Hi everybody. This is my first foray into writing fanfic for The Mentalist (I'm mainly based in CSI: New York, writing Danny/Lindsay, for anyone familiar with the show), but I must state right from the start how much I love this show and my particular love for Rigsby/Van Pelt – they are soooooo adorable together and I am so glad that the writers decided to FINALLY put them together!!!!

Anyways, this one is a post-ep for 2.07 and what happened to Grace (I think everyone will remember what I'm talking about), so spoilers for that episode.

I don't own the show, otherwise R/VP probably would have been together sooner. I do, however, take ownership for any mistakes.

Enjoy!!!!!

Reassurance

Wayne Rigsby had never been so happy to hear his boss say that he could go home as soon as he finished his case report. He rushed back to his desk as quickly as he could without drawing attention to himself and got right to work. He'd only started writing when his partner, Kimball Cho, tapped him on the shoulder.

"I'll finish the report for you. Go home." The two men shared a knowing look before Wayne nodded in thanks and quickly made his way to the locker room.

Exiting the CBI headquarters minutes later and crossing the parking lot, Wayne unlocked the door to his car, tossed his bag into the front seat, and sat down behind the wheel, his cell phone already clenched in his fist. Pressing '1' on his speed dial, he waited anxiously as the phone rang twice and then picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hi Grace. How are you feeling?"

"I'm OK. They sent me home about an hour ago with my ribs all taped up and some pain killers. I've got four broken ones, so I won't be coming to work for the next couple of days. Lisbon told me to stay home until I could at least breathe without wincing."

Even though he knew she was going to be just fine, Wayne couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped his lips. "Um, do you mind if I come over and see you? I'll bring some food so you don't have to cook."

"Wayne, you don't have to do that..."

"Please?" he pleaded with her.

He heard her sigh. "OK, go grab a pizza and I'll see you in a little bit."

"I'll see you then. I love you."

"I know." Wayne swore he could hear her smile on the other end. "Bye Wayne."

"Bye."

Closing the phone, Wayne set his head back on the headrest and closed his eyes, taking a moment to calm himself. After taking a couple of deep breaths, he reached forward to start the car, determined to get to Grace's as quickly as possible.

It had only been twenty minutes since Grace Van Pelt had gotten off the phone with her boyfriend, so she was a little surprised to hear a knock on her door in such a short time. Looking through the peephole, she saw him standing there, no longer in his suit but in a t-shirt and jeans, holding a pizza box in one hand and hiding the other hand behind his back.

Intrigued, Grace opened the door and saw that in the short span of time, he had brought his other hand forward with a sheepish grin, revealing a small teddy bear with the words 'Get Well Soon' stitched across his tummy. Grinning and taking the bear from him, she stepped aside to let him enter her apartment.

He crossed the threshold, closed the door behind him and started to toe off his shoes when she took the pizza box from him, set it and the bear down on the front hall table and grabbed him around the neck to kiss him soundly.

Momentarily taken aback, Rigsby quickly responded, placing one hand on her hips while threading the other through her hair. The kiss ended as quickly as it had started for Wayne, but he could see that she was struggling to breathe a little bit, so he took her hand, picked up his offerings in the other and lead her to the couch, noticing that there were already two plates and two bottles of water set out. Once she was settled on the couch, Wayne turned to her to speak.

"Not that I don't appreciate the gesture, but you really should be careful of your ribs."

"I know, don't worry – I already got a huge lecture from the ER doctor. It's just..." Grace hesitated for a moment and looked up, not surprised to see Wayne staring back at her with kind eyes. "I really wanted to do that in the back of the ambulance, but it was too risky and I was still in a lot of pain."

Wayne smiled and reached forward to open the pizza box and put a slice on each plate, trying not to replay what happened over again in his head. Both ate in silence, so caught up in their own thoughts and what they wanted to say to each other.

At the exact same moment, both blurted out, "I'm sorry." Blushing, Wayne gestured for her to go first.

"I'm sorry that I hit you so hard in the ambulance – part of that was adrenaline but mostly I wanted to get across how dumb you were to go out without a vest."

"I deserved that though, you were right."

Thinking for a moment, Grace nodded. "Yeah, I was."

Wayne chuckled at her self–satisfied tone, but stopped when he saw her hand reach out to softly caress the spot where she had whacked him hours earlier. Taking a moment to appreciate the gesture, he finally spoke.

"I'm sorry I didn't listen to you about the vest, but I'm more sorry that I was too busy trying to defend my own ego to back you up."

Grace sighed. She had had a feeling that he was going to blame himself for her getting shot, so she tried to reassure him. "Wayne, we split up to make it go faster and plus, there was no way to know that a gun was going to be pulled on me – or any one of us for that matter."

"But I should have…" She could see that Wayne was getting more and more upset (mainly with himself), so Grace reached out to touch his cheek. His teary eyes locked with hers and his head tilted into her hand.

"You got her in the end and we all made it out alive – that's all that matters, OK?"

Rigsby slowly nodded, still mad at himself, but wanting to reassure her. She yawned.

"You must be really tired, I'll just put the rest of this in the fridge before I go and let you get some sleep." He flew off the couch and into her kitchen before she really had any time to figure out what had happened. She knew that deep down, he didn't want to leave, but he felt he should because it was his fault that she had gotten hurt. She was going to set him straight – and fast.

Wayne put everything in the fridge and placed the plates in the sink, rinsing them off before placing them in her dishwasher. It's not that he wanted to leave – he wanted to never have to leave her side again – but he didn't think he deserved to stay after he had failed her. He had hoped to make a speedy exit, but as he re-emerged from the kitchen, she was standing up facing him, a determined look on her face.

"You don't have to go Wayne."

"You need your rest…"

Grace cut him off in a frustrated tone. "Let me decide what I need, OK?" Wayne nodded, afraid to do anything else. Her face softened. "I need you to stay here with me tonight, and not just you crashing on my couch. I want you here."

Wayne still looked a little unsure until she held out her hand. Happy that she wanted him to stay, he took it and followed her to her bedroom. Helping her out of the oversized hoodie she had been wearing, Wayne caught a glimpse of her taped up torso. Remembering roughly where the bullets had hit the vest, he knelt down, lifted up the shirt she was wearing and placed feather light kisses over her wounds.

When he was finished he stood up again and kissed Grace sweetly before leading her over to her bed. Propping up several pillows against the wire frame headboard, he put himself in a reclining position and carefully pulled her down onto him, turning his body into a pillow for her.

Wrapping one arm across her shoulders and the other around her waist, he felt her sigh and snuggle into his chest. As her body relaxed into his and her eyes grew heavy, she spoke.

"Look, my leg stopped twitching."

Letting out a brief chuckle so he wouldn't jar her too much, Wayne used his nose to push the hair from over her ear and whispered, "Close your eyes Grace. I'll be here when you wake up."

"Goodnight Wayne."

"Sweet dreams. I love you Grace."

Grace turned her head to the side with a sleepy smile and stretched up to kiss him, resting her head on his shoulder when their lips parted and closing her eyes. Within minutes, he felt her body completely relax against his and heard her breathing even out. Sitting there, Wayne finally allowed himself to completely relax, comforted not only by the feeling of having her in his arms but also by the fact that she really was going to be OK and he could see that fact with his own eyes.

Wayne wasn't sure if he was going to able to fall asleep anytime soon until he felt Grace take the hand he had wrapped around her waist and thread her fingers through his own. With that simple gesture, he felt his eyes suddenly grow very heavy. Giving into the feeling, he placed one last kiss into her hair before closing his eyes and joining her in sleep.

Thanks for reading!!!!