A/N: I think there'll be about 3 chapters left of this. This was going to be the penultimate one but then the plot bunny decided to throw me a curveball, which was nice of it. Thank you as always to those of you who have been kind enough to review. It's like a little drop of happiness in my inbox. x tromana

Part Seven

She ran as fast as her feet could carry her, thoroughly relieved that her doctors had encouraged her to regain her fitness during her stint in hospital. What Lisbon didn't expect was Wayne Rigsby walking in the other direction, away from the man who was obviously his new boss. Well, the ranting and swearing from Howard gave away a lot of things. Obviously, the man had become fed up with her eating up the time of his agents and wanted her out. Good thing she wanted out too, really.

"Boss," Rigsby grinned, ignoring her protestation. "Where are you off to?"

"I… er…"

"You weren't going to run off again, were you?"

Lisbon nodded, shame-faced and Rigsby placed a hand gently onto her shoulder. He announced quickly to Howard that he would be taking his lunch early and guided Lisbon towards the elevator, giving her no option but to go with him. He knew that he was incurring the wrath of his current boss, but he was hoping that now Lisbon was back, Jonathan Howard would be leaving soon. The thought of the team being back together again and getting rid of that ineffectual man made him smile broadly.

"Don't worry, I'll pay," he assured her.

"And you'll make sure that I don't disappear again," she replied, raising an eyebrow.

"That too."

Rigsby took her to a café that had opened approximately a year ago and had quickly become a firm favourite with the unit. Lisbon looked tentative as he led her to a table and remained quiet whilst they ordered. He urged her to talk about nothing in particular over the meal, but given the fact it had been four years since they had last had a conversation, it was hard to find a common ground. As she placed her cutlery neatly together, he steeled himself. He didn't expect that he'd be the one having this conversation with her. To be honest, he'd thought it would be Grace, or Jane himself.

"It's good to have you back, Lisbon."

"Teresa," she corrected him.

"If you don't let me call you Lisbon, I'll start calling you 'boss' again."

Lisbon glared at him, and surprised herself at how naturally that old reaction came back to her. Still, it was better him referring to her by her surname than calling her by a long-defunct title.

"Caitlyn's a good kid," Rigsby suddenly announced. "Stubborn as hell, but a good kid."

"Wayne, I…"

"She blames herself, you know. For you disappearing."

"I know," she murmured. "There are times, I wish I'd had the guts to stay. I know what it's like growing up motherless, and I inflicted that same punishment on her."

Rigsby shrugged his shoulders as he observed her. "You were sick," he stated. "Weren't you?"

Lisbon nodded in response, and went to answer. He held up a hand, not wanting to know the details, immediately silencing her.

"Don't blame yourself, I just think you should give her a chance."

"I'll… try."

"Good, and one more thing. Grace and I are getting married this Saturday and we'd love it if you could attend."

He positively beamed as she confirmed that she would be there. After paying, he took Lisbon by the hand and he led her back to the CBI headquarters, informing her that Minelli was looking forward to seeing her again. And that he would no doubt be more than willing to give Jane a few more days off work so that they could become reacquainted. Rigsby's suppositions were right. Minelli had immediately told Lisbon to cancel her hotel bookings as his spare room was hers for as long as she needed it and practically begged her not to go AWOL again. Minelli soon dismissed everyone present, after informing them he was fairly certain Jane was still in the interrogation room with Cait.

"Will you come-" Van Pelt started.

"I've already asked her," Rigsby interjected, beaming.

"Yes, Grace," Lisbon muttered, eyes trained on the floor. "And congratulations."

When they opened the door to the interrogation room, a little girl came flying out and immediately wrapped her arms around Lisbon. Nervously, Lisbon peeled herself away from her daughter and Van Pelt picked her up instead, informing them that she would make sure the girl was fed and kept entertained for a while. Cho smiled slightly and said he would be more than willing to help out the younger agent.

"If you like, we can keep an eye on her here and bring her home at six-ish?"

Jane nodded in gratitude at Van Pelt's kind offer. The woman was getting married in a couple of days time and didn't really need the stress of looking after a child eating up precious wedding-preparation time. Cait did love spending time with 'Auntie' Grace though, and was looking forward to being her flower girl on Saturday. He glanced over at his wife, wishing desperately to see the same woman he fell in love with rather than the shadow of her former self she seemed to have become. When he caught her gaze and her mouth quirked slightly into a smile, his heart leapt. She was still in there, somewhere. Jane held out a hand and she took it.

They walked, heading in no particular direction. Neither felt any need to talk, just relishing in the fact that they were in one another's company, and enjoying the concept of being husband and wife once more. Jane stopped. However much he was enjoying Lisbon's company, however much he was aching to spend every waking moment with her, it was wrong. There was someone more important to be thinking about.

"What's wrong?" Lisbon whispered, breaking the silence.

"I'm sorry, Teresa, but I can't just let you back into our lives that easily. She's a child, she needs stability. And she's been grieving for her goddamn mother all her life." Jane took a deep breath. "You may be her biological Mom, but I can't let you break her heart again. Or mine."

TBC...