Yeah I know, I've been slack about posting but did do a short tag to the finale. My god, how could you not? I know its not great but I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer - Nope.

She heard him say it. The one word to a woman that she thought he would only associate with his deceased wife. But he said it. To her. What does she do now?

Sitting in her office pondering the enigma of Jane and how after 9 years he slept with someone, found a lover. Her heart broke a bit at Loralei's revelation but Teresa's mask only cracked. Jane could be the only one that saw the hurt flash through her eyes. Questions running through her brain about the man she would do anything for.

He knew he didn't deflect her very well when she questioned what he had said before the "shooting". She was smart, she knew it was an admission standing there pointing a gun at her. Being with Loralei, while the release of 9 years was good to get out, it also confirmed his suspicions about his own feelings. He loved. And she was flesh and blood and warm. Not a grave or a ghost.

Jane sat in his attic, sipping his tea thinking his thoughts. So many thoughts about Red John and Loralei but mostly about his little firecracker and he felt no guilt at the place she resided in his heart. There was room. He had missed her in those six months that seeing her in the church was overwhelming so he poked her about God like a schoolboy to his crush. He saw the flash of hurt in her green eyes when Loralei told her they were lovers. And he had felt shame for his behaviour to Lisbon for the second time that week.

Lisbon slowly slid the door to the attic open, and stood there just watching the back of Jane as he sat in his chair, staring out the window, sipping tea. Seemingly in his own world. She had missed the sight of him and the smell of brewing tea as it had become like oxygen to her. Necessary.

"Jane?"

"Oh, Hi Lisbon. Pull up a chair. I made a pot of tea. Would you like some?"

"Sure. I would like that Jane. Haven't had any tea for six months. No one could make it right," Teresa said with a smirk.

Jane just grinned and poured her a cup as she pulled up the spare chair and sat next to him. Both content with the silence as they slowly sipped and enjoyed the company of the one next to them. The quiet comforting. Lisbon started to pick non-existent lint from her pant leg as she sat in thought. She found her fingers covered by Jane's much larger hand, stilling her movements.

She turned to look at him as he gazed at her. He could get lost in those honest eyes.

Teresa swallowed her trepidation and forged ahead with her questions, not sure if she would get an answer.

"Were you intimate with her?" Teresa's voice so quiet, you could have missed the question.

"No Teresa, I wasn't. I had a physical release but there was no intimacy."

"Isn't that what sex is Jane? Intimacy?"

"The most intimate time with her was when she was by the hot plate making eggs with her back to me. She could have been you standing there and it felt good falling into that thought but she turned around and I was still cold. "

Teresa sat there stunned and she stilled her hand under his. He had thought of her and she thought she was so forgettable for him.

"I didn't know you still thought of me."

"I never stopped, Teresa. Not once. Saved your longer messages on my phone and would play them, just to hear your voice. To know you cared. It got me through."

"I'm glad you had that Jane but I had silence on my end. Did that even cross your mind that I was hurting too?"

"You had the team and they love you like family. Never would they let you slide away."

"But I didn't have you," Lisbon whispered on a puff of air, her eyes shining with tears she would never shed.

Patrick grasped her hand and turned it over, leaving a soft kiss to her wrist. The touch so much more than just a kiss, a promise of what they could be one day.

"Come Teresa, we need to rest and the sheets up here haven't been changed in months. I have a brown couch to get reacquainted with and I could use the company."

They stood up together and wandered to the now silent and deserted bull pen. Patrick led Teresa to the worn leather sofa and settled down facing Teresa, holding his hand out for her to join him. She couldn't resist the closeness after so many months apart and settled with her back to his chest as he pulled the throw over them both as he settled his arm chastely around her middle.

"Jane I…"
"Shhh Teresa, we have time to talk. I'm not leaving, I promise. Tomorrow and every day after will be there. I will be there."

The heat of each other, the relief and all the emotions of the past six months washed away and all that was left was exhaustion weighing them down.

Sleep claiming them in their own little cocoon that contained only each other and nothing else mattered in that moment.