A/N: This is it, last chapter! Thanks again to everyone for following along. Your support is so valued.

xxxxx

***Three weeks later***

"Snowden!" Clara called. "Come back here."

She was attempting to feed the half-grown puppy they'd brought home from the pound a week ago, but he was far more interested in chewing on Henry's toy truck. Lisbon had at first wondered if her child was making some kind of political statement with her choice of name for the puppy. Later, she learned that Clara had heard the name on the radio and just thought it was pretty.

Kibble spilled all over the floor as Clara turned her head to call to the three-month old spaniel-terrier mix.

Samson ambled over and leisurely started to lap up the spilled kibble, as though determined to adhere to good manners even when technically profiting from the inattention of a rival. Mr. Tigerlily had no such compunctions. He pounced on the spilled dog food and started scarfing it down as though he'd been starving for a week. In fact, he'd already stolen half of Samson's dinner earlier, species-specific food branding be damned.

Lisbon looked up from where she was reading a dinosaur book on the floor with Henry. "Honey, try using the cup instead of pouring from the whole bag."

"Oh, right." Clara let the bag fall to the floor with a thump. She successfully warded off Mr. Tigerlily's efforts to worm his way headfirst into the bag and managed to extract a cup full of the kibble. Samson and Mr. Tigerlily tracked the newly scooped cup of food with their eyes. Clara looked at them warily. "Now what?"

Lisbon got up and scooped up Mr. Tigerlily. He turned over in her arms and batted at the ends of her hair as though this undignified exodus had been his idea all along. "Samson! C'mere, boy." Samson obediently trotted after her. Lisbon shut Samson in the laundry room with his favorite chew toy and deposited Mr. Tigerlily in the master bedroom, where he could resume his favorite activity of shedding on Jane's pillow.

She went back to the living room. Clara, now free of scavengers, approached the puppy with the cup of kibble. Snowden cocked his head in interest for a moment, then returned to mangling Henry's truck.

Clara set the kibble in front of him. "Come on, Snowden," she coaxed. "It's good for you. It has…Vitamin C."

Lisbon rolled her eyes but let the false advertising pass. If Clara focused all her nascent conning abilities into harmless activities such as manipulating their new pet into eating his dinner, she could live with that.

Henry watched the ritual with interest from the other side of the room, but didn't interfere.

"Snowden, it's time for your dinner," Clara said sternly. Impatient, she took the toy away from him and crossed her arms over her chest. "Eat."

Snowden stared at her for a minute, then bent his head and meekly took a bite of the kibble.

"Clara," Jane said from the kitchen. "You gonna clean up that kibble you spilled over here?"

"Yes, Daddy," Clara said sulkily. Grumbling under her breath, she got out the broom. She struggled with it for a moment, as it was nearly twice as tall as she was, but she wrangled it in the end. She managed to sweep up most of the spilled kibble, with Jane surreptitiously cleaning up behind her on the spots she missed.

She dumped the kibble, now bundled together with a fairly significant collection of dog and cat hair, into the garbage, wrinkling her nose. Then she turned to her mother. "Mommy, I did it," she said proudly. "I got it all clean."

"Good girl," Lisbon said approvingly. "Now, wash your hands for me, and you can play with Snowden for a few more minutes before it's time for bed."

"Me, too," Jane decided, pretending to wrestle Clara out of the way to wash his own hands. Not to be outdone, Clara elbowed him out of the way to wash her hands, giggling and flicking soap at Jane. Jane, unperturbed, blew on the soap bubbles floating his way, popping some and sending others spiraling in new directions.

Snowden finished his kibble. When Clara went back to him, he jumped up and dragged Henry's truck over to her. Clara sat down on the floor. She picked up the puppy-slobber covered truck and wound it up, then set it loose in the direction of the kitchen table. Snowden shot after it, puppy toenails skittering on the wood floor. He overshot the mark and missed the truck entirely, sending Clara and Henry into gales of laughter. He recovered and pounced on the truck, picking it up and trotting back over to Clara. He dropped it by her feet, then jumped up and licked her face. They wrestled on the floor together, Clara giggling uncontrollably.

Henry abandoned his book and threw himself in the melee.

Jane let Samson out, then came over to sit on the floor next to Lisbon, draping an arm around her shoulders. The two of them watched Samson join in on the play. Jane had opened the door for Mr. Tigerlily, but he hadn't deigned to rejoin them. Mr. Tigerlily was still assessing the significance of Snowden's appearance in his life. Samson had accepted Snowden into the family with the graciousness befitting his age and dignity. Mr. Tigerlily was still making up his mind.

Xxx

Lisbon woke in the middle of the night. She lay in bed a moment, listening to the silence. Then she got up. She glanced at Jane, sleeping on his stomach with his mouth half-open, Mr. Tigerlily curled up above his head as usual.

She padded down the hall. She checked on Henry. He was sprawled on his back, his mouth half-open just like Jane's, Samson curled up against his side, and the covers kicked down to the end of the bed. She pulled the covers up over them and dropped a kiss to Henry's forehead. Then she went to check on Clara.

Clara was sleeping on her side, one arm around Snowden, who was curled up against her stomach. Clara had started sleeping through the night again soon after the tactics lessons had started. The nightmares seemed to have disappeared entirely around the time Snowden had showed up. Lisbon looked at girl and puppy, curled up together in the moonlight. They made quite the picture. She watched them, tucking the moment away in her memory heart.

She was so long at it that Jane found her there, still watching their daughter with her puppy and feeling grateful for her family's health and safety with every quiet breath.

Jane wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed her neck. "Can't sleep?"

She shook her head. "No. Just checking in on them." She turned in his arms and looked at him quizzically. "How did you know?"

"Know what?"

Lisbon gestured behind them. "The puppy thing. How did you know she needed that?"

"Easy," Jane said, leaning forward and pecking her on the lips. "Lisbon women are only happy when they have something to take care of."

"Is that so?" Lisbon said, amused.

"Yes," Jane said. He drew back and tugged her away from the doorway. "Come back to bed. I get lonely when you're not there. I need you to take care of me."

"That, I will always do," Lisbon said, following him back to the bedroom.

He paused on the threshold and kissed her again. "Right back at you, my dear."

Lisbon crawled back into bed. The nice, spacious, deliciously cool bed she and her husband had made love in earlier that night. Jane rolled over and cuddled up next to her, spooning her from behind. "I thought you were going to stay on your side for a while so I won't get too hot," Lisbon murmured, wriggling up against him.

"I have no choice but to cuddle," Jane said gravely. "Mr. T is hogging my pillow. You're going to have to share yours with me."

"I'm beginning to think rescuing Mr. T as a kitten was all an elaborate plan to help you get your way in domestic matters," Lisbon remarked. "First you fake an injury to get a make out session in the kitchen, now you claim he's denying you access to your pillow so you've got to share mine."

"Fake?" Jane said indignantly. "I'll have you know that scratch scarred me for days. I carried an unsightly scab for almost a week because of that ungrateful feline."

Lisbon patted his arm. "Don't worry. It didn't affect your looks that much. There are still a couple mirrors in the house that didn't crack when you looked into them."

Jane tightened his arm around her. "Just for that, I'm going to make you cuddle with me the whole rest of the night," he threatened.

Lisbon smiled into her pillow. "Go to sleep, Jane."

Jane huffed into her neck, then nuzzled her hair and sighed in contentment. "Love you," he murmured.

Lisbon closed her eyes. "Love you, too."

The quiet and the stillness enveloped them and their little house. The family slept peacefully through the night.