"Hey."
"Hey".
Jane closed the door to Teresa's room behind him and closed the distance between the FBI agent and himself, concern showing on his face.
From her bed, Lisbon flashed him a weak smile, noticing he had taken his shoes off to avoid ruining the carpet. That was Jane, always considerate. She had called him half an hour before, pleading him to come by and help her fall asleep. They had spent the last few days chasing bad guys, eating sandwiches in her car and taking naps whenever they could, never more than thirty minutes at a time. All the adrenaline had left her exhausted but unable to fall asleep. Just like an over-excited child at a birthday party, she was fidgety and would have preferred to get out for a run. Instead she was in bed, in her favorite jersey, nearly crying from frustration. It was almost eleven, and she wanted a full night of sleep to be fully operational at sunrise.

Jane sat on the edge of the bed and took her face in his hand to plant a lingering kiss on top of her head.

"I'd like to make clear that I'm not here to make love to you Teresa." He said, dead-serious.
Lisbon frowned. She had certainly been hoping for some kind of insomnia treatment that would include sex. They hadn't touched for nearly a week after all... But she didn't think she had let it show at all.

"You're wearing the jersey you know always turns me on, you pushed the covers off your naked legs when I came in and your pupils are dilated... In fact, your whole body screams desire. Fact is, you're exhausted, what you need is sleep." He said with a side-way smile, taking his hands off her face.

She loved him, deeply, but she couldn't stand it when he was reading her like a book when she didn't notice her own behavior.

"Oh. And you're saying that because you know what I need better than I do myself, right?"

Jane knew better than to argue with a more-than-exhausted Lisbon, and he dropped the matter.
"No. I'm saying that because you told me so on the phone." He said quietly, never breaking eye-contact. Seeing her disappointment, he went on "Don't get me wrong, I really want to kiss every inch of you. But I can do that when you wake up tomorrow morning."
Teresa sighed. "That's if I can fall asleep in the first place. I've tried everything.".

Judging by the empty glass that had a vague white color on the nightstand, she had tried warm milk. The tea cup next to it was certainly still containing drops of camomile. Her Ipod was on her pillow- Classical music? Or mellow jazz? All those were remedies for stressed students before finals, not for cops after days chasing bad guys.

Jane took his lovers' hand and caressed her knuckles to comfort her.

"No you haven't. If you had, you'd be sleeping like a baby by now."
"Will you help me?"
Lisbon's voice was pleading, and for a moment, Patrick didn't answer, too caught up in contemplation of the way her upper lip was trembling. When he felt her fingers gripping his, the moment was over, and he nodded.

"Of course. Lie down."
She did as he told her, trusting him completely, too desperate to analyze whatever he would make her do.

"Alright." She sighed.
He joined her in bed, threw the covers on them both, made himself comfortable, slid a hand under her jersey and rested it on her belly, skin against skin, his digits pressing into Lisbon's soft abdomen just enough to make her feel he was there, he was in charge.

She turned her head to face him.

"What do I do now? Are you going to make me fall asleep only through the power of your hand?" She asked, cynically.

As much as he liked when Teresa was sharp tongued, sleepy as he was, he was looking forward to see the cute and fluffy side of her when she would awake from deep sleep...
"No. You're going to relax every muscle of your body, now, slowly."
She tried her best to do as he asked, and she seemed to fall back into the mattress.

"Good. Now, you're going to focus on your breathing. When you breathe in, you're going to count 'one', and when you breathe out, you're going to count 'two'. Can you do that?"

She nodded, closed her eyes, and focused on her breathing, and the warmth of Jane's hand on her body.

One. Two. It felt odd, lying on her back whereas she usually fell asleep on her belly. She wanted to turn around, but then she wouldn't be able to breathe the way Jane wanted her to, pushing against his hand. So she didn't move.

Three. Four. The silence was heavy. And it distracted her from her aim, she started thinking, thinking about the last case, using Vega to work from the inside of a mob. She smiled. The young agent had proven to be more than reliable. She now trusted her with her life, even if she would have preferred not to come to that extremity to prove her loyalty.
Five. Six. She felt really sleepy, and she wondered if that was it. Was she going to fall asleep with the next count? She wanted to, she really did.
Seven. Eight. She shivered. For a fluttering second, she saw herself in an hospital, completely panicked, her hand squeezing Jane's... The look on his face was even more frightful than her nightmare about Red John: he was worried sick that she might be traumatized...

She opened her eyes and turned her head to Jane, who was quietly staring at her, looking perfectly peaceful, perfectly happy. She sighed.
"It's not working."
Jane gazed into her green eyes, and without blinking, he read her, again.

"It's not working because you're not trying."
She pouted. She was dying for a new method that she would invent. In that remedy, she would get him naked in no time... Yet, she knew he was right. She had to try harder.
"Would you count for me?"

Jane saw the exhaustion in her eyes, the boredom of loneliness she had lived through until he had stopped the plane. She let him see her pain and her vulnerability during those after hard-case moments, and he didn't let her ask him twice. He wordlessly shifted on the mattress to offer her his body as a comforting nest. She offered him one of those cute weak smiles, showing him how glad she was to finally have him here with her, and snuggled in his arms. Jane held her close to his body, his arms circling her in a tight and warm embrace. He rested his chin on her head and started caressing her hair as he did whenever he could. That wasn't new, he had always liked to touch her hair, it was nice and shinny and soft... He had loved his late wife's hair too. He guessed it had something to do with Oedipus, it seemed more than likely actually. He didn't care. Teresa was all that mattered now. And once he had her safe in his arms, massaging her scalp, he focused on her breathing, and began counting.

"One". He whispered, and instantly, he felt her relax completely.

"Two".
Lisbon smiled. She loved his voice. Deep, warm, rumbling like water in a gorge. She could feel his breath on her scalp, and his voice rolling on her skin. She was home...
"three".
Jane grinned. Lisbon's breathing was even and deep, and he had watched her sleep long enough to tell that she had just fallen asleep, somewhere between two and three, somewhere against his torso.
"Goodnight Teresa." He muttered.
She groaned slightly, acknowledging he had spoken to her, but already past the point where she would be lucid enough to answer something intelligible.

Jane yawned. He hadn't noticed that before, but he was quite tired himself. Sighing deeply, still caressing his lover's body, he began counting to himself again.