Chapter 14
This chapter is a little more Grace and Wayne and their kids after the baby shower. I also include more with Stan and his family. I was kind of confused on how old Stan's older kids were in the show. Little Yellow House Karen said they were in preschool, but in White Orchids they looked older. So, I just put the girl as 6 and the boy as 8 because that's what they looked in White Orchids. I used creative liberties with Stan's Annie's middle name to not confuse her with the older Annie. She is called Annie Louisa or Annie Lou.
Disclaimer:Don't Own show
The next day after the party, Lisbon decided to spend some time with Grace, since the Rigsbys were going to be there a couple more days as well as her brother Stan and his family and Annie. Everyone else had to get back home. When she and Grace were at her house, she decided to open her baby gifts and Grace offered to help with making lists of the gifts received so they could send thank you notes, since she decided not to open them at the party. She wanted to talk to their friends instead since some of them she hadn't seen in years.
Jane and Rigsby decided to take all the kids to the zoo along with Stan and his family along with Annie, who had actually come with Stan's family because she had gotten acquainted with them after she came back to Chicago after her visit. Tommy couldn't stay because he had to get back to do another bounty job, but Lisbon was pleased of the week he and Annie did visit when they got caught up with their lives a few months earlier.
Teresa and Grace were sitting at Lisbon's kitchen table and in the middle of the table was a stack of baby themed wrapped gifts. "You got a few things for the baby, I see." Grace noticed.
"I didn't want a baby shower in the first place I have to admit, but Annie insisted in planning one for me." Lisbon admitted taking a package starting to open it. She wasn't one for gifts,of course Jane had given her gifts, but then she remembered they were for the baby.
"I think it was sweet your niece planned it. I liked Annie when she and Tommy were at CBI." Grace smiled. Grace noticed the pack of onesies and socks and diaper package and wrote them down in a notebook.
"I know it was sweet and I enjoyed it. I was nervous about it at first, but then once it happened I was fine. I'm not always thrilled with being the center of attention. Goodness, Jane's embarrassed me enough throughout the years. I was like that with the wedding. At first, Jane and I wanted it to be just the two of us and then I called my brothers and they begged to come and so I decided to invite a few more people. It got crazy at first, but then in the end it was nice. Plus we caught a serial killer." Lisbon elaborated opening another package of diapers and a stuffed bear.
"I'm glad we were part of it. That was the first time Jane seemed truly happy." Grace remembered smiling and writing down the gift.
"Yes he was and is very happy. He's ecstatic about the baby. He's been working so hard to finish the cabin. We should be getting moved in soon and hopefully we'll get this house sold." Lisbon admitted.
"I'm sure considering his past. Does he have any trouble dealing with everything? Like you said he had a hard time with a colleague dying." Grace asked.
"There are times and I know there will be times. I think he's doing better. He said we should look on the bright side and we're doing that. His anxiety is not going to completely go away with my job. I know now I have to keep safe for our baby. Overall, he is looking forward to being a dad again." Lisbon stated opening yet another package of diapers and a neutral green baby outfit. Grace once again wrote down the gift and giver.
"I'm sure he feels like he has been given a second chance." Grace noted. Lisbon grabbed a bigger than the last and opened a package of diapers, wipes, and a couple of bottles.
"Yes, he has. Oh." Lisbon reacted feeling her stomach and knew the baby was kicking.
"What?" Grace asked but then noticed and realized. "Baby kicking?"
"Baby's kicking." Lisbon confirmed. "You want to feel. I haven't been too keen on the idea of letting strangers touch me. Since, you're my friend, you can." Lisbon got up and Grace felt her stomach and smiled. "Strong baby. This was the best part for me. Being able to feel Maddie move." Grace said after taking her hand off and sitting back down. "So, you don't know what you're going to have?"
"No, we don't. We decided to wait until the baby's born." Lisbon admitted sitting back down. "Though I have to admit I'm nervous. I can handle holding an interrogation and handle a Glock, but can I handle holding a baby, taking care of one. Jane's so much better in that area than me." Lisbon worried getting a little emotional.
"You'll be fine. I was scared to death of not doing everything right, but Maddie is fine. You get the hang of it. You'll be a great mother"
"I do love this baby now and I haven't met her or him." Lisbon admitted continuing unwrapping another present with a pacifier and more diaper packages.
"There you go. You'll be great." Grace reassured giving Lisbon a smile.
Lisbon opened a few more packages that had more outfits for newborns and for other months,a couple of rattles. At the end there seemed to be more packages of diapers than everything else. "My goodness, I think there's enough diapers for a year."
"Believe me, you go through them really fast and you'll be thankful you got this many." Grace smirked.
Jane and Rigsby were on their way to the zoo in the Rigsbys' rental car and the children were seated in the backseat. "I thought it would be hard to travel with the kids." Rigsby admitted. "They've been pretty good. It's just the stuff we have to bring. That's the problem."
"Oh, yes. I do remember that part." Jane remembered from when Charlotte was a baby. "I'm glad you brought them." Jane said.
"Grace decided to bring them when we got the invitation sent by Lisbon's niece, your niece, I guess. Grace realized you hadn't seen them."
"Daddy, are we at the zoo yet?" Ben questioned from the back seat.
"We're almost there, Ben." Rigsby responded in the driver's seat.
"What animals do you want to see?" Jane turned and looked at Ben behind him in a booster seat.
"I like monkeys!" Ben replied excitedly.
Jane grinned at Ben. "Charlotte used to love them when I took her." Jane admitted smiling at the memory.
Rigsby was surprised that Jane shared a memory of his daughter. He never talked about her at the CBI. It must have been too painful for him then. When he and Grace came to Jane and Lisbon's wedding, Jane was such a different man, a lighter, happier man than the dark revenge driven man from years before at the CBI. His love for Lisbon was very apparent on their wedding day and he didn't hide a single emotion.
Rigsby had always known there was something between his former boss and the consultant even if it was something neither knew themselves. He knew there was a closeness between the two, some sort of trust and a bond even when Jane never revealed his plans.
"Who's Charlotte?" Ben asked. Rigsby heard Ben and was about to tell his son not to ask about her because he didn't think Jane would want to delve into his daughter's death. "Ben..." Rigsby started to say, but before he could say anything else Jane responded.
"She was my little girl, but she died a long time ago." Jane confessed answering the boy's question.
"Oh." Ben said a little sadly. "Do you miss her?" Ben asked innocently.
"Yes, I do miss her, but I'm excited about my new baby and being a dad again." Jane said.
"Sorry about that, Jane. You know how kids are with their questions." Rigsby apologized.
"It's okay. Nobody has to tiptoe around that anymore. And besides I brought her up in the first place. It's only natural he wants to know." Jane said.
"Are we there yet?" Ben asked again.
"Yes, we are." Rigsby answered as he pulled into the parking lot of the Austin Zoo and pulled into a free park space. Stan and his family pulled into the space next to Rigsby's car. The two men got out of the car with Rigsby grabbing Ben out and he held on his dad's hand. Jane went ahead and unhooked Maddie out of her car seat. Wayne grabbed the stroller in the trunk and shut the door. Jane set Maddie in the stroller. Rigsby grabbed his diaper bag as well. They noticed Stan and his family getting out along with the older Annie. They were going through the same routine of getting their kids out and grabbing strollers. "Hey, Patrick, T didn't come?" Stan asked not seeing his sister.
"She didn't want to walk a long ways." Jane admitted. "She's at the uncomfortable part of the pregnancy, getting in her last couple months where her feet are swelling. She was complaining this morning.
"She's with my wife opening gifts." Rigsby stated.
"Stan, you should remember. I didn't want to walk a long ways during the last two months either." Karen reminded. "She's having some good girl time."
"So, Wayne, you worked with my sister in California when she was boss there?" Stan asked Rigsby.
"Yep, my wife and I did along with Kimball Cho and Jane." Rigsby explained looking at Jane.
"Cool. So, was my sister a good boss?"Stan asked.
"Yes, she was a very good boss. She had to put up with Jane, though. Sometimes we didn't know what he was doing half the time." Rigsby laughed looking at Jane. "But we like him." Rigsby grinned.
"I was a lot to put up with then." Jane admitted. "But you couldn't do anything without me. You needed me too much." Jane teased.
"But she's happy with you." Stan said.
The group walked towards the entrance and paid for entry and continued to look at the map of the zoo which showed the animal areas that included reptiles, large cats, mammals,amphibians and birds. The first animal area was the monkeys and Ben laughed when seeing them mimic him. "Charlotte did the same thing Ben is doing with trying to have the monkeys do what she did."Jane confessed.
"They're so funny." Ben laughed "Look, they copy me."
"I see that, Ben." Rigsby said pushing Maddie's stroller.
Maddie laughed as well as she watched them carefully too, seeing her brother watch. The other kids enjoyed them as well and laughed. Stan's older kids were full of energy running around while the parents pushed the two youngest boys. "Kids, stay with the group." Karen would say when she saw them almost go ahead. "But we gotta see everything." Jason, Stan's son said excitedly.
"The last time I was at the zoo, Lisbon and I were chasing Tommy Volker and trying to find Marvin Pettigrew at the zoo, other than that it's been a long time for me." Jane smiled at the sight of the kids confessed to Rigsby.
"Oh, yeah, and Lisbon was happy to get him." Rigsby noted holding Ben's hand and pushing the stroller. He stayed by his dad's side instead of running like Stan's kids. Annie was keeping up with her cousins.
"Oh, yes. She slugged him right then after she shot him." Jane remembered proudly of his wife catching the criminal. It was also a great time for him that he was able to bring Marvin back to his mother and not tell her he was dead instead.
After a couple hours of exploring the zoo and going to all of the animal areas the group started heading back towards entrance when it became 3:00. The kids were excited each time and looked at each animal wide eyed but they were starting to wear down, so they walked slowly with the parents. Soon six year old year old daughter, Annie Louisa with pigtails and a flowery dress complained, "I'm so tired. Daddy, can you carry me?" She looked up expectantly up to Stan who was pushing 2 year old Brian and Karen was pushing baby Paul in strollers.
"Mommy and I are pushing your brothers. I can't, Annie Lou." Stan replied apologetically.
"But I'm tired. My feet hurt." Annie Lou whined again to her dad dragging her feet and frowning.
"I can carry you." Jane offered coming up to her looking at the little girl smiling.
"You don't mind, Patrick?" Stan asked noticing Jane who was empty handed.
"Of course not." Jane said. Annie Lou came and hugged Jane right away. He smiled at the thought of being accepted by Stan's kids. Jane right away in response picked the little girl up in his arms. Annie Lou put her arm around Jane's neck.
"You're my uncle?"Annie Lou grinned. "Because you married my Auntie Tresa."
"Yes, I am. What animals did you like?" Jane asked walking ahead in front of the group.
"Gaffes, zebras, and monkeys." Annie Lou described and yawned holding onto a stuffed giraffe she had gotten at the zoo gift shop earlier.
"I liked them, too." Jane answered positively.
"You did magic tricks at Paul's party." Annie Lou remember grinning. "I liked them."
"I did. You have a very good memory, Annie Lou. I'm glad you liked them." Jane said.
"Auntie Tresa and you are having a baby." Annie Lou said holding on to Jane.
"Yes, we are." Jane said happily.
"Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?" Annie Lou asked.
"I don't know." Jane answered honestly.
"Are you excited?" Annie Lou asked grinning.
"Yes. We're very excited."Jane said smiling.
"You don't know? We couldn't wait to find out." Stan said, who had heard his daughter and Jane talking surprised pushing the stroller along and catching up to them, while the others were behind. Karen and Rigsby stayed with the kids.."As soon as we could find out, we did."
"We want to be surprised." Jane admitted.
"I'm surprised T is being so patient. She was never patient growing up." Stan said.
"I sometimes don't like being the only girl." Annie Lou said sleepily trying to fight off sleep.
"There's some good things about that." Jane answered. "I have a feeling you might have a girl cousin."
"You have an idea your baby's a girl, but you won't find out for sure?" Stan said confused.
"It spoils the fun. I like guessing instead but I could be wrong too." Jane said. A few minutes later, Jane noticed Annie Lou had fallen asleep with her arms wrapped around him and her head laying on his chest.
"Annie Lou's all tired out, Stan." Karen noticed her little girl asleep on Jane's chest. She and Rigsby and the kids caught up with them. She looked toward her husband and then to Jane. "Patrick, I think you got yourself a new friend."
"Seems I do." Jane smiled looking at the little girl he was holding.
"We can't thank you enough for being so good with our kids. You're a natural with them." Karen smiling.
"I enjoy your kids. She's a little sweetheart." Jane said looking at Annie Lou.
"She's not getting too heavy for you?" Karen asked seeing Jane adjust the girl carefully in his arms.
"I'm fine." Jane said.
"I knew Teresa had a keeper when I saw you with my kids." Stan said.
The group made it out the gate and towards Rigsby's and Stan's rental cars. Stan and Karen grabbed their youngest sons out of the strollers and into the car seats in the van. Joey had gone into the back.
"You ready for us to take her off you." Stan said to Jane. Stan carefully picked up Annie Lou from Jane. The girl awoke a little sleepily. "Sweetie, we're at our car."
"You really had a long day today." Jane said. "I really liked going with you and your family. Hope to see you again soon."
"Me too. I love you, Uncle Patrick." Annie Lou said as she fell asleep again and Stan carefully put her in the back seat. Jane couldn't believe how he was so lucky having a family again. He wanted to treasure the moment with his new niece forever in his memory palace when he felt like being part of a family again. He never had such an extended family before. He had Danny Ruskin, Angela's brother as a family, but he hadn't seen him in years and he didn't know what he was doing now. This family right here accepted him- flaws and all including his tragic past. To be honest, he was nervous about meeting Lisbon's brothers when they went to Chicago. He had a vision of them not being as accepting to him as they ended up being especially at the time he was still wearing his old ring. So, he hid it well, when he came to make sure any judgement placed on Lisbon. He was proud of the fact she introduced him as her boyfriend and called him Patrick.
They weren't perfect either. They went through a lot in their past but they were strong and overcame it like their sister, who was their saving guide too. He made it as well out of the darkness and Teresa Lisbon was responsible. He loved her so much and now he was part of her family and the feeling of it was wonderful.
After finishing up with the gift opening, Grace and Teresa were relaxing in the living room and watching some TV. Lisbon was sitting in her chair putting her feet up on her ottoman. Grace was on the couch. "I wonder when everybody's coming back from zoo." Lisbon stated, it had been almost four hours since they had left. She knew Jane and Rigsby were getting some good time together with the kids and also Stan and his family. She was so happy that her family and Jane were getting along so well. She appreciated it so much they were accepting him into the family so readily and that Stan and her brothers helped with the cabin.
"Knowing Ben, he'd stay hours at the zoo. He loves it so much. That's all we do half the time when he's with us." Grace noted smiling.
"Jane loves being with the kids, I'm sure he enjoyed himself." Lisbon admitted. "He gets along so well with my brothers." Soon they heard cars pulling into the driveway and a few minutes later they heard the gaggle of kids talking as well as Jane and Rigsby. "Well, here they are." Grace noticed.
Soon, they heard loud repetitive and uneven knocks on the door. Lisbon assumed it was a couple of Stan's kids and so she immediately got up carefully hoping her feet were getting less swollen then they were this morning. She had wished she would've been able to go, but her feet were obtaining fluid like crazy during this last month. She and Grace had taken a little walk around the block to help the swelling and she had been putting her feet up to lessen it too. She knew for sure she couldn't handle walking really far at the zoo. She made it to the door and Grace followed and answered and sure enough Annie Lou and Jason were the ones behind the door followed by Rigsby, Jane, Stan holding his younger son and Karen with the carrier with the other. Annie followed behind as well. The kids immediately ran inside the house
"Hello, dear, how was today?" Jane immediately came in and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "She got her second wind." Jane noticed Annie Lou run inside. "She was sleeping when we left."
"Good. How was the zoo, everybody?" Lisbon asked the group.
"It was fun." Ben said going to Grace. "We saw the monkeys, mommy Grace."
"I'm glad.I bet they liked seeing you too." Grace smiled hugging her stepson. Rigsby smiled at the scene.
"Yes, we enjoyed it." Karen said coming into the house as well.
"We had so much fun. Those kids are exhausting." Annie said making a sigh. "They're fun kids. I'm so happy I get to see them now."
"Teresa, Patrick is so good with the kids. He carried Annie Lou for a little while." Karen said. Lisbon smiled at the fact of Jane bonding with her brother's kids.
"Me and Annie Lou bonded a little. Right?" Jane looked towards Annie Lou.
"Yeah!" Annie Lou yelled running to Jane and hugged him and Annie Lou excitedly hugged Lisbon as well "I love you, Auntie Tresa." Jason hugged her as well and she smiled at the kids.
"Remember, kids, no running in the house." Stan reminded his children. "Sorry, T, they're so wild."
"It's okay. They're kids, I suppose." Lisbon said smiling at her brother.
The Rigsbys and Stan's family stayed a couple more hours looking at the gifts for the baby and talking about past times and the kids excitedly told about the animals they saw and later they watched TV while the adults talked. They also ordered some fried chicken from KFC to share, since it was too much to try to cook. Stan and Rigsby agreed to pay for half. Finally the Rigsbys and Stan's family left to go back to their hotel rooms. The next day Jane and Lisbon decided to show them the progress of the cabin before they would leave.
"Oh, my gosh, such a mad house." Lisbon stated sitting on the couch with Jane. "As much as I love my family, I don't think I can handle them for too long. It was great seeing them and the Rigsbys a little longer. A few days is plenty," making a hand motion and sighing. "Tomorrow it will be it until the next time."
"I was with them practically the whole day. They're great though." Jane grinned. "We have a lot to look forward to."
"Yeah, I know." Lisbon said smiling placing her hand on her stomach.
"I was thinking, we haven't done this yet and I can't believe it. Let's figure out names since the baby's coming in a month, Teresa." Jane said remembering his conversation with Stan earlier.
"Yes, we do need to discuss it. How could we forget? Ideas?" Lisbon realized taking Jane's hand.
"We both have had inklings that the baby's a she." Jane explained looking at her.
"What inklings?" Lisbon asked raising her eyebrows confused.
"Your dream and my sense." Jane said seriously.
"That dream was me worried about you leaving." Lisbon stated.
"And I confirmed I'm not. In your dream we had a girl." Jane admitted.
"That doesn't mean anything. We both could be wrong". Lisbon reminded.
"Yes, we could be. Let's try names for both a girl and boy." Jane suggested.
"Okay. What about Annie?" Lisbon suggested, but then remembered her nieces. What was she thinking?
"You have two nieces named Annie." Jane reminded.
"I guess I'm thinking that because we just saw both Annies. We definitely don't want that name. Jennifer?" Lisbon suggested.
"Too common. Juliet?" Jane asked being silly.
"I already told you no Shakespeare names." Lisbon scolded. He grinned.
"Guinevere?" Jane suggested.
"I'm not exactly sure. Isn't that from King Arthur?"Lisbon looked confused. "I like Emma." Lisbon said.
"I like it. What about Elizabeth?" Jane suggested.
"It's better. That's common, too." Lisbon reminded. "We want to be different, but not too different."
"Aurora? Evangeline?"
"Where are you getting these names?" Lisbon asked confused.
"From books." Jane said.
"Let's take a break from girl names. Let's try some boy names. I like Seth." Lisbon suggested
"Sounds okay. Sawyer? Jonathon. I'm not good with boy names." Jane confessed.
"David? Tyler." Lisbon said.
"Arthur? Lance?" Jane said.
"No. No strange literary names." Lisbon reminded realizing those names were from King Arthur. What was with Jane and literary names? Their child could be teased.
"Since we can't agree on names, let's take a break from name thinking." Jane suggested.
"Good idea." Lisbon agreed giving out a sigh of release. She didn't know the first thing about deciding on names. It seemed impossible to go through a whole listing of names and they hadn't covered half of the possibilities, but there was still some time.
"Teresa, from my experience." Jane paused trying not to get too emotional from recollection of naming Charlotte. "When the baby's born and you just look at her, the name just comes to you then when you see that child you've waited for nine months. You see her and she's perfect." Jane explained
letting tears fall down. "I'm sorry, all these years of not letting myself feel, my emotions are coming out at once."
"It's okay. No need to apologize. You need to let it out." Lisbon looked at him symphatically.
"I still miss them." Jane said sadly.
"I know it's okay to miss them. I know you don't believe in the afterlife. If they are somewhere they would be happy you're happy and moving on." Lisbon said.
"I know they probably would be happy." Jane confessed giving Teresa a hug and they held each other. "I love you so much, Teresa."
The next day Jane and Lisbon got ready to show the Rigsbys and Stan's family the cabin or more like house now since, it was nearly complete. They were hoping to move in this month. Jane talked to Cho and asked if he and Wylie could possibly help with the moving, since it would hard for Lisbon to do it, while eight months pregnant. Cho agreed to help and Wylie said he would as well. Even Tork volunteered. So, they would help when they were ready and Jane said he would treat them to a meal for helping. Jimmy had spent the day of the baby shower helping with Jane installing the electrical work, but he had to leave the next day because of other commitments. It was close to being done, they just had to get the plumbing done and Jane had hired another guy to install it the next week. And then they would be basically ready to move in hopefully in a couple of weeks because it would take a few days to move completely into the house. There was a few offers on Lisbon's current house, but they would keep living there until the cabin was completely finished. The Rigsbys' flight out of Austin back to San Francisco was early evening, so they wanted to spend as much time with them as possible. Stan and his family' s flight was the next morning.
Grace and Wayne with Ben and Maddie arrived at the house that morning. Jane opened the door revealing. Lisbon followed. "Hey, guys, we're so excited to see your house!" Grace said.
"I know, we're really excited to show it to you." Jane said. "It's really great being able to remodel it."
Stan and his family arrived as well with Annie in tow. Jane drove their car, while the families followed them out to the house's area. They all got out of the cars and looked. Jane had added a wooden fence around the pond, since it was a concern for when his child would be able to walk. It was short enough to see the water birds like ducks and herons that would come in use it as a stopping place but high enough for protection. He had enjoyed watching them while he worked from the window, he even bought a bird book to know what they were. He had always been fascinated with nature and he loved the idea of being able to live among it, so he was really excited to move into the house. He would teach his child to appreciate nature as well.
"That's a nice fence, but it's good you can still see it." Stan admiring the fence and the view of the pond.
"Yep, I like seeing birds coming in to use it." Jane admitted.
"Wow, look at it. It's so pretty." Grace said. They walked around the path leading to the entrance and walked inside. "I remember it from the wedding." The group then entered the cabin and Jane started giving the grand tour.
"So, this is the living room." Jane said pointing to the room. "We may add on at some point, but we wanted to get the main house done before we did, so move in."
"I love the siding he used in the house. The knotty pine." Lisbon said pointing to the walls.
The kids, actually calm looked around as well and listened carefully to the tour. "So, hopefully we'll move furniture in it soon. We can't yet since, we are still using my house."Lisbon noted. Jane and Lisbon then led them to what would be the nursery. They did, however had set up the crib in the room and put some of the baby furniture inside and had the nursery decorated forest green with an animal theme. "This is the nursery." Jane said. "We did furnish that, since we didn't have a lot of room at Lisbon's house."
"This is so nice."Karen said. They continued showing the group the master bedroom which was painted in the same color, the bathroom and the kitchen. Lisbon smiled as Jane lit up when showing them the house. He was so proud of doing it himself with the exception of some help. She was really proud of him of all he had accomplished. She had gone seeing him as a broken man living in motel rooms, sleeping under the awful Red John face at his old house, to staying in the CBI attic to now the free, happy man building a home for his family.
"Thanks so much for showing your great house." Rigsby said. "I look forward to seeing it finished and you and your family living in it when we visit again."
"You're going to visit again?" Lisbon asked excitedly.
"Of, course we are. We want to see the baby." Grace said excitedly hugging Lisbon.
"Count us in too". Stan said hugging his sister after Grace broke her hug. Karen nodded in agreement as well as the kids. "Because Patrick, we love having you in the family", and hugged Jane as well.
"And Jane and Lisbon, you will be always be part of our family as well." Grace said smiling at the group.
I really like getting feedback, so it would be appreicated if you give me some. I really enjoyed writing this chapter because I love Jane with kids.