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To say that Patrick Jane was exhausted would be an understatement. He hadn’t had a single shut-eye in almost twenty-four hours and he was certain that one of his fingers was broken. He might have exaggerated the latter, but he didn’t dare complain about it nonetheless. Lisbon would have kicked his butt if he did. She was the one who did most of the work after all, bearing through all of the pains of childbirth. A broken finger really was nothing compared to that and he couldn’t help but love her more than he already did.
Now he was too excited to sleep or even just to take a nap. He was seated on the uncomfortable plastic chair placed next to the hospital bed, still singing Little Boy Blue under his breath despite the fact that the little human being in his arms was already fast asleep. He was still a little overwhelmed that he had created such a beautiful child with Teresa Lisbon, who was currently dozing off after being in labor for almost fourteen hours.
When he’d made the decision to finally propose to Lisbon, he had thought that nothing else could make him happier than her agreeing to become his wife. He wasn’t going to disappoint himself by imagining having a child with Lisbon, seeing that they weren’t getting any younger and it was probably too late for her to be able to conceive a child anyway. He’d decided that he should just be content with what he had even though he sometimes did dream of a child with his golden curls and Lisbon’s emerald green eyes.
Her pregnancy had been a surprise. He had been upset at first that she had to find out alone because he was being selfish and thus away in another state at the time, but she'd told him it was the past and they shouldn't dwell on it anymore. After all, they’d promised to each other to always look on the bright side.
They had never discussed the possibility of a child before and were forced to do so now that the issue could no longer be ignored. They had to admit that it was recklessness that got them there in the first place, but they were both happy with it—ecstatic, even. Of course, it also meant that his plans of taking his time at remodeling the cabin had to be completely scrapped. With a baby arriving in less than eight months, he had to rush the job and hire some extra hands to help finish the remodel. Fortunately, Lisbon’s brothers were happy to help him with the work when they found out that their only sister was expecting. Stan even brought along some of his really close construction worker friends who willingly flew down from Chicago when Jane offered them a considerable amount of money.
The cabin restoration was finished within seven months. They’d even managed to move in some furniture that Jane had picked together with Lisbon when he took her shopping a few weeks prior—during which he’d insisted that he could afford more, but she’d argued that simple furniture would be enough. In the end, he’d caved because fighting with a pregnant Teresa Lisbon wouldn’t do any of them good, under the condition that she let him decorate the nursery and that she wasn’t allowed to see it until he was finished.
He couldn’t help himself and went a little overboard with it.
Jane had shown the finished nursery to her with a cocky “et voila”. Her jaw dropped immediately upon seeing it.
“Uh, Patrick? Isn’t it a little over the top?” she’d asked.
“Nothing’s a little over the top for our child, my dear,” he’d answered a little defensively.
Nonetheless, she agreed that it was a beautiful room. The wallpaper had a beach and ocean theme, with the sand part on top and the ocean underneath, complete with cartoon sea animals. A mobile made of colorful paper cranes was hung a few feet above the crib, which Lisbon knew that Jane had personally folded himself one by one, and a giant, green plush turtle sat just in the corner beside the wardrobe with a dozen of other smaller, various animal plushies piled on top of it. In another corner of the nursery, Jane had placed a toy chest, that she was certain was filled to the brim with toys, next to a wooden rocking pony.
Lisbon eyed the mountain of plushies and rocking pony warily. “I don’t think the baby’s going to play with those for a while,” she had said.
“Probably not, but in the meantime I can play with them to entertain the baby," he’d defended himself and added his million dollar grin for good measure. She'd only rolled her eyes in response.
Lisbon had refused to go on maternity leave before the baby was born and had chosen desk duty instead since the doctor had declared her unborn child perfectly healthy and, thus, could carry on doing non-stressful work in spite of Jane’s protests. When her water broke, she had been sitting at her desk in the bullpen, drowning in paperwork. Fortunately, there was no case that day and the rest of the team were also busy doing paperwork, except for Jane, who was pretending to sleep on his beloved leather sofa behind her while keeping an eye on his wife for signs of labor. With the baby’s due date only one or two days away, she could pop any second and he refused to let her out of his sight. They had even had an overnight duffel bag ready in the car and spare clothes kept inside her desk drawer as precautions.
The contractions had started in the morning, just before Lisbon jumped into the shower. Jane, being the protective husband that he was, insisted that they should be driving to the hospital, but she refused, not wanting to spend hours idle in a hospital bed. They went to work instead. Jane tried to coax her to go to the hospital every time he noticed that her contractions were getting more frequent, but she snapped and told him that she would go to the hospital when she wanted to. Jane shut up after that.
The moment Lisbon felt a gush of liquid under her seat, she quickly froze. Jane was of course the first one to notice and was immediately by her side. Even though they barely made a sound, it was too late to avoid making a scene. Their teammates and supervisor had noticed too. Cho was already out of his office, having noticed Jane’s sudden movement through the transparent panels that surrounded his office, and was ready to assist them if needed. Tork watched them with amusement while Wylie was freaking out much more than Jane.
The journey to the hospital was a blur for both of them. About twelve hours later, after a lot of screaming and threatening on Lisbon’s part and some whining from Jane when she squeezed his hand a little too tightly during contractions, Michael Patrick Jane was finally born and he had announced his entry into the world with a shrill cry at about ten minutes before midnight.
“Congratulations, you have a little boy,” the doctor announced.
Jane and Lisbon couldn’t take their eyes away from their newborn son—red-faced, still all wet and sticky in the nurse’s hands with all kinds of gunk all over him, but he was so beautiful. Jane was so captivated by the sight that it took him a few seconds to respond when the doctor offered him the honor to cut the cord, which he refused because he didn’t want to leave his wife’s side. The nurse then took the baby to be cleaned up and swaddled before placing him on his mother’s torso for his first feeding. The baby immediately started rooting around and, with a watery smile, Lisbon guided him gently.
Both parents finally had the chance to have a thorough look of their newborn baby only after the technicalities of post-birth were over—after the doctor and nurses left the room and they were finally left alone to enjoy the first hours of parenthood.
Michael Jane turned out to be a perfect little Lisbon replica with parts of Jane mixed in here and there. He had inherited most of his facial features from her—those pouty lips were definitely from his mom. However, his hair was so blond that he appeared bald, and according to Lisbon, he had Jane’s nose. In Jane’s opinion, it didn’t really matter who his son looked like the most because he was already wrapped around his teeny tiny little finger.
Jane felt Michael starting to rouse from slumber as the baby began shifting in his arms and made smacking noises, instinctively rutting around against his father’s clothed chest. The infant opened his eyes—large, dark blue ones met sea-green ones. He seemed to be studying his father’s face, his tiny forehead wrinkled.
“Hi Michael,” Jane whispered, smiling affectionately. “I’m your daddy.”
His baby son blinked once sleepily and promptly replied with a snuffle. The moment his little face scrunched up with displeasure, Jane knew what was about to come and smiled fondly at the loud, piercing wail that his son produced, just happy to hear the sound again. The baby’s diaper wasn’t heavy and he seemed comfortable until a moment ago, so he knew that he was most likely hungry. He heard his wife start to wake up as she grumbled groggily. The loud squalling had obviously woken her up. His smile turned into a grin and he moved to sit on the bed next to her.
“Hey Mommy,” he greeted her softly. “Baby’s hungry.”
Lisbon, having been in a reclining position while sleeping, smiled at her husband and readily reached her arms out to take their screaming son from him. She quickly undid her hospital gown and got Michael to latch on. The baby ate greedily like he’d been starved for days.
She looked down at the baby in astonishment. She and Patrick Jane had created this gorgeous tiny human being together. Stealing a glance at Jane, she found that he was staring at their nursing son in awe.
“How does it feel?” she asked, her voice still hoarse from sleep.
“Hm?” he absent-mindedly hummed his reply.
“Becoming a father again,” she clarified. “How does it feel?”
He grinned. “Amazing,” he answered, leaning further to kiss her. It was a sweet, chaste kiss. The angle was a little uncomfortable and they had no energy for any other kind of excitement than that of parenthood anyway.
“Thank you for making it happen,” he whispered against her lips when they broke apart.
“Oh hush. We did it together.”
He’d argue the fact another time, but he thought she was the one doing all the hard work and he was just helping from the sidelines. Looking at his son, he couldn’t help the pride that was swelling inside of him. This tiny human was definitely the best thing he and Lisbon had ever done together.
“Yes, we did,” he agreed. “And we did it so well. He’s perfect.”
“He’s beautiful, but Lord help me if he’s anything like you. I don’t think I can handle two of you,” she teased. Jane chuckled.
“Well, we can always have another one. A little girl, maybe,” he mused, and Lisbon hummed appreciatively at the thought, “with your hair and smile, and your attitude. She’d be a handful.”
“As if this one won’t be a handful. I bet he’ll be exactly like you, causing trouble everywhere he goes and charming his way out of it.”
“Hmm,” he pretended to think. Having a smaller partner in crime didn’t seem like a bad idea, especially if he got to annoy his lovely wife every once in a while. “What if he has your attitude and my charms?”
“It means we’ve created a little monster,” she joked.
“With your looks and my dashing smile, he’d be the most adorable little monster.”
Lisbon laughed mirthfully. “I kind of like the idea of that, actually. Him alienating other children and his teachers in school, like you would have if you had gone to school,” she paused, reconsidering what she just said and groaned, “I’m probably going to regret that thought when he actually attends school and gets called to the principal’s office for smart-mouthing his teacher, aren’t I?”
“Meh,” he said. “Maybe, maybe not. We’ll face it together when we get there. For now, we’ll just savor all the time we have before he can talk and smart-mouth us.”
“Yeah,” she quietly replied, her eyes now glued to her son’s face.
Just as Michael was drifting back off to sleep, Jane shifted away from his wife slightly to press a kiss on the little boy’s forehead and murmur, “You are safe, you are loved, and you are wise. Sleep tight, my son.”