I'll be waiting
Thank you everyone who has written a review, I welcome any feedback! I think I amgoing to start a new story as well so if anyone has any suggestions on what they would like to be written about then please message me, I hope you enjoy the chapter x
The next morning, Lisbon groaned as her alarm sounded indicating she needed to wake up for work. She had spent half the night conjuring up ways to let down Pike and the other half getting worked up over what would now happen with Jane. What was she supposed to tell him? "Hi Marcus, I'm not going to move to D.C , I'm breaking up with you, oh and by the way, I'm in love with my best friend". At first she wondered how she had gotten herself into this mess. Then the more she thought about it, the more typical it seemed considering it involved Jane. Trust him to leave things till the last minute when she would be left in the lurch to deal with an upset Pike whilst radiating guilt over what she had done for the infuriating man. Typical Patrick Jane. She wasn't sure whether to be ecstatic that she had finally found someone she was willing to do anything to be with, or pissed that she had fallen for a deceptive genius with a devilish grin.
She had to break up with Pike today, and after all the tossing and turning that night, still hadn't figured out what she could say to make it any easier. Although she now knew she clearly did not love the man and there was no future there, Patrick or not, she still really liked him and he still deserved much more than the hand she was going to deal him today. Sighing with frustration, she reached out to the bedside table to grab her phone so she could text Pike to meet her for lunch. A wave of anxiety washed through her body when she saw the flash of Jane across her screen, telling her she had two messages. Oh god, what if he had changed his mind? What if he was panicking and backed out? What if it was just a ploy to get her to stay and now he regretted it? Her shaking fingers slid across to unlock the phone and open the messages. She couldn't help the butterfly's that settled low in her stomach and the soft smile appear on her face at the short but sweet messages he had left.
Jane: Hey, sleep well?
Jane: I'm running to that small coffee shop you like this morning on the way in, any special requests?
It wasn't much, but he had clearly been thinking about her. He knew she would not have slept well and he knew her favourite order by heart. She was kind of glad he hadn't said anything about last night; she did not want to be a cheat, and until she had broken up with Pike that is the way she would see herself if anything more happened with her and Jane. She needed to make sure she stayed away from him for the day – now it was out in the open she wasn't so sure she could act the same way they always have with each other. Now she knows he has felt the same way, instead of just hoping. Hopping out of bed she runs in to the bathroom to get ready for the day, paying just that little bit more attention to her makeup and choosing a blouse she noticed Jane had always checked her out in.
Walking into the FBI bullpen, Jane placed the steaming cup of coffee and bag of pastry on Lisbon's desk, glad he had arrived before her so it was there waiting when she walked in. He was nervous. He had already messaged her this morning in hopes that she would realise he had spent all night thinking of her and not much else. He didn't want to scare her away. They had loved each other a long time, but they had been friends for longer, and he didn't want to do anything that would jeopardise the one true, genuine relationship he had had with anyone since his family's fate years ago.
Since he had told her his feelings, a huge weight finally felt like it had been lifted from his shoulders. The wait to see what would happen however was slowly replacing it. When he had finally come face to face with Red John he thought the power of killing him would release him from the guilt and depression he had managed to wrap himself up in for all those years. He expected the achievement of catching the murderer would fill him with joy and he would be free to live his life the way he wanted. He never anticipated leaving behind a life and people that, in fact, turned out to mean much more to him than revenge ever would. That's what he had spent his time realising over the period he had apart from everyone whilst hiding in Venezuela. In fact, he had realised it much sooner, as soon as the deed was done and he knew he had to flee, the heavy, heart wrenching pain that fled his body as he left a message for a woman he had no idea when he would see again. The time in Venezuela was spent mourning a relationship he had never been able to have, and coming to terms with the choices he had made in life. It was also when he realised how killing Red John never replaced the sorrow he felt for his dead wife and daughter; that took some time to come to terms with. Killing Red John had been what had kept him going in the beginning; it was what he needed to keep pushing on. Openly admitting something he had been chasing for ten years did no good was very difficult for him to accept. It also meant he had to feel guilty and hate himself all over again for the fact that killing the man had now lead him to alienate himself from the people that were the real reason he had finally recovered from his lost life. He had effectively ruined his second chance. He would constantly catch himself thinking of her, picturing her in his mind making some witty comment about his Sarong, or laughing at the magic tricks he would show ten times over to the children in the street. He promised himself in them moments that should he ever see her again, he would tell her just how much she meant to him. He clearly had some making up to do in that department. He had been back for months, and as he told her last night he had tried multiple times to tell her, but none of them times seemed good enough to convey the emotions he had come to associate with her.
Sitting on his couch, realising he was now daydreaming, he noticed Lisbon's bag on the desk and the pastry and coffee now gone. She was in Abbott's office he guessed, or the breakroom. All he needed was one look at her to fathom what she was thinking about the whole situation.
He waited for ten minutes when Lisbon strolled back over to her desk, talking to Wiley on the way as she made her way back from Abbott's office, coffee in her right hand. Dropping down into her seat, she swung around and glanced at him "thanks for the coffee, I needed it", "you did?", "I always need coffee in the morning, you know that" she said teasingly as he smiled flirtatiously at her.
Pike entered the room and made a beeline for Lisbon's desk, grinning like a Cheshire cat when he saw that she was already up and out of her chair ready to leave for lunch. Little did he know it was so Jane didn't get a chance to say anything to him before she could. He had been attempting to engage her in flirtatious banter all morning, and to be honest she was finding it all over whelming and bizarre.
"Hi you, ready for lunch?"
"yeah, let's get out of here, can we go somewhere different for lunch? I need to talk to you"
"yeah sounds great, I missed you last night". Her stomach sunk as she racked her brain for a good response.
"uhh...okay. you can drive". She wanted to hit herself in the face. How insensitive could she be, really. Little did she realise she had a spectator shooting daggers in the back of Pike's head throughout the whole encounter as he grabbed her hand and led her to the lift. Turning around once she was in, she stared at Jane, dropping Pikes hand and swallowing hard when she saw the sincerity and comfort penetrating her back through his.
She sat at her desk, head resting on one hand whilst she scrolled through her computer with the other. Guilty didn't cover it. She wanted to be completely honest with Pike, which consisted of telling him about Jane and her feelings and according to him all the lies she had been telling about how much she liked him. They weren't lies. They just weren't 100% truths either. She did like him, but she had never said she loved him or that she would move thousands of miles to be with him. This wasn't what made her feel guilty though. It was the fact that she had been back in the office five minutes and the first sight of Jane and she couldn't even remember who Pike was. Why did he have such a hold on her?
Four hours later and not one word spoken between the pair, Jane decided the silence was deafening and it needed to be broken. Most had now left the office and you could cut the tension with a knife. He stood and silently made a move so he could lean over her shoulder, mouth close to her right ear, hands placed on the arm rests of her chair. He could feel her body tense, and took pleasure in the effect he could invoke.
"So, are you deliberately ignoring me because you have completely changed your mind, or are you just waiting for me to make the first move?" he whispered into her ear with a smile on his face. Turning her head slightly towards him, she smiled softly at him, "neither. I'm just in a funny mood, that's all. You haven't done anything". Looking at her this closely he could see she had been upset earlier and it bothered him. Moving around slowly he sat on the edge of the chair in front of her desk, hands in his lap.
"Are you okay?"
"…I'm fine" she said with an uncomfortable look on her face as she realised Jane had figured out what had happened with Marcus.
"You've been crying, did he upset you?"
"No he didn't", Jane gave her a pointed look, "well…he did but I kind of deserved it, it's no big deal"
"No you didn't Teresa. It's late, stop working, let's go eat" he gave her a shy look, alternating between looking at his hands and her face, "I would have asked you out on a date this evening seeing as it's a Friday and all, but something is telling me you want something you can eat with your hands and paper napkins over fine silver cutlery and portions the size of my thumb. Comfort food, its good for the soul".
For once her head and heart were in the same place. It was Friday night, she was no longer attached to Marcus, and the man who she had undoubtedly fallen in love with had asked her to go for dinner. And she didn't even have to dress up. Although part of her was disappointed about that; she was kind of looking forward to seeing Janes reaction if she put on a black dress especially for him.
Raising her eyebrows at his confession, she licked her bottom lip and shyly smiled back at him replying with a simple "okay" to which he grinned widely and stood, placing one hand on her lower back as he lead her out of the office.
Sitting in the corner of a Texican café whilst sharing a plate of nachos and iced tea, Jane didn't think he could be any happier. As soon as they had left the office he had worked his magic and got Lisbon laughing in no time, and she hadn't stopped smiling since. He felt like he was sixteen again going on his first real date. He couldn't stop staring. Now everything was in the open it was difficult to not do it. He could finally give her the attention he wanted and knew she wouldn't freak out about it. His eyes didn't leave hers as she spoke about all the things she did with her time back in Canon River when her work hours weren't so long.
"So, you don't miss Venezuela? It must have been nice living by the beach with no job to get up at 5am for"
"yeah…well…it's not so much a paradise when no one speaks your language and you don't have the person there you want to share it all with"
Lisbon's smile mellowed as she contemplated what to say to him. There was still an ounce of doubt in her mind that everything he was saying was just a con. Call it an old habit, but she had learned a long time ago to not take anything the man says at face value. "you know, you've never talked about it. What happened before you left, I mean", interrupting before she could really delve into the past he replied "its intentional Teresa. It's not that I don't want to tell you, it's just that I don't want you to think of me as the man I was when I left. I also don't think I could handle the guilt if you told me all the mess I left you to deal with either. We're both different than we were before, having time apart. I want you to know me as I am now, a completely different person to when you first met me. I want you to know you can trust me Teresa, you always could".
He reached across the table slowly to entwine his fingers around hers, giving her time to back away if she wanted. She gripped his in return and softly stroked his thumb, her eyes twinkling with appreciation at his words. Why the hell couldn't he have said this months ago instead of getting himself locked up in a detention suite? She would have moved states regardless of the job offer.
"That's all I needed to know"
It was late now as he walked up her garden path, deja vu setting in from the previous night when the circumstance wasn't so great. His hand was loosely linked with hers as she dug around in her bag for her keys. Reaching and unlocking the door, she turned and looked at Jane, caught off guard by the smouldering look he was giving her. She would invite him in, god she wanted to! But she didn't want to come across desperate, or promiscuous. If only he would make the first move…Pulling herself out of her less than innocent thoughts she said goodnight to him.
"Thank you for dinner Jane, I enjoyed it"
"it's my pleasure, Lisbon. I'll message you tomorrow?"
"Sure". Having taken her opening the door but not inviting him in as a clear sign she wasn't ready, he held in his desire to kiss her and leaned in, hand cupping her chin, placing a lingering kiss on her cheek instead. "Night, Teresa" he whispered. Eyes meeting with such close proximity, he could see her pupils had dilated and could feel the shiver that ran down her spine, "Night Patrick".
He turned and slowly made his way back down the path.
Patrick.
She had called him Patrick.
She never called him Patrick unless she really wanted something from him. Screw it. Giving in to his desires, it took him all but 5 seconds before he did a U turn and jogged back up the steps, knocking vociferously on her door. Confused by his return, she opened the door and before she knew it, she had one hand in her hair and one caressing her shoulder, lips fused with her own as she was backed against a wall. She briefly heard the sound of him kicking her door closed, gripping his shoulders as he pushed every inch of his body up against her own, claiming her mouth with his tongue.
