Disclaimer: It's not like I own it. Me and the show, we're just good friends.

Summary: Future fic. 6-year-old Talia Jane wants her favorite bedtime story, and her daddy Patrick can't resist telling it one more time. Jisbon family.

The Jester and The Princess

Patrick Jane was dozing on his couch in the den, when his wife's voice jarred him awake. "Patrick, isn't six a little too young for a sleepover?"

He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "What? No, dear. Six is fine for Tali to have a sleepover. We've had Nicki stay overnight here before, anyway. Why should tonight be a problem?"

Teresa Lisbon (still Lisbon for professional reasons) sat down in the armchair across from him. She frowned, then said, "I know, but that was a big party and Mommy and Daddy Rigsby were here, too. I don't even know if Wayne and Grace's daughter has spent a night away from her mother yet. I'm worried she might freak out."

Jane smiled. "Oh Teresa, always thinking ahead, and always worrying. Let me handle it. I'll make sure the girls are just fine tonight," he said. That got a smile.

"I see. It'll be a patented Daddy Jane™ bedtime story to whisk them off to dreamland, then? I don't know if they'll work as well on a child that isn't yours, sweetheart."

"Nonsense. They have worked on every child I've ever tried them on in the history of forever! Totally foolproof, as long as I'm doing the telling," Jane answered, radiating confidence.

"Yes, yes, all right. You've convinced me. So seeing that it's almost bedtime, you might want to get your thoughts in order and get up there. Go on, scoot!" Lisbon shooed him upstairs, and grinned at his retreating back. Patrick Jane still drove her crazy (that could never change), but she loved him anyway. He was a sweet husband and a loving father to their little girl.

Jane climbed the stairs, then turned the corner and went to the second door on the left. The pang of fear before he opened the door would never fade, he was convinced, but each time it was a little less sharp. He pushed open the door to his daughter's bedroom and saw his little raven-haired Talia Jane playing on the rug with her best friend, Nicole Rigsby. "Hi girls. It's almost bedtime, you know," he said, smiling.

"Yay! Bedtime!" Tali said, while Nicki looked at her like she was crazy.

"What do you mean, 'yay bedtime'? I don't WANT to go to bed." Nicki whined, then pouted. Even her red pigtails seemed to droop.

"Shh, Nicki. Bedtime is story time. Daddy tells the best stories." Tali said, then grinned at him. Jane thought, and not for the first time, that when she smiled she looked like him.

"I get stories, too. I get Rumpelstiltskin and Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs. I don't care. I don't WANT to go to bed." Nicki replied, unconvinced.

"Daddy tells his own stories Nicki, not just read from a book. Now be good or he won't tell us one!" Tali said, and glared at her best friend. Jane laughed at that; when she glared, Tali looked more like her mother.

"That's right, you know. You have to be good to get a story. Now Tali, you should climb up into bed and Nicki, Teresa set up the trundle bed for you right over here." Jane said, and settled into the wooden rocking chair in the corner of the room.

The two girls snuggled down. Jane got up again and found Talia's favorite stuffed animal, a large toy bear named Robin. Nicki had already rifled through her little backpack and pulled out her stuffed toy duck, which was apparently called Simon. Jane pulled the rocking chair out a bit towards the center of the room before sitting back down.

"So, which one should it be, Tali? The Magic Frog? The Birthday Pony?" Jane asked.

"No, no, Daddy. It has to be the best one. My favorite one," Tali answered.

"Oh, I see. The Jester and The Princess. You're sure you're not tired of that one?"

"I'll never get tired of it. Go on, tell it Daddy. You'll see, Nicki. It really is the best one." Tali said, then she was quiet.

Patrick Jane took a deep breath. "Okay, here goes," he said, and began to gently rock as he started the story.

###

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, the world was wide and flat and ended in four corners. In one corner there was a kingdom full of all different kinds of people. And in the kingdom there was a castle, in the castle there was a king, and for the king's amusement there was a jester.

The jester made his living entertaining people. He was the only one allowed to insult the king, as everyone knew everything he said was a joke. He had his own house, and his own family, and he was happy in his work.

Now, the most evil creature in the kingdom was called the Red Serpent. Not exactly a dragon or a lizard or a snake, it was a frightening and ugly creature. It could breathe fire, yet had a heart of cold stone. It used evil magic to hurt people, sometimes for no reason at all. But when it felt insulted, that was when it was at its most dangerous. That was when it would kill.

One evening in the king's court, the jester began making fun of everything and everybody. Everyone was laughing, until he came to the subject of the Red Serpent.

"The Red Serpent is ridiculous! A fat, sun burnt worm with parlor tricks and nothing more! Only a fool would fear it," he said.

"Is that so?" said a voice in the crowd. It came from a small man no one had ever seen before. As he stepped forward, the little man's appearance began to change. His limbs disappeared, his skin became red and scaly, and his eyes glittered with cruelty. "Well, you are a fool. And having insulted me, you should fear my anger." With that sinister warning, the Red Serpent left the room followed by screams and people scrambling to get out of its way.

The jester asked permission to stay in the castle that night. The king agreed, believing that the stone castle walls might protect the jester better than his own small house. When the morning came, the jester went home to see his wife and child, to make sure that they knew he was all right. But when he came to his house… he saw the Red Serpent had already been there. For instead of attacking the jester, the one who had given offense, the monster had burnt down his home, killing the jester's family inside as he did.

###

"Wow," said Nicki. "That's so awful."

"I know," said Tali. "And it's so wrong! His wife and child hadn't even been there. They didn't have to be punished. The Red Serpent was just evil."

"Yes he was, sweetie, but monsters are like that. It's all part of the story." Jane said. Sometimes he wondered why this one was Tali's favorite. The beginning was so sad.

###

The jester scrambled through the rubble, calling for his family, but it was too late. And when he discovered that they were truly gone, his heart snapped in two, leaving him broken inside.

Afterwards, for a year and a day, the jester wandered. He left behind the land he knew and the people who recognized him, and saw the other corners of the world. He finally decided that if he couldn't have his family back, he had to destroy the Red Serpent. It had to pay for what it had done. He couldn't let more innocent people die.

The day he returned to his own kingdom, he went to an inn for a meal. It was mostly deserted at that time of day, and the silence calmed him. The only table that was occupied had four people sitting at it, two men and two women. The jester looked more closely at them, but didn't recognize anyone.

He could see from the fine purple velvet cloaks of the women that they were nobility, and the one who wore a tiara as well was undoubtedly a princess. The two men looked strong and dependable, and the jester assumed they were bodyguards. None of it really mattered, however. He had no intention of talking to them.

The jester sat at the table farthest from the group, yet he found himself unable to ignore them. Who were they? What were they doing here? The princess was not the daughter of the king he had once served, so where had she come from?

His questions were filling his thoughts when a voice called out to him from their direction. "Would you be so kind as to come here for a moment?"

The question seemed innocent, but royalty stood for no disobedience. So the jester went over to the table of the group and said "Yes, your Highness?"

"You are the king's fool, are you not?" the princess asked, her voice quiet but firm.

"I was the king's fool, ma'am. I was a fool by name and by nature. But I am no longer a jester by trade, and I may never laugh again," he replied, and bowed to her.

The princess nodded, then said, "My party and I are aware of what the Red Serpent did to you and your family. We know it to be a beast of great evil and a deed of great injustice. Therefore, I propose we join forces to achieve its capture and demise."

The jester raised an eyebrow, finding this hard to believe. Finally, he said, "Forgive me, your Highness, for saying this, but what can a princess do against a monster like the Red Serpent?"

At that, the princess smiled for the first time. She stood up, and answered, "Well, for one thing, I am not only a princess. I am also a knight."

###

"Wait," said Nicki, "Can girls be knights? I thought only boys were."

"In Daddy's story girls can. The other lady is a knight too, along with the two men. They ALL are." Tali answered.

"Now, sweetie, don't get ahead of me. Let me keep telling the story." Jane scolded, and then continued on.

###

As she pushed her cloak back over her shoulders, the princess revealed that she wore a full suit of armor. At her side was a sword, and slung across her back she wore a shield of gold.

Each member of the party stood up in turn, revealing their own armor and weapons. Each bore the exact same golden shield.

The jester thought, and said, "I do need help in destroying the Red Serpent. I think you are right and that we should join forces. However, I still fear for your safety and that of your noble companion, my lady."

The noblewoman laughed, and replied, "We can take care of ourselves, jester. We are all well-trained, and skilled in combat and strategy. Protect your own skin, if you can." The princess joined in her laughter.

This princess was a stranger to the jester's land, and she was far from home. But she had three things in her favor. The first two we have already said: she was a knight herself and traveled with three other knights. But the third advantage that she had was a secret known only to her.

###

"Ooh, a secret? What was it? Did she have a magic wand or a fairy godmother?" Nicki interrupted.

"Come ON Nicki, be quiet! Go on, Daddy." Tali grumbled.

###

When the princess was a little girl, she had lived in a castle with her mother and father and three brothers. She had studied dancing and manners and needlework like any other princess. But when she was still just a child, her mother the queen died suddenly. Her life changed.

The king was no longer the loving father he had been. His heart broken, he began to come apart, sometimes shouting and raving and frightening his children. Other times he would weep for days and take neither food nor sleep. The princess began to wander farther and farther from her home, desperate to escape his sadness.

One day, she was riding her horse through the woods when she came upon an old woman standing by a well. The woman was so small and bent that she could barely turn the handle to wind the rope and raise the bucket.

Without thinking twice, the princess stopped her horse and ran to help the woman. She filled the water pails, then said "If you will tell me where you live, grandmother, I will carry your water home for you."

"That will not be necessary, my dear," the old woman replied. She straightened up, smoothed her dress, and revealed that she was, in reality, a beautiful fairy. "I never thought I'd see the day when a princess would volunteer to labor for an old peasant woman. However, that is what you did, so you shall be rewarded. This is no ordinary well, your Highness. It is a wishing well, and your good deed has earned you a wish. Almost anything you desire, I will provide."

The princess was stunned. Her mind went first to all of the amazing things that could be granted by wishes. All the jewels and dresses and anything she had ever dreamed of. But then her thoughts turned to her poor unhappy father, still grieving the great loss of his wife.

"Can my wish bring back the dead?" the princess asked.

"No, my child, I am sorry. For death is another world, and even a wish cannot fly there," the fairy answered sadly.

The princess thought a moment longer, and said, "Then I wish for the power to heal one broken heart." For perhaps, if she could not bring her mother back, she could at least ease her father's misery.

Then the fairy smiled again. She said, "That is the kindest wish I have ever granted. You now have the power to heal one broken heart, and when you use it, your life too will change for the better." The fairy leaned over and kissed the princess on her forehead, imparting the magic to her. "All you need do is place your right hand over the other person's heart, and wish for it to be whole. And it will happen so! Goodbye, princess, and good luck!"

After the fairy vanished, the princess leaped on her horse and galloped home to her own castle. She was so excited to think of her own father back again, and surely her life would change. Her family might find happiness once more after their great loss! But by the time she returned home… her father had already died of his broken heart, and she and her brothers were alone.

###

"Do you think the fairy knew the king was already gone, Daddy?" Tali asked. Even though she had heard the story dozens of times, she seemed to come up with a new question at each telling.

"I'm not sure, Tali, but I think she did. Fairies know things humans don't in stories. I think she knew that the wish would come in handy one day, though, so she still granted it." Jane answered, proud of how bright and curious his daughter was.

"This is a sad story so far," murmured Nicki. "But it's really interesting. What happened after the king died?"

###

With her father the king gone, and all her brothers younger than she, the princess was scared. But she knew she must take care and keep them together. She decided that her brothers would all become knights, and that she would join them. The training lasted for years and was very hard, but eventually they all passed through it. Then the trouble began. Her three now grown brothers, who had been so close as little boys, began to fight amongst themselves for the throne.

The princess did not wish to rule, but she was heartsick with the fighting that was going on in her family. Finally, when one of her brothers prevailed, he banished the other two, and his sister as well. They could never return to their home kingdom, or they would be killed.

The princess wandered alone in exile, until she met the noblewoman and the other two knights she now traveled with. They swore loyalty and friendship to each other, and traveled the world fighting evil and aiding justice.

And that was how they came to the kingdom where the jester had once told jokes for the court.

###

Jane paused and looked at the girls. This was usually the point where Tali would start getting sleepy. Nicki's eyelids were a little droopy, but she was totally involved in the story. And Tali was excited by having her friend over, so she wasn't acting even a little tired.

"Should I keep going, girls? Or should we save the rest for tomorrow?" he asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"No, Daddy, keep going! Nicki hasn't heard it before." Tali said.

"And now I really want to know what happens!" Nicki added.

Jane chuckled. The story might not work on a child that wasn't his own, hmm? There goes that theory, Teresa!

###

The jester set out with the princess and her party. For a long time they traveled the lands, trying to help people as they searched for the Red Serpent. But for years it seemed he had vanished. They could not find him anywhere.

As time went by, the jester grew to genuinely like his companions. They were unfailingly kind. They supported him in his quest. They eased his loneliness. They became his true friends. But only the princess could make him smile. She found ways to connect with him when no one else could. He began to feel like there was a place he belonged. Still, he never laughed. And his heart was still broken in two.

Finally, after long searching and many hardships, they found out where the Red Serpent was hiding. The jester and the princess created a simple plan to corner and destroy the monster, and then they shared it with the other knights.

Finally, the party was ready and they moved forward. The Red Serpent, however, was cleverer than they expected. He knew they were coming. He set a trap that delayed the princess and her knights so that when the jester finally faced the monster, he was alone.

The jester was frightened for a moment without the support of his friends, but he knew what he had to do. The monster tried to draw him into making a mistake, but the jester concentrated on the thought of his family. The Red Serpent reared to strike, but the jester narrowly avoided it. And when the Red Serpent made an error and left itself open to attack… he struck.

###

"He killed it, right?" Nicki said.

"That's right, Nicki. He killed it dead." Jane said.

"Good," said Tali. "Now it can't hurt anyone else, the nasty thing."

###

Before the Red Serpent died, he cast a final spell. He trapped the jester in a cage of ice that was impossible to leave from the inside. Someone would have to release him. The jester called to his friends, but for the moment they were still too far away and could not help him. His own shouts rang in his ears as they echoed off the frozen bars of the trap.

The jester lost all sense of time in the cage. It may have been only a few days until his friends found him, but it seemed like a thousand years. When the princess and her companions reached him, he was huddled in a corner of the cage with his face hidden in his knees. And the body of the Red Serpent was behind him.

The noblewoman and the knights were shocked that the jester had been able to dispatch the monster alone. The princess, however, only had eyes for the jester's plight. She immediately took her sword and began to hack away at the bars of the cage.

"Help me!" she cried to her stunned companions. "Use your weapons on these bars! He can't get out without our help!"

For a day and a night, they beat the bars of ice until there was finally a hole large enough for the jester to fit through. The princess reached in and pulled him out. He was weak and dazed, and leaned on her for support. The four knights bundled him onto a horse, and they all rode away into the coming dawn.

###

"Oh my, look at the time! I promised I'd get you to bed 45 minutes ago," Jane said, and made as if he was going to get up.

"No, no, no! I have to hear the end!" Nicki said, and then yawned.

"Oh come on Daddy! The ending is my favorite part!" Tali whined.

Jane said, "Well, I don't know-" and stopped as Teresa walked into the room.

"Patrick, you can't leave them hanging. Tell them the rest of the story." Teresa moved to her daughter's bed. "Come on Tali, move over so Mommy can sit down. The ending is my favorite part, too," she said, and smiled at her husband.

Jane smiled back.

###

The quest was over, and the jester believed he would be separating from his friends forever. The idea hurt him, and when it came time to say his goodbyes he was afraid. He was strong for three of them, but when it came time to take leave of the princess he felt a terrible pain inside. He wasn't even sure what the pain was. But the idea of not seeing her tomorrow, of not seeing her everyday, of not seeing her ever again was suddenly unbearable.

"I don't know what I would have done without your help, your Highness," he managed to choke out.

"You killed the Red Serpent yourself, jester. You didn't need us for that," the princess replied. Her voice was steady, but her eyes were sorrowful. They showed how much the parting was affecting her. They spoke the words she couldn't say.

"Your group made it possible. You supported the search and helped me to find him. You released me from the cage of his final revenge. I will never forget," the jester said.

The princess sighed. "Well, I suppose this is goodbye. We have to keep moving. There is always evil and injustice in the world, and it is our responsibility to make sure there is always goodness in it, too," she said, and turned to go.

"Wait!" the jester called. "It may not make any sense, but I don't know how I will live without you. I can no longer imagine the rest of my life without you in it."

The princess came back, and stood in front of him. "How do you feel, jester? Did destroying the monster who killed your family make you whole again?"

The jester paused, then shook his head. A single tear slipped down his cheek as he replied, "No my lady, I am still broken hearted. I may never be whole."

The princess nodded, and removed the glove from her right hand. "In my travels, I have met so many people with broken hearts. More people than you can imagine, and yet I think that you need this more than anyone," she said. Then the princess placed her hand over the jester's heart, and used her only wish to heal him.

###

Tali, Nicki, and Teresa were all sniffling at this point.

###

With his heart finally back in one piece again, the jester realized that the pain that was gnawing away at him was the loss of someone he loved. He was in love with the princess, and he could not wait another moment to tell her.

"I love you, my lady," he said. "Even if we parted I would love you forever. No one could reach me until I met you. You came into my life when my world had ended, and you stayed with me and built a new one. I don't want you to leave me." He waited in agony for her answer.

The princess was quiet for a moment, then slowly smiled. "So, come with us. Join us forever and take your place again in our group. Wander the world and help right its wrongs. Come with me, jester, for I love you, too."

And when the princess said she loved him back, the jester took her in his arms. He kissed her and then, at last, he laughed for joy.

###

"So, they lived happily ever after?" Nicki asked.

"Of course they did, Nicki. They loved each other." Tali said smugly.

"That's right," said Jane. "They loved each other and stayed together. The jester joined the group permanently, and fought evil with them. He and the princess eventually married, had a daughter, and they all lived happily ever after."

"You were right, Tali. That's a good story." Nicki said, then yawned again.

"Told you, told you!" laughed Tali, and then she yawned too.

Teresa took the opportunity this presented to say, "Alright, girls, it's WAY past bedtime. You got to hear the end of the story. But you have to go to sleep now." She went over and hugged Nicki, then scooped Tali up and kissed her.

Patrick got up from the rocking chair and patted Nicki's head. Then he took Tali from Teresa and kissed her cheek. "Goodnight, my baby," he said, hugging her close before tucking her back in.

He took his wife's hand as they went back downstairs.

Later, they made their way into their own bedroom. "It still amazes me, Patrick, that you turned the story of how we met and wound up together into your daughter's favorite fairy tale," Teresa said. "Still, I don't know about some of the imagery. A princess with a shield and a sword? Pretty far fetched, if you ask me."

Patrick put his arm around her and grinned. "Well my dear, in your case it's a badge and a gun, but the parallel stands. Besides, the fairy tale is nothing. Tali would find the real story a lot harder to believe."

Teresa nodded as she switched out the light.

The End

A/N: Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, I was the little girl asking my daddy for stories. He usually made them up rather than read them from books, just like Jane does in this. That was my inspiration.