A/N: Hey everyone! So...it's been awhile. Stupid life keeps getting in the way of fanfiction writing. Sorry for the super long wait.

This oneshot is set at the end of Season 1, maybe some time in Season 2 if you disregard the whole Bosco thing and Rigsby and Van Pelt getting together. I wrote it a really long time ago, I just never got around to posting it, that's why. This is pretty much just a fluffly oneshot where a little girl points out the obvious to Jane and Lisbon. Who can resist that? Haha.

Sorry for rambling. Please read and enjoy. Reviews are pretty awesome too! :)

Patrick Jane wasn't often taken by surprise. In fact, it had only happened a few times in his life. But as he walked into the CBI headquarters and towards his couch, he couldn't help but let his jaw drop.

"Um."

Van Pelt turned around to see the consultant staring dumbfounded at his couch. She smiled. "Sorry, Jane. It looks like you're going to have to use your desk today."

Jane glanced at her, and then back at his couch. "Van Pelt. I never knew you had a daughter."

Rigsby, who had chosen that moment to walk into the bullpen sipping a cup of coffee, began choking. When he recovered he looked at Van Pelt with wide eyes.

"You…you have a…a kid!?"

"Of course not!" Grace exclaimed. She sent a glare at Jane, and then looked back at Rigsby. "And be quiet! You'll wake her up."

Rigsby stood still, staring at Van Pelt with eyes as wide as saucers. "You don't have a kid?"

"Obviously not." Van Pelt rolled her eyes. "I'd like to be married for a few years before I even think of having children."

"Then what is that?"

Jane placed a hand on Rigsby's shoulder and spoke slowly, drawing each word out. "That is a child, Rigsby."

"Well…yeah…obviously." He muttered. "But why is she here?"

Van Pelt sighed. "She's my friend, Rachel's, daughter. Rachel got a call this morning from her boss telling her that she had to fly out to Vegas to cover a story or something, and if she didn't go then she'd lose her job. She couldn't take Isobel, and she had no one to watch her, so I volunteered to keep her for a few days."

"Oh." Rigsby nodded, looking over at the young child asleep on the couch. He still seemed slightly dazed, but he made his way over to his desk and sat down. Jane continued standing there, pouting.

"I'm sorry about your couch, Jane." Van Pelt smiled. "You can have it back when she wakes up."

"Nah, she can have it." Jane eyed his desk, decided he didn't feel like sitting at it, and turned back to Van Pelt. "Did you tell Lisbon about her yet?"

Van Pelt, who had turned back to her computer, glanced over her shoulder at Jane. "Yes. She said it was fine since we don't have any cases right now."

"Ahh." Jane nodded to show he understood.

The next hour passed slowly, and uncomfortably, for Jane. He had annoyed Lisbon, hidden Rigsby's sandwich, flipped idly through one of Cho's books, and shown Van Pelt a magic trick. But still, he was bored.

It wasn't until Isobel woke up that Jane began to have some fun.

The girl, who had to be no older than five, yawned and sat up slowly. The first person she saw was Jane, who was standing directly in front of her.

"Hello." He smiled.

"Hi." She said shyly.

"I'm Patrick. What's your name?" He asked.

"Isobel." She smiled. "But you can call me Izzy. Or Belle. Or Bella."

"Okay, Izzy." Jane grinned. He felt his heart clenching as the sight of this little girl with wide eyes, who was so young and naïve, reminded him of the young daughter he had lost. But he wasn't going to let that show. He'd just deal with the pain that spending time with Izzy was going to cause him later, when he was alone. Right now he was bored, and this five year old girl provided an excellent distraction.

"Are you hungry, Isobel?" Van Pelt had risen from her chair without Jane noticing. She walked over to where the girl was sitting on Jane's couch.

"No." Isobel answered. She looked around the bullpen and her gaze settled on Cho, who was pretending to do work while really listening to Isobel. She tugged on Van Pelt's arm to get her to come closer, and then whispered, "Who's that?"

Jane couldn't help but chuckle as he saw a smile tugging at the corners of Cho's mouth. The agent in question glanced up and locked gazes with Isobel, who smiled shyly.

"That's Agent Cho." Van Pelt said.

"Hi." Isobel smiled at him. Cho smiled back.

"Hi."

Pleased that she had met another person, Isobel turned around and looked at Rigsby. She cocked her head to the side and then smiled, grabbing Jane's hand and pulling him close to her. She whispered, without realizing that it was incredibly loud and that everyone else could hear her. "That man keeps looking at Gracie. I think he likes her!"

Jane laughed when he caught sight of Rigsby's large eyes. Van Pelt's face went red. Jane leaned towards Isobel and whispered, just as loud as she did, "I think you're right."

"Umm," Van Pelt clapped her hands together, trying to relieve the awkwardness of the situation. "Are you sure you're not hungry, Isobel? I could make you something."

"No thanks Gracie!" Izzy smiled.

"Apparently she's not hungry." Jane grinned. "Gracie."

"Shut up, Jane." Van Pelt mumbled and made her way back towards her computer. "Since I have work to do and you do nothing as it is, would you mind entertaining her?"

"You know, Van Pelt, you really need to start spending less time with Lisbon. She's rubbing off on you."

Van Pelt hmphed and turned to her computer, careful to avoid Rigsby's gaze.

"Who's Lisbon?" Isobel looked up at Jane.

His eyes sparkled as he got an idea. "Why don't we go meet her?"

"Ooh okay!"

Jane led Izzy towards Lisbon's office, knocked on the door, and then entered without waiting for a response.

"Hola, Lisbon. Someone wanted to meet you."

Lisbon glanced up from her desk and met the questioning eyes of Isobel. "Uhh. Hi."

"Hi!" Isobel smiled. "I'm Isobel. But you can call me Izzy. Or Belle. Or Bella."

"It's nice to meet you Izzy." Lisbon smiled. "I'm Teresa."

"That's a pretty name."

"Thanks." Lisbon sat her pen down on her desk and looked up at Jane. "I thought Van Pelt was watching her?"

"She was—," Jane started, only to be interrupted.

"Gracie is too busy with her boyfriend." Izzy's face twisted in disgust. "Eww they better not kiss!"

Lisbon blinked. "Her—,"

"She's talking about Rigsby." Jane smiled, and Lisbon nodded her head in an "I see" kind of way.

"Miss Teresa?" Isobel looked at Lisbon.

"You can just call me Teresa." Lisbon couldn't help but smile. The girl was too cute. "And what is it?"

"Do you like Patrick?"

Lisbon blinked, again. She hesitated before answering. "Well…yeah, I suppose. He's okay most of the time. When he's not being a pain in the a—butt."

"That's good!" Izzy cheered. "Because Patrick loves you too."

Now both Lisbon and Jane blinked in shock.

"Izzy, I don't think that's what she meant—," Jane started, but the energetic girl cut him off.

"Okay." She shrugged.

"Hey, wanna see a magic trick?" Jane asked.

Izzy's eyes lit up. "YES!!"

Jane led her out of Lisbon's office, glancing back over his shoulder to smile at the still-shocked agent.

*****

It was nearing nine o'clock that night, and Van Pelt hadn't left yet, claiming that she needed to finish what she was doing and that it wouldn't take her that much longer. Jane had gone to make himself a cup of tea, leaving a drowsy Isobel sitting on his couch, but when he returned she was gone. Setting his tea down and glancing around, he raised an eyebrow.

"Hey Gracie, where'd Izzy go?"

Van Pelt scowled. "Don't call me Gracie, Jane! And I thought she was with you." She turned to look at him with a horrified expression. "Oh my God. What if she went outside! Rachel's going to kill me! I—,"

"Calm down, calm down." Jane breezed past her towards Lisbon's office. "I think I may know where she is."

He saw the open door, and the sight of Lisbon holding the girl on her lap, sitting on the couch. Jane turned back to Van Pelt and smiled, "Found her."

Van Pelt sighed in relief and went back to her work. Jane pushed the door to Lisbon's office open a little farther and walked in. Lisbon didn't look up, apparently to caught up in her thoughts to notice.

A few minutes earlier Isobel had come into her office, asking pointless questions. She sat down on the couch and asked Lisbon if she would come sit by her, and Lisbon simply couldn't refuse. A moment later and Lisbon found that Izzy was out cold, arms wrapped around her. Smiling, Lisbon had tentatively stroked the girls hair.

Feelings that Lisbon never knew she had swam around inside of her. Lisbon knew that she would like to have children, some day, but she had no idea that she wanted to this badly. Until this moment, her entire focus on life was her job. Finding a boyfriend, or even a husband, was second on her list. Having children was even farther down. But right now, with Isobel's arms wrapped around her, Lisbon couldn't deny the maternal feelings welling up inside her. She wanted children. She wanted a family.

"Someone's tired."

Lisbon nearly jumped a foot in the air at the sudden voice, drawing her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see Jane walking towards her, smiling.

"Damn it Jane, don't do that." She cursed. But she couldn't find it in her to be angry with him. Not while she was holding a sleeping child in her lap.

"Sorry." He sat down next to her on the couch.

Isobel snuggled closer to Lisbon and sighed. Lisbon smiled.

"I bet you'll be a good mother someday."

Lisbon's eyes found Jane's. "You think?"

Her words weren't sarcastic, she was just honestly wondering if that's what he thought. She wanted children, yes, she had just had that revelation. But the thought of being a parent was terrifying to her.

"Of course." He smiled. "Kids would work for you. You'd probably find a way to be strict yet fun. You'd be perfect."

"Thanks." Lisbon blushed. She glanced back down at Izzy, hoping for a change of subject.

Jane chuckled. "Apparently she thinks I love you."

She had wanted a change of subject, but this wasn't exactly what she had in mind. Lisbon felt her face reddening and was glad that most of the lights were out in her office. An urge to ask "are you?" overwhelmed her for just a moment, before her head came back to reality.

"She's just a kid. I don't think she knows that much about love."

"She knew that Rigsby and Van Pelt loved each other." Jane said simply.

Lisbon turned her eyes on him, and he smiled at her. Reaching out slowly, so that she would have time to pull away if she felt the need too, Jane brushed a piece of hair behind her ear. He let his fingers linger on her cheek. They sat in silence for a few moments, just staring at each other. There had always been a line that Lisbon avoided when dealing with Jane, but Isobel seemed to have pushed her over it.

"Lisbon, I—,"

Jane stopped speaking abruptly. He gave Lisbon a small smile and turned his gaze to the door. "Hello Van Pelt."

The young agent shifted her weight nervously. She had interrupted at the worst time possible. That was crystal clear.

"Uh, hi. Sorry for interrupting." She apologized. She really was sorry. It seemed like Lisbon and Jane were having a heart-to-heart. She had planned to slip quietly back to her desk, but of course Jane noticed her. "I just came to get Izzy."

Lisbon looked down at the girl in her arms and stood up, staggering slightly under the weight, and passed Isobel to Van Pelt.

"Thanks." Van Pelt smiled. "And Jane, thanks for keeping her company all day."

"It was my pleasure." Jane grinned.

They exchanged farewells and Van Pelt left, leaving Jane and Lisbon alone. Lisbon felt slightly empty without Izzy in her arms.

"I think I'm going to go too." Lisbon said, turning to look at Jane. "I'll see you tomorrow."

After watching her gather her things, Jane followed Lisbon out of her office. He smiled at her and headed towards the couch.

"See you tomorrow, Lisbon."

"Bye, Jane."

That night, as she lay in bed staring at the ceiling, Lisbon couldn't help but wonder. What had Jane been about to say, before Van Pelt interrupted? He had looked so serious. Lisbon rolled over and sighed. Apparently she'd never know.