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“Patrick, are you okay?” Teresa asked softly, looking at her consultant in the rearview mirror.
He’d slept most of the way there but had woken up a few minutes ago and had been watching the endless fields out the window since.
Jane crinkled his nose, letting out a short whine. “Not Patty.” He huffed, a small pout adorning his face.
Lisbon could only frown at that answer. “What do you mean, sweetheart?”
“He wants to be called Jane.” Cho came to the rescue, nose still in his book, stating it like an obvious fact.
Teresa found it slightly strange; she would have thought he’d prefer something more personal than his last name when in Little Space but considering that Cho is the one he regresses the most around, she’s not going to argue with him.
It’s not that Jane dislikes his name; it’s just that sometimes it doesn’t feel right. Especially when he’s little.
Patrick feels too... manly, Patty is better, but it still doesn’t feel quite right, Jane reminds him of his father a bit but other than that it’s the name that he likes the most. Not Mister Jane though, just Jane.
“Cows!” He shouted suddenly, pointing out the window and making everyone in the van flinch at least a little.
“No way he just noticed them...” Rigsby muttered from the front, but the look Lisbon shot him was enough to make him shut up.
“Yeah, those are some pretty cool cows, huh?” Van Pelt smiled from the back of the van, shooting Rigsby an equally murderous look. “Look, there’s even some baby cows. Oh, they’re so cute!”
Rule number one, be kind to the baby. They can make fun of Jane all they want when he’s his adult self but mocking him while he’s little is completely forbidden. Which is a shame because he’s really easy to make fun of when he’s little.
“Come on, people, let’s go!” Lisbon ordered, pulling the keys out of the ignition.
The team got out of the car like a... semi-well-oiled machine, Van Pelt and Cho heading to the trunk and taking, respectively, the picnic blanket and cooler while Lisbon helped Jane out of his seat and Rigsby stood close by in case the blond decided to take off, because it was, to everyone’s great enjoyment, his latest passion.
“Don’t run.” She warned him the second his feet touched the ground, and he, for now, seemed happy enough to obey it. One time of him nearly rushing straight into the highway was more than enough stress for the rest of their lives. “Hold my hand.”
Cho led the way, finding them an ideal spot in the neighboring field, just under an apple tree on top of a small hill. His baseball years must have caught up to him because he was way ahead of them all.
“Horsie?” Jane asked, pulling gently on Teresa’s sleeve.
“You wanna do a horse ride?” She asked with a smile. He nodded. “Rigsby, come here!”
“What is it?” He asked, jogging slightly towards them both.
“Horsie?”
He looked up at the sky to discreetly roll his eyes before looking back down at Jane. “Sure, bud. Come on.” He lowered slightly to make it easier for the smaller man to jump on his back. “There ya’ go.”
Lisbon would be lying if she said Wayne’s mild annoyance didn’t amuse her every time. And she thinks it’s just sweet too, on top of it being a much better habit than him taking off running anytime he wants to go somewhere.
Rigsby ran around in the grass with Jane on his back for a good few minutes while the others busied themselves with organizing their picnic setup.
“Boys, lunch ready!” Teresa called out.
“Not a boy.” Jane mumbled, his chin resting on top of Wayne’s hair.
“What?” The taller man asked, frowning. Jane didn’t repeat, so he chooses to simply drop it. There isn’t really a way to get information out of him once he’s decided he won’t say it.
He walked back over to the team shaking off a little who would have probably wanted to keep going for hours off of his back.
“Alright, princess, off you get.” He chuckled before joining Grace on the blanket. Jane pulled his tongue out at him before going to collapse between Kimball and Teresa.
He snatched his bottle of iced tea from the cooler, getting a “Don’t chug.” warning from Lisbon.
Van Pelt took care of distributing the sandwiches, ham and cheese for herself and Rigsby, chicken salad for Cho, turkey for Lisbon and egg salad for Jane.
“Look! Look!”
“What?”
“There!” Jane shouted, crawling towards a small furry creature a few feet away from them. Cho grabbed him before he could go too far, but the intention was there.
“Baby groundhog. My god, that thing is adorable.”
It didn’t take long for the pup to run back into its burrow but not before they all got a good look at it.
“Adorable.” Cho said, a small creeping on his lips before ruffling Jane’s hair. “The fat little squirrel too.”
“Fat little squirrel?”