Chapter one: the letter

Grace Van Pelt lay slumped at her desk at the CBI base in Sacramento California. Once again she had been left behind to do the boring computer work while the rest of the team were off actually doing something. She let her thoughts wander to the team, she wondered what they might be doing right now. Patrick Jane, the teams consultant would probably be manipulating or annoying someone, most likely Teresa Lisbon, the boss. Lisbon, although she was short, she was tough, she was probably in the middle of an arrest or shoot off. Grace shuddered as she remembered the time she got shot. Cho was most likely be with Rigsby. As Grace thought of Rigsby, she thought of the time he had kissed her while he was hypnotised, and the time he had told her that he loved her when they looked for a secret passageway together. When she thought about it, he had said that he loved her so many times, but she hadn't said it very much in return, suddenly she got an idea. She looked around for some nice paper and found some light blue paper. What do I say to him, I love you isn't enough, I guess he makes me feel happy and safe around him, but there has to be more than that! He is always there for me, like when I got shot down and how he put his life on the line when Dan attacked him. Finally she decided that she would write about why she loved him. When she finished she put it into a cream envelope and sealed it as she heard voices down the hall, it sounded like Jane and Lisbon, she quickly put the envelope on Rigsby's desk then went back to her own.

'Did you get him?' Grace asked

'Yea, Cho has gone out to get the case closed pizza and Rigsby should be here any minute' Lisbon said

'Do you want to know how we got him?' Jane asked.

'He has been gloating about it the whole way here' Lisbon said exasperated

'You're just jealous because you didn't think of it yourself' Jane teased with one of his signature smiles.

'Whatever' Lisbon said walking into her office.

'So', Jane said, 'Do you want to know?'

'Sure' Grace said

'I knew that Miller did it as he was the only one who wasn't fully committed to the gang and he was in a fight with Dominic, so I carefully planted the gangs details in his locker because I knew he was out to get Fraser as well as Dominic, so when he went over to Frasers house all he had to do was get in, shoot and get out, which he thought was easy enough but we had taken Fraser out of the house and put a dummy in the bed, so when he shot the dummy, we came out and booked him, rather cunning, don't you think?'

'Very nice Jane' as she looked around for Rigsby.

'Ah, don't worry, my fair lady, your lover will be here soon.' Jane teased

Grace felt herself turning red. Jane had a habit of doing that with a lot of people.

'And here's the man himself' Jane said as Rigsby walked in.

'What about me?' Rigsby asked with his mouth full of biscuit.

'Grace has gotten tired of waiting and needs her Rigsby fix' Jane said.

'Jane' Grace moaned

Jane put his hands up in defence 'Only stating the obvious' he said as he went to lie down on 'his' couch.

Rigsby went to sit down at his desk when he noticed the envelope on his desk.

'What's this?' he asked

Grace quickly came over 'Don't open it around Jane Cho or Lisbon' she whispered

'Sure thing' he said excitedly

'Pizza's here' Cho called 'Can someone get the cups and plates?'

'We will' Grace called pulling Rigsby along with her.

They walked into the kitchen and Rigsby started to get plates out.

'Here', Grace said taking the plates off him 'I will do this, you read the letter'

'Sure' Rigsby replied happy to get out of dishes duty.

Grace continued getting cups and plates out and all the while watching Rigsby read the letter. She turned around realising she had forgotten napkins when she felt Rigsby's hand on her waist. She put down the napkins and turned around to Rigsby.

'Thank you for that Grace, I love you' he whispered.

'I love you too' she whispered back.

His hands moved up to her face and back into her hair. She slid her arms around his waist and lent in to kiss him. She felt his warm soft lips against hers as she ran her fingers through his hair and he responded by doing the same, she savoured every moment of the kiss. Just as they were nearing the end Cho came round to see what was taking them so long to see them in mid kiss.

'Hey van pe- whoa, never mind' Cho said as he came in.

Rigsby and Grace quickly pulled away and started gathering the plates and cups.

'You two can be off kitchen duty for a while until you learn what to do, properly' Cho said to them as they walked back into the main room.

Jane started to pour the wine into the cups and Rigsby opened the pizza boxes.

'Case closed' Jane said raising his glass

'Case closed' they all said in unison

'So Grace, what was in the letter that you wrote to Rigsby?' Jane asked

'Nothing you need to know about' she replied quickly

'Oh, but I do need to know, anyway, reading your face, it's probably in some form a romantic letter, isn't it?'

'If I say yes, will you leave me alone?'

'I most certainly will'

'Fine then, it is, happy now?'

'Yes, thank you very much'

Grace rolled her eyes at him and smiled over at Rigsby, who smiled back.

'So let's see this letter then Rigsby' Cho said with a grin

'No, it clearly says for my eyes only' Rigsby lied quickly

'You're lying' Jane pointed out

'Am not' Rigsby protested

'Oh, just leave him alone' Lisbon said 'what's in that letter is none of your business'

'Fine boss' Jane and Cho said

They continued eating the pizza, discussing cases and teasing Rigsby when the night watchman came in to see what was going on.

'Hello Harvey, how have you been?' Jane asked with a friendly smile.

'Very well thank you Mr. Jane, just wondering how long you guys will be here for'

Lisbon looked at the clock, it read 10.18.

'We should probably get going now', she leant into her team, 'And I'm not cleaning up'

'I did it last week' Grace quickly pointed out

'So did I' Rigsby followed

'Well, it looks like you two boys are on washing up duty' Lisbon said to Jane and Cho who sighed and started to gather the boxes.

'Hey, Rigsby, do you want the last slice?' Cho asked

Rigsby, although he was tempted to, declined as he knew Grace wouldn't want to kiss him if he had greasy cheese around his mouth.

'Na, I think I'm ok, you can have it if you want' he said walking over to his desk to grab his stuff.

'You sure' Cho said looking shocked; it wasn't like Rigsby to turn down food, especially pizza.

'Yea, uh, I have had quite a bit already'

'Looks like Grace is doing some good for him' Jane muttered to Cho.

'I'd say' he replied

Grace grabbed her purse and started walking up to Rigsby.

'Come with me' she whispered to him and pulled him along.

'Bye everyone' Rigsby called out and Grace waved.

'Bye Rigsby, have fun with Grace' Jane called out

Rigsby turned around 'Just because you're jealous' he called out as he walked out of the bull pen

'Dream on' Cho called back

Grace led Rigsby down a dark narrow hallway and into a storage room. Rigsby was looking around, trying to find a light switch. Grace caught his hand and pulled him towards her; Rigsby took her face and pulled it towards his own.

'I love you' Grace whispered just before they kissed

She felt his heart racing and she could feel her own beating a million times a second, he started kissing intensely, like their lives depended on it, she felt his short smooth hair between her fingers and felt his running through her own long red hair, they kissed until the need for air broke them apart. He continued to hold her face.

'You are so beautiful Grace; you know that, don't you?' Rigsby whispered

'Thank you and thank you for being so considerate about the pizza'

'That's my pleasure' he said

'We should probably get going' she said

Rigsby, although he was reluctant went anyway. They walked into the elevator and pushed ground floor.

'Grace, I was wondering if-' but he was cut off by the elevator opening, and Lisbon stepped in.

'Wasn't interrupting anything was I?' she asked

'No' Rigsby quickly said

'Ok' she said awkwardly

The ride quickly passed thankfully and they were soon in the car park, beside Grace's car.

'I'll see you tomorrow' she said to Rigsby

'Yea' he said

'I love you' she whispered

'You too' he said kissing her then heading off to his own car.

Grace continued looking at him, completely mesmerised. I wonder what he was about to tell me, maybe ask me out to dinner, maybe I should ask him, or should I leave it and let him tell me in his own time, god I will kill Lisbon if it's something really important! She heard a toot of a horn in the background and say Rigsby pulling out of the parking lot. She waved and got into her own car.