Chapter 28
This chapter is Lisbon going back to work. I imagine it might be hard to get back into the routine.
Disclaimer:Don't Own Show
Lisbon woke up in the quiet of the morning of the day she would return to her job as agent and surprisingly, she hadn't been awakened by the baby. The last couple of months their daughter crying for food became she and Patrick's alarm clock. Lisbon saw her husband sleeping peacefully. It was a long few months of maternity leave and to her, it seemed like an eternity although she deemed it a good eternity. Learning and adjusting to taking care of a baby was almost as challenging as the toughest case but she enjoyed it immensely. Leaving her daughter behind would be difficult but knowing she had her family to welcome her home with open arms made her smile. She still worried over Jane being the overprotective father. Yes, she loved the thought that he wanted to be there for Lisby Michelle and show he was a good father but she needed to make him realize at some point they needed to leave her in trusted caretakers. He didn't need to be superdad all the time like she didn't need to be superwoman being an agent. He may get tired and need rest too with caring for the baby. Now that she was a mother, she wouldn't try to go in extreme situations and she decided she was going to desk duty for a little bit and slowly go back into the field. Both of them needed to know their limits. A crying interrupted her thoughts. She noticed Patrick stir and wake.
"This begins my duty." Jane said tiredly.
"I can get her now." Lisbon said stretching her arms out and getting up to walk to the nursery. She looked over at her baby girl gazing at her expectantly in the crib. After a second, the baby tore out into a scream. "I know, honey, you want some food. I'm going to get it."
Sure enough, Jane came in the room anyway ready to do his part. "I couldn't stay away." Jane said.
Lisbon rolled her eyes at Jane's insistence to be there for his daughter. "Figures. You can make up the bottle." Lisbon said.
"Of course, my dear." Jane said as he headed to the kitchen. Lisbon carefully picked up the baby and put her over her shoulder. She changed her quickly and dressed the baby in a little yellow onesie. She had to admit when shopping herself for baby girl clothes, she didn't want to have all pink. She carefully carried the baby in the living room and took a seat at the rocking chair and rocked. "Today you'll be with your daddy. Mommy has to go back to work. I know you'll miss me, but you know your daddy loves you so much."
Jane came back with the bottle filled with formula to give to his wife and instantly after holding it up Lisby started sucking hungerily. It was true at times she felt guilty about bottle feeding, but she knew she could easily bond with her child no matter what she did. She was also happy to share the feeding responsibility with Jane too since he loved the feeding times late at night which he often did rather than her. Bottle feeding, she knew would work a lot better with her work schedule as well considering how demanding it was to be an FBI agent. As long as her child was happy and fed, it didn't matter to her.
"So, you're ready to get back to work?" Jane asked taking a seat on the couch across from her.
"It's time, Patrick." Lisbon said looking at her husband. "I'll miss her." Lisbon said lovingly gazing at her daughter, who peacefully drank. "But I know she'll be in good hands."
"Of course. I'll have everything under control." Jane said.
"You're not going to get too bored. Are you?" Lisbon questioned her husband.
"I'll manage somehow. Lisby's not boring. I can do some things around the house, such as reading." Jane explained.
"You really are getting into the domestication role. Now remember, you don't have to be superdad. At some point you won't be able to do it by yourself while I'm working." Lisbon reminded. "You'll need to use help."
"Then you should stay home with us." Jane begged.
Lisbon gave him the look. "I need to go back to work." Lisbon scolded. After the morning feeding Lisbon dressed and Jane took over holding Lisby. "Say good bye to mommy." He held out her tiny hand and wave it.
"I love you, sweetie." Lisbon said giving a kiss to the baby's forehead. She quickly went down the stairs to her car.
Coming into work she noticed many agents taking note of her arrival. People she hardly talked to greeted her with a smiling face. "Hello, Lisbon welcome back." "How's the new baby?" The secretary asked. "Do you have pictures?" Lisbon reluctantly, but happily took out her phone and showed a few of the pictures of the baby. Jane tended to be a lot more willing to share about the baby. It wasn't that she didn't like it, but it made her feel uncomfortable strangers asking about her. She discovered when you had a baby, you got a lot of attention everywhere you went.
She stepped into the bullpen hoping she was done with all the questions. She was here to work. She noticed right away Sanders seated at her desk. This might be more difficult than expected. She did remember he replaced her during her maternity leave, so there was a chance somebody would be sitting at her desk. She decided to head to Cho's office to see what was going on for a case. She knocked on his door.
"Come in." Cho answered. Lisbon walked in and took a seat. "Hello, Lisbon, welcome back."
"I just want to know what needs to be done. Is there a case?" Lisbon asked willingly. Lisbon noticed on the desk a picture of an Asian woman. Was it the woman Jane introduced Cho to? She never knew Cho to do have anything too personal at his desk.
"Well, we are just starting on the Lydia Sheffield murder. She was found yesterday morning at the park strangled. As of now everything's under control with assignments." Cho explained.
"Okay." Lisbon said disappointedly.
"Well, you can have Sanders catch you up on the interviews." Cho said.
Normally she didn't like to ask people about her personal life, but she couldn't help it. "How are you doing?"
"Good. Happy. You know that Jane introduced me to your vet, right?" Cho said looking at the picture.
"Yes, and I apologize that he meddled like that. He doesn't have a lot to think about besides the baby." Lisbon said.
"Don't worry. I'm glad he did." Cho admitted. "It's good to have you back, Lisbon. How's the baby?"
"She's good." Lisbon said. Lisbon walked out the door and back into the bullpen trying to find where to go. It would take a while before she could truly get used to being at work again. She didn't see any other desk open. Wylie was his desk, Tork took Vega's desk, and Sanders was sitting in her desk. So, she decided to take a seat at Jane's couch. It was very darn comfortable as she then placed her back on it. How was she going to get back in sync? Did they really need her? They had done fine without her for months.
"Hi, Lisbon, it's good to see you!" Wylie yelled excitedly from his computer and got from his computer and hugged her.
"Wylie, you're acting like you haven't seen me in months and you've been at our house quite a bit." Lisbon said smiling at the young analyst as she released from the hug.
"Sorry, I have just been missing seeing you at work." Wylie said. "It's good to have you back."
"It's good to be back." Lisbon answered. Wylie headed back to his desk and continued working.
"Oh, hey Lisbon." Tork said nonchalantly looking towards her but then continued his work.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I took your desk during your leave." Sanders said noticing her on the couch. "Is your husband coming in?"
"Nope. He's being the stay at home dad." Lisbon said. "It's really okay, Sanders."
"We can get another chair here if you need one." Sanders said apologetically. "We can share the desk."
"Oh, I'm good on the couch." Lisbon said awkwardly.
As the morning went on, she accidently left the bullpen to check on Lisby Michelle even though she wasn't even there. She even took a bottle in her purse with and accidently started preparing water in the breakroom while she had her coffee. "Lisbon, what are you doing?" Tork asked.
"Uh, I'm didn't realize it, I'm making a bottle." Lisbon looked at the water in the bottle. "My baby caring routine is coming with me."
"I see." Tork said.
Her routine of being a mother was following her to work. She felt lost and empty. Everytime she tried to look at the baby, she wasn't there. Jane had her and of course she was fine. For nine months, Lisby Michelle was growing inside her and the last few months in the world. She was with her all the time and now being separated from her and Jane's daughter was like she missing a piece of her. She never expected this to hit her so hard. Small tears formed in her eyes and she finally excused herself to the bathroom without anyone noticing. She noticed one of the female brown haired agents. "Hello, Lisbon. "
"Hi, Clark." Lisbon gave a small smile.
"Coming back to work is hard with the baby at home. Did you come here to pump?" Clark asked. She had heard Clark tended to ask really personal questions to people. She hadn't talked much to the woman because she was downstairs most of the time.
"Excuse me?" Lisbon questioned shocked. That was none of Clark's business what she did in the bathroom.
"Are you breastfeeding?" Clark asked.
"No. Just going to the bathroom." Lisbon answered. "We actually use formula because my husband's staying home with her." She said confidently.
"Oh, okay." Clark said with a scornful look and not happy about the revelation leaving the restroom.
She took out her phone and dialed home. HOME, a nice word which represented her husband and her child.
"Hello, dear. It's been hardly three hours and already you're calling me." Jane answered lightly. "I thought you would be too busy to call me with a case."
"I'm just wondering how everything is going? Is she okay?" Lisbon admitted. She missed her child.
"Yes, she's fine. She's sleeping." Jane answered.
"That's good. I feel useless. Everybody's doing something and they don't notice I'm here. They notice me, but it seems like I'm in the way."Lisbon said.
"Teresa, it's your first day back. You can't have everything be perfect." Jane explained. "Of course, you're useful. You're the most useful person I know."
"I know, I guess I thought it would go back the way before I went on maternity leave. I guess I expected it to be different coming back, but when I came in it hit me. There are no other desks open and Sanders is at my desk. I've been using your couch as my desk." Lisbon raved on breathlessly.
"My couch is a very good desk." Jane quipped. "Good thing I left it there."
"Be serious." Lisbon said frustrated. "Everything's going wrong. I tried to make up a bottle I had in my purse in the breakroom. I left in the middle of the bullpen to check on the baby. I had someone judge me for bottle feeding." Lisbon ranted on. "I've been out of it all morning. I can't concentrate."
"Lisbon, you're suffering from separation 're missing her. It's common." Jane said but then continued. "I'm going to have big separation anxiety when we have someone else take her. And don't worry about those judgers, as long as she's being fed and healthy. She's not their child. She's our child and we know what's best. Remember, what the doctor told us. She's healthy and doing very well with formula." Jane explained.
"You're right. Maybe I should've breastfed but I knew right away it would be impossible to do that and go back to work."Lisbon said.
"Teresa, it's fine. You love her and that's important and she's getting fed." Jane said reassured. "And work will get better. They just need to readjust themselves to fit you in. You want me to come in and remind them?" Jane asked.
"No, I don't need you to do anything on my behalf. I'll just go with the flow. I would appreciate meeting you for lunch."
"I can meet you."Jane said. "I suppose we can take a trip out."
"You're doing okay with her, right?" Lisbon said.
"I'm fine, I took care of her when you were going through your depression." Jane admitted.
"But you had to have Wayne and Grace come and relieve you." Lisbon said guiltily remembering her horrible time when she realized she was not herself at all.
"I didn't exactly ask them to, but I appreciated it." Jane said. "I just asked Grace for advice."
"I better go now and see what's going on." Lisbon said. "Love you."
"Love you, too. Bye."
"Bye."
After talking to her husband, she recalled the last appointment.
"Well, it's good to see you, Teresa and Patrick." The middle aged woman doctor said as she came in the exam room. They were here to see their pediatrician for Lisby Michelle's two month check up. "And it's very nice to see you." She said to Lisby Michelle in the car seat on the chair in the room.
"You too, Dr. Stevenson." Teresa said taking the baby out and Dr. Stevenson took her to the exam table. She took her stethoscope and listened to Lisby's heart beat, weighed her and finished the checkup.
"Well, everything seems good. She's perfectly healthy." Dr. Stevenson said to Teresa and Patrick.
"Of course, she's healthy, she's a Jane." Patrick grinned. "We Janes are a hearty bunch. We hardly ever get sick."
"Except a few months ago." Teresa reminded her husband standing beside her watching the doctor exam their daughter. "You had a cold."
"Well, that's very good to know." Dr. Stevenson responded.
"She's doing alright with formula?" Teresa asked. She felt guilty about her decision to bottle feed. Many people said it was better to breastfeed,but she and Patrick decided it was best with her work it was best to use formula.
"She's at the right weight and growing well. Her eyes are good, her heart beats good." Dr. Stevenson reminded the couple.
"I know I should breastfeed but with me being an FBI agent, it'll be difficult. I know it's better." Teresa said.
"Teresa, it's fine, don't feel guilty. Yes, it's preferred by most doctors and health professionals, but sometimes the circumstances don't allow it. Either the mother has extreme trouble with nursing or the lifestyle gets in the way and sometimes the baby has a hard time. It's very time consuming, and I realize you want to concentrate on your job." Dr. Stevenson explained. "I want to think about the well being of the mother as well as the child." The doctor reassured.
"Well, I stay very involved with sharing the duties, and that includes feeding her. In fact I'm the caretaker when Teresa gets back to work because I'm semi-retired." Patrick said.
"It's excellent to have the father very involved. The baby needs to really bond with both parents." Dr. Stevenson said. "I know some of us may give you a hard time but it's all above the parents choice. I'll let you know in on a secret. I had to formula feed my youngest after I started here 10 years ago because my schedule ended up being so hectic." Dr. Stevenson admitted. "And she's fine."
After coming out of the bathroom and her desperate call to her husband, she headed to Patrick's couch. Cho came up to her a few minutes later. "I apologize for not having anything for you right away. This case has been a challenge."
"It's alright, I probably need to just slowly work myself back." Lisbon admitted.
The elevator pinged and the doors opened and a dark haired man and to her surprise Kim Fischer walked out. "This is what I was waiting for." Cho said noticing the agents. "We're actually working with the Seattle office on this case because the victim is from Seattle."
The agents took notice of Cho and Lisbon and walked up to them. Wylie took notice as well as Tork.
"Hello, Lisbon. It's good to see you." Fischer said in her straight manner way. "Oh, this is my new partner, Edward Jackson.
"Hello, Teresa Lisbon." Lisbon introduced herself and shook hands with the other agent.
"Lisbon, Cho and I used to work together here in Austin. I also worked with her husband." Fischer explained looking at Lisbon.
"The interesting consultant you told me about?" Jackson asked Fischer.
"Yes, my husband is the interesting consultant." Lisbon said. She figured Fischer talked about Jane to many people. Sometimes she still wondered what happened between Fischer and Jane in South America, but she hadn't asked about it and it didn't matter if she knew or not.
"Oh, by the way, where is Jane?" Fischer asked looking around the bullpen.
"He's at home with the baby." Lisbon said. She noticed Cho and Jackson leaving to go to Cho's office. Fischer stayed put.
"Yes, that's right, you just had a baby. The last time I saw you, you were seven months pregnant." Fischer said. "Congratulations. Girl or boy." Fischer smiled.
"Girl." Lisbon said smiling thinking of her daughter. "This is actually my first day back to work."
"I'm sure it's nice to be back." Fischer said.
"Yes, it is, but it was hard to leave her. I've been dealing with some separation anxiety this morning." Lisbon explained.
"I'm sure, do you have a picture?" Fischer said happily. "I would love to see her."
Lisbon went ahead and grabbed her phone and found a picture with Jane holding Lisby Michelle. It was a recent one, she actually sneaked while he was feeding her at night, his eyes lit up and smiling his biggest smile. "This is Lisby Michelle. Jane named her after me, if you can believe it."
"Oh, my she's beautiful. I'm guessing she's a daddy's girl." Fischer said looking at the picture.
"Yes, she is. That's why he's home with her. He plans to be her caretaker. I have a hard time getting her back from him when he's holding her." Lisbon smirked.
"He looks the happiest I've seen him." Fischer smiled.
"So, what brings the Seattle team to Austin? Cho mentioned briefly that the victim was from Seattle."
"Yes, she is. Cho called and asked if we could talk to her family in Seattle, since a majority of them lived there. They interviewed her friends and acquaintences here." Fischer explained. "We looked into her background. Lydia has had a history of being a prostitute. Seems sad, really. "
"I haven't done much with work since I came in this morning. It's been hard to get back to the routine from being gone on maternity leave for so long." Lisbon admitted.
"I see, you are going to work with me and Jackson." Fischer said.
Lisbon, along with Fischer and Jackson went in the conference and sat at the table to look at Lydia's client list. Fischer explained that they talked to Lydia's parents who hadn't heard from their daughter in a couple of weeks. They weren't aware of the fact that her daughter spent her nights as a prostitute. Lydia had told her parents she was going to night classes for college. They were very surprised at the fact she was killed and wondered if they tried harder to contact her, she wouldn't have been dead.
"I think she could have possibly been killed by a client." Lisbon noted.
"We agree on that. Sanders said there weren't too many people that knew her well here in Austin. He just talked to her employee and her coworkers at the grocery store." Fischer said.
"Sanders mentioned that today when I asked. We should talk to the clients about her." Lisbon said.
By the time noon came, she had learned all about the case with Fischer. She was so happy she was able to work now. She was just about to call Jane again to see if he was still coming, when sure enough, Jane walked out of the elevator carrying the car seat. People noticed him and greeted him and looked in the carrier. She didn't think he'd actually go to the bullpen.
"Hello, dear." Jane said as he set the car seat on the middle cushion of the couch. Lisby Michelle looking around the surroundings. "You ready for lunch?" Lisbon nodded positively grabbing her purse. He then noticed Fischer coming in the bullpen. "Well, Fischer, this is a surprise. You missed us so much you decided to visit little old us here in Austin, though it's been a while since I've set foot here."
"I'm here for the case. This is quite the sight, you of all people, being a Mr. Mom." Fischer smirked.
"It's been a delight." Jane said grinning.
"Let's see this little girl." Fischer looked down in the carrier and carefully picked up the baby and held onto her. "You're such a pretty girl. Yes, you are. Are you going to be a trouble maker like your daddy?"Fischer said in baby talk.
Jane then turned to his wife. "This is a sight to see too, hard nosed Fischer being turned to mush by our baby." Jane grinned.
Fischer turned to the couple still holding the baby. "She's a beautiful baby. Congratulations to you. I better let you go to your mommy and daddy." She handed the baby to Lisbon, who happily took her daughter.
"We'll be going to lunch."Lisbon said. "I'll see you when I get back." She carefully put her daughter in the car seat and strapped her in.
"Good to see you, Jane." Fischer smirked.
"You too, Fischer." Jane grinned.
Lisbon and Jane took off with Jane carrying the car seat and stopped at his favorite diner. "Welcome, what can I get you to drink?"
"Tea." Jane answered.
"Coffee." Lisbon answered. It had been a long nine months with her limited daily coffee. Now she could have much as she wanted to and not worry about it.
"I was surprised to see Fischer." Jane mentioned as he noticed the waitress coming back with their desired hot drinks. She asked their orders and both gave their sandwich orders.
"I know. I'll be working with her and her partner through the case. Cho was waiting for them to come so I could work with them." Lisbon admitted relieved. Noticing the baby getting hungry with her sucking, she took Lisby Michelle from the booth. Jane handed her the bottle he prepared from the diaper bag. While waiting for their food to come, she fed her daughter. "I've missed you this morning, honey." She looked at Jane. "How has she been?"
"She's fine. You really miss her and you were so determined to go to work. You called me to your rescue."
"Yes, I know. I shouldn't call you. I should be able to handle things myself." Lisbon said.
"It's okay. It's my job to save you and listen to your worries. I'm your husband.I'm very happy to help. You don't have to be the tough one all the time." Jane said.
Lisbon smiled at her husband. "I'm glad you came so I can see her." Lisbon said to Jane. She looked down at her daughter still feeding. "Hello, sweetie. Did you miss me? You're growing so fast." The baby looked intently into her mother's eyes.
"She's really moving around and smiling." Jane said getting teary eyed. "She's perfect."
"You don't hide your emotions." Lisbon noticed her husband's tears. "You're not getting too tired, are you?"
"I'm fine. I love being home with her. We get to bond, right, princess?" Jane said looking at the baby. The baby stopped sucking and looked around and looked at her father after hearing his voice.
A few minutes later they received their food and went to leave. "Bye, sweetie. I'll see you when I get home." Lisbon said to Lisby Michelle now strapped in the car seat. "I'll see you too, Jane." She gave him a peck on the lips. She felt a little guilty leaving the baby, but she knew Jane was taking great care of her.
Coming back into the office after lunch she noticed an extra empty desk besides Jane's couch. It didn't have a computer, but it was a desk nevertheless. Cho noticed Lisbon had returned. "Hey, Lisbon, I'm sorry we didn't have a desk available right away this morning. We found one temporarily for you until we get 's been busy."
"Thank you, Cho. I understand." Lisbon said.
"Do you think Jane will be willing to come in at all for cases?" Cho asked looking at Jane's couch.
"You'd probably have to talk to him yourself." Lisbon noted as she took a seat at the desk. "He's determined to stay with the baby."
"Okay, yeah, I suppose it would be hard to leave." Cho admitted.
Fischer noticed Lisbon's return and walked up to Lisbon. "Are you ready to go with me? We're going to question some of those clients."
"Of course." Lisbon answered eagerly getting up and going alongside Fischer and Jackson.
"Did you worry about how Jane would react to another daughter since his first one was killed?" Fischer asked going to the elevator and pushing the down button.
"Of course, I did. Our whole CBI team did." Lisbon admitted. "I even had a dream about it."
"But it changed." Fischer noted.
"Yes, because he adores her. It's hard to pull him away from her. He even follows me when it's my turn to be with her." Lisbon smirked and rolled her eyes. "Having a girl is a change for me because I grew up with all boys. Now I have to buy girly things." Lisbon said. "I love her so much."
"It's great you and Jane are happy now. It was a long time coming now." Fischer said.
"Yes. We're very happy with our marriage and now our daughter. I know it's not going to be perfect all the time. I'm content with my life. It'll be a challenge trying to balance being a mother and wife along with being an FBI agent. I love my job and it's great to be able to have that too. I"ll get the best of all the worlds. I'll work and now be able to see my husband and child when I come home to greet me. It's a perfect life."
I wanted to bring Fischer back because I liked her. She started to become a good friend to Lisbon even though they didn't get along at first. I'm not sure how accurate I am with FBI teams working together. I just wanted some way to have Fischer come in. I'll finish up the case in the next chapter or two.