A Problem Shared

7

You sat there chewing your thumbnail as Teresa paced the waiting room. Neither of you was sure how long you were expecting to wait for news. These things took time. But you'd have hoped after four gruelling hours of waiting, there would have been some sort of update. You knew she was worried about Patrick. She'd never expected when coming to visit you and Marcus that she'd end up in this sort of situation but as you glanced down at your swollen belly you couldn't help but feel glad that your family were being given a chance. You just prayed that this one would be the one that saves him.

The baby moving tore you from your dark thoughts and you chuckled as they danced inside you.

"What?" Teresa asked upon noticing your slight outburst.

"Someone's dancing a jig." You said as you motioned to your stomach and she sat beside you, looking for silent permission before placing her hand on your moving belly.

"Wow, that's crazy." She said in awe, her eyes growing to the size of saucers as she looked up at you.

You gave her a soft smile, watching her as she returned her gaze to where her hand rested on your baby bump and you saw as her mind started to wander.

"You know... I often thought about what my life would have been like if I'd chosen Marcus." She confessed and your head tilted slightly as you waited for her to continue "I love Patrick... I do, but sometimes... God, sometimes he can just be so pigheaded and stubborn."

You chuckled at her statement which elicited a smile from the agent "Marcus had this whole beautiful life planned out for us and I'd be lying to you if I said that I hadn't thought about calling him. Patrick didn't seem to know what he wanted past telling me how he felt and at points that just didn't feel enough for me."

"Know the feeling." You grumbled and she smirked at you before continuing.

"But then I thought about how he'd been married before. He'd had the wife and the kids and the house and that was all taken from him so to expect him to just want to do that all over again just seemed a bit much to ask, ya know." She stated and you nodded understandingly "Seeing you and Marcus though... this family you have together... It made me realise that I was never his to have."

"He proposed." You said, out of the blue "Albeit on his death bed but he asked me to marry him all the same."

"That's amazing." She gushed and you gave her a shy smile, nodding.

"He uh... Well, he confessed that he'd wanted to marry me all along and I guess, hearing you now talk about how expecting Jane to want that all again... Was probably a bit harsh on my part to just expect Marcus to want it after all he'd been through."

"It all worked out for the best though."

"I still left him though." You sobbed "I left him and he got sick again... If I'd just put my own selfish wants aside and understood his reasons, we may have caught this sooner and he wouldn't have ended up on death's door again."

"You can't think that way." Teresa said as she took your hands in hers "Things happen for a reason, sometimes those things are awful and heartbreaking but they still happen for a reason. You and Marcus are destined to grow old together, that I am sure of." She assured you and you nodded "You'll see."

A white shape came into your line of sight and you looked up to see Marcus' doctor standing there. His expression was hard to read but you could swear you saw the hint of a smile on his lips.

"Well?" Lisbon asked and the smile grew.

"The surgery was a success." He stated and you both breathed a consecutive sigh of relief "Your husband is fine Miss and Marcus is responding well." He said finally as he looked at you.