Here is the promised epilogue. Finally. This got much longer than originally planned. Longer than the chapters before even. I got some inspiration during my vacation and wanted to put it in. Also, it now contains more of what some of your requested.

This takes plays a couple of years after the last chapter, how many years will be revealed in the story.

Enjoy this last part of the story!

PS: For those of you who are waiting for an update of 'The Love Thieves' - I'm working on it. No promises though when it will be up.

The creaking sound of the opening bedroom door raises Teresa out of her sleep. She slowly opens one eye a little, just enough to be able to see her husband attempting to tiptoe out of the room.

"No goodbye kiss?" She mumbles sleepily, but loud enough to make Patrick turn around and sit down next to her on the bed.

His lips softly brush against hers. "Better?"

"Not quite." She replies, suddenly more awake, and draws him closer to her to really kiss him.

"You are very energetic this morning." He teases her after finally pulling away, softly stroking her sleep-ruffled hair. "It's pretty astounding, seeing how bad you felt last night."

Teresa groans as she vividly recalls her rebelling stomach after dinner. "I'll never eat lasagna again."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you say exactly the same after getting sick when you ordered lasagna a few weeks ago?"

"I know." She admits, suppressing the urge to stick her tongue out at his smirking face. "But it tastes so good."

"Apparently it is not good for you though. Next time, I'll make sure you'll have Pasta Primavera like Sullivan and me."

"I have the slight feeling that this will make me feel even worse. All those evil vegetables..."

Patrick looks adoringly confused after her statement, but she only grins at him and gives him another kiss. He'll understand later.

"I wish you could stay." She tells him, wanting nothing more than to spend the day in bed with him. And later also with Sullivan, when the little sleepyhead wakes up.

"Me too. But I have to go and tease a confession out of the guy you arrested yesterday. You know we can't keep him in much longer only based on my hunch."

Teresa sigh. "So it's my own fault that you have to go. I shouldn't have arrested him."

"No, I shouldn't have suggested to take turns at staying at home with our sick son. We could have just played hooky together for the past two weeks."

"That would have been nice. Totally irresponsible, but nice. I think we need a vacation."

"We do. For starters, let's do something fun all together this weekend." Patrick suggests. "We could go to the zoo, take a picnic lunch. Like we wanted to do the weekend Sullivan got sick."

"He'll love that. Staying inside the house while being sick was really hard for him."

Patrick gives his wife another goodbye kiss. Well, two actually. But then he is on his way to the CBI, while Teresa snuggles up in her blanket to get some more sleep.

When she wakes up again, the sun is already shining brightly outside the window. This time, the sound of little feet in plush tiger slippers and of giggling is responsible for ending her slumber.

She responds to her son's beatific smile with one of her own and Sullivan regards this as an invitation to take a running start and jump into bed with her. Teresa is relieved to see her son so vibrant again. Nothing reminds of him looking a picture of misery only a couple of days ago, when he was struggling against fever attacks and fits of coughing.

"Good morning, baby." She greets him, gently kissing his forehead, when his soft, warm body huddles up against her.

He makes the same reproachful face like when she dared to use this pet name in front of his best friend Scott and one of his kindergarten teachers. "I'm not a baby anymore."

Teresa playfully tousles his dark curls, secretly thinking that he'll probably always be her baby in her mind. "Of course not. You're my big boy who just bravely defeated a really terrible cold."

His face lights up and an impish gleam dances is his eyes. It's in moments like this, when he resembles his father the most. "Mommy, can we go to the playground today? Please? I'm really feeling much, much better."

"Maybe this afternoon. We'll see what your doctor says, okay?" She stalls him, finding it incredibly hard to not give in to Sullivan's request right away. "Are you hungry? Because I am starving. How about pancakes with chocolate chips?"

He is already out of the door before Teresa even gets out of bed, exclaiming all the way downstairs how much he loves pancakes for breakfast.

One and a half hour later, the two of them are in Sullivan's pediatrist's waiting room. Her son listens attentively as Teresa reads his currently favorite book to him, like always chuckling when she talks like a pirate to breathe life into one of the main characters. He frowns and corrects her when she accidentally skips a sentence, making it clear that he memorized the story. Watching Sullivan's intelligence grow daily is astonishing. It is hard to believe that the clever, curious boy by her side once begun as a single cell in her body.

Soon they are called in to see the doctor and Sullivan beams with joy when he is told that he can go back to kindergarten tomorrow and therefore to the playground this afternoon.

They make a short stop at Teresa's doctor's office, where Sullivan enthralls the nurses while Teresa is with the doctor. By the time she comes back to the front desk, her son got a balloon and two lollipops as gifts and the nurses compliment her on her great kid.

"Guess where we'll have lunch today!" Teresa prompts Sullivan, looking at him in the rearview mirror when they are on the road again.

He stops playing with his toy dinosaurs and wrinkles his brow, brooding on possible lunch spots.

"McDonald's?" He finally asks, full of hope.

She laughs. "No. Try again."

"I don't know. I hope there's no lasagna. I promised Daddy last night to not let you eat this. Never ever." He tells her with a serious face, that indicates that he intends to stick to his promise.

Teresa smiles - both at Sullivan's determination and Patrick's insolence.

"I don't think that your grandma will make lasagna for lunch."

"We'll have lunch with grandma and grandpa?" Sullivan asks excitedly.

"Yes." Teresa confirms. "Better than McDonald's?"

He nods enthusiastically, looking forward to spend time with his grandparents. They just visited him two days ago, but he always likes to go to their apartment which contains a lot of items that are very intriguing for a little boy.

When they arrive, Teresa helps her son out of his safety seat and he puts his small hand into hers when they walk from the parking lot to the house.

Teresa recalls meeting her in-laws for the very first time. She was extremely nervous, no matter how often Patrick assured her they would love her. His father immediately extended a warm welcome to her, his mother was a whole other matter though. When Maureen Jane, clad in an expensive-looking business suit and wearing her blonde, grey-tinged hair in an accurately cut bob, greeted her with an aloof handshake, Teresa was afraid the woman would never like her.

For the rest of the day, Maureen observed Patrick and Teresa interacting with each other and with baby Sullivan, always keeping her distance. When Teresa went down to the kitchen in the middle of the night to drink some water, Maureen came out of the guest room and stunned Teresa by tightly hugging her and telling her that she was glad to see Patrick finally happy again. From that moment on, the two women got along just great. Discovering that Maureen shares her sense of humor and loves to curse like a sailor, made Teresa like her even more.

Unfortunately, Sullivan didn't see his grandparents nearly often enough when they still lived on the East coast. So Teresa was happy when Maureen and Patrick Sr. decided a couple of months ago, after Patrick's sister and her family moved to Europe, to retire and to live in Sacramento.

Patrick Sr. and Maureen open the door together after Teresa rings the bell, like they do so often. At first glance, they seem like an odd couple. He, the former owner of a magic shop, likes to wear track suits and is always ready to show off with some spectacular card tricks. She one the other hand, a very successful lawyer until her retirement, is always dressed elegantly and radiates dignity. But the contrariness seems to work for them, for over fourty years already. They tease each other and they bicker a lot, but it's obvious that overall they care deeply for each other.

"Hi, my dear." Maureen greets Teresa, pecking her cheek, and then kneels down to hug her grandson. "You look much better today, honey."

"I can go back to kindergarten tomorrow. And to the playground this afternoon." Sullivan announces proudly, while Teresa hugs her suspiciously sullen looking father-in-law.

"Well, that's good news. Lunch is almost ready. Why don't you go to the living room with your grandfather and play with him while your mom and I prepare everything?"

Patrick Sr. already looks a lot less grumpy when Sullivan takes his hand and drags him to the next room, for once ignoring all the strange things - like various cuckoo clocks, a miner's lamp and various items that Teresa so far failed to identify - that grace the walls of the elder Janes' hallway.

"I know some new magic tricks, little Patrick. Want to see them?" He asks Sullivan, and Teresa wonders for the umpteenth time if he'll ever use his grandson's real name.

"What's with Pat?" Teresa asks Maureen when they set the table together.

"Just ignore him." Her mother-in-law rejects this with a shrug. "He's only pissed off because the TV stopped working and he wanted to watch people playing poker. Showing some tricks to Sullivan will be enough to cheer him up."

When all the dishes and silverware are on the table and Teresa asks if she can help with the food, Maureen doesn't answer but instead regards her intently for half an eternity.

"What?" Teresa inquires, blushing under Maureen's scrutinizing, knowing look.

Before she can get a reply, the doorbell rings and, after some noisy tumult in the hallway, Patrick Jr. enters the kitchen. He greats his mother with a hug and his wife with a kiss that's a little too passionate for Teresa's taste to be fully enjoyable in the presence of her mother-in-law. It does help her though to distract her from her almost-conversation with Maureen.

Soon they are all sitting around the table, indulging in the delicious food Maureen prepared and chatting. Teresa learned a long time ago that it is pointless to tell Sullivan not to talk with his mouth full while his grandparents are setting a bad example. After dessert is served, Teresa waits for Maureen's usual quip - this part of the meal is usually reserved for asking Patrick and Teresa if they intend to present her with more grandchildren anytime soon.

So far, every meal they all shared together ended this way. This time, the question doesn't come. Teresa, Patrick and Sullivan escape the house without having to justify their family planning or to discuss the advantages of having younger siblings. Strangely enough, Teresa feels slightly disappointed that the expected ritual didn't happen today.

She drives Patrick back to work since he walked from there to his parents' home and decides to briefly go up to the office with him. Officially she joins him to sign some papers, but secretly she wants to make sure that everything goes smoothly in her absence. Plus, Sullivan hasn't seen his godmother for far too long since Grace spent the last three weeks cruising the Caribbean Sea.

Teresa and Patrick leave their son with Van Pelt, Cho and Rigsby and retreat to her office, being sure that Sullivan will have much more fun with the three agents than while watching his mother doing paperwork.

By the time Teresa has finished, Patrick is soundly asleep on his new favorite couch inside her new office. She places a soft kiss on his lips, careful not to wake him up. Yes, she should tell him that sleeping on the job is inacceptable and usually she would (even though she would only pretend to be mad), but seeing that she is technically off duty today and that he looks cute when he sleeps, she lets him get away with it.

After sticking a post-it on her husband's forehead that tells him to pick up some bread and milk on the way home, she leaves her office and sees Rigsby pushing her son on a swivel chair through the room at a terrific speed. Minelli would get a heart attack if he'd still work here, Teresa thinks. The younger agent's eyes express sheer horror when he sees her standing in the doorway, but Sullivan is all smiles.

"Sorry, boss." Rigsby murmurs, unable to meet Teresa's eyes.

"That's okay, Rigsby." She tells him, an amused smile playing on her lips. It never ceases to amaze her, how insecure he was when Sullivan was a baby, but as soon as the boy learned to walk and talk they became the best buddies.

They say goodbye to 'Auntie Grace' (who promises to let Sullivan sleep over at her place soon) and 'Uncle Wayne' (who still looks a little embarrassed) and 'Uncle Kimball' (who was just defeated by Sullivan in a staring contest, although Teresa secretly assumes he let the kid win).

Sullivan, emulating his daddy, is asleep when Teresa pulls into their driveway. She carries him up to his room, thinking that he seems to be heavier each time she does that, and puts him in his bed. After doing some much neglected housework, she feels tired enough to join her son for a nap. For a while she watches him sleep peacefully, happy that he is finally healthy again. It doesn't take long until Sullivan's steady breathing lulls her to sleep as well.

Almost two hours later, Sullivan wakes his mother up, demanding to finally go to the playground. They grab Sullivan's sandbox toys and leave a note for Patrick on the kitchen table, then they head for the nearby park.

Teresa settles down on a bench close to the sandbox and opens her book. For a casual observer it might seem that she is absolutely engrossed in her reading. She always has an eye on her son though as well. Reading while still paying attention to her surroundings - a skill she has acquired and refined in the years of being a mother.

"Sullivan!" She shouts and wags a finger at her son, when he tries to steal a sand mold from a girl about his age who looks like she's about to start crying.

Sullivan lets go of the toy and waves at Teresa, grinning at her just like his dad and making it impossible to be really mad with him. She watches him negotiate with his playmate and, after a while, the girl gives him the sand mold in exchange for a spade.

Reassured, she turns back to her book, when she suddenly feels two hands on her shoulders.

"What's a woman like you doing at a place like this?" A familiar voice asks teasingly and she turns around to return Patrick's smile.

He sits down next to her and kisses her hello. "The note on the kitchen table wasn't necessary, I knew anyway where to find you two. Your book was gone, so were Sullivan's sandbox toys and his old sneakers."

She rolls her eyes at this demonstration of his observation skills. "I thought it would be nice to leave you a note, like in any normal family."

"A note like a shopping list taped to my face? That's normal?" He teases her and kisses her before she can roll her eyes at him again.

"You're home earlier than I thought, seeing that you had to catch up on work after falling asleep." Teresa continues their conversation, not ready to stop their bantering just yet.

He grins at her. "Yeah, my strict boss wasn't there, so I left early after my nap without doing anything productive all afternoon."

"Daddy!"

Patrick jumps up when he hears his son's voice and catches him in his arm to whirl him around like an airplane. He patiently listens afterwards when Sullivan babbles about his adventures at the office and about finding his mommy asleep in his bed when he woke up from his afternoon nap. After a while their son stops talking and looks with fascination past Patrick. The sound of the bell of the ice cream truck soon tells Teresa and Patrick what caught their son's attention.

"Can we get ice cream?" Sullivan asks, his big, blue eyes shining with excitement. Without a doubt, he inherited his mother's sweet tooth.

"Okay." Teresa gives in, not minding some ice cream herself. "But only one scoop. It's almost time for dinner."

Patrick asks Teresa what flavor of ice cream she wants, but Sullivan answers for her. "Mommy always has chocolate, like me."

As they walk away toward the ice cream truck, Teresa hears Sullivan ask Patrick if he can really only have one scoop. Patrick confirms her given restriction and Teresa smiles to herself. After some initial problems when adjusting to raise a kid together, they really have each other's back.

They come back and Sullivan carries his own cone with both hands, completely focused on it to avoid dropping it. Patrick hands Teresa her ice cream and all three of them sit down on the bench, Sullivan in the middle, and silently eat their treat. Teresa notices, not for the first time, that Sullivan and Patrick have the same facial expression and make the same gestures when they eat. With ice cream it's especially obvious. Their foreheads are wrinkled, their heads are slightly tilted and they focus completely on the food in their hands.

Teresa can't help playing with the soft curls at the nape of her son's neck and he wriggles and pretends to be annoyed, but she knows he secretly loves when she does that. It doesn't take long and he huddles up against her. She puts her arm around his small shoulders and sees Patrick smiling happily at the scene in front of his eyes.

Sullivan eats his ice cream and licks the rest of it out of his cone as far as his little tongue can reach. He never eats the cone though, it ruins the taste of the ice cream he once explained. Instead, he offers his empty cone to his parents, but as so many times before, they decline.

"If uncle Wayne would be here, he'd eat it." The boy states with certainty and Teresa laughs.

"Probably, but he's not here. It's okay if you put it in that trash can over there."

"I could give it to him later." Sullivan insists.

"Honey, not even Uncle Wayne likes stale ice cream wafers." Teresa tries to convince her son and motions to Patrick that she really could need some support here.

"I wouldn't count on that." Her husband mumbles under his breath instead, not being helpful at all.

"See all those birds there?" Teresa asks her son, making one last attempt instead of just taking the ice cream cone home and promising to give it to Rigsby the next day. "They are hungry. I think they'd like to have your ice cream cone for dinner."

Sullivan looks at the birds, then at the cone in his hand, then back at the birds. Finally he decides that he doesn't want to be responsible for the birds having no dinner and walks over to the trash can.

A man walks by and tousles Sullivan's hair, then waves at Patrick and addresses him. "Thanks man, it really seems to work."

"What was that about?" Teresa asks Patrick when the man is out of earshot.

Patrick only shrugs his shoulders and remains silent.

Luckily for Teresa, Sullivan is more verbose and still at an age when keeping information from his mother doesn't cross his mind. "Daddy did something funny with the man when we got the ice cream."

Patrick puts a finger on his lips, trying to signal his son to not rat him out, but quickly feigns innocence when Teresa eyes him suspiciously.

"What did Daddy do?"

"He hi... hi.." He looks at his father for help when he fails to find the right word, but Patrick only shrugs his shoulders again.

After giving it some thought, Teresa comes up with a possible explanation. No, he wouldn't. Or would he? "Hypnotized?"

Sullivan excitedly jumps up and down. "Yes, that's it. He hi... hi-po-nized the man. He looked very weird when Daddy did that. So funny."

"Traitor." Patrick mockingly scolds his son and Sullivan chuckles, covering his mouth with both hands.

"Can I go back playing?" Their son asks, losing interest in this conversation now that he told everything he knows.

"Okay." Teresa permits. After all, she has a bone to pick with her husband and her son doesn't need to witness this. "But not for long, we'll go home soon."

She waits until Sullivan is away far enough and busy with building a sand castle before dealing with Patrick's misdemeanors. "You hypnotized a man? In front of our four year old son?"

"Four years and two months." Is his reply, as if that would make everything better.

"Still, he's very impressible. Next thing we know, he's trying to hypnotize the neighbors' cat to make her believe she's his cat. Seeing how much he resembles you, he might even succeed."

"Mrs. Gruber would get a fit."

"Exactly."

"Hey, don't be mad." He tells her, showing her his most convincing and soothing smile and taking her hands in his. She has the feeling that she won't stay mad much longer if he keeps this up and he knows it. "I actually did a good deed when I hypnotized the man."

"You did?" She asks, already feeling her anger fade away.

"I did. He was smoking in Sullivan's direction and I asked him to stop that. He was actually kind enough to put the cigarette out and to apologize. And he explained that he tried quitting a lot of times, but it never worked."

"So you hypnotized him to make him stop smoking."

"Yes." He embraces her and leans his forehead against hers. "I won't hypnotize anyone in front of Sullivan again until he's of legal age."

"You better don't."

He kisses the remains of her pout away and she sighs, aware that she has already forgiven him. She doesn't really mind that he has the power to resolve her anger with some sweet talk and some kissing - not since she knows that this also works the other way round and she has the same power over him.

"You know what scares me?" She asks him after a while.

"What?"

"That in less than nine months you'll have a second, even younger victim for your tricks."

He looks perplexed, then incredulous and finally hopeful. "Nine months? You mean...?"

She nods and brightly smiles at him, happy to be able to share the news with him. She suspected what was going on with her body for a couple of days already, but didn't want to get her and Patrick's hopes up until seeing her doctor. "Guess it wasn't lasagna poisoning after all."

He fervently kisses her and this time, with no mother-in-law around, she returns his affections wholeheartedly until she becomes aware that they are in a very public place.

"Finally." Patrick whispers, when she pulls away, and then adds with a grin, "Told you that having lots of sex will eventually lead to success."

Finally - that one word expresses that he was all the time as worried as she was. They tried to cheer each other up when month after month passed and Teresa was still not pregnant. At first they thought it was funny that with Sullivan she got pregnant despite using protecting, but when they actually tried to conceive it didn't work. After over a year of trying it wasn't funny at all anymore, especially since all tests showed that both of them were healthy and should have no trouble having another baby.

He puts his hands on her still flat belly and gently strokes it.

"I can't wait to see you getting chubby again." He tells her with a smirk.

She slaps his arm, but can't quite suppress a smile. "Charming, really."

They look over at Sullivan and Teresa suddenly is afraid what her son, who so far never mentioned wanting a sibling, will say when he hears the news.

"He'll be a great big brother." Patrick reassures her, sensing her worries. "He will probably teach his little brother or sister more nonsense than I ever could, but he'll do just fine."

Teresa recalls the times she saw Sullivan interacting with babies before. He was nothing but tender and careful and fascinated with them. Patrick is right, she has no reason to worry.

"Come on, let's go home." He tells her, standing up and holding his hands out for her.

They try to convince Sullivan that it is time to leave and end up helping him building his sand castle for another half an hour. They have fun, so neither of them minds getting home later than originally planned.

Finally they start walking home, Sullivan sitting on Patrick's shoulders and enjoying to be able to look over all the fences and hedges.

"Mommy?" He asks, when examining the neighbors' properties becomes boring. "Is there a baby in your belly?"

Teresa is totally taken aback and, looking at her husband, she knows that Patrick is just as stunned as she is. "Ehm, why do you think that?"

"Because I saw how Daddy stroked your belly. Scott's daddy did the same when his little brother was still in his mommy's belly."

Teresa and Patrick exchange an amused look.

"Would you like to have a little brother?" Patrick asks his son.

Sullivan takes his time thinking about this possibility before answering. "That would be okay. Or a sister, that would be even better."

"A sister, really?" Teresa chimes in.

"Yes." Sullivan confirms, nodding eagerly. "Scott says that his little brother always tries to grab his cars and his new digger. And his dinosaurs. His sister plays with dolls and coloring books, all the girls in kindergarten do."

Teresa grins at his logic, but also feels the urge to let him know that girls are not necessarily that uncomplicated regarding their choice of toys. She knows what she's talking about. "Some girls like to play with cars and dinosaurs, too."

Sullivan resolutely dismisses this idea. "Not if you buy her lots and lots of great dolls."

"We'll see what we can do, buddy." Patrick tells him, putting the boy back down on the ground at their front door.

Sullivan immediately puts his arms around Teresa and presses his ear against her stomach.

"I don't hear anything." He complains.

Teresa strokes her son's head. "It's still too early. Mommy's belly must get much bigger before you can feel the baby move and hear it."

"Okay. Tell me when." Before Teresa can say anything else, he takes off his sneakers and runs upstairs to his room, probably to take stock of all his toys before his little brother or sister arrives to take them away from him.

He is back though in only a minute to ask another question. "How did the baby get into your belly?"

Teresa is only able to stutter, being caught off guard by the question. She knew he'd ask something like that one day, but she still isn't prepared for it. "I think..." She tells her son after seeing Patrick's gleeful grin. "... your Daddy can explain this much better."

Sullivan expectantly looks at his father, who all of a sudden seems very uncomfortable. "Ehm...I... I'll tell you tonight, instead of reading a bedtime story to you." He tells Sullivan, playing for time.

"That was mean." He complains after their son leaves to play with his dinosaurs in the sitting room.

"Sorry. I panicked. I was always dreading the day when he'd ask that."

"I could tell him a story about birds and bees and storks." Patrick contemplates.

"No, he should know the truth. I bought a children's book a couple of months ago about where the babies come from. It's really great. You can use it to explain it to him."

"Can we please do this together?" He pleads. "After all, we're both responsible that you got pregnant and that he wants to know how it happened."

Seeing his nervous expression, she shows mercy and agrees. Relieved, he puts his hands on her belly again and is silent for a while, apparently deeply lost in thought.

"What?" Teresa finally asks, confused by his behavior.

"I think Sullivan gets what he wants. It's a girl."

"Oh, shut up. You can't possibly know that." She playfully hits his arm and walks toward the kitchen to start with dinner preparations, smiling at Patrick's attempts to convince her of his 'talent'.

*****

34 weeks later, Mathilda Katherine Jane is born, refusing to reveal her gender until leaving her mother's womb. Needless to say, Patrick is gloating that once again his prediction of their baby's sex proved to be right. Teresa, looking at the adorable little baby girl in her arms, doesn't care at all.

Okay, maybe a little.

Maybe enough to consider a third pregnancy to put his powers to a final test.

~ The End ~