Leighanna-Aw thanks my dear cousin!

Simonisthecutestmentalist-Thank you so much, I really try hard.

Disclaimer: Nope

Set the Fire to the Third Bar

After his first letter, Lisbon had slowly found herself sitting on her recliner, knees brought up close to her chest, arms wrapped around her knees, head resting against the cushion. When it was cold in her apartment, she would wrap a warm blanket around her shoulders-The one that faintly smelled of him from the last time he stayed here.

Well, she actually had the blanket around her all the time. She refused to wash it, knowing that once she would do so, his scent will fade, ultimately leaving her forever in the dark. She would at times cling to it, remembering how that night had unfolded. She still chuckles to herself sometimes, but now, she will cry afterwards.

She will always remember it…

Lisbon found herself curled up on her recliner, toes wiggling as she softly hummed to the song playing loudly from her IPod. Her fingers coiled around a good book, something she had picked up yesterday on her way home from work. She reached behind her, picking up her tea, and bringing the cooling drink to her lips.

God it tasted so good.

As she set it back down, she heard a knock. Slightly fixing her posture, she folded the page down in the book and tugged the earplugs out. The person behind her door knocked once more, whoever it was obviously had wanted to ruin her day-it had gone so well.

Bracing herself on the arms, she hoisted herself up, once her feet hit the plush carpet, she made her way across her apartment. She stood on her toes, hands bracing against the door as she closed one eye and looked through the peephole. Blond hair, greenish-blue eyes and a three-piece-suit. That only meant one thing.

Patrick Jane.

Settling back down firmly on her feet, she audibly groaned, throwing her head back slightly. Mentally she contemplated a few things, to open the door, or to leave it closed? She was planning on leaving it closed, he would probably stay awhile making some type of 'this is like fishing' crap…but not all fishermen would stay hours on end if nothing bites…would they?

She turned away from the door, jogging lightly on her toes back towards her recliner. The oversized jersey bounced and she felt the large sweatpants begin to fall way below her hips, but she didn't care, it was her home and she could dress how she pleased. So she did what she had planned on all along, curling back up, opening her book, plugging the headphones back in, and picking up the tea once more.

Then he decided he would pick the lock.

She had not heard him do so because of the energetic sound of the Spice Girls moving around her head. She had been dancing in her seat, very embarrassingly too she might add. At first, she had not heard the sound of him clearing his throat. She continued to flip through her book before she felt a warm hand wrap around her ankle.

Lisbon squeaked-yes, she actually squeaked as well as accidentally kicks him right above his crotch. Yes, she still did knock the air out of his body, making him grip onto her tighter before he almost doubled over.

"Jane! What the hell!?"

"God Lisbon," he paused, grabbing at his stomach where she had previously kicked him with his spare hand, "If I had known this would have happened, I would have considered waiting outside longer,"

"Uh yeah!" she set her book and IPod down and crawled towards him, "You all right?" she heard him wheeze as he now was hunched over slightly, trying to regain his lost breath. She placed her hand on his back, rubbing slightly, "Next time, stay outside."

She could have sworn she saw him smile, "Why Lisbon, are you saying you would like me on your doorstep more frequently," yes, he was definitely smiling at her right now. She refused the sudden urge to blush, sadly she didn't quite win.

The petite brunette shrugged her shoulders, "No," it was actually a quick answer…a slightly incorrect one.

He stuck his finger out towards her accusingly, "Yes, yes you would!" he was grinning from ear to ear, especially now at her clearly visible discomfort. Right now she was shifting her footing and fumbling with the hem of her oversized jersey, furrowing her brow at the loose strand of string her fingers came into contact with.

She looked back up at him, now he was grinning like a true idiot. Scratch that, the man was practically glowing with happiness. In a way, that actually made her feel good. She tucked a strand of dark auburn hair behind her shoulder and tossed her head to the side in an attempt to hide the ever-present blush moving across her cheeks.

"What do you want Jane?" she repositioned herself, arms now crossing over her chest. She thought about tapping her foot, but then she grew intensely worried that he might offer her a snappy comeback about…who the hell knows.

He shrugged, "I was in the neighbourhood…" she raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow up, "Just driving by…" she watched him look around the room, slightly nervously rolling back and forth on his feet. Wait, Patrick Jane was nervous? That was honestly a first for her.

"Really," she leaned forward slightly, now her turn to smile at his discomfort, "And why is that?"

"Let's watch some TV, shall we?" he reached out, lightly grasping her elbow and turning her body towards her flat screen. He smiled and gestured to it before reaching over her recliner and picking up the remote. She continued to smile at him as he moved through her apartment, attempting to make accommodations.

He pulled one of her armchairs to turn and face towards the television before he just plopped down, remote in lap. Without looking, he pressed the power button, letting it warm up and come to life almost immediately. Lisbon eventually sighed in defeat, not wanting to become angry and just turned around and sat back down in her recliner.

After flipping through countless-repeated-channels, Lisbon tossed her head over to Jane, "Just pick one!"

Jane shrugged, remote still in hand and clicking away, "I would if I could Lisbon, but since you do not have cable I find that very hard."

True, but she had all the necessary channels that she needed. It wasn't like she was home all the time, paying for cable seemed so…unthought-of, "C'mon Lisbon, you can't even get this in high definition!"

She smiled, picked up her book, and opened it, fully intent on getting back to where she left off. She fiddled lightly with the earplug, rotating it between two fingers before she stuck it back into her ear. She didn't have time to react when she saw a hand reach out and grab the book from her. Lisbon jumped up and turned to face the culprit. Fuming slightly, she extended her hand towards him.

"Give it back."

Her tone wasn't soft; it wasn't loud either, but slightly demanding, "Not until I figure out what we could do…"

She changed her footing, whining unconsciously slightly as she moved closer towards him. He put out a hand towards her, raising an eyebrow, "Did you just whine, Agent Lisbon?" he smiled at her and she felt embarrassed once more. What was it with this insufferable man and making her feel this way…in the privacy of her own home no less.

"Ja-ane," his smile grew larger, something she never knew that could happen, "Give it back!" she found herself reaching for it one last time before he tugged it out of her grasp. She groaned as he moved backwards, hand still holding up the book away from her reach. She moved quickly towards him, arms extended outwards as she reached for it. What he didn't expect was for her to jump and grab hold onto the book. She lost her footing, falling onto his body. The unexpected force causing him to fall backward onto her couch.

When Jane opened his eyes, he smiled slightly at the close proximity of Lisbon. Her nose barely was brushing up against his as one hand was braced on his chest, the other on her beloved book. One of his hands obviously held onto the book, the other resting on her hip. Oh, and she was also straddling him too. That was the last thing he didn't expect.

Lisbon pulled away, blushing furiously and tucking her hair away. She found herself moving over his body in attempt to get off him. He almost smiled at the sight of how low her pants had become and how the oversized jersey had slowly came up around her body.

He almost groaned at the sight of her.

"Would you like some tea?" her voice was slightly soft and quite shy as she continued to try to 'compose' herself in front of him. He watched her reaction when she realized what all he saw, he felt some remorse for it, but in the end, it actually was all worth it. He couldn't help it…he was a guy.

"Oh, I would love some," he watched her turn around, jogging on her toes once more towards her little kitchen.

He watched her maneuver almost expertly around her kitchen, slightly fumbling with the teapot, almost dropping it once it was full of water. While the water was boiling, she began pulling out the milk, sugar, and two coffee cups. Sadly she owned no teacups, everything in her world was the clear cups, a beer mug, and numerous coffee cups. They all served one purpose, putting a beverage inside them.

She prepared his tea, putting the milk in first and then the boiled water. She stuck the tea bag in, moving it around slightly and placing a spoon inside. She then turned to tend to her own tea. Lisbon had not heard Jane come up behind her. When she felt his touched on her lower back, she gasped, jumped more like it, and nearly dropped her cup.

"I'm sorry," she put her head on her hand, breathing in slightly.

"Jane, don't do that," he nodded, obviously knowing he had stepped over some fine line.

Afterwards, the moved over to her living room area. She had curled herself on the recliner once more, he had on her chair. They talked about their day-their most odd cases, and most of all, the possibility of getting cable for her. She would only have it if she did not have to pay for it.

When she looked over at the clock and it read just ten after twelve, he had decided that he should leave. Once she had seen what time it was, she had put her foot down, telling him that he should at least stay here on her couch. Ever since her mother had died all those nights ago, she still had a haunting feeling about driving during the night.

"Well, be best off leaving now," he set the coffee cup down on a magazine as he reached over the arm of the couch and picked up his jacket, "The tea was really quite lovely, thank you," she just sat there for a few moments, fingering the rim of the cup.

"I think you should stay here tonight," he looked down at her, slightly questioning her motives, "It's late and you shouldn't have to go out driving…" she paused, not wanting to sound as if she wanted sex or something, "It's late," she just finished, placing her hand on her knee in defeat.

He smiled at her and nodded his head, "Thank you, Lisbon," he set his jacket back down over the arm.

She got up, swinging her legs around before she picked up both cups and headed back to the kitchen. He smiled to himself seeing her tug the jersey down, obviously quite self-conscious about it all. When she had come back, she reached over and picked up a hand-woven blanket. It would be warm and itchy but it was truly better than nothing.

"I'll get you a pillow," without another word, she left him and scurried up her stairs. He heard her rustling around her bathroom, opening and closing cabinets before he heard her top step creak, telling him that she was coming down.

She placed the pillow in a case; it was an average, white case-nothing special. She tossed it at him, quite impressed that he actually caught it, "Here you go."

He seemed so too.

He fluffed the pillow up a bit before placing it down at the end of the couch, as he turned his head around, he just saw her disappear upstairs and head into her bedroom. Smiling slightly to himself, he moved quietly upstairs. He walked just down the hall before he pushed the door open slightly. She wasn't in there, but her bathroom door was closed and the light was on.

So he waited.

He sat at the foot of her bed, twiddling his thumbs together, debating whether or not he should begin to whistle. But that train of thought didn't last long when he heard her enter her bedroom.

"Jane? What are you doing up here?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "I wanted to tell you good night," he smiled softly. She nodded in gratitude.

"Good night," she told him before he watched her move around him, brushing slightly against him to head towards her bed, "Well, I plan to go to sleep now so…."

He just nodded, stuck his hands in his vest pockets, and walked out of her room without a word. He moved down the steps, ignoring the occasional squeak. Once he had gotten back to the 'ground floor' of her second story apartment, he picked up the woven blanket, fingering the itchy material and realizing he was better off without it. He lay down, head on pillow, closed his eyes, and attempted to fall into a deep sleep…

Lisbon opened her eyes, heart now thudding her chest as she realized she had fallen asleep for a little over an hour. She looked around and pushed the blanket off her shoulders. She half-way jogged over by her door, slipped on a pair of shoes, and picked up her keys off the floor. She opened her door and move through it to only descend quickly down the steps.

Her mailbox was in sight and she had a good feeling about this. Upon arriving in front of the box, she fumbled with the keys, dropping them and mentally cursing herself for her clumsiness before leaning over to pick them up again. She jammed the keys in the hole and turned to the left.

Once she pulled the little metal door open, she reached in a pulled out another assortment of envelopes. She flipped through them all and smiled vibrantly at the very last thing in her hands. A new postcard from Jane.

She smiled on her way back to her apartment, a feeling of happiness entering her veins. It had been a little over eight weeks since his last card and she had been surely yearning for a new one. She wanted an update, to know he was still all right…wherever he was.

Lisbon stood outside her apartment and read it slowly, savouring it.

Teresa-

I hope this will make you smile, I truly do wish for you to be happy. I'm still in the northeast, if you're wondering…its cold here, very cold. I found myself having to buy one of those trench coats that you see in the movies. Made me feel very…Al Capone.

I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, I do not know when I will be able to write to you yet again. I wish you the best,

Love Patrick.

She slowly trailed her fingers over the words, her only link to Patrick Jane. Biting on her bottom lip, she turned the card over and smiled. The card he had chosen was appropriately decorated with snow covered mountains, and then in a Sharpie Marker written 'Merry Christmas Teresa!' in his neat script over the mountain tops.

Pushing herself away from the wall outside her door, she moved around and pushed it open to enter. She set the postcard down on her table and looked at the same textbook she had used previously-still opened to its previous page. Once more realizing that they were so close, yet so far away.

I touch the place

Where I'd find your face

My fingers in creases

Of distant dark places.

I'm already working on the next one and should be finished later tonight, thought I won't update until tomorrow or Thursday.

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