Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N: Sorry for the wait, RL has been crazy because I'm getting married in two weeks! So last minute wedding plans are driving me nuts. Throw in the fact that this chapter was giving me major writers block. I'm still not particularly happy with it but I figured I should publish something so here it is. I hope you guys like it

Chapter 14: A New Life

Jane and Lisbon had to return to Austin by Monday, Lisbon figured it would be better if they at least had a day to get settled at the hotel and get a jump start at looking for a home. But leaving was harder than Lisbon had anticipated after Karen's confession, she knew it wouldn't be easy for Evelyn but now it was going to be just as difficult for Stan and Karen.

Evie was completely unaware of what was going on as she was driven to the airport, she just knew she was going on a car ride. She chattered away to her Aunt Karen about every little thing she saw out the window. Karen was trying to put on a happy face but she kept surreptitiously brushing away tears. Lisbon sat in the back with Evie and tried to swallow the guilt of taking her child away from the two people who had adored her for the past two years.

When they arrived at the airport she saw Jane was waiting nearby but he respected the need for privacy as they all said their goodbyes. Karen was hugging Evie close who was quiet, the toddler seemed to finally be aware that something was going on. "Call us when you get to Austin," Stan told her, "keep us updated on everything."

"You know I will," Lisbon replied. She may have avoided too many family visits when she worked at the CBI but she'd always called regularly. But she knew she'd be seeing her brothers more often now, she couldn't imagine keeping Evie away from them for too long.

She hugged Stan goodbye and when she turned she saw Karen was still crying and clutching Evie. "Oh God," Karen said softly, burying her face in Evie's dark brown curls. "I can't do this. I can't."

Stan seemed to be swallowing back a lump in his throat but at least he wasn't crying. "Karen," he said softly.

"I know," she told him, "It's just so hard." She kissed Evie again and then pushed her into Stan's arms, unable to actually hand Evelyn over to her mother herself. Then Karen rushed a few feet away so she could cry in peace and not have to see Lisbon walk away with the little girl.

Stan watched his distressed wife for a few moments before saying his own goodbyes to Evie, he was choked up a bit too but he had to be stronger because of how hard this was for his wife. He finally handed his niece over to her mother so he could go comfort Karen. It only took a few moments for Evie to start crying as well.

"No, no no!" she screeched as she saw her aunt and uncle walk away. "nooooooo!"

The wails were very loud and drew attention while Lisbon tried to calm her crying child down. However Evie was not going to stop crying until she got to see her aunt and uncle again, these strangers/parents were not going to do.

Going through security was a nightmare; everyone stared at them as if they were kidnapping Evie. The TSA officer even asked them if there was something wrong, but Jane made a joke about terrible-twos, which put them at ease but didn't stop the baby from screaming.

By the time they made it to their gate, all three of them were miserable. "Oh God," Lisbon said as they took a seat. "Are we doing the right thing? She loves them, they love her and we are both felons."

Jane rolled his eyes. "First, I was never convicted and your conviction was overturned so we aren't felons. And we are her parents, this is not just the right thing but correcting a wrong."

"Then why does it feel wrong?"

"Because its never fun making a child cry," Jane replied. His reasoning was sound but it didn't make her feel much better. Jane obviously noticed. "Here, give her to me.

She handed over their screaming daughter who stopped fussing for exactly two seconds as she realized she was exchanging hands. But she started up again once she saw that Jane was not her beloved aunt.

Jane did what he could to soothe her. "It's okay, sweetheart," he whispered to her, "you're safe with people who love you."

That was the truth but it wasn't apparent to Evie who still continued to fuss. Each minute that passed with Evie crying only heightened Lisbon's distress and Jane noticed. "Get some coffee," he told her.

"What?"

"Just take a minute," Jane explained, "we'll be fine here."

Lisbon hesitated for a moment but realized he was right, she needed a second to gather herself so she didn't start crying in the terminal along with Evie. Lisbon grabbed her purse and walked down towards the closest restroom. It wasn't exactly private but it did give her a chance to splash some water on her face and mentally psyche herself up.

This was going to be hard, there was no sugar coating it. Their daughter was a stranger to them and vice versa, now they were uprooting her from the only life she'd ever known and taking her down to Austin to live with them. It would take time but she would start to trust them, then she would love them. After that, the memories of life without them would fade and she would never remember being away from them.

She would never remember that her mother hadn't been in her life.

Never remember that she'd been born while her mother was in prison.

That gave Lisbon another thought. What would they tell her? There was no way to get around the fact that she had gone to prison, there were news reports, a trial transcript, a book and dozens of other public records making it very clear that she'd been convicted of being an accessory to murder, that she'd been pregnant and given birth behind bars. Would her daughter hate her for that?

For a moment she really believed that was possible but then another voice told her she was overthinking this. When Evie found out what happened to her mother she would also find out why it had happened, namely stopping a psychopathic serial killer. She couldn't blame her mother for that…but what about Jane? Would Evie put the blame on him for her mother going to prison?

She surprised herself but not really liking that idea either. Sure for the past few months she'd been all to happy to pin the blame on him for the last two miserable years of her life but she certainly didn't want their daughter to hate him. Nor did she want Evie to believe he was entirely at fault, she'd known what she was doing when she'd given him her keys and her gun. The truth is that she could put the fault at both of their feet for what had happened.

She and Jane would have to talk about this, and a million other things. She wasn't ever going to get him out of her life; they would always be bound to each other through their child. Two years ago that was the kind of bind she'd longed for and now…now she wasn't sure how she felt.

Time was the only thing that could help. In time, she would move on and maybe make peace with Jane. In time, Evie would come to love her. In time, she would be able to heal from the scars of the past two years. It was funny. In prison, all she had was time, now it seemed she didn't have enough.

Lisbon left the restroom and headed for the nearest coffee shop so she could get herself a cup of coffee. At the last second she added a tea to the order for Jane. Let him read into that what he wanted to.

On her way back she passed one of the many convenience stores in the airport, this one sported a back wall of books for sale designated as bestsellers by the New York Times. Sitting on display was Erik's book about the Red John case. It made Lisbon smile that his book was selling enough to be considered a good fit for the airport case. She set the coffee and tea down to pick up a copy; she flipped through the pages, stopping to look at the photographs inserted in the middle. There at the end of the photos was the picture of Evie she'd given him way back when in the Dublin Visitation room.

He'd promised he'd help her get out; at least he'd kept his word. Abbott had told her that the cover story was that the publicity from the book had pushed the state for an appeal and an overturn of her conviction. It was deemed a better story than the truth, which is that the FBI had been blackmailed by one rogue pain in the ass.

Still, Lisbon liked to think that maybe the book would have brought the pressure needed to get her out of prison, Jane just got there first.

"Have you read that book?" The bored looking attendant behind the counter asked her.

Lisbon glanced up, surprised to be addressed. For a second she thought maybe this girl knew who she was like the woman on the plane before. But Lisbon realized quickly she had no idea who she was talking to. "Uh, yeah."

"It's good isn't it? Sometimes truth is better than fiction."

"You have no idea," Lisbon agreed.

"Hope that the agent gets out of prison, sucks what happened there."

"I have a feeling that she'll turn out alright," Lisbon told her, unable to hide her smile.

She put the book back and bid goodbye to the attendant, wondering with amusement what would happen if she ever realized whom she'd been talking to.

When Lisbon returned to the terminal she was surprised to find her daughter no longer crying. In fact, she was asleep in Jane's arms. "You put her to sleep?"

"Hardly," Jane replied, "She cried herself out."

Lisbon mused that it was probably for the best, she handed Jane his tea and he thanked her graciously. She sighed after taking another sip of coffee. "You think this will all work out?"

"Why are you asking questions you already know the answer to?"

"I don't know," Lisbon admitted. "I don't know if Evie is ever going to see me as her real mother. I don't know how we are going to make this work. And I really don't know what we are going to say to her when she gets older."

Jane raised an eyebrow. "Say to her about what?"

"Us," Lisbon replied, "Red John…prison."

Jane was quiet for a long time and she could tell by the look on his face that even he was a little unsettled at the realization that Evie would have to know the truth about her parents. There was no getting around that. "We'll tell her the truth."

"The truth is that mommy and daddy broke the law, took down a sociopath, then daddy ran away and mommy went to prison."

"There's a bit more to it than that but that is the gist."

Lisbon shook her head. "You don't understand. What are we going to do when some kid at school shows Evie pictures of me in handcuffs? Or when she finds out that she was born while I was in prison?"

"What are you really concerned about?" Jane asked her, "Are you worried she'll think less of you?" Lisbon didn't say anything, which answered his question. "No one with half a brain thinks you belonged in prison, our daughter is going to know the complete truth and understand what happened. She's not going to hate you for what happened, she'll probably think more of you because you were strong enough to endure it."

Lisbon met Jane's eyes, stunned by his words. "Really?"

"Of course," Jane told her, "she'll probably want to be just like you, or at least I hope so."

"Better than being like her father," Lisbon mused which made him smile.

"I won't argue with you on that point.

She smiled back but it faded as she remembered another point. "She's still going to see and hear things…things that won't be good."

"I know," Jane agreed, "In this world, nothing stays secret for long. But since we will tell her the truth, she'll get through it just like we have."

Lisbon felt a lot better about the future, at least in regards to their daughter understanding everything that had happened. The more recent future: getting Evelyn to love them and somehow surviving living with Jane, those doubts were still very much present.

Evie stayed asleep through most of the flight. An hour outside of Austin and she finally started to stir, it took a few minutes for her to get her bearings but she quickly became frightened again by the new place she was in. She whimpered softly and looked around but without seeing her Aunt or Uncle, the only comfort she could take was from her mother and father.

Since she was currently in her mother's arms, she took the opportunity to delve a little further into her lap and suck plaintively on the ear of her little stuffed rabbit. Jane and Lisbon both did what they could to speak soothingly to her but she wasn't going to come out of her shell until she was good and ready. All they could do was be grateful that the crying had stopped for the moment.

The plane touched down in Austin and Jane and Lisbon scrambled for their baggage along with Evelyn's. Now she was wide-eyed watching all of the new things taking place in front of her. Jane couldn't help but smile at the way she oohed and ahhed over little things like the baggage carousel and the giant decorated guitars that were everywhere.

They had to take two cabs to the hotel, Lisbon hadn't been happy to find out that they were staying at the same hotel but Jane wasn't happy having to take a separate cab so he considered a fair trade. She was going to be even more upset she found out their rooms were conjoined suites.

His prediction was accurate; she was very unhappy with their rooming arrangements and accused him of setting it up like that on purpose. It was actually Abbott who suggested the arrangement when he learned they were bringing Evelyn back with them. That truth kept Lisbon from changing rooms but she still wasn't happy.

Jane left her alone for a bit because he knew she would need a little time to calm down after that revelation. He waited exactly two hours before knocking on the door adjoining their rooms. He heard her sigh from behind the door before she opened it to speak to him. "Got any other surprises for me?"

"Just making sure you and Evie are all right." He peeked over her shoulder to see Evelyn was on the bed, mesmerized by some children's television show. He saw the box for the travel pen was against the wall and the pen itself was in pieces on the floor. "Having problems?"

"No," Lisbon told him, "Just didn't realize an engineering degree was required to set this up."

"Yes, a doctorate if you are going for a convertible crib," Jane replied with a wry grin. He plopped down on the floor beside her. "I'll help you out."

She couldn't very well turn down a helping hand, and after another hour and several swear words, they finally got the thing together and deemed suitably safe for their daughter to sleep in. "Well that was fun," Jane said as he sat down on the bed next to Evie. The toddler glanced at him before turning back to her program; her parents were still not high on her list of priorities. He tousled her hair and turned his attention back to Lisbon. "Now, I don't know about you but I'm starving, the airline food definitely wasn't enough for me."

"You want to go out to dinner together?" She flushed a little, obviously putting his offer in a more romantic territory than intended. Well since their daughter was currently in the room, perhaps it wasn't an insane idea.

"I'm offering," Jane told her, "There's a Mexican restaurant just down the road."

Lisbon snorted. "Didn't you get enough of that at the island?"

"I hardly doubt what they are peddling down the street will be similar to the island cuisine," Jane pointed out, "but it certainly will be better than the child-size bag of pretzel pieces from the plane."

He had her there. He also could tell her mind was conjuring up idea of a margarita they were sure to offer there, there was no doubt she thought she needed a drink. "Fine, but you're buying." Lisbon said before picking Evelyn up in her arms. The toddler started to protest and it was certainly sad to watch her shrink away from her mother. "It's okay, Evie," Lisbon said, trying to sound cheerful, "We're just going to get ready to go to dinner."

Evie whimpered and flat out said "No!" several times while Lisbon tried to wrestle her shoes on. Eventually Lisbon won that battle and Evie sulked the entire time to the restaurant. She only became happy then when she was given three crayons and a kid's menu to color on.

"Bravo on not being discouraged," Jane told her once their daughter had settled down.

"Its only been one day," Lisbon replied, "It'll take more time."

"Yes it will," Jane agreed.

He was in a playful mood so when their waitress came to take their orders he decided to try to impress Lisbon with all of the Spanish he'd learned from the island. Unfortunately the waitress had a hard time understanding him and simply seemed confused so he switched back to English.

Lisbon stared at him in amusement. "Your Spanish is terrible," she announced once he'd finished muddling up his order.

He quirked an eyebrow. "I spent two years on that island, I dare you to do better."

She smirked and turned back to the waitress. Then to his surprise she started rattling off her own order in Spanish. Apparently, the first part was at his expense because the waitress looked at him and then smiled in amusement while Lisbon bit her lip to keep from laughing. But their waitress left with their orders and apparently understood Lisbon a lot better than him.

Jane wasn't one who normally got the best of but even he knew when he'd been one up'ed. "I'm very impressed."

Lisbon shrugged and took a sip of her water. "I was in a prison for two years with a population that was 65% Hispanic, I used to help Mama in the kitchen and she and her girls taught me enough Spanish to get by…especially if I ever go to a Mexican whorehouse."

Now that really got his attention. "I'm assuming that means you can swear like a sailor in two languages now."

"I don't swear like a sailor," Lisbon told him.

"No," Jane agreed, "but you certainly picked up a few more interesting habits." The waitress came back with the margarita for Lisbon and a beer for him; she immediately grabbed her drink and started gulping it down. Clearly, this conversation was making her uncomfortable.

Too bad.

"Now I'm curious," Jane said, "what else did you learn in prison?"

"How to do laundry for 300 women," Lisbon told him.

"An admirable skill, what else?"

"Despite what they want you to believe, prison isn't like College, you don't learn a whole lot."

"I'm sure," he agreed, his eyes narrowed in concentration. She was so very nervous, that meant there was a lot she hiding. "But I'm curious to know what you did."

Lisbon took another drink. "I read, I wrote letters, I did laundry, I ran around the track. That's all."

"I find that hard to believe."

Now she leaned forward to look him in the eye. "It's over, Jane. Those past two years of my life are done. I don't want to talk about them anymore."

She leaned back in her seat and took another long pull of her drink, but Jane didn't take his eyes off her once. "Something bad happened to you didn't it? Maybe more than one thing."

"It was prison, Jane. Not a party," Lisbon said which was answer enough.

From the scars she openly carried in her eyes, Jane was concerned that she went through some truly traumatic things…and he was honestly afraid to find out what they were.

"I'm sorry," Jane told her softly.

"I know," she told him curtly. "You might have been behind bars yourself a couple of times but it isn't like spending two years there."

"I'm aware of that," he replied. "And I'm not sure if I could have endured it with the same strength as you."

"What do you mean?" Lisbon scoffed, "If you'd gone to prison you'd be running the place."

That made him smile. "I think you give me too much credit. While I could have outwitted my fellow inmates, I wouldn't have been a strong in spirit as you. You have let what happened make you a more capable person. I would have simply forced it all to suit my needs. You adapted and endured."

Lisbon looked surprised by that statement. He thought she would be touched but there was also a bit of anger too. "I don't know how to take that," she admitted, "you're right, I endured it but I don't like that idea."

"That you had to endure it or what you went through?"

She bristled then. "You're just trying to get me to tell you all the dirty details about prison aren't you?"

"I want to know what happened," he admitted.

"So you can do what? Slap an apology on it and make it all better?"

"So I can try to help you."

Lisbon laughed a little, but it had no mirth. "Help me? You killed the man you spent years trying to hunt down for revenge, and two years later you're still just as big a mess as when I first met you. How can you help me when you can't help yourself?"

The woman he knew before would have needed a bit more prodding to be that honest, but this was a different Lisbon from two years ago. "You're right, but we are parents now, perhaps we should help each other."

"We're parents because we made the stupid decision to have sex one night," Lisbon replied, "don't pretend like it meant anything to you, the only reason we are even here right now is because of Evelyn. Otherwise you'd probably be locked up in another hotel room watching Animal Planet until you fell asleep. Then it would be just like it was before. You pulling your stunts at work, me cleaning up the messes, you're too much of a coward to do anything else."

He was stunned by her words, he wasn't used to a Lisbon who wasn't afraid to be so blunt. "Well I see prison taught you to cut straight to the bone."

"No, you taught me that."

Jane sat up straighter. "I taught you how to be harshly honest?"

"Hardly, you don't have an honest bone in your body," Lisbon replied. "You just taught me how to cut someone, deep."

"How exactly did I do that?"

"You really need me to spell it out for you?" Lisbon asked him.

"Quite honestly, yes."

Lisbon sat up and glared at him. "I went to prison under the misguided belief that I actually meant something to you. I spent two goddamn years imagining a ridiculous future. Then I'm brought to Austin and I find out I meant as much to you as Lorelei. Maybe even less, after all she gave you Red John. All I did was give you a good fuck and a kid you didn't want."

For the first time in this conversation, Jane was the one getting angry. "That isn't fair and you know it. I'm here. I want Evelyn, don't you dare suggest my daughter means nothing to me. You know damn well she's everything."

"You're saying you wanted another child?"

"I'm saying that not in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would get another opportunity," Jane told her harshly, "but I would never pass this up. You can doubt me for a lot of things, wanting to be a father again is most certainly not one of them."

Lisbon didn't say anything and soon they didn't have to when their food arrived. Neither one of them was particularly hungry after the argument but eating was a better idea then talking at the moment. Evelyn was thankfully blissfully unaware of the tension between her parents, she was just happy to get melted cheese all over her face.

They still weren't talking after they paid for their meal and left. When they got back to their rooms Lisbon stopped him at the door. "I'm sorry," she told him, "I'm sorry for saying what I did about you and Evelyn."

"Thank you," Jane replied. He knew she hadn't truly meant it, but this newfound anger towards him made her apt to speak things that she shouldn't. He just wished he understood more about where it all came from.

She was going to close the door when he stopped her. "Lisbon, you shouldn't compare yourself to Lorelei," Jane told her.

She paused and looked him in the eye. "Then who should I compare myself to? Ever since I've known you the only women who have attracted you were basically criminals, before you left the only one you slept with was just to get to Red John."

"That is different."

"Really?" Lisbon asked him. She crossed her arms and met his gaze. "Then tell me, honestly tell me. Why did you sleep with me?"

The air seemed to leave his body when she asked that question. Immediately his mind churned up different ways to avoid answering, to avoid that honest truth that terrified him to his core.

But it appeared he didn't have to.

She looked sad, disappointed and angry then at his silence. "That's what I thought," she replied before shutting the door on him.

Now he was left feeling like he'd lost this battle…badly.

Lisbon was still adjusting to waking up at a reasonable hour. This time she woke up at 5:45, a whole half an hour better than what she was used to. Evie was still fast asleep in her little travel crib, so Lisbon put the TV on low volume and grabbed some of the hotel stationary.

Dear Jinx,

I'm officially in Austin, I report to Agent Abbott on Monday to become an official agent of the FBI. I never imagined I would wind up working for the feds once I got out of prison but I can't complain too much. I now have a job, a home and a clean record, it certainly is more then I ever thought I would get.

Things with Jane are different. That's such a pathetic way to say it. Honestly, I'm still angry with him but we have to take care of our daughter together so I'll suffer through his presence. I know what you are thinking and no I'm not going to fall for his lies again, I need a lot more than just his pretty smile and bullshit. But he'll never be honest with me, I'm not even sure if he really knows how to be honest.

It's not as easy as I thought it would be with Evie, she sees my sister-in-law as her mother and not me. I'm just a stranger to her; sometimes I'm worried she'll always resent me. But I have to remind myself she's only two years old and won't remember any of this. But after spending two years dreaming about being a real mother I'm finding reality isn't as easy as I hoped. I'm terrified I'm going to mess up.

I feel silly complaining about things now that I'm out. Put me on your call list when you get this letter so that we can talk again, I'd love to know how everyone else is doing. I'm betting the paternity test wagers are a lot more interesting now that I left.

Stay strong my friend….and I miss you.

Lisbon debated on how to finish the letter before smiling to herself and signing "Piggy" with a smirk. She hoped Jinx would call her soon after she got the letter; she missed talking to her friend who literally told it as she saw it. She could use some unbiased advice.

Lisbon set the letter aside and went to the crappy coffee maker that the hotel provided and started up some coffee. She wasn't going to complain ever again about hotel coffee, it was hot and strong and miles better than what she'd been forced to drink over the past two years.

She took her coffee over to sit on the bed so she could keep an eye on the TV while she looked through houses for sale on her new laptop courtesy of the FBI. She didn't have long to browse before she heard the door open, she glanced up to see Jane peeking from the doorway. "Did I wake you?" Lisbon asked.

"No, the smell of coffee did," Jane told her with a wry smile. "I see you have become an early riser."

Lisbon scoffed. "I bet you slept till noon every day on the island."

"Hardly," Jane replied, "but your penchant for waking up before 5 certainly is new."

He was fishing and she knew it. She rolled her eyes at him, shrugging it off. "Having a hard time breaking the habit."

"I'm guessing fewer lines and hot water started this habit."

Lisbon blushed; embarrassed he'd figured her out. Since she wasn't willing to actually talk about her time in prison with him, she changed the subject. "Look, I've got a realtor coming at eight."

"Good," Jane said, "Are you telling me because you want to include me or are you asking me to leave?"

"Well it is going to be my house," she pointed out.

"True," Jane agreed, "but I will be living there."

"Temporarily," She reminded him.

He laughed, she wasn't sure if he was just enjoying pissing her off or was genuinely affronted that she was not including him. "Lisbon, what if I went along merely as a friend who could help in your decision, since you obviously are trying to make it clear that I'm not to be involved."

She looked down at the floor, suddenly feeling a little ashamed. It was stupid; he was getting his own Airstream. If he wanted a house he should have put it on the damn list.

"This is my home," Lisbon reminded him, "My choice."

He shook his head. "Are you simply trying to prove that you can build a life without me? As a capable adult, I'm certain you can." She glared at him, which only made him smile. "I just want to help you, as a friend."

"Friends don't let friends go to prison."

"Friends don't have babies with friends either." Jane told her with a wicked grin.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Guess that means we were never friends."

"Sure we were, before the baby-making and the prison term."

"Fine, then what are we now?"

"One strange, strained but hopefully, strong, family."

Lisbon wasn't sure how she felt about the word 'family' being applied to them, but his reasoning was rather sound. Evelyn linked them together irrevocably, and while she was furious with Jane, she couldn't deny that they had to work together at least for the next 16 years. Once Evie was out of the house, maybe then she could cut some more ties with Jane.

"Fine, come, you can take care of Evie but the final decision is mine."

"Fair enough," Jane told her. She nodded her head and turned back to the coffee maker for a refill. She thought he might go back to his room to get ready, but she should have known he wouldn't leave without noticing her letter. "Who is Lea Jenkins?"

She froze, turned around to see Jane was holding up the letter that was clearly addressed to the Women's Correctional Facility in Dublin. "Is she a friend?" Jane asked, he was curious…but she could also tell he wasn't entirely approving either.

"Yes," Lisbon told him.

He raised an eyebrow. "A close friend? Must be if you want to write to her."

"I don't expect you to understand."

"I might…if you told me."

"I don't want to talk to you about prison." She stated firmly, she walked over and snatched the letter out of his hand.

"Family talks about that sort of thing."

"Not this family," she finished. That was it, that book was shut and he wasn't about to make her open it again.

He studied her for a long while before finally heading back to his room, obviously deciding that it would do no good to press any further. She wasn't going to budge here.

Lisbon breathed a sigh of relief when he was gone. She was afraid if he kept pressing that one day she might actually tell him…and she didn't want to open up those dark memories. Never again.

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Lisbon regretted bringing Jane along almost immediately. When the realtor, Carla Williams arrived she'd immediately assumed that Jane was her husband. Lisbon had been very quick to make it clear that they assuredly were not together, assuming that would fix everything. Instead Carla went from treating Jane as a professionally to shamelessly flirting with him.

To Jane's credit, he didn't encourage it but Lisbon was still seething when they were shown three different houses in her price range. Carla was more focused on showing off her own "assets" then showing off the houses. Lisbon was ready to throw the towel in by the fourth house, but Jane decided to take Evie out to the fenced in backyard and insisted that Carla and Lisbon continue looking over the home. The wink he gave her made it clear he knew exactly what he was doing, something she was grateful for. Especially now that Carla was forced to actually do her job.

Lisbon wandered through the house, barely listening to the realtor's comments about floor space and crown molding. She enjoyed the layout with an open kitchen and a spacious living room. The master bedroom had a decent size closet but the bathroom with a footed tub was what really caught her eye.

They were taking at look at one of the other two bedrooms when Carla got a phone call and excused herself, leaving Lisbon to look over the bedroom herself. She liked the large window that let the sun in and the nice hardwood floors. It was a nice little bedroom, close to the master, it was the perfect room for a nursery.

Lisbon ran her fingertips across the windowsill idly. She wondered if Evie would like this kind of room, could she grow up here? It was a lovely thought but she couldn't ignore the knot in her stomach, they were still so far away from her dreams.

She turned around when she heard someone opening the door and was a little surprised to see Jane holding onto Evie's hand. "Since Carla is busy I thought it was safe to take a look around," he told her, his eyes sparkling a bit with mischief.

She almost smiled back because he obviously was talking about Carla's relentless pursuit of him and he clearly wasn't interested. But she held herself back. "How did Evie like the backyard?"

"Oh I think she had fun, especially if there is a swing set."

Evie was sucking on one finger, eyeing both adults with quiet contemplation. She was still more comfortable on her own then with her parents but at the very least, she was no longer running from them screaming.

Jane looked around the room. "This would make a nice nursery," he mused, obviously reading the thoughts she'd been having.

Lisbon nodded. "Yeah I guess."

That piqued his interest. "What has you so unsure?"

"I don't know," she admitted, "I just…" she wasn't sure if she really wanted to tell him what had her so concerned. But she looked over at him and the look in his eyes changed her mind. "I just always had this picture, for the past two years I've imagined what my home would be like, what her nursery would be like. And now I'm facing the fact that reality is very different."

"You're disappointed?"

She shrugged. "I'm sad. And I feel pretty foolish, I shouldn't have built things up in my head the way I did…but I needed something to look forward to or I would have gone insane."

"You shouldn't be angry that you built up expectations, not when you obviously needed it to help cope," Jane pointed out, "And you can still have what you wanted, it may not look the way you imagined but it still going to be real…and beautiful."

She stared at him for a moment, for the first time since seeing him again; she wasn't annoyed by his presence or what he'd said. She still had no idea how they would manage to live together, even for a short period of time, and she was a long way from forgiving him. But she could at least admit she was happy he was back.

When Carla came back Lisbon told her she was ready to put an offer on the house.

She was ready for her life to begin.

A/N: Well Lisbon and Jane have a long way to go. Next chapter they move in and living together starts to work Lisbon up...and she has an interesting idea of how to fix that, one that will surprise Jane a lot. but he wants to find out more about what happened to Lisbon after he left, and he won't be denied!