Another update so soon, I know it's a miracle. Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter, I would love to see more but to those who left one, I thank you, I really appreciate them. A little bit of case stuff in this one, not a lot, but my shipper side took over. Hope you enjoy this and please let me know what you think.


They were woken by the sound of Lisbon's cell phone and a soft but persistent knocking on their door. Jane looked at the small alarm clock next to the bed and saw it was 10:30; they had both slept a lot longer than they usually did. But, he was happy to note that both of them were still in the room, they hadn't yet fallen victim to their killer. While Lisbon woke herself up enough to answer her phone, which she noticed now had multiple missed calls; Jane went to see who was trying to get their attention on the other side of the door.

"Lisbon."

"Hey, Boss. Didn't want to wake you, but I wanted to let you know the killer struck again last night. This time he's killed two, but other than that same M.O. and they were found in the same place. No I.D's but we checked with the hotel staff this morning and they were able to identify them. Nicholas and Jennifer Kelly, mid-30's, he was a construction worker, she was..." Before Cho could continue his monologue Lisbon interrupted.

"A receptionist."

"Yes, how did you know?" You wouldn't know from the lack of change in his voice, but Cho was surprised by Lisbon's knowledge.

"We actually spoke to them yesterday at lunch. They were telling us they were in town for a birthday party and now that I think of it they fit the killer's M.O. They said yesterday was the first time they had really ventured out, so it's not surprising that our killer took a look at them." While she was not one to let herself sympathise too much with the victim, her job would be too difficult if she did, she couldn't help but feel a little sadness upon hearing that the perfectly lovely couple they had been talking to were now victims.

"Sorry, Boss. I've sent Van Pelt and Rigsby to the hotel, they should be there by now, they'll question the staff again, check out the security cameras and have a look around the vic's room and see if the killer accidently left anything that could give us a clue as to what happened." As always Cho was to the point and left no room for sentiment. Lisbon noticed then that Jane was standing in front of her waiting for her to end the call.

"Ok, keep up the good work. Call us if you find anything, and we'll let you know if we can get anything from here." She ended the call and instantly felt the awkwardness they had put on hold while answering the phone and the door. In a bid to avoid the conversation the two needed to have, Lisbon questioned Jane about their mystery knocker.

"Oh, it was one of the managers, telling us the police will probably want to talk to us about the latest murder, which I assume you have just heard about from Cho."

"Yeah, he said Van Pelt and Rigsby should be here. He also said the victims were Nicholas and Jennifer, the couple we had lunch with yesterday." Lisbon thought she noticed a very minute flash off sadness wash over Jane's face before he covered it up.

"That makes sense; they were unknowingly behaving in a similar manner to the previous victims. Although I find it interesting that the killer took two victims this time instead of one. Maybe he's become more confident." As he spoke, Jane made his way over to the kitchenette and turned the kettle on to make tea.

"Cho said everything else was the same, so you're probably right, maybe he is more confident, or he had no other choice than to kill both of them. They looked like the type to never be apart; perhaps he couldn't get either of them on their own so he had to take both."

"Probably," Jane replied absentmindedly as he made his tea. "I told the manager that we would be down in half an hour to talk to Rigsby and Grace, so you might want to grab a shower before we go. You go first; I'll have my turn after you." With those words Jane went to the couch and turned on the television to some news program. Lisbon didn't bother to reply; she grabbed some clothes and entered the bathroom. It seemed they weren't going to broach the subject of the shared bed or declarations at the moment.


After briefly speaking to Van Pelt and Rigsby about 'anything they had seen' they decided to once again stakeout the pool as they had done a couple of days ago. It seemed the most happened around there and Jane was convinced that if anyone knew anything they would be gossiping pool side. Jane noticed the women he had spoken to a few days ago and he saw them narrow their eyes in Lisbon's direction before talking amongst themselves, giggling and looking in his direction every so often.

They had found two empty pool lounges next to each other and decided to make that their base for the day. Jane watched as Lisbon arranged herself on the lounge. He knew he shouldn't stare, but he honestly couldn't help it. To the untrained eye she looked perfectly relaxed and happy to be outside, soaking up the California sun.

But, he of course knew better. Her body language told him she felt guilty. Guilty that Nicholas and Jennifer had been taken right under their noses. Guilty that they still hadn't stopped the killer. Guilty that she hadn't been killed instead. And even more than the others, guilty that despite all the other guilt, she wanted to know what last night meant and how they would move forward and whether anything would change.

Deciding to deal with the case related guilt first he reached over, grabbed her hand and placed a soft kiss to her palm. Still holding her hand in his she watched as she looked at him, curiosity all over her face.

"This isn't your fault." He squeezed her hand, hoping she would believe what he said. She felt pressure from her hand, gripping his, almost as if she was afraid he'd disappear.

"I know." She told him, but her eyes said she still felt responsible.

They didn't investigate that day, silently agreeing to wait to see if the team could dig up anything first.


Once again their night was quiet. Despite the recent murder, they still wanted to try and make themselves targets, as at the moment that seemed like the only way to find the killer. They were avoiding other guests again, not wanting to make a personal connection with any possible victim again. Both of them weren't sure if they could take it if another person they spoke to met the same fate as the current victims.

It was getting late, and while Jane wanted to mimic their sleeping arrangements from the night before, he was well aware that he probably wouldn't be able to persuade Lisbon again. That was why he was surprised when Lisbon tugged on his arm when he made his way to the couch to sleep. Not wanting to risk questioning her Jane went along and found himself once again in bed with Lisbon. But, this time it was different. There wasn't the same awkwardness there was the previous night. No need for talk. A new closeness was now present.

Lying on 'his' side, trying to keep a gentlemanly distance, he was pleasantly surprised when he felt Lisbon's arm around his waist and felt her breath close to his face. He was completely floored when he felt her warm, soft lips press against his for one short moment. He didn't have any time to respond before she laid her head on his chest, her arm pressing even tighter around his waist.

He knew that saying anything could potentially scare her off; that was the last thing he wanted to do. He kept to their unspoken agreement of not questioning things between them. He settled by putting his arm around her, pulling her tightly to his chest, kissing her head. He felt himself drift off to sleep, thinking that if he had known sleeping next to Lisbon would cure his insomnia, he would have done it ages ago.