Grace groaned as a loud ringing dragged her out of the best night's sleep she'd had in a long time. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she reached over and grabbed her cell, groaning again when she noticed the time. 3 in the morning? Not a good time. She frowned when she saw the caller ID but answered anyway.

'Jane, what the hell? It's 3 in the morning.'

'Grace.. There's something you got to know..'

The redhead could tell within a second that the voice on the other end belonged to someone with a lot of alcohol in their system. This was going to be interesting. Against her better judgement, she decided to humour him.

'Is there now?'

'You need to know that I'm fine, but… I think my drink got spiked,,'

'You what?' Grace raised one eyebrow. 'Jane, where the hell are you?'

'I'm outside Tessie's but you can't tell her. I'm going to go give her a surprise.'

She could hear the mischievous tone in his voice and bit her lip to refrain from giggling. But as funny as it would be to see the aftermath of Jane's little 'surprise' she really didn't want to face her boss in a temper the next day. So she shook herself awake and quickly found a plausible deterrent.

'No, no, no, don't. She'll be asleep. And believe me, waking a sleeping woman is pretty dangerous. How about you stay right where you are and I'll come and get you. Okay?'

'Yes ma'am.'

'You promise not to move?'

'Promise.'

'Good. And try and stay quiet, yeah? She has neighbours.'

'Okay, okay.' His words were becoming increasingly slurred, his last sentence barely audible as she put the phone down and hurried to get dressed. She grabbed the first pair of jeans she could find, pulled on her jacket and trainers and headed downstairs and out to her car. Of all the people she had found herself doing this for, she had never anticipated that Jane would become one of the surprisingly long list. And of all people, why had he called her? She used those thoughts to keep her awake as she drove as fast as she could without breaking any speed limits.

***

'Oh my God, look at the state of you.'

'Huh?' The blonde man frowned as Grace hurried towards him. 'I'm not in a state. I'm just happy.'

'Are you now?' She crouched down to where Jane sat, his back against Lisbon's fence. 'Why don't you tell me later, hm? You got to get up now.'

Jane shook his head and mumbled something that sounded like 'I don't wanna get up..'

Grace sighed and took hold of his arm, hauling him up. 'Good God, what's wrong with you?'

'Me? There's nothing wrong with me. I've just been and had me a little drinky..'

'A little drinky? Jane, how many little drinkies have you had?'

'Oh, numbers, numbers. Numbers aren't important.' Jane reached out to grab Grace's shoulder but missed, stumbling and landing in her arms. 'Oops. No, I'll tell you what's important..'

'Why don't you tell me later, hm? Let's just concentrate on getting you out of here in one piece.'

'I'm not a child.'

'No, but you are drunk.'

Jane shrugged and grinned. 'I been drunker.'

'I bet you have. Look, you'll thank me for this later when all your bones are in tact. Now come on.'

Grace wrapped one arm around Jane's waist and used the other to dig around in her pocket for her car keys. Her friend's giggly singing was already starting to annoy her but she had learned to keep her cool. She couldn't help smiling to herself at Jane's choice of song- she had never met anyone before who knew all the lyrics to One Voice and even drunk, he sang it well.

She unlocked the car and opened the passenger door with one hand, holding Jane up with the other. She was just about to put her friend in the car when Jane retched, the vomit narrowly missing her shoes.

The young agent cursed and wrestled him into the seat, doing his belt up for him before getting in the driver's seat. She wanted to be angry; she knew she ought to be. She normally didn't have anytime for drunks, but when Jane looked up at her, his usually vibrant eyes dull and depressed, she just couldn't be angry because if she was honest, it broke her heart to see her friend in that state.

'If you think you're going to throw up again, for God's sakes, tell me.'

The man nodded but the confused look in his eyes said that she hadn't really taken it in. Sighing, Grace opened the passenger window and started the car. She knew she'd have to take Jane to her apartment- there was no way she could leave him on his own. The state he was in, there was no telling what could happen.