Thank you for all the nice reviews & encouragement, it really means a lot to me. this is longer chapter but hope you still enjoy it. I apologise for any mistakes but I will go back & correct them eventually but wanted to get it up & posted So I can move the story along in the up coming chapters.

Chapter 10

Jane picked himself off the corridor floor trying to stop the flow of blood pouring from his nose. This wasn't the first time he had been on the receiving end of one of Teresa Lisbon's punches, except the last time it had been totally warranted, he had lied to her about being infected with a deadly virus & let her believe for half a day they were about to die. This time, however, was not his fault & apart from being a bit slow on the up take with the blonde air head, he didn't deserve the pain his nose was giving him or the black eyes he was going get come tomorrow.

He knew he needed to go after Teresa but she needed to calm down first, he wasn't prepared to receive another punch just yet. Jane stormed back to his suite to find Tina Pennington laying on his bed with her legs hanging over the edge, he walked into the bathroom, grabbed a bath towel then picked up her discarded bra from the floor & threw it at her.

"Get out... Now, " Jane sat down on the arm of the sofa tipping his head backwards placing the towel against his face.

"... Wlassss that your wife? Tina said, slurring her words, propping herself up on her elbows still naked from the waist up, she glanced to gold band placed on his left hand. He looked down to his ring, a wave of guilt suddenly hit him, he was beginning to heal slowly, learning live & love again but he still had times where the self hatred & guilt over his wife & child murders hit him, specially when someone reminded him, like now.

"Hey... I don't mind sleeping with a married man. It wouldn't be the first time..."she said as thou Jane should be impressed by this confession.

"GET OUT now, before I chuck you out..." Jane's voice was low & calm but there was cold edge to them.

"Patrick, don't be..." Tina started to say, sitting herself up but Jane cut her off.

"Listen to me. If you don't leave now, you will discover how I am the WRONG person to mess with, do I make myself clear? " Tina was quickly starting to sober up, something in his words scared her a little.

"And for future reference Ms Pennington, as clearly I didn't make myself clear enough yesterday, I would never be interested in a selfish, spoilt, insecure, money driven, dim witted, little slut like you, who throws herself at any man, due to her severe lack of self confidence & deep rooted Daddy issues. Now, get your stuff & get out of my room.

Tina quickly picked up her bra from the bed now trying to cover her nakedness, self consciously, she stumbled a little on her heels as she ran out the room, tears streaming down her face. Once she had fled, Jane slammed the door hard behind her, he couldn't believe what was happening, it was like something out of a bad rom com movie, except it was funny or romantic.

Ever since the incident at the warehouse last week everything seemed to be going down the pan, it felt like their little perfect bubble had finally been burst, 4 months of pure love & bliss & now everything seemed to be going against him. He walked over to the mini fridge, putting some ice into the white bath towel. He held it to his face, sitting down on the bed trying to apply his biofeedback techniques to calm himself, there was a small knock on the door, he choose to ignore, assuming it was Tina, the knock came again but more insistent this time, groaning with pure frustration, he stormed over to the door & wrench it open.

"WHAT!... Oh Franklin it's you." Jane softened his voice when he saw the young lad in front of him, stepping aside to let him into his room

"Señor Jane, are you ok? What happened to your nose?" Franklin asked, concerned at seeing blood dripping from his nose.

"Long story Franklin... I won't bore you. Come on in."

Franklin & Jane sat down on his suite comfy sofas, Franklin explained he needed Jane's help with the wedding, Jane sat listening, piecing all the pieces together, his brain was hurting & his nose throbbing, Jane ran his hand thru his hair when he realised that he had messed up big time, not just with Teresa but for Franklin, his bride & 147 other hotel staff. He needed to fix this, but he wasn't sure how. Jane knew he had burned all his bridges with Ms Pennington after his onslaught on her character earlier, plus it gave him a bad taste in his mouth, even contemplating apologizing to the likes of her after the trouble she had caused him with her little naked stunt.

Jane needed to think of a plan & fast, he told Franklin to leave things with him, that he promised to sort the wedding by Saturday, then once he got back to Texas he would think about how to help the islands hotel stay in business, he had a couple of months to come up with some ideas, the island ment a lot to Jane & he knew how important the hotel success was to the locals livelihood. Once Franklin had left, Jane laid down on the comfy bed, closing his eyes for a few minutes due to the pain his nose was causing him.

"Another fine pickle you have got yourself in Patrick, " Jane said to himself. After 10 minutes he sat up, he had a plan forming in his head, & it might just work, first things first he needed a telephone line.

Lisbon sat on the sand with her arms around her knees, she had stopped crying but felt numb from it all, she couldn't even think about what she has just seen back at the hotel, she knew deep down there must an explanation but what that was going to be, God knows, there was a young hot half naked busty blonde in Jane's hotel room, the evidence spoke for itself didn't it? She had been so angry at what she had seen, she couldn't physically hold back her emotions & had lashed out at him.

"Hello... again..." Lisbon turned to see the nervous guy from the plane, she lifted her hand to shield her eyes from the sun as she looked up at the man standing over her.

"Hi... Colin? Right?" Lisbon wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, trying to hide her obvious upset from the stranger. She hardly ever cried & she certainly didn't want to cry in front of a total stranger.

Colin had been strolling along the beach enjoying the sun setting when he had noticed her sitting on the sand, as he got closer he saw instantly her bloodshot eyes, blotchy face & runny nose, she had been crying or she was coming down with some tropical flu, small part of Colin really hoped it was the latter so that maybe he'd catch it too & would be too sick to return back to work next week. He had just come from a very disastrous meeting with the hotel manager, the hotel was in serious financial difficulties & wouldn't be signing a new facilities contract, not unless they could find a new investor over the next coming months, Colin was only on the island till Monday, so unless a miracle happened Colin knew he be returning empty handed & would be fired, his sales targets had been terrible this last quarter, it was only matter of time.

"Are you ok?" Colin asked with genuine concern for her in his voice.

"Not really." She replied, looking back down towards the sea. Colin got the feeling she wasn't going to say much more on the matter, Colin decided that this day had been a pretty bad one & couldn't get much worse, so decided to throw caution to the wind for the first time in his life.

"Uh, I'm heading to the other side of the village, apparently there is a nice restaurant & bar the locals recommend... I mean... If you... What I mean is... W-w-would you like to join me?" He took a big gulp expecting her to fully reject his offer of dinner.

Lisbon stood up, brushing the sand off the back of her dress, she didn't really feel like being sociable but she could really do with a large drink. She smiled back at the shy man & said

"You know what Colin, I'd loved too..."

"Really? You would?" His face beaming up at her response, not quite believing she had said yes, Lisbon realized Colin clearly lack confident when it came to women & her agreeing to have a drink with him had just made his day.

"Yes, Colin I would..."she chuckled. She started walking back towards the village.

Few hours later & 2 bottles of red wine later, Lisbon was sat at a table in a lovely restaurant, they were sat out in a open air court yard surrounded by twinkling fairy lights scattered in the trees & soft music filling the air, it was a beautiful romantic setting. Lisbon had discovered that underneath the shyness & nervousness there was a very sweet kind man & once he had actually relaxed a little, he was very good company.

Colin had been the perfect gentleman & hadn't once pushed her to talk about anything she felt uncomfortable with, it had just been what Lisbon needed, nice food & easy company. The wine was taking effect now & Lisbon felt more calm & relaxed, so did Colin Lisbon had noted, when he had placed his hand over hers for a few seconds during their meal, after this Lisbon decided that she needed to be honest with Colin before she ended up leading him down the garden path. It reminded her of Pike, she still felt guilty over all that & didn't want to repeat that same mistake, once was enough in her lifetime.

"Colin, this has been really lovely, thank you, I really needed a friend. Thank you" She smiled at him now placing her hand on top of his & squeezing it for a few seconds.

"It was nothing, you looked pretty upset at the beach, I mean, if there anything I can do to help? Or if you just need to talk? I'm always here." Colin smiled sweetly back at her mesmerized by her beautiful green eyes, noticing that the pretty fairy lights seem to be making them sparkle even more.

"Your right Colin, I was pretty upset, I had just had a big fight with my... boyfriend" Lisbon tried to let him down as easy as she could. She saw Colin's face fall a little at the word boyfriend.

To say Colin was disappointed was an understatement, the first woman he had ever had the courage to ask out & she already had a boyfriend, it was just his luck, he was just a shoulder to cry on & any fantasies of this maybe progressing further were now being thrown to the curb & trampled on.

Oh, right," his face flushed, embarrassed by his miscalculation, Colin started fidgeting with the napkin placed on his lap "I mean of course you have a boyfriend, a beautiful smart woman like you would always have a boyfriend..." He seemed to be talking more to himself now more than her, stuttering again as his nervousness crept back in.

Before Lisbon could say anything to put him at ease, a voice behind them spoke up. "Yes, that's right, she does have a boyfriend..." They both turned, Colin turned, a little alarmed to see a good looking blond haired man with a nasty black eye walking towards them, looking pretty annoyed.

"Go away, I don't want to see you" Lisbon said turning around & taking a big gulp of her wine, Jane sat down in one of the empty chairs at their table, not taking his eyes off Colin. "Well, I've heard you say that line before Lisbon" remembering her exact words at the bluebird inn 4 months ago.

"Uh, maybe I will leave you two to it," Colin said nervously getting up from the table, he was worried the man opposite him now might do some him physical harm if his black eyes were anything to go by.

"No, stay where you are, Jane's just leaving"/"Yes, why don't you do that..."

Lisbon & Jane said in unison to Colin. With this Lisbon pulled on Colin's arm, forcing him to sit back down on his seat. Trying his best to ignore Colin's presence, Jane focused his full attention on Lisbon "We need to talk about earlier...".

"Talk? It didn't look you were doing much of that with her!" Lisbon said glaring back at Jane

Jane rolled his eyes at how ridiculous this all was "give me strength Teresa, do you really think I would cheat on you? Here of all places" Do you? After everything we have been thru?"

"So why was there a naked girl in your room Jane! Who the hell was she?"

"Uh, look, I'm just going to go..." Colin said again, now feeling totally uncomfortable sitting there watching their lovers tiff.

"No, stay where you are Colin..." Lisbon commanded, there was such authority in her voice Colin saw for the first time she really wasn't lying when she had said she was a cop.

"Her name is Tina Pennington, she was a tourist I took on a trip of the island earlier today" Lisbon face looked puzzled, questions running through her head, since when did Jane give day trips to tourists, is this what he did for the 2 years he was on the island? "She just stupid little girl who's pride & ego couldn't take me turning her down, so she broke into my room, I was telling her to leave when you walked in..."

"So why were you half naked?

"Ok, that looks bad I'll give you that, but in my defense, I thought she was you..." Lisbon face screwed up in pure disgust, clearly not understanding how Jane of all people, could get the two of them mixed up. Colin made a small noise, much like a laugh, but looked very sheepish when both of them glared his way.

"Look, it's just a misunderstanding ok, I chucked her out the minute you left & let's say she won't be turning up in my room again anytime soon..."

"Oh god, What did you do Jane?" Lisbon was now imaging all kinds of horrible things in her head about the poor girl.

"Oh, relax, I didn't do anything to her, I just told her a few home truths she needed to hear. Please Teresa I love you, I only want you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, eventually one day make you my wife... and..." Jane was rambling, tired of fighting with her. 4 months of pure bliss & now 2 major arguments in one day!

"You do?... Want to marry me, I mean?" Lisbon said softly, she felt her heart rate speed up a little, he had just confessed that he wanted to marry her, they hadn't really spoken about the real future, just taking their new relationship, one day at a time, so to hear him say these words was the best thing she ever heard.

"Yes... of course... One day... when we are both ready to move to the next stage... Teresa... your the love of my life" Jane wasn't sure if he had just proposed but decided to come back to that later.

"I am?" Tears were now welling up in her eyes. "I just didn't think... I mean... with your wife... I just didn't think..." Jane noticed the total confusion in the man sat opposite him at Lisbon mentioning the words 'his wife'.

"Angela was my first love, my soul mate... But I'm a different man to the one who married Angela, you are my world now, you're the love of my life" With this Jane gently caressed her cheek with his thumb & she leaned into his touch, he then lifted himself up off the seat slightly & leaned into kiss her, tipping her face up to meet his, it was then that Colin spoke up. "Well, I think I'll just leave you two to it then..." He was a little embarrassed at having sat there like a third wheel watching the 2 kissing now in front of him.

"Yes, why don't you do that" Jane said in a snippy tone, not even turning his head towards the man he had just found having dinner with his girlfriend.

Jane..." She said, pushing him back down a little, swatting him a little on the chest, "I'm so sorry Colin, ignore Patrick's rudeness, you really don't have to leave, " she said, hoping he would stay, she felt bad that they had made the poor man feel so uncomfortable he wanted to leave.

"I think it's for best, give you 2 some space to sort things out..." with this, Colin threw some money on the table for the meal. "I need to catch an early night anyway, it's been a pleasure spending time with you Teresa." He gave her a small smile, before standing to leave, he turned to look at Jane. "You're a very lucky man..." Giving Jane a small nod before walking off.

"I know..." Jane replied in more friendlier voice, he didn't like this guy for openly making a play for his girlfriend but couldn't fault the man for his good judgement. "Who's that guy?" Jane asked. The same words he had said to her years ago when Bob Kirkland had first shown up in their lives.

"Colin... Just a friend from the plane..."She said smirking, happy to see his jealousy openly showing once a again.

"A Friend huh?.. Looks like he wanted to be more than just your friend..."

"Oh, hush..."

"Anymore male friends you've made on the plane that I should know about? Josh, Colin... The pilot, maybe."

Really? You're giving me a hard time, after I found a naked woman in your hotel room? & just for the record I'm still mad at you for that..." Lisbon took a deep breath looking away from Jane trying not to image that awful scene in her head. After a while she turned back to face Jane, she could see swelling around his nose & his left eye had blacken a little, now feeling a little guilty for lashing out the way she had, "How's the nose?..."

"Sore!" Jane said short & sharp. Slowly Jane saw a small smile of satisfaction creep across Lisbon face. "Well... I'm glad your amused, I really need to send you back to those anger management classes woman..." Jane was now touching his nose & flinching in pain from his own touch.

"Well, it's a good job for you & the busty blond, that I didn't have my gun on me, wasn't it?" Lisbon wasn't about to apologise too much for her reaction, well not just yet, he deserved to suffer a little longer in her eyes.

"How was the meal?" Jane asked whilst giving one of the local waiters a shortwave from across the restaurant floor. "It was excellent, Colin said he had been recommended this place, a lot of the locals come here"

"well your "friend" Colin is right, I would recommend this place too, great food, I used to eat here sometimes, in fact, I brought Fischer here when she..." Jane stopped talking when he turned to see Lisbon annoyed face staring at him, he had already dug himself a big hole today & didn't need to dig himself in any deeper . "I... It's Great food." He ended abruptly. Lisbon hadn't ever asked Jane about what had happened between him & Fischer here on the island, if she was honest, she didn't really want to know.

Jane's nose was starting to cause him a lot of pain so he encouraged Lisbon to drink up "Come on it's been a long day & I need to put some more ice on this nose. I think it might be broken... & my wrist sprain still hurts. OooWww"

Lisbon gulped down the rest of her drink & rolled her eyes at Jane's over dramatic diagnosis of his nose. "Oh, stop being a baby & stop touching it, your just making it worse. It's not broken.

"Oh... I'm sorry, I didn't realize you had trained as a medical professional... Doctor Lisbon" Jane sarcastically said, annoyed he wasn't getting enough sympathy or tender loving care from her.

They started to head back towards the hotel, as they strolled along Jane softly took her hand in his, slowly bringing it up to his mouth & kissing the back of her knuckles, she smiled sweetly back at him. Jane knew then that he was finally forgiven & they everything was going to be ok.