jane.
"You were the one that taught her that?" Tommy looked to Jane. "I was wondering how she learned that."
"Yes. When you were in California."Jane looked at Tommy admittedly.
Annie observed Jane again. "So, you're my uncle now. I wished I was there for the wedding."
"It's fine, Annie." Jane responded. "You're here now. And you're my niece."
"Yes, Annie, you're here now and that's important."Lisbon looked to Annie. " I imagine you have luggage to pick up." Lisbon stated looking at her brother.
"Yes, we do." Tommy admitted. All the adults followed the signs to the baggage claim and went to the correct claim number. They stood at the conveyor looking for Annie and Tommy's luggage.
"Oh, there's mine." Annie pointed to the purple suitcase and then she pulled it off the belt.
Tommy grabbed his black suitcase and they continued to exit the airport and went to the SUV. Jane went to the driver's seat and Lisbon in the passenger and Tommy and Annie went in the back two seats. Jane drove out of the parking lot and towards the the exit out of the airport towards the highway back towards Lisbon's neighborhood.
"We'll be staying at my house." Lisbon confessed. "I have one extra room and a pull out couch." She looked back towards Annie and Tommy.
"Thanks, sis. Patrick, where's the cabin you're building? Teresa mentioned it when she called me a couple months ago." Tommy asked Jane.
"It's just five miles outside of Austin." Jane admitted. "I've started on it. Just the rooms for Teresa and I and what will be the nursery and rooms in the cabin already. I'm wanting to add other rooms. I plan to get those done first." Jane explained.
"You're concentrating on those rooms." Tommy stated.
"Yes. I am."
"Aunt Reese, I'll get to see where you work, right?" Annie asked excitedly.
"I can take you on a tour and introduce you to everyone. I'm just working in the office now with doing interrogations and the investigation part there. I'm not allowed to be in the field while pregnant." Lisbon admitted.
"Obviously not, I want to see the building." Annie stated.
"Do you remember Cho?"Lisbon asked.
"Kind of. I'm not sure." Annie recalled. "I don't think I met him."
"He's the supervising agent now. He just got promoted." Lisbon admitted.
"You're not the boss?" Annie asked.
"No, I'm helping him some. I haven't been the boss since CBI closed down." Lisbon noted.
"Do you miss being boss?" Annie questioned.
"Sometimes. No, I don't miss it too much because then I have to be responsible for the team and what they do." Lisbon admitted.
"What she means is she don't want to be responsible for paperwork and explanation for stunts that I do." Jane explaining grinning at Lisbon. She rolled her eyes.
"Now I have to be married to him. That's a chore in itself." Lisbon teased.
"Hey, you enjoy it. I've been waiting on you hand and foot and cooking breakfast for you." Jane reminded.
"Oh, you two are so adorable!" Annie exclaimed.
"I'm glad you found each other." Tommy stated.
They arrived at Lisbon's house. The airstream was parked in the driveway.
"That's a nice looking rig there." Tommy noticed.
"It's mine." Jane admitted as he got out of the car. Lisbon followed suit and Tommy and Annie got out as well and then went to the back and opened the door and grabbed their suitcases.
"Those are quite a expensive."
"The FBI paid for mine."
They entered Lisbon's house and Lisbon showed Tommy the guest bedroom. He set his suitcase and bag on the floor in the room. Annie put her bags in there as well and Lisbon showed Annie the couch. "There's a bathroom down the hall from you Would you like anything to drink?" Lisbon asked Tommy and Annie. "Water? Coffee? Tea? I have some pop."
"Water's fine." Tommy said. Lisbon waited for an answer from Annie.
"I better stick with water too. I get too hyper from the caffeine at night. That's what dad says."
"Yes, you do, kiddo." Tommy reminded looking at his daughter. Lisbon went into the kitchen and started to reach the cupboard for the glasses. Instantly, Jane came and grabbed the glasses instead.
"I can reach glasses out of the cupboard. I'm not an invalid." Lisbon looked at Jane sternly.
"I don't want you to exert too much energy." Jane said. As much as she loved Jane doing some things for her, sometimes he got a little too overprotective. She could do a simple thing as reaching for glasses. Lisbon noticed Annie watching the scene. "He gets a little too protective."
"But Aunt Reese, don't you love it that he does things for you?" "Annie questioned grinning at the sight. Jane handed Lisbon the glasses so she could pour water from the faucet. At least he let her do that task.
"Yeah, don't you love it when I do things for you?" Jane asked as he poured water into his kettle and set it on the stove and then turned the stove on high. He grabbed a mug out of the cupboard and a teabag. When the water heated up, he poured the water into the mug and put the teabag in it.
"But not every little thing." Lisbon rolled her eyes. Tommy went to the table and sat in the chair. Lisbon went to the table as well.
"I'm going to the living room, dad." Annie said taking her water Lisbon had given her and heading into the living room next door.
"Well, I'll join you, if it's okay." Jane said to Annie. He figured Lisbon needed some time to talk to her brother alone and he wanted to get to know Annie, his niece, better.
"Sure." Annie said to Jane.
"You and Annie live in Seattle now? When did you move to Seattle?" Lisbon asked wondering when Tommy moved to Seattle. As far as she knew he had lived in Chicago but wasn't there much when he had the job of being the bounty hunter.
"Well, I moved there actually after Annie graduated high school. Annie's going to school in Chicago and lives there." Tommy explained.
"So, she lives in a dorm?" Lisbon asked taking a sip of water.
"Oh, she's living in our house. I didn't really want to give it up." Tommy stated.
"By herself?" Lisbon questioned.
"Yeah, she's 18 after all. She's more responsible than me."
"You're letting her live in a house in Chicago by herself?" Lisbon asked concerned. "Aren't you worried about her?"
"We have neighbors looking out for her. She's perfectly safe. And we have a guard dog."
"How is she paying for it? How is she paying for food?"
"I send her money and her mother sends her some. And she has a part time job." Tommy explained.
"Where is her mother?" Lisbon asked.
"New York. She's a total whackadoo but she at least she sends money. She hardly sees Annie. I've been the only parent in charge." Tommy explained.
"I hope you don't call her that to her face."
"No, I don't"
"Let me get this straight, you're in Seattle, your ex-wife is in New York, and Annie is in Chicago."
"It's not any different than Annie going off to college."
"Yes, but that normally would be she's living in a dorm with other students not in a house by herself in the middle of Chicago in a questionable neighborhood." Lisbon said frustrated. She didn't understand everything Tommy did sometimes. At least Stan and Jimmy were more stable having jobs in one place and not going off chasing people all over the place. Of course they didn't have a daughter in college.
"She's fine, Reese. She'll tell you that. I wouldn't have her do it unless it was safe. Believe me."
"Tommy, the things you do don't make sense."
"It was Annie's choice. She wanted to stay in Chicago. One good thing is that community college doesn't burn in a hole in my pocket. I'm glad it's not Yale or a private college like that. Have you seen how much some of those schools are? I'm glad she decided not to go that route." Tommy elaborated.
"Well, they do provide good education. Tommy, would it be such a problem if I asked Stan to look out for her some at least. He would like to see her and so would Karen and the kids." Lisbon suggested. It would make her better if Annie was looked after. She didn't like the idea of Annie on her own that soon. She was still young and needed some guidance. She trusted Stan to be a good uncle. If she was there she would do the same thing.
"I don't care. I suppose he could. I didn't think of him being there." Tommy hesitantly agreed.
"Well, he is family. He would probably do it. Have you talked to Stan and Jimmy? How you getting along?" Lisbon wondered. She didn't know whether or not her brothers reconciled their differences with Tommy.
"Not much. I get along with them as well as I can." Tommy admitted.
"I want to be more involved with you and your brothers' lives. Patrick, like I said is trying to encourage me. I'm sorry, I should trust you. It's hard not to go in my parenting mode like when I was caring for you." Lisbon confessed.
"Didn't you used to complain about Patrick? I remember when you did come for Thanksgiving all you would do is talk about how he would make your life so hard having to explain everything he did. He even mentioned it tonight coming to your house." Tommy asked.
"Yes, in the beginning it was like that. Then something obviously changed. " Lisbon sighed and admitted. "He finally won my heart like you said. Our relationship has been complicated."
"Wasn't he working with you to exact some revenge?" Tommy asked.
"Yes, the serial killer, who murdered his family. We don't talk about that part of our past anymore. Maybe some of the good times at the CBI with the team, but not that particular person." Lisbon confessed. "I know Patrick will still remember his family, of course."
"So, that person is like the one who must not be named now?" Tommy asked.
"Yes, I suppose. We're looking to the future." Lisbon placed her hand on her belly. "We love each other and that is all that matters."
"I'm glad you're happy, sis. You deserve happiness and a family." Tommy stated.
"How long did you and my aunt date before you got married?" Annie asked Jane as she sat in the chair next to the couch.
"A few months but we've known each other several years." Jane confessed from the couch.
"So, you weren't dating then in California?" Annie asked.
"No, not then." Jane answered.
"You've always liked her though, right?"
"Yes, she's always been very important to me since I met her." Jane admitted.
"How come you didn't date until a few months ago?" Annie wondered.
"It was complicated." Jane admitted. He didn't want to go through the details of their relationship and why it was complicated. "I hear you are in college." He changed the subject.
"Yes, I'm taking classes at the Harry S Truman community college,you know to take basic classes like math, science, English, the whole works. I plan to go to police academy."
"Ah, like your aunt."
"Yes, let's face it, she's so cool getting bad guys and arresting people and kicking butt."
"That she is. Good luck with that. I'm sure your aunt will give you pointers but it's a dangerous job."Jane admitted a little concerned.
"I'm well aware. I've been helping my dad for years with the bounty hunter job since he started. I know I can do it." Annie stated confidently.
Jane couldn't help but think of Charlotte at this moment talking to his new niece, Annie. If she would have lived she would be Annie's age possibly going to college or preparing for it. Charlotte never had that chance of anything in life. Her life was cut off too early. Now he was going to be a father again he and hoped this child would have that chance. Of course, he would always love Charlotte.
"Are you okay, Uncle Patrick?" Annie questioned interrupting Jane's thoughts. Jane then realized his tears that must have been apparent to Annie. These days he never bothered to hide any emotions he had with biofeedback tricks. He just let them be known. "Oh, I was just thinking of someone. She would be your age."
"Oh. She died?" Annie asked looking at Jane.
"Yeah. Did your aunt tell you why I worked with her and how we met?" Jane asked. He wasn't quite sure if Lisbon had mentioned to her brothers how they met or why he was working with her in the first place. That was one thing he wasn't sure how to address or if he wanted to talk about, but at some point the question would be asked.
"No." Annie answered.
He decided he might as well tell the truth about their meeting or at least partially the truth. "The reason I worked with her was because my wife and daughter were murdered. My daughter would be your age. I wanted to get revenge on their killer and Lisbon's team was investigating their murders." Jane admitted.
"Oh, that's sad." Annie looked at him sadly. "Sorry, I don't always know what to say when people tell me."
"It's okay. I started working with Teresa and then became friends and slowly fell in love with her. That's why it was complicated."
"That's like the best love story ever. I'm glad you're my uncle." Annie happily said.
"Well, I'm glad you're my niece." Jane smiled. Annie then gave Jane a big hug.
I had this idea when I began this story.
Feedback is appreciated.