Shout-outs: princesskitty68, AngryLittlePrincess, Water-please, Meguie, Haveafanfictellme Jisbon, Totorsg, Lalalupin, TheBonesGirl33, Azraelean, GyMusicAddict, CastleTyger, & Lothlorien Aeterna

Disclaimer:

I own NOTHING!

Rated: T (slight M)

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Chapter 7

Midnight, Christmas Day

Lisbon had to remind herself to breathe as she peeked into the church sanctuary and saw Jane waiting for her at the end of the aisle as the last of the church-goers disappeared out into the cold, dark night.

"It's time," Peter whispered as he came up behind her and threaded his arm through her's. "Are you ready?"

"Ready," she confirmed, not looking away from Jane for a second.

He caught her gaze and smiled at her, washing the dull fear right from her system. She knew everything would be fine, that they would be fine. The way he was smiling at her, made her want to run down the aisle and into his arms.

She could barely wait for her new life with Jane to begin.

The ceremony went by in a blur, Lisbon barely registered her father giving her away or the vows she and Jane exchanged. The next thing she knew, Jane was sliding a ring on her finger and sealing their promise with a kiss.

.

"I got you and Patrick a free night at the James," Peter said, handing Lisbon a plastic card with the logo of the hotel stamped on it and a set of car keys. "The manager owed me a favor, so I decided to use it for you guys. I thought you'd like to spend your first night as husband and wife alone."

"Thank you," Lisbon answered as she accepted the keys and looked over where Jane was waiting for her at the church entrance.

Peter nodded at him. "He's waiting for you."

Lisbon stood on tip-toe and gave her father a tight hug. "I love you dad."

"I love you too sweetie," Peter replied, closing his eyes and holding her close like he did when she was a little girl. "And I'm glad you found a nice guy, who actually loves and deserves you, because you deserve it. You better treat each other good, okay?"

"We will," Lisbon promised, kissing him impulsively on the cheek. "I'll see you the morning, dad."

"Go on now! You don't want to keep him waiting. It's getting really late," Peter said.

.

Jane was surrounded by candlelight and Lisbon's fruity Bath & Body perfume. Her hair fell over his face in a curtain of espresso brown as she leaned in and kissed him tenderly on the lips, her mouth tasted like expensive champagne and green apple Chap Stick. Her nearness caused something to stir up in the bottom of his stomach.

A feeling just shy of butterflies.

He closed his eyes and pulled her impossibly closer, savoring the pressure of her lips against his, reciprocating the kiss almost reverently. The past two days, they'd kissed a few times and it had been good, but it didn't compare to the sweetness of this moment.

In this lavish hotel room, everything was changing between them; their world was shifting and making them into something even more beautiful than they were before. He sighed inaudibly as she stopped kissing him and met his eyes; her green orbs sparkled in the mixture of moon and candlelight as she looked at him wordlessly for a moment, like she couldn't believe they were actually together after so many years of fighting it.

"I love you Mrs. Jane," he whispered, tangling his hand in her dark locks.

Lisbon smiled then, a stunning smile that she only reserved for him. "I love you too," she whispered back.

Jane kissed her this time as he flipped her on her back and removed her white sweater before working on the buttons of her simple white dress as she leaned up and turned out the light before untying his bowtie and tossing it aside.

.

Christmas morning

She was woken up to gentle kisses on her bare shoulder, she sighed contentedly. "Hey," she said.

"Hey," Jane answered. "You realize our family is waiting for us to come home and open gifts."

"Who called?"

"Annie texted me fifteen minutes ago to ask where we were," he replied.

"Of course she did," Lisbon said, sitting up and wrapping the sheets around her. "Annie's mature for her age, but not when it comes to Christmas. She starts planning everybody's gifts in August, and she writes her own list the day after Halloween."

"Well, I told her that we'd be there as soon as you woke up," Jane said.

"Oh, I see. So, you decided to take matters into your own hands and wake me up."

"I was not planning on waking you up!" Jane protested. "It isn't my fault that you're a light sleeper—"

"You're dressed," Lisbon mused, observing his casual jeans and gaudy sweater.

"And I'm showered," Jane added.

"Who on earth got you to put on such an ugly sweater?" She asked, raising her eyebrows as she reached out and touched the red jingle bell that was standing in as Rudolph's nose.

"Joseph," Jane answered. "He said that it's a family tradition for all the men in the family to wear an ugly sweater on Christmas morning. You don't like it?"

"Oh, it's very nice!" Lisbon said, her eyes growing wide. "It's just that I'm used to seeing you in your three-piece suit. But I could try and get used to you in this."

"Do you want me to change?"

"No," Lisbon replied as she got to her knees and kissed him, before pulling back and looking at it again. "Well. . . maybe."

"Okay," Jane agreed, pulling the sweater over his head and tossing it aside.

Lisbon laughed as she put her hands on his bare shoulders. "I hope you brought something else to wear."

"Well, I was hoping you'd let me join in the family tradition and wear the ugly Rudolph sweater," Jane admitted. "Silly of me, isn't it?"

"Put it back on then," Lisbon said.

"Later," Jane answered, pulling her a little closer and kissing her.

It was a while before they returned to the Lisbon house to open gifts.

.

"There you are," Lisbon said as she stepped out onto the porch and draped a heavy winter coat over Jane's shoulders. "I was wondering where you'd gotten to."

"It's snowing," Jane replied.

"It does that a lot here," Lisbon answered, smiling at him as she slipped a hand under his coat. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine," Jane assured her. "I was just thinking about last night."

"You don't regret it, do you?" Lisbon asked, only half-teasing.

"The only thing I'd regret about you is not doing what we're doing right now," Jane said. "What about you? Do you regret getting married so quickly? Right now are you wishing that we had waited for a sunny day in June to get married and had a huge reception that included a first dance and a cake your parents probably couldn't afford?"

"No," Lisbon whispered. "The way we did it was completely and utterly us. A huge deal wedding in June with a church full of people and a cake wouldn't have made sense for us. We've never been huge, the way we fell in love wasn't even a huge deal. One day we just realized we were and had been for a while. As for the first dance, we have our whole lives ahead of us to have a first dance. Or we could dance right now, if you'd like."

"There's no music though," Jane said. "And there's definitely not enough room on this porch to dance."

"Come on," Lisbon answered, dragging him down the steps and onto the snowy lawn, she put her arms around him and lay her head on his chest, whispering the first few words of a song from an old Barbara Streisand movie. "It started over coffee, we started out as friends, it's funny how from simple things the best things begin—"

"You know, I'm not sad or disappointed," Jane told her. "I'm just so—"

"Happy?" Lisbon finished for him as she looked up into his eyes.

"No, not happy. I don't think there's a word that could describe what I feel right now," Jane answered. "What I feel for you right now," he added as an afterthought.

"It's okay. We have our whole lives together for you to figure out it is what you want to say," Lisbon said.

And then she kissed him, her pulse racing slightly as she realized as he kissed her back and she realized how far they'd come in three days.

She wasn't complaining though.

It was the best Christmas gift she could have ever received.

_The End_

Author's Note:

The end of another story, I feel kind of sad about it because this one was a BLAST to write. Thanks to everybody who took this journey with me (including my silent readers). Your support was appreciated.

My next story will be my New Year's one-shot. You'll be able to find it in my "That's How it Should Be" collection.

I hope the wedding night wasn't M worthy. I tried to keep it as clean as possible. Tell me what you thought!

Lots of love,

Holly, 12/28/2012_