Chapter 10
Thank you so much for the reviews, favorites and follows. A couple of guest reviewers liked the idea of Wylie and Annie becoming friends and so I included a talk with Wylie and Annie planning the party and some Wylie thoughts. Of course, Jane and Lisbon are in the chapter as well too.
Disclaimer:Don't own anything
Jason Wylie was sitting on the couching watching TV when he heard his phone ring. He looked at the caller I.D. and answered immediately.
"Hey, Annie, so I checked out the location for the party. I called and got this really great place for events. They even gave me a discount because I work with the FBI." Wylie stated getting up and starting to pace around his apartment.
"Really? That's cool! Did you say what it was for?" Annie excitedly questioned.
"Yes, that I'm planning friends' baby shower." Wylie admitted.
"What's it look like?" Annie asked.
"It's five minutes from downtown. It's a fairly big space with wooden chairs. It's nice. I don't know. Maybe it's too fancy. They say we can just rent the space and bring our own food if we wanted to bring food or it can be catered."
"Let's bring our own food. We don't want to get too expensive."Annie admitted. "Definitely something simple."
"I agree." Wylie admitted. "I think Jane and Lisbon are more simple."
"Yeah, you don't mind planning this with me? I know guys don't usually plan these type of parties." Annie asked.
"It's fine. I like doing this. Jane and Lisbon are my friends. I know they've been through a lot in the past from what I know. I don't know everything. And now they're finally happy. I love doing something that makes people happy."
"I know. My uncle is really happy now with my aunt because he mentioned his tragedy." Annie admitted.
"So, we just need to find out about guests and we need to decide on the time and day. The venue said there was a time opening for next month on the last Saturday. I need to let them know if it will be good."
"I'll call my uncle, since he knows about it. You probably shouldn't be the one to ask since you see my aunt at the office. I'll ask him if that date will work. Hopefully that date will work."Annie explained.
"I think your aunt will be going on maternity leave in a couple of weeks. I heard her talk about it." Wylie confessed.
A few weeks ago when Annie came to the office asking for her request to plan a party, Wylie wasn't sure, but then he thought, it would be a nice distraction from grieving over Michelle or thinking about just cases. He called Annie not too long after she and her father left to go back home. When they talked, they talked about possible food and decorations and even activities. He decided he would stake out a place for the party. During their time on the phone, they talked about their lives. Annie talked about helping her dad bounty hunt and her home in Chicago and what she was studying in school and her desire to be a cop. He talked about his schooling and how he got involved with the FBI and his story of how he came to work in the bullpen and taking his lunchtime to find Jane, when Jane first came to the FBI. He liked having a friend outside work. He was a few years older than her, but not much and so it didn't matter. She seemed older for her age anyway.
The idea of doing a party like this for Jane and Lisbon made him feel happy. He had heard some of the trauma they dealt with through the years of chasing Red John and Jane's pain of losing his family. He remembered the day they announced their news.
Wylie was busy working at his desk on his computer when Jane and Lisbon came into the bullpen. He knew Cho had some idea of something with them, but he wouldn't share yet. He had mentioned to wait until they decided to tell the news themselves.
"Wylie, Cho, we have news!" Jane announced excitedly.
"Yes." Wylie grinned.
"Teresa and I are going to be parents in a few months!" Jane proudly announced with pure happiness in his eyes.
Wylie grinned at the announcement. "Congratulations, that's great news! So, you're going to have a little Jane running around." He then hugged each of them and congratulated them one more time.
"Yes, God forbid the baby will be like his/her father." Lisbon teased smiling at her husband. "We didn't expect this, but we're so happy." Wylie looked at Jane who was smiling like he saw at the wedding. A smile of pure happiness, honest and true. He hadn't seen Jane this happy since he joined the FBI. This was a great change from the death they saw everyday. Despite the finality of death, here it was the announcement of hope of a new life.
He came back to the present and thought about the wedding, it was beautiful seeing the couple so happy. He had to admit at the time, he sometimes wished Michelle was there with him experiencing it, to dance with him, to see her smile once again. He enjoyed it for Jane and Lisbon the very best he could because he knew she would have wanted him to be happy and not sad for her death. He needed to enjoy life for her. He remembered the night of Cho's promotion and Abbott getting saved from Peterson. "Thanks for the dance, Michelle." Wylie said smiling at Vega as they were walking on the sidewalk after the dance.
"You're welcome, you're not such a bad dancer, Jason."Vega grinned and Wylie grinned at the use of his first name. "You saw Jane and Lisbon dancing."
"Yeah, I did." Wylie admitted.
"They must be a couple. It's obvious. They looked at each other as if they're in love." Vega notioned.
"I've had my suspicions. I've seen their looks at the office." Wylie admitted.
"Do you think they'll get married?" Vega asked knowingly.
"I don't know." Wylie confessed.
"I hope so. It was really fun tonight and it's fun working with the team. I was a little confused with working here and unsure, you know what, this is a great team and I'm really proud of being part of it." Vega grinned
"Me too, Michelle, me too." Wylie smiled.
Jane and Lisbon were relaxing on the couch a couple weeks later after their unexpected visit with Walter Mashburn when Jane's phone rang. Jane took his phone out of his pocket and noticed the caller I.D., which said Annie Lisbon. He got up and went to the kitchen. "Hello, Annie. What can I do for you?" Jane answered.
"Jason and I have been arranging plans for the party." Annie answered
"Good." Jane answered. He then remembered that Annie and Wylie planning a shower.
"I called to ask about guests. Since you would know people you want to invite. So far, obviously, we have Cho and Wylie and obviously you and Teresa. Is there anybody else?"
"Okay, to start off, Wayne and Grace Rigsby. I'm not sure if they will be able to, since they came to our wedding. You can still send an invitation."Jane admitted then gave their address. He remembered when one of Angela's friends planned a shower before Charlotte was born. He never attended it as only women attended.
"Who else?" Annie asked.
"Sam and Pete Barsocky. They're my carny friends." Jane gave the address he had for them in California. "You should invite your Uncle Stan and his family in Chicago. I think your aunt would want you to invite him. And your uncle Jimmy in Oklahoma." Jane gave their addresses.
"Okay. Anybody else?"
"Dennis and Lena Abbott. He's my former boss at the FBI before Cho became boss. He's in Washington D.C."
"Anybody else?"
"Try Madeline Hightower and Virgil Minnelli. You may have to ask Wayne and Grace about them." Jane admitted. It had been many years since he saw either of them, so he didn't know if it was possible to find them. He wanted to give Annie as many people as possible. "And Kim Fischer. She's in Seattle where your dad lives now."
"Thanks. Have you at all mentioned this to Aunt Teresa?" Annie asked.
"No, I haven't. I actually didn't think about it until you called just now."
"Oh, and more thing. The last saturday of next month is open for the venue that Wylie selected. Is that okay for a date?"
"We don't have anything planned as far as we know."
"Thanks Uncle Patrick."
"This is very nice, Annie, you're doing this. I know your aunt will appreciate it. Good bye."
"Bye."
"Who was that?" Lisbon asked coming into the kitchen out of the living room.
"Annie."Jane admitted putting his phone back in his pocket. "Let's go sit back down." Jane walked towards the living room and sat back on the couch. Lisbon followed and sat next to him.
"Why is she calling you?" Lisbon questioned. "Did she want to talk to me?"
"Is there something wrong talking to my niece? I don't know, she didn't ask for you."
"No, I think it's great. Why is she calling you specifically?"Lisbon said concerned.
"She and Wylie are planning something." Jane admitted. He was going to have to tell what the young agent and their niece were planning.
"Planning what?" Lisbon looked seriously.
"A party."
"For what?"Lisbon asked looking confused.
"For the baby." Jane confessed placing his hand on Lisbon's belly.
"A baby shower. You knew about this?" Lisbon looked at him seriously.
"Yes, but I haven't thought about it until now." Jane reassured Lisbon then put his head down. "Your cousin is planning a big party for you, little one." Jane talking to Lisbon's stomach.
"That's why she wanted to come back to the office. To ask Wylie to plan a party with her? A big one?"
"Yes, well, actually she asked Cho but Wylie got the task." Jane looked back up to Lisbon. "She's been talking to him on the phone about it."
"What about our honesty policy?" Lisbon looked sternly at Jane crossng her arms.
"I think this is supposed to be a surprise. And some secrets you have to keep like gifts for birthdays and special occasions. I certainly couldn't tell you I was getting a pony for your birthday until I surprised you with it and getting you a ring."
"You're right. I couldn't tell about your cup. But I didn't want a shower. I told her that and you knowing about it still bugs me." Lisbon then pointed her finger at him.
"It's okay, Teresa. She wants to do it and we need the necessities anyway. She feels she needs to do this because she missed our wedding."
"What did she ask you about? Lisbon asked.
"The guest list. I don't know anything else. You haven't been shopping, have you?"
"No, not much. I suppose I have looked at the big items we need online and getting ideas. It's just hard to decide what to get."
"That's why we need to have something like this. Oh, and is the Saturday at the end of next month alright to have it? Another question she asked."
"I suppose." Lisbon reluctantly answered. "Who did you name for guests?"
"All our friends. Wayne and Grace. Sam and Pete. Friends we've known and oh, your brothers of course." Jane confessed.
"You do realize people don't really make a big deal about baby showers. I wonder if Annie realizes it too. It's not like a wedding. " Lisbon remembered. Lisbon remembered attending Grace's shower where it was just her friends that lived close and no men attended. She didn't know how her niece planned to decorate and get people there. Most of her and Jane's friends lived faraway and like she told Annie, men. She was surprised that she got Wylie to help her. She wouldn't worry about it. She might as well let her niece plan this for her.
"It is a big deal for us. All the years dealing with death and worrying about when he was going to strike again, we need to think of our new life growing. This is my second chance at happiness with you and our child." Jane admitted teary eyed.
"Yes, you're right. I just meant about the shower. I never imagined getting pregnant at my age. We do need to celebrate." Lisbon realized. "This is our miracle."
"Yes, indeed. Shall we figure out what exactly we need? This way we can start a registry. Since we didn't do one for our wedding."
"A registry? You want to do that?" Lisbon questioned.
"Yes, we should so we can tell Annie. You went to the store with her. Maybe we can do one there." Jane suggested.
"I attended Grace's shower before Maddie was born."Lisbon remembered. "It was all women. I don't know how Annie and Wylie are planning this?"
"We'll just have to wait and find out." Jane grinned. "I just realized I've never seen Maddie or Ben." Jane stated. "Wayne and Grace never brought their kids coming here.
"At some point we should come visit them in California, once we get settled with the baby. We don't know when that's going happen." Lisbon admitted.
"We'll figure out when the time comes. Shall we start making lists?" Jane grinned.
"Okay." Lisbon admitted. They then went to the kitchen and sat at the table with a tablet.
"We should get a car seat soon when we bring the baby home." Jane admitted.
"Yes, we should get the large items ourselves. We can't expect people to pay for them. " Lisbon noted writing down a list.
"We need to get the crib, a stroller, and baby monitor." Jane listed.
"I remembered the last time you used a monitor." Lisbon remembered.
"Yes, I remember. I don't plan on burying anybody alive again. It'll be strictly for the baby." Jane confessed.
"This is really strange. I never imagined we would be talking about car seats and cribs instead of clues and suspects." Lisbon remembered when Jane was writing in his notebook Red John suspects and fearing for their lives discovering people they trusted at one point were involved in an association of crooked cops and official people and now they were being domestic planning for a baby and building a life together. This was a whole new life for them. A life of light and happiness instead of the life of darkness and fear.
Lisbon was tossing and turning in bed asleep. "Patrick! Don't leave! Don't leave us!"
Jane instantly woke up when he heard his name and saw Lisbon having a fitful sleep. She had been having trouble sleeping with the pregnancy. "Teresa, I'm right here." Lisbon woke up straight up in the bed clutching her belly and sweating. Then she turned and looked at Jane, who was turned towards her.
"I'm here, Teresa." Jane spoke soothly stroking her hair like he did in the hospital after Red John had knocked her out and painted the smiley face on her face.
"I had a dream that we had a baby girl and you just got scared and ran away." Lisbon panted. With tears running down her cheeks.
"Teresa, I'm not going to run away and I'm especially not going to run from our child. I can see why you had the dream, understandably so considering my track record of running away. I'm not going to run away." Jane reassured Lisbon.
"I know, the dream seemed so real."
"A long time ago after it happened, I probably would get scared. I never thought I would have this again, a family. I'm so happy now."
"It's just in the dream you told me you couldn't handle having another daughter. It was too painful. You looked at her and you just walked off."
"Teresa, the Patrick in your dream might have but real Patrick right here with you is going nowhere. I thought about it and I'm fine. Like I just said, a long time ago the thought occurred to me how I would react having another daughter. At that time, maybe I couldn't handle it. I don't know, I was too much in pain. But now all I want is our baby to be healthy. It doesn't matter what we have. I'm going to love him or her with all my heart like I do you." Jane honestly said.
"I know I shouldn't worry so much about that. I don't know where that dream came from." Lisbon confessed calming down.
"Because I've ran away before. I let my fear take over after Vega's death and I ran from you. I shouldn't have done that then. I'm still so sorry about it."
"I realize now you needed to clear your head. But I was upset. I accepted your apology before."
"So, does your dream tell us something about what the baby's gender?"
"I don't know. I talked to Karen and she mentioned having a dream before her children were born during her pregnancy."
"Well, we'll have to see if your dream is right. I'm not leaving." Jane reassured her one more time.
"I believe you." Lisbon smiled.
Feedback is Appreciated. I know that baby showers are not quite as big as weddings or other events are but I want to keep Wylie and Cho in the story, so that is another reason I put in the Wylie part. I plan to have the party soon.