A/N: Here we are! The end at last. I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your unfailing support for this story despite my slow progress and infrequent updates, especially to those of you who always take the time to drop me a line and let me know what you think of individual chapters or even just a line that particularly spoke to you. I truly do treasure each and every review. There were times along the way when I despaired of ever finishing this behemoth, and your words of encouragement definitely helped energize me when I needed it most. Thank you so much for your kindness and your patience!

xxx

Several years later

Lisbon blinked herself awake and winced at the harsh fluorescent lighting of the hospital room. She glanced at the light fixture overhead. Ugh. Did the damn thing have to be so bright right above the bed?

"Hey," Jane's voice said softly beside her. "How are you feeling?"

She turned her head and gave him a tired smile. "Better." She nodded to the bundle in Jane's arms. "How is he doing?"

"He's doing just fine," Jane said, smiling down at his sleeping son.

"Let me hold him," Lisbon instructed, reaching her arms out to take him.

Jane held him closer in an instinctively protective gesture. "I can hold onto him a little longer," he protested. "You should rest some more."

"Don't be greedy," Lisbon admonished. "Hand him over."

"Very well," he sighed. He kissed his son on the forehead and whispered, "Your mommy's very bossy, have you noticed that?"

"Hey," Lisbon said in mock outrage. "He's only four hours old. Don't start making him think I'm a tyrant already."

"I suppose you'll learn that for yourself soon enough," Jane said to the baby philosophically as he settled him into Lisbon's arms.

The transfer of the baby prevented her from retaliating with a smack on her husband's shoulder. Once her son was properly settled in her arms, though, she forgot her annoyance, distracted by the warm, sweet smell of him. "Oh!" she said in pleasure. "They put his nametag on." She examined the paper bracelet printed with the name 'Andrew Jane' encircling the tiny wrist.

Jane rolled his eyes. "Yeah, the hospital industry has found parents really frown upon it when they send them home with the wrong children. The nametags are a really groundbreaking step forward in that department. At least, they were…about seventy years ago."

"Oh, hush," Lisbon said. "I just meant—oh, I don't know what I meant. I'm just excited he's finally here, I guess."

"He did take his time about it, didn't he?" Jane mused. He stroked the baby's arm with one gentle finger. "Eight days past the due date. You don't like to be rushed, do you, Drew?"

"He wanted to make a dramatic entrance," Lisbon said, gazing down at him affectionately. "Wait til our attention was fully upon him before the big reveal. Just like his daddy."

Jane studied the sleeping infant critically. "I'm not sure I agree with your assessment," he said. "He looks more like the shy, retiring type to me."

Lisbon snorted. "That would be a turn up for the books. A child of yours without a raging thirst for attention? I'll believe it when I see it."

"I suppose the available evidence is in your favor on this point," Jane conceded. His phone beeped. He pulled it out and looked at the screen. "Speaking of which…"

"You're not supposed to have that in here," Lisbon reminded him.

Jane waved her off. He tapped the phone keys, then put the phone back in his pocket. "I've got to run downstairs for a minute."

He kissed Drew on the forehead. "Don't do anything amazing until I get back," he instructed his son.

"He's not making any promises," Lisbon warned him with a grin.

"I'll be quick." He leaned in and kissed her. "Be right back."

He took his leave.

Lisbon gazed down at her son, studying every perfect feature. The shock of dark hair sticking up at the back of his head. The sleepy pout of his little mouth. His short, fine eyelashes. His tiny fist balled up under his chin.

He grizzled in his sleep and yawned.

Lisbon smiled down at him. Yep. Perfect.

She could have watched him sleep all day, but Drew had other ideas.

He scrunched up his face and blinked. He looked up at her with clear blue-gray eyes.

"Hey," Lisbon said softly, her smile widening. "Hello, my beautiful boy."

He gazed back at her, apparently intrigued by the sight of her.

"You hungry?" Lisbon asked. "I bet you are. Let's get you some milk, huh?"

She settled him at her breast. He sucked contentedly, still gazing up at her.

Once he'd drunk his fill, she lifted him up to rest him against her shoulder. She patted his back and he burped obligingly.

"Mommy!"

Samantha Olivia Jane burst into the room.

Lisbon smiled at her. "Hey, baby."

Heedless of the huge bouquet of red and yellow gerber daisies clutched in her hand, Samantha raced to her mother's side. "I came to visit you," she announced. "Me and Daddy got you flowers from the gift shop." She tried to climb onto the hospital bed in an attempt to fling herself upon her mother in her preferred method of greeting, but the railing and unaccustomed height of the bed impeded the attempt. The daisies were somewhat worse for the wear after suffering this abuse, but miraculously, the bouquet remained more or less intact.

"Whoa! Slow down, Petal," Jane admonished his daughter from the doorway. He came over to her side. He relieved her of the daisies and set them on the bedside table, then bent and picked her up. "Remember what we agreed about being gentle with Mommy while she's in the hospital?"

"Yes," Samantha said stoutly, squirming in his arms in an attempt to free herself so she could launch herself at her mother. Jane and Lisbon had been working on it with her, but to date, the finer points of the concept of gentleness continued to escape her.

"And remember how we have to be extra gentle with the new baby?" Jane reminded her.

"Uh-huh," Samantha said, twisting herself around so she could get a better look at the tiny blob on her mother's shoulder.

"Let her sit with me," Lisbon said, shifting the baby to the other shoulder. "She'll be all right. Won't you, Sam?"

"Yeah!" Samantha said enthusiastically.

"You sure?" Jane asked, a shade of doubt in his voice.

"Yeah." She patted the bed next to her. "Come on. She's got to meet her baby brother."

"All right." Jane looked at Samantha. "Gentle. Remember that, okay?"

She scrunched up her nose. "You're funny, Daddy."

"Very reassuring," Jane remarked. But he set her on the bed next to Lisbon anyway.

Samantha immediately clambered to her knees and flung her arms around her mother's neck. Lisbon hastily shifted the baby to prevent his sister from accidentally hitting him upside the head in her enthusiasm.

"Gentle!" Jane said, exasperated.

"I'm being gentle," Samantha said, annoyed. She gave her mother a smacking kiss on the cheek. "I missed you, Mommy."

"I missed you, too," Lisbon said, kissing her on the top of the head. She nudged her with her shoulder. "Sit down, honey. I want you to meet your brother."

Samantha sat, and Lisbon rearranged the baby in her arms so she could see her brother's face. "Samantha, this is Drew," Lisbon introduced them.

Samantha peered down at him, her expression dubious.

Jane leaned against the bed railing, not wanting to miss out on any of the fun. "Well?" he asked Samantha. "What do you think of him?"

"He looks squishy," Samantha commented.

Jane paused. "Hm. I guess you have me there," he said, bemused.

Samantha punctuated her remark by poking her little brother in the side.

Drew, shocked and appalled by this ignominious behavior, widened his eyes and started to cry.

"He's loud," Samantha observed.

"Samantha!" her father scolded her. "That didn't look very gentle to me."

"Sorry," Samantha said without the least sign of remorse.

"Shh," Lisbon murmured to Drew, rocking him. "You're all right. Your big sister's just trying to toughen you up." She put her free arm around Sam. "You can touch him, Sam, but you really do need to be gentle. Come on, help me calm him down, won't you?" She guided Samantha's small pudgy hand to Drew's arm. Together, they traced their fingertips along his arm in soothing strokes while Lisbon continued to rock him.

After a moment of this decidedly more gentle treatment, Drew subsided. He continued to regard his sister with suspicion, but a détente had been reached.

"That's my girl," Lisbon said approvingly.

"I can be good," Samantha boasted. "Sometimes."

"Were you good for Grace and Wayne?" Lisbon asked her.

"Uh-huh," Samantha said, still petting her brother's arm. "I was extra good."

Lisbon's eyes went to Jane for confirmation. He nodded. "Grace said Sam and Ben had a fine old time together. She and Rigsby are going to stop by later. She wanted to come in when she dropped off Sam, but she had to go pick up Ben."

"It was nice of them to watch her," Lisbon said.

"They were happy to do it." Jane picked up a card on the bedside table and glanced around the room at the collection of cards and flowers adorning every conceivable surface of the hospital room. "Hm. I'm going to need to shift some of this around to find a place for the flowers from Sam and me."

Lisbon shifted the baby in her arms. "Who's the card from?"

Jane turned the card over and read the text on the back. "Katie. She sent a postcard from grad school to congratulate us."

"How's journalism school treating her?"

"Pretty good," Jane said, studying the text. "She loves NYU. Top of her class. And Owen's making noises about moving out there to be with her next year."

"Sounds like she's got a lot on her plate," Lisbon said with a smile. "It was sweet of her to think of us."

Jane wandered over to a basket by the window. "Mrs. Morales sent a basket of tamales. Ooh, with a bottle of her special red chili sauce to go with it."

"Tamales!" Sam said excitedly. "Can I have some?"

"Later, Petal," Jane promised. "We'll have some when we go home."

Lisbon looked around in wonder. "When did all this stuff get here?"

"It's been trickling in all afternoon," Jane said as he unceremoniously yanked a beautiful arrangement sent by Cho and Linda out of its vase. He stuffed the lilies into another vase already occupied by an arrangement of sunflowers and irises sent by Lisbon's brothers and set it down on the window sill. He took the newly liberated vase and placed the gerber daisies inside it. "Ah, there we are," he said in satisfaction, setting the daisies down on the bedside table.

"You're incorrigible," Lisbon told him, hiding a smile.

"What's incorrigible?" Samantha asked, intrigued.

"A trait you and your father share," Lisbon informed her.

"Cool," Samantha said, satisfied. She looked up at Lisbon. "Can I play now?"

"Sure, baby," Lisbon said.

"You'll watch, right?" Samantha double-checked.

"Yup. Me and Drew will watch from right here," Lisbon assured her.

"Good." Samantha turned to her father. "Daddy, you can play with me," she said magnanimously.

"Why, thank you," Jane said, amused. "Very kind of you, I'm sure."

"That's right," Samantha agreed. She held her arms up towards her father. "Help me down," she ordered.

"Yes, ma'am," Jane said, leaning down and picking her up. "Oof. You're a strapping lass. But already with a habit of assuming command. What are you going to be when you grow up, a dainty princess or a brave knight?"

"Duh," Samantha said scornfully. "Princesses are boring. I'm gonna be a brave knight."

"Oh, yeah?" Jane raised his eyebrows. "What about a warrior princess?"

Samantha considered this. "I guess that would be all right," she allowed.

"Just skip the long skirts when you're heading into a fight," Lisbon advised. "They'll really slow you down in battle."

"Okay," Samantha said. She wriggled in her father's arms. "Put me down now, please."

Jane obliged her. "There you go, my brave knight."

"You can be the king," Samantha instructed him. She patted her father on the leg. "Don't worry. I'll protect you."

"I suppose that is my lot in life," Jane said. "To be protected by Lisbon women."

"I don't know," Lisbon said from the bed with an indulgent smile. "Seems to me it's pretty much always gone both ways."

"Drew can be the prince," Samantha decided. "He can do the paperwork."

"Good idea," Jane said, amused. "We've got to have someone to do all that boring paperwork to keep the kingdom running smoothly, don't we?"

"Yes," Samantha agreed. "But not us."

"Perish the thought," Lisbon muttered under her breath.

Jane ignored this. "That's right. We'll be far too busy having adventures, won't we?"

"Exactly," Samantha said. She tugged her father's hand. "Come on, Daddy. Let's play."

Jane smiled down at her. "How could I say no to an offer like that?"

Xxx

Later, when the dragons had been vanquished and all the bad guys in the land imprisoned, Jane approached the hospital bed again, his sleepy daughter's eyes drooping as her head nodded against his shoulder. "Hey," he said softly to Lisbon. "Scoot over. Our brave knight is about to conk out."

"She's had a busy day," Lisbon said. She shifted over, Drew still in her arms.

"All that storming of castles and meting out justice is hard work," Jane agreed. He lowered the hospital railing with one hand and eased himself down onto the narrow bed gingerly, trying not to disturb the sleeping child in his arms.

"Ow," Lisbon complained when he accidently elbowed her in the arm. "Watch it. This bed isn't made for four people, you know."

"Parenting is hard," Jane told her. "Suck it up."

Lisbon grumbled a little under her breath, but she didn't object when Jane put an arm around her and pulled her closer. She leaned against his shoulder and gazed down at their sleeping children.

"They're pretty great, huh?" Jane said, nuzzling her hair.

"Yeah," she said softly. "We did good."

She gazed down at her son and daughter, so small and perfect. When she'd married Jane, she hadn't been able imagine ever being more content. Before she'd had Sam, she didn't think her heart could ever contain that much joy. But now they had Drew, too, and her heart had somehow grown twice as full.

"Penny for your thoughts," Jane said softly.

She wasn't sure she had the words to explain. "I just…" Her gaze roved over Sam and Drew, still entranced by the sight of their son and daughter safe and content in their arms. "Before you and I…before Sam…and now Drew…" she trailed off, her heart so swollen that words failed her. She glanced around the room at all the tokens of love and support from the people in their lives, and her heart felt fuller yet. "I never knew it could be like this, before. You know?"

He didn't need to ask what she meant. He knew.

He kissed her on the temple. "Yeah," he said quietly. "I do."

She bent to kiss the heads of each of her sleeping children. She lifted her head and kissed Jane, too. He kissed her back, and the words finally came to her.

She'd never known life could be like this.

Full of love, laughter, and happiness beyond measure.