The sky over Sacramento was pouring with rain. Neither of them uttered a word as he opened the door of his motel room and let her in.
All of his belongings – most of them shirts and those old-fashioned three-piece suits he always wore – were scattered on the bed, while a still empty suitcase lay open on the floor.
"You packing?" Lisbon double-checked at last.
"What do you think?"
"Why?"
He shrugged. "My quest is over. Red John is dead. Nothing keeps me here anymore."
"Nothing. Yeah, I suppose you're right."
Jane flinched slightly at her toneless remark. "I'm sorry, Teresa."
"You don't have to be. It's your choice, and yours only."
"Leaving is the best thing I can do."
"Are you trying to convince me, or rather yourself?"
In spite of all his efforts, he just couldn't help looking into her eyes this time. They'd been dancing around their feelings for so long, and he wasn't sure whether it was worth it anymore.
He'd often allowed himself to imagine how their life together might be. Getting married – for he wouldn't have it any other way – and having kids. A boy and a girl, and both of them would have Lisbon's beautiful eyes.
But this was nothing more than a dream, and dreams can never last. Most of times they turn into a dreadful nightmare, one where you come home to find the butchered bodies of your wife and child lying among bloodstained sheets.
He was sick and tired of his old demons. No need to add more of them to his already heavy burden.
"I'm still in love with Angela."
Maybe his blunt answer would be enough to discourage her. Part of him hoped so – while the other part was desperately trying not to panic at the thought of Teresa eventually walking away from him.
Lisbon didn't even blink. "I know."
"So what?"
"No one is asking you to forget about your wife and daughter, Jane. You just have to let them go – that's all."
"It's easy for you to say such things. You never had…"
"A spouse and a child taken away from me? No, I hadn't. I've lost both of my parents though."
He felt thoroughly ashamed of himself now. "Sorry. I wasn't thinking…"
"Never mind."
She closed the distance between them, running a soothing hand along his forearm.
"I know you've been through hell. But the nightmare is over, and you have to snap out of it now."
"I'm not sure I can."
"Let me try to help you then."
The warmth in her caring eyes was too much for him. When she stood on tiptoes and gently brushed her lips against his own, he closed his eyes and finally let himself go.
…
He woke up in the morning to find an adorably disheveled Teresa peppering his bare chest with butterfly kisses.
(While the room around them was a complete mess – all the clothes he owned lying in an untidy heap on the floor.)
A lazy grin spread over his features. He supposed he could get used to this after all.