Shout-Out: vanrigsby, and AngryLittlePrincess. Thanks for the review girls!

Chapter 4

"Grace!" Jane said, dropping the bag he was carrying on the counter, stealing a glance in Lisbon's direction. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello to you too," Van Pelt answered, taking a sip of her iced coffee.

"I'm sorry," Jane replied. "Grace! Hello, it's so good to see you again. Do you have any idea how worried we were about you?"

Van Pelt nodded. "Everybody keeps telling me."

"So, where were you then?" He asked.

"It's a long story darling, she'll tell you all about it later," Lisbon said coming over and giving him a chaste kiss on the cheek before putting the ice cream and popsicles away in the freezer. "Where's Austin and Ella?"

"Out on the porch," Jane replied. "I got them some bubbles while we were shopping and they couldn't wait to try them out."

"Oh," Lisbon said.

Jane looked at Van Pelt. "You can go and see them if you'd like."

"Really?"

"There your children," Lisbon answered, a hint of laughter in her voice.

Van Pelt nodded and got to her feet. "Okay, I'll be back soon. Thanks guys."

.

"It's too bad that Uncle Patrick is too old to have kids of his own," Ella said as she dipped her wand into the bubble solution. "He'd make such a great dad."

Austin nodded his agreement, absent-mindedly watching the bubbles float away. "Well, it's his own fault. He should have gotten together with Aunt Teresa sooner than he did."

Van Pelt could barely conceal her smile as she watched her children interacting with each other. She felt a pang in her heart as it hit her just how much she had missed out on in her absence. But she couldn't dwell on the past anymore, most of the things that had happened the past seven years hadn't even been her fault.

She took a deep breath and stepped out of her hiding place.

"Hi guys," she said tentatively.

Ella looked up. "You look familiar, who are you?"

Van Pelt's heart squeezed just a little bit. "I'm Ariel; I'm an old friend of Jane and Lisbon's."

"Yeah, you're in their wedding pictures," Ella said, abandoning her bubbles. "But you were pregnant then."

"I was," Van Pelt replied, smiling a little bit.

Ella narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You're standing awfully close to my father in those pictures."

"He was an old friend too in those days," Van Pelt lied easily.

"So, where was my mom in those pictures?" She challenged.

Van Pelt sighed wearily, wracking her brains to somehow explain that particular observation to the inquisitive girl in front of her. Thankfully, she was saved by Jane coming out to tell them that dinner was ready.

.

They were half-way through dinner when there was a knock at the door. Jane excused himself and went off to answer it. A couple of minutes later, he was leading Rigsby and Bianca into the dining room.

"Hey!" Lisbon said, getting to her feet. "You guys weren't supposed to be here until tomorrow night."

"Yeah, well Wayne was worried about the kids," Bianca said with false cheerfulness.

"The kids are fine Rigsby," Jane said, twirling some pasta around his fork as he eyed him carefully. "You know that Lisbon and I always take good care of them when they stay with us."

"I tried to tell him that," Bianca replied irritably. "But no, he insisted that we come home early."

"You guys look hungry," Lisbon interjected, trying to break some of the tension. "How about I get you two some dinner?"

"Dinner would be nice," Bianca answered as she landed in a chair and closed her eyes dramatically.

Van Pelt could scarcely suppress an eye roll at the other woman's theatrics. She took a sip of wine and prayed for the strength to hold her tongue, she was so afraid that she was going to say something that she regretted.

Bianca opened an eye and looked at her suspiciously. "And who are you?"

"Ariel Reede," Van Pelt replied. "I'm an old friend of Teresa and Patrick's."

"I'm Bianca Wordsworth Rigsby," she said. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"You too," Van Pelt lied, taking a larger gulp of wine.

"Cho and Summer are coming over for dessert," Lisbon said as she set a plate down in front of Rigsby. "I called them this afternoon and told them that Ariel was in town. Cho was so anxious to see her that I couldn't resist inviting them over. I hope that's okay with you guys."

Rigsby nodded and took a sip of wine, suddenly feeling extremely uncomfortable.

.

"So," Van Pelt said addressing Bianca as they settled in the den with chocolate cake. "How did you and Wayne meet exactly?"

"My best friend's husband had been murdered, and he was working the case," Bianca answered, swallowing the miniscule bite she had taken. "I found him incredibly attractive, so I did everything I could to find out his marital status, when I found out that he was single, I asked him out. The rest, as they say, is history."

"Wonderful story," Van Pelt said through clenched teeth.

Bianca laughed. "Actually, it's quite boring. The story I want to know is how Teresa and Patrick got together, everybody's always talking about it but nobody seems to ever know the details."

"Because, the details are something that we'd like to forget," Jane said dryly.

"Oh come on, tell!" Bianca whined, leaning forward. "It could be your wedding present to me."

Cho, Rigsby, Van Pelt, and Summer all leaned forward as well. They didn't even know the details behind the way their team leader and consultant had gotten together. And they were extremely curious about it.

Jane glanced at Ella and Austin, who were sitting with Cho and Summer's kids playing Memory. "It isn't a story that kids should hear."

"Kids, why don't you go in the other room and watch some television?" Rigsby suggested, smirking at Jane.

"Can we?" Ella asked, glancing at Jane for his permission.

"You can't get out of it now," Lisbon said, smiling at him.

"Fine! Fine!" Jane replied. "But I'm telling the story without any interruptions from anybody! And that especially goes for you woman."

"Hey!" Lisbon said, raising her hands slightly. "If you want to tell the story, feel free to tell it. Who am I to stop you?"

Jane nodded in satisfaction and waited until Ella, Austin, Kimball Jr, Meg, and Willow were all out of the earshot before starting the story.

.

Eleven Years Earlier:

"Hey Jane," Lisbon said, kicking his couch impatiently. "Wake up!"

"I wasn't sleeping," Jane answered, sitting up and stretching. "What's up? Do we have a case?"

"No," she replied, shaking her head. "But you're coming home with me."

"It's only three 'o clock in the afternoon though," Jane protested. "There's at least three hours left before we can leave for the day."

"It's okay," Lisbon assured him. "Wainwright gave me the okay to leave a little early."

"But why?" He asked.

"Don't ask why," Lisbon said. "When your boss gives you the rest of the afternoon off from work, you don't ask questions, you just grab your stuff and run."

"Who are you and what have you done with Teresa Lisbon?" Jane teased.

"Come on Jane!" She pleaded.

"No really, are you sick?" He pushed.

Lisbon sighed. "I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. Are you done your teasing? I'd really like to get home before I die of old age."

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Jane said, putting his suit jacket on. "Would you just relax for once in your life?"

"I am relaxed!" Lisbon snapped.

He followed her to the elevator. "I'll take your word for it then."

"Good," she said, pushing the button for the lobby.

.

Lisbon sighed as she opened the door and threw her keys down. "Home sweet home."

"What do you want to do now?" Jane asked. "Do you have Scrabble?"

She shook her head, and went over to her stereo system, she flipped through her stack of CDs, and slipped a disc into the player. Crash Into Me started to play as pulled her hair out and slowly started to approach him. "Sorry, but I don't have Scrabble."

"I could go make something to eat. . . if you're hungry," Jane said, backing up slightly.

"I'm not very hungry right now," Lisbon replied, her voice trembling slightly as she reached out and ran her hand down his vest.

"What are you doing?" He asked as her lips found his and she kissed him tenderly.

"Kissing you," she answered, pulling away slightly. "I hope that's okay."

Jane's breath hitched in his throat as he nodded and whispered, "it's fine. . ."

"Maybe you could kiss me back?"

He nodded again as he closed his eyes, putting his arms around her and holding onto her tightly. His breathing matched her's as their lips collided.

.

"Why now?" Jane asked later on as they ate ice cream leaning up against the cabinets in Lisbon's kitchens.

"Why now what?" Lisbon replied, stealing a spoonful of Jane's chocolate ice cream.

"Why did you wait until this afternoon to. . ." Jane trailed off, looking for the right words to use. "Act out on your feelings for me?"

"I thought now was as good a time as ever," Lisbon answered, almost uncomfortably.

"But why—"

Lisbon didn't have time to answer him, because her phone started to ring. She glanced at the caller ID and winced. "Hold on a second Patrick, I have to get this."

"I'll be right here waiting for you," Jane replied.

She laughed, got to her feet, and flipped her phone open. "Hello? Oh it's you Cho. . . no, he's still with me. You did? Well, that's good then. No, I'll talk to him. Okay, you have a good night. 'Bye."

"What's going on?" Jane asked, looking at Lisbon.

"Please don't hate me," Lisbon said quickly.

Jane shook his head. "I could never—"

"Red John's dead!" She blurted out.

"What!" Jane asked incredulously.

"Red John is dead," she repeated slowly. "The rest of the team found him earlier this afternoon—"

"But I don't understand," Jane said.

"We've been tracking down leads for a while now," Lisbon explained as she sat down beside him again. "We finally got a huge lead on him this morning. . ."

"I can't believe that I didn't know you were looking for him," Jane said.

"I didn't want you to know!" Lisbon replied. "Jane, you don't understand. If you had known, and if you had been there when we found him. I couldn't live with it. . . I couldn't live without you."

"What did you just say?" Jane asked a little breathlessly.

Lisbon blushed, realizing that she had said a little too much. But it was too late to turn back, he had heard her. "I said that I couldn't live without you."

"So, you were so sure of my decision, that you couldn't let me choose for myself?"

"It's all that you've talked about for the past nine years," Lisbon said. "Don't blame me, please don't blame me."

"I have to go."

Lisbon nodded. "I-I understand."

"Do you?"

"I'll see you later," she replied, ducking her head so he wouldn't see how embarrassed she was.

.

Jane was almost on the highway when he started to think logically again, and his anger towards Lisbon all melted away. He pulled off to the side of the road and sighed as he rested his forehead on the steering wheel. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that inspite of his feelings, she hadn't really taken anything away from him. Like always, she was just doing what she thought was best for him.

He didn't exactly have to like it.

But he couldn't punish her because of it either.

He remembered the way she felt in his arms, the way her lips felt beneath his, the way she looked after giving into her own feelings for him after years of waiting.

No, he couldn't just leave her. Not if it meant that he had to spend the rest of his life without her.

He put the car into gear and turned around, breaking almost every speed limit to get back to her.

When he reached her apartment, he barely remembered to stop his car before tearing out of it and rushing to her doorstep.

She opened the door after one knock, looking like a forlorn child with her hair wet around her cheeks and her face void of the little makeup that she usually wore. Her eyes were sad and he could tell that he had broken her heart a tiny bit.

"I thought you had left," Lisbon said hollowly, forcing herself to look at him.

"I did, but I had barely gotten away when I realized something," he replied. "I shouldn't have walked out on you like that. It was wrong of me, you didn't do anything wrong. I know that you were just trying to protect me. . . to protect us—"

"How do you know I was trying to protect us?" Lisbon asked. "There is no us in Patrick and Teresa—"

"There's always been an us," Jane said as he tucked a strand of damp hair behind her ear. "We both know it, and there's no use in denying it anymore. Not after this afternoon."

"You're—" She closed her eyes against his touch and took a deep shuddery breath. "You're not angry with me?"

"I was," Jane admitted. "But then I couldn't be. I'm sorry for walking out on you. We're two mature adults, most of the time. We should have talked about it."

"Does that mean you forgive me?" Lisbon asked.

"There's nothing to forgive," Jane answered, cupping her cheeks in his hands and staring into her eyes. "I also realized that you were only doing what you thought was best. Maybe if I had the chance, I would have cut him to pieces. And if I did, I wouldn't get the chance to say what I've needed to say for the past eight years."

"What?" She asked breathlessly.

"I love you," Jane answered, before covering her mouth with his.

.

Present Day

"I can't believe that it took you guys nine years to get together," Summer said, taking another piece of cake as Jane finished the story. "It only took Kimball and I a month to get together after we met."

"You guys sure are an interesting bunch," Bianca added condescendingly. "Patrick fell in love with his boss, Kimball fell in love with a hooker—"

"You're part of it babe," Van Pelt said, cutting her off. "Wayne probably questioned you when he was investigating the murder of your best friend's husband."

She colored. "That's beside the point."

"No," Van Pelt said sweetly. "It really isn't."

TBC. . .

.

Author's Note:

Well, there you have it. . . the way Jane and Lisbon got together. It didn't exactly go the way that I wanted it to, because I don't write M scenes on principal. But I was aiming for Lisbon to seduce him. I'm sorry the ending was a little abrupt, and that there wasn't more about Van Pelt/Rigsby/Bianca, but there's going to be. I promise.

Couple more notes, I wrote this chapter to "Crash Into Me" and "You and Me" by the Dave Matthews Band. They fit Jane and Lisbon's story, for me. And I took Van Pelt's fake names from roles Amanda Righetti played.

Please drop a review.

Love you!

Holly, 3/29/1012_